Tessera

Alcippe, the Rat Lady

@giantslayer.gunmetolymp.us

Captain of Lord Ares' 32nd Cohort Pilot of the Handmaiden-class eidolon Mortal stuck in a mechanical body Rat in a Corner coming out uh.. eventually! Fan RP account for Gunmetal Olympus by Maria Ying pfp by @mangomakes.bsky.social

402 Posts60 Follower 36 Folgt

Alcippe, the Rat Lady @giantslayer.gunmetolymp.us · 3d ago

going to start training mel to fight. she has half a dozen knights sworn to her protection but one more woman knowing how to wield a sword and aim a gun cant hurt

Alcippe, the Rat Lady @giantslayer.gunmetolymp.us · 6d ago

/ Felt like showing off what I'm working on rn. This scene would take place between PE chapters 14 and 15. First draft but whatever #GunmetalOlympus

Six: Cold Comfort

Hippolyta

The cracks in the leather case of my punching bag finally give way under the duress of my fists. An hour of planting blow after blow after blow has worn it down to shreds, and now a fist-sized hole exposes its tattered innards after so much dumb violence. It might as well be a mirror.

My body is slick with perspiration, and my muscles feel just about ready to seize. I crave this agony. It devours me whole into a lightless belly where all else ceases to be, lost in the acid that eats away at my flesh. It’s hard to feel alone when nothing else exists in the first place. And in truth, that might as well be true: I’ve all but commandeered Ares’s gymnasium for myself these past few days. Xer soldiers who usually frequent it make themselves scarce; even the Lord of War xerself, the Unshakeable, rarely tries to disturb me.

I pull my fist from the torn leather. The wrappings around my knuckles have frayed, the white fabric stained red. The sting is worth savouring.

“Hippolyta.”

Sharp air cuts into my lungs. I am upright, casual — I can still affect warmth, even if I can’t feel it beyond the burning beneath my skin. My vapid face peels away, and in its place I press a mask against the flensed bone of my skull, a smile barely different to a nymph’s. I turn around; behind me, Ares looks on with unhidden concern.

“Apologies, my lord. This punching bag will need a replacement.”

Xe shakes xer head as xe crosses the floor, each step flowing like blood down a fuller. “I’m more concerned about you, Hippolyta. Have you been home at all?”

Not since the morning after the Pythian Hunt. My mother and sisters have insisted on constantly checking in, directly or otherwise, keeping the scar tissue fresh, believing they’re helping. Prying out the bullet that seals the wound shut, letting my life spill until I’m dry of it. “My quarters here are perfectly serviceable,” I offer instead. “Your hospitality is appreciated.”

Disappointment. Everyone I speak to shows it at some point, never getting the answers they want from me, denied a taste of my blood that I refuse to let for them. Never the easy jokes that came before, from the woman who used to wear my skin. Never the cathartic cries that they seem to think will slough away the rot that has...

...has burrowed deep into my flesh. Do they not believe I’ve tried? That I’ve not squeezed every last tear from this rag? That I’ve not emaciated my throat with the cries of a windswept canyon? Whatever they hope to find in me, it is a bud attempting to take root in barren soil. Ares, at least, understands this futility. Xe has surely seen it countless times across so many generations. The Garrison of the Spear becomes a sheath for me to retreat into; if I can be nothing else, at least I am still a weapon of War. I cannot let myself be dulled. I cannot lose this one purpose I still have.

“You’re free to stay as long as you like,” decrees the Shield-Shatterer. “But—”

“Thank you, my lord.” I pace over to the next punching bag in line, black and red leather unscathed yet still witness to the treatment of its predecessor. “Will that be all?”

My swings don’t wait for a response. The heavy thud of flesh against textile resounds through the gymnasium like a marching drum beating a path that leads to oblivion. I don’t need to turn around to know xer expression has only sunk. “I was given word that Alcippe finished today’s training with Cydippe. She’s headed over here now.”

“Why?”

A beat. Another. My pace hasn’t slowed; the strain in my tendons is an ache in need of whetting. “She wanted to see you before heading home for the night. Didn’t she tell you?”

I haven’t checked my phone all day and my implant has been off. I switch it on, sift past messages from my family without reading them, and find her in my contacts. A request to visit later, which came a little after noon; an hour later, a photo showing Cydippe inside the Handmaiden, which has slightly reconfigured its internal harnesses to better suit her smaller stature, plus an additional message assuring me she didn’t activate the thrusters and was perfectly safe; and finally, just a few minutes ago, a declaration that she’s on her way over. “I didn’t see,” I admit, letting up my barrage against the punching bag and allowing the ache time to rise like kneaded dough. “I’ll be in my room.”

