#・✿・|| selena || it's just the facts of life || head canons

[ipswitches]

Favourite Movies to Watch in October

Nell: Beetlejuice

Ruby: Totally Killer, Ready or Not

Emma: The Nightmare Before Chirstmas, Hocus Pocus, Practical Magic

Selena: The Craft, Jennifer's Body,

Sabine: Carrie

Damon: The Village

Casper: Van Helsing

Rune: It

[steelcladbutterfly]

Yandere Fairy: Xenon

So, this is totally separate from the halloween story for fairy. I enjoyed doing this one even if it seems a bit odd at points. There is something of a warning for this one. The yandere was involved with reader’s mother before she died, and sees them in the same light. They aren’t related or anything, but I figured I’d mention this just in case it grosses anyone out.

Character Sheet

In European folklore, it’s a legendary creature or mythical being, that is often described as metaphysical, supernatural, or preternatural. Basically every culture has their own version, but the similarities are usually magic and some sort of extended lifespan. The seelie and unseelie courts are found specifically in the Scottish mythos and the Dullahan specifically in Irish mythology for example. The fairies were often fickle as well, with their own sets of personal rules.

Personal head canon in the story about fairies, not sure if it’s a thing, so I’m calling it a head cannon: The bigger a fairy is, the more power they have. So, if they’re closer to an average adult’s size, they have a lot more power than one the size of your hand. 

Fairy’s name is Xenon. 

Life had always had its ups and many downs for you. Being cursed with exceedingly bad luck didn’t exactly tip the scales in your favor after all. Whether it be forgetting the task you had to do, tripping multiple times a day, getting lost in the forest, slammed into by runaway livestock, or any other number of things that could go wrong, you had to put up with it. Of course, over the near constant times you tripped and fell and got lost and generally made a fool out of yourself in the forest, many of the magical creatures living there had come out and started interacting with you.

Of course, the idea that your curse could somehow spread, like it was contagious, is part of what prompted you to stay in the forest. Only so many dirty looks someone could take from neighbors and townspeople.

In fact, you considered many of the beings in the forest to be closer friends than anyone you knew in town. They cheered you up after an awful break up, they helped you find your way out of the forest after you fell down a small cliff and broke a leg, and even helped you with gathering herbs, spices, and vegetables during your treks into the woods for the semi-easily found supplies.

You suspected they had started out wanting to keep you from harm to weaken your guard, and assumed you were a bit daft and would eventually fall for their trick. It was somewhat hurtful, but over time they proved you wrong, showing they did care for you, even if it was in their own unique way. There were plenty of nymphs of course, water and nature spirits alike, several satyrs, there was the grumpy old dragon in one of the caves with multicolored crystals embedded in the walls, floors, and ceilings, and even the occasional will o’ the wisp. Fairies were occasional, they liked messing around in and with your hair and loved the way you would react to the problems that had plagued you so often. However, they were also the ones guiding you, sometimes frantically out of the forest. 

You assumed there was something in there they knew of that didn’t like you or maybe just humans in general. That was fine, as long as it didn’t try to attack you. Of course, with your luck, it seemed all but inevitable that everything would hurt you at some point.

~~~~~ 

Laughter resonated through the trees, as the multicolored leaves crunched underfoot as the forms of human and fae leapt by. You had been collecting wild vegetables and herbs for your father before Selena had appeared before you. You remained as resolute as you could but eventually her hovering form and teasing comments cajoled you into joining her for a trek that devolved into a race. 

“Oh come now,” Selena called teasingly over her shoulder, “Isn’t this just a pleasant stroll? How are you falling so far behind?” 

You grumbled, but smirked and leapt lithely to reach the front. “I don’t know, why are you falling behind? I mean this pace is slow enough for me to catch up, so why can’t you?” 

You laughed as Selena gasped in mock affront, but looking over your shoulder to talk to her was of course a bad idea as your gaze went from her face, to the trees towering above, to the ground, and back to her face again as your foot caught on a tree root and you tumbled end over end until you came to a rest face down on the forest floor. 

Selena hurried over, her footsteps light as she called out to you, turning you over with a strength that was belied by her small build. She only reached your waist, but she was the tallest fairy you had come across during your time exploring the forest, so you knew she was stronger than she appeared to be to humans. It also helped that she had taken a liking to you after hearing of your plight, helping you out whenever possible, but it was disappointing and terrifying when she had proclaimed the curse came from a being much stronger than her. 

You groaned softly as she suddenly jostled you, bringing startling attention to the throbbing of your nose. Trying to move it brought a dull pain and sniffing was painful but not overly so, bringing you to the conclusion that it was just heavily bruised, not broken. An odd twist of luck for you, as there wasn’t even a twisted ankle from catching on that tree root. A sudden tightening on your shoulders brought your attention back to Selena, who was staring intently into the forest with an odd look on her face, one you had never seen on her before. Fear. 

You furrowed your brows, about to ask her about it, but this brought your attention to a rapidly developing headache and you groaned, bringing her attention mostly back onto you. She continued to be wary as she helped you up. 

“Are you all right? You should probably head home to get that checked, don’t worry about your bag, I can bring it to you later, just please head home.” 

You grunted, barely able to get a word in edgewise as she hurriedly guided you in the right direction before heading off at a rapid pace in nearly the exact opposite direction. You shrugged, assuming something was up, but doubting there was much you could do so you started the trek back home. 

~~~~~ 

Meanwhile, Selena came to a stop, clutching the bag she had made a brief detour for, just shy of entering a sun drenched glen, hesitating just at the cusp of leaving the shadows provided by the trees. 

“So, how have things been? I’m sure there’s a reason behind the human and the lack of acknowledgement from her?” 

Selena shrieked and fell into the glen before meeting the bright green eyes of the fairy towering over her at nearly three times her size. A pleasant smile was firmly affixed on his face, but the curiosity and anger were readily apparent in the bright eyes pinning her to the spot. 

“Ah, Xenon. Please forgive the human, she was never told of your presence.” 

A warning pulse of his magic encircled her, causing her to flinch and freeze as his eyes narrowed and grew brighter. 

“And what reason could you possibly have for that? You all rely on me to keep the woods safe and a refusal to allow that acknowledgment to spread to the humans is starting to get on my nerves!” Xenon’s voice grew louder and his eyes brighter before he was visibly holding back from harming the cowering fairy before him as he finally asked once more through gritted teeth, “What. Possible. Reason?” 

Selena slowly stopped shaking as it became apparent he wasn’t going to hurt her, and gave him the answer. 

“Well, we all remember what happened last time. And you still seem to be affected by it. And I personally felt the human may remind you of her.”

She drew breath to continue, but his hand raised and so silence remained. Conflicting emotions ran through him, grief present heavily, before being closely followed by anger and hatred, before falling into a weary sort of sorrow. Xenon sighed heavily his eyes having dimmed slightly, before his gaze snapped back to Selena and his eyes narrowed and resumed their glow. 

“One moment. Tell me, what could possibly make you think she would remind me of that wretch?” 

He leaned closer and the proximity made a cold sweat break out on the back of her neck. “She seems to have a similar curse! I’m sorry but I should go now, have to return this bag after all!” 

She attempted to fly away, to get away from the pressure of the bright gaze, but was stopped abruptly by a tug on her leg. A shriek escaped her lips as she hung upside down, the fabric of her pants being rubbed against her leg unpleasantly where Xenon held her up effortlessly with a single hand, the other having snatched the bag by its strap and dangled it close by so he could study it further, reading the name carefully stitched into the flap. He let out a hum, barely acknowledging the desperation in Selena’s struggles to get away before a smirk broke out on his face and he grinned down at her wolfishly. 

“Well, this (Y/n) has definitely caught my attention. I do believe I shall pay her a visit, after all the poor thing needs this back does she not?” 

Selena was dropped abruptly and as Xenon began to lift off the ground, she called after him, desperate to keep the human away from the dangerous fae she had inadvertently caught the attentions of. 

“How do you expect to find her! You have no idea where she even lives! And why dredge up old memories, she’ll likely have no answers for what happened to Mar——!” 

The name, once so familiar and revered, now only full of anger and bitterness to the large fairy stopped him from flying further away as he leveled a glare directly at Selena, stopping her breath for a moment as she was seized with a primal fear.

“Never say that name again. You don’t deserve to say it. If I want to know what happened to her, I will. But whether or not this (Y/n) can provide me with such answers, what does it matter to you? Besides, this is her bag. It’s easy to make a tracking spell. Now I’d suggest you stay out of my sight for a long time Selena. Lest I decide you have no more use.” 

With that, Xenon flew away, leaving a shaking and petrified Selena in his wake. 

~~~~~ 

When you arrived home, covered in dirt with a bruised nose and no bag, your father, rightfully, freaked out. After losing your mother a few years after you were born, and finding out about the curse affecting you, he became exceedingly protective. In fact, the only reason he let you traverse the woods was for the sole reason if you got hurt there it was just the curse you had to face. Entering town was always hard as there was the added vitriol of the townspeople who despised that which you couldn’t control. 

You pouted, having been relegated to scrubbing the cups and plates, as your father would say, “Wooden AND not sharp, it’s the perfect chore for you, (Y/n)!” 

It didn’t mean you had to like it though, so, pouting, you continued your chore. Every time you came home injured, he would freak out and send you to do some careful, mostly non-injurious job so he could assure himself you wouldn’t end up like your mother, fondly remembered by your father as Ash, because she had the ability to quickly quell any argument, smothering it like one would a fire, leaving only cool ash in it’s wake. Having died before you could remember anything important, you were left with faint memories of warm eyes and a lullaby when she would put you down to sleep. 

You blinked, having been pulled from your thoughts as you noticed the water having cleared of soap suds, which was strange as you had started only five minutes prior. You tilted your head, reaching for the soap, but flailed and ended up slipping on a mixture of water and soap below your feet as your father's angered shout resounded through the house. 

You ignored the way the fall knocked your breath out of your lungs as you got up as fast as possible and attempted to race to the door, slamming into doorways and cabinets as you went. Huffing upon arrival, you took in the scene just beyond the doorstep of the house; your father, angry and heaving and the tallest fairy you had ever seen, looking mildly confused and irritated at the angered form of your father. 

His green eyes slid carelessly from the angered man facing him down to your form as you emerged cautiously. The eyes appeared to light up as he took you in before sauntering up to you, still ignoring your father, who was stopped from approaching with a wave of the fairy’s hand. Your brows furrowed as the aura the fairy exuded seemed familiar, but he began speaking before you could finish chasing down that familiarity. 

“You know, living in a house so close to the woods and so far from the rest of the humans seems foolish. What if some monster from the forest decided to take notice, hm?” his question seemed ironic, but he continued before you could answer, “Anyways, you left your bag in the woods. Also, what’s with the anger from that guy? I don't believe I’ve ever met him, but then again, I came for you, not him.” 

He bowed slightly, seeming intent on something more when his hand lingered on yours when he foisted the bag off to you. A cautious silence filled the air as he leaned ever closer, eyes brightening and dimming as he appeared to be deep in thought as he took in your visage. However, before anything more could progress, the silence was broken as the fairy was abruptly pushed away as your father, having finally broken through whatever the fae had put up, stood protectively in front of you, leaving you to look curiously over and around his muscled bulk at the interaction that took place. 

“Leave, Xenon. You stay away from my daughter and never come back here or else you’ll have to face me this time.” 

A brow was raised as the newly dubbed Xenon smirked and fluttered slightly off the ground. 

“And why should I? How do you even know who I am? And if you do, surely you know your threat is nothing to me. Ah yes, (Y/n), you intrigue me. I’ll come visit you sometime.” 

With that, he flew off laughing, leaving behind the outrage your father threw after him. Leaving you slightly curious and wary, clutching the bag you had expected Selena to drop off. You didn’t have long to dwell on your thoughts as you would quickly herded inside the house. 

“What was that about? Who was that? And how do you know him, dad?” 

Your questions were answered vaguely as he guided you further up the stairs and closer to your room. 

“Someone you don’t want to get to know. And I only know of him, I’ve never actually met him before now. But I know exactly what sort of things he can do. Now, stay in here, if he comes back, you are not to let him in or interact with him. Of course this had to happen during the busiest time of the year. That festival always needs a new stage and new booths every single year and they foist the management position off on me every time,” he casually blocked your attempts at more questions by walking away, “I’m serious (Y/n)! Stay here!” 

You pouted and crossed your arms, unsatisfied with his answers, but already complying as he gathered his tools and set out for town. Despite your curse and his protective instincts, you knew he would only order you explicitly if it was truly something dangerous. So, you settled down, content to wait for him to come home so you could needle him for more specifics. 

However, Xenon was not as content to simply wait it out, as you would soon learn, brashness and little, if any, foresight guided many of his actions and led to him developing such a fearsome reputation when paired with his overwhelming powers. 

~~~~~ 

You grew bored quickly of just waiting in your room, so you went to get a snack. After somehow giving yourself a cut from grabbing a bowl to put an assortment of berries in and then banging your knee going up the stairs, you opened your door to reveal Xenon lounging on your bed, examining the journal you put under your mattress, with the window wide open. 

Unsure how to react, you stood there for several moments, wondering if you should just close the door and go back downstairs when he finally deigned to take notice of you. 

“You’ve been exploring these woods for a long time. I have so many punishments to dole out for hiding you while you were in there. I mean, you documented every creature you met and when! It doesn’t get much easier than that.” 

He sat up, snapping the journal closed and tucking it away. Standing up, he sauntered over to you, glancing over you curiously as you continued to stand there, still unsure on what to do next. 

“You still haven’t said a word. What, is there some secret to unlocking your voice box or something?” 

The teasing was certainly not what you were expecting from someone who could get such out of the place reactions from both Selena and your father, so your defenses lowered slightly, allowing you to finally speak. 

“Well, if there is I guess you found it?” you chuckled slightly, still nervous and shifting in place as he began to circle you, “What are you even doing in here?” 

“Isn’t it obvious? I’m here to see you! I thought I told you I’d visit sometime.” 

“Yeah, you did, but sometime usually implies more than a few minutes after that promise.” 

“Really? You humans are fascinating with your time constructs and how long they are. I honestly have no idea how you function like that.” 

“Well, I suppose you’d have to grow up with it. Otherwise I guess it would seem rather strange and bizarre.” 

He tilted his head when you agreed, continuing to stare as you laughed, but as the silence continued on his side, it petered off to an awkward hum. Finally, he blinked, shaking his head and smiling. 

“You are intriguing. I honestly would have expected you to be bitter about magic and creatures with customs and styles different from your own. After all, most other humans are the same. I would have thought you’d have been doubly so considering the curse Selena told me you have. But you’re not. Strange. I want to know more the farther I look into you.” 

He was in front of you, nearly chest to chest as he proclaimed this, eyes unwavering in their hold on your own orbs. This left you to break it, backing up a few steps and rubbing the back of your head sheepishly as you replied. 

“Well, the curse tends to cause collateral damage from time to time. So, no one in town really likes me because of it. No one in the woods really cares though, so I like being there. And I don’t even know who gave me the curse, as far as I can tell, I’ve had it since I was born. Apparently it was part of what killed my mother, which didn’t really help public opinion either,” you hummed, looking out the window before your eyes slid back to the face of Xenon, “To be honest, I try not to let it affect me, even if my personal experiences have shaped how I interact with the world. Everyone has different experiences and feelings and families. I’m sure there’s tons of beings out there like me.” 

You trailed off as an odd look crossed his face, but before you could decipher it, a smirk replaced it as his eyes shone a little brighter. 

“You are definitely worth knowing. How about I show you the forest the others haven’t shown you?” 

He leapt up to the windowsill and held out his hand, beckoning you to take it, but you hesitated, not wanting to ignore the warnings your father gave you. Xenon noticed the hesitation, his eyebrow raising with a silent question. One you could answer. 

“I’m not so sure. My father warned me of you. Said you aren’t someone to get to know.” 

He scoffed at that, stepping down to you. 

“Oh come on! What have I done to possibly make you think I’m bad?” 

“Well... You did break into my room and read my journal.” 

His shoulders slumped slightly, bringing an involuntary giggle to your lips at the slight pout he displayed. 

“I meant more along the lines of I haven’t hurt you or anything. ‘Sides, you didn’t even lock the window. Now that’s just asking for someone to break in. Just be glad it was me and not some ordinary robber.” 

You smiled slightly, teasingly adding on, “Oh, so are you a special robber then?” 

“Yes!” Xenon exclaimed confidently before he realized what you actually said, “Wait a minute.” 

That actually got a full laugh out of you as he floundered over his words. Your defenses had been suitably lowered, being friends with the creatures of the forest most of your life giving you the confidence to place your trust in him. 

“Alright, fine. Show me the woods I haven’t explored yet. But I have to be back before nightfall. I’m giving you my trust for now, so try not to lose it.” 

He bowed, making a grandiose display as he did so, bringing to your lips a few more chuckles. 

“Of course. I would hate to leave the lady wanted at home. You shall be back before nightfall.” 

