#I always love seeing healing spells under necromancy

[deathbind]

I'm not gonna liveblog every neat lil spell in this book, but I will say that Serot could be an undead party member's best friend. It's given me so many ideas. There's a spell to turn undead invisible and a spell to charm them to look exactly as they did in life. There are spells to boost their abilities, etc. A spell to teleport them. Serot who isn't limited by what the Weave allows and draws directly from the Plane of Death, when I think about it, could do so much for an undead party member. He has a hotline to the very source of the energy sustaining them and decades (centuries, once he taps into his other lives) of experience utilizing it.

[gnomeniche]

peri hathm had a sister??? (NOT FAKE) (NOT CLICKBAIT)

this is kestrel "kes" west, peri's younger sister. despite being friendlier and more lively than her brother, she had the same mad wizard obsessive tendencies. both peri and ambrose loved her very much, but unfortunately, she is no longer with them.

also that is a real hairstyle i gave her + yeah their names are kestrel and peregrine. yeah like the falcons.

more info under the cut. EDIT: putting a readmore in deletes the whole paragraph under it because tumblr is allergic to functioning. so this post will just a wall of fucking text i guess. i hate this site.

kes was the one who originally found the spellbook that peri lugs around + the scarf he has was originally hers as well. she was into life magic, i guess? healing, yes, but also weird body shit. flesh and blood and bone. she used the methods she found in the book to brew healing potions to help people in her community. but all secretly, of course. that's how she and peri met ambrose, actually.

but she was also dying. she and her brother studied the spellbook to try and figure out a spell that could save her, but it wasn't until she was on the verge of death that they made a breakthrough. nothing left to lose, she drank the new potion, died, and then returned.

of course, as it does with all Mysterious Serums Of Life, it goes wrong. though she seems fine for a month or so, she starts sporadically losing control of herself and her physical form, as well as coughing up glowing magical fluid. she, peri, and ambrose try to figure out and fix whatever went wrong with the magic, but they're not fast enough, and it culminates when she violently transforms into a monster and loses herself for good.

in the struggle between the three of them, kes kills ambrose and peri has to kill her. kes's body dissolves into magic goop, but peri is able to flee with ambrose's. since they had gotten pretty far in fixing the spell already, it doesn't take him much time to perfect it, and he uses this revised spell to bring ambrose back.

fortunately there's no mutation-y side effects this time, although ambrose has some holes in his memory because he was dead for a while. he remembers recent events fine, just not earlier parts of his life. also, he is still very much An Undead and not truly resurrected, but this is as good as anyone can get wrt reviving the dead at this point. and peri is so so so relieved that he could at least save ambrose. not wanting to be parted from another loved one, he turns himself into a lich as well. and that's how all that shit happened.

in terms of differences between the siblings, kes was always more interested in the living, while peri is more interested in the dead. see, bc kes's main concern was her illness, she really wanted to continue living. she wanted to live to watch the world change around her. meanwhile, peri's main concern was keeping his sister alive, and later bringing back ambrose. he wants to preserve that which he loves. there's the difference between life magic and necromancy, though they seemingly share goals.

nowadays ambrose and peri don’t really talk abt kes. it’s too painful for both of them and they refuse to unpack it, esp given that ambrose was killed by her and peri had to kill her. but neither of them has forgotten about her.

[kaaras-adaar]

Kaaras and Magic: 2/?

Kaaras is a FORCE MAGE.

He enjoys using ice because he is familiar and confident with it, but he is best at force magic.

He prefers to have a lightning rune in his staff.

He is a Knight Enchanter.

He cannot perform healing spells except the Resurgence spell ( which falls under the Knight Enchanter tree and renders him exhausted afterwards ).

Kaaras is skilled with shields and barriers.

He is scared of fire magic, because his fire magic ended up burning his childhood house down. Fire can make him flinch and uncomfortable, but he can still perform spells, they’re just not as controlled as others.

Kaaras’ staff is made of a ram skull and ivory, decorated with feathers.

