The Pale Condition

by Lazy_

Visions of Home and Weapon Improvement 101

Fluttershy trotted up to her door, a smile on her face as she pushed it open. She had just returned from a trip to the town so that she could buy food for her animal friends. She went inside and closed the door behind her. She stood still and closed her eyes, taking a breath of the familiar scent of her home.

"Angel!" She called angelically. "I'm home!" As if on cue, Angel's head peeked around the corner with a smile as he saw the bags she was carrying. She had bought his favourite food today, a rare thing as she usually only has enough spare money to buy the basics for all the animals she cared for. Today was going to be so special...

He darted around the corner again and rushed over to his bowl, patiently awaiting his next meal. Fluttershy trotted to the kitchen humming a gentle tune before placing the bags on the side. There, she unloaded the contents until she arrived at his food. She opened the small pouch and poured it into his bowl. He dove into the delicacy without hesitation and began devouring it as quickly as he could. Fluttershy smiled down at him.

"Oh, aren't you just adorable!" She cooed, her hooves up at her cheeks. She went back to unpacking as she put everything where it needed to be. Food for the deer, rabbits, foxes, squirrels and otters... the list went on. She expertly placed everything in it's respective position perfectly barely without thought.

Once she had finished she put the bags into a cupboard where she kept them for re-use or to await recycling. Fluttershy was very passionate about the environment, and would do almost anything if it meant bettering it. Then she went into her living room to relax for a while. She walked in and jumped up onto her favourite chair before letting out a long sigh and closing her eyes. Darkness rolled in.

The sounds of scuttling were emitted from the kitchen, and as time went by the noises began to sound more like scratching. Fluttershy thought nothing of it, it was likely just Angel accidentally pushing his bowl under the cupboards again, he always did that when he was eating. She giggled to herself, picturing a scene of Angel with his snout trapped between the cupboard's underside and the bowl.

"-He's such a silly thing... he'll sort it out, he's a good boy.-" She thought to her herself. Then a period of heavy breathing could be heard. Fluttershy snapped out of her happy thoughts immediately, her mind wandering to images of Angel choking on his food. It was plausible, he was eating very quickly after-all.

"Ooh, hold on Angel. I'll be right there!" She called out. She slid of her chair and hastily trotted out of the living room and into the kitchen...

---

Fluttershy jolted awake, visions of her very first encounter with a beast fresh in her imagination, it's claws wrapped around her neck. Her hooves were at her own throat, and after a moment of recuperation she realised she was choking herself. With a sharp intake of breath she fell backwards into a sit and began to hyperventilate as she stared at her hooves. The blood she was coated in after coming back to the Hunter's Dream had vanished and she was now clean as a whistle. However her clothes were still torn where she had been repeatedly shot, stabbed and cut. She let her face fall into her hooves as she calmed herself down and collected her thoughts.

She could feel the cooling wind of the dream on her fur and the perfect air temperature, the peace of the dream was certainly divine in comparison to the frantic streets of Yharnam. Her breathing finally rested at it's normal rate and she let her hooves drop down to her sides. Looking up she beheld the dream. The imposing workshop's doors swung wide open to welcome her in, the headstones and the foliage dotting the small area made it look serene.

She picked herself up.

The doll was still laid there, motionless as it was before. She headed up the stairs to the workshop and through the doors which she recalled as being previously locked. Inside was a single well lit room, the left wall was filled with books and there were two tables which both housed their own book pile. The ground was adorned with a dark green plain carpet which only partially covered the wooden plank floor. The first thing on her right was a selection of shelves, houses varies jars of dubious liquids. Some appeared to be oils of some sort but others looked remarkably blood-like.

Then there was a fireplace, which had it's own chimney. The fires raged enough to heat metal, and a pulley system was rigged to hold weapons in place over it. ad after the fire was a table with even more pulleys situated above. On the table was numerous drawers and tools.

"This must be where I can 'improve' my weapons..." She said to herself. Now she had a place to work on her items, this was great. Other than the fact she had no clue how to forge or work with materials of any kind. She stood there in silence until she had an idea. Looking over to her left, she wondered if there were any books on weapon improvement...

---

Fluttershy put down her second book on weapon improvement. She had read up on basic blood stone fortification and blood gems. The processes involved kneading these items into the weapon in order to improve it's properties and/or give it new ones, and simply upgrading the efficacy of the weapon. It sounded utterly disgusting, but by the sounds of it it was the way to go if she wanted to survive. Blood stones were used to increase the sharpness and durability of the weapon, and blood gems could give it magical properties or further increase it's efficacy to ridiculous levels.

On the table fluttershy had two blood stones she had collected from corpses around Yharnam. Apparently they form when blood crystallises, and usually the level of one's madness can contribute to the size and quality of the stone too. Ranging from simple stones, to twin stones and chunks. Chunks were some of the largest and were quite rare. The book stated they can be found in the bodies of large completely deformed beasts or truly insane beings who had died with not only great insight, but the beast-blood as well. And then there were the rocks.

Apparently only one had ever been found, and it was none other than Ludwig the chief church hunter who had found it, kneading it into his legendary weapon which he apparently saw as his mentor.