He stood up, once more leaping onto the windowsill and holding out his hand. This time, you took it, allowing him to lift you up, wrapping an arm firmly around your waist as he took to the air, off to the depths of the wood. 

~~~~~ 

The sea of trees below you was unlike anything you had seen before. It looked more mysterious from above, with all the wonders hidden away beneath the covering of branches and leaves, giving only brief glimpses of clearings as you raced over the forest. You laughed, wind whipping your hair around your face as you took it all in with wide eyes. Xenon seemed amused by your reactions, teasing you even as he flew steadily deeper and deeper into the forest. 

“You’ll probably hurt yourself if your eyes open any wider. I mean it’s just trees, not really anything new.” 

“Ah, you’re no fun!” you exclaimed, “You have wings, so you can see this any time you like! I don’t, so of course this is fun for me.” 

He let out a laugh at your reply, jostling you as his grip slipped slightly in his mirth. However, he was swift to adjust his hold on you when you began to slip. 

“With this reaction to the tops of trees, I look forward to what you’ll do when we actually reach something new.” 

He continued to fly for several more minutes, continuing to banter even as he slowly slipped under the tree line, floating closer and closer to the forest floor. You were so distracted with trying to find a comeback to his latest jab that he managed to land and guide you to your destination without you noticing. At least, you didn’t notice until he finally pulled aside a curtain of vines with a flourish, revealing a cave with high swooping ceilings, plenty of natural light, and an elaborate mess of quilts and jewelry covering a statue worn down to a vague outline from years of wear and tear. 

It was unlike anything you had ever seen before and you were spellbound, taking in all the details you could make out as the light behind you cut off abruptly as Xenon swept in behind you. You were left with beams of light filtering in from the cracks in the sides of the rock face, giving the space an even more mystical vibe as dust and dirt swirled around, lighting up like motes of sun in the beams of light. 

“Pretty cool right? Certainly not anything you’ve seen before?” 

The sudden question startled you from your reverie, bringing you back to the present. You yelped as Xenon suddenly leaned in close, cocking his head to the side with a smirk present from your amusing reaction. But as you still hadn’t answered, he saw fit to ask once more.

“Well? What do you think?” 

“It’s pretty cool. I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything quite like this before. What even is it?” 

You hefted yourself up to the statue’s base, ignoring the sharp rocks that dug into your skin in favor of straining to glimpse at the few faint carvings that managed to survive the years. 

“Eh, pretty sure it’s some sort of artifact to a god or something, maybe even the previous ruler of this forest. Might have been part of a temple,” Xenon flew to the top, landing on one of the massive horns protruding from the sides of the head, “But its been long abandoned. I mostly use it as a place to rest and to store all my trinkets. Not much use otherwise.” 

He shrugged, leaning against the head, and watching as you continued to circle the statue, his eyes narrowing imperceptibly as you stumbled over mostly smooth ground. You took little notice, too wrapped up in your thoughts to pay attention to your companion’s actions at the moment. Eventually, your attention trailed off to the walls, noticing strange etchings not in line with the carvings present on the statue. Xenon took notice, tilting his head to continue to keep an eye on you without moving from his perch as you trailed in a slow and shaky circle around the circumference of the cave. Soon, your attention was drawn to another opening, large enough to walk through unimpeded, but leading further into the shadows behind the statue. You weren’t sure what to do next, so you glanced at Xenon for instructions. 

He let out a huff, a smile growing on his lips at the lost look on your face before he leaped down gracefully, landing close to your form. 

“Such curiosity. And yet you’re cautious enough to not go charging in head first. Interesting.” 

Xenon led the way, wings taking on a faint light as the sunlight faded behind you the further into the cave you went. Of course, this in turn meant almost zero visibility for you, leaving you completely at the nonexistent mercy of your curse. After the third time you fell, Xenon finally let out a huff, taking your hand to guide you. 

“You really are helpless on rocky terrain like this. Who even cursed you anyways? And, for that matter, why were you cursed?” 

Unfortunately, the answers you could provide failed to satisfy him. 

“I already told you. I have no idea. I mean I’m pretty sure I was a baby when it happened. Because I can’t remember ever being cursed. You’d have to ask my father for specifics, but I doubt he’d give them to you.” 

He grumbled, pulling you a little faster, causing you to stumble to try to keep up. It seemed to be getting a little brighter, and you soon noticed clumps of luminescent moss appearing in greater bunches along the walls, casting a soft, yet eerie glow the further down the path sloped. Your musings were once again interrupted when Xenon spoke once more, his voice echoing strangely off the walls. 

“And your mother’s dead.” 

“Yes, from my curse.” 

“...What was her name?” 

“Well, my father always called her Ash.” 

“Hmm.” 

He seemed disappointed by the answer. But before you could dwell on it too long, the walls suddenly opened up, leading into a cavern many times larger than the one above. Moss covered nearly every inch of the place, leaving only a pool of water, still and inky black despite the bright moss, to stand out in the carpet of surprisingly soft bioluminescent plants. You could glimpse more intricate carvings similar to both the statue and the walls from the cave above present through the moss. On the floor, the walls, even the roof of the cave. You walked farther in, nearing the center as you turned around and around. 

Once again, the spell was broken by Xenon, this time with a shout and a harsh tug of your arm just before your foot could brush the black waters of the pool. You huffed, about to shout back, but stopped when you noticed numerous ripples subsiding in the water, and something resembling sharp and jagged teeth flashed in the light of the moss for a moment. You shivered. 

“I tried to tell you not to get near there, but you didn’t seem to hear me. You really don’t want to know what’s down there. Trust me.” 

Xenon pulled you up and away from the pool, guiding you back to the tunnel. 

“Maybe that’s enough for here. We still have a few hours before sundown, so how’s about I walk you back?” 

Slowly pulling your eyes away from the pool, you allowed him to tug you along, nodding in agreement when he looked back at you, words failing to come out.

~~~~~

You remained uneasy and silent for several minutes more, lingering on the unnatural shape present in those waters. But, the farther you got, the more Xenon aided you in distractions with new sights and sounds on a trailing path home. Slowly, you felt more at ease, smiling and laughing at the stories he told you of the unique areas you went by. 

A dead silent glen filled with rainbow flowers were from a dare he was given when drunk. It was to make the most beautiful flower out of an item suggested by the rest of the drunk and rowdy crowd. So, he took the dare and made a rainbow flower out of a strong sleep potion.

“Yeah, that thing knocks you out cold the minute you take a whiff. That party was knocked dead silent after I caused this whole field of them to bloom. Honestly, they’d have been gone by now, but every time someone tries to, they end up being found unconscious, taking a literal dirt nap!”

You had leaned down to smell one when he stated the facts. He didn’t stop laughing at your loud yelp and desperate scramble backwards for five minutes. Then, he finally satiated your curiosity on the next unique sight that came across your line of sight. Floating around a giant tree, the roots dangling in the air in a bubble of water several meters above your head, was a school of fish. They looked like any river fish with the sole exception they were swimming through air, rather than water. Xenon was more than happy to answer. 

“That used to be in the ground. But, it just so happened the time a raging storm came through, it left a small pond in the roots of the tree. Not lying! That freak storm several years ago, I’m sure you know it?” You did of course. It destroyed several properties in town and even though you wren’t anywhere near it, you were pretty sure it was still blamed on you. “Well, that sucks. People really have to stop playing scapegoat. It’s never fun. Anyways, over here, it managed to gouge out a perfect center, leaving the roots in tact. So, when I checked it out, I found it filled with these fish, just swimming around like nothing else. It was crazy! Eventually, this thing started floating higher and higher, until a bunch of satyrs freaked out the day the fish started flying. Pretty sure it’s something about the water. But, hell, maybe it is the fish!” 

Continuing on, you lost track of time as you continued to stroll through the forest, taking in both familiar and strange new sights along the way. You mentioned a few of your own experiences; such as a large hunk of crystal, held aloft by strings of multicolored thread. Xenon admitted he had no idea on that one, so you finally had the chance to give your own story. 

“The old dragon,” close by was the cave, filled with crystals, that housed the dragon, “he felt the woods around his dwelling could be spruced up a bit. So, rather than just ask a few nymphs for help or something, he decided he’d rip the largest chunk of crystal he could out of the wall and string it up outside. So, when that inevitably failed, he got some help. I’ll be honest, it was an interesting idea, so I bought a ton of thread and knitted together several hundred yards of a multicolored string, mostly so I could see where he was going with this. Next thing I knew, he had gotten a few fairies to strengthen it and then just looped the string around that crystal and strung it up. Like some crazy demented ornament!” 

It seemed to amuse Xenon, enough so that by the time he calmed down, you had already reached the edge of the woods around your house. 

“Oh man, you really are interesting. I was not expecting that was how that got up there, but I was not disappointed!”

You laughed, trotting away from him towards your house, pausing at the porch steps to wave goodbye. 

“I had fun! I wouldn’t mind doing this again sometime!” 

With that, you bounded up the stairs, pausing only when you tripped to pick yourself up again. Xenon watched you go, the faint smile on his face fading to a scowl when the door closed. He turned, giving a harsh glare to the foliage until the cautious forms of several fairies crept out. Firmly entrenched now in his position of leadership, he allowed himself the pleasure of finally cracking down on the gang of creatures that had been following him and his companion around since they had taken to exploring outside the cave’s boundaries. 

“I don’t take kindly to the fact you all felt you could do this without any recompense. Now unless you really want me to do something, I’d suggest you don’t ever try to get involved in my affairs again. I have no cares for your own personal feelings in the matter. You stay away from the human or I’ll make sure of it.” 

He growled, narrowing his eyes as they shrank in to themselves, gave their word, and fluttered off. Xenon only continued when all but one had left. 

“At least you know what’s coming, huh, Selena?” 

Selena swallowed, nodding as she readied herself for whatever was to come next. 

~~~~~

The woods were quiet as Selena followed Xenon, many having retreated farther into the woods, back to their dwellings for the night, leaving few, if any, to witness what happened next. Stopping just shy of entering a familiar, if now moonlit, glen, Xenon stood still, quiet and solid for several long moments. When Selena finally grew restless, shuffling in place, and uneasy, he finally spoke, with a self-satisfied smirk firmly in place.

“You should really be glad I’m in a good mood. I don’t feel like doling out any punishment tonight.” 

“Ah, well, thank you for that?” 

Selena grew wary, unsure how to deal with a calm Xenon. She was used to anger being readily apparent whenever someone crossed Xenon, so the very fact he was able to conceal his emotions this time was worrisome. She prepared to lift off and fly home, ready to forget this ever happened, but a hand slammed into the tree beside her, stopping her dead in her tracks as she hovered in place, making eye contact with the surprisingly dark green orbs of Xenon. 

“I may be letting you off this time, but,” he leaned closer, “I will not be as willing to forgive you next time. And trust me, you don’t want to know what’ll happen if you forget that.” 

With that, he was gone, leaving her to slowly drift back down to earth, unable to move for several minutes more. 

~~~~~ 

You hummed, drifting into the house with a cheerful expression. Even when you tripped going up the stairs and banged your head on the side of the door, you remained happy. Xenon was fun. He took you to places you had never been before, telling you fun stories, and entertaining you with only the expectation of a similarly entertaining story. 

You shook yourself out of your daze when the door opened and closed, signaling your father’s return. You trotted back downstairs carefully, peeking into the front hall to see him shucking off his boots with a heavy sigh. He noticed you and waved you over, enveloping you in a firm hug. You reciprocated happily, but teasingly commented that he needed a bath. He laughed and ruffled your hair, stepping past you and further into the house. 

“I suppose I do. Hard work and hot sun tends to lead to that.” 

You smiled and headed back up the stairs when he called to you one last time. 

“By the way (Y/n). I suppose I did overreact earlier. You can go out to the woods if you want to.” 

You paused, unsure what lead to him changing his mind, but thanked him happily. So, the next morning, after your father had headed off for work, you grabbed your bag and headed out, taking note of what herbs and spices still needed to be restocked. A few could be bought at the market, but others were found more easily in the woods. 

There was still a sizable number you needed to find, so you started off as soon as you were ready. The morning passed quietly and your bag began to fill up quickly. By the time you stopped for lunch, it was already more than halfway filled.

A sudden gust behind you messed up your hair and interrupted your lunch. Tilting your head back, you met the gaze of Xenon, who looked bemused. You finished chewing swiftly, nearly choking in your rush to greet him. You coughed, reaching blindly for the container of water you brought with you. A firm hand met your back, steadying you before you could fall over and the container was thrust into your hand. 

“Do you always choke on your food? Or am I just special?” 

You snorted, finally getting your breath back. 

“Hello to you too, Xenon. And it happens more than I care to admit. And you did agree to being special. If only a special robber.” 

You laughed, taking note of the pout on his face and the brief worry that flashed in his eyes. 

“Don’t worry too much. I’m used to it! Anyway, is there anything you need? I’m in the middle of restocking our supply of herbs and spices, so I’m afraid I can’t go on any strolls or adventures today.” 

“Ah, actually, I was wondering if you were planning on going to that festival the town is holding in a few weeks? I went once a while back, but I have been meaning to go again.” 

You hummed, unsure if you should take him up on the offer. 

“I suppose I could... but I haven’t gone in awhile because the tensions always eat at my nerves. I don’t like the way the townspeople look at me. There is a reason I hang out in the woods more than I do in town.” 

Xenon looked crestfallen, his wings drooping slightly and his eyes dimming. 

“I see. That’s too bad. I won’t force you if you don’t want to go.” 

He sighed, looking ready to wander off, but you answered with a slight smile on your face. 

“I didn’t say no,” you giggled as his wings perked back up and he whirled back towards you, “I do like the pie they sell specifically for the festival and if you’re going I won’t be alone in the crowd. So, why not.” 

You yelped as he scooped you into a hug and twirled you around. 

“Alright! Thank you! Ah, I need to come up with the perfect disguise! I’ll see you later, (Y/n)!” 

You laughed, waving him off as he left as quickly and as suddenly as he had arrived. You shook your head slightly, before turning back to your forgotten meal with a faint smile still gracing your lips. 

~~~~~ 

The weeks passed quickly, your father leaving early and coming home late as he continued work on the festival. You hung out with Xenon more often, as he seemed to find you easily every time you headed into the woods. He showed you the disguise he would wear; a tall, dark haired young man with brown eyes. You did notice that the green slipped through whenever his emotions grew, but otherwise it was a flawless disguise. His wings were safely hidden, hiding the last vestiges of his otherworldly appearance with ease. 

You had oohed and aahed over his appearance, giggling silently when he showboated, his ego sufficiently stroked for him to do so. You clapped a few times when he was finished, at which point he seemed to realize what he was doing and blushed slightly, sputtering out excuses, sending you into peals of laughter that caused you to tumble off the log you had been perched on. 

You had a few bruises by the time you were back on the log, this time with Xenon hovering over you. You smiled lightly, prepared to head home for the festival’s start the next day. Xenon helped guide you home, only stopping when going further would lead into the house. You smiled, waving him off and promising to be out the next morning to head into town, seeing him fly off reluctantly before you stepped inside. 

~~~~~ 

Bright and early you headed off, bidding your father goodbye, he only let out a tired grumble, finally able to sleep in since the start of construction. He still had to take down the booths and stage, but that was in a few weeks, when the festival actually ended. So, you left him to his slumber, having already told him where you were going and assuring him you would be careful. 

You grabbed your bag, planning on filling it with containers of pie and prizes, before finally stepping out into the day. You took note of the darkened horizon, judging that a storm would be coming in during the afternoon. You were then met with the disguised form of Xenon, who perked up and bounded over upon seeing you exit. You laughed, taking his hand gladly and stepping out and onto the winding path into town. 

“So, what do you want to do first?” 

Xenon thought carefully on the question, but eventually settled on; “Whatever you want to do first!” 

You smiled, swinging your clasped hands back and forth, before you decided on a few games you enjoyed that were always at the festival. 

“And then, pie!” 

He laughed, taking no note of the stares he received as the two of you arrived in town, intent on taking in your smiling visage. As the day progressed, the more crowded the festival became, until soon it was as loud and uproarious as you remembered. But the longer you spent there, the more dreary your mood became, with Xenon being the only thing keeping you going. 

For the more people there were, the more the murmurs began. Xenon seemed concerned, pulling you closer and glaring out at the crowd, growing more aggressive as time passed. But, the whispers were all encompassing and where one murmur fell silent at his gaze, another began. 

“Yeah, and can you believe that Mar—— actually married the brute and had that awful spawn?” 

One of the older ladies mentioned your mother’s name, causing you to flinch and attempt to grasp onto Xenon a little more, already affected by everything leading up to this. However, his head had snapped in that direction as recognition lit up his eyes with a greenish glow even through the brown that hid their true nature. Your own brows furrowed, but you thought little of it until you had reached a lull in the crowd, close by to a darkened alley. You let out a yelp as you were suddenly pushed into it, caged against the grimy wall by Xenon, whose eyes were wild as he spoke in a hiss, not wanting to draw any attention. 

“Why did they say that name? How do they know that name? I thought your mother’s name was Ash?” 

You shivered, trying and failing to flinch away from his grasp and the unstable flicker in his eyes. 

“Th-that’s what my father calls her. Marsheena is her actual name! Why does it matter? All I really know is that she died from my curse and that’s partly why they hated her!” 

Xenon went deathly still, eyes widening with a sudden realization and the words he carelessly spoke next brought a dawning horror to you. 

“No. Your curse isn’t what killed her. It was supposed to just be her’s. She refused me. Why didn’t she tell me? Why! The only way that curse could be on you was if she was pregnant with you at the time. And if she was then she was likely already married. Why didn’t she tell me!? All this time she wasn’t even mine to begin with!?” 

He gripped his hair, anger and confusion on his face, his disguise flickering, showing glimpses of his true form as his emotions grew unstable, huffing for breath as you slowly inched away. Confused, but slowly, understanding dawned upon you. Your quiet whisper snapped his attention back to you. 

“All this time. All this time it was your fault? Her death? My curse?” 

You huffed, feeling hot tears prick at the corner of your eyes. You turned before he could see it, willing them back, not wanting to breakdown here, not with him, not in the middle of the festival.

“I-I need time to sort this out.” 

You hurried out of the alley before Xenon could pull you back. You were sure you couldn’t fully blame him. His outburst showed how emotionally unstable he was, even now, about the rejection and about your mother, and about everything leading up to the events that had happened before you were born. But, you needed time and space before you could sort this out with him. You had to sort it out yourself, consult with your father for more details before you could truly come to an understanding with Xenon.

Escaping from the darkened alley, you left Xenon to try to push his way through the crowd, shouting after your swiftly retreating form for you to come back or wait for him, but for once the hatred worked in your favor. The townspeople refused to get near you, allowing you swift passage through them, while simultaneously pushing back in on Xenon, forcing him to try to shove past the general townspeople and the dozens of ladies looking for a date or a dance with the handsome stranger that his magic showed to them, especially now that he was no longer with you.

~~~~~ 

You ran, getting closer and closer to home, relying on the fading sunlight that struggled to pierce the dark and heavy cloud cover, the storm rolling in swiftly as night approached, hoping against hope that Xenon would understand your need for space. But, as you drew closer to home, the louder the shouts behind you grew until you were stopped just shy of leaping onto the porch and into the house by a strong hand on your arm. 

“Let me go, Xenon! I need space!” 

You pulled desperately, trying to get away before the dam broke and you started to cry. But he tugged back, just as desperate, but with twice the strength, pulling you to him and cradling your cheeks as tears began to trickle down your face. Even as you attempted to shove him off, growing more desperate, he remained steadfast in his grip on you, disguise fully abandoned by now, allowing his wings to wrap around you, preventing you from pulling away. He huffed, seemingly unable to say anything at the moment, but the look in his eyes from earlier still hadn’t fully faded, leaving you wary even as you began to break into sobs. 

He seemed ready to carry you off, still riding this unstable train of emotions when light flooded over your forms as the door swung open violently and your father stormed out. 

“(Y/n)!” 

He pulled you away from the fairy’s grip, and ushered you swiftly into the house as Xenon attempted to follow to pull you back into his grasp. But your father slammed the door shut, and quickly painted something on the wood. It glowed briefly before fading, just as Xenon slammed into it, causing it to rattle tremendously. But, it held up, even when the tell tale flash of his magic shone through the cracks in the door, even as he clawed desperately at the walls and banged farther and farther around the house, looking for any way in. And when one refused to present itself, an unholy howl of rage shook the foundations. 

Afterwards, you found it was a one time concoction that your father had received from a fairy a few weeks earlier. It prevented all magic of any degree and severity, allowing no entry no matter the desperation. 

But all you could focus on, throughout the thunderous booms and bangs and howls, was the warmth your father exuded as he clutched you close, rocking you slightly as you finally started to sob.