I grab my gym bag from a nearby bench and head straight for the door. My room hasn’t been cleaned since I arrived; I should make it presentable. While I may not need to bring Alcippe there at all, I would rather be somewhere away from prying ears.

Maybe she will understand. Surely she, of all people, will understand.

“Make sure you eat something,” Ares cautions in my wake. I offer no response as the door shuts behind me.

Alcippe, the Rat Lady @giantslayer.gunmetolymp.us · last wk.

i got into a lot of fights at school as a kid but was specifically picking fights with bullies. my mothers only really got involved when i started getting jumped by groups of them in revenge but it just taught me to be better at picking my fights

Alcippe, the Rat Lady @giantslayer.gunmetolymp.us · last wk.

/ I've been assigning my friends' GO OCs favourite dinosaurs for my enrichment

Caeneus of the House of Eternity @herasbestestboy.bsky.social · 2w ago

Climbing up the tallest tower in all of Elysium so that I can scream I FUCKING LOVE WOMEN really loud

Alcippe, the Rat Lady @giantslayer.gunmetolymp.us · 2w ago

i swear everyone in this city is going the fuck through it except for that one nice nymph lady

Alcippe, the Rat Lady @giantslayer.gunmetolymp.us · 2w ago

recently heard that there are online communities called power scalers and they argue over who would win a fight between me and persephone. most say i would lose which is rude but fair

Alcippe, the Rat Lady @giantslayer.gunmetolymp.us · 2w ago

im always dtf (down to fight)

Alcippe, the Rat Lady @giantslayer.gunmetolymp.us · 2w ago

the execution of the bow is always important in how you set the vibe. a deep bow is reverent and deferent and should be saved for those you truly respect. holding eye contact establishes that you dont see them as above you even if you defer to them. a nod is a sort of bow between associates

Alcippe, the Rat Lady @giantslayer.gunmetolymp.us · 2w ago

why am i not allowed to blast power metal from my eidolons speakers while sliming colossi does the king regent just hate fun

Alcippe, the Rat Lady @giantslayer.gunmetolymp.us · 2w ago

its interesting to me how city policy says rats are vermin and any found outside their intended controlled environments need to be exterminated and yet everyone who sees castor and polydeuces adores them for the little baby babies they are

Alcippe, the Rat Lady @giantslayer.gunmetolymp.us · 2w ago

im the rat lady

Renfri / Laika - Real Life Dog@renfroodles.bsky.social · 2w ago

Hey guys I’m not dead actually. Here’s @lichenkilldeer.gunmetolymp.us @giantslayer.gunmetolymp.us & @artistictradgedy.bsky.social as animals. #gunmetalolympus #oc

Renfri / Laika - Real Life Dog @renfroodles.bsky.social · 2w ago

Hey guys I’m not dead actually. Here’s @lichenkilldeer.gunmetolymp.us @giantslayer.gunmetolymp.us & @artistictradgedy.bsky.social as animals. #gunmetalolympus #oc

Alcippe, the Rat Lady @giantslayer.gunmetolymp.us · 2w ago

i love my rats # myrats

Alcippe, the Rat Lady @giantslayer.gunmetolymp.us · 3w ago

maybe i should get castor and polydeuces tiny swords and see if i can teach them to fight

Alcippe, the Rat Lady @giantslayer.gunmetolymp.us · 3w ago

knighting a woman must feel so good for the princess

Alcippe, the Rat Lady @giantslayer.gunmetolymp.us · 3w ago

personally i think if anyone made a threat of violence against aliki in my presence i wouldnt hesitate it would be on sight for them

Alcippe, the Rat Lady @giantslayer.gunmetolymp.us · 3w ago

the mechanics at forge aetnaeus did not appreciate the handmaiden-class being thrown into a boulder hard enough to shatter it only for me to come home calling it "another happy landing"

Dionysus, Ethically Sourced Clonecuck @revelry.gunmetolymp.us · 4w ago

DAD BOD BUTCH

ZEUS, KING OF OLYMPUS @futchlightning.gunmetolymp.us · 4w ago

GOOD MORNING TO WOMEN AND OTHER MACHINES

Alcippe, the Rat Lady @giantslayer.gunmetolymp.us · 4w ago

i heard apollo refuses to stir eir boba tea

Alcippe, the Rat Lady @giantslayer.gunmetolymp.us · 4w ago

lost track of how many times menippe has suddenly demanded i meet up with her for a pit fight. i go every time obviously because its fun. its really fucking obvious shes flirting but im having fun pretending i dont notice