Kaaras is a better mage without a staff, his staff is used mostly for close combat ( and has a scythe on the bottom end )

He didn’t own or practise with a staff until his early 20′s when he could afford one

His trainer always told him to use magic as a secondary source. Because of this, you won’t see him using spells for day to day things often.

He is proud of his magic, and believes that mages should have the choice to tend to Circles or not, and that they should be governed by themselves and be schools, rather than owned by Chantry forces and Templars.

He believes that mages are dangerous and are weapons, but so is anyone if they are backed into a corner.

He loves all magics in theory, but he is against performing necromancy and blood magic ( unless they are last resorts or used with respect )

Kaaras meditates almost every morning to keep control and focus of his magical energies.

As a qunari, Kaaras is a very powerful mage, who has also been training professionally since he came into his magic. He should not be underestimated. He is also a perfectionist.

I personally headcanon that qunari mages are far more powerful than human mages ( elves are debatable since their history, but physically speaking, qunari can manifest and handle more / especially if we take into account that they are children of the old gods and elves ).

Saarebas’ ( his trainer ) training is based off Japanese techniques, thus Kaaras’ style is also the same.

[fandom-meanderer]

give us your saddest and angstiest headcanons for claude seeing his s/o die on the battlefield! how would he react as it's happening, and what would he do afterward? how long would he mourn and would he try anything to get them back? i don't mind either pre time-skip or post time-skip! make us cry!

Saddest, angstiest, headcanons coming up, my dear.

~

It all happened so fast.

Unlike the other Deer, you and Claude stayed together. You followed him through thick and thin, and you supported his case no matter the stakes. You were always there for him, almost like you were conjoined at the hip. His partner in crime, his moonlight rendezvous, his back up, you were everything rolled into one. You even both shared the same opinion on this blasted war and you both worked together to try and find a peaceful end to it all. It all centered around all three of the original House leaders surviving, you both understood that, and it all relied on whether or not they were open to diplomatic relations. Claude, naturally, was always open to discuss peace with his previous classmates, the issue was with Dimitri and Edelgard, you both agreed. Regardless, to say you weren’t his most trusted confidant would be complete blasphemy. You were perfect to him, he was perfect to you, and that’s all that mattered.

It felt just like yesterday when the two of you reunited with the whole class, you and Leonie were smiling, talking about battles you have encountered, you and Raphael were keeping spirits up despite the detrimental war, you and Ignatz would paint portraits together of whatever random cat that strolled into the buildings, you and Lysithea read books on magic, you and Hilda were polishing weapons together, you and Marianne were tending to the horses, hell, even you and Lorenz were cracking jokes, and... And you and him were together. Then you were laughing amongst them like you used to, next you were training with that perfect smile on your face, gods, you were always able to find his weakness, weren’t you?

Right?

As long as you believed in each other, you would both get through this together, right?

...

Right?

So why?

Why did it have to be you?

And why did it have to be protecting him?

No, not Claude, you didn’t go down for him. You went down for Dimitri.

Dimitri of all people! The Feral King! The Boar Prince! Gods, there are so many more names for him Claude couldn’t even count them all. But still, there was that little voice in that pure heart of yours that always told you that the Dimitri both he and she were both friends with was still in there, and in fact he never left. But, by the Goddess above, how Claude wanted to rip that demon king’s head off and present it to Faerghus.

Oh gods... he sounds just like Dimitri now.

Is this what he felt?

Is this why he went insane?

He gets it now.

He finally understands, he understood it all when he realized that it only took five seconds. Five, that’s all the so called “merciful” Goddess gave you. In those five seconds, you were still able to turn to him, give him that damned smile he loved you for, then fall to the ground, with your blood staining the earth under you, that damned sword still impaled in you. And your own sword at that.

And, in a single heartbeat, he threw that accursed bow to the side and picked up your sword, he killed your assailant beyond question and charged into the frontlines himself, leaving no living being in his wake.

He was right about to kill Dimitri when he felt someone pulling him back. Raphael was the one who caught up first, Leonie came next, then the Professor. But in truth, it took all the Golden Deers to pry him out of that state, they realized that the only thing that would keep them alive is if they retreated from this bloody, bloody battle.