~~~~~ 

Xenon heaved, finally slowing down from his assault on the house. But even as he finally gave up, slinking back into the woods, rage burned deep within. Magic crackled from him, hissing loudly as rain began to fall, evaporating in the literal heat of the anger he could not contain, causing all the right minded denizens of the forest to flee. Only a fool would have disturbed the powerful fairy during his frenzy. And such a fool, there unfortunately was. 

“You know, this probably ruined everything for you. You should have just given her the space she told you she needed.”

Growling, Xenon’s eyes cut to the small form of Selena. For a moment they simply stared at each other, the only sounds being faint crackles and huffs from Xenon. Selena soon shifted, flying slightly higher to be on eye level with the taller fairy. 

“It’s not right to try to force your will on others. You tried it with Marsheena —“ 

A sudden pulse of energy and Selena found herself pinned by the throat to a nearby tree, the dangerously bright eyes of Xenon highlighting her features in an electric green glow.

”Who said you had the right to say that name!” Xenon roared, finally addressing her directly even as his grip grew tighter. 

She gasped for air, clawing fruitlessly at his hand, regretting her foolish actions now. But her traitorous mouth continued to speak and she watched in muted horror from the back of her mind as the rage grew wilder and wilder and his eyes grew even brighter the longer she rambled without thought. 

“You tried it with Marsheena and that failed! You need to let (Y/n) go before the same thing happens! I’m glad I gave Richard that mixture, at least it kept you out. You’ll likely be nothing but a monster in her eyes now! In fact, you’ll probably be seen as the monster you show to the rest of us!” 

A wordless howl escaped Xenon’s throat, clamping his fist even tighter, he lifted into the air like a rocket, flying forward with the only purpose that stayed with him even as the rage pumped through his veins and clouded his mind. He ignored all her desperate efforts to get free, only loosening his hold when her struggles started to slow and his destination drew closer. 

He wasted no time in landing softly, slamming down and storming through the curtain of vines and into the cave he had first shown (Y/n). The screams of pain from Selena brought a vicious smile to his face, the seals carved in the rock lighting up a familiar shade of green as they brought agony to the fairy he now clutched by the back of her shirt.

When a high keen was left resounding in the air, he finally waved his hand, bringing the current pain to an end. Selena moaned, twitching slightly as the aftershocks of the sudden painful experience slipped away at an agonizingly slow pace. She had little time to adjust, only barely able to keep her wings from being ripped to shreds on the rocky ground, as he began dragging her towards the terrifying darkness that the beams of moonlight falling into the cave failed to pierce. 

She began her struggles anew as Xenon showed no signs of slowing down, still fueled by the rage she had stoked, only one goal in his mind getting steadily closer. A distant splash resounded in Selena’s ears. She began to sob, begging for him to stop, to slow down, to think this through. All she received was a snarl and a quickened pace. 

It grew brighter now, bioluminescent moss appearing to swallow the walls and floor at a ferocious pace. Her wings became coated as they brushed the walls, bringing them drooping with the weight to finally make contact with the ground, bringing her new agony as something caught and tore painfully through the thin membrane, soon piercing the veins and coating her wings in the dull silver of her lifeblood. It gave an ivory shine to the moss causing the problems. She would have almost thought it pretty if it hadn’t been causing her such pain. Only now she noticed she had broken off into a scream as the holes grew larger and the blood left a silver trail in her body’s wake. 

Tears began to trickle down her face as the path widened and the distant splashing became louder and louder before they suddenly stopped. All to soon, she found herself hefted up, held above a dark pool filled with ripples. She dangled, huffing as she made desperate eye contact with Xenon, begging him silently to let her live. But he paid her little mind, intently focused on a bead of blood slowly, painfully slowly, streaking down one of her ruined wings. She hiccuped, her own eyes drawn with terrified fascination to watch it as best as she could. 

For a moment, it wavered, seeming to decide between falling or clinging to the very edge of her wing. Then, it fell.

She inhaled. The blood made a quiet plop as it swirled in the blackness, giving the dark and silent depths a momentary silver hue as it dissipated.

She exhaled. Silence as the last of the color faded away. The dark waters swallowing it whole. 

A sudden flurry of activity as a horrifying face lifted from the depths, huge sharp teeth on prominent display, slamming down where her feet had been dangling had she not pulled them up at the last second. She screamed, both from fright and pain as it instead ripped a jagged hole into her wings, leaving a now constant flow of blood to pour into the frothing waters. The black became overshadowed by the silver tinge and the shine of flashing teeth. 

She squeezed her eyes shut, clinging to the arm keeping her above the churning water. She flinched when warm breath brushed her ear. 

“This is what happens to those that step out of line. You can call me a monster all you want, but it won’t save you from this. And really, you kept me from comforting the cute little mouse. You made me scare her. Don’t you think that makes you a monster too?”

A dark laugh resounded as his grip loosened. 

“So, from one monster to another, goodbye, Selena.” 

She inhaled sharply. His grip vanished, leaving her to slowly fall towards the black water and the sharp teeth that lurked below. 

She exhaled shakily. Her final glimpse of Xenon was the bright green aura he gave off, lighting up the space brighter than even the moss could handle. 

Then, she slipped under the water, vision going dark, panic ripping through her as one single flash of light filled her vision. A huge yellow eye with a red slitted pupil drew closer and closer, filling her vision before teeth clamped down on her skull. An agonizing scream attempted escape, water filled her mouth, and her head separated from the rest of her body. 

~~~~~ 

Xenon smiled, his eye twitching lightly as the waters slowly calmed, leaving the world once more unaware of what lurked below. One nuisance down, several more to go. Selena’s death would soon be followed by several more before Xenon could have the little mouse all to himself. The horrible townspeople would be satisfying, but the father, Richard, would be the true final obstacle. He prevented Xenon from obtaining Marsheena, but he would not stop him from taking (Y/n) all to himself. 

Xenon began to laugh, trailing out of the cavern, mind already whirling on plans to right the wrongs forced upon him. First, sweet revenge on all who had harmed her or kept her from him, then to bring the mouse back to him, safe and sound in his arms, before finally locking her away so no one could ever take her away again. His laughter grew louder, eyes flickering as his emotions turned down an unstable path, maniacal plans growing and forming as a peal of thunder shook the heavens and the huge storm finally began in a frenzy of lightning and pounding rain. 

~~~~~ 

You sniffled, clutching the steaming cup close to your body as the storm raged on outside. Your father pulled you closer, rubbing up and down your arm in a comforting gesture. You finally felt calm enough to talk, the last vestiges of your breakdown present only in red rimmed eyes. Leaning your head on your father’s broad shoulder, you finally spoke for the first time since he had pulled you in. 

“You knew the whole time didn’t you? About me hanging out with Xenon?” 

He chuckled, ruffling your hair slightly. 

“Yeah. That fairy you always hung out with. Selena. She told me about it. Gave me a warning and that mixture first time she came by. But, you seemed happy, so I just let it be, even with all the problems he’s caused in the past.” 

You sighed, despondent from the events that occurred earlier. 

“I suppose bringing him along to the festival was a bad idea. They started talking and mentioned mother. He... had a breakdown or something. How does he know about her? What happened before?” 

You looked up at him, pleading for a full answer to your question. Your father sighed, looking away slightly. 

“I suppose I was going to have to tell you eventually. I just never expected it to come around like this. Your mother used to be like you. Always hanging out in the forest, forging bonds with the creatures there. Only difference was she was close to Xenon from the start. I knew about it, but never met him. I only know that sometime during our courtship, or even before that, Xenon fell in love with Marsheena. But he told her too late. We had already been married for several months and she was displaying signs of a pregnancy. So, she knew she had little time left before she would have to limit or even outright stop such excursions. So, she took the chance to give her goodbyes. Xenon was last. And he took the chance to confess to her before she could tell him. She rejected him and he grew angry. He lashed out, cursing her. He never showed up to her again, but the damage had already been done. She came home and immediately collapsed. The next day, she tripped and fell on a rusty nail. A string of bad luck began to follow her and she stayed home to avoid hurting you accidentally. This unfortunately meant the town formed their own ideas of what happened.”

He chuckled at this point, rubbing the back of his head.

“I suppose it was my own fault for not saying anything, but Ash didn’t want them to start a man hunt for Xenon, even if he had been the source of the problem. Eventually, you were born. But the bad luck that plagued Ash had affected you as well. She dealt with her own bad luck for months, but now she had a baby plagued with that curse as well. She died saving you from being crushed by a runaway cart. She was trampled by the spooked horses, leaving you crying in the middle of the road. The townspeople began to hate you as well. I tried my best to protect you, but the town wasn’t safe and I didn’t want to make you feel cooped up at home. So, I guided you through the woods until the creatures took notice. They began to keep you safe and provide you with the companionship you needed. I suppose they recognized the little bit of Ash I think you. But now Xenon is here and in your life. What am I supposed to do?” 

He looked desperate. Defeated. So unlike the strong figure you had seen your father as all your life. 

“How can I possibly keep you safe? I’ve failed as a father.” 

He buried his face in his hands, choked sobs escaping him. You tried your best to comfort him, but knew there was much more to do before anything could truly be resolved. 

“I need to talk to him.” 

Your definitive statement had him looking up at you in worry. 

“Xenon seems to be ruled by his emotions. I’m sure he didn’t even realize he was scaring me. I’ll wait for him to calm down and then attempt to get to the bottom of this.” 

