#<- previously mundanely magical

[icecreampizzer]

Some fun portraits for characters I haven't thought of in a hot second! If you recognize them and still remember their very first versions you're eligible for a veteran's discount. Finally getting some inspiration for them but I am just working on stories in general...you know how it is

also, I've decided to remake this story's title into THE MAGIC WE CREATE. Never really vibed with the last one. If you're new here those words probably dont make a lick of sense but that's ok

[noobsoconfusing]

nasty dog_hamzahthefantastic

gross perv sub hamzah, stalker!hamzah, raging virgin hamzah, dry humping, begging, crying, overstim kinda? weird hamzah pls dont hate

>_<

- if neediness was a person, it would be hamzah.

- if the concept of loser was personified, it would also be hamzah

- now, guess what? if being intense and a virgin at the same time could be shortened to a word, it would, oh! also be hamzah

- maybe it’s the way he’d sneakily steal glances at you from the hallways, or the way he would rush his steps to ride the elevator with you.

- though, you never really noticed his presence. it made him sad. super sad. was he not worth your time? was he not friendly enough? he thought.

- living in the same apartment complex as you made him notice many things… he was very observant! that, or maybe, he did his research just fine

- he quickly picked up on your schedule…

- you were not very social, never leaving your apartment if it was not needed, the only times he’d see you in the stairs or elevator was when you went grocery shopping

- hamzah adores to peak outside to your side of the hall from the peephole on his door

- if he’s lucky enough, he’ll catch you grabbing mail or fixing the welcome mat you have on the floor

- and he was not so discreet about it. his breathing was loud and erratic, and sometimes by the closeness of the apartments, you could hear it behind the wooden door..

- at first, he got nervous. his heart stopped when you’d pause your actions to look around, shrugging as you dismissed the situation

- ugh, it makes him so stupidly horny how clueless you are, how you never notice his long glances and the lewd gross intentions he means w them

- hamzah’s hidden album on his photos app is full of pictures and videos of you :(

- sometimes normal pictures of you entering your apartment or videos of you running up the stairs…

- the thought of you being naive made his heart flutter, it was almost endearing how his imagination could really flow with all the pictures he had taken of you doing mundane stuff ……

- he’s also the type to steal your clothes from the common dryer the apartment complex has down in the basement in the laundry area

- loves the scent of your softener, but actually loves your natural scent even more. he craves your attention and taste and wonders how soft your skin must be, how pretty you look always, how desirable your lips are to him.

- hamzah is pretty much losing common sense each time you wander his mind. or when he sees you around, he loses the ability to act normal.

- now,,, just as he is utterly lovesick, he is also fucking weird and gross

- jerks off with your underwear (the ones he steals from your laundry basket) and absolutely feels no remorse after finishing

- even after he cums a first time, he keeps going on and on until he pretty much can’t get to physically cum anymore :(

- quite literally passes out, shaking and shivering from the stimulation.. thinking of you is enough to make him want to milk his nuts dry #rip

- now, hamzah is loud. yeah, but when he thinks of you while doing it, he gets a tone or two louder. just hoping you’d hear him and magically appear inside his room to help him up :(

“y/n, y/n… please…” his head was thrown back into the pillows, eyes shut and a bead of sweat slid down forehead. “oh my god, y/n, just….yeah, just like that..”

- actually imagines his own hand is yours, it helps him finish, not quicker, but just more intense.

- spills load after load, the puddle of cum adorning his lower tummy and part of the sheets, but somehow he can’t get to stop :c not when his imagination does wonders while thinking of his pretty neighbour, you.

- when he feels like he’s getting too loud, meaning, when his common senses start kicking in, he’d shamelessly just use your previously stolen panties as a gag to muffle his moans.

- unhinged as this man is, he is also the type to clean his cum up with your underwear T_T pathetically shivering at the touch of the thin fabric against his skin, gathering the drippy fluids and smearing them up

- yeah, he knows he’s gross and weird, but somehow can’t get himself to stop.

- something about doing all that lewd stuff behind your back makes him warm inside, a crude excitement fills him up each time he touches himself to the image of you

- blushes extremely hard the morning after his doings, when he not so accidentally runs to you on the hallway

- not a single ounce of shame inside that perverted body of his…….. -_-

- there’s times when he can no longer use your belongings to cum, practically unusable after jerking off w them repeatedly #•_•

- so he opts for the pillow. just slowly thrusting his hips to gather a touch, the fluffy fabric barely in contact with his boner makes him feral

- he is so stupidly desperate is so embarrassing

“s-shit… owwww!” hamzah bit his lip down so hard he swore he drew a bit of blood, “please, please, y/n let me- fuuuck, let me cum please? can i- just..”

he doesn’t even care if nobody is listening to him let alone you, he still asks for your permission because he wants to be good so bad

- humps the pillow like it’s his last day on earth.. the squeaking of the bed gets repetitive as his movements get clumsy and fast while chasing his high

- maybe the neighbours from the floor below will finally think he got to get laid. shame is, that’s just his pillow.

- hamzah thinks a screw came loose inside his mind when he gets the sudden urge to knock on your door to make his presence known

- but not exactly to introduce himself

- his hands are sweaty and shaky when he fidgets with the lewd object between his fingers but smiles to himself as he thinks of how beautiful and precious your surprised face would be ^_^

- after knocking twice, loud enough for you and the whole damn building to hear, he runs ungodly fast back to his apartment, ready to uncover the peephole and watch your reaction

hamzah smiles when he admires how you slowly open your door with a greeting smile, one that disappears after you realise there’s nobody at the door.

your big puppy eyes get wide at the expectation of seeing someone maybe around the halls, but when you turn your head both ways and see no one, hamzah bites his lip, feeling the know inside his stomach get tight with anticipation.

god you’re so fucking pretty. so naive.

when your sight glances at the floor, your eyebrows furrow confused, you bend your knees to the ground and kneel infront of the object placed on your welcome mat. huh?

“w-what…?” you murmur, and hamzah lets out a tiny moan when your soft voice leaves your lips.

“oh my god!”

you yelp when you realise that in fact, it is your long lost panties right there in front of you! however something doesn’t sit right when you grab them from the floor…

why are they damp and sticky?

hamzah observes behind closed doors, he wishes he could just go out and admit his nasty crimes, but how could he? if he can admire you from anonymity.

how could hamzah ever show his true self to you? oh, you’re just so innocent, so blind and clueless. he loves how dirty he feels when thinking of you.

- a few days later, he makes sure to do down the laundry room at the same time as you usually do, hoping to see you there.

- to his surprise, there you are! sorting out your dirty clothes and throwing the wet items into the dryer.

- he hesitates to say hi, just a polite good morning! or maybe a damn that’s a lot of laundry! but decides to shut up.

- instead, his eyes widen in surprise when you are the one to speak up at him for the first time….

“hey, sorry to bother, could- umm, could you maybe lend me some of your detergent? please?” your eyes looked glossy and shiny and he just wanted to devour you right there

he gulped and swallowed hard. suddenly his hands started sweating abnormally. however, he put up with a gentle smile.

“sure, use as much as you need.” he passed you the bottle. your fingers brushed and while you didn’t really mind, hamzah felt like he was about to bust.

“thank you! im double washing and ran out of my own detergent, but i’ll make it up to you! thanks a lot!” you explained, and he found it so endearing how you took the time to explain even when he didn’t need an explanation.

i’ll make it up to you! your words engraved into his brain. for real. he had many, many ideas of how you could make it up to him.

“it’s fine, don’t worry, i really don’t mind sharing, hah.” he reassured you. then he swallowed hard again, getting closer to you. “why are you double washing for?” he tried to make small talk.

you stopped your actions and looked at the ground.

‘oh well, someone likes to steal my underwear and nut on it! that’s why!’ you thought. then quickly laughed it away.

“just because.” you said. “better to be clean, right?” you friendly bumped his shoulder and he giggled.

hamzah knew damn well.

“yeah, right.”

- after that interaction he a 100% couldnt keep his hands off his dick for a week straight, just thinking about the way you carelessly speak, how you move and how you exist

- he’d fantasise about you talking him through his orgasm…. he’s obsessed with your voice so fucking much.

“owww, fuck! yeah, yeah…. just… fuck, yeah thank you, thank you, thank you, y/n…”

his chest heaved with shaky breaths, he was exhausted. jerking off was exhausting when he couldn’t stop to rest, just kept going and going until his mind was blurry and could no longer even think of you.

he imagined how your pretty voice would praise him, how you’d caress his hair as he spilled over and over his hand. ugh, he was so needy.

- hamzah’s obsessive curious feelings towards you keep growing even more when you start greeting him in the halls

- or when you hold the elevator door open for him

- and he can’t help but think, that if he hadn’t cum on your panties, you would’ve never noticed him. ever.

- how cool is that? hamzah thought, very fucking cool.

>_<

i hate this BUT i had been writing this since last week i just needed to LOCK IN. bye sorry this sucks byeee

[obsessivevoidkitten]

A Royal Pain In The Ass

Yandere Male Alpha x Male Omega Reader (CW: Dead Dove: Do Not Eat, INCEST, non-con, male reader, a/b/o, ass eaten like it is groceries, blowjob, marking, biting, knotting, musk, general yandere behavior, necromancy, assassination, minor character death, angst, pain, violent sex, breeding, forced feminization, size difference) Word Count: 2.9k (This is probably the worst thing I have ever written, but I think I covered all the appropriate warnings. Sorry for any mistakes I did proofread, but I did not have this beta read.)

