#A talk with Rana's brother

[hyewka]

his face is so kissable like just peppering his face with kisses because hes the cutest thing ever

[evenmorefatallyobsessed]

I make four Milf Models on the list (and a Fifth on in Shiranui) and then I go and find Six more 'Mature' Gems! Dammit...

Anyways let me introduce the Six new candidates.

1.) Cattleya (Queen's Blade)

Not gonna like, I know noithing besides that she has huge tits, glasses and is a blacksmith with hella muscle... That is more then enough! I would make her son and Jaune friends, and Cattleya is the only woman the Arc trust to forge their weapons and upkeep them. Her son Rana is one of the only people Jaune trust around his sisters.

2.) Kie Kamado (Demon Slayer)

So truth be told, I have not watched Demon Slayer... And this woman and her four dead kids are why! Like THE FUQ!? Jesus man this crap broke my heart, I... I just moved right along to happy anime cuz that shit makes me sad as fuck... So yeah they would live in Ansel, and she would be Juniper's best friend and one of the very few women he can understand the sheer difficulties of raising a small team of children. But worst, because she has to do it alone... Then Grimm attack, and while everyone else is trying to protect their own. Little Jaune rushes to help his best friend Tanjiro and his siblings! Auraless and with only his families sword in hand that he can barely wield the two boys actually manage to kill a Beowulf and proceed to get them to the safety of the Arc House.

3.) Shizu Shinazugawa (Demon Slayer)

DUDE WHAT THE FUCK!!! Seriously this woman somehow had a worst death then Kie! SHE ATE HER KIDS!!! WHAT IN THE FUCKING HELL!!! OH! AND LETS NOT FORGET THAT SHE WAS GETTEN BEATEN BY HER HUSBAND!!! God Dammit, at this point I'm starting to think it's a good thing pig boy was raised by boars. If his mom had been with him instead of abandoning him in thew woods (I assume) she'd probably be dead too! Much less lightening whiney bitch I swear don't give him a tragic backstory too! I do not want to like him... As for shizu, Imma play the Cardin card, and say the two older brothers are bullies in Ansel. Lashing out at others because of their abusive father and of course Jaune is a very ripe target, the envy of the pair because of his kind strong father. Jaune is mad, but after talking to his sisters he decides to invite the boys over to dinner, and try to be friends, after all like his mom says, friends are just strangers you haven't met yet. And besides... Their like him and Tanjiro, he heard they have a lot of siblings too. They should make a club together! It is as little Jaune is having these thoughts that he stumbles upon it... then father beating them, them and their poor mom! And much like with the Ursa Jaune rushes in. And gets beaten within a inch of his life, but doesn't stop, grabbing forks, spoons anything he can get his hands on... Telling them to run, to get his dad. Papa Arc does come forward and what he finds is his son, bloody, beaten barely able to stand, but standing he is, and protecting the poor lady with a broken leg from her evil husband... And then the man is gone, his head taken, the Arc Patriarch not hesitating for even a second.

4.) Ruka Rengoku (Demon Slayer)

'It is the obligation of those born strong to defend the weak. Don't ever forget that..'

That Fucking Line! That Fucking Line Right There Makes Her Hotter Then The Other Two! Oh and what do you know, another piece of shit husband!

Okay, so I get he only turned piece of shit cuz she died bu-NO! You Know what, Fuck that Your Son Died Cuz You Couldn't Step Up And Live Up To Your Wives Words! Fuck You!!! That Drunk Bastard Insulted her memory and made her have to suffer meeting her son FAR TOO EARLY!!!

There is no way this woman doesn't hate her husband from beyond the grave! So here what would happen, Shinjuro would snap earlier then like when his wife is first diagnosed with the disease. At first he tries to stay strong but then begins to drink, then gets pissed when told nothing can be done!

And then in his denial he tries to force them to leave to Atlas, to hopefully find a cure or way to treat her... But Ruka refuses, Ansel needs them, negativity has been on the rise and Grimm have shown up more often. So he begins to drink and rant, and rave and Ruka watches her husband betray both himself and her faith in him.

And then he leaves, taking her with him one night, in desperation kidnapping his own wife against her will, her body far too weak to resist to take her to Atlas forcibly if needed. He uses a favor Papa and Mama Arc owe him to watch his kids while he's gone (Lying and saying he convinced Ruka)

And it is as he was gone that Ansel was attacked, his sons forced to fight, children like them, Jaune, little Tanjiro and the Shinazugawa brothers barely managing to take his place, but not without injury.

When he returns, he isn't met with scorn, nor blame... Not from anyone, except his wife! Ruka will not forgive him, and would rather die alone then married to him... He leaves, bitter angry but knowing she was right. And it was as this was happening that her son brings Jaune to her, the boy noticing several cuts and bruises she'd received from her forceful travels... He reaches out, and uses the power he discovered while the held off the Grimm.

The power that let mere kids like them fight and barely make up the difference her Ex-Husbands absence... His Semblance, Aura Amplification, every doctor had told her her disease wasn't treatable because her body simply lacked the strength to fight it, her immune system was too too compromised and her body too fragile by that point to maintain.

But Jaune's power, it's strength was one of a nature to empower others, to share with them his strength, his vigor, his will and soul, and Jaune wouldn't stop sharing his strength until it was enough to save her!

It was the logic of a simply youth, if he could kill monsters as big as Grimm, he refused to let small ones so tiny and weak take one of his friends moms! The same woman who told him he could be a huntsman! No! That said it was his duty to be one! Well What Kinda Huntsman Couldn't Save a mother!

5.) Rinko Iori (Gundam... Apparently -///-)

I...I did not know she was from a anime... I firmly thought she was a hentai mom... But no, apparently she is from Gundam. Well, I think I've said enough and these pictures hopefully speak for themselves...

I'd say she is a Argus mom, and helped Saphron and Terra navigate raising their first kid.

6.) Mirelia Q Melromarc

She Is A Queen! (Literally!) but no... Like seriously she is best girl, she showed up and everything, oh everything just turned pure euphoria for me. And God Damn She hated her husband! I wish they went more in on how thoroughly pissed she was in the anime like they did in the light novel.

Seriously a fucked up daughter and husband... just... Fuck man, and seriously FUCK BITCH For What She did! (If you read the Web Novel you know what I'm talking about) And fuck Trash too! Y'know it was so he could have a redemption Arc.

Fuck that, as far as I'm concerned those two need death like I need air. Naofumi is her (Only) daughter's fiancée. Which means she's in need of a new consort, a noble, strong, kind one who has a sharp wit.

[fantasynexus]

Stages of Grief in Veilguard (Major Spoilers)

I firmly believe that the theme of Veilguard is the Five Stages of Grief and Loss and how the first five companions have their own stage that ties deeply into their individual stories.

Lucanis Dellamorte: Denial

Loss: Illario (Closest Friend) and potentially Treviso

Lucanis Dellamorte, especially a Romanced Lucanis, will tell you he's unsure if he even left the Ossuary. He's in denial that he's free, and you see him deny the 'realities' around him. Concerning the 'death' of his Grandmother. He's constantly questioning where and how she died as if he cannot believe that she is dead or the story of how she died. He also refuses to see the truth about Illario's Betrayal, at first, telling us he doesn't want to believe Illario would betray him.

Lace Harding: Anger

Loss: Varric

Lace Harding, as the game goes on, expresses a large amount of resentment and anger about what happened to Varric and the Ritual, as well as towards Solas, for obviously valid reasons. Killing Varric, The Titan's Fall, and the use of Lyrium to create the Ancient Elves. That just being the top of the list, I don't think this requires much explanation, considering we fight the 'Wrath of Stone' and Hardings Rage-filled Lyrium Double.

Davrin: Bargaining (Not the Strongest Argument)

Loss: Purpose

After Weisshaupt, Davrin consistently wonders what he did wrong and if he's even a real Grey Warden because he didn't die when slaying the Archdemon. He questions and dwells on the Gryphons being taken and if he could have done something different.