You took his hands in yours, squeezing them lightly in assurance, giving him a peck on the cheek before turning in for the night, the last thing you heard was his mutter of “just like her mother” before you started up the stairs. 

~~~~~ 

The storm continued raging for a week. Every time you attempted to go out, the door was slammed shut violently by the screaming winds. Your father barely managed to get it open, telling you to stay inside while he went to check on things. He came back several hours later, shivering and soaked from the rain. His face was pale as you guided him to a chair, grabbing as many towels as you could carry. He took them, remaining silent for several minutes before starting a fire to heat up the now cold house before collapsing back into the chair. 

“The entire town was destroyed,” he finally said, “It could be partly the fault of the storm, but there were vines, huge and thorny. I didn’t venture far, but there were so many impaled on those thorns.” 

He shivered, breath shaky as you in turn shivered, imagining the gory sight and glad you hadn’t witnessed such a thing yourself. But, concern grew for your father as he began to board up the house, in spite of the rain lashing at his back as he hammered planks of wood over the windows. Whenever he saw you come near any opening, he quickly ushered you back, as if he was afraid something would reach out and take you.

And one night, something finally happened. You had been fast asleep in your room when a loud crack sounded from below. You stayed frozen for several minutes, unsure on what to do, but leaped into action when a strangled cry and several ominous crashes rang out in quick succession. Grabbing your bag out of habit, and then taking a moment to fill it with anything heavy to use as a makeshift weapon, you rushed for the stairs. Stumbling slightly, your sleep bedraggled form tottered down the stairs until you finally missed a step and tumbled the rest of the way down. You wheezed, certain you had a bruised rib now, but the rest of your breath escaped like you had been punched in the gut as you took in the sight before you. 

Rain lashed into the house through the hole where the door used to be. But the water was joined by a slick trail of red, leading outside. Looking further, you noticed huge signs of struggles, furniture overturned, scratches lining the walls and floor like something tried desperately to get away. And upon hearing a scream of pain that resounded even over the rumbles of thunder and pounding rain, you stumbled outside, wincing at your tender ribs. 

But the sight you came upon stopped you dead in your tracks. Your father was bleeding out, several large gashes in his sides and one through his head. He was trying desperately to tear the hands from around his neck even as several vines bit deep into his arms, pulling them down to the earth to pin them in place, much like his mangled legs were already nailed into place, vines tightening cruelly, crushing them beyond recognition. 

And Xenon was hovering over him, determinedly trying to choke the life out of your father. You screamed, drawing both men’s attention. Xenon’s eyes lit up with horrifying glee even as he steadily crushed the windpipe of the man pinned below him. Your father looked at you in desperation, barely managing to choke out a desperate plea. 

“Run! (Y/n), get away from here!” 

Your eyes wavered, even as horrible choking sounds emanated from your father. You swayed to and fro as the wind battered into you and the rain lashed at your skin, quickly soaking through your clothes and deep into your skin. Xenon now called out to your horrified, frozen form. 

“Just wait right there my little mouse! I’ll take you home where it’s nice and dry as soon as I finish dealing with this filth.” 

You flinched at the vitriol dripping from his tone, finally bolting as your father, unable to speak, begged you with his eyes to flee. So you did. You ran as fast as you could past the sight, not stopping even when Xenon called after you, not even when thunder boomed and seemed to shake the very ground beneath you.

Breathing heavy and ribs pulsing with a muted pain, you ran further and further into the woods, desperate to get away, not daring to look behind you for fear of falling over or finding him right behind you. Your bag smacked the backs of your knees as you ran, but you tried not to slow down even when the weight nearly knocked you over as it slammed your knees forward. Rain nearly blinded you, falling directly in your eyes, but you blinked rapidly, continuing to hurtle through the trees with reckless abandon. 

You realized you were crying when a sob ripped from your mouth, but the tears quickly mixed with the rain and you could feel no heat from them as they slipped from your face. You hurtled onward, still afraid that you would soon hear your name being called behind you by Xenon.

Your only pause was to try to straighten your bag, only a second, and yet when you went to resume, you smacked straight into the solid chest of Xenon, who was glaring worriedly down at you, eyes lighting up his face in the shadowy underbrush and stormy sky, streaks of red present in his clothes and on his face, even as the rain was swiftly washing it away into a light pink color.

“How did you find me!” you shrieked, trying to swiftly scramble away, slipping on the wet ground, even as his arms quickly encircled your waist and tugged you closer to him. 

Before you knew it, he had clasped you tightly to him, lifted off the ground, and was soaring at a dizzying height, far above the tops of even the tallest trees, leaving you acutely aware that Xenon was the only thing preventing you from becoming splattered on the ground. You clung to him, shaking lightly as you dug your face into his neck, almost plastering your form to his, fear of falling overriding your fear of Xenon for the moment. This was horrifyingly different from the first time you had been over the forest.

Xenon chuckled at your reaction, holding you more firmly to him, as the rain continued to fall to the earth below, before he finally answered your question. 

“The first time I saw you, you were racing Selena. Of course, even then you had intrigued me and I felt the need to learn more. So, I figured bringing you your bag was as good a place as any to start. Not knowing where you lived, I simply cast a tracking spell onto the bag, guiding me to the owner and giving me the location at all times. I just never got around to removing it, so when I saw you heading off with that bag in tow, I decided to put that spell to use. And will you look at that. It brought me right to you.” 

He continued to fly, finally nearing the ground as he mused, more to himself than to you. 

“I suppose I should add some more seals to the cave and probably to you. Make sure you can’t go wandering out and into the nearest ditch to injure yourself.” 

Upon landing, he rushed into the cave, ignoring your renewed struggles to escape with ease. He only set you down after he had sealed off the exits with more of the vines. Huge and smooth this time, they blocked off your attempts to escape, leaving you to fruitlessly claw at them. You could finally feel the tears dripping down your face, hot streaks that landed on the floor of the cave soundlessly. 

Your shoulders shook, too caught up in your grief to notice the arms turning you around and pushing you firmly into the vines. You did notice when his lips crashed into yours, teeth clicking together in his eagerness. His hands traveled from your shoulders down your sides to caress at your hips. Any attempt to tilt your head away and break the lip lock was met with a nip at your jaw and a deeper kiss than before. You cried out when he finally trailed down to your neck and sunk his teeth in. His grip was finally loose enough that you could shove him away, stumbling further into the cave and away from Xenon. But this time, you tripped, feeling your ankle twist unpleasantly. 

He took this opportunity to scoop you up and push you against the statue. He grinned triumphantly, your blood still staining his teeth red. He nuzzled at your neck even as he laughed at your attempts to back further away from him. He clutched your arms, pushing you more firmly into the stone statue, leaning in and covering your escape with his wings, encircling your form as his grip grew tighter around your biceps. 

“Marsheena may not have been mine, but you are,” his eyes grew brighter and brighter in his twisted excitement, nearly blinding you as you twisted and turned, trying fruitlessly to get away from him, “I can keep you safe, protect you, love you! Don’t you get it! I gave you that curse, it’s only right I break it. I gave you the life you’re currently living, but I can fix it! I can make it better! You just have to... stay here... where it’s safe.” 

He was panting by the end, barely able to contain his raging emotions, eyes now flickering swiftly between blindingly bright and a green so dark it was nearly black even as he leaned in to bite at your neck a few more times, nuzzling into you and eclipsing your view of the cave with his wings, leaving him the only thing you could see. He was terrifying and you had nowhere to run, caught between a rock and a maniacal fairy, with a storm that continued outside, abating ever so slowly as he leaned further and further into you.

I think of Selena’s wings as similar to a dragonfly’s wings, which are made mainly of membrane and veins. Butterfly wings are also formed of membrane, but are covered in scales and hair, hence why they have color and aren’t see through like dragonfly wings are. 

[mur-art]

Some WTTT New Mexico Headcanons

I’ve lived in like 8 states in my life so I figured I’d do some WTTT headcanons based on my experiences living in each of them. First up is New Mexico bc I love him. 

(Disclaimer: These are based on observations I made from living in northern New Mexico for 2 years. I’m not a native New Mexican, and as such, there are definitely cultural subtleties I’m sure I missed. Please let me know if there’s anything you would add or change! Also, I’m pretty sure a few of these things are already canon in WTTT but hey...)

·  He bonds with Nevada about alien/government conspiracy theories. (Have he and Nevada ever interacted in canon? I can’t remember…but if they do, it should be about aliens. Or nukes.)

·   New Mexico is very matter-of-fact, almost too casual about his supernatural observations. Like yeah, he saw some weird grey dudes in a spaceship abduct a cow, but that’s just a Tuesday in Burque, no? He’s seen weirder…

·   He complains whenever the humidity reaches 30% or higher. (Florida is extremely confused by this, refusing to believe that the humidity can get lower than 50%)

·   He doesn’t really care about being on time to things. His philosophy is that “I’ll get there when I get there.”

·   He’s okay with simplicity and tradition. He doesn’t really seek out drastic change, and he’s okay with doing things the way he’s always done them because “if it works, it works, no?” As a result, he’s very down-to-earth and had a lot of pride in himself and his people.

·   He’s a really good cook, and he doesn’t just make chile. Some of his other staple foods include posole (hominy), calabacitas (sauteed zucchini and summer squash), carne adovada (pork marinated in red chile), sopapillas (pillow shaped fried pastry served with honey), and biscochitos (a crisp butter cookie flavored with sugar, cinnamon, and anise).

·   He will get BIG MAD if you call any of the above recipes “Mexican food.”

·    He loves f***ing with people. He’s a huge prankster and will NOT hesitate to shit-talk you in front of everyone. (But in a friendly way)

·    His politics are hard to classify. He’s known as a “blue state” but he’s not particularly liberal. He’s pretty cynical about politics, believing wholeheartedly that the U.S. government is corrupt and he has to look out for himself because no one else will (historically, he’s not wrong). Most of his political beliefs come from that undercurrent of defiance.

·    He has no idea what a “Cardi B” is, but jams música nuevo mexicana and Selena on the regular. He also loves classic rock. (Blame Route 66 nostalgia.)

·    He doesn’t say much to the other states outside of his circle, but he loves to chat for hours with people he knows well. It’s kind of a clich��, but he literally does know pretty much everyone… and their mom, and their grandma, and their dog, and all their great-uncles going back 5 generations…

·   He’s pretty chill and laid-back most of the time, but the following things inevitably make him *BIG MAD*

             -Anyone (looking at you, Colorado) that dares to call his chile inferior.

             -Getting compared to Mexico/being called Mexican.

             -Texas, in general. For reasons.

             -Breaking Bad references (It gets old.)

             -People who try to whitewash NM’s history or culture/people that forget he existed for literal centuries before 1912.

·   He’s a member of the “cool flag club.” He’s not quite as obsessed with his flag as Maryland is, but almost. Don’t let his comment in his “welcome” episode fool you; he already has at least 5 Zia sun tattoos. He conveniently ignores the fact that it’s technically cultural appropriation.

·    He creates many kinds of art and his work is extremely quirky. When asked to explain the thought process behind his art, he’ll say something like “I dunno, it came to me in a dream, man.”

·    He actually doesn’t hate Colorado. Besides the chile rivalry, they get along relatively well. He definitely gives off cynical big brother vibes, with Colorado being the ditzy little brother whose head is always (literally and figuratively) in the clouds. New Mexico thinks Colorado is kind of an idiot, but in an affectionate way. NM loves shit-talking him (see above) but half the time it goes way over Colorado’s head.

[charlietheepicwriter7]

thinking more about my percy jackson au

The Luke section of this fic is called “Luke and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Quest”, no i will not be open to alterations. 

Beckendorf: What’s Luke doing? Luke: Angst, angst, angst- Beckendorf: He’s been a little off today, haven’t you noticed? Selena: Maybe he’s in love! :D Beckendorf: Who’d fall in love with sucha- Selena: Maybe he needs a hug! Luke: I don’t want a hug! Selena: Give me a hug, Luke! Luke: No! Selena: Huggie! Luke: I’ll wound you!

guys leave luke alone, he became a single father at like 13, cut him some slack. 

i say that as i make luke’s life worse for the sake of comedy.

On one hand, it would be really funny if everything that could go wrong on luke’s quest, did go wrong. on the other hand, i don’t want to torture him too much.

I also think it would be really funny if Luke accidentally undoes some of his plots from the other novels while on his quest. Like, he kills Thorn from the third book, or convinces Daedalus into becoming a boss at camp half blood. Maybe convince a few minor gods that Kronos’ side sucks. Stuff like that.

Luke is Annabeth’s dad. I know what canon says, I don’t like it, whatever. Luke chose the dad life at 13, but he never expected it to be so tiring

Then he meets Percy and reluctantly adopts him too.

and kronos’ part:

I imagine possession like this: a god can possess humans like in Kane Chronicles. Gods can possess humans with permission without the majority of their essence needing to be present. Using too much Godly power can cause a human to ignite, and if you completely take over their consciousness then the god can do next to nothing--literally every part of their power the body can contain goes to subdoing the human spirit. Additionally, complete control causes the body to physically transform.

So Kronos is a hot blond with gold eyes (which he covers with sunglasses all the time because he can’t even control the Mist to hide them)

Kronos legit tries to get Percy to like him across the road trip, because he wants percy to Raze Olympus, but he grows to genuinely love Percy. but he hates the gods, so his plan once they get to california is to eventually turn percy into a titan and make him a titan of some sort. it’s pretty platonic yandere

Karen, shooting Kronos a look when Percy is loudly info-dumping or something:

kronos, head turning 180, eyes gold behind his sunglasses: WHAT!?

I like the idea that the quest gang has something that can track them across the country. like, poisdeon gave them it to help track his son bc he’s super worried, and luke gets jelly that Poisdeon worries so much.

Every place percy and kronos visit, the gang goes and immediately gets attacked by monsters.

kronos and percy have a lovely lunch with medusa? the gang gets attacked. kronos and percy visit the nashville parthanon? the gang gets attacked. it’s the narrative equvilant of that storm trooper who boinks his head on the door in star wars IV.

at some point percy realizes that kronos is bad news and has to leave his super cool grandpa for this teenager covered in mud who just crawled out of a bush.

Kronos: Do the thing i told you!

Percy: *sigh*

Percy: *dabs*

Kronos, taking a picture: this is going to be hilarious in a few years.

at no point will sally jackson be hurt in the making of this story. in fact, she might receive financial compensation

[serosinkyslut]

“I need you”

Sero x fem!Black reader

Warnings: mentions of drugs, smut, p r a i s e, slight bruising, some overstim w/ nipple play, panic attack, angst, choking, and squirting

Summary: You’re about to tell Sero a thing or two after getting a call from him at 3am. But his response leads to a different discussion…

Word count: about 2.7k

Author’s note: Quick question/// how did we all come to an agreement that Sero smokes?? Is this canon? Could it be canon?

Authors note pt. 2: I didn’t think the angst would be so long, so just skip to the {***}asterisks if you just wanna read the smut

The Sero you know has always been calm, cool, and collected. When you receive a phone call at 3am, you assume it’s one of his usual antics; him asking you if you’ve heard Megan’s new song, explaining why Denki is such a dumbass, or his take on the Netflix show you told him to watch. The bright light of your phone stings your eyes before you hear the ringtone. Taki Taki by Selena Gomez blasts from your nightstand- a song Sero knew annoyed the crap out of you, and hence forced you to set it as his ringtone after a bet you lost months ago. Hearing it so many times now, after all, Sero was your best friend and boyfriend, the tune wasn’t as bad. As you reach over to answer it, silencing the dumb song, you’re semi-pissed off and ready to tell Sero that whatever he has to say can definitely wait til morning. You were exhausted and had just seen Sero only a few hours ago. However, when you answer the phone, the soft but audible sniffle instantly shuts you up.

There’s a shaky breath before “y/n...I....” he pauses, trying to regain control of his broken voice. Your heart squeezes terribly as he tried to force himself to talk. What had happened? You were just laughing together not too long ago.

“Sero? What’s wrong? Are you okay??”

You hear him struggling to tell you what’s going on with him, but only a strangled cry comes out as he bursts into tears. You’ve never heard Sero this broken, this distraught. Hell, you’ve hardly ever seen him have a semi bad day. Tears prickle at the corner of your eyes. It hurts you to know that your bestfriend is in so much pain.

“I need you,” he manages to get out through gasps.

“I’m on my way right now,” you tell him in a smooth, stable voice. You’re scared that it’ll only freak him out even more if he knew how panicked you were. In a total frenzy, you throw on a big shirt and grab your car keys on the way out, not even thinking about your bonnet still on your head, your raggedy house slippers on your feet, or even the fact that you're dashing out your apartment at 3am with no pants on. You can only think about Sero, and how bad he must be feeling to call you in absolute tears. You don’t bother with a seatbelt, and hardly look out for other cars as you zoom to his apartment. A trip that should have taken 20 minutes didn’t even take 10 as you park in the spot Sero was convinced was just for you. A space directly in front of his apartment that was always vacant, and also so happened to be right next to his car. Your feet fly you to the second floor and you fumble searching for the red cheetah printed key to his apartment that he copied for you. He thought it was hilarious how tacky it was, and even customized his own key so that you guys could match. That was Sero for you- always thinking of you. Always going the extra mile to see you happy. And now that precious boy was suffering, crying alone in his apartment. “Wait...is he even in his apartment?” You slam your palm to your forehead. You didn’t even bother asking where he was before rushing over. Fuck. Sending a silent prayer, you flip out the red key and open the door.

As soon as you do, a gush of smoke exits, flooding your nostrils with the smell of weed. You can hardly see into the space, trying to make it safely to Sero’s room where you figure he must be, smoking in his little alcove by the window with the air diffuser on. Instead, you hear his sniffling from the living room, almost blocked out by the tv which, ironically, is in fact playing the Netflix show that you recommended to him last week. Dragging your eyes from the flashing tv, you focus your attention to the shaking lump of covers on the sofa. Taking deep breaths, you walk towards him.

“Sero?” you whisper quietly and he freezes. He doesn’t respond, but you know he heard you. “Sero... I’m here”. You take a few more wary steps before you place your hand on the blanket he’s hiding under and peel it always carefully, revealing the top of his head. You bend down to get a look at his face, but when you try, he only lowers his head even more. You smooth his hair down with one hand, and place the other ever so gently under his chin, trying to get him to look at you. “Look at me, Sero. Please? Tell me what’s wrong”. Sero, being one to never deny you anything you ask for, tilts his head up gingerly. His eyes are totally bloodshot, and you can’t tell if it’s from the weed, the crying, or both. But either way, it breaks you I’m so many different ways. Sero opens his mouth to speak, but nothing comes out. You slip into the thick covers with him and press him to your chest, wrapping your arms around his head. Almost instinctively, he wraps his arms around your waist, burying his face into you while gripping you tightly like his life depends on it. You keep smoothing down his hair, whispering a mix of “everything’s okay. I’m here. It’s okay. You’re safe,” while peckering kisses on his head. It takes a few minutes to calm down from his.. panic attack? Jesus, you want to know what’s wrong so you can fix it. Once he’s stable, he finally looks up at you with those big beautiful eyes and kisses your chin. Then your jaw, neck, collar bones, and finally stopping at the gap between your breasts. He sighs in to you, face between your breasts, and reluctantly releases his grip around your waist. All of a sudden, everything spills out at once. He rambles on about how 5 civilians had died right in front of him two months ago. 3 of them being children. How he could’ve saved them if he had been a better hero. How he was having nightmares about them, and about you. It could have been you that day. Would he be able to save you then? Would you resent him for being so weak? He’d been getting high almost every night to ease his anxiety, but he finally cracked when the Netflix show you gave him had a child die in the last scene of the 2nd season. That was the trigger for his first panic attack. When he called you, he was right in the middle of it, and couldn’t think of someone better to contact. And his gut was right. Just you holding him in your arms made the bad thoughts go away. You were better than the weed, better than all the numerous distractions he had to make him think about everything but the accident. He felt safe. He felt loved. He never knew that was what he needed most. Now that he was calm in your arms, he wanted to reciprocate all the love you always showered him.

*** [here’s the smut you whores]

He began pressing sloppy, wet kisses against the base of your neck, sucking so hard on the skin that you knew for a fact it would leave a bruise or two. “I love you y/n. You’re so good to me,” he breathes before licking long stripes along your collarbone. “I love you so much”. Dammit this man was high as hell. You felt some guilt bubbling in the pit of your stomach at Sero’s advances. Should you be enjoying this as much as you are right now? Your best friend just had a panic attack. Yet, the feeling was quickly replaced by a pleasurable heat as he firmly grabbed your ass with one hand and pressed his boner against your cunt, pushing almost painfully hard through your thin T-shirt. It wasn’t until that moment you remembered all you had on was this shirt and underwear.