Your father, King Esmer, had been among the wisest and most powerful kings in all the world. He had led decisive victories in war, chosen brilliant advisors, and knew when to rule kindness and when to rule with a bit of a sterner hand. Overall he had been much loved by all the classes and had truly united his kingdom, alphas, betas, and omegas alike. But as he grew older many in the royal court began to fear that your brother, Prince Vairthold, would become a tyrant of a monarch. He had always been a bit of a demanding brat, but as he grew so too did his arrogance and entitlement, and when he presented as an alpha he became an accomplished warrior, his powerful muscles and keen instinct allowing him to become a terror on the field. It did nothing to staunch the growth of his ego. Your father could not see it, as blinded as he was by denial and love for his first born, so he would not hear of it when his advisors wanted him to choose another heir. Perhaps one more malleable and temperate such as you, his younger son, an omega. “He will grow into the role,” he would always say, “I had to learn and change a lot too when I first started. Besides, most lords just would not accept an omega ruler.” And that would be the end of the discussion. But once Esmer had passed his successor wasted no time in changing how things were to be done. They were, in the grand scheme of things, very minor changes at first. Statues built, mundane orders carried out, nothing too unusual or threatening. But within months your older sibling allowed a dark sorcerer in the court in a high advisory position. Dark magic was not something that had been allowed in any capacity previously, but your brother had searched long to create someone to place in this position. When he finally had the magic user that he so desired he became not just arrogant and demanding, but colder and crueler as well. He did not go out slaughtering people, though laws did become more draconian, with several inmates disappearing in the dead quiet of night. He also revoked many of the laws and rights that omegas had previously enjoyed under his predecessors, making them basically under the ownership of their alpha or beta relatives unless they were single and had no family. You, being an omega yourself, were almost never allowed out of your brother’s sight, even being forced to stay in his bedroom. The only time you were not with him was when he was off in the darkness of night consorting with his dark advisor, and even then he left the bulkiest beta knights he could find to guard the door and make sure you had zero chance of escape. Your older sibling had always been far too possessive over you, some people, including your late father, might have mistaken his behavior as merely how a protective alpha is supposed to act around their smaller omega family members. But you knew better, you could tell there was something impure about the way you caught him leering at you, something off about how he had kept away any and all courters, something wicked in the way his expression changed when you were in heat and he caught a whiff of your scent. He had never been particularly mean to you, perhaps a bit of bullying here and there, but ever since he had changed the laws and the status of omegas he had been a lot more gruff with you. Not tolerating any dissent. If you resisted he would not hesitate to slap you across the face, but if you cooperated and did not complain he would often reward you with little gifts for your good behavior. Over time you learned never to complain, and so far nothing terrible had happened, but you did not trust his intentions at all. You dreaded to think what would happen if you had your heat now when he was always so close. He had not just forced you to sleep in his bedroom but to make a nest for yourself there too. You knew what it implied and you did not like it one bit. But a few months into his rule, as he started ignoring his court less and less, right as your heat was starting, he died. He was assassinated in his sleep. You were not involved at all in his murder, how could you be when you were constantly under the watch of him or his guards, but you did not raise a huge fuss over it either. You had been freed. Just in time. But it was only a delay of the inevitable. Soon after you had been crowned all those who had been involved with the assassination died, one by one. It was as if there had been some curse on the act of killing your brother and there was fear and dismay among the court and kingdom as a whole. You had never really been raised to rule, you mostly went by the advice of your council, they may have been using you as a puppet king to talk through, but they were good honest people who had wanted the best for the kingdom. With so few of them left you were buckling under the weight of your responsibility. But it would not be yours for long. After the last traitor of your sibling had been done away with, a few months into your reign and right as your heat was starting again, your brother and his wizard, who had gone missing after your brother’s murder, came sauntering into the castle, right in front of the throne as you were holding publicly addressing the problems of your lower-born subjects. There were whispers and murmurs among the guard and the present nobles. He looked different, blueish grey skin, dark rings around his now violet eyes, and his bright blonde hair had faded a bit, but he was still unmistakable as anyone but Vairthold. The deceased king. You, and everyone else present, were shocked and speechless. Had he faked his death? Why did he look so odd? Terror and hopelessness filled your heart as you knew immediately he had been responsible for the deaths of those involved in the plot against him and you were sure you would be next. He ordered the guards to remove everyone from the room except you. They hesitated briefly but decided that if your brother was not dead, and he seemingly had the ability to kill anyone who had tried to stand against him, then he was still their rightful king and they better be quick about following his orders. Vairthold smirked at you as they did his bidding while slowly approaching you, causing you to slink back against the throne with your arms in front of you protectively. The guards had left along with his magic using companion, so you were alone with him and he could do whatever he wanted with you. He wordlessly plucked the crown from your trembling form and placed it atop his head instead. “Awe, don’t be scared, little prince. I was mad at you for not avenging me, but I know you are just a weakling little omega doing what you were told. I am sorry I left you like I did, you must have been so terrified, but I wanted to become a lich, and I had to get rid of all those who would have stopped me.” You could not bear to meet his gaze, your lip trembled in fear, and your eyes were beginning to fill with tears. A lich was an immortal abomination made of magic that few believed in. If he truly was one then this couldn’t get any worse. Except it could, because under all the fear and anxiety there was another scent that had just graced your brother’s nostrils. Your heat. He began nuzzling his nose at your neck and underarms. In a rare act of defiance, perhaps forgetting exactly what he was for a moment, you tried to push away his head with all your might but he just chuckled and pinned your hands to the side. He had never been this brazen before. “It’s good that you’re feisty sometimes, shows that you’re strong, bet you’ll make us lots of strong heirs. I’ll forgive you for being uncooperative this time, putting you in front of subjects today when you’re in heat is bound to make your head a bit off. I should kill them all.” At his mention of heirs you redoubled your efforts to push him off, to somehow wiggle out of his grip, there was no way you could let this monster put anything inside of you. “N-no, this is my throne n-now! Y-y-you have to stop!” It was a pathetic display really, but a bit surprising coming from you. He smacked you with enough force to sting, but you knew he was not really trying to hurt you, just trying to remind you of your place. “Awe, that’s too cute, if you wanted the throne all you had to do was ask~ I will let you use it later.” He quickly disrobed and ripped off all of your clothing, leaving you bare beneath his hungry gaze. All your squirming and panicked pleas did nothing to stop him bending down and assaulting your neck with sloppy licks and kisses. You could smell the musk practically radiating off of him, it was making you dizzy, his smell had never interested you in the slightest and it still didn’t You could tell by his pheromones that he was a virile and fertile alpha, in any other alpha it may be attractive, but it only made your brother more terrifying. He did not have the same opinion of your scent, it had been driving him wild for years, but now was the first time he could freely indulge himself. He alternated between sniffing and licking your underarms and neck, he had longed for this for years and no one could stop him now. After making sure that you both utterly reeked of one another, he got between your legs on the ground in front of the throne and put your legs over his shoulder. Your mind felt distressed to the core, but your body had different plans, you could not control how it reacted. Especially when under the direct affections of such a powerful alpha during heat. You felt disgusted with yourself when you realized your cock was rock hard and felt slick start to leak out onto the throne beneath you, but your brother was thrilled. The smell emanating from your desperate little virgin hole was divine and he wasted no time at all in pulling your ass close to his face and sliding his tongue right in. The flavor was even better, so full of your pheromones, the taste was so intimately yours and he knew he was the only one that ever had or ever would get the chance to savor it. It was a royal treasure that only he and he alone was worthy enough for. A small involuntary moan escaped your attempt at stifling it and encouraged him to keep going. You really couldn’t help it, you were so grossed out, scared, and overstimulated that you were crying even as you instinctively spread your legs wider for him to get better access. You could feel his warm tongue sliding all around your entrance, stretching and warming it up. He pulled his face away from your ass and sniffed and licked at your precious little nuts, they were so tiny and delicate, unlike his big alpha balls. The scent you had there drove him wild. He started sucking on them before licking up your relatively small shaft and sucking your cock until he felt you buck into his mouth and cum all over his tongue. He moaned softly as he swallowed it all down. “I’m disgusting. That was wrong,” you muttered under your breath as you stared blankly at nothing in particular. “How could someone so sweet and perfect be disgusting? How could you think something that felt so good could possibly be wrong? Don’t worry princess, I know something that will feel so good you won’t even be able to form thoughts like that~” That was enough to jolt you from your post-orgasmic daze and revulsion, as your brother leaned over you, greedy hands busy groping and caressing up and down your sides. “I’m not a princess!!” You shrieked as you rocketed upwards from the throne and headbutt your lustful sibling as hard as you could. The unexpected impact caused even a large alpha such as himself to stumble backwards. You did not waste a fraction of a second to exploit the opening and started to get up past him. But he was no stranger to physical combat and knew how to recover quickly. He grabbed your arm and pulled you over to himself with great force. He sat on the cushioned throne and lifted you easily, forcing you to face him as you straddled his lap. When you felt the force with which he was grabbing you and saw the violence in his eyes as a small trickle of blood flowed from his nose you immediately regret assaulting him. “Let me be VERY clear, I am the king. And you ARE my princess. And when we are married you WILL be my queen. And there is nothing you can do about it.” You instinctively whimpered softly at the anger of the bristling alpha. He ignored it and focused on putting you in your place, submitting to him and impaled on his cock. Vairthold lifted you up and slammed you down on his cock. You screamed loud as it stretched and hurt in ways you had not conceived of. You knew he had stretched you. You knew there would certainly be blood. Even your slick couldn’t make this painless when he was driving into you so forcefully while you were so tense. “This could have been a lot easier on you, but you wanted to play rough!” With his hands gripping your sides painfully he lifted you up and slammed you back down on his dick repeatedly, thrusting upwards into you each time for added force. With each thrust you whimpered and yelped out in pain, your mind breaking a bit by bit. It felt like you were being stabbed. His nails began digging in, bruising your sensitive flesh as he only escalated the force he was using, you thought you were going to pass out, you even began to welcome it. “Puh-plea-ease, p-please. I’m s-s-sorry. I’ s-sorry. I-I’m sorry.” You sniffled and stammered, tears and snot running unattractively down your face, though your “partner” didn’t seem to mind in the slightest. “Say... You’re... My... Princess…” He spat each word through gritted teeth, emphasizing each by painfully pulling you down on his cock. “I-i’m your p-pr-prin-ce-cessss.” You struggled to form the words but once you had the change was immediate. He began slowing down to a much more merciful pace before pulling your trembling form close to him. It was still extremely painful, given the abuse your hole had just endured, but you tried to not focus on it. You could not bear to look at him so you just buried your crying face into his chest instead. Vairthold took this as a sign that you were willingly seeking comfort from him as your alpha so he slowed down a bit more. As he slowly slid his cock in and out of you, a mixture of slick with a bit of blood leaking down his shaft, he licked, kissed, and nuzzled the sensitive scent gland on your neck to try to comfort you. You had hurt him, but you had submitted to your king, so you didn’t deserve anymore pain. “You’re being such a good girl for me, I am gonna put so many babies in that belly.” You sobbed a bit louder but made no movements against him. He stroked your back soothingly as his knot swelled up inside you, tying the both of you together right before his cock spasmed and began filling you up with seed. As he came he bit down on your neck hard, officially marking you as his mate. By the mercy of the gods you finally passed out, sparing you the pain of being conscious while tied to your alpha. King Vairthold licked your neck clean of the blood he had just drawn and cuddled you protectively, his instincts telling him to keep his mate safe at all costs. When his knot finally allowed him to, he slid out of your ass before bundling you up and carrying upstairs to your private chambers. He cleaned you off carefully and laid you in your bed, before sliding in beside you and wrapping his arms around your waist. As he lay there with his princess in his arms he could scarcely wait for the preparations to turn you into a lich to be completed. He was going to keep you with him for all eternity.

[markrosewater]

Hi Mark,

I brought this up before but I have been seeing Magic getting much more comfortable with modern technology and how much of a disconnect that is (to me) seeing it on the table. I am not talking about advanced technology, but rather mimicking directly our real-life technology. New Cappenna, Kamigawa, even Karlov and thunder junction touched this, but the high tops are tv sets from the duskmourn previews make everything feel mundane and not "magic" to me.

Is this type of world building direction something we are going to see more often? Do you think that UB living in more modern settings has allowed sets like this to be made, where previously they wouldn't have? I think people are excited I think the set is going to be loved, I think design and art has been amazing this year, but again for me every has been feeling less magical.

Magic does what it always does, push boundaries. Magic is not inherently tied to any time period. You can have modern settings where Magic plays a big role in the world.

We’ve been testing how modern Magic can be. Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty was very modern and it was beloved.

But if the overall feedback is modern things are too much, we can pull back. Duskmourn is definitely pushing into new area.

What do you all think?

[hainuwelle]

The third man theory

Note: This theory takes as starting point Aurora's Fun theory. It states that the invention in which Gaster fell was a new version of a warp door that would have allowed the monsters of the underground to escape to a timeline in which the war against the humans never happened. If this experiment were to work, it would have allowed for a happier ending than the True Pacifist one, because more accidents and deaths would have been prevented.