Claude’s throat was burning, his eyes stung, and his hands were bloodied and bruised. He was heaving, panting, and screaming all the same. This isn’t like him, he knows, usually he keeps his head cool, but that happened. That really happened. You were gone, and you were gone for good. And you died for such a stupid reason in such a stupid way, of all the ways to die it had to be like that. You had to hurt him like that. But you did it for a reason, you’d never just throw your life away. He knew that. He knew that. But he also knew that you would be slapping him senseless right now. So where were you?

“Something! Please, anyone do anything,” Claude plead. Marianne stood over your body, casting her healing spell, but she knew as well as anyone that there was nothing they could do. You were gone. And that was it.

There’s no turning back the clocks.

Byleth tried that, they tried everything to bring you back, but no matter the outcome, you always died. This was the best one. You got to say goodbye to Claude, after all. In all the other ones you either died alone or at the hands of Dimitri. And for some reason, Byleth understood more than anything why that wasn’t the best option.

Back at the monastery, things weren’t the same at all. Everything just seemed gloomier. All the flowers in the greenhouse withered, for one, you were always in charge of that, and no one could bring themselves to go into the building you loved so dear. The food in the dining halls just seemed more bland, for another, you weren’t there to experiment or blow up the entire darn kitchen. The whole area was just... dead.

Everyone missed you so much, too, not just Claude. Leonie lost one of her closest friends, Lysithea lost the closest thing she had ever had to an older sister, Raphael lost his optimist buddy, Ignatz lost his biggest fan, Hilda lost her best friend, Marianne lost her outlet, and Lorenz lost his means of getting through to Claude. But Claude? Claude lost everything when he watched you die.

Knowing this, Claude tried everything, and I mean everything, to bring you back.

He couldn’t do this without you.

He needed his confidant, his best friend, his lover. He needed you.

Claude wasn’t against any necromancy spells at this time. He wasn’t against sitting by your grave, slowly digging you out because “Dear Goddess! She can’t breathe in there, what if she isn’t dead?” It was a pitiful sight, really. Sometimes in strategy meetings he would habitually turn to his right side and ask what you think, and the first couple of times he did that was just so painful to watch, and the next few times were downright worrying because then Claude resorted to talking to himself as if you really were there.

All the deer kept their distance, they were all afraid of what Claude might do. What if he did end up like Dimitri? What if he really did dig your body up your grave? What if... what if he really brought you back? But it wasn’t you?

The Professor finally had to step in, remind Claude that he had an army to lead, and a war to stop. After all, isn’t that what you died for?

‘Isn’t that what you died for?’ Those words rang in Claude’s head endlessly.

After the fact, Claude was definitely different. He tried to keep up his original facade, but the rest of the deers knew so much better. They knew Claude, as much as they could at least, and they knew that he wasn’t handling this well. Once the Professor had gotten through with the Alliance leader, the rest of the deer rushed to help him through anything. Claude would joke that they were “babying” him, but really, what else could they do? After the rampage at Gronder Field, Claude realized what brought Dimitri down.

He couldn’t do that. He couldn’t be like that. There’s no way Dimitri was human anymore, but you died for that man. You died because you knew that deep down there was a solution to this war. And Claude couldn’t just put that to waste. But at the same time...

How could he do this without you?

Claude mourned for a long time. Even after the war, he was still mourning. Not even a statue in Almyra was enough to honor you, nothing ever would be. It was because of you, after all, that the war ended without anymore needless deaths. Your sacrifice brought Dimitri to his senses, after all. You were right all along, Dimitri was key in winning this war. And not a day went by where Dimitri felt never ending regret for what happened that day, and as much as Claude smiled through it, he never got over it either.

But for your sake, he’d pull his shit together and live up to the standard you died for. For your sake, he’ll pretend that he’s the same as ever, the schemer, the leader, the king. For your sake, he’ll stay on good terms with Dimitri, no matter how hard it was to look at him. For your sake, he’ll just be Claude.