Neve Gallus: Depression

Loss: Minrathous (It gets destroyed no matter if you save it or not)

Depression forms itself in many different ways, including guilt and insomnia. Neve, feeling guilty for the Death of Rana's partner, consistently goes to their memorial to recharge their light and keeps their pendant. Neve is an apparent workaholic (Can't think about your feelings if you're drowning in work) who drinks way too much bad coffee that induces insomnia. Part of Depression is being withdrawn (Lone Wolf Archetype). Neve's Diet can also cause depression; it's a fact she mainly eats fried fish (if Lucanis Romances her). Poor Diet can worsen it or even trigger depressive episodes. Specifically Fried Foods and Caffeine.

Bellara Lutare: Acceptance

Loss: Brother

Bellara, by the time we meet her, has already accepted that her brother is dead. There's still a pain (There always will be) when talking about him, but she has accepted the loss and uses her work to honor him and continue what he wanted for the Dalish. Even when they go to honor his second death at the end of her quest line, she's already accepted that he's gone for good because she's already experienced the other stages of grief regarding him. (She also experiences them again in quick precession after finding out he's still alive)

We can also add in Emmrich and Taash for Funsies

Emmrich shows Bargaining and Depression regarding becoming a Lich, unable to let live because he's scared of dying. It's something that will inhibit him from becoming a Lich, and Depression with his lifelong dream being out of reach because of his fear.

His potential Loss: Manfred or Lichdom

Taash shows Denial, Anger, and Depression regarding their Mother. Whether it's their identity issues, relationship, or their Mothers' (and Hardings') death.

Loss: Mother and potentially Lace Harding

The Veilguard is just one giant support group talking to a therapist (Rook) who also needs a therapist.

I do think some could be switched around:

Bellara could also be Denial, Lucanis could be Depression, and Davrin could be Depression or Denial. I am open to other interpretations.

[erosmutt]

/ thinkin' bout﹒☆

﹒brothers! scott & sam + teacher reader﹒⌅

𖦹 age gap (sam and scott are 18, reader is in her 30s), mida rana!reader, sub scott and sam

"you two have repeatedly gotten yourselves into trouble. acting out, being caught with drugs and alcohol, skipping class. what do you two have to say for yourselves, hm?"

the two students - Sam and his brother Scott - stand before you in your classroom. you had called them after school, at precisely 5 o'clock, knowing no one would be around. "i should send you to the Dean tomorrow, shouldn't i?"

the two immediately perk up, but Scott was more in a panic than his brother. "no! no, Miss, please! if he finds out, i could get kicked off the football team!" he pleads, tugging at the hem of his sweater anxiously. you look over at Sam and raise an eyebrow. he just looks away, shoving his hands into his pockets, making the chains on his shorts jingle. he gives you a shrug. "whatever, i don't care. tell him."

this sends his brother into a worse panic. so, you intervene.

"how about this, boys," you begin, getting up out of your chair. your heels click against the floor, making Scott step back. "i'll let you two off the hook, if, you come to tutoring sessions after school." that earns you a groan from Sam and a whine from Scott. "no." they say at the same time.

"oh, but yes! or would you rather i tell the dean about your little escapades during passing periods?"

Scott, desperate to save his ass, nods his head frantically. "yes! yes, fine! we could start now if you want! just please don't tell!" you smile and reach up, gently pinching his rosy cheek between your thumb and forefinger. "good boy! you're setting an example for your brother, aren't you?" he nods, looking down at you. "mhm, example."

Sam rolls his eyes and looks at you and his brother. "you're such a fucking pushover." he tells Scott, drawing a scoff from him. "no i'm not!" you just smile, gently stroking Scott's bicep, tracing the contours of his muscle with your fingertips. "well Sam?"

he sighs heavily, then rubs his hand over his face. "fuck it, fine."

The next day, you and Scott were sitting across from each other in the classroom. you thought it'd be nice to arrange the desk a different way and sit at one with him to make it more comfortable, and to not make him feel as if he was getting talked at, but mentored 1-on-1. also to lull him into a false sense of security.

"i think Sam flaked, Miss." he murmurs, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes. you lift your leg, resting your foot on the chair between Scott's legs, teasing his crotch with the toe of your black pump. he shifts in his seat, and just as he opens his mouth to speak, the classroom door swings open. it slams against the wall then closes as Sam walks in. he slides into the desk next to you.

"sorry," he murmurs. you give him a smile. "no worries Sam, your brother and i were just chatting." he shrugs and pulls his notebook out of his bag, slapping it onto the desk. meanwhile, Scott was biting his lip as you rubbed your foot over his now half-hard cock.

Sam opens his notebook to a clean page, clicking open his pen. he titles his paper, completely oblivious to what was happening to his brother underneath the desks.

[utilitycaster]

forgot how funny the sequence of quest unlocking between Unwanted Guests and Blood of Arlathan is and for two separate reasons. The first is "hey guys the Venatori have infiltrated Arlathan and are kidnapping vulnerable Dalish communities for mass blood sacrifices. but first, can you come run some errands with me?" The second is that the list of quests you get are "Neve mourns Rana's partner who died in her first encounter with Aelia, and stiffens her spine while also talking about Tevinter class struggle"; "Bellara begs her brother not to go through with raising a demon army with an evil god"; "Lucanis deposes his closest relative who has been keeping his only other living relative hostage and who called a hit on him"; and "The One Where You Accidentally Trip Balls While Hanging Out With Davrin and Assan."

[gryficowa]

Boycott!

Now that I have your attention:

[ramonag-if]

So this is slightly spoilery for chapter 9, but were Ahlf's letters and the lack of response from MC really the driving force for Salyra never going back for MC? Or was she really far more willing to leave that part of her life and what MC represents in all of it (namely, her failure) behind than she's willing to admit even to herself?

Because it's absolutely WILD to me that she's basically telling MC "Well, after I abruptly left you with your father who didn't actually want you to be born, already abandoned us once before, and didn't actually agree to take you in until I went literal God Mode on him, in a country that is violently discriminatory towards our people and ruled by a man with a personal grudge against me and your father, I sent letters to him and he said everything was okay and that you didn't want to talk to me, so I figured you were fine! I can't believe that wasn't the case and I'm so sorry you had to deal with that, can you play house with my new family now that you're here?" and expecting MC to be like "Understandable lets be family again :)"

Like at NO POINT did she suspect that Ahlf might be lying about MC wanting nothing to do with her? Never considered that in hindsight, the guy who her parents, brother, and bff-turned-second-husband all recognized as emotionally unavailable might not be capable of being a loving parent to an already-traumatized child he never wanted in the first place? Didn't think it was odd that her child that she intentionally made look visibly blessed by the Ancient Ones had no trouble growing up in rural Cyre? No alarm bells at all??

The driving force was Erlan. Erlan had more respect for Ahlf than he did for Salyra. If the MC was with Salyra, he'd likely have killed them both. Salyra did believe Ahlf's letters - why would he have reason to lie to her? Why do you think Ahlf didn't want the MC to be born? 👀 They used to be in love not too long before the MC was dropped off with him. He had been visiting the MC in Ishari for a while and he did in fact send letters to Salyra before she showed up.

It's only the MC's eyes that showed part of their divinity but don't get caught up on that - people would have hated the MC in Salt Bay even if they never left the cottage. Not everyone in the game picks up on the MC's divinity because you need to know what you're looking for. It's picked up by those who are aware of the divine blessings which isn't anyone in Cyre (except our merchant selling Ancient One idols).

Up until Rana is born, Salyra was still actively going against the Blood Guard. It's easier to do that without a child than one who Erlan may or may not would have wanted to kill. I mean, even after Rana is old enough to stay with Danzor, Salyra gets back to fighting the Blood Guard and even gets arrested. So yes, she didn't really think much of the MC remaining with Ahlf 😆

Honestly, I'd have chosen to stick with Ahlf too, if given a choice 😅 Who knows what would have happened if the MC returned to Ishari? 👀

[voidsteffy]

I feel like Neelam's role and Kabir's role in Dil Dhadakne Do are the perfectly aced ones on screen. Shefali Shah said that the writers felt Neelam was the weakest written role while Shefali herself felt it was the strongest and realest they could ever get to a character on paper.