Sadly, Gaster's experiments went wrong and he was scattered "across time and space". The only other time in Undertale this expression is used is when we call Papyrus in Sans's room, the one that gets us lost in a seemingly endless darkness when we enter it, with a door that suspiciously looks like Mystery Man's grey door and Deltarune's warp doors. This key expression used by Papyrus tells us Gaster's creation and untimely demise should have something to do with these doors.

If this theory is correct, the invention in which Gaster fell would have been under our nose the whole time.

With the FUN theory video in mind, something about Mr. Elegance's dialogues caught my eye.

Evidence 1 - Mr. Elegance, if we didn't previously talk to Jigsaw Joe:

Evidence 2 - Mr. Elegance if we previously talked to Jigsaw Joe:

For a flaming teleportation door one would assume to be magical, the vocabulary used to talk about it sure sounds mechanical and mundanely machine-like : « Fix up », « working on it », « got this door workin’ », « it might break », « fixed that door », « it should work without any issues ». Intriguingly, it looks old, and yet, it is new to the Darkners, who have never seen it before. Is it really Darkner technology?

Of course, to an experienced Undertale player, it looks familiar, similar to the one to Sans's room.

This brings us to my question: Why did Toby Fox add these two different Mr. Elegance dialogues about this door? What purpose do they serve?

It can't be to alert the player that they could malfunction if we haven’t previously talked to Jigsaw Joe, since they always work properly regardless. It’s not like this triggers a side quest asking you to talk to the puzzle man if you don't want a 1/6 chance of the door teleporting you into the void. And they don't serve a comedic purpose either. There is no joke, no punchline. So why warn us about the breaking hazard, if the warp doors never break in the first place ? Why specify that 3 people are needed to get them to work smoothly?

Because this isn’t really about the Scarlet Forest shortcut. The door might not break in the game, but it might have broken somewhere else. This is really about what went wrong with Gaster's experiments.

Time to bring in evidence 3:

First, let's note that this tweet isn't exactly talking about the same situation as in evidence 1 : Mr. Elegance talks about a door that two people got to work and that might break, while Toby Fox talks about a machine that's already broken and that two people could never repair.

However, evidence 2 tells us that when three of them worked on it, the machine should work without a problem. So if we assume that these dialogues are really about the creation that led to Gaster’s demise, this means that the reason things went wrong is because one person was missing.

Two people worked on the machine instead of three, which led to Gaster's disappearance. Yet, we know that two people were trying to repair the machine once it was broken. This means that after Gaster's disappearance, the missing person came back.

Now let's imagine that Gaster formed a trio with two other colleagues that we'll name X and Y. The Royal Scientist is working on a door-shaped machine that would free the monsters from their imprisonment. As the fate of the Underground lies in his hands, a lot of pressure is resting upon his shoulders. The role that X and Y had in this creation is unknown. Gaster could have even built it on his own. But thanks to Entry n°17, we know that shared his experiments with two other people. And thanks to the Japanese translation, we know he was rather close to them.

After the construction of the machine, Gaster and X try to get it to work, but without Y. Maybe they walked away from the experiment, maybe the other two didn't trust them enough, we don't know.

Despite this, they manage to make it work with just the two of them. However, what Mr. Elegance predicts happens, and something goes wrong. Two people just wasn't enough to assure that the machine would work properly. It's too unstable. It malfunctions. Gaster falls inside, is shattered across time and space, and the machine breaks.

Now let's come back to the end of Toby Fox's tweet. ”Neither of them could fix the machine, no matter how hard they tried. No one can." Notice that "neither of them" means precisely two people.

After the incident, Y comes back, but Gaster disappeared. The trio is now a duo. Y and X do everything they can to repair the machine, but can't. No one can. Because Gaster, the person necessary to its reparation, is no more.

If this theory is right, what are X and Y’s identities? And why was Y absent during the creation of the shortcut door machine? A lot of questions have yet to be answered...

[dailyadventureprompts]

Homebrew Mechanic: Fixing D&D’s Gameplay Loop with Item Degradation

Normally I have snappy titles for these, but in this case I wanted to be super upfront with what I was getting you all into. 

Some people are not going to like the idea of introducing item degradation into the game, and they’re ABSOLUTELY right to be hesitant. Just about every attempt I’ve seen (includig both RAW versions from previous editions, examples from videogames, and those I’ve put together myself in the past) have been horribly clunky exercises in beancounting that only ever existed to needlessly slow down gameplay for the sake of joyless realism. 

I’ve come at it from another angle however, but to explain we’re going to need to get into some game design talk. 

The basic gameplay loop of D&D is supposed to be: 

Seeking adventure leads you to face challenges

Overcoming challenges leads you to rewards

Rewards Help you get stronger 

Getting stronger allows you to seek tougher adventures

After a while this system starts to break down specifically with regards to gold as a method of reward. Even if you’re the smart sort of DM who flouts the rules and gives their party access to a magic item shop, there’s an increasingly limited number of things to spend gold on, leading to parties acquiring sizable hordes of riches early on in their adventuring career, completely eliminating the desire to accept quests that pay out in gold in one form or another. This is a pretty significant flaw because adventures that centre around acquisition of riches ( treasure hunts, bounty missions, busywork for rich patrons that will inevitably betray you) are foundational to storytelling within the game, especially early on in a campaign before the party has gotten emotionally invested.  Most advice you can find online attempting  to solve this problem tends to dissolve down to “let them pour money into a home base”,  but that can only really happen once per campaign as a party is unlikely to want more than one secret clubhouse. 

TLDR:  What I propose is the implantation of a lightweight system that forces the party to periodically drop small amounts of wealth into maintaining their weapons/armour/foci. The players will be motivated to seek out gold in order to keep using their best stuff,  giving value to treasure drops that previously lacked it.  Not only does this system act as an insulation against powercreep at higher levels, it also encourages a party to engage with the world as they seek out workshops and crafters capable of repairing their gear. 

The System: 

Weapons, armour, shields, and caster foci (staves, holy symbols etc) can accumulate “ticks” of damage, represented by a dot or X drawn next to their item entry on the character sheet. Because you get better at handling your gear as you level up, an item that exceeds a total number of ticks equal to its bearer’s proficiency bonus breaks, and is considered unusable until it is repaired. 

Weapons and Foci gain a tick of damage when you roll a natural 1 on an attack made with them, or if they are specifically targeted by an enemy’s attack.

Armour and shields gain a tick of damage when you roll a nat 1 on a saving throw or when an enemy beats your ac by 5 or more. A character equipped with both can decide which of the two items receives the tick

Creatures with the “siege” (or any “does double damage to objects” ability) deal an extra tick when attacking gear. 

A character with a crafting proficiency  and access to tools can repair a number of ticks of damage equal to their proficiency on a four hour work period. This rate is doubled if they have access to a properly equipped workshop.  A character with access to the mending cantrip can repair ticks on any kind of item, but is limited to their proficiency bonus per work period.  

Having an item repaired by an NPC crafter removes all ticks, but costs vary depending on the rarity of the item:    5g for a mundane item, 10g for a common item, 50g for uncommon, 250 for a rare, 1250 for a very rare, 6250 for a legendary.  The DM decides the limit on what each crafter can repair, as it’s likely small towns have access to artisans of only common or uncommon skill, requiring the party to venture to new lands or even across planes if they wish to repair end game gear.

As you can see, degradation in this system is easy to keep track of and quite gradual, leading players into a position where they can ignore obvious damage to their kit for the sake of saving their now precious gold.  It likewise encourages them to seek out NPC crafters (and potential questhooks) for skills they do not possess, and encourages the use of secondary weapons either as backups or to save the more potent items in the arsenal for a real challenge. 

Consumables

Everyone knows the old joke about players hoarding consumables from the first adventure past the final bossfight, it transcends genre and platform, and speaks to a nature of loss aversion within our shared humanity.  However, giving players items they’re never going to use amounts to wasted time, resources, and potential when looking at things from a game design perspective, so lets work on fixing that. 

My inspiration came from witcher 3, which encourages players to make frequent use of consumables by refreshing them whenever the character had downtime. The darksouls series has a similar feature with the signature estus flask, which provides a limited number of heals before it must be refreshed at one of the game’s checkpoints.  When the designers removed the risk of permanent loss and the anxiety it creatures, players were able to think tactically about the use of their consumables confident in the knowledge that any mistakes were just a resupply away from being fixed.  

My proposal is that while the party is in town they can refill the majority of their consumable items for a small per item fee. Just like with gear degradation, this encourages them to seek out crafters and do quests for the hope of discounts, while at the same time encouraging them to explore new realms in the hope of discovering higher level artisans. 

The price for refills is set at: 5g for common, 25g for an uncommon, 125g for a rare, 625g for a very rare, 3125g for  legendary.  I encourage my own players to keep a  “shopping list” in their inventory with prices tabulated so they can hand out a lump sum of gold and have their kit entirely refreshed. 

Characters with a relevant skill and access to their tools can refill a number of items equal to their proficiency bonus during a four hour work period. With access to a proper workshop, this rate doubles.   ( At last, proficiency with brewers supplies, carpenters tools etc become useful) 

I encourage you as a DM to check out this potion flasks system, which I’ve found adds a delicious factor of uncertainty back into the mix.  Attached is also my super lightweight rules for tracking gear and supplies, which I absolutely refuse to shut up about.

Artist

[chthonic-sorcery]

Direct Vision Spell for an Oracle 𓂀

A 2000 year old Greco-Egyptian magic spell

─── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ──

[PGM V 54 – 69]

So sick of all these fake bs Tumblr and Pinterest spells-

"what color candle means what lol" with zero cultural or historical significance, it's like they just pulled things out of their ass.

So, here is a real 2000 year old Greek and Egyptian syncretic spell from Thebes to receive a direct vision from the beyond....WITH cultural and historical context.

Because, yes, history is important, and anyone giving you "spell tips" without telling you where the fuck they're from or what they mean is bullshitting you.

Ancient Greek oracular spells were rituals and invocations performed to gain insights or predictions from the gods, the Theoi, as well as Daemons and the Dead, particularly through seers known as oracles.

The Spell: PGM V 54 – 69 from the Greek Magical Papyri

Context of the Spell:

This spell is an interesting blend of Egyptian and Greek oracular practice: the use of Coptic or Egyptian eyepaint, kohl, here is interesting– as well as it's mixture with water from a sunken ship. Water from such locations are normally reserved for love spells, as we see previously in the PGM. The relationship or correspondence between a literal sunken vessel and sinking into the throes of passion. However, here, with its use in an oracular spell, it seems to correspond more to the chthonic or otherworldly realm, giving te wearer the ability to see past the normal, mundane world; past the ‘veil’ so to speak and into the beyond.

The use of the magical mystery word or voces magicae “Akrammachamarei” here is also notable; it is quite often seen throughout the PGM, and is associated with the God/Daemon/Archon of both Gnostic (Jewish-Egyptian) as well as Greek origin, Abrasax.