~

Whoa that was longer than I thought, and a lot more out of character too. I was curious what would happen if Claude just snapped, you know? This kind of emerges from the whole flipped au but not really, I just wanted to focus on how he felt from then, idk, I think this ended up quite well in my opinion.

[dailycharacteroption]

Undead Master (Wizard Archetype)

 When you think necromancy, you probably think of using magic to reanimate and control the dead, armies of undead minions, deceased lovers brought back to a half-life, and so on.

Few go further than those that would call themselves “undead masters” though. Not only do they seek to control the dead, but walk among them, not always relying on spell to keep their undead minions in check, though they certainly have the arsenal to make sure they maintain their control.

Despite their evil prerequisite, these mystics may very well be the sort to be more personable with their minions than most, or they could be aspiring liches or other masters of necromancy that make their way in a dead-rules society. Regardless of origin, however, there is no doubt that these mages have a plan in place.

 Given their focus on reanimating and controlling the dead, in most settings this archetype requires them to be evil, to the point of not being able to continue their studies otherwise. This may be different in your setting though. One limitation they must have, however, is their focus on necromancy. Interestingly though, both the life and undead subschools are compatible with this methodology, so you could see necromancers that either double down on their power over the undead, or those that seek to master both life and death.

Utterly focused on the undead, these necromancers are especially skilled at identifying undead and understanding their mindset. However, that focus also alienates them from the living.

Undead masters that favor a bonded object make theirs out of bone, but those that would use a familiar find better use in that bond energy in reanimating a singular skeleton or zombie that is utterly loyal to them. The stronger they are, the more powerful the creature they can reanimate this way.

If they did not already have it due to the use of a subschool or by choosing the turn option instead, these mystics learn how to channel energies to bring undead under their control, going as far as to use other minor magics to fuel the channeling should they lack the ability to. If they already do have the ability, it grows in potency through their study.

Perhaps more impressive is how their studies grant them a variety of undead-related spells that they learn how to spontaneously cast using other spell energy. They even learn how to cast some of them at a lower level as if they were a cleric instead of a wizard. These spells include a minor heal for the undead, various undead creation spells, undead transformation spells, undead-slaying magic, and even the ability to curse a wide stretch of the landscape in various ways.

Finally, the most powerful of these wizards teeter on the ledge of life and death, gaining many resistances and immunities, to the point that unintelligent undead pay them no mind if not attacking or controlling them.

Interested in playing a heavy necromancy specialist? This archetype may be for you. The bonuses to diplomacy versus the restless dead means you have a good shot of befriending or commanding the dead without compelling them, and you have plenty of options should that not work. What’s more, the ability to spontaneously cast your bread and butter necromancy magics means you can prepare a wider variety of spells each day. Your choice of bond is yours to make, though there is a lot to be said about getting a free skeleton or zombie as a backup bodyguard.

 As I mentioned earlier, an evil alignment is required normally for this archetype, but I imagine with some tweaking this could be used for a necromancer that is also a guide for the dead, able to speak to them as the people that they once were, and perhaps still are. Or you can play it straight for a classic villain or antihero.

  Though resurrection magic is the purview of the divine, Emrashan is determined to find a way to bring back his human mother through the arcane. In pursuit of this, the half-elf has studied the necromantic arts deeply, and treated with all manner of undead beings. Even if he somehow succeeds, would she even recognize her son?

 They say in the rotten forest of Balewood, a dark fairy court rules, led by an undead seilenos of terrible charm and power. The undead fey was, however, present at the battle of Vongrodd in life. It would take a mind capable of charming the dead to coax details out of him, but he may hold the key to Balorn’s Lost Blade.

 They say the lich known now as the Grave King was, in life, a wizard who fell in love with the son of a vampire lord. Seeking to get closer, he focused on the necromantic arts to better understand his paramour and the circles in which he traveled. What became of their relationship has been lost to time, but the king rules alone.