First, let's talk about Neelam: she was 18 when she married and has known very little of a life outside of this so called arrangement called marriage. She can handle herself in social parties, throw a smile, wrap a snide remark in a saccharine tone as she gets her hands on the entrée or a glass of sparkling wine. She has learnt to meander in her words, let "her" money be a shield she wears as if it guised her unhappiness. She never had real friends. She doesn't mind because she isn't a real friend either. Kamal has this huge business in his name and it is only in his name after all. Because even if she co-owned many shares, he never could say out loud that all of this is because of her. No it is because of him. And then it all goes to the son. And then the navasa. Neelam knows how to be a mother in her own way, which isn't enough for her daughter. There has been an umbrella from under which Neelam has been watching her world fall apart around her and she cannot help but stuff herself with anything she thinks can mend her, protect her. Cake, glasses, champagne, prada, gucci, snarking at people, ordering people, being fake nice to horrible people when she makes it obvious she's being fake nice.

She is backward in her thoughts because they stem from her own helplessness. Ayesha can't possibly leave Manav because the society won't look kindly upon divorced women. Neelam has thought about it before hasn't she? She has thought about it till the point where her husband cheating on her doesn't even become about his infidelity, it becomes about her image in front of her social circle. If there is anything Neelam abhors, it is being looked down upon for something she hasn't done.

( exhibit: Kamal says he'll ask his brother to speak with Ayesha about the divorce problem and Neelam's first reaction is caustic on the lines of how everyone will know what a bad mother she is and how incapable she is at handling the situation. Nothing whatsoever about how it might pain Ayesha that it isn't her parents talking about it. Neelam and Kamal have long ago sped past familial considerations )



Now, Kabir. He's childish, on the face of it. He is the youngest one in a successful family. He is quirky. But he is also unsure. He has never been given the chance to even think freely about something he desires. He's shit at business and he didn't want to be good at it in the first place. He sees his sister do amazing in her business with her aptitude but it kills him that his parents can't see that/ignore that. Because it is a reminder that he is "praised" for a business sense he doesn't have only because he is the son and is expected to lead AyKa one day.

He can only sometimes speak aptly. He's good with jokes but he is not the one leading a polite conversation in an official meeting. He can lead a personal conversation where he can be expected to judge lesser and speak without a goal. ( "I'll pay you" like... honey you need to work on it, but we'll get there ha shona? ) He's kind and contrary to his peppy attitude, he's actually very good at hiding stuff because he has been a wallflower his whole life despite being thrust into the centre of every room he has entered. He's not an aggressive personality at heart, actually he's quite vulnerable and empathetic. But he is fiercely loyal. He takes all this anger and he turns it into care and attention and dad jokes he can crack.

He likes to know somebody, not to have knowledge on them he can use later (like his parents) but to gauge whether he will be hurt or whether this person is someone with a heart. He saw a heart in Noori and a longing in Rana, he became friends with them. You can see the difference in his gaze when he flirts with Manav's cousin and when he interacts with Fearless Farah. Kabir has got such a soft side that you can't help but appreciate him. Yes he doesn't feel stuck but he also doesn't hurt people with words until he can't help but, or is forced to. More than loving her, Kabir admires Farah.

*mic drop* *no literally the mic dropped out of my hands because I spoke so long my hand started sweating*

[lexxicona]

Since a new iteration of the Silverhawks were planned for the third season of Thundercats (2011), I’ve taken it upon myself to make them in doll form. All of them would’ve been from the time of Second Earth (When Mumm-Ra was the Ruler of Ancient Egypt), but I’ve made them a multi-ethnic team from around the Mediterranean. Here’s the team as I envision them:

Quicksilver (80’s Name: Jonathan Quick; 2011 Name: Papnoute) A Scribe in Pharoah Mumm-Ra’s court in Lower (northern) Egypt, Papnoute was driven out of the court and into the desert when he accidentally learned about Mumm-Ra and the Egyptian Gods (here a sort of Proto-Animal)’s true nature before being found and rebuilt by Mumm-Rana and Horus/Tallyhawk.

Bluegrass (80’s Name: T. Boone Pickens?; 2011 Name: Hanno). A traveling nomadic (originally Phoenician) bard, singer, and storyteller, Hanno received his strange hat when a strange man came through his village when he was a child claiming he was searching for a “man in black”, giving it to young Hanno as a parting gift. Carries a a Nevel with him; Like WilyKit in the Far distant future he can channel a type of magic called “The Music” which he uses to play acoustic versions of anachronistic songs.

Steelheart (80’s name: Emily Hart; 2011 Name: Nulwa) & Steelwill (80’s name: Will Hart; 2011 Name: Saati): a pair of spies from Nubia (modern-day Sudan) who came to Egypt to gather intel on Mumm-Ra and were also shocked when they learned of Mumm-Ra’s true nature and realized they were in over their heads. Followed Papnoute out into the desert where they were also found by Mumm-Rana and Horus.

The Copper Kid (80’s Name: Unknown; 2011 Name: Khid Laurion). Of all the Silverhawks, her backstory is probably the most tragic—after being orphaned at a very young age on the fictional Greek island of Mímos, she was kidnapped by the Wesesh during one of their raids on her island where they cut off her tongue and forced her to work on their ships. As a result she is completely mute, although she knows a form of sign language that Horus (as Tallyhawk) is more than happy to translate/interpert.

Mumm-Rana (Composite character of Mumm-Rana from 80’s Thundercats and Commander Stargazer from 80’s Silverhawks). The leader of the Silverhawks in their constant guerrilla war against Mumm-Rana’s wicked brother Mumm-Ra. Similar to her 80’s counterpart and namesake, she has an Ever-Good Ever-Living form enabled through the invocation of The Ancient Spirits of Good Cosmos.

Horus/Tallyhawk (composite character of the Ancient Egyptian god Horus and the 80’s Silverhawks bird character Tallyhawk). An Egyptian God and ProtoAnimal (a precursor to the Animals we see in Thundercats 2011,only with animal heads and human bodies as opposed to the humanoid animals of Thundercats) as well as the only one of the Egyptian Gods who joined Mumm-Rana in the fight against Mumm-Ra’s tyranny. Is capable of shapeshifting into a small Lanner Falcon (like the Sorceress from 80’s He-Man). This form, called Tallyhawk, is able to talk and often serves as an interpreter for the Copper Kid.

[mapsofnonexistentplaces]

BOLOT QUESTION FOR YOU I'd love to know how he interacts with every other character of the cast if you want to freely write about any of that, like I know how he is with Japhet a little bit, same for Qasim, but not as much for the others and I'd love to know if he has little mannerisms with certain people, also how he acts with his sister, oh and and who knows him at all as a guy, who sees him mostly when he's cat.. Yeag

lets seeee going to just go through everyone that comes to mind….

first of all with mere i actually think he’s a bit mean to it for no particular reason. as in he’s polite and nice but kind of views it as an ‘outsider’ despite its ~7 years in zdrengen and occasionally his paranoia gets the better of him and he falls into the rumours other people have spread about its ‘curse’. from a meta standpoint this is kind of just to have some variation among cast relationships because i think random animosity, especially when one-sided, is fun. and also to kind of showcase that people who are seen as weird can still throw other ‘weirder’ people under the bus and that there’s no inherent purging of prejudice just because of a handful of lived experiences

secondly though i think i’ve kind of established his relationship with qasim i do want to explain it all in one go especially because of some new lore i’ve developed. basically qasim came to zdrengen after graduation which was around the time bolot’s career as a musician was at its peak and the two only saw glimpses of one another for the longest time. qasim eventually started doing art exhibitions in bigger cities which led to the rossignols inviting both him and rana to travel with them whenever possible to save on travel costs out of town. they got to know one another mostly on the road, mostly through talking about art. they became very close shortly after bolot’s sister alena got sick and narrowly avoided death with bolot spending most of his time crying in qasim’s big strong arms. after that once both of them settled more firmly in town, with bolot retiring from orchestral performances and qasim becoming a dream denizen, they initiated an on-and-off romantic relationship (albeit more of a fwb thing) and that’s kind of where they still are now. qasim’s probably the person that knows bolot best outside of his immediate family lol

speaking of which alena is. evidently his sister. and they’ve both been inseparable since they were born. they’d die for each other they’re each others biggest fan they’ve always had a very. ‘positive in a near- desperate manner’ relationship i want to say, partially as a result of their parents just leaving them behind in zdrengen as soon as bolot turned 18. he’s very protective of her and has somewhat of a habit of fretting over her too much which is just a side effect of him basically raising her himself throughout her teens. conversely alena can’t stand any ill will thrown towards her brother and she has physically fought people for mocking him before lol.