With his other hand, he removes your bonnet and threads his hands in your curls, getting tangled easily while he lightly scraped your scalp, right at the crown. Right where you liked it. You let out a soft moan that was met with a slight throb of Sero’s cock. “You’re fucking perfect, Princesa. Your hair and skin feel so perfect. So perfect for Papi”. He bites down on your collar bone, receiving a sharp yelp in surprise and a tug at his hair. “ohhh hermosa you feel so good,” he groans, his Spanish beginning to flow as you both get even more turned on. “All I need is you, y/n,” he says. Carefully, he takes his hand out of your kinks and places one on your hip, rubbing small circles with his nails. He stops for a moment in this position. He murmurs, almost to himself, “You’re all I need, mi cielito. After all the bullshit I put you through, I don’t deserve you,” he starts to choke a bit on his words at the end, and you sense the tears coming. You love Sero, and in no way did he not deserve you. He needed to know that. Pulling his lips away from you, which are now swollen, you stare into his eyes and tell him “I love you, and only you Sero. I don’t want or need anyone else”. A quick tear escapes from his eye and it slides right into the crook of your arm. You wipe it away with the palm of your hand, keeping it pressed on his cheek. “I mean it, Sero”. A slow, lopsided smile presents itself on his face. “That was pretty cheesy y/n. I never pegged you for the sentimental type”. You mirror his smile, your heart soars at the inkling of normalcy between you two. “Oh fuck off,” you say playfully pushing his head away. “We both know that I’m a huge romantic. Besides,” dropping your voice and gently pressing your lips against his ear, “no one else could get me this wet in a few minutes. Sero giggled at you, yes giggled, and shook his head.

“Horny ass. Let me have this damn opportunity to be lovey-dovey” Sero’s fake agitation is so forced you couldn’t help but outrightly laugh. After the moment passes though, you suddenly become serious. “Are you sure about this Sero?”

“I’m always sure when it comes to you hermosa”

This time, he places a slow, deep kiss to your mouth, swiping a hot tongue along your bottom lip, asking for permission to enter. As usual, you give it to him without a second thought.

Sex with Sero is always passionate, but today felt extremely intense. You’d be lying to yourself if you said it didn’t turn you on. Plus, there was so much smoke in the apartment that you had to be getting a second hand high right now.

Sitting up and dragging you with him, covers sliding to the floor, he positions you two at the edge of the couch, your back facing a blaring tv that neither of you bother to turn off as you straddle him. One swift tug has your shirt off, revealing your pebbled nipples and a lacey red underwear you don’t even remember putting on.

A low whistle leaves Sero’s lips. “You couldn’t possibly have mistaken my phone call for a booty call, could you? ‘Cause this is sexy as fuck mami”

Wasting no more time, he wraps his mouth around one nipple, flicking the dexterous muscle back and forth. The other nipple pinched between his fingers while he pulls and squeezes harshly, the pain meshing deliciously with the pleasure. With his free hand, he wraps his lanky fingers around the back of your neck, encircling almost completely around your throat. Yanking your head back with just the right amount of force, you can’t help the loud, high pitched moan that leaves you. Your hips spasm along his thigh, leaving a visible line of slit on his pants. Sero hums against your skin, tightening his grip on you, “you like that, don’t you? Grinding your cunt on my thigh while my hands choke your pretty little neck”

You were going to respond, but his teeth bite down on your breast, the other one met by a thumb flicking across the bud quickly. Your hips buck against his leg, the pressure causing a flood of incoherent sounds. You’re a mess of moans, white pulsing at the edges of your vision, heat rocking through your entire body. And just when you think the pain starts to be too much, he presses his knee right against your clit, making you see stars. “Sero!!” Your screams and gasps are so noisy that you know the neighbors are sure of who’s making you feel this good. His mouth rips from your nipple with a pop, but instantly latches onto your lips.

He uses both of his hands to palm your ass, grinding your hips faster and harder, your clit exploding with pleasure. Eyes squeezed shut, you slam your arms down on him, clawing at his shoulders. The feeling was so fast, so intense, too good, you were being sent over the edge. Your words were incomprehensible, you could hardly even speak to tell him you were close, so so close.

“Fuck! Sero I-”

“Shit y/n you look so fucking hot,” he grunts against your lips, “Please cum, cum for papi. You’re so pretty on top of me y/n. Cum all over my pants with that pretty pussy of yours baby”. One hand smacks down across your tits, making you jump so hard you almost fall off his leg. He never stops gripping and kneading at them, rougher than ever, before twisting your nipples again. You claw at his shoulders, practically sobbing from the pleasure, screaming “yes yes yes! So good! So...!”

Another slap makes your eyes roll to the back of your head, your orgasm building in your core. He squishes your tits together, and plunges both nipples in his mouth, biting and sucking fervently. At the same time he bounces his knee, you feel the burning knot coming undone. “Papi, I’m gonna cum, I’m coming, I’m-”

You couldn’t say anymore, as a gush of hot liquid squirted all over his leg. Sero hums with your tits still in his mouth, the tiny vibrations sending bolts of electricity down your spine. You gradually came back down from your high (and not the weed high), Sero still rocking you slowly against his pant leg. When you come back to reality, your head falls forward, instantly tired and tense from that world-changing orgasm. After opening your eyes, you spot a wet circle right at the center of Sero’s legs. “Sero, did you just cum?”

He glances down, and his eyes widened when he also sees the sticky wetness seeping through. He looks back up at you, blessing you with his wide, toothy smile. “I guess I did, huh?”

Bitch is high as hell. You chuckle slightly before you hear a nearly inaudible squelch under you. Now you look between your own legs, and freeze at what you see.

Shit

“Did I… did I just?”

“Yeah,” Sero snorted, “You squirted on my thigh. I think it got on the couch too.”

Oh my god. You press your palms to your eyes immediately, totally embarrassed by what you did. Not to mention the fact that you were basically naked, while Sero was still fully clothed. How did this even happen? You’ve never squirted before. Did you have some sort of torture kink? Your tits hurt like hell right now. Turning your head away, you say “that’s so embarrassing”

“Embarrassing? Look at me” Sero takes you by the wrists and removes your hands from your face, but your eyes still look away. “Look at me baby,” he persists, squeezing your cheeks between his thumb and index with his lanky fingers, forcing your eyes on his. His blissed out eyes are still glossed over with an incredible lustful stare. “That was fucking hot, y/n. Can you do it again? Please?”

[someobscurereference]

For one: whenever the concept of the Nohrians meeting the young trio comes up, my first thoughts are 1) Inigo being cripplingly shy and terrified of Xander 2) Severa being Extremely Unreasonable and Aggressive especially toward Camilla and 3) Owain gravitating toward Elise because she's reminiscent of his mother, because he's a mama's boy who probably lost his mom very recently and that's pretty fucked up!!

That being said, I'm screaming at the idea of Owain gravitating toward Elise because mother, Xander because cool sword, and Camilla because cool armor, and Not Trusting Leo because he's a Dark Mage and Dark Mage Means Plegia Means Grima Means Evil (almost always) and Leo being so upset about it. It turns the tables entirely, where Odin was originally the one who thought both Leo and Niles were so cool and they thought he was a weirdo idiot until he proved himself, now he thinks they're creepy and Evil and have to work for his trust. And I will always love the Nohrians realizing the trio were Fucked Up Kids and the idea of them watching the three of them take down a faceless with Brutal efficiency because of how much more dangerous Risen were...I'm so into this. AND!! The trio fucking hating each other!! They're so used to them being Best Friends and Inseparable and understanding each other on a whole different wavelength. And now? Sev and Inigo aren't very kind toward Owain's dramatics, Sev and Owain are Bothered by Inigo's flirtations, and Severa is just so harsh with both of them (and most people). Of all the people they could be stuck with, they would Not choose each other. I'm rambling but I'm so into it I'm so so into it. One of the previous asks you linked spoke a lot about Inigo, but if you could talk a bit more about Severa and Owain? Especially if their adult selves were involved with their lieges and partner retainers and how different the dynamic is now and the way they each react when realizing the trio went through something so clearly screwed up and beyond even what they've seen

(prev ask) Ayyy, glad you got a kick out of all of that, lol. And yes!! Leo Trio origins reversed!! With Niles and Leo being the ones who have to prove themselves to Owain instead of the other way around. And the Trio not getting along!! They're 100% there to save each other when they think they're in mortal danger, but as soon as they realize they're not in Plegia? Don't touch me, don't breath on me, don't look in my direction, any of you. Owain & Inigo can't be alone in a room together or else they'll scuffle, Severa stomps away whenever Inigo tries to compliment her, nobody wants to talk to Owain, etc.

Also sure! I spoke a lot about Inigo in that last ask because I wanted to be clear about what I meant with the shyness thing, but for Severa & Owain...

I don't know if they would have been in romance with their lieges before this! I obviously ship the royals & their retainers, but I don't ever see the appeal of that dynamic in deaging fics? I get the idea of like "oh, this is a new side of my partner I've never seen before," but the deaging part is such a huge part of the plot that I don't really see the benefit to that dynamic in these types of fics.

But just in general! The friendship/platonic shift!

I mentioned before about Camilla trying to dote on little Severa but struggling because Severa rejects her So Hard, lol. In general she'd want to dote on Severa because of her personality and how Severa is a tiny version of her beloved retainer, but the more it becomes clear that Severa has issues (especially re: family, which is a major reason Camilla feels the need to dote on Corrin), the more she wants to spend time with her and make some happy memories with her. Which makes Severa's rejection of this attention even stronger bc who the hell are you to presume you know her? And also you're not her big sister/mom/whoever.

Eventually, I almost feel like Camilla would?? I don't want to say "give up," but eventually you're going to get more flies with honey than vinegar. By which I mean the less Camilla tries to push the relationship, the more open Severa might be to spending time with her. But I'm not sure Camilla would get to this point within the timeframe of the Trio being deaged! I think this would take many days or perhaps even weeks to figure out. If the Trio return to normal before this, I think Camilla might feel different (Hard to say how... maybe guilty??) about the way her Selena dotes on her and wants her attention all the time vs little Severa rejecting her. But!! If the Trio stay deaged for a while and Camilla learns to stop pushing the relationship, Severa may slowly grow to approach Camilla on her own and may then be open to being doted upon once they understand each other more (bc she canonically wants all the foods and fun stuff Camilla is offering; she just wants it from someone she trusts. And primarily from her parents ((see: awakening supports w/ parents)), but they're not here).

tl;dr Camilla would have to go against her doting instincts if she wanted Severa to get comfortable with her. Otherwise Severa would avoid her/take advantage of the things Camilla is offering while not wanting to be near her very much.

Re: Beruka!

Unlike Camilla, who has a lot of sad and sympathetic feelings for Severa, Beruka really leaves feelings out of it. Which is probably to her benefit in this scenario, as she's approaching Severa's trauma's from a logical (perhaps even detachedly relatable) standpoint rather than sympathetic. She's more direct than Camilla, so Severa might be a little more comfortable with her, just because she knows what to expect.

Severa, for her part, may even seek Beruka out once she knows they're partners because (1) she wants to know what sort of person her future partner is and (2) she wants to prove that she's the better retainer than Beruka. Which of course she can't do because (a) Beruka would never compare them like that, nor Camilla and (b) Severa is younger, more hotheaded, and less skilled than her older self, so anything she tries to prove now, she'll probably fail at and will blame on her older self having more experience. This competetive spirit may start as an inferiority complex thing, but with Beruka never really fanning the flames, Severa may eventually calm down about it and just feel more driven to get better on her own/respect Beruka as her partner (sort of like her Cynthia Supports in Awakening, though a little different).

Leo & Owain, I already talked about. Owain will immediately take note of the fact that Leo & Niles are his future lord & partner, which he is very curious about, but once Xander, Camilla, & the other very cool people with melee weapons come into the picture, he's very drawn to them, which makes Leo jealous, lol. Leo dedicates himself to "solving" the deaging issue, using this as an excuse so he doesn't have to spend time around Owain and get compared to his "cooler" siblings. HOWEVER, joke's on him bc the fact he's avoiding Owain means Owain doesn't get the chance to quiz him even more and tell him about how cool Brynhilder is. When this finally happens, Leo feels incredibly foolish for trying to show off for Owain & avoid him in turns. Owain, meanwhile, may or may not have ever picked upon on the fact Leo was feeling weird about him at all (although he will admit he felt nervous around Leo at first bc Pelgian Mage Memories and had to take time to get over that).

Niles is a little hard to consider because I actually think?? He'd be good with young/immature folk when he's genuinely trying to be? (See: Niles's interactions with Elise & Nina). However, he can also be quite cruel to people who don't really deserve it (See: Mozu C & B supports) despite having a motto of only insulting "people who deserve it," (Peri Support). So!! I think Niles's interactions with Owain ultimately come down to how well he respects Odin/how good their relationship was. If they were besties when Odin gets deaged, then I don't think Niles will purposely try to make Owain feel bad, though a lot of what he says with metaphors & double meanings will probably go over Owain's head anyway. I also don't know if he'd purposely go digging for information or not?? Depending on how much he feels asking would be a betrayal to Odin's trust vs his own curiosity and all the hints Owain doesn't realize not to drop?? I think Owain would really determine what Niles does or doesn't learn about him. They have the potential to have a really good talk where Owain talks about his parents' deaths and the struggles he & the kids are going through and Niels talking about his own life on the streets. (BTW, despite Owain literally going through a war & both parent death, I think he might think Niles has the worse situation bc he's never known parental love at all, which baffles Niles).

Similar to Leo, I think Owain would be really cautious around Niles at first, both because he's an intimidating sort and because he takes cues from how everyone acts around Niles too. But!! Also just like Leo, if his future self trusted them, obviously that means something, right? So he'd approach Niles a bit more after a few days of settling in.

Niles & Owain's interactions are really hard to imagine because they depend on so many factors that I haven't decided upon! But hopefully the other ones make sense, lol

Thanks for asking!

[gingerteaonthetardis]

musings abt the bat film below the cut, to avoid spoiling things for anyone

not to be still thinking about this days after the fact but i do think it's odd that they went with 'cops are corrupt... but not all cops, see?' as the ending message of the bat movie. the whole time, i felt like it was maybe going somewhere and then it rounded third like 'anyway you should trust the justice system to handle crimes and guyliner over here can just. become a volunteer emt or something.' a v weak message imo, considering he was kicking cop ass in the bullpen earlier (which was v fun to watch)

having the mayor's ending speech be like 'we need to restore faith in our institutions' was also a strange choice, like did joe biden ghostwrite this script or what?? if so many cops could be corrupt within that system, why tf would we want to restore faith in it???? no thanks. the system is a hydra and you just cut off one mobster italian head. and the text literally says that, but offers nothing to counter it except 'have hope'

also: tired of people with traumatic childhoods becoming villains. idk if this is canon to the original material or what, but if being a disenfranchised orphan really made you a reddit-trawling t*rrorist, it would be a much more diverse group over there....... it's the same old story we see over and over in real life and film. bah. do something interesting!!!!!

anyway the whole thing just felt like pretty typical neoliberal ideology soup, which is frustrating if not surprising. committing to anything feels like too big a task for this kind of movie

liked all the gay little glasses everyone wore tho <3 also selena my beloved. am i the only one who felt like she and her roommate were actually girlfriends?

wish she had not kissed the sad boy. she's too hot to spend her time cleaning up his mess

[ofravensandgenesis]

I'd love to ask about '03 Rachel/Faith notes, backstory, past Faiths, Bliss Mechanics, Tracey, etc' and 'Redshift Collision', if that's okay! 👀

Oo, fun choices! :D Thank you for asking!! ♥ Putting it below the cut, also trigger warnings for mentions of child abuse, drug use, dark backstories, in line with or inspired by Far Cry 5 canonical content. Trigger warnings for Redshift Collision include mentioned fantasy religious content, topic of euthanasia mentioned, magical diseases, etc. Long post is long, I hope the read is enjoyable though!! :0

————— 03 Rachel/Faith notes, backstory, past Faiths, Bliss Mechanics, Tracey, etc ————— So this folder breaks down into a dozen docs with split up notes, we’ll touch briefly on a bit from most of if not all of them, but the list is as follows:

01 Faith Character Notes, NPC Followers

02 Rachel Jessop’s Backstory for ACABH

03 Deaths of the Former Faiths Prior to Rachel, Some Bliss Mechanics

04 Tracey Lader Backstory Notes for ACABH

05 Types of Bliss Drug

06 Bliss Dart Mechanic Notes

07 Faith NPC compilation links

08 Overarching Bliss Realm Mechanics

09 Priestess pictures for Athalia - refs, tattoos, etc

10 Jacob’s Men talking about Bliss Shipment Amounts for Various REgions, Bliss Barrel capacity

11 Faith’s character arc, [Redacted for spoilers] - Major Plot Developments for All Main Characters

12 Angels versus Lost Souls

So, fun tidbits from these various docs! Some are implicitly dark because Faith is a Seed and Seeds don’t get to have happy, fun backgrounds in cult-centric AUs like ACABH, poor souls. The first Angel that Faith ever made, and the first ever Angel of the Project, was a woman named Abigail. It was an accident. Researched the first and last (and alternate) names for both Rachel Jessop, Faith, and Tracey Lader. Fun stuff honestly, Tracey’s is very fitting in that one definition of the name is taken from the Irish word "treasach" meaning "war-like" or "fighter." Lader is from Old English and Middle English words meaning to load; draw up (water specifically.) Rachel is as far as biblical names go, the name of the favorite wife of Jacob, and means “ewe” as in a female sheep. Fitting in a metaphorical sacrificial lamb way, if one chooses to look at it like that, among other sheep-like metaphors such as following the herd, etc. Rachel’s father was a doctor who researched the biochemistry of various plant  based compounds that he extracted from specimens he grew at home in controlled conditions. Her mother ran a florist shop and delivery chain, and grew orchids in the green house as a past time. Rachel was passionate about the sciences when she was young, but neither parent looked upon this favorably for various (toxic and abusive) reasons, leading Rachel to become far more withdrawn and reclusive about her passions and activities—in as much as she could manage, beneath her parents’ ironclad rule. Rachel in the present day still is passionate about biology (specifically botany) and biochemistry, but keeps that to herself unless she really happens to trust the other person. There was a brief time when she was a more rebellious and spirited young girl—but her parents quickly stamped that out through any means necessary, including force. It is a major reason as to why Rachel is so conflict avoidant: she remembers how badly it can go, how quickly it can escalate, and she is so very aware of the inherent fragility of both life and limb. There are quite a few conflicting points-of-view regarding the deaths of Rachel’s predecessors, and a great deal of misinformation. Rachel believes that the Seeds aren’t being entirely forthcoming with her about how their own abilities work and the limits of said abilities, and that there’s a lot of secrets not being told regarding the details of how the two former Faiths died. Selena was the first Faith, chosen while the Project was still in its infancy, long before they had made it to Hope County, and Joseph was so sure she’d be the prophesied fourth Herald to help shepherd the faithful through the Collapse. Lana was the second, stepping up to fill the role when Selena died—but Lana died two months later, with both Faiths’ deaths serving as markers of the dangers of the then proto-Bliss-realm. Rachel had been at the Project for half a year at that point, and was the one who took up the mantle of Faith and has served ever since for the past seven years. She was eighteen when she took up the name Faith, but despite her young age had marked accomplishments to her name that had put her forward as a candidate, namely her works with the geneticist Peter on developing the first strains of the drug that would later come to be called the Bliss. This lead to huge leaps and bounds of development with regards to the psychic network that would become the Bliss Realm, and without Rachel’s work, it would be safe to say the Bliss both in drug and psychic plane form, would likely not exist. Jessop as a name is potentially from a root name of Joseph in the form of Yosef, meaning “may God increase, or add (another son)” which ties into Rachel’s family’s thwarted desire for a son rather than a daughter very well in this AU. Thematically, Rachel does arguably share ideology from both Jacob and Joseph, so in a way that is also extremely apropos for her. Ah, Tracey. She did not come from a happy home life either—but that doesn’t surprise anyone in the slightest I think. Her father left her mother the moment he found out she was pregnant, and that’s all Tracey knows and wants to know of him. Her mother worked hard to support them but was absent most of the time, leaving Tracey with relatives to keep an eye on her. Said relatives were very shitty in their treatment of her, leading to a whole host of problems for Tracey to deal with growing up, ranging from neglect to verbal and emotional abuse. This is a cluster of reasons among others that lead to Tracey learning to look out for herself—and to stick up for those who couldn’t look after themselves. She and Rachel met in high school, and they were each other’s first real meaningful friend. It was when they were together that they first thought of the possibility of a better life than all the horror and terribleness they had to live through so far in their very young lives. They were so sure they’d be friends forever...until they weren’t. As of writing this, there are currently six major strains of the drug bliss in ACABH, including Regular Bliss, Sleeper’s Bliss, The Chosen’s Sacrement, The Angels’ Bliss, Cleanser Bliss, and Red Bliss. Variant strains within those major categories also exist as it’s an on-going series of projects for Faith and her followers, with varying levels of involvement from other Heralds, regions, etc. Red Bliss is specific to Jacob’s region and is used in both the Judgification process and the Trials. The others are all largely self explanatory for the most part, or explained or will be explained in the fic. Bliss darts! These are what John’s hunters use, same substrain of Sleeper