[storiesofwildfire]

Loki is one of the most powerful magic users of their generation. While magic is rather commonplace on Asgard ( though magic is not actually a natural occurrence in pure Aesir blood, magic is deeply ingrained into their culture. Not to mention, the Aesir did, at one point, commonly breed with non-Aesir, so magic lingers in many bloodlines for that reason ), Loki’s abilities and what they can accomplish with their unique brand of Seidr not only stretches across a wide and vast range of techniques, but also holds a powerful potency that most sorcerers cannot hope for.

The only other magic user that stands as Loki’s true equal is the Vanir God, Heimdall. Aside from the Watcher, there are no known individuals on Asgard who can match Loki’s strength and abilities. The same is believed to be true throughout most of the known worlds. While there will always be someone more powerful than Loki out there, very few rivals actually exist in this particular field.

Often seen as the God(dess) of Magic, Loki is often worshipped for their abilities, and some ( like Loki’s first love, Vera ) actually call upon Loki to channel their own sorcery.

There are many brands of magic throughout the universe. To list them all would be extremely complex and time-consuming, but magic tends to boil down to those who possess the power themselves and those who draw their power from something ( or someone ) else. 

In Loki’s case, Loki’s sorcery comes from within them. It was something that they were born with. They create their magic on their own and it is as much alive as Loki is. Thus far, Loki has not reached a cap on their abilities, meaning their magic continues to grow each and every day. Their power is constantly flowing through and around them and those who can sense or even see magic may very well be able to watch the emerald hue of Loki’s Seidr move around them in a continuous flow. Loki doesn’t rely too heavily on their abilities, but not using them would be absolutely catastrophic. When magic sits idly, ignored, it tends to lash out and occupy itself. The energy wants to be used and if it isn’t, it makes life very unpleasant for the one restraining it. For this reason, even when Loki does not need magical assistance, they may still very well use it, even for mundane things like keeping their hair in order or tidying up a cluttered desk. 

While Loki’s magic doesn’t entirely have a mind of its own, it certainly does react that way to many sources of stimuli. The reason Loki’s power can heal them even if they are not conscious to will it is because much of Loki’s power can act on its own, most of the time to protect its user or ensure the comfort of its user. The presence of other magic users will also perk up Loki’s energy and draw it out. For those it feels somewhat compatible with, it may even attempt to spark the other’s power to come out and play. The only time Loki’s magic is not active and present is if Loki has expended themselves too far, in which case, they will need to rest and allow their power to recuperate over time. 

Yes, Loki is an extremely powerful sorcerer, but they do have limitations. As stated above, Loki can stretch their power supply too far, making it nearly impossible to cast even the simplest of spells until the energy has time to rebuild. Loki would be exhausted and extremely vulnerable in these times. There are also certain sects of magic that Loki has not mastered or struggles to even perform. They are not automatically an expert in everything, and some abilities come far more naturally than others. Some magics they are not horribly familiar with or gifted in would include things like shadowmancy and necromancy ( though Loki does have certain abilities that do linger in death—they are the mother of Hel, after all, Loki doesn’t roam too far into these abilities. Mostly out of respect for their daughter and understanding that death is Hel’s domain, they should not interfere much ). 

Because of how potent Loki’s magic actually is, for those who can easily sense magic, Loki is like a shining beacon. In order to hide their presence from those gifted with such abilities, they have to go to rather great lengths to disguise their Seidr or camouflage it in some way. Those who feed off of magical energy are especially attracted to Loki’s presence for that reason. Those who wish to steal power from those more powerful ( very much like Odin, who has stolen all of his magical abilities from other people and sources ) would view Loki as some sort of glittering treasure waiting to be uncovered and taken. 

Loki’s magic also relies heavily on Loki’s emotional state and how well they are able to keep their power under control. As a child and well into their adolescent years, extreme emotional distress or even vigorous moments of happiness would trigger something that Loki did not mean to trigger. For that reason, Loki has learned to be very in control of their emotions so as not to lash out magically by mistake. As they’ve grown more powerful and learned more restrain, their magic escapes from them less and less, but it is still prone to happen. Especially in moments where Loki completely loses control of themselves for any variety of reasons...

Below is