^little note about alena’s deafness also. she developed it after the big aforementioned sickness and along the years it’s gotten worse and only recently stagnated. she can still hear some noise though it’s faint and fuzzy; she can hear most of bolot’s compositions but certain piano notes are out of her range. he has a handful of pieces he’s dedicated to her which are expressly written between notes she can fully hear. for the same reason bolot tends to speak in a more gravelly, low tone when talking to her because it helps her distinguish his wordage better. though the expeditions aren’t as frequent as when he was touring for his own music he sometimes goes along with alena to other cities to serve as an ‘interpreter’ or guide of sorts. it’s way less nerve-wracking than when he has to voluntarily converse with strangers….

he took elspeth as a piano student a while after his retirement and she was probably his first real student so he was very excited about teaching her stuff to perhaps an overzealous degree. which kind of scared her off. she kind of just indefinitely postponed the lessons to be polite so bolot doesn’t really even know he freaked her out, as far as he knows they’re best buds. he writes her letters sometimes….

mentioned before he also does gigs at the bar komadori sings at and they both get along swell. the only time you’ll ever see this cat man getting drunk is around her. they like to talk music together they’d probably go out for karaoke if rural moldania had that

radu only knows him as ‘that weird tall man who lives on the other side of town’ and coincidentally fully unknowingly also as ‘that weird unruly black cat that stares at me and isn’t afraid of anything’

most other people would know him loosely as some kind of “celebrity” in big big quotation marks just because nothing happens in moldania and he’s one of the only people born in the town who went on to have a decent degree of inter-country success so everyone’s just like. ah yes the piano boy who is our biggest cultural export, i have never talked to him <3. and most people who perceive him this way also tend to accidentally know him best as a polite little cat with a very melodic meow.

[hyewka]

re..sis..ting the urge to write a brothers best friend beom hard thought..ha..

[sidersstuff]

*dog who’s seen a squirrel voice* OCs? OCs? OCs??? :000

OCS!!!!!

Okayyy just gonna explain them more in detail than the like single sentence the intro post gives them

Orion Flores - Human guy in my alien to Earth story!! He's from Tennessee, lives on his family's farm, and has a horse. His horse is awesome. Her name is Sable :3

Jasper Taylor - Alien in the alien to Earth story! His home planet is called Rana, he got sent to Earth with their brother to like explore, aaannndd their brother is no longer there!! He wanders onto Orion's farm and stays in the barn (for a little while) <3

Aster Mitchell - They were made for short stories along with Clementine, because they were going to be only for school projects, and that ended up not being the case! They're dating Clementine, and she lives with her dad, and she always tries to do way more than she can! Her free time is either spent with Clementine or just looking through shit to learn new stuff :3

Clementine Reed - Again, made for short stories. She moved out as soon as she could, and always tries to get Aster to take a break!!! Xe is SILLY‼️‼️ Love xemmmmm

Nova Warner - NOT A GOOD PERSON‼️‼️ did not realize at the time but they would be considered a yandere because HAHA they're so super normal about Opal! Xe is definitely NOT putting cyanide into the coffees of people interested (and eventually just. Talk to!) in her! Nope, not at all. ((:

Opal Weaver - she's so baby I feel so bad for her but uh not bad enough!!!! They're a college student, who goes to Overflow after their classes to do homework, most of the time at least. Nova is the normal barista that she runs into, and they start talking more than basic formalities because this guy who was talking to her suddenly just. died!(Not in front of them that wording sounds weird........) How weird is that??? She feels very guilty! :3

Willow Wilde - So they're an Earth Genasi with like vines and flowers and stuff embedded in her, and she was a artificer alchemist, she has like this huge garden full of different herbs and fruits that they tend to now almost all day every day! When they're not tending to her garden they're normally cooking or selling salves and potions and stuff! They were not able to save their wife. She misses her. [:

[butterflydm]

It's ~official~ (DAV posting)

I don't know how much of the game is left but it feels like things might be picking up towards the endgame. My save game data tells me that I'm currently over seventy hours into playing this character (though that includes menus and such, I assume), so no complaints if we are headed towards endgame! But I am loving the game, so I will be sad when we reach the ending (though I do already have my plans to replay as a dwarven and/or Shadow Dragon Rook).

Put down those two blighted dragons that attacked Treviso and Minrathous, so that's a win, and I shot a ballista bolt into Ghilan'nain. So that was a pretty big success, and I'm back to doing all the side quests and character quests that popped up in the aftermath of that story quest.

We finished through Harding's personal quest and confronted the Titan's Shade, so she's now officially a Hero of Veilguard. It feel fitting that she be the first one to get that status, considering that she came from DAI and all. She's finishing what the Inquisitor started.

I really liked learning more about the history of the dwarves and the Titans, heartbreaking as it could be at times. And since I took Bellara with me on Harding's personal quest, it was two elves that were talking to her at the end. Unintentional on my part there, but it really made a lot of Harding's lines feel like they resonated even more, because it was the elven people who benefited from what Solas and the other elven gods did to the Titans.

The damage that history does feels like a big theme - both in things like the elven gods being the ones who shattered the Titans, or in things like those same elven gods trying to recreate their glory days of being worshipped. One of the lines that Harding says at the end of her personal quest - "we will thrive in spite of you" (and having two elves there definitely gave that line a special punch; I wonder if that line is different if you don't play as an elven Rook or if Harding processes that part any differently if you're also a dwarf) just really felt powerful.

Sins of the past would be an other way to put it -- that applies in most every case we've seen. Regrets that stem from the past.

I got confirmation on a few of my guesses from last time -- the Gloom Howler was a Gray Warden who left on her Calling. More specifically, she's an elven mage who blighted the griffons on the First Warden's orders in order to win the fourth Blight.

Emmrich also interrogated Rana's body and confirmed that Illario is a traitor and sold Lucanis out to her in order to gain his place as First Talon of the Antivan Crows. But she was supposed to kill Lucanis, not use him for her experiments, so Illario was genuinely shocked when Caterina learned that Lucanis was alive and imprisoned.

Harding haunted by the trauma of what was done to the Titans centuries ago (millenia ago? i haven't plotted out the timeline), the splintering that created the dwarven people. Bellara is haunted by her brother, who she thought died chasing the very elven artifact that we first found with her (the archive spirit) but who made a deal with one of the Forgotten Ones of the elven gods instead. What she could have been, a deal that she fears she would have made if put into his place.

Emmrich haunted by an old colleague and Neve by an old case that got away.

Darvin is haunted by the ugly legacy of the Gray Wardens and what it means to be willing to do anything to stop the Blight, no matter what the collateral damage may be. Even if that's an entire species.

Taash's struggle has been against gender expectations, as set against the background of growing up with a Qunari mother and having escaped the Qun. A legacy of their birth culture, and deciding what they want to take from their differing cultures they grew up in. Not the sins of Taash's past but of the culture that they escaped from but still feel some connection to.

And Varric, of course, is haunted by Solas -- a friend that he's worried he can't save (and who is the echo of a friend that he believes he failed to save -- Anders and Solas have a LOT in common).

(the list of things that Solas is haunted by span the entire game lol)

On a lighter note, I took Harding and Taash out together and they flirted! <3 And then they flirted again back at the Lighthouse! <3 Harding had a dream about Taash! <3 It's charming! <3

And to get to the title of the post -- I went through Lucanis's Inner Demons quest and then we talked in the kitchens afterwards and we are officially exclusive.

It was really great too -- the quest. Spite leading me through the prison that Lucanis had constructed around himself, because he's afraid of himself after what happened in the prison. Being able to support Lucanis and also to talk to Spite to let him know that... that Lucanis isn't trapping him in that prison deliberately. It's just that it takes time for people to heal from deep trauma like that. I love how it was entirely dialogue-based and not about literally fighting to get to Lucanis but about talking to the parts of himself that were afraid and hiding.

It seemed like a good place to stop for the weekend, since I do have some non-DAV things to do.

[useless-polls]

Dungeon Poll Adventures

“Hello,” Mycis said, raising her hand in a small wave. “Um, we’re just passing through. I’m Mycis, this is Snas and Pigeon Coo and Beatrix. And you are…”

The girl is just in awe, her breath catching before the words just pour out, “—So excited to hear another person’s voice again. I’ve been in here for so long, it’s been forever since I’ve gotten to talk to anyone.. Oh, you mean my name? It’s Rana.”