Bliss that Jacob’s hunters and Faith’s followers use in the form of Bliss arrows and Bliss grenades (think like smoke grenades) to capture non-Project-members too, alongside their attempts to capture the Deputy. Joshua still has a nice stash of them at this point, so the whole family’s in on this. Commonly used even in the Project’s rank and file to subdue kidnapped targets. People can die permanently if they suffer sufficient psychic injury or psychic death in the Bliss in general, but that’s not a guarantee. If some form of psychic death is induced while the person is in the Bliss, it’s possible with immediate medical response to potentially resuscitate said person. Some people can “die” in the Bliss without problem though, aside from likely waking up in a panic as if from a very stressful nightmare. Most people can’t without being connected to the private Bliss network in Jacob’s region—Jacob’s is specifically split off from the rest of the Bliss Realm through the exclusive use of Red Bliss, though Faith and her priestesses could in theory cross over and connect to Jacob’s network, they generally do not. It is easier for Jacob’s people to cross over to the main Bliss network than it is for other rank and file or even Chosen that belong to other Heralds to enter the Red Bliss network if they are not induced into it through drug use. The Heralds have a much easier time of it, but it’s still difficult—Faith and Joseph have abilities that allow easier passage for it among other things, whereas John would struggle more with it sans other additional factors to help said effort along. Athalia was originally one of John’s people before she transferred to help support the previous Faiths, and Rachel retained her as Head Priestess from early on, striking up something like a friendship over time. Some of Athalia’s loyalties may still lie with her old Herald though moreso than her chosen Herald, certainly some of her outlook mirrors John’s dogma moreso than Faith’s, though Athalia keeps that underwraps more often than not. They have a SHIT TON of bliss being shipped around to the different regions. They have to have one hell of an industry for making the stuff to keep up with that scale, depending on what the chemical makeup and ratios are. The doc regarding the plotting of Faith’s arc is all spoilers, so we’re skipping any mention of it here. Angels are different from what the Project calls Lost Souls due to the fact that Angels aren’t 100% disconnected from their bodies and lost in the Bliss Realm, they’re still distantly connected to their corporeal forms in reality, just busy enjoying the Bliss high trip and for the most part uninterested in returning to the real world...for the most part. A minor part of the job for Faith’s people is to ensure that the Angels don’t wander too far in the Bliss realm, or else they’ll become Lost Souls and if gone too far for too long (average length of time spent too far required to become a Lost Soul is a little over a week), this separation can induce major multiple organ failure, including cardiac arrest. It is possible to revive a Lost Soul, much like with reviving someone who died a Bliss-plane death, but it requires that the person’s soul in the Bliss Realm be found and brought back immediately, to sustain the body without extensive external life support systems. Even then, brain death has been known to happen. What counts as “too far” varies from person to person, but the general rule of thumb is within shouting distance—namely, having the Angel’s psychic form in the Bliss Realm’s counterpart of the real world being within shouting distance of where the Angel’s physical body is in the waking world. Brief bouts of separation have not been noted to cause harm to Angels, so it’s fairly lax as duties go to shepherd their souls about and is often tasked to lower ranking Priestesses on the day to day basis. ————— Redshift Collision ————— Redshift Collision is a fun idea that spawned from a crossover fanfic idea I was considering a while ago before letting it evolve into its own original fantasy setting with sci-fi elements instead. It centers on a character named Edgar Loom, short for Loomis, which is his family name. A bit of cultural trivia about the name: The reason he’s called Loom instead of Loomis is because only the heads of a house may use the full family name, everyone else is introduced with a derivative surname. As Loom is next in line to be the head of their household, he is typically the one people refer to when using the name “Loom”, though casual use of the derivative name happens for applicable family members here and there as the situation calls for. First names are typically a much more private affair, and people typically have “use” names that they give when introducing themselves to others including but not limited to prospective business partners, strangers, distant family members, etc. Telling someone your given first name is seen as a huge sign of trust, the equivalent of saying that the other person is part of your inner circle. It is generally expected that first names not be given out prior to knowing someone for a socially acceptable amount of time (length of time not given because I’m not done working out the calendar yet.) Typically, the head(s) of house can use just the family name as their use name if desired, or if there are multiple heads of house then their own use name can be used either as a stand alone or combined with the famiy name. In Loom’s case, since he’s next in line, his use name is typically Loom by default, thus why he’s called that in the ensuing paragraphs. Loom is the only child of his parents, much beloved and happy with his lot in life, having spent his time apprenticed in order to learn how to take up his father and mother’s trade, namely overlooking the production of luxury textiles in the guild of weavers (you can imagine where their ancestors got the surname Loomis from.) Tragedy however has befallen their world in the last two decades, an unknown cataclysmic event has shorn the very fabric of reality in such alien angles, even the gods are left scrambling as they try to figure out what has happened—and what is happening. Despite the new dangers and unforeseen changes that continue to twist the fabric of their world however, life goes on. People still survive, and flourish, adapting as they can to the strangeness that has taken root upon their planet. However, one of the new shifts brought about in their world includes new diseases—plagues. One such disease is called Wraith Fade, so named for what a person becomes as the disease progresses, and how. It is unknown how Wraith Fade is transmitted, but it is widely suspected to be magical in some form, due to lack of evidence for it being transmitted through the more common corporeal means. Loom contracts Wraith Fade, and he and his family all know that it’s a death sentence—sufferers of Wraith Fade are typically observed to have a year or for the more robust two before succumbing to the disease. Typically, the course of treatment is for the afflicted persons to make good of their last days, and then to call for a doctor to help with euthanasia—most countries if not all sponsor covering costs for this procedure to varying degrees, due to the dangers that wraiths pose if left unchecked. And wraiths are very dangerous, and very hard to kill. One of the early to mid stage symptoms is what appears to be a magically-induced loss of voice—both medical professionals and thaumaturgical researchers are at a loss for the mechanics of it, as studies do not register readings of magical structures either natural or artificial that would induce a silence effect. Various treatments have been attempted, but no direct results have been observed thus far in the trials. Another symptom is what has been referred to as “greying”—specifically, a gradual fading into total translucency and loss of most forms of color in the afflicted person’s physical appearance. The silencing and greying that sufferers of Wraith Fade endure eventually comes to encompass most if not all sounds that they make towards the end of the disease’s incubation period, and coupled with the greying effect this translates into a near silent and visually obscured entity when the person loses themselves fully to wraithood. Older wraiths have been observed as occasionally being able to silence entire areas seemingly at will for brief periods of time, and some of the more markedly dangerous individual wraiths have even learned to disappear from sight completely in what appears to be true invisibility. Their hardiness and resistance to what would constitute mortal injury to many living beings also seems to be supernatural in origin, though it is yet one more area that eludes researchers and experts to a vexing degree. What makes wraiths so dangerous however is their penchant for hunting in sporadic and irregular patterns, and the predominant pattern of many wraiths taking to heavily populated areas as a preference. Why they hunt people is a mystery, as sufferers of Wraith Fade are noted as slowly losing sensations of hunger and thirst, and late stage sufferers going without either food or drink without succumbing to starvation or thirst beyond noted secondary effects. The individual modus operandi of a given wraith develops over time, to terrifying results. It is not unusual or imprudent for the public to break into mass hysteria should a murder occur in a city, with people fearing that a new wraith has taken up residence. It is for this reason that sufferers of Wraith Fade are at times persecuted and sometimes killed on sight by unruly mobs, so-called vigilantes, and at times even government-sanctioned organizations in some countries. It is dangerous to travel for both the afflicted and for others, should the afflicted’s health take a turn for the worse and their condition deteriorates faster into wraithood. There is no known cure for Wraith’s Fade—but there are rumors of one, in the strange and distant city-state of Wyrrawyr. Loom is however a soul defined by hope, in that moment of definition. He chooses to try and seek out this rumored cure, and he and his family and friends have a tearful goodbye, knowing this full well could be the last time they see each other in this life. Wyrrawyr is a strange place. It is the city of stained glass, the gateway to the Snowfeld Sea, the broken circle which once sat as the crown jewel of the mighty Hederan Empire, the land of a thousand sieges—and a land of the old ways. Wyrrawyr has been conquered many times, but no conqueror has ever met with good fortune when trying to rule that place. Ill fortune plagues any power that tries to rule that city for long, and Wyrrawyr has garnered a reputation as a place to avoid...not that everyone listens to such tales. It is known as a cursed place to many, but those brave souls who dare to call it home say otherwise. The local gods of Wyrrawyr in particular are strange in their antics when seen through the eyes of the more northern countries, but not so strange as the people—some of whom say the city itself is a divine being in its own right. It is for that reason first and foremost that the Northern Alliance calls it the city of heretics, proud and unyielding in their strange ways. But age-old feuds are reduced to mere distractions as the entire world shudders as the shifts seemingly grow more aggressive where once they were placid. The landscape of their home world seems to shift more drastically in a short span of time than ever it has before, and many are driven to terror at the thought that reality may be collapsing into an unrecognizable form of chaos as they watch the mechanics of their world come apart at the seams. Loom arrives to a sundered Wyrrawyr, as parted and torn with unknown magical phenomena as if a slip-strike earthquake had cracked the earth’s crust open. It is in a sundered Wyrrawyr that Loom meets Death. Specifically, the local Wyrrawyran incarnation of Death, who offers Loom a deal: stand as Death’s champion and agent to investigate the phenomenons, and to enact Death’s will in restoring a form of natural order back to their world—among Loom’s tasks should he accept is to find those souls spirited away by forces unknown. Gods unknown, perhaps, is Death’s suspicion. In exchange for Loom’s services, Death offers him an out that will spare him from dying from Wraith Fade—and this is the only way to avoid that fate and all the sinister after effects that come with it. But both their deal and the “cure,”—in so much as it can be called that—requires Loom to leave their home world, never to return again. Loom must go where Death cannot: into the new world that is slowly colliding with their own, the two ripping each other apart like the collision of galaxies into a new, singular galaxy. A world where magic is a foreign idea, and technology is the watchword of nearly all who live there. A world that is out of place. This collision shouldn’t have happened. These two worlds were not on a collision course—far from it, they had been moving away from each other in their shared planes of existence. That is why the gods of Loom’s world have taken to calling the matter the Redshift Collision. It is the possibility of survival and a world full of the unknown that Death offers, should Loom agree—or, as a mercy, the option of a swift, safe, and painless passing into death and the afterlife, if Loom would prefer to die in his home world while he is still himself. Loom accepts. And that’s the starting point for Redshift Collision’s story!

[drabblesofrapture]

Vicey’s Characters

Mod Vicey here! Here are the summaries (and profiles, when available) of the characters I’ll be using in these little drabbles! Remember, these are their CANON versions, so that context can be known for the AUs! [Readers be forewarned, this is a pretty long post. Feel free to just read the names and see the pictures! All of the artist credits can be found in the character galleries on their Toyhouse profiles, listed at the end of each summary.]

Selena Mavis

This little imbecile is pretty much the main character! She’s the Devil’s most recent daughter, born to a human woman. She traveled to Rapture to meet her father and join the demon mafia. She has the ability to manipulate shadows, using them to create weapons, wraiths, or nigh-indestructible beings hellbent on destruction of all things living! (The last one is, honestly, not intended...) She’s also a dingus.

TH Profile

Derek Alvar

This is my vampire boy, one of my oldest OCs! In canon, he is a nervous little wreck that put up with a lifetime of high expectations from his father. He did end up becoming the Sire of the Alvar vampire coven, but less because his father retired and more because his entire coven died. Now he’s balancing between holding his claim on his coven’s territory and assets, and being dragged along by his best friend Selena to save the world every once in a while. TH Profile

Jeff Callahan

Jeff  is the supplier. Jeff will supply is the head of global business operations for the demon mafia! He has a warehouse in the middle of Rapture. He’s on friendly terms with the highest demons, the Patrons, and is the warden of Selena Mavis. He likes to bake, especially when he is stressed. Also, he is British. TH Profile

Melissa du Claire

Melissa is a bitch, basically. She is rather nomadic, constantly traveling the world as the Beast Tamer, a world-renowned expert in trapping, taming, and killing supernatural creatures. She keeps a few of them as pets. She likes pissing Jeff off. They dated once. She has a whip. TH Profile

Stefan du Claire

Melissa’s nephew! She died in the 20′s, he died in the 60′s-70′s. Rather unfortunate, really, that they ended up the only two in their family to become demons. Stefan’s main job is being the only thing holding together the shambles that is his friend Devon’s drug operation. Right now, he’s taking a break and decided to take a vacation to Rapture. He has now gotten sucked into the current efforts to save the world. TH Profile

Lucy Beaureguard (AKA Lucinogen)

Lucy has become somewhat stranded in Rapture. After a long childhood of being passed around distant relatives, she found herself traveling with the owner of a carnival, Alan Winter. A series of unfortunate events later, Winter and his carnival were... retired. Lucy now lives with the city’s resident Reaper, Undertaker, and runs a small business where she assists people with sleep issues. Dream magic! TH Profile

Jaffa

Jaffa is a baku! After an incident where he put the entire city to sleep to feast upon all their dreams at once, he was (inexplicably) allowed to stay as Selena’s pet! He now walks around Jeff’s warehouse, sniffing out dreams of entirely-suspecting sleeping workers. TH Profile

William Alvar

Derek’s older brother that he just found about like... two weeks ago. Their father originally intended that William become the heir to the coven, but William wasn’t about that life and decided to run away. (This unknowingly contributed to the harshness of Derek’s training.) He’s spent the past few decades partying around Europe, but came back to Rapture after his account was mysteriously emptied. That’s how he found out he had a younger brother! TH Profile - needs to be updated

Darius

A Grim Reaper that has been recently assigned to Rapture to assist with the large amount of deaths in the city! (Best not to ask.) Seems to be pretty chill, really doesn’t care about anything. Doesn’t understand why mortals make a big deal about death. It’s a normal thing, ain’t it? Also likes to go around without a shirt or shoes on. Will wear a coat when it gets cold, though. TH Profile

The Outsider

The Outsider is a minor trickster god that lies outside of the belief system. We don’t know a lot about him besides the fact that he is inherently unstable, can shapeshift others, and can summon objects at will. TH Profile - TBD

Red

Unhappily bound to the Outsider, Red has been recently been freed from decades of being forced to require a host. After so many years living in her monstrous Guardian form, she has become devoid of many emotions; the exclusions are anger and sadness, emotions she has plenty of experience with now, thanks to the Outsider. TH Profile

Adonis

Adonis is the younger (older?) brother of the Outsider. Purple and yellow eyes (He and the Outsider traded). He is currently trapped in a dimension that is, itself, trapped inside a marble. The Outsider has carried this marble around for centuries - it was the Outsider’s fault that Adonis was in there, anyways. TH Profile - TBD, picrew 522865

[jazzraft]

reignite.

@glaiveweek 2020 | day 3 | fix-it canon divergence

“You’re doing it wrong.”

Nyx grit his teeth, rolled his eyes, and ignored her. He focused on the sparks sputtering to life in the palm of his hand. He knew what he was doing, there, see? Magic! Right there! He could see it, she could see it, right in front of their eyes. He almost had a full flame, he just needed to pool in a little more power, a little extra oomph and…

It exploded. The sparks of kindling he’d so carefully balanced at the tips of his fingers suddenly burst into jets of blue fire. They bolted into the air between, reaching for the ceiling before Selena lunged forward and closed his fist around the flames. They snuffed out the second he cut the cord to the crystal’s well of power, blinking in rapid shock at the smoke trails it left behind. Selena’s nails dug into the tops of his fist, staring bug-eyed at the space where the fire had been.

“Well,” she said. “That’s one way of doing it wrong.”

Nyx glared at her. “I would have had it.

“Uh huh.”

“I would!”

“Mmhm.”

Nyx shoved the flat of his palm against her forehead, pushing her back into the armchair in a fit of giggles. Girl gets praised by Titus Drautos one time and she thinks she’s an expert on magical pyromania. Nyx knew before they even hit basic training that she would far out-pace him on the fast track to Kingsglaive acclaim. He just hadn’t expected to feel so competitive about catching up to her.

“You’re right, you’re right,” Selena said when she recovered herself. “You would have had it… If you’d done it right.”

“I was doing everything they told us to,” Nyx said in his defense, flexing his nearly burnt fist as he paced the apartment.

“Well, there’s your problem. You’re thinking too hard, we all know how dangerous that can be.” Nyx threw a couch pillow at her face.  She caught it in her lap. “Just because we’re in Lucis now doesn’t mean you have to start following the rules, big brother. The Lucians may think that they invented magic, but we’re Galahdian. Magic’s in our blood.”

Nyx shook his head, struggling not to smile. They were just stories, old tales surrounding earthbound magic. Superstitions, really, about the old gods before the Cosmogony was written, which said magic was in the stone beneath their feet and the very air they breathed. Magic wasn’t a giant serpent rising from the raise deem you worthy of its blessing. Magic was nature, unseen but everywhere. Galahdians knew that even without the legends, but Selena had always believed in their mother’s tales as facts of history, not fables.

She stood up, taking Nyx by the shoulders to stop him from wearing a trench in the floor. It wasn’t a great apartment. They couldn’t afford much between the two of them when they set off to Insomnia to join the fight against Niflheim. He definitely couldn’t afford fixing a hole in the ground. Or a scorch mark on the ceiling.

Selena took his hand, opening the red skin of his palm where the heat of the flames still lingered. “Just think of it like home. Think of it like stoking the hearth for dinner. You’ve gotta feel it, not think it.”

Nyx huffed, impatient to get it right. He wanted to stick as close to Selena as he could within the ranks of the Kingsglaive. He didn’t want to fall behind. She might have been better than him, but he was still her big brother. He needed to be as strong as she was so he could take the hits from the things that were stronger. He let out a breath, closed his eyes, and tried again. He tried to forget everything the stiff commander had taught them, tried to forget the science of it all, and just feel it in his soul.

He thought of home, of the hearth, of oak wood burning softly beneath a bright red pepper soup. He thought of the heady spices that filled that little cottage in the dead of winter. He thought of the warmth fighting off the icy sea breezes in the night. He thought of his mother’s embrace, his sister’s smile, and the pump of his own blood to protect them both with this power he’d been entrusted.

“There you go!” Selena exclaimed.

When he opened his eyes, a strong, steady red flame flickered in the palm of his hand. He held it fast, kept it in contained, hot enough to hurt if touched, but warm to keep them safe through the cold, dark nights. Selena mimed playing a trumpet, puffing out her cheeks and wheezing out the rhythm of some victorious fanfare she heard in a video game.

He didn’t know if the old gods in those stories were real, but if they were, he thanked every one of them that she was there. He didn’t know what he’d do without her.

[ipswitches]

Favourite Holidays

Nell: Spring equinox (with a tiny bit of Easter), Summer solstice, Autumn equinox, Winter solstice

Ruby: Halloween, Autumn equinox

Emma: Halloween and Christmas

Selena: Halloween

Sabine: Halloween and Christmas

Damon: Christmas

Casper: Spring equinox, Summer solstice, Autumn equinox, Winter solstice, Christmas

Rune: Halloween

[entamewitchlulu]

Arc V and Nature vs Nuture: a rambly meta-ish post

I've been thinking about Arc V again (surprise surprise).  Specifically, though, I've been thinking about the counterparts and their originals.  I've seen here and there ideas and tossed headcanons about things like “What if Yuya and Yuuri swapped places?” or “what would happen if Zarc was the one reincarnated into Yuya's place?” and they're fun and interesting concepts to play around with to be sure.  But the more I personally thought about it, the more I came to just a single conclusion: if any of the counterparts swapped places, the results would be exactly the same.

If Yuya and Yuuri were swapped at birth and raised in each others' respective locations, they'd turn out exactly like the other in canon.  Yuya would become the gleefully malicious weapon of Academia, and Yuuri would be the depressed but still trying kid dealing with the loss of his father and trying to figure out who he is in the shadow of him.  The only thing that would change would be their hair/eye colors and their names.

And that's...that's kind of a tough thing to wrap a head around, I think. Because I know I do, and probably others do too, have this concept in my head that people are themselves no matter where you put them. To be fair, that's the whole concept that AU fiction hinges on.  But the truth of the matter is that that's not always the case.  It's the Nature vs Nurture debate in anime form.  What is the most important? I think one of the underlying concepts of Arc V, much more subtle than many of its other themes, is that both of those things intertwine into something that's difficult to separate which part causes what.