Alcippe, the Rat Lady @giantslayer.gunmetolymp.us · 4w ago

the cool thing about knighthood is you can pledge yourself to princesses but you can also have squires pledge themselves to you. the lesbian dynamics are unreal

Alcippe, the Rat Lady @giantslayer.gunmetolymp.us · 4w ago

castor and polydeuces have started this new game where one of them will get on the exercise wheel and the other will just spin it so fast that the one inside just gets looped around it. they take turns doing this. rats are so funny

Alcippe, the Rat Lady @giantslayer.gunmetolymp.us · last mo.

has anyone convinced lord applebees to make an appearance in the arena again yet or do i need to go knocking at the estate of wheat

Alcippe, the Rat Lady @giantslayer.gunmetolymp.us · last mo.

im captain alcippe and this is jackass (launches myself at a concrete wall at 600km/h)

Alcippe, the Rat Lady @giantslayer.gunmetolymp.us · last mo.

hey im in this one

Amber 🔆@ambernymph.bsky.social · last mo.

A THORN IN THE LIGHT Now I hold up my side of the bargain: knight x princess yuri hookup set in the Valley archiveofourown.org/works/87890796 #GunmetalOlympus

Amber 🔆@ambernymph.bsky.social · last mo.

I'm saving Mango by posting it for them (with their permission) so please look at their Melpomene and my Alcippe going at it #gunmetalolympus (This is also part of a sort of art trade! Expect something on ao3 this weekend, maybe today!)

Melpomene and Alcippe from the Gunmetal Olympus expanded canon. Mel is wearing a slitted dress that shows off her vine tattoos, while Alcippe is in a suit with matching tailored vines

MelCippe again, but this time they're passionately making out with Mel's back pinned against an unseen wall

And now she's on her back. Her boobie is out. The position of her raised thigh just barely obscures Alcippe's fingers in her. Good heavens

Mango 🥭|| Broken Laptop@mangomakes.bsky.social · last mo.

angrily sitting on a bunch of art that could be fun to share if only i didn't want to be able to open my own profile in public

Alcippe, the Rat Lady @giantslayer.gunmetolymp.us · last mo.

found out today theres a blessing of apollo that makes people feel pleasure from pain. skill issue guys ive known plenty of girls who get off from being hurt and they didnt need their nerves rewiring

Amber 🔆@ambernymph.bsky.social · last mo.

Anyway I've been writing an Alcippe x Melpomene fic set at some point during Interlude: Seasons in PE

No amount of breathless machinery can prevent me from meeting her joy with a chortle as authentic as any from a pair of true lungs. “I believe so, my lady. Ah, but first—”
I reach for my chest pocket and pull out a simple white handkerchief, swiftly bringing it to the corner of Melpomene’s lips to dab away a smudge of strawberry; she stiffens up, displaying the whites of her eyes as she fixates on the fabric. Despite the spattering being wiped away, her face only becomes even redder. The gesture is complete just as quickly as it began, and yet the motion lingers, my thumb not quite leaving her lip, my eyes not quite leaving hers. They glimmer, rich jewels that emanate such brilliant light despite neither Apollonian sun nor Artemisian moon catching them, for her radiance rivals — no, outshines both, twin stars that shift iridescent between rose and amethyst with each little motion. Her lips, plush and parted, flush with the faintest hint of a gasp. We each realise too late that our faces have begun to close the gap between them.
“My lady,” I murmur, slighter than a distant breeze, “would it be proper…?”
“They wouldn’t mind,” she whispers. “My girlfriends, they…”
And then her hand is upon my lapel. The stalwart strength of no knight may stand firm against the pull of her lady’s command, and I fall into her kiss like the gravitational tug of a neutron star. Even my synthetic tongue can parse flavour to some abstract extent, but marinade and strawberry falls secondary to the sensation of her clash with me, the sudden insatiability that takes her like an afflicted madness. Her other hand finds the small of my back, pulling me just barely close enough that her prominent chest is forced against mine. A breath heaves against my body, spills out as hot air against my cheek, and despite the limitations of my physical receptors I almost fail to escape the trance she’s dragged me into as our lips break apart.
Instinct takes over: I sally my words. “Shall I send for the limousin

Amber 🔆@ambernymph.bsky.social · last mo.

Knightgirl who says "my lady, would it be proper...?" as you slowly pull her in for a kiss