“Nice to meet you Rana,” Mycis nodded with a polite smile. “What.. is this place, if you don’t mind me asking?”

Rana’s hopeful expression fell slightly. “Oh, it’s my garden. It’s the one accommodation my father made for me when he locked my brother and I up in this place, as far away from our kingdom as possible.”

“Your kingdom?” Mycis asked.

“What brother?” Snas poked his little lizard head up into the conversation and squinted at her.

“Why’d you get locked up?” Pigeon Coo chirped.

“Oh that’s horrible, sweetheart. How long have you been down here?” Beatrix asked.

“It’s… a long story,” Rana said with a sigh. “I guess you’d expect as much, I doubt it’s commonplace to find princesses locked up in dungeons.”

The whole group perked up at once.

Rana continued sadly. “My brother and I are twins, the heirs to our kingdom across the sea. We also possess magic, which is strange, considering neither of our parents have any type of sorcerer in their bloodline. Our father, the king, accused Mother of infidelity and, rather than adopt us or try and cover the whole thing up, sent us away and had a chamber made for each of us in this dungeon. My brother’s is above here, to keep us separated.” The corner of her lip trembled, and then she sniffled. “As to how long I’ve been here, I don’t know. The sun, or whatever that thing in the ceiling is, never moves, and I have no means to tell the time or keep up with the days. It must have been years. Our entire kingdom could be decimated by now, blown to rubble by some strong storm, and we’d never know it. Our father said that’s proper, though. That abominations such as us should be rotting in a dark cave away from the world. I’m only thankful for this garden I was allowed, and the ability to grow all my own food to sustain myself, as sad as a life in here may be.”

A single tear rolled down her perfect cheek. Mycis felt something move in her heart. How could they leave someone so nice to such a fate? They had to get out, and they’d bring Princess Rana with them.

“Do you know how we get out of here?” Mycis asked.

Rana shook her head and gave another sigh. “No, there’s no way out or I would’ve taken it.”

“Have any other adventurers been through here?” Pigeon Coo asked.

“Not in my time, no. You’re more than welcome to look around, but if you get tired come sit with me and I’ll prepare dinner. You all must be starving after your travels…” And with that, the Princess gave one last melancholy smile and turned away to go sit on the sofa.

[the-demon-of-a-thousand-eyes]

𝒯𝒽𝑒 𝒟𝑒𝓂𝑜𝓃 𝑜𝒻 𝒶 𝒯𝒽𝑜𝓊𝓈𝒶𝓃𝒹 𝐸𝓎𝑒𝓈 𝒞𝒽𝒶𝓅𝓉𝑒𝓇 31

Chasing After Seeing Family, Learning What’s in the Look

Pairing: Alastor x F!OC (Theia, The Demon of a Thousand Eyes)

Chapter Summary: You chase after the strange hooded figure only to discover a family member you haven't seen in over a decade and a half. More chaos unfolds not long after.

Word Count: 2.8k

Warnings: Cannibalism

As the strange hooded man approaches from behind you, you hear Rosie say, “That’s why I’m surprised you made the trip all the way here from the hotel.” Your eyes lock onto him, and while you can’t see his face, you feel like you might know it if he removed his hood. “You may have manifested here, Theia, but I could have met Alastor, Rana, and yourself there instead of making your way here, darling.”

Despite their protests, you stand and coax Ombre off your shoulders. As the hooded man runs out of the shop, you race after him, chasing him out into the street. You pull on the collar of your dress and it changes into something easier to maneuver in, something you can run in, and run you do, but even still, you’re not fast enough. There are plenty of eye images in Cannibal Town, but you don’t want to make too much of a scene here. You love Rosie’s little home; it had almost become your home within the last fifteen years.

So instead, you barely keep up with him, calling out, “Wait! Stop, whoever you are! If you want to talk to me, I’m right here! Why would you run? You have to find where I live? Who does that to your own family?!”

When you corner him in an alley, the figure stops and turns. Instead of backing up against the wall in fear, he takes easy strides towards you. You recognize him immediately. “Uncle—”

“Shh, little nebula, things are more complicated than you think and we have little time. I can’t talk now; I’m afraid this was supposed to be a reconnaissance mission and nothing more. I’m glad to see you well, Iris.” You can’t see his face, but you know he’s smiling. “I will visit your hotel in three days. There are many things we must discuss.”

“My name is Theia now. I’d prefer you call me that.” You tell him, and he shakes his head.

“While it’s a beautiful name, as I’m the one who told you about her; I’m afraid you’ll always be ‘Iris’ to me, my little nebula.” He shakes his head, and you know he has that silly sentimental look in his eyes.

You sigh. “You’re one of the few I’ve ever wanted to hear that name from ever again, so…I guess you can call me that.” You smile, and he smiles back, pulling you into a hug.

“You’ve grown so big!” He exclaims as you hug him back. “I remember when you were just a tiny little thing. You remind me so much of my daughter! She misses you very much, you know. I hope you’ll be able to see her again in the near future.” He says teary-eyed, and you chuckle. “I must go now, little nebula. I’ll see you soon.”

He ends the hug and steps away, opens a portal of silver, purple and blue, and as he steps through it, he waves. You wave back. “I’ll see you in three days, Uncle Noctua. May your journey be filled with safe travels.”

Despite having run after him, you’d been worried it was your brother, or worse your father. Instead, you realize now that of course it would be your uncle. He’s the only family you’ve ever really liked besides your own sisters. Of course they’d send him.

You pull on your collar and reshape it into how you had it before your little run on foot, then return to the Emporium as your phone buzzes, ringing in your pocket. You pick it up on the first ring. “I’m alright. I thought I saw someone.” You reply immediately, not even reading the number on the display. “I’m okay now.”

“Are you though?” The voice says from the other end of the phone, and your blood goes cold in your veins. “Are you sure about that?”

“Who is this?” You hiss back, even as you recognize its owner.

“Let’s just call myself…an old friend.” The voice mocks. “You’ll remember who I am. Just give it time. In the meanwhile, remember this: your family can’t save you from your future. No one can, and when it all comes crumbling apart, I’ll take everything and everyone you’ve ever loved from you while you watch helplessly.” You strain your ears to listen and you swear you hear another fainter voice in the background, but you can’t make out what the other person is saying. Despite this, you can tell they are insistent and frustrated.

Before you can retort, she hangs up wordlessly. Rude. You had quite a few choice words for her. Damn, you think to yourself, I had hoped that was Rana calling me, not her. Never her.

You continue making your way back to the Emporium. Your phone buzzes again. This time, you check the number. It’s Rosie’s personal one; the one neither of you ever use. “Hi, Auntie Rosie. Sorry I left so abruptly like that. I realize how rude that was, and I’m on my way back now. I had to deal with an unexpected guest who’d arrived in your Emporium.”

“An unexpected guest? Are they returning with you, darling? I can have another cup of tea arranged.” You can hear Alastor and Rana talking in the background, but it’s too muffled to make out what they’re saying in the distance from the candlestick phone.

“I’m afraid not, Rosie. Perhaps another time. I’m about to walk in now. I’ll explain when I get there.” You say as you open the front door to the Emporium.

Alastor and Ombre are on you in half a breath. Ombre is floating around you, checking you for damage, while Alastor just wraps you in a fierce hug and places a mind-melting kiss on your lips. “Don’t ever leave me again, nostre reine.” He says, and you see a desperation, a fear in his eyes.

You kiss him back, with just as much fervor. “Never, mes rois.” When Ombre finishes circling to float next to him, you kiss them as well.

“Your absence frightened us, our majesty.” Ombre informs you, and you kiss them both again.

“I’m sorry I left you so abruptly.” You tell them both, then turn to Rosie and Rana, who are each giving you a combination of intrigued, confused, and on Rana’s part, furious expressions. “None of you noticed the man who entered the Emporium before I left, I assume?”

“I’m afraid not, darling.” Rosie replies, “I’ll pour us some fresh tea, hmm?”

As she starts to pour more tea for everyone, Rana replies, “Pardon my language as we’re in proper company, but my time with I.M.P. has made me a bit vulgar and I’m afraid now is as good a time as any for such language.”