Because, let's think about it.  The show is very clear on the fact that Zarc IS Yuya, and Yuya IS Zarc, and the same for Yuto, Yuuri, Yugo.  The same for Ray and Yuzu, Ruri, Selena, Rin.  They're all the same person, just dropped into different scenarios.  Zarc is just Yuya without a support network.  Yuya could have become the same monster Zarc did given the same circumstances.  They ARE the same person, but in the unique position of being able to see exactly how different circumstances changes the same basic formula.

I do think that nature plays a role in personality!  If we swapped Zarc into Ray's role, for example, I don't think he'd turn out exactly the way Ray did.  But if you plop Zarc into the same role as Yuya and have him grow up from the beginning in that place, he would simply fill into the same space that Yuya took up.  You wouldn't be able to tell the difference, personality-wise.

And I really think that that's a HARD thing for us to wrap our heads around, myself included – the idea that “myself” would not be “me” if I had grown up in slightly different circumstances.  If I hadn't had both of my parents, I would be a different person.  If I had been raised Jewish instead of Catholic, I might not recognize myself.  If I had been born in a possible hundred years in the future when LGBTQ+ issues are more widely accepted or vice verse, in a place where LGBTQ+ issues were more underground, so much of me would be different.  It reminds me of a book I read recently, Unfollow by Megan Phelps-Roger, about her life growing up in the Westboro Church, and leaving it as an adult.  In one event she recounts, after leaving the Church she attends a Jewish convention with a Jewish Twitter mutual who invited her, and he says on the panel that he wonders, if he had grown up in the same situation she had, would he have been able to end up leaving?  Because if he'd grown up in the same place as her, he'd have believed the exact same things.

And that's hard to accept. People are just as much products of their environment as they are products of their choices.  The idea that we aren't ourselves by choice in some regards is a difficult thing to accept.  How many possible “yous” are out there in the cosmos?  How many “yous” are out there believing the complete opposite thing you believe now? People are creatures of habit and environment – we weren't really meant to be creatures of self-awareness and self-determination, but like all species, meant to find ways to survive.  It's possible to change and be self-aware, of course!  It's possible to divest yourself from the influences of your environment – many of us have done so, by taking the time to deeply examine some of our longheld biases and make new decisions.  But that takes time. That takes effort, and it takes a constant effort, not just a one time self-examination deal.  And it takes help. It's so much easier to believe that people are just who they are because they are, and not because the environment they came from molded them that way.  It's so much easier to dismiss people who hold beliefs we don't agree with as being inherently terrible, when perhaps if they were just given the chance to just think about it or hear from someone else in a patient way who meets them where they are, they might change their minds.  Of course, no one is ever obligated to educate or reach out; and it's not the responsibility of others to change others – but it's never wrong to try when you have the opportunity and the strength to do so, and it's never wrong to at least become a part of an environment where people have the opportunity to change.

I feel like maybe I'm getting off track, but to a degree I think something of this message, intentional or not, is in Arc V.  It's easy to believe that Zarc was just the way he was because he was a bad, terrible person, because he simply was inherently a villain.

But then he became Yuya, and had the chance to live a different life. And that different life then had the rare opportunity to look back at the other life, the other environment he once came from, to acknowledge the way it changed him, that it COULD have changed him again, and to make the choice to divest himself from the things that caused pain to himself and others.  And he couldn't have done that without the people around him, who showed him how to change, and how to be the person he wanted to be.  He could not have done that if everyone around him, like Leo, simply decided that he was an inherent, irredeemable monster – but instead recognized that the monster was born of the world it came from.

Most of us will never get that chance to be so self-aware about what caused us to become what we are.  Most of us will spend years struggling just to understand where we came from, and how we can or could have been different.  But maybe we can learn a little bit of something from that.  People aren't inherently themselves – they come from the places that make them at the core.  But once we recognize and understand that, in ourselves, and in others, it's easier to change.

[uzuuzuking]

so this started out as just a general post about why i like cinderella adaptations, but slowly spiraled into a ranking/review of all the cinderella adaptations i’ve seen in my short, young life. so strap in for possibly the longest post i’ve ever made on this blog. (look, i never know how much i have to say about something until i really get going lmao)

idk why i like cinderella adaptations/remakes/spinoffs so much? most of them are garbage (especially the ones within the last 10 years don’t @ me) but fuck it i like this brand of garbage. it’s fun to watch these movies and rework the bad plotlines and dialogue in my head as i go along.

i guess i like the source material and some of the aspects of all the different adaptations, but honestly i just like re-imagining them because there’s only so much cringey script-written-for-teens-but-clearly-written-by-40-year-old-adults-who-have-no-idea-how-teens-or-even-people-for-that-matter-actually-talk-and-interact i can take in one excruciating sitting.

anyway here’s my personal ranking of all the cinderella adaptations i’ve seen that no one asked for. (not including stage productions because i haven’t seen any and have no opinion of them. also not including into the woods because that’s not just cinderella, but a spectacular amalgamation of fairytale mishap and shenanigan.) and reviews because apparently i had more to say than i originally thought when i first started constructing this list:

cinderella (1997) - the absolute best cinderella adaptation of all time, hands down, this is non-negotiable. this movie has it all: an excellent and diverse cast, gorgeous costume design, beautiful sets, some of the most dazzling dance numbers i ever witnessed when i first watched it at the wee age of 4, and a positive, progressive message that was accurate for its time yet also so ahead of its time. i cannot praise this version of cinderella enough, it is my all time favorite and one of my top 3 feel-good movies. if you watched it today, the effects might not be as magical compared to what we have now, but keep in mind it was released in 1997. anyway, the cast is truly amazing and so effortlessly inclusive (and honestly the fact that the prince was asian with a black mother and white father and they literally never addressed it was such a power move). i could go on about this movie forever (i’ll probably make a whole post dedicated to it in the future) and what it meant to me and many others as young, impressionable poc. in conclusion, this movie set an exceedingly high standard for me and destroyed the chances of any other cinderella adaptation even hoping to live up to that. i love it! so! much!

ever after: a cinderella story (1998) - tbh i never saw this until i was in college but i immediately fell in love. i love the flow of the story as a whole - i never felt like anything was missing. i love the costumes and i especially love how danielle and henry’s relationship progressed throughout the film. slow-burn comes to mind when i watch their interactions and we all love a sweet, sweet slow-burn. it’s romance babes! it’s Dramatic in a few scenes and all i can say is that it really works because drew barrymore’s performance is exceptional, fantastic, engaging, more adjectives to describe how enthralled by her i was. above all, her character is compassionate - she uses her voice to speak in support for those who are suppressed by the flawed government systems and law enforcers, and influences the prince to use his status and power to better his people who lack the privileges of the nobility. she’s such a strong female lead (emotionally and physically - she literally fireman carries her love interest, who is taller than her and definitely exceeds her own bodyweight) and truly the mvp of this adaptation. watch it. watch it for Her.

enchanted (2007) - amy adams and idina menzel - ‘nuff said. okay but for real this one is so unique with its transition from classic d*sney 2D animation style to the real three-dimensional world and i adore it to the ends of the earth. the music? slaps! the story? slaps! the development of the main character? slaps!! she’s so princess-y and d*sney cartoon-y and struggles in the real world, but she adapts at a good pace and i love that she learns to be realistic while also keeping hope and love close to her heart. also her mother figure / daughter figure bond with morgan is so so precious. the only constructive criticism i have for this movie is the fact that we were robbed of idina menzel singing!!! did they know all along she was destined to play the frozen queen years in the future and decided against her singing in this one?? is that it? ridiculous. it’s been over a decade and i’m still seething over this. other than that this movie is *chef’s kiss*

ella enchanted (2004) - anne hathaway’s back must still be hurting from carrying this film. (no shade to the other cast members, they’re good, but anne is a queen and i forever love her.) this is another childhood favorite of mine. the story itself is a refreshing take - hats off to gail carson levine for the source material! i’ve talked about the differences between the movie and book before in the midst of my reread of the book a few months ago, but i don’t remember how much i focused on the movie. it’s so different from the book that it might as well be its own thing. on its own, the movie is pretty decent! again, mostly because of anne. it’s funny, it’s sad (especially that scene towards the beginning between ella and areida, i’m in stupid tears every time), and it gets weird but it’s a fun time. the chemistry between char and ella is so zesty i can feel it through the screen, i swoon over both of them. tbh i probably wouldn’t like this movie so much if not for the fact that anne hathaway is truly talented and i spend most of my time watching it just looking at her. 

cinderella 3: a twist in time (2007) - i genuinely enjoyed and appreciated how the characters were written in this one. they all had clear motives and became much more dynamic through their lines and actions (drizella is arguably the most static character here but she still amuses me so it’s fine i guess). cinderella has more agency since the stakes are higher. prince charming actually has a gotdamn personality and has some of the funniest scenes and dialogue. good for him. i was kind of sad that anastasia’s story with the sweet baker boy was thanos snapped by the stepmother, but she and baker boy get a cute credits illustration together so it’s still canon! maybe i’m more biased on this one because i grew up rewatching it A Lot, but i definitely prefer it to the first and second movies.

cinderella (2000) - this one is kind of weird but i like it? the film has a really interesting vibe that i’m still trying to figure out how to describe even after seeing it like 5 times. wikipedia refers to the aesthetic style as “the glamour of the 1950s” which just might be as close as we can get. it follows the general guidelines of the cinderella plot, but the main differences were: zezolla (cinderella) was already helping with the chores before her father remarried, claudette (stepmother) was actively trying to murder zezolla’s father during their marriage, the stepsisters were much more violent and crass (they hunted zezolla’s beloved farm animals for sport and talked about getting “a man in [their] bed”), zezolla’s father was manipulated by everything claudette did and said and treated his own daughter poorly as a result, and prince valiant is honestly kind of a douchebag but seems willing to improve himself after meeting zezolla (basically his vibes are iffy but he’s willing to learn). this whole movie is pretty niche and i have yet to interact with someone who’s also seen it. and the only reason i’ve seen it so many times is because i just like listening to how the dialogue is delivered. (except for prince valiant’s random song at the ball, i kind of hated that and i skip through it every time lol).

a cinderella story (2004) - the classic hilary duff version. very cliche early 2000s high school romance, but it works for the cinderella narrative. not particularly diverse. a classic nonetheless. in my mind this is the pinnacle of the “modern cinderella movie” type. this is one of the most iconic movies for us zillennials and i’d like to think it’s known well enough for me to not go into a lot of detail about it. basically it was fresh and new for its time, had plenty of memorable scenes, and did i mention hilary duff? the film kind of plays into the “not like other girls” trope - as do a couple of the movies i listed above - but i’m just going to acknowledge that the early 2000s were Wack and simply move on. all in all, i like this movie for the nostalgia, iconic scenes, and hilary duff. also jennifer coolidge is pretty funny as the stepmother.

another cinderella story (2008) - again, an early 2000s classic, but this time with selena gomez. i liked the dancing in this one. i like selena’s quiet, somewhat timid characterization of her character, mary. and jane lynch in the stepmother role is perfection. she’s so fun to watch and is always hilarious. the story is nothing remarkable, but it’s okay and i liked it as a kid. after the hilary duff version, this one still managed to feel fresh because, though it was similar in its modern era approach, it focused more on the performing arts and dance. “cinderella” is an aspiring dancer, rather than the 2004 aspiring scholar. the “prince” is a famous popstar, not a football player. the stepmother is an outdated popstar desperate to stay Hip and Relevant with the kids, not a cranky botox lady. honestly i just love watching this one for the dancing, mary’s genuine and innocent love for the “prince”, and literally everything that comes out of jane lynch’s mouth. that woman is a dialogue gold mine.

a cinderella story: once upon a song (2011) - lucy hale is good. missi pyle is good. they play their roles and lines that they’re given fairly well. over all, it’s entertaining. lucy, of course, has them Pipes and i do like the songs in this movie. the only major downside for me was the “token best friend of color” trope. lucy’s best friend is an asian girl who’s good at sports and is there for one liners and support. the prince charming character’s best friend is a black guy who he only knew for probably a month at the most. he can beatbox, sing, and dj. basically he’s also just there as support. they really don’t do much for the plot but they’re there for diversity and whatnot. this movie is.. fine.

cinderella (1950) - the only reason this ranks so low for me is because i watched it a lot as a child when it was on vhs and it always felt like a fever dream to me. i was just really young and didn’t feel invested in any of the characters. it is a classic, though, and i would watch it again and be able to enjoy it.

cinderella 2: dreams come true (2002) - i liked cinderella’s and anastasia’s stories from this one. jaq’s was meh. it was fine.

dj cinderella or cinderella pop (2019) - netflix knows i like cinderella adaptations so, naturally, they shoved this into my recommended and, naturally, i watched it. twice. which is more than i can say for the following review... so this movie is brazillian and is pretty much the cut & mold of modern cinderella movies. but she wants to be a dj. she stars out living a perfect life as a wealthy girl with a loving family, but turns out her dad is cheating on her mom with his secretary. that’s when she “stops believing in love”. which is actually valid bc if i saw one of my parental figures cheating on the other, i honestly wouldn’t know what to believe in anymore. anyway, cíntia dorella (yes. that’s her full name.) and her mom move into her aunt’s place. a year or so passes. stepmother/secretary/cheating lady is throwing an extravagant birthday party for her daughters and hires freddy prince, a popular musician who cíntia doesn’t really like. meanwhile, cíntia gets a dj gig she’s excited for until she finds out she’s the opener for freddy prince at her stepsisters’ party. she ends up disguising herself as “dj cinderella” and freddy is super into her. it’s pretty generic from there but i was entertained enough to watch it twice. take from that what you will.

cinderella (2015) - ok so we been knew that d*sney’s live action remakes ain’t shit, and this one is no exception. d*sney within the last few years has been like 99% aesthetics and marketing. this movie was visually stunning, especially with the settings and costumes. those were the only 2 things i truly liked. everything else was forgettable. in its defense, i did read a post about the “have courage and be kind” message which is something wonderful to hold onto, especially for anyone in an abusive situation like ella. that’s valid and i respect that. i still lowkey hate this movie tho. i started getting a headache about 4 reviews ago, but remembering how much praise this movie got has reignited my fighting spirit. honestly if you like it, that’s good, you like what you like and that’s that. but this is my review and i hated how proper ella’s posture was (she’s been doing physical labor hunched on the floor for years now, how does she not slump around in exhaustion at the end of the day??), i hated how perfectly curated the whole thing was (again, that’s mostly because of d*sney and their aesthetics), and i hated how hollow everything felt. i can’t perfectly describe it, but i never felt emotionally invested in any of the characters. something about their performance was lacking and yet again i blame d*sney. i actually really like lily james, but something about the way she was directed left me devoid of emotional attachment to ella. i remember nothing about ella’s step family or the prince. that’s how much of an impact this adaptation had on me. also i just remembered the fairy godmother as i type this. i ADORE helena bonham carter, but this movie does a horrible disservice to her. if she liked working on this movie, then i’m happy for her, but even she wasn’t strong enough to sell this to me. i saw this movie in theaters and came out of it lamenting my waste of money that i could have spent on something i would have actually enjoyed. but the thing that enraged me the most, the thing i despised, i detested, the thing i seethed over and rant about to this day was the ONE (1) token black character. i don’t even know if he had a name but he was captain of the guard or some shit. if i remember correctly (but probably not tbh this movie was so forgettable), he was the one who heard ella singing and was the whole reason the prince was able to have her try on the glass slipper. this man, who had zero character development, zero relevance to the plot, an insignificant amount of screen time, is suddenly the reason the main character is able to finally connect with her love interest. um. What. i hate how the writers treated him and i will forever be filled with every last grain of salt over this. anyway he’s my favorite character and everyone else is just eh. to conclude this ungodly long review, i don’t like this movie. i tried to watch it again once but got so bored i quit 10 minutes in. do yourself a favor and watch cinderella (1997) instead. (the only reason this movie is ranked above the remaining 5 is the production quality. but i guess that’s unfair bc d*sney has the big bucks. and maybe i wouldn’t be so harsh if i weren’t sleep deprived and grumpy from a sugar-induced headache, but these feelings still come from my Chest so idk.)

a cinderella story: a christmas wish (2019) - i think we all secretly enjoy christmas-themed movies and this has got to be someone’s guilty pleasure. i was mildly entertained (but again with the cringey dialogue written by people clearly not in high school...) and i do like laura marano. but they autotuned her to hell and back - which i loathed - because the woman can actually sing and she has a lovely voice. she got to sing candidly one (1) time and i relished the experience. my ears thank her beautiful, un-autotuned voice. other than that it was.. fine. i didn’t hate it but i didn’t like it either. laura marano deserves better than this. (can’t say the same for the other actors tho because their roles were unmemorable.) also laura marano was super cute in her elf costume!

not cinderella’s type (2018) - i legit forgot about this one until after i compiled the entire list lol. i saw it on youtube and it was decent as far as i remember. it’s another modern day cinderella. i think the “prince” runs over “cinderella’s” cat or something?? i’m pretty sure it was her mom’s cat so now she has nothing left to remember her mom by. prince boy feels awful and tries to befriend her or do something to make it up to her, but she just doesn’t really like him. i think her aunt and uncle are emotionally abusive to her and prince boy does his best to be there for her without making things worse. if i remember correctly, i liked that aspect of the movie because it’s hard to be there for a victim of any kind of abuse if trying to help them could potentially hurt them more, especially minors still under the care of abusive guardians. anyway i think cinderella girl’s best friend is in love with her or something but she ends up not being into him and slowly gets together with prince boy. she eventually moves out of her guardians’ house and into the spare house at prince boy’s home (he’s rich or something). i need to rewatch this movie tbh i could be wrong about everything here lol.

rags (2012) - not amazing, definitely not memorable because i have nothing to say about its plot or writing, but it has keke palmer which is its one redeeming quality. also it’s the only one on this list where the male protagonist is the cinderella. so that’s solid i guess.

a cinderella story: if the shoe fits (2016) - this was a movie. it happened. i vaguely remember how ridiculous it was and sometimes i felt secondhand embarrassment. i don’t remember what about specifically, but i remember the emotion. sofia carson is a talented singer. i think she’s a decent actor but this script was Bad.

elle: a modern cinderella tale (2010) - i only watched this one because i was bored out of my damn mind and saw it on youtube. i felt bad for all the actors because this script was terrible. i don’t recommend this unless you’re about to sit down with your squad and make fun of it.

apparently descendants is on the “cinderella adaptations and references” list on imdb but i refuse to put it on my list because it’s not a cinderella-specific adaptation and i don’t like the descendants franchise. now, if we’re going to discuss a quality series about the children of fairytale characters, that would hands down be ever after high. but that’s a different topic for a different day.

thus concludes the ranking no one asked for but i felt compelled to make. thank you and goodnight

[companaich]

RP Wishlist!

I’ve got a plot or idea I’ve been wanting to use for each character on this gd blog under the cut, take a look and lemme know if you’re interested in any! I tried to keep it mostly ship agnostic, but, you know.

Sometimes it be like that

Catria -- Heroes. Feeling undeserving of the attention she receives from some of the other pegasus knights that grew up on stories of her and her sisters, Catria tries to escape for a quiet moment alone. Unfortunately, she gets cornered and starts venting about what she’s heard of her reputation.

Clair -- Canon. Finally coming to terms with her crush on Alm being one-sided, Clair sank to the level of the ‘commoners’ and joined in the soldiers drinking one night to try and deal with her emotions. She wakes up with a blinding headache and a sinking feeling that something had gone horribly wrong. At least she still has all her clothes.

Erinys -- Heroes. Erinys finds out about her untimely death, and isn’t able to come to terms with it - or the fact that she’s already starting to feel some of the symptoms that would lead to it. (TW: Cancer mentions)

Aida -- Canon. While leading Sigurd and his army back to Barhara and into an ambush, Aida reluctantly finds herself drawn into conversation with some of the members of the army when hey mention their children.

Ced -- Canon. After barely managing to defeat Ishtar during the events of Chapter 8, Ced starts throwing himself into his training even more than before as his inadequacy complex starts to play up.