In spell PGM V. 96-172, Abrasax is identified as part of the "true name which has been transmitted to the prophets of Israel" of the "Headless One, (also known as the Egyptian god Bês) who created heaven and earth, who created night and day ... Osoronnophris whom none has ever seen ... awesome and invisible god with an empty spirit"; the name also includes Iaō and Adōnai, the ineffablenames of the Jewish god. "Osoronnophris" represents Egyptian Wsir Wn-nfr, or "Osiris the Perfect Being.” Another identification with Osiris is made in PGM VII. 643-51: "you are not wine, but the guts of Osiris, the guts of ... Ablanathanalba Akrammachamarei Eee, who has been stationed over necessity, Iakoub Ia Iaō Sabaōth Adōnai Abrasax."

Instructions:

─── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ──

After you have purified yourself (through ritual bathing and declarations) you must put on your clean linen robes and sandals of Papyrus.

Then, taking a purified bronze censer, place the laurel leaves inside and light them until the smoke fills the room. Walk clockwise around the room, and your workspace, Chanting the Ephesia Grammata:

ΑΣΚΙ(ΟΝ) ΚΑΤΑΣΚΙ(ΟΝ) ΛΙΞ ΤΕΤΡΑΞ ΔΑΜΝΑΜΕΝΕΥΣ ΑΙΣΙΟΝ (or ΑΙΣΙΑ)

“askion kataskion lix tetrax damnameneus aision”

Then, taking the olive oil, pour it into the waiting bronze dish.

With your right hand, anoint your right eye with the prepared water from a shipwreck.

With your left hand, mix 1 part kohl with 1 part water until it is a viscous paint, from the same dish, and anoint your left eye so that it is completely surrounded by the paint.

Then, pronounce the incantations:

"EEIM TO EIM ALALĒP BARBARIATH / MENEBREIO ARBATHIAÔTH IOUĒL IAĒL OUĒNĒIIE MESOMMIAS,

let the god who prophesics to me come and let him not go away until I dismiss him,

OURNAOUR SOUL ZASOUL / OUGOT NOOUMBIAOU THABRAT BERIAOU ACHTHIRI MARAI ELPHEŌN TABAŌTH KIRASINA LAMPSOURĒ IABOE ABLAMATHANALBA AKRAMMACHAMAREI.”

Once the incantations are finished, present any offerings and ask over the prepared olive oil dish what your question(s) are. Stare into the oil, lit only by candle or oil lamp light, and you will receive a direct vision.

─── ⋆⋅𓂀⋅⋆ ──

For more information & how to pronounce the incantations, check here.

[nemesis-is-my-middle-name]

ok besides the lesbianism one other little thing i really liked is that one shot of ambrosia clattering on the floor when marcille tacklehugs falin in bed.

which sounds so random but like, marcille's staff as the instrument of dark magic was very present imagery during the resurrection. it splitting and warping and drinking up blood, etc etc. that whole scene is completely bloodsoaked. when falin comes back you can barely see her under it. the feeling of dread that dark magic has was very palpable.

...but it doesn't matter! laios and then marcille hug falin without a second thought. not caring in the slightest that she's covered in dragon blood all they care about is she's alive. even chilchuck and senshi, the two who were most unnerved by the dark magic and also have taken a backseat wrt falin (not that they don't care just that laios and marcille are definitely the two who openly and aggressively care the most) are quick to just move past it and get down to cleaning up and cooking and uncorking some wine and just, these deeply mundane ordinary tasks. it's not that they're brushing past or trying to act like the resurrection didn't happen. it's just that it's so distantly secondary to the immediate reality of being alive together.

and marcille's staff—what was previously this twisted dark thing—is rendered completely toothless in the face of that. she just drops it on the floor next to the bed she's using, and gets on with bathing and eating and etc. she climbs in bed with falin and knocks it over accidentally because in that moment it's as harmless and unremarkable as any old piece of wood.

idk it's just. detail. yeah.

[camilasstories]

❝feeling unreciprocated❞ chapter 2 | jungkook x reader

summary: Sleeping with one guy after feeling rejected wasn't a good idea, but sleeping with another one and another seemed to be even worse plan. Especially with your handsome crush behind the wall, who is as confused as you about your ways of coping with a broken heart.

warnings: +18

note: Thank you so much for your feedback! I couldn't believe how many of you liked the first chapter, it means a lot. I'm not sure whether my style of writing is good enough, I tend to write long descriptions of mundane things which might be boring to read, but I think it's real and gives a lot to the story. Let me know, I may improve the story :) Have a nice day!

trailer | chapter 1 | next chapter

It was suffocating to know that you were almost cheating on your true feelings right in the moment. You couldn’t breath from guilt building in your heart as it felt completely terrible to consciously muffle them down just so you may find peace when he was in your presence. So you could remain emotionless to the joy that came from interacting with Jungkook.

It was so wrong but so right at the same time, giving you nightmares and surprisingly rest in mind. It would be easy one thing, you thought, and it would be all done with this specific guy and Jungkook forever. You wished this night would close the most distraught chapter in your life so you had prepared seeing it coming up to a close. Before he came, in the morning you were breathing steadily while looking at the plain white ceiling trying to remind yourself when did you fall asleep. The fact that you weren’t woken up by your alarm signalled it was earlier than usual so you just stayed in your bed a little bit longer with intention to make yourself a warm coffee in a moment. The reason your body decided to wake up at five o’clock may have been becuase of your brain knowing you were waiting for a reply from this guy. Magically, it wanted you to get the answer as fast as possible and stop worrying about whether he thought if you were crazy or not. In the evening you managed to take a long, hot shower which was previously interrupted by a message, but it fulfilled its function as it released the tension from your muscles.

You didn't want to use your phone right then. You made an excuse that the reason behind it was just to start this morning differently and perhaps break a bad habit, but to be honest you were still wondering if a hookup was a decent idea and if your decision-making device in your head was in order those days. Probably not, however it was the first step to drag yourself away from Jungkook. Once you tried to suggest him somebody in his environment may have feelings form him, but he brushed it off with a laugh saying it's too bad as he was not interested in anyone that time. So you presumed that if he's not attracted even to hot girls in a club then it felt like you did not stand a chance with him really, so trying to make him see you more than just a far friend was pointless in your opinion. Maybe if he had showed some signs that he was interested in a romantic way, you would have taken the action, but he gave you nothing apart from your movie nights and saying hello during the day. It was the moment you felt rejected even if you didn't confess to him and you didn't get the answer. It was clear enough and you weren't even mourning. It was like it was. The whole situation got accepted by you, just not by your heart, but you were slowly handling it.

When you went out of your room you knew he was in a flat. Keys that were laying on the foyer console hit you with thought that yesterday you didn't have a opportunity to see Jungkook after your movie night which you found quite odd comparing to the other ones that were full of jokes and just light atmosphere. You had no idea when he got home, but his keys gave away his presence, which made you settle down. For some reasons you felt calmer when you knew he got home safe, that he was near although you might have not exchanged any words. It didn't matter. Perhaps, it would change soon, you came to conclusion as you analyzed your texts with a guy named Hyun Won.

At the beginning they were quite normal texts where two people wanted to know something more about each other... until they weren't and it wasn't even a slow process. They soon intensified and escalated to the point you doubted who you really were. Topics changed drastically to more nasty ones and he got straight to the point you wanted to make from the start. You just didn't get the answer from him as he became inactive.

You winced at your cringey ways.

"Fuck it, now or never" you murmured against your mug with coffee and entered your password "Please, just don't block me, stranger".

To your surprise it didn't happen, though it made you look like a simple night lady, which wasn't something you were proud of, but hey! You had a fine explanation for it - people your age were doing the same things and maybe even worse over and over again. And sex? Sex was normal, right? Okay, maybe not with strangers, this part was obvious, but again it was totally normal to make love spontaneously. Moreover, there was a new message written at one in the morning in your box "can't wait to see you in bed this evening", so the guy was keen on meeting with you, therefore it couldn't be that horrible. He didn't shoo you off. You read it again with frowned eyebrows because you believed there was something you had missed.

"This evening?" you touched your forehead with your hand letting out a groan "This can't be...".

And another one that came after it: "your place?"

You were hoping to do it rather somewhere else than in your apartment, but what would be more responsible in this situation? Be killed in somebody's house and as a result nobody would be able to find your body or in yours where everyone knew where you lived? Well, both options sucked to be honest. He would have known where you resided if you invited him over. You consented in the end hoping Jungkook would be away at some party which was highly likely. And it happened. He did informed you again he would be out this evening. It made you roll your eyes in annoyance you felt knowing there was no hope to make him change his mind so you could text the guy you couldn’t meet, that something important popped up and you’re truly sorry which would be a lie. But Jungkook decided unconsciously not to make your life easier and there you were giving yourself to a guy you knew only from the Internet and his skills in bed that he wanted to show instantly in your bedroom.

“Fuck, baby” you heard husky voice in your ear while your body shivered from cold as you found yourself in situation where no material was covering your skin “You’re a fucking angel, I hope you know that”.

You were completely naked, laying on your bed waiting for his moves as you didn’t have enough courage to take initiative, but he seemed not to mind. You felt light, feather kisses going from your jaw down to your collarbones which made you close your eyes. It felt weird, pleasant but odd as your body was becoming covered in red marks and tracks of teeth.

“Thank you” you whispered touching his chest with your hand as if you wanted him to slow down the peace, but he didn’t get the signal which irritated you much “Could you please do it slower?” you gasped as it hit you even harder.

He was muscular and handsome even but he wasn’t a good listener, though he did everything like it should be. He brought you flowers, a small cute bouquet that now beautifully decorated your foyer, but soon after he had given them to you, he grasped your hips tightly bringing you closer to his body and smashed his lips into yours starting your way to your room. Like he was trying to be a gentleman whom he wasn’t, but at least he tried to mimic gestures and actions that could only resemble a guy with good manners.

“Shit, but I want you so bad” he moaned in your lips thrusting into you harder and harder which didn’t hurt fortunately, but it could, seeing only lust forming in his eyes “So bad, angel. I think I might be coming” he groaned keeping his peace the way he wished not really taking into consideration your needs.

You weren’t close although it felt good to have his hands wandering on your waist and sometimes grabbing one of your breast and caressing it with fingers. But it wasn’t even near to your fantasy dreams with Jungkook in the main role which made you slightly wet even with just thinking about such kind of scenario. You felt shame when the ideas came to your mind but you couldn’t help it sometimes when you caught his smile towards you contemplating if it meant something more. Often you were dragged away by your feelings immersing yourself in pleasure of dreaming about him in general which was not right in the end.

“I don’t want you to come yet” you commanded whining as you sensed your plan didn’t work. As if you wanted to postpone the intercourse because somehow you wanted it to work, to finally change your view of Jungkook in your helpless mind.

It would have to work. There was no way it wouldn’t.

“I know, I know” he cooed holding your hand ��Wanna change positions?” he hided his face in your neck trying to shoo away pleasant feeling down his body.

“If it helps” you murmured against his skin knowing it could prevent it from ending the intercourse “Please” moan escaped your lips as he touched you down there with just a tip of his finger.

You pulled yourself up with his help in a hurry and bended on your elbows so he could take you from behind. You heard his deep sigh as he entranced you feeling even much better than before having the access to the deepest parts of your body. It seemed like you felt nothing but physical pleasure and it wasn’t something you wanted to achieve. Your aim was different - you wanted to scream forgetting all about your roommate by hanging out with Hyun Woo. Not just orgasm.