“Oh, Rana, stop prefacing and just fucking swear already.” You laugh as Alastor wraps his arms around you. Ombre drapes around you like a cape again. The fit is noticeably tighter to your skin. You walk with the both of them back to the table.

“What in the ever-loving fuck were you thinking, Theia?! You can’t just run off like that!” Rana berates you, “Are you goddamn, mother-fucking insane?! You could be dead right now! Who knows who that bastard could have been, what he could have done to you?!” She exclaims, her tail thrashing so violently it nearly knocks over a lamp next to the table.

“It was my uncle.” You say quietly, and she stops swishing her tail wildly and looks at you with shock.

“You saw him?” She says in surprise, and you shake your head.

“I never saw his face, but I’d know his voice and mannerisms anywhere, and he’s the only one who calls me his little nebula.” You say with a smile. “Uncle Noctua will always be my favorite family member. It’s no wonder they sent him.”

Alastor, ever the gentleman, pulls your chair out for you and you sit down at the table as Rosie passes you a freshly made cup of tea with eyeballs. You take a sip. “Thank you, Auntie Rosie.” You say with a soft smile. “Once again, I apologize for leaving in such a hurry and without an explanation. I was afraid that if I stopped to explain that I wouldn’t be able to catch him.”

“I’ll forgive you just this once, dear, as it appears you were reunited with some of your family. I’m a proponent of that, especially if it’s someone you are eager to see again. It’s a shame he couldn’t stay for tea, however.” She replies as she pours three more cups, passes one to Alastor, who sits on your left, adds the brown sugar to one and passes it to Rana on your right, and then, after adding another finger to the final cup, sits between them both and across from you. “Now, Alastor, would you care to explain the eye on your chin? I see Theia’s got a new one but that’s normal for her. You on the other hand, not so much, dearie.” She sips her tea with a smirk on her face.

You chuckle as Alastor bristles again. He really ought to get used to people asking about it, as pretty of a mark as it is, you think with an amused smile and sip your tea. “We made a deal. You explain as your hand takes Alastor’s to intertwine your fingers and the gold of the chain between you glistens. “He’s promised to keep my secret, I have his shadow, Ombre, as my companion, and we are devoted to each other for all the time I have left.”

Rana’s eyes widen and she switches from the red cat eye frames to the blue butterfly ones. “You made a deal to spend the rest of your life with him?” She squeals and rushes towards you, brushing against Ombre in the process as she slams into you with a back-breaking hug. “That’s so incredibly romantic!” As she does so, your hand slips from Alastor’s. You wrap her in a hug, then a few moments later you break apart, and Rana goes back to sit in her seat. Still smiling, she sips her tea.

Rosie raises an eyebrow. “So he knows the reason why you grow an eye every year then?”

“You knew?” Alastor looks scandalized, irritated she kept this information from him.

“Not why, of course; she never would tell me that. Of course I noticed it happening, though, darling; it happened every year at about the same time.” Rosie says with a shrug as she takes a sip. You sip your own and smirk at her as she continues. “I didn’t need to tell you. You were intrigued by her enough that I had no need to hint at her secrets, and it was quite funny to imagine your surprise when you found out.”

“It was my birthday yesterday.” You tell her simply. “An eye for every year, Rosie. I turned thirty yesterday. No presents, of course, besides the one these two gave me last night.” You squeeze Alastor’s hand and use your other to scritch behind Ombre’s ears, not unlike a cat. They purr not unlike one as well. Rana flushes at the notion.

Rosie just smirks, amused. “Consider the jar of eyeballs you take home today free of charge then. It’s the least I can do for a last minute gift. I’ll have to think of something truly splendid for next year, however. I have a whole fifteen years of birthdays to catch up on!” She says excitedly, and you’re surprised.

“You’re not mad?” You raise an eyebrow, sip your tea.

“That you were pretending to be a sinner to stay away from your hellborn family? Of course not dearie.” She reaches across the table to place her hand over yours and squeezes it gently. “You’re my family now. No matter what your background, I will always be here for you. I’ll have some choice words to say if you ever hurt my Al, but otherwise you’ll always be square in my book, Theia.”

Feeling a little teary-eyed, you turn to Rana. “You’re not upset I told her?”

Rana shrugs, changes the butterfly shades out for the purple cat eye frames in her hair, then shakes her head. “No, of course not.” She says with a gentle swish of her tail, “She is your family, Theia. It’s not surprising you want to tell her about you.” She shrugs. “I’m surprised you waited as long as you have, given you’ve known her for fifteen years.”

“I mean I couldn’t even tell Al everything.” You admit as you bite your lip then sip your tea, “The only reason he knows is because of the book we found in Boring Closet Stuff.”

“Boring closet stuff?” Rana echoes, and you raise an eyebrow at Alastor, amused.

Alastor, understanding your lead, sips his tea, then echoes, “Boring Closet Stuff.”

“Boring closet stuff?” Rosie raises an eyebrow as she sips her own.

You nod, a smirk on your face, “Boring Closet Stuff.”

“What is boring closet stuff?” Rosie asks, the bit broken.

You chuckle. “Boring Closet Stuff is the secret room in the hotel that Niffty discovered.” You explain as you take another sip. “The book Alastor found fell out of the trapdoor when we opened it.”

“What was in this book, then?” Rosie asks as she sips her tea, curious.

As Alastor explains, you sip your tea, let one of the eyeballs fall into your mouth, chew, and swallow. “Hellborn High Society: A Complete History, includes everyone from the six Sins and their families to all of the families of the Ars Goetia. Mostly it’s full of uninteresting nonsense to most individuals outside of said status: who wore what to what ball, proper table arrangements, and the most expensive choices for party favors, to name a few. However, in between the idle entertainment chapters, there are some quite useful sections. The chapter on the family trees is fascinating, for instance. In the passage regarding your own family, Theia, there is an asterisk near your grandmother’s name. This connects to a footnote that leads to a spot in the back—nearly the last page—which discusses the nature of the curse.”

“So,” Rana interjects, her tail swishing irritably, “what did it say about the curse, then?” She asks as she switches her purple cat eye frames for a pair of deep blue round ones. “You drop a tease on the phone that you found that it even is a curse and now you’re bothering with prefacing? Get to the point!”

Alastor raises an eyebrow and sips his tea. “For someone raised to be the perfect companion for a high-society hellborn you certainly lack patience.”

“I haven’t been a servant for over fifteen years, bucko. Now, out with it, already!” Rana snipes, and you chuckle.

“Rana, relax. Al was explaining it for my benefit. I haven’t read it yet, after all.” You say easily as you sip your tea.

Rana huffs but sips her own and allows him to continue. “It appears, in the short of it, that an angel put a curse on your grandmother as a reaction to a dispute she’d had with your grandfather.”

“An angel?” Rosie asks curiously as she takes a sip. “Why would an angel be in a dispute with your grandfather?”

“Angels act eyeballing all the time. Do they need a reason?” You countered easily. “From what I understand they’d attack a hellborn family just for the entertainment of it. Especially a family as influential in Hell as my own.”

“It doesn’t state what the argument was,” Alastor continues, “but it does state the angel’s name: Habuhiah, the guardian angel of health, prosperity, and…fertility.”

You rest your face in your hands as Alastor’s arm wraps around your shoulders to bring you closer to him. “Of course it would be, wouldn’t it? My grandpa goes and pisses off the angel of fertility and now every woman in my family will fucking eye after a thousand years and can only get pregnant on her birthday.”

“Well it’s a good thing that Sinners can’t can’t cause pregnancies,” Rana pipes up as she takes a sip, “or you two could be in hot water.” She smirks with a swish of her tail.

“According to this book,” Alastor says as he takes your hand in his, still holding you close, “while quite rare, sinners and hellborns have been known to ‘interbreed’. A foul and frankly racist term to be sure, but it evidently stems from the reality that sinners themselves can’t reproduce with each other due to being dead, yet there have been several documented instances of hellborns and sinners having offspring together.”

“So view’re saying I could be pregnant right now, Al? How can view be so calm?!” You panic for a moment. “I blink I’m gonna be sick.”

A/N: So many new developments that leave so many questions, and we still don't know who Theia's family is!

Chapter 32 will be Theia's reaction to what Alastor just so casually explained. He'd had a full day to panic over it already, to be fair. So what does Theia do when she finds this out? Kills Valentino in cold blood and then fucks Al while they're both in demon form of course. Gal has fuckin' problems, and one of them is coping with her own reality. Smh. Theia, get therapy I fuckin' swear.