"A weapon as a 'mentor'? Hmm, must have taken one too many blood vials..." She mumbled to herself. She placed her saw-cleaver on the table and the two stones next to it. According to the book the levels of improvement on a weapon was classified in stages, and most weapons required a certain mass of blood stones before they could be significantly improved. The first stage required two blood stones.

She took a deep breath and steeled herself over the awful materials on the bench before beginning the process. Blood stones were like dough, they were much more difficult to work with at the start of the procedure than by the end. Fluttershy wasn't very strong, but thankfully the stone's small size made it much easier to knead. She pushed it onto the sharpened edge and spread it along, the saw-teeth were much trickier than the blade. Though both sides were equally as good at making her accidentally cut herself. Luckily though, the traces of old blood in her blood vessels made the minor wounds heal without much pain.

She stood back to observe her hoofywork. The blade was a gory mess but as she looked down it's edges it did appear like it bore a much cleaner edge. Not that it was the sharpest thing she had ever seen, and the blade was still a little uneven. So, she began to knead in the second stone. It went in much easier than her first, as she knew how to handle it much better than before. She completed her second kneading in half the time as the first, her confidence in weapon improvement growing. She looked over the weapon with a proud smile.

"Now I can kill things deader!" She exclaimed in glee, before she paused. A confused expression suddenly washed over her face. "That, uhh... sounded less sadistic in my head..." She sighed before swiping the newly improved cleaver off the table and clipping it back to her belt. She had no blood gems so it would simply have to be a normal cleaver for now. Her dreams of having a flaming death saw would have to wait.

---

Fluttershy walked out into the garden where she could see Gehrman sleeping in his wheelchair, looking out over the infinite expanse. Sighing, she turned to walk away when suddenly she heard his voice.

"But what of... Lo- Logarius... Lawrence..." He mumbled to himself. His breathing then suddenly became ragged and increased in pace. Fluttershy rushed over to him. He was having a nightmare inside a dream... His head suddenly flew into the headrest of his wheelchair and he glanced around with heavy breathing.

"Oh! It's only you..." He smiled, breathing returning to normal as he seemingly shrugged off his nightmare. "Are you well? Settling in?" He looked down at her bloodied cleaver. Seeing signs of blood stones his eyes lit up "Oh! Learning how to upgrade your arms are we?" He smiled, leaning over to her. Fluttershy giggled.

"Yes, I can't believe you devised such a disgusting way to improve things..." She joked. Gehrman laughed.

"Well, Yharnam is a very bloody place..." He winked. Fluttershy winced at his joke. "I'm guessing that wasn't as funny as I thought it was, eh?" He asked in response to her reaction. Fluttershy shook her head. "Ugh! I've been here so long even my jokes have gone bad!" Fluttershy laughed at that, causing Gehrman to relax in his chair with a smile.

"So... You're ready to head out again, eh? Don't forget to drop by the messengers in the bath and see if they have anything to offer you. You never know what you might need..." He suggested. Fluttershy contemplated the idea before nodding her head.

"Okay." She said. "I'll be heading out again, thanks for the advice. Sleep well." She said before turning to head off, hearing Gehrman huff behind her as he rested his head back on it's it's rest. She headed down to the bath messenger who was holding a small bag. She went up to it as it offered the item. Taking it she checked inside to see it was a collection of bullets. She counted ten in total. "Oh, thank you so much... I needed these." She poured the bullets into her pouch that she dedicated to it. She was just about to eave when the little creature re-appeared with something else...

---

Fluttershy puffed out her chest and spread her wings, admiring her new look. The hunter attire provided matched the descriptions of the female hunter attire the workshop used to provide it's new recruits, it was in one of the books on hunters she read when learning how to use blood stones. The garb was heavier than her clothes which rarity had made for her, and she was hesitant to take it. But all in all she felt much safer in actual professionally designed hunting gear than her normal cloths. She still had her scarf, as roughed up as it was. She read that Hunters often kept valuable items on them as they reminded them of who they were and what they had to go back to, which helped greatly to ward off beasthood.

Standing proudly in her new outfit she walked to the Yharnam headstone and knelt down at the messengers ready to take her to Yharnam once more.

Author's Note:

Sorry this took so long to release, I'm not really as driven as I used to be. Hope you all like it.

Comments

[Starlight Nova]

Will Fluttershy be badass in this story?

[vampnyx]

When do you think or hope the next chapter is going to out at?

[Lazy_]

7637133
Dunno. Updates happen when I get them out, there's no schedule. Sorry. Though I do want to complete this, I might never get to that point.

[vampnyx]

7637411 ok we'll keep doing your best to finishing this story.

[TheSwordSage]

this is a great story so far and i really hope u plan on finishing it, ive just beat bloodborne myself and am a huge fluttershy fan so this story is right up my alley, looking forward to fluttershy vs the cleric beast

[TheSwordSage]

Im wondering how fluttershy will handle the orphan of kos

[Inferno demon Dash]

Damn it. It's over so soon? Well I hope it comes back. I'm very eager for more and really tempted to play more BloodBorne. Amazing job.