Emotions soon managed to overwhelm you. It was too much for you to handle as you were expecting something more than just a quick fuck with your mind wandering to Jungkook over and over. You uncontrollably let yourself a quite sob knowing it didn’t work. How fucked up it was to hook up with a guy to forget about the other one? It was even more strange that you thought this way was the most reasonable and that dating others would change your point of view.

“Oh, are you crying baby? I didn’t know you are this close” he took a pride in it while having his hand on your butt “Let it go, come with me”.

You just nodded your head so he could take it as as a inverbal yes knowing for yourself it wasn’t true, but how much you wanted it to be. He couldn’t even imagine, in your opinion. You wished it to work, but all you could think about was Jungkook having fun at Vixen’s with his friends and god knew who else.

“You are amazing” he still gave you compliments, but your head wasn’t there.

You weren’t present desiring it to be over so you could lay alone in your bed after having changed your sheets to fresh ones. Your room smelled like sex, this strange smell of light sweat, manly cologne and mint preservatives mixed with the smell of your lavender washing liquid on your clothes and balsams on your skin. If someone had entered your room, he would have guessed you weren’t alone this night, but there was nobody that could really check on you apart from definitely drunk right now Jungkook. But it was too early for him to come home as he tended to come back from 2 a.m. to the early morning.

“I’m so close, fuck”.

You felt how fast he was going with the sounds of slaps against your body which you endured bravely with your fists clenched on your pillow. Soon, he pulled out not wanting to come in you. He did wear condom though and he held it while pulling his cock out to make sure it wouldn’t slip. At least, there was one person that was reasonable in this flat.

You looked around searching for your clothes while he was taking off the condom.

“That was it, I suppose…” you said a little bit awkwardly stroking your thigh from nerves.

As long as there was tension between two of you you felt confident, but it was gone and so was your feeling of casualty and calmness. It made distress you, there was no doubt in it. It was nice to have somebody new in your life, another story to tell and laugh at it, but you were disappointed to say it didn’t do much with your feelings.

“Thanks for your time” you hurried up to find your shirt laying on the floor so you could put it on.

“Can we catch up later?”

The question was totally unexpected as you thought he knew it was just a hook up. You bit your lower lip trying to find a solid lie. You weren’t sure if he was playing with you or he was serious, but you didn’t want to risk hurting his feelings. You knew from autopsy what was it like to like someone who didn’t exactly care about your crush.

“We will be in touch, for sure” you assured him with a fake but soft smile “I just don’t know when I would need…” you tried to find appropriate word but nothing came to your mind.

“A bit fun?” he looked up at you with a grin while putting his boxer on.

“Yeah…” you chuckled amused at least once during this evening, you didn’t want to insult him “We can say that”.

“Great” he smiled to himself gathering his things “Because I’m looking forward to meet with you again. It was a nice treat I must say” Hyun winked at you half-naked.

“I can say the same thing” you put on you rest of your clothes “Thanks for the flowers again” you murmured thinking of his kind gesture from before.

“You’re welcome” he shrugged his shoulders like it was nothing.

You watched carefully as he tighten his belt totally lost in his thoughts. You caught him giving you some glances, so you presumed he wanted to say something, but you weren't sure if you wanted to know what it was. Frankly speaking, for you it was a final and it shouldn't have happened in the first place, but you didn't regret it. Just a new experience.

“Can I kiss you?” he blurted up suddenly.

"What?" you almost choked with air looking straight at his face and then you bite your lips realizing your reaction was too harsh "Sorry, well... I don't think it's... a good idea" you nodded your head to somehow prove your rightness.

He smiled.

“Listen, I feel like it would be our last meeting. You say nice things, but… Just by looking at you, I know you won’t call me again or text me” he sealed his lips in a line and scratched his neck “One kiss, only one? Please”.

He was right. You hoped it was your last meeting and that no more ideas like this would came to your mind.

"Why would you want us to kiss again?" you asked folding your arms "It was just a hookup... I think you know it".

"I know it, so?"

You sighed rubbing your face with your hand trying to focus. Why would he want it to continue? He was supposed to get his things and go out through your doors without any strings attached and you are supposed to close this door and forget about love, boyfriends and all of this shit. But it might have been too simple, too ideal. As always nothing was going as it should have.

He came closer and grabbed your face waiting for your approval. You weren't sure if you should let him do it, maybe it wouldn't do any more harm. Just a small kiss. A peck. Nothing more.

You saw him lowering his head. You still hadn't made your decision contemplating in your mind if it was okay for you to kiss again.

“Hyun Woo…” you took his hands in yours and pulled it away “You should go now”.

It wasn't okay. Not with this state of mind.

"Nice play, baby".

You knew what he exactly meant. You let him come closer, let him believe he would have the chance to touch your lips last time and he was ready for it, but you stopped him. And he wasn't happy about it seeing his facial expression.

"Go, I mean it".

"Yeah, I should go".

You walked with him to your door, passing by flowers from him in a vase and the second he stepped out your flat you shut the door and locked it. It was wrong of you, but from the beginning it wasn't something serious so you allowed yourself for rudeness for once. You just set the boundary he must respected, that was it. Nothing you were guilty of.

You looked around your empty flat, it was almost midnight so it was likely in two or three hours Jungkook would come to your flat silently kicking off his shoes. Then he would bump once or twice on the wall as he wouldn't be sober and he would go back to his room to end his night. You covered your face feeling burning in your eyes, but you didn't allow the tears to fall down. It was your idea in the end, it didn't work, but at least you tried to burn down these feelings.

"Get over it" you mumbled to yourself and made your way back to your room.

You didn't fall asleep until you heard the sound of unlocking the door and clashing keys which gave you a comforting signal Jungkook came back home safely.

*

It was Sunday so it was odd that you were already on your feet picking your outfit. You grabbed your oversized, soft, beige sweatpants, tight, white camis and long socks in the same colour. This set made you desire to come back to your bed, but you were adamant to make use of the morning as you tend to wake up late during the weekend to make up for the lost sleep. Your courses weren't getting easier so your lifestyle was becoming more and more unhealthy each day. This was your day to relax and gain some energy for the rest of your afternoon and evening.

Mentally you were exhausted, mainly because of yesterday's night and the fact that Hyun decided not to let you forget he was present in your room and in your life. Firstly, he had left his undershirt under your night desk. Secondly, he texted you when he got back home and he was waiting for the reply. So it wasn't over yet, but you decided not to make something big out of it and you didn't even read the message from him and the garment he left was thrown into the trash bin under your sink. You had to take the garbage out, anyway.

You had taken your planner with you and made your way to the kitchen, where the first thing you did was to open the blinds to refresh yourself with sunbeams. Then you put the kettle on and made your favorite coffee to start the day.

You took a sip and then you started to scribble in your planner. Apart from your romantic failures you remembered well your other problems and sadly you had to take care of them too. Your finances were tight these month as you spent a good amount on your laptop that decided to log out from life this time forever. Of course you worked hard during summer to earn more money. If it hadn't been for your note-gathering device, you wouldn't have problem with budgeting, but well it was time to find yourself a casual work to pay the rent. Even if you split it between you and Jungkook the cost was still high as you were living almost in the city centre. You couldn't be still depended on your parents, though they still bankrolled you in some ways telling you it's they duty until you are still studying which you were grateful for.

It was almost nine when you finished planning your budget, ten when you finished eating your breakfast and Jungkook still didn't show up or at least leave his room to take a shower. He must have passed out drunk if he slept to this hour. If he was at Vixen's again, but you weren't sure if it was the place he went to. You cleaned your mess in the kitchen and grabbed a thick, long cardigan. You wanted to take a walk to clear up your head, but just before you left the place a black car had appeared in front of your block and you saw familiar faces approaching your doors.

"Hi, (Y/N)!" you discerned your roommate's friends Namjoon and Jimin at once, quite surprised they were here at this early our "Is Jungkook home?"

"I think he's still sleeping, but yes" you chuckled seeing him rolling his eyes "Were you supposed to meet with him now?" you asked folding your arms to warm yourself up as you overestimated the weather this time.

"Yes" Namjoon scratched his neck thinking heavily and put a question politely "Would you mind if we..."

"No, of course not" you knew right away what he wanted to ask and of course you didn't mind "Come in" you came back to your flat this time with two guys following you to the living room.

You didn't know each other well, but you believed Namjoon was the kindest and always starting the conversations with you. First time you two met, you were kind of uncomfortable as Jungkook also didn't tell you somebody would be with him, and you had been standing in your door in comfy pants and white crop-top with your famous pink slippers with big flamings on them. He wasn't judgmental, he had just smiled at you and started a chit-chat, while the rest of the group stayed in his car waiting for them to hurry up because they were already late for a birthday's party. You didn't meet Jimin in reality, you knew him from Jungkook's story and you sometimes checked his social media, but nothing more.

"I'm (Y/N), by the way" you said to a new guest.

"I know" he chuckled sitting on your legendary sofa "Namjoon showed me your profile and some photos. Sorry if it sounded creepy" he made himself clear right away after he had seen your confused expression.

You started grabbing Jungkook's things and yours so his friends could feel less overwhelmed by your small mess. His pads from the console and your DVD's that weren't even scratched after all these years of having them in your possession. They were a gift from your sister after she had moved out from city so it was no way you would damage them in any way.

"Sorry for the mess, he hasn't told me you were going to come" you explained and smiled at them having all these things in your hands.

"Just leave it, (Y/N)" Namjoon waved his arm at you "He could move his lazy ass too" you giggled, but did it anyway not wanting to leave the room in front of them looking like that.

"He'll get out soon guys" you informed as you heard a noise of opening doors from Jungkook's room and running water in a bathroom, so you guessed he had woken up and started getting ready "Do you want something to drink?" you asked and just before you took a step towards the kitchen your phone started buzzing.

"No, but thanks" they both replied so you let yourself take phone in your hands again this morning to check who was bothering your peace.

Another messages were waiting for you to open them and all of them were from Hyun Won, unfortunately he didn't give up. You looked at the display of notifications and rolled your eyes. He made quite sexual remarks in them so you would have hidden under the ground if someone had read them right now. You put your phone away, but it didn't stop giving out rings and sounds, which made you even more mad at yourself that you texted him first.

"Wow, it seems like someone desires your attention" Jimin winked at you with a playful smirk "Who's that?"

"Nobody, really" you answered his uncomfortable question knowing he didn't have anything bad in mind, you presumed he just wanted to have something you could talk about as you two just met "Just a... friend. I guess" you were getting lost in your words as you didn't know how to cover the subject without disclosing details to almost a stranger. You only trusted Gia with these matters, but this time you weren't sure if you would like to share it, even with her.

"Jungkook! Did you know your cute roommate has a boyfriend?" he shouted which met with Namjoon's deadly stare "I would check him out if I were you" he tried to hover over the table a take a look at your screen, but you took your phone immediately from reach of his sight.

"Jimin!" Namjoon pushed him back to the sofa, but his action was met with a loud laugh from intruder and you just blushed at the previous words heavily. You wanted to get out from here as quick as possible because no way you could handle his friends knowing how much impact Jungkook's topic had on you.

"Stop saying shit" you mumbled embarrassed to Jimin "It's not my boyfriend" you didn't know why you were even explaining yourself to him, it wasn't your obligation, but you wanted to make it clear so no gossips could travel to the ears of Jungkook's circle of friends.

"But soon to be one?"