First || Chapter 30 || Chapter 32 (soon)

[lyranova]

Children of the Future: Shadows of the Past

Chapter 3: No Rest for the Wicked

Hiya guys! So here’s chapter 3, I’m really enjoying this series so far and I hope you are too! I’ll try and get back on my other one’s shortly since I’m starting to miss them a bit (I also need to get back on writing requests 😭!) but I do apologize if this chapter is written funny or if there’s a lot of typos or anything, I’m having to write on a computer due to my hands and I’m not used to it. Also Corduroy and Chenille belong to my mutual @hybridanafrost and I thank her for allowing me to use them 🥰! I hope you all enjoy~!

Word Count: 3,263

Warnings: None

———

Later That Same Day

Yami silently flew to the Hideout. His mind just kept going back to the memory of William coughing in the hallway and looking pale. They both knew he was lying when he said he was fine, or that he would be fine. But Yami hadn’t wanted to call him out on it, William needed time to accept it himself and tell his son just how sick he really was and he was going to give his old friend that. Yami sighed and rana hand over his tired face, how he wished he hadn’t quit smoking right now.

He finally landed outside the much expanded Hideout. Over the years, as the Black Bulls each got married and began having their own families, Yami had asked Henry to give everyone their own living space. That way the Bulls could all be together but also have some privacy. And so far it had worked out very well, but now that meant the Hideout had expanded up and out in order to accommodate them all.

But Yami and the others didn’t mind. Because it meant they could all stay together.

Yami set his broom down against the wall of the Hideout before he moved towards the front door. Before he even opened the door he could already hear all the chaos and laughter happening on the inside, he couldn’t help but smile a bit. This is something he had always wanted for his brats; them to be safe, happy, and laughing.

He opened the door and immediately had to dodge a misdirected spell that came at him. He sighed and shook his head before he moved out of the way and closed the front door. The ones sparring were, as usual, Luck and Magna. Even as those two idiots got older they still sparred like they were teenagers. Meanwhile Magna’s kids Corduroy and Chenille just watched, Chenille with a nervous look on her face, and Corduroy with a grin on his face.

“ Wow dad you’re so cool!” Cory shouted as he watched his dad dodge one of Luck’s spells, Magna turned and gave his son a thumbs up.

“ Thanks son, that means a lot!” But as soon as the words left Magna’s lips he immediately got hit by one of Luck’s spells.

“ You shouldn’t have taken your eyes off your target Magna!” Luck laughed cheerfully as Magna growled.

“ I should have gone with mom to the fabric store,” Chenille said quietly.

Yami shook his head once again before he looked around the room. Henry’s daughter Alice was sitting on the couch, quietly reading the same book that she always read. Despite inheriting her fathers magic, luckily she hadn’t inherited her fathers illness so she could freely be around the other Bulls without the fear of siphoning their mana. Beside her was Aloys Adlai, who was also reading a book, he was exactly like his father but with his mothers magic. Beside him was Wendy Agrippa, Gordon’s eldest child and only daughter, she was sewing a doll just like father always did. She had the face of her mother, but her eyes and hair color were that of her fathers, and her magic was a variation of her fathers. On the other side of the room was Wendy’s younger twin brothers Thomas and Nicholas, they were the spitting image of their father in appearance and, in Nico’s case, magic as well. Thomas kept his hair slicked back like his father, while Nico kept his hair messy, that was the only way to tell them apart. The two were talking and playing with Maelie Adlai.

Yami heard a shout in the kitchen and watched Charmy and her daughter Lovely walk out with a group of sheep following shortly after. They had plates and plates of food and were setting them out onto the table. Lovely had inherited her fathers blue hair color and her eyes were the same color as her mothers, her younger brother Vincent followed behind all the sheep and began to set out the drinks. He didn’t like cooking or food as much as his mother and sister did, but he had inherited his fathers love of art and painting. Vincent’s hair was black like his mothers but his eyes were pink like his fathers.

Yami still had a hard time believing that Charmy had fallen in love with Rill Boimortier even though it had been nearly 15 years now since they had gotten married.

“ C-Captain Yami sir, you’re back already!” Ezio Roulacase exclaimed as he ran over. The young man looked identical to his mother, but his personality and magic was the same as his fathers.

“ Of course I am, did you expect me not to come back at all?” Yami asked with a raised brow, Ezio’s demeanor immediately grew nervous and he shook his head.

“ N-No sir! We just thought the meeting would run late.” Ezio said with a sheepish laugh.

“ How did Asta do at his first meeting?” Vanessa asked as she walked over. Everyone stopped what they were doing and turned to look at their Captain. He grinned at them.

“ He did great, so you guys can stop you’re worrying.” Yami told them and he heard everyone collectively sigh in relief. He knew everyone had been anxious and had wanted him to do well, so now that they had confirmed that he did, they all felt a weight fall off their shoulders.

“ At least we know we raised him well,’’ Finral said with a laugh as he walked over to his son and wife. Yami nodded, they all had raised Asta well.

“ Where’s my brats?” Yami asked curiously, he saw everyone else’s kids but his own. Charmy suddenly pointed towards the back door with her thumb.

“ They’re outside with Ms. Charlotte,” She said as she watched their Captain make his way towards the door. “ Tell them to hurry up and come inside since dinner’s ready!”

Yami walked outside and saw Hikari sparring against her mother as Hana and Einar watched. He crossed his arms as he silently watched his wife and eldest daughter, they looked nearly identical in their fighting styles, except Hikari had adopted a lot of Yami’s fighting style as well. She was like the perfect blend of her mother and father. Yami was pulled out of his thoughts as he noticed Einar turn to look at him.

“ Papa!” The young boy shouted excitedly as he jumped up and ran towards his father. He jumped into his arms and Yami held him.

“ Hey kid,” Yami said warmly. “ Who’s winning so far?” He asked and Einar grinned.

“ Mama of course! Tata’s still trying her best, but she’s still always losing against her.” Einar said with a sad look on his face, he always called Hikari ‘Tata’, apparently it meant “Big Sis” in the Diamond Kingdom. At least that’s what one of Einar’s favorite books told him.

“ But mama’s not going easy on her anymore, and Hikari’s still managing to hold her own,” Hana stated as she walked over to her father and brother. Yami nodded, it was no surprise that Charlotte had stopped taking it easy on their daughter. She was a Vice-Captain now, and had proven that she was a fierce and capable warrior. So there was really no need to take it easy on her.

One of Charlotte’s Briar spells hit Hikari’s katana and kocked her back a few feet. Hikari was huffing and puffing while Charlotte hadn’t even broken a sweat.

“ I’m…not done yet,” Hikari panted as she doubled over to try and catch her breath. “ I still…need to surpass my limits!” Hikari continued, and Yami shook his head.

She had certainly adopted Yami’s stubbornness.

“ Hey brat,” Yami shouted, drawing both Charlotte and Hikari’s attention to him. “ You can surpass your limits after you get something to eat! Charmy said if you didn’t come inside and eat you’d never get another meal from her!” Yami added, of course Charmy didn’t actually say any of that. But he knew it was a sure fire way to get Hikari to stop training. As he expected the girl sighed dramatically before she put her katana away.

“ Alright, alright, I’m coming! Sheesh tell Charmy to hold her sheep.” Hikari grumbled as she rubbed the back of her neck, mimicking her fathers habit. Yami chuckled as he set Einar down and the young boy ran to his sister.

“ Take your brother and sister inside, I gotta talk to your mom for a sec.” Yami told her, his eldest daughter nodded and he ruffled her hair gently as she and her siblings walked past him and into the house.

Charlotte frowned a bit as she walked up to her husband, she didn’t need to be able to read Ki to notice something was wrong with him. His eyes held a seriousness in them, and maybe a hint of sadness and worry in them too. Had the meeting gone that badly?

“ What’s going on? Did Asta’s first meeting not go well?” She asked in concern, Yami quickly shook his head.

“ Nah the brat did fine,’’ Yami quickly assured her. “ It’s William. He…announced that he was retiring as Captain.”

Charlotte’s eyes widened in surprise, sure he had mentioned it the day before at the party, but she didn’t really think he would go through with it!