Ishtar -- Survives/Seliph AU, Heroes. Ishtar is left in Askr trying to come to terms with the fact that she committed suicide by army in most other timelines, and wonders if she’s a bad person for choosing to live. 

Nanna -- Canon/Heroes. Nanna’s confidence is slowly returning to her following the events of Thracia 776, and shades of her mother are starting to shine through again. People who used to know Lachesis start commenting on that.

Swanhild -- Heroes. Swanhild’s recklessness leads her to sustaining a grave injury in battle. She goes to thank the hero that saved her in that fight, as well as apologize for the endless screaming her mother had subjected them to when she found out what had happened.

Igrene -- Heroes/FE7. Caught off guard by meeting the people her father had only mentioned to her in stories, Igrene is unable to resist comparing them to the children she’d meet later on.

Fiora -- Canon. Fiora is trying to write home to the families of her fallen subordinates, but isn’t sure what to say. She ends up speaking to her current comrades to try and figure out how to approach such a delicate topic.

Selena Fluorspar -- Canon, pre-game. As one of the four generals of Grado, Selena accompanies Prince Lyon on one of his diplomatic visits to meet with the Twins. While there, she speaks with another member of the Knights of Renais, and compares her own country’s struggles to their idyllic nature. 

Tana -- Canon/Ephraim Ship. With her wedding to Ephraim on the horizon, Tana vanishes abruptly for a few days, to be found helping hands-on with the reconstruction work on the border. In a fit of tears she talks about how she feels weak and insignificant compared to what everyone else has done, and tries to voice her distaste for the end result of the war.

Mia -- Heroes. Confronted with people on her level or even above it, Mia temporarily questions if the sword is even worth pursuing anymore. She immediately shakes this off and drags the first person she sees into training with her, whether they use a blade or not be damned.

Sanaki -- Canon, RD. Having just unveiled her gambit to the Senate and started the process of shutting down their influence, Sanaki is found burnt out and exhausted in the camp, muttering about how much she still has left to do. Having somehow given Sigrun and Tanith the slip, it’s a rare moment of her being in public, unescorted, and with her shields down.

Tanith -- Sephiran/Tanith ship, POR. Tanith’s secret relationship with the Prime Minister stops being so secret when he gets General Zelgius to deliver her a love letter along with the reinforcements. And several dozen roses. And a song that she just barely stops him from performing. Caught off guard and embarrassed, Tanith tries to mumble her way through an excuse about it to the first person who questions her on it.

Mist -- Heroes. Mist is fed up with being designated as just a healer, and heads to the training grounds with sword in hand to prove that she really is her brother’s sister.

Titania -- Canon, between games. Titania takes a personal week off from the mercenaries and heads to the capital, meeting old friends on her way there. She catches up on what’s been happening in their lives, before sourly letting her dissatisfaction with the current state of the world known.

Annath -- Heroes. With her father not present and her mother apparently only having a wedding dress on her person, Annath has a hard time taking Askr seriously. Trying to explain who she is to the other heroes from Tellius becomes particularly embarrassing for her

Cynthia, Morgan & Haley -- Post-FE13. With Robin still missing and presumed dead, Cynthia tries to pick up the ruins of her personal life and move forwards. She ropes some of her friends and their family in to help her and her daughters collect and sort Robin’s personal effects, aiming to move out of Ylisstol now that “Mini Cynthia” has been born.

Tiki -- Heroes. Tiki tries not to seem too embarrassed by the antics that her younger self gets up to around people she’s grown to call her friends. She isn’t overly successful. 

Tharja -- Canon. Embittered by the reaction she receives as a Plegian living in Ylisstol, Tharja has to be talked down from enacting bitter, if somewhat tame, hex-based vengeance upon the stuffy Ylissean court.

Chrom!Severa -- Fates/Heroes. For someone as proud of her heritage as Severa is, keeping her mouth shut about her exalt blood proves a difficult task. A slip of her sharp tongue proves too complex to pull back, and she’s forced to explain herself.

Edelgard -- Black Eagles, Part One. Edelgard believes that the person who overheard her nightmares this time was simply her teacher again, and moves to open the doors to her room to continue their discussion. Finding one of her classmates was listening proves harder to explain.

Marianne -- Black Eagles or Golden Deer, Part Two (Post Paralogue). With her newfound confidence in her identity, Marianne returns to the chapel to pray for the first time in a while. Unfortunately, her newfound confidence isn’t quite enough to seal away all her self-doubt, but she at least feels open enough now to speak with it to her former classmates.

Ladislava -- Black Eagles, Post-Game. Surviving her near-death with a shattered back, Ladislava is forced out of military service due to injuries too severe for even magic to heal. She tries to adjust to normal noble life, but a meeting with former members of the Strike Force shows how poorly she’s managing to accomplish that goal.

[stoiicist]

reyna sexuality headcanon. let’s go. (ps this got looong so undercut for your dashboard’s sake)

let’s start with young reyna. she doesn’t really have time to think about love or crushes. she hears about them in passing, on tv and in pop songs and from giggling girls at school. reyna doesn’t quite get why the other girls squeal and laugh when one of the boys come over and tries to hold one of their hands, but she laughs along with them because that’s what she’s supposed to do. she doesn’t get why as they grow older, her friends start to care more about what boys think of them than what their next math test is over, isn’t familiar with the feelings of butterflies the other girls supposedly get when one particular boy in the grade above them walks past. reyna does know, however, that she likes looking at the poster of selena that hylla keeps on her wall a little too much, but she tries not to think about that.

her life is kind of a huge shitty mess, ya know with the abusive father and demigod bullshit on her plate since she was like four years old, so if you were to ask her what she thought about love or if she had any crushes, she would just tell you that she’s too focused on school to think about those sort of things. even on circe’s island, when the other hairdressers spend hours talking about love and crushes long after the lights had gone out and reyna gets a better understanding of what love is supposed to feel like, it still doesn’t make sense to her the same way it does to the other girls. reyna tries to look at the boys and men who come to their little island the same way they do, but it feels forced and uncomfortable and unnatural. not at all like the other girls describe.

it’s not until a blonde girl around her age arrives on circe’s island that reyna understands what the other girls meant when they talked about their crushes, that flash flood of nervous excitement they mention every time something tall, dark, and handsome washes upon their shore. she is quiet and fierce-eyed and not at all like the other girls they tend to. this girl isn’t disoriented and cheery like them. she watches them with those grey eyes, both intimidating and distracting, and reyna finds her fingers fumbling as she tries to untangle her hair. 

the feeling in her chest is uncomfortable, as she watches the girl in quiet admiration. but the other girls never talked about girls like they talk about boys, so something tells reyna she shouldn’t share this little discovery with the other hairdressers. but she ends up not having to worry about that, because that girl helps that boy destroy her home and reyna never sees any of the other hairdressers ever again.

reyna knows she shouldn’t, knows hylla would scold her if she ever knew, but she sometimes catches herself thinking about that blonde, quick-witted girl anyways.

shit happens. she has to fight for her life again, so all that angst gets put on the back burner. she’s too busy grieving her home, her separation from hylla, proving her strength to lupa to even think about the blonde girl, much less try to sort out what it means for her. she arrives at camp jupiter and reyna is hoping to finally have some structure in her life. a place to figure herself out and figure out what she wants in her life. 

and then she meets jason. they butt heads at first, but they eventually grow to be close friends. they share similar views on their hopes for the future of CJ, a shared loyalty to new rome and their fellow demigods, and both often find themselves in position of leadership together. when they’re eventually made praetors, reyna isn’t the least bit surprised. but that only means more hours spent together, more sharing in struggles and job stress; their bond deepens significantly.

when reyna thinks about it, he’s everything she should want in a guy. he’s strong and brave and kind and he makes her feel less alone than she really is. but he doesn’t give her butterflies or the same captivated feeling that blonde girl on circe’s island did. but reyna tries to think of him as something more than her best friend. after all, it’s what’s expected of them. they’re co-praetors. that sort of thing happens all the time ( at least, that’s what people said ). in fact, she heard about it so much that reyna just started expecting it to happen one day. that one day, she would look at jason and feel that something and he would look at her and he’d feel it too and they would maybe kiss and that would be the beginning of the end. 

and then he disappears, in the midst of reyna trying to figure out her feelings for him. and that sure throws a wrench in things, doesn’t it, because it’s even harder to figure out her feelings for him when she’s missing him and she’s overworked and she’s worried about whether he’s even alive. it’s easier to confuse those feelings for romantic love, it’s much, much easier love the idea of jason, the idea of jason as her boyfriend, when the reality is nowhere near her.

and then comes along percy. reyna is tired to the bone, more alone than she’s ever been. she’s been running the camp for months, a job meant for two, surrounded by merciless senators and legionnaires prepared to devour her if she falters even a bit. it’d make anyone desperate for a partner. she offers the position of praetorship to percy, but because of what they talked about before with her and jason, it sounds like she’s offering more. she isn’t, really. she only keeps the option open to percy, because of what people expect from praetors, expect from her. he declines and reyna’s relieved, until the realization that she will continue to shoulder the responsibilities alone hits.

when jason returns, the way he looks at her doesn’t ever change and part of her is grateful for that, because try as she might, she can only ever look at jason, think about being in love with him, and feel like something is forced. like trying to put a puzzle piece in the wrong spot. she knew he needed to be in her picture, that just wasn’t the right place for him.

she meets jason’s friends, obviously has a lot of conflicted feelings over that because there’s that blonde girl again ( her name is annabeth ) and how can reyna be sure this isn’t just the effect of charmspeak ( or maybe piper’s always this alluring ), but then they fire on her camp and they’re enemies on the battlefield so that puts figuring everything out on hold again. sometimes the thoughts creep into her head at night when she’s alone and she’s tired and she wants to think of anything but the war they’re fighting. it usually doesn’t make her feel any better.

a part of her has always known, not in explicit terms, but just knowing that something was different about her. the sneaking suspicion that all the romantic indifference she’s ever felt towards men had to mean something, she just wasn’t sure what. for a while, she thought she just wasn’t interested in romance at all. that she was one of those people that would be alone forever with a couple dogs, or maybe live with her best ( female ) friend and be happy about it.

and then she talks with nico, because there isn’t really any hiding anything when reyna can feel all his emotions wash over her like a tidal wave, and he talks about cupid and his recovering from that and coming to terms with it, and reyna’s like why the hell does that sound a lot like me...

and then there’s no denying it, or talking around it, or trying to explain away the feelings she’s had since she was young. she’s a lesbian! she’s gay! and it feels good to finally have a word for it and daunting to wake up the next day knowing exactly who she is and what she wants and comforting to know she has a group of friends who will do nothing but celebrate this with her. :^)

i could probably write a shit ton more but this is so goddamn long and i need this out of my drafts anjfdnfkf so yeah here’s like the mainverse closest-to-canon lesbian reyna hc i got for ya. if you read this im sorry about your eyes

[flyswhumpcenter]

Bad Things Happen Bingo! The event where you send me requests according to this marvelous card! (Red cross is the completed prompt, character headshots are prompts I’ve already filled. I don’t have any request left, so feel free to send in suggestions for this card!).

I'm getting flack for Empathic Dissonance on Fanfiction.net but I don't give a shit, Peregrineshipping will live beyond this show's grave fuckers

Oh look it's that one other AU I keep brushing dust off without actually doing anything of substance with it except invent new ways to slap characters I don't own into it. And because I got severely annoyed by some twats trolling on my FFN posts (why am I posting on this site anymore anyway smh), I made sure this fic was obviously Peregrineshipping. They're right when they tell you people write because they're either horny or spiteful.

To casually explain how mages ("magical girls") work here: there are three categories (spell caster, weapon user and healer), and there are Hybrids who are a combination between two of those three. Hybrids are chased down by bounty hunters because they're deemed to be special unicorns. Each mage also represents a Symbol or an Arcana (they're the same: the Arcana system is just deeper with more details on it and it's mostly in Latin) Everything else is spoilers. I am not kidding, I may very well write this bullshit out one of these days. I'm also gonna pull out my "it's fine if they're OOC because it's an AU" card I got from a fellow IoTsumu shipper (who's most likely not gonna read this), because I decided I'd be super self-indulgent today.

Also, big thanks to my pal Cherie for providing me with that sweet, sweet prompt. It's always a pleasure to write Peregrineship and dab on the haters lmao.

----

Moonbeams in the Lunar Eclipse

Summary: There's one thing sure in Shun's mind as he escapes from his pursuers with his partner's wrist in his hand: he won't leave this place alone.

Fandom: Yu-Gi-Oh! Arc-V (magical people AU, see notes above) Ship: Peregrineshipping (Serena/Shun) (established, mostly implied)

Wordcount: 1.8K words

Event hosted by @badthingshappenbingo

AO3 version available here.

----

Saying his day has been absolute shit so far would be an understatement. In fact, he’s sure he’s not had such a shitty day in his life before: getting pursued by a bunch of bounty hunters, with feet bitten off by spells and wounds all over their bodies, tattered colourful outfits shredding little by little on the ground and in the air, really isn’t something he’s ever liked, or ever wanted to experience; but here they are, pursued by a bunch of crazies with their lives in their hands as they try to make it out without losing everything they’ve had.

For Shun, the only things he’s ever gotten were his liberty, his sister, his best friend and Serena; and he’s not intending on losing two of these now.

 The streets of this city they don’t know smother him softly, slowly, giving him this sense of dizziness from the oxygen running out of his lungs the deeper they get. He isn’t familiar with that place, they’ve arrived there in a hurry because Ruri and Yuto went after an important lead in their hunt against those who chase and kill the Hybrids (reckless kids, he can’t help thinking: they’re Hybrids themselves, they’re going to get themselves killed and nothing else), and he has no idea as to where they could go to take shelter until these people forget about them.

They’re running out of everything. He barely has enough breathing and energy left to run in the streets like he’s currently doing, enough mana to keep the hunters away, enough eyes to watch over Serena and make sure she doesn’t get left behind in this urban labyrinth. The inside of his palm misses her warmth too much for him to give up on her. He may be clinging onto his sense of orientation more for her and their mission than for his own sake, at this point.

 Shun spots a corner sunk in darkness next to his feet, yanking his hand back on Serena’s forearm (who is nearer to him than he thought, she’s faster than expected, that’s finally something he can be relieved about, it’s been a while), shrouding them in the shadows of the night and hoping their chasers don’t spot her body illuminated by solitary moonlight beams suddenly disappearing by swiping to the right. He keeps a hand on her mouth just in case, yellow irises focused on the scene before them, ears on alert; until he can’t hear anything but their breathing, hers muffled by his hand, his barely in control, footsteps vanishing into thin air.

He lets her go, watching her put her back against the wall to examine her injuries closer. Selena’s palms start glowing in a feeble blue light, just enough for him to see her swollen left ankle and cuts all over her body and outfit, blood red and fabric red somewhat mixing in the dark of the night as they silently pray for nobody to come back until they’ll be fine enough to get back to their feet and find shelter somewhere Ruri knows (she’s waiting for them at the end of the maze, he knows it).

 They’re breathless, yet the echoing silence makes him uncomfortable. He has problems hearing her over his shallow breath, a hand pressed against the stab wound a billhook got on his abdomen, his second skin having ran out of mana on him way before they could have escaped from these vultures’ claws. The thing is that he can still walk, still get out of here if he ignores the pain enough, if he focuses his mind on the job at hand. The issue relies not on him, but on the fact he cannot guarantee everyone around him is in the same condition. Who cares about a little blood and a few cuts when your legs can still get you somewhere safer, better?

It’s in those moments that Shun regrets being a mere spell caster when he could have been much more; and he gets jealous of Ruri’s healing powers until he remembers the pain it causes her. He misses her more than he envies her anyway: he’s supposed to protect her, not the opposite way around.

 “Are you good to go, Serena…?” He asks her with a dry mouth and a voice smelling like dizziness. Maybe he’s lost more blood than he can remember from the attacks. The dark ground and lack of light makes it hard to judge how much of it he’s spilled onto the ground with no hope to get it back.

“Leave without me,” she tells him like she’s dropping a canon ball right above his head, eyes cold but eyebrows frowned, and he knows that because his eyes have developed some kind of night vision. Not that anyone would have associated him with any form of light power; yet he was, somehow, some way, able to illuminate his path and see in the dark, when he had enough stamina left.

Right now, he feels like what little endurance he had left had come back full force, rage engulfing his nerves in a rush of adrenaline.

 “What the hell are you saying?!” His voice rises in tone and volume, ignoring the walls amplifying the sounds bouncing amongst them, but her face doesn’t change, none of her features bulge even slightly.

“Leave without me, Shun. I’ll only slow you down. I’ll be fine.”

“Are you fucking with me?! How can you possibly tell me that when we’ve come so far together, when we’re supposed to be a team?! We’re even more than that, we’re alone together in some wastelands neither of us knows, you’re—”

“Listen to what I’ve got to say before screaming your head out, Kurosaki!”

 Serena’s sudden bite at his monologue stops him right in his tracks, stealing his speech away, the adrenaline skipping a beat and going straight for his twitching hands and head. He’s furious, but silent now. That’s the only thing it’s done against him that he can account for.

That, and a lingering feeling of betrayal giving his heart frostbite burning, scorching at his insides’ skin. His blood feels poisoned, he wonders if he’s slipping into sceptic shock.

 “Look at me! My ankle’s busted, I’ve run out of mana to shoot things, and we’re both bleeding. There’s no point in risking dying here if it’s just to get me out of this mess when I’m no use to you anymore. Get outta here before you can bleed out to death, that’s all I want you to do! I’ll only slow you down, so please,” she retains a sob inside, the sob of the person who’s seen the frontier between what is life and what isn’t for the first time and couldn’t get prepared for it (nobody could), “please leave without me, Shun!”

“…that’s bullshit.”

 Serena’s eyes grow wide, her mouth moving to say something only to stop midway through the process to do so, her face split between anger and surprise. In the end, she sniffles in her last few tears and stares right at him.

“I’m not leaving you in some dump because you can’t walk properly or something. We’ll get out of this together, even if we have to limp or drag ourselves on the damn fucking floor for it to happen. That place’s not safe, we need to get you to safety?”

“And what about you, Shun? Are you going to go ahead and back on your footsteps to avenge Ruri? Are you going to do that to me… to all of us again?”

She has a point there; he can’t tell himself otherwise.

“Are you kidding? I’m bleeding the fuck out. I’m not sure if I can even escape from this place alone, my vision’s starting to swim if I move too quickly.” He scoffs, at himself more than at her eventually useless remark. “It’s dark as fuck around here and I don’t want you to have some stupid death by hypothermia or something like that. It’s either we die in this hole or we leave together. I won’t abandon anyone else, not after almost losing Ruri once.”

 He takes her hands, wet from their clamminess and cold, in his as if that enforces his point (it doesn’t, really, but her palms are warmer than his and he just wants to touch her, to feel her skin under her gloves while he still can).

“But we’ll leave together, that much I want to promise. I can’t promise it’ll be smooth or fun, but I can promise we’ll try our damn best to escape.”

“You’re strangely forward today,” she ends up replying with a smirk, “but I like it. You should be like that more often.”

“Don’t fucking make fun of me.”

“I’m not.”

 They have a short moment of silence before Serena speaks up again.

“How do you plan to get us how out of there, though? It’s not like I can properly walk anymore.”

Before she can add anything else, he gives her his back, hands right above his pelvis, fingers twitching up. Communication has never been his forte, and Serena sure knows that, so he’s trying to do something about that, even if it just ends up being terribly embarrassing for the both of them.

“Climb here.”

“Shun, that’s stupid, you’re injured! You won’t be able to—”

“Get on here before I force you to get there myself.”

She sighs in exasperation and does as he says, his arms sticking her legs against his torso. He has troubles adapting his balance to the new weight on his back, especially when his knees have scrapped the ground before and when he’s weakened already. Still, he pulls through and forces his legs to stay stable as he starts walking.

 The heartbeat he feels next to his, too fast for a human in their right condition but still slower than his, is worth it. She has her arms wrapped around his shoulder blades, purple and red fabric brushing against his own outfit. He can’t hope to use his wings when he’s like this, with a human body over where they’d grow with a spell and retract when its effects would end, but it’s fine. It’s fine because they’ll make it out of there, as long as they’re together, as long as he can hear her ask him if he’s fine or he’d need a break. In a way, Serena is the beam of clarity piercing through the night ocean laid before all of them, the one whose presence he needs the most right now. She’s his partner and role model at the same time.

Because, if there’s one thing Shun hopes to become someday, it’s a beacon of light in the darkness.