"What did you read?" you raised your eyebrow quite angry with him inside.

"Not much, but enough to know what is going on" he winked at you in a friendly way.

"Oh, shut your mouth, Jimin" Namjoon slapped his head "You're making her uncomfortable".

It was really not okay to look at private text and of course you got mad until you reminded yourself that you did the same thing with Jungkook so you just sighed with a mild smile. You weren't going to be hypocrite.

"Sorry, I shouldn't have" he said to you still being in a good mood and trying not to beam too much "I was just kidding".

"It's okay, just..."

"Stop harassing my roommate, fuckers" Jungkook said entering the room "She pays half of my bills" he added.

He had in fact overheard the conversation, but didn't made out everything as running water muffled their voices. Despite strongly believing in his friends' ways with girls, he decided to hurry up as he didn't think leaving you to take care of them alone was a good idea since they were very specific. The first thing he was worried about was you getting overwhelmed by them and silly things they tended to say, the second one was Jimin's flirtatious nature that could effectively scare you off. It felt like it was his responsibility to keep his friends in check. Especially when you kindly welcomed them, although you could have ignored them and keep minding your own business. He didn't even blow-dry his hair.

"Talking about finances in lady's presence? Where are your manners?" he was met with a snarky comment.

"Fuck off, Jimin".

"You look like shit, man" Namjoon changed the topic and it seemed like he noticed his unhealthy appearance too, but Jungkook answered nothing not wanting to raise a subject in your presence and you noticed it right away.

"Morning" he murmured towards you with a soft voice and you just smiled sadly in return which he didn't catch as he turned back taking his energetic from the fridge "You can throw them out the door next time. You have my allowance".

"Thanks, Jungkook" you saw Jimin folding his arms "I love being your friend, seriously".

"And I don't" Jeon opened the can and shrugged his shoulders looking at you "Make them wait, don't bother to even get up".

"I wouldn't do that, you know it" you shook your head and bended down to put your mug to the dishwasher.

Jungkook watched you carefully as you lower down your body.

Your white cami had a large neckline so it exposed your chest even more when you leaned down giving him the full view of your breast and even the scratch of your light pink bra. Both of the garments had a lace on them so it gave him girly vibes which in his opinion suited you well. He licked his lips hooking against his ring. To him, you came as a the nicest girl who couldn't hurt even a fly and he liked your presence and he? He was the opposite, which kind of prevented him unconsciously from bending with you or creating any relationship apart from being your friend. It was sufficient regarding his ways. Jungkook was a heavy partier, you were stay-at-home person, at least he had such a view of you and it wasn't something negative. He was just attractive to different type of girls and he liked their attention and that there was no drama in his life because both sides knew what they were signing for. With you it would be completely another story, he would have to go out of his comfort zone if he had something in mind with you. Relationships were something new to him and he didn't want to explore it.

But when he noticed some red marks on your breast which had signs of trying helplessly to cover them with some concealer his mind went numb. The hickeys on your soft body which he discovered by accident didn't get slipped through his sight and then he connected the dots. The flowers in the foyer, your tired expression and signs of sex on your skin. Were you with some guy yesterday when he wasn't home? He got lost in thoughts. He wasn't sure, because when he came back all the lights were down and there was silence so he knew you were asleep or at least laying in your room.

Maybe naked, which kind of turned him on and made him feel guilty.

But it couldn't be, right? He didn't catch any tracks of a guest or maybe he was just too drunk to notice them. Moreover, you never invited anyone to your house and he didn't either to respect each other spaces and boundaries. And you didn't have a boyfriend, but maybe something changed. He felt something weird inside, like a small, mischievous sting which was enough to bother him in some ways.

He let it go with a frowned expression on his face. It wasn't his business whether you were dating somebody, it shouldn't be at least, but when he heard the scream from the living room about you having somebody and Jimin's remark about you being cute he got irritated and rapidly put his boxers on to get out from the bathroom. He was going crazy, he thought madly about himself.

"You good?" Namjoon asked waking him up from his thoughts.

"Huh?" he looked at him realizing you were no longer present in the kitchen.

"You didn't answer her".

"Answer who?"

"(Y/N)" Jimin rolled his eyes and laid himself on the kitchen island having changed the previous place "She said goodbye to you".

Jungkook opened his lips as he got taken aback at first but quickly got himself together not to give his friends something to talk about. Was he really so lost in his thoughts? About you? He let out an angry sigh, he must have got himself together because he thought it was stupid of him to think about his roommate's love life and adding himself to its story. Jungkook didn't even know you well and the only thing he cared about was going to parties and get drunk. Although, he must admitted he liked Friday's evenings with you, it was something different from his routine. Something refreshing that managed to slow down his peace of life. He was always running enjoying his twenties not wanting to sit down for a minute being scared of losing his fun time and thanks to you Jungkook could have a moment of rest.

"I haven't heard" he admitted with a casual, not caring type of voice "Not a big deal, I'll see her later" but inside he hoped you didn't think of it as a insult or that he didn't want to talk with you.

"You watched her boobs then you didn't answer her and now you say it's not a big deal, huh?" Jimin put it bluntly and laughed with the oldest "Are you stupid or me?"

Me, Jungkook answered in his head with a twist. That was so wrong of him to think about you like that.

"We're not blind" Namjoon added sensing Jungkook was faking it "I mean, I wouldn't judge you. She is attractive, but apparently not free".

Not free. So perhaps you had a boyfriend which he didn't know about, but he convinced himself he couldn't care less.

"Fuck it" he took his gym bag from the foyer "She's just my roommate, not my interest. Let's go".

[chocodile]

Hypothetically speaking, what would one of Hyden’s preceding siblings turned out to be like had they survived into adulthood? Doubly so if Hyden still came to be, courtesy of preemptive pessimism for child-viability, and they shared a household. I’d kill to know what sort of absurd dynamic he’d have with an Older Sister or what her appearance might be like in comparison (contrast ??) to his.

That's an interesting hypothetical!

*BELOW IS ALL NON-CANON SPECULATION*

I think many factors could influence this… the biggest ones would be "how good at magic is this hypothetical sibling" as well as "how physically and mentally fucked up is this hypothetical sibling." Going with the "older sister" route, I can see a couple different outcomes:

Older Sister who is much more sickly and/or unable to use magic at all: Hyden wouldn't be that different. He'd still grow up seeing himself as his family's only real heir. He would probably feel some resentment and anger to his sister for "wasting" his parents' time and energy despite being obviously unfit to inherit the family mantle. Otherwise, though, he'd basically act as if she didn't exist. Their mother Aurelia would immediately switch to caring about her magically-inclined son rather than her mundane daughter. The rejected Older Sister might find solace getting along with Arcturus III, their introverted and ineffectual father… which would only deepen Hyden's dislike for her.

Older Sister who is magically-inclined and not on death's door: This would get interesting. As a male heir, he would supersede her in terms of title inheritance--something she would be quite displeased by if she'd grown up planning her life around being heir apparent. So I could see a serious rivalry forming. I think that especially with Hyden's growth disorder making him get really tall at a really young age she'd see him as a noxious invasive cuckoo chick poised to rapidly overtake her life and replace her.

As Hyden has previously stated (?), "madness" runs in his family, though. There are… solutions… to an undesirable usurper poised to steal your title that are available to the morally flexible noble. And, well, he was always sickly, right? If poor, dear baby brother were to pass away in his sleep after something was slipped into his wine glass at dinner… who's to say it wasn't a death of natural causes? Maybe it would even be the kinder option. I mean, the family healer always said that he was unlikely to survive to adulthood…

Baby Hyden's longevity here would probably come down to whether or not he figured out what his sister was plotting and turned the tables on her before it was too late.

A related possible path: He goes against inheritance norms and bows out of the wizard family title battle entirely, giving up on his magic schooling and allowing Older Sister to claim the role of Viscountess. He gets an arranged political marriage to a woman from another noble family and goes into another line of work. Maybe being a political advisor or researcher of magical artifacts something.

As you can imagine, this would be not be voluntary. More of a "Mom and Older Sister have leverage against me that I cannot overcome and were planning to kill me to get me out of the way, so we reached an agreement." Hyden would not be happy feeling like he'd been discarded and cheated out of his birthright. He would probably spiral downward over the years, chronically unable to find fulfillment or satisfaction, which he would blame on the fact that he'd been denied the life he was obviously supposed to have.

There would, of course, be many whispers about why the male heir would give up his title, though. It would be a really bad look. They'd figure there must be something terribly wrong with him.

Long story short: They wouldn't have a good relationship. The Hyden family dynamic is doomed to be a mess no matter what because everyone involved is extremely spoiled, extremely inbred, and extremely desperate to grab whatever power they can. They'd scheme and murder each other until there was one left standing no matter what.

[fereldensheroesa]

@fallesto asked:

A comprehension of change struck him like lightning. Focused vision slid sidewards, giving him views of his flanks which usual peripheral vision only teased at. The varying pongs of woodland life rose to prominence in nostrils which now pulled heavy breaths as if even walking pace demanded air usually afforded for continued exertion. The gentle sound of wind blowing upon the branches and the endless titter of birdsong filled ears which alarmingly moved toward the source of sound. His abruptly hunched disposition now seemed like the only position he ever could have been arranged, the idea of standing straight relegated to a passing novelty. He looked upon himself and saw a chalky barrel chest draped in previously crimson clothing now turned a sickly yellow, blue robes below strewn upon the muddy ground near his alarmingly hoofed feet. A flick of something beyond locked his focus rearward, alarm surging into his altered self. Watching carefully he he could just about catch a glimpse of a thick haired tail sweeping past his plump posterior; his entire body keeping its amble girth despite the alarming and wondrous changes on display. A breeze was felt by his underside and helped reinforce his new found indigent nakedness. The obvious conclusion laid itself bare in his mind but acceptance denied it, his mind spinning endlessly for some sort of mundane conclusion like a mill wheel endlessly churning water. He threw his head around and snorted, attempting to cast off this feverish dream or drunken hallucination; its persistence burning away comforting possibilities. He looked back at himself, mouth parted in shock -- he was no longer man but a beast. The tales of this woodland were true, and by some sort of enchantment or curse, he walked not as a man of nobility, but what would be considered a fine steed for nobility instead!

She had felt something... a stirring in the Green. Someone it did not seem to trust had entered the forest, a forest she was a more... welcome intruder to. Dryads, they did not like outsiders. They disliked men even more.

Gwen was allowed passage as a respectful sort. A witch who looked out for things like the old growth, the old ways. Not like those pretentious sorceresses, no. A druid, one of few that still wandered the Continent--- outside of Skellige, perhaps, but Skellige had kept many old traditions and beliefs alive. She respected that.

Flowers, herbs, were tucked gently into the basket she carried. A little luna moth that shone like a sun-dappled autumn forest settled at her shoulder. The witch stood, wandering towards the source of the growing magics---

There, just past the brush, she spotted him. Red hair like her own--- that was the most she noticed before the change took place. It was akin to stories she'd heard as a child. Gods turning those who wandered where they should not into animals--- typically to the death of the mortal who had done so.

Fearlessly, she stepped into sight once the transformation completed. "Quite th' curse... you're lucky it wasn't arrows. That tends t'be th' usual for dryads." She could be a curse breaker, certainly, it was within her ability. Not here, though. Not within the still angry boughs.