“ What? What made him decide to do this so suddenly?”

“ He’s sick Charlotte, very sick.” Yami said softly, and he swore he watched her eyes widen more and her eyebrows raise considerably.

“ Did…he say what was causing it?”

“ Nah, he said he needs time. So I’m gonna give him a while before I start pushing for answers. He asked that you and I not tell anyone until he’s ready.” Yami said and Charlotte nodded in agreement, they would both keep their friends secret for now.

“ And,” Yami continued. “ He’s appointing his kid as Captain.” He watched as his wife shrugged at him.

“ Okay.” Was all she said, she didn’t look angry or concerned, she actually looked like she had expected it.

“ You’re not worried at all? What if that brat loses control again and hurts someone, or worse, gets someone killed?” Yami asked as he crossed his arms, he watched his wife do the same.

“ Since when did you hold a persons mistake against them?” She asked curiously. She watched a red blush appear on Yami’s cheeks. She knew exactly what this was all about, and it had nothing to do with Alistar.

“ He won’t hurt Hikari, besides they’re not even in the same squad so the chance of her getting hurt by him is very slim. And in addition to that, Alistar’s gotten much better at controlling his emotions which also means his magic is under better control. It’ll be fine,” Charlotte assured him. “ And if for some reason it’s not, and he does happen to lose control and injures her, I’ll kill him myself.” Charlotte added firmly and Yami couldn’t help but snort and laugh at her words.

People thought he was the more overprotective of the two, but in reality, it was Charlotte who was the overprotective one.

Eventually the couple went inside to have dinner with the rest of the squad.

—-----

At The Golden Dawn Base

Alistar yawned quietly as he followed his father out of his office, down the stairs and corridors, and eventually outside. William had told him that he needed to tell him something privately and that he would need some help to do it, which meant only one thing: They were going to visit his mother’s grave.

Alistar didn’t like going to visit her mother very often. It wasn’t because he didn’t love her or anything, it was just…hard since he had been the one who caused her to be in the graveyard in the first place.

As the two walked into the graveyard and made their way to Zera’s grave Alistar used his plant magic to conjure up a small bouquet of flowers. You couldn’t show up empty handed, his father had said.

The two eventually made it to her grave and stood in front of it, William knelt down and placed the flowers on her headstone.

“ I’m sorry it’s been a while dear, I hope you haven’t been too lonely.” William said softly as he stood back up.

“ Hi mom,” Alistar said a birt sheepishly. “ It’s been a while, I’m sorry.” He apologized softly and William chuckled.

“ Your mother would understand. She knows how nusy we Magic Knights are, especially when they’re a Vice-Captain such as yourself.” William said as he patted his sons shoulder comfortingly.

The two fell quiet after a few moments. William, unsure of where to begin, and Alistar unsure of what was going on. It wasn’t very often that his father would ask to speak with him privately, the last time they had a discussion like this was when he promoted Alistar to Vice-Captain status.

“ What’s going on father, did something happen at the meeting?” Alistar asked, a tinge of concern in his voice. William smiled and shook his head.

“ No, it’s nothing like that. The meeting went very well, and I think Asta will make a fine Wizard King.” William said genuinely. Alistar nodded in agreement, he didn’t know Asta as well as everyone else did but, from what he had seen, Asta really was an amazing and kind person.

“ If the meeting went as well as you say it did then what do we need to talk about?” Alistar asked with a small frown and William sighed, silently asking his wife’s spirit to give him strength.

“ I-” William began but was cut off by the sound of a familiar static noise. The two men turned and saw Marx’s face staring at them.

“ Ah Captain and VIce-Captain Vangeance there you are, I was looking for you all over the place!” Marx said in relief, but his eyes began to move around as he noticed where Alistar and William. “ Um, is now a good time? I can go to another squad-?”

“ What is it Marx?” William asked patiently, he couldn’t help but be silently thankful that the memory mage had interrupted them.

“ Ah right, well,” The man cleared his throat. “ I just received word of a remote village being attacked by bandits. And supposedly these bandits are former Magic Knights. So the village leader requested our assistance. I thought maybe The Golden Dawn and the Black Bulls would like to take it on as a joint mission.” Marx finished as he looked between the two.

William noticed his son’s light up just a bit at the mention of the Black Bulls. Of course the young man was able to hide his feelings from everyone else, but he wasn’t good at hiding them from his father.

“ We’ll take the mission, but,” William said before he turned to look at Alistar. “ Alistar will be the one to lead them and will get to choose the members he wants to take along.” He watched his son’s blue eyes widen in surprise.

“ What? Why? Shouldn’t you be the one to lead this kind of mission?” Alistar asked in confusion as Marx quietly agreed with William’s statement before disappearing. William smiled gently before clapping his son on the shoulder.

“ Consider this your first real mission as the newly appointed Captain of the Golden Dawn.” William said before he turned around and began to walk away, leaving Alistar to stand there completely stunned.

“ Come on Captain Alistar Vangeance, you need to hurry up and head out.” William called as he noticed his son hadn’t snapped out of his daze. The young man quickly shook his head before nodding and running after his father.

—-----

In The Spade Kingdom

Yuno, Neva, and their three children quietly walked into the Castle with their guards and Castle servants behind them. Yuno hadn’t wanted servants when he first became king, but after a while he realized just how much they did to help the Royal family and keep things in order. So when Yuno officially became king he immediately raised all their wages to reflect how much he appreciated them and their hard work.

“ Your Majesties!” Ralph saluted as he and the others watched them walk by. Yuno instantly waved their salutes away.

“ You didn’t need to stay up and wait for us, you all should have gone to sleep.” Neva said quietly as she carried a sleeping Kya gently in her arms while Yuno carried Kito and Miku sluggishly walked beside her parents while holding each of their hands.

“ It’s alright, I had something urgent that I needed to discuss with King Yuno.” Ralph said with a serious expression, causing Yuno to frown.

“ It can’t wait until morning?” Yuno asked quietly, and when Ralph shook his head,he nodded before handing Kito off to one of his guards. “ Alright, I’m sorry about this,” Yuno added to his wife, who only smiled and shook her head.

“ It’s fine, just go do what you have to do.” Neva said softly in an understanding tone. Yuno smiled gratefully at her before he kissed his children on the head and gave Neva a gentle kiss on the lips.

Yuno quickly followed Ralph down the halls until they came to Yuno’s office. They walked over to the desk and Yuno looked down at a bunch of papers and maps that were sitting on the surface.

“ What’s all of this?” Yuno asked curiously and Ralph sighed.

“ Honestly we aren’t too sure ourselves. These coordinates are the last known locations of about 20 merchants that have gone missing in the last two weeks.” Ralph said seriously as Yuno’s brows raised in surprise.

“ 20 merchants in 2 weeks? How are we just now learning about this?” Yuno asked and Ralph shook his head.

“ We initially thought it may have only been a coincidence, or that people were making up false reports. Until we began noticing certain patterns,” Ralph suddenly began moving papers around until he found the right documents.

“ The merchants all had deliveries in the Lumi Kingdom?” Yuno asked with a frown as he began to read the papers over, and Ralph nodded.

“ That’s right. Now merchants go missing all the time due to the treacherous terrain that’s between us and Lumi, which is another reason we didn’t pay much attention to this, but according to these letters and other documents all the merchants that had been reported missing all made it to Lumi.” Ralph said as he began pointing at letters and receipts. Yuno’s frown deepend.

“ Are there any records showing that they left, or attempted to leave, Lumi? Maybe the merchants decided to stay there a while longer? Or maybe they died on the way back?” Yuno pointed out and Ralph shook his head.

“ That’s what I thought too. But from the witness statments and letters and documents it shows that all the merchants had plans to return to the Spade Kingdom. As for if they died on the way back, that’s someting I want to go and investigate if you’ll allow it. Things…just aren’t adding up, sir.”

Yuno placed a thoughtful hand under his chin as his mind began to race. Could there be something to this? Or was it just a simple missing persons case? His gut began screaming at him.

“ Investigate it. And ask for the Lumi Kingdom’s cooperation.” Yuno said seriously and Ralph nodded before saluting his King and walking out of the office. Yuno sighed quietly before he sunk down into his office chair.

Ther was certainly no rest for the wicked.

———

Thank you all so much for reading and I hope you all have a good day~!