[literary-illuminati]

2024 Book Review #14 – And Put Away Childish Things by Adrian Tchaikovsky

This book I basically came across by chance. Or, well, not exactly chance, but I’d never even heard of it before until I checked what Tchaikovsky books my local library system had copies of and saw it. Which in a sense is a terrible way to come into this – it’s an incredibly dramatic swerve from any of Tchaikovsky’s other stuff that I’ve read – but coming in totally blind pretty much worked, I think. Genuinely very fun read.

The story follows Harry Bodie, a children’s TV presenter facing down middle age with a career that’s never really lived up to expectations. Somewhat desperately, he signs on to a tabloid-ish program about digging into the family tree, hoping to use the residual fame of his grandmother and her fairly famous and successful series of postwar children’s fantasy novels as a career boost. Instead he gets his face rubbed in the fact that his great-grandmother is only recorded as an indigent madwoman, and the famous author was born in a sanitarium. That the famous Underhill stories were, in fact, based in large part on delusions told as childhood fables and family histories.

Somewhat unsurprisingly, the stories turn out to be less delusional than previously reported. Bodie is in quick succession accosted by a faun, approached by a suspicious PI, and kidnapped by a surprisingly moneyed fan-club-cum-occult-coven. Soon enough he’s getting his first taste of Underhill first hand – or, at least, what’s left of it after a century and change of economizing and entropy.

I’m on record as being fairly dismissive about the whole category of ‘stories about stories’, and I guess I need to eat my words a bit because I actually really enjoyed this. To an extent that’s probably just because it doesn’t get too meta – storyland is a work of deliberate artifice, the stories themselves don’t shape the world or do magic, it just generally never tries to get too cute or didactic about it – but still. This is a book where the hero at one point describes his situation as ‘Five Nights at Aslan’s’ so there’s no real principled distinction for me to cut here. One of the main characters is literally a folklorist.

Though, it’s less about stories than one specific story in particular. The unremarkable schlub plucked out of their mundane life and told that they’re special, that they’re the hero or the true heir and possess some inherent numinous essence that makes them the most important person in the world. This is a terribly appealing story, and one Harry feels the lure of very keenly – he’s self-aware enough to say quite clearly that he goes back to the frozen, decaying world full of half-dead monsters less out of morality or rationality than simply because it was a place where he mattered, for good or ill.

It’s probably not reading too deeply into the book’s themes to note that the story is a lure in a fairly literal sense, or that the true heir is destined to ‘save’ the world by being hollowed out and possessed by those who came before them.

Of course as much as this is in conversation with Narnia et al, it owes at least as much to whole genre of ‘what is nostalgic children’s property, but fucked up?’ creepypasta. Fairyland is choked with fungal growths and creepy, staticy not-snow. The scampering, troublemaking faun is miserable and worn out with bad knees. The Best Of All Dogs is a rotting, terrifying hellhound. There’s even a titanic evil scary clown. Aesthetically the book owes far more to r/nosleep than Lewis Carroll.

Harry himself is an absolute delight as a main character. By which I mean he just sucks so bad, but in very mundane and endearing ways. Who among us can not relate on some level to a failing middle-aged actor who always made a point of not trading on his family name but is secretly pretty resentful it hasn’t helped him more? He refuses the call to adventure then decides his life’s kind of shit and he’d rather get stabbed to death by goblins, so he comes crawling back and begs for a second chance. He’s left a glowing magic sword that will defeat all enemies, but it’s stuck in the body of one of his kidnappers so he just runs screaming and it spends the rest of the book in an evidence locker somewhere. I love him.

I really have no idea to what degree it was intentional, but it also does rather muse me that – okay, you know the standard bit of feminist media analysis where male characters are the actors, while female characters are generally walking set decoration and plot devices? It really deeply amuses me that Harry spends the better part of the story as a magical blood bank getting led around or terrified and awaiting rescue, whereas Seitchman (our counterfeit PI/folklorist) repeatedly forces herself into things through obsessive research skills and a complete disregard for her own safety (and at one point an enthusiastic if unpracticed willingness to sword people). Though to be clear this was mostly amusing to me because it was absolutely never highlighted or commented upon.

This is probably the first book I’ve read that’s recent enough to be set during lockdown without really being a COVID novel, if that makes sense? You could set this the year before or the year after without really losing much, and it lacks the ‘this was written in quarantine’ vibe of a lot of books I read last year. But it definitely adds a sense of specificity and timeliness to it that I rather enjoyed.

So yeah, do not open it expecting anything like Children of Time, but good book!

[everybodyknows-everybodydies]

okay so before I can talk about some things I have to establish some other things, and I'm shaking all the bees out of my brain today with great vigor, which means, without further ado: a brief overview of How Does Restoration Work (according to people named Mouse who are me)

point zero: for the most part, simplistically, each school of magic can be thought of as a manipulation of something. enchanting and conjuration fall under different strains of manipulation of souls, illusion as manipulation of the mind, and so forth. restoration is manipulation of the body.

now first (and this might be stating the obvious lol, but I have to state it): it does not work 1:1 exactly like it does in-game. people do not actually have the handy-dandy HP bar, illness/injury does not translate to a single number ticking downwards, and healing is definitely not just "make number go back up" in a matter of seconds. when you're at a point where a hypothetical HP bar would be nearly depleted, anything that's fast is not going to have the kind of long-term payoff that you need, but it might get you somewhere safer so you have the time to dedicate to actually properly healing.

secondly: in order to fix something, you have to know how it works. magic is a tool; any tool is only as effective as whoever is wielding it. it doesn't take a lot of knowledge to close a paper cut that didn't even bleed, but a severed tendon is going to be a very different story. an accomplished healer must have extensive knowledge of the body and its various systems in order to ensure their healing attempt is not going to inadvertently cause a whole slew of other problems. doctors today go through over a decade of schooling and training; in the US at least you're looking at a minimum of four years of premed, four years of med school, and three to seven years of residency. personally I think healers should also be the school of magic that requires the longest time spent learning because... there IS so much to learn! an additional note is that restoration has the benefit we do not of being magic, though: I think that in a world where healing is executed largely through the hands with magic, it stands to follow that you are not going to want to physically open someone up every time you need to check something inside the body, and so for my purposes this leads us to healers cultivating a specialized, passive sense of the bodily interior through touch. I've described this previously as a bit like echolocation as magic is channelled through the body and allows the healer a sort of "sixth sense" of precisely what's going on and where, though an in-universe analog might be a highly-refined version of "detect life".

(but Mouse, one might say, that's not a restoration spell! correct! the classification of magic is arbitrary! now put a pin in that thought because it will be important at a later date. not today though stay with me here.)

thirdly: as any tool should not be alone in the toolbox, magic can be used as a supplement or supplemented by mundane resources. if you have the time for it, an open wound will benefit from being stitched together to hold shape before applying magical healing, resulting in the need to produce far less scar tissue than a wound that you try to heal without closing it first. you still need to know how to use a tourniquet, how to handle a dislocated shoulder, how to drain an abscess, etc. just like you wouldn't whip out your power tools to hang a single photo frame, you have to know when to rely on magical healing and when to take whatever steps you can non-magically.

fourthly: magical healing has limits. manipulation of the body is not an all-powerful solution. no deus ex machina healing here. the two major restrictions are (1) the body's natural capabilities, and (2) the body's preexisting material. a body is capable of much more than we generally achieve in day-to-day life and nobody is running at 100% capacity 24/7 (because you would die, very fast). restoration can amplify measures that are already in place, such as stimulating platelet clotting/fibrin production over a cut to scab it over rapidly - and then, if taken further, providing the energy for tissue repair to move entirely from cut to scab to scar. crucially you will note that you cannot skip a stage! the healer is using what the body already has available, just allowing it to happen on a compressed timescale by boosting the energy available and providing external direction. there is a LOT of potential regarding what a healer could be capable of just by stimulating production of different hormones or shuffling brain chemistry alone. but! to reiterate! restoration is manipulative, not additive: a healer may be able to reattach a limb if they get to you in time, but they can't grow you a new arm out of nothing.

fourthly, subpoint: magical healing has cost, for both the healer and the patient. the more severe the injury/illness is, the longer it will take to heal and to recover fully from the expedited healing process, and thus the more energy the healer has to expend. a healer is limited most sharply by the depth of their own magicka reserve; practicing to expand the amount of magicka one has access to is just as fundamental a skill as learning anatomy and physiology. this is why most healers don't work alone! being able to literally split up the work - I'll take the broken leg; you focus on the slipped rib - reduces the probability of running out of magicka mid-patient and allows for fewer required follow-up sessions to ensure recovery is proceeding the way it should.

(fourthly, sub-subpoint: this is also why Colette Marence, the only professional healer in Winterhold, deserves a significant raise and a vacation and if anyone asks "is there a healer around" somebody ELSE can take care of it for once-)

fifthly: potions! we know that alchemical concoctions are a separate beast entirely from magic as executed by a mage - namely, I point here to spell absorption/spell reflection not being triggered by drinking a potion. this could take us down a separate rabbit hole about alchemy tapping into the innate magicka stored in reagents and the way THAT works, but for now the relevant question is: how does a healing potion differ from a healing spell? primarily the difference is capacity for intent and direction: a healer, being a person, can focus in on the specific site of injury and identify exactly what's wrong and exactly what steps need to be taken to fix it most efficiently. a potion does not have this capacity for specificity and is instead subject to the direction of the body's natural systems. ingested, it will be dispersed through the digestive system and through the bloodstream; applied as a salve it may work faster, but this usage is limited to external injuries. strong healing potions therefore are great for boosting your natural healing capacities long enough to get you to an actual healer for more serious cases, and may be all someone relies on for less serious cases - similar to using over-the-counter medication for a cold versus going to see a doctor for bronchitis.

tldr: restoration IS a perfectly valid school of magic, and just because it emphasizes mundane knowledge alongside esoteric magical knowledge does not make it any less fascinating or worthwhile. thank you <3

[inbarfink]

So I feel like the implication has been that throughout the series and even before it - Fionna and Cake were having prophetic dreams. While we know plenty of denizens of The City have been having dreams of their past lives in the Magical Fionnaworld

Some aspects of Fionna and Cake's dreams really only make sense if you take into considerations not just their past and, like, elements of their psyche and subconsciousness - but also their future.

Like, the dream from the very opening of the show. Obviously Fionna's dream of being a Magical Girl Hero is a faded memory of being an adventurer in a magical world - filtered via her nerdy interests as Mundaneworld Fionna

And, well, it is interesting that they are fighting a Ratbus on the night before they had quite a lot of troubles with busses and rats...

But that's also something you can easily chalk up to Fionna already having a lot of frustrations at work and Cake just.... being a Cat.

But the Ice Prince?

I mean, maybe you can make an argument for, like, a combination of the Ice Queen from her magical life and, from the Mundane World, what Marshall Lee himself had said about the DJ Flame breakup.

Buuut... these little Simon Petrikov glasses are not something that Fionna could've encountered previously, it seems. (Especially reinforced by the fact seeing them immediately makes her just think of Ice Prince...)

And also the fact that he's offering her to join on a magical adventure...

I think it's most likely that Ice Prince is a future echo of Fionna and Cake teaming up on the Crown Quest with Simon Petrikov

Just filtered through a lot and lot of wishful thinking from a heartsick late-20's Otaku.

And all of the little ending cards for each episode could also very much be this. Fionna and Cake, before the events of the series (since Cake is still in Normal Cat Mode in these) dreaming of all the things that they will experience (or maybe just here from Simon about later) - filtered via imagery from their mundane world or even bits of their magical past.

And then there's their shared dream from the start of 'Casper and Nova', and obviously a lot of that is just a clear manifestation of Fionna's anxieties about changing her world and also dooming Simon to another eternity as Ice King

But as a vision of the future of their world... it wasn't actually all that far off from the truth. Because even when she's so terrified of changing everything and everyone she knows, Fionna's vision of a Magical Fionnaworld is less of the Ooo-like world Prismo has shown her

But more of a fusion of her own familiar modern world with a magical overlay on it.

Which, in a way, is what Fionnaworld ended up becoming by the end of the series!

(Just, again, without the REALLY fucked-up stuff that came more from Fionna's anxiety and guilt)

[gottawritesomething]

Chase me

Scene of Tav and Gale doing illusion magic for the tiefling kids

_______________________________________

Dust clogged the air as the patter of a dozen or more pairs of feet swept through the grotto. Gale stepped clear as the little tieflings almost swept him off his feet. Seemingly singularly focused on their chase, save for the hoots and yells that escaped their mouths as they scrambled up and down the rocks of the inner grotto. The installation of Karlach's improved heart required the utmost precision, so their troupe had remained at the Grove for the greater part of the day. Compared to the ongoing chaos that took place outside the green covered walls it had seemed almost mundane and so far, this had been the most interesting occurrence since their arrival.

Gale craned his neck to catch a glimpse of what had so enchanted the youths. From his vantage point he could see one of the tallest children had cornered what looked to be a small fox. Except for the simple fact most foxes’ fur did not spark with blue lightening. Small bolts danced from tuft to tuft as the children marveled at the curious creature. Suddenly with an audible pop, the fox became obscured by a shimmering cloud, the thick fog entirely obscuring the place the animal had just occupied. The children began to argue and encourage those closest to wade into the fog. Just as the tallest had seemed to gather their courage enough to take a step, an echoing cry shook the small audience. Faster than the eyes could track, the fog was pushed apart by the great wings of a translucent raven. With a single beat it soared over the heads of the children, once again rallying them to chase it. Gale watched the bird carefully as the tielfings split themselves into smaller groups, attempting a new strategy of capture. The raven tucked in its wings and hurtled towards the ground, moments before impact, opening its wings and a burst of feathers to transform into a glittering pink deer galloping about the cave. 

Gale allowed himself to be the slightest bit impressed; he’d always held a soft spot for illusion magic, but it rarely gathered accolades within wizarding academics. Every illusion produced was judged with the rigor of a professional art appraiser putting a piece of fine art up for auction. The illusions stemmed from one’s imagination and represented the creativity of the caster, so to put one on display was to share a part of yourself with an audience, hoping for an unshattered heart by the end. Perhaps sorcerers had no use for this mentality; he mused. Gale watched Tav’s fingers trace the air as though mixing paints on a pallet. Her eyes stayed on her conjured animal, which had recently become a unicorn with a great glowing horn, much to the children's delight. She had a fluidity and looseness in her movements that would never have been permitted while he attended school but it was hard to argue with the beauty of her work. Gale watched the Weave gather around her fingers like she was pulling it into her arms to sculpt, a smile tugging at the corner of her mouth as she watched her beast burst into a dozen flaming butterflies. The genuineness of her enjoyment in this act of creation warmed him like a hearty stew as he felt a similar smile begin to spread onto his own face, when he heard a soft sniffle.

Gale peered around the rock outcrop to see the previously silent tiefling child Doni, his arms wrapped around his knees, watching the others run. A few tears peppered his face, but he seemed unharmed. Gale knelt to the boy’s level, much to the protestation of his knees. Doni did not appear fearful, only overwhelmed. In a bid to sooth the boy’s upset Gale recalled a spell he’d learned early in his training. Showing Doni his palms and indicating he mirror them. Doni looked curious but shook his head, failing to raise his hands from his lap. Gale hummed for a moment, waved his hand and then with a gentle pop, a velvety rabbit hopped to the ground. Doni looked stunned, reaching out a hand to pet the animal only to find his hand pass through its form. At the child's hesitation, Gale gave a second wave of the hand and the rabbit became three rabbits, then five. By this point Doni was on his feet. The sniffle was replaced by a beaming smile as he assessed the solidity of each rabbit, his fingers only finding the rocky ground beneath, causing him to giggle. He turned back to Gale, then pointed at Tav’s now rainbow-colored hawk. Doni watched, eyes wide, as the rabbits became swallowtails, their feathers a royal purple to match Gale’s robes. With rustle of feathers and the flapping of many wings, the birds appeared to land gracefully on Doni’s shoulders and waiting hands. Before Gale could say anything else, Doni was off towards the gaggle of other children.

The first two that spotted him ran full tilt at Doni, as he lifted the birds towards them. He beamed as the others joined into the semi-circle, mimicking petting each of the birds. There were hushed discussions of names and which was prettiest. Gale’s chest swelled with quiet pride as he caught Tav’s gaze on him. Her eyes met his, and their smiles matched. She gestured to his newly conjured birds, mouthing “Beautiful”. He did a small performative bow, mostly in an effort to obscure his now pink tinted face and all too pleased smirk. 

As he rose from the bow, he watched her hand attempt to obscure a smile. He watched her hands move to dismiss her own illusion; and something like loss stirred in him. With his careful direction, his birds took flight from Doni’s shoulders, encircling her hawk before merging into a single bird. Its tail now filled with long, curling purple feathers, small sparks falling harmlessly from every wing beat. Gale looked to Tav, half encouraging, half imploring. She raised her hands as their birds began to dance across the air. They tumbled and wove, Tav’s favoring large swooping movements while Gale’s intricately dove through the turns. They chased each other across the sky, darting between the rocky terrain, twirling and twining like vines. The hawk's wings beat slowly as the grand purple bird rose to meet it in midair. The children had given up the chase while most of the Grove had stopped to watch their dance as the two birds rose in tandem, their wing tips brushing, the light between them now blinding. With a final musical cry, Tav’s dissolved into glittering snowflakes as Gale’s burst into falling stars. As the claps faded and they’d taken their appropriate bows, their eyes met once more, and his heart leaped as if to follow the path the birds had taken across the sky.

[acquired-stardust]

Anime Spotlight #3: Project A-ko (1986)

Join Ash as she takes a look at an underrated pride month anime classic and formative movie in her journey navigating queerness - it punches way above its weight and is well worth your time. Perhaps the greatest queer anime popcorn flick of all time, Acquired Stardust's spotlight on 1986's Project A-ko is here!

As previously discussed, time and tide can play funny tricks with our memory and perception. To that point, there's a special sort of magic that old media facilitates. Separation from the people and circumstances that produced it goes a long way towards helping us disconnect from preconceived notions and expectations to experience works more at face value. For a brief amount of time the brain is tricked into allowing itself to believe that this ancient work of art exists somehow outside of time and place - apart from not only the underlying political and cultural factors but also the individuals that birthed it.

Project A-ko is a work that synergizes incredibly well with this psychological trick but is perhaps doubly impressive when looked at in its proper context.

Released theatrically in June of 1986 (only a little over a month before Studio Ghibli's first official project Castle in the Sky) and named after Jackie Chan's 1983 Project A, Project A-ko was born out of the staff behind foundational hentai OVA series Cream Lemon deciding to pivot and make a mainstream movie for theaters. Carrying a similar spirit to Project A, Project A-ko is a sci-fi action-comedy that smashes together the absurd and the mundane brilliantly.

Opening with a scene entirely in English (even in the Japanese language version) that sees a spaceship fall to earth and destroy the coastal southern Japanese city of Graviton, we flash forward 16 years to our protagonist (the eponymous A-ko) waking up to walk her friend C-ko to school for their first day. Deeply steeped in Class S tropes that had been popular in anime since the 70s that saw homoromantic relationships between women become somewhat normalized, C-ko catches the eye of rich and elegant classmate B-ko who immediately becomes overwhelmingly (and inexplicably) infatuated by her and deeply jealous of the relationship C-ko shares with A-ko, which stokes a rivalry for the affections of C-ko that gradually becomes more unhinged as the movie rolls on, even managing to slip in an unexpected cameo from an American fast food icon.

It is here, beyond the basic setup, that Project A-ko begins to coalesce into something far better and much more clever than it has any real right to be. The lead characters, at first basic archetypes generically named but actually containing multi-layer puns, are wonderfully self-indulgent, given tons of room to come into their own and become a surprisingly strong ensemble. Gender, gender roles and sexuality are portrayed with a fascinating nonchalance (the likes of which is also featured in anime of the time such as Dirty Pair, as made clear with a very popular post on this very site). Fight choreography is shockingly good for the experience level of all involved (who by this time had mostly been known for their involvement in adapting Rumiko Takahashi's manga Urusei Yatsura).

The soundtrack (also in English and very of its time) matches the tone of the film in the best ways possible and helps to shape the film into something that is all too rare in the world of queer media: positive, happy stories celebrating the love people have for each other without getting too far into the weeds of angst and tragedy that is unfortunately often part and parcel with the real life queer experience. The Japanese voiceover cast features a stellar lineup of actors including Miki Ito, Emi Shinohara, Michie Tomizawa and Shuichi Ikeda (as well as a very early appearance by Megumi Hayashibara), and needless to say they knock it out of the park. One potential pain point is C-ko's loud and obnoxious nature, which despite being a central part of her character is toned down in the English dub. If one finds her to be especially grating, which is one of anime's hallmarks in this era, the English dub is serviceable enough.

Watching Project A-ko was a formative experience for me, with its Goku-esque lead becoming a hero of mine. The final shot of the movie still manages to make me emotional every time I see it. Its simple concept of 'the superheroes and supervillains in your everyday life' is executed wonderfully and the bright-eyed, saccharine tone is an incredible breath of fresh air in contrast to the misery that queerness (and, more often, external reactions to said queerness) often brings about in our lives. There is so much to be said about this movie but as is so often the case with anime spotlights, it's hard to get granular without spoiling the experience and I'd much rather you see it for yourself than have it spoiled for you in what is in all likelihood the first time you're hearing of it.

They say that the best queer media is often accidentally made by straight men who have no idea that they're making queer media and that holds true for Project A-ko, who's character designer/animation director Yuji Moriyama says they simply hadn't put much thought into in that context which is unfortunately believable - although Project A-ko receives several sequels, they get progressively further away from the shockingly refreshing queer love story that is the relatable heart of the movie, contrasting its rising stakes and insanity that culminates with a three-sided battle that once again causes widespread damage to Graviton City.

But such is the beauty of old media - for a brief hour and a half we are able to allow everything but the thing we're watching to fade away. To take it at face value. To see ourselves in these archetypal characters, and to brim with pride as they become engaging characters all their own. To hope that perhaps one day the world will treat queer people with the same sort of complete nonchalance featured in this movie, and to hope that we too may one day be able to have the sort of relationship between A-ko and C-ko in our own lives.

A gem hidden among the stones, Project A-ko is undoubtedly stardust.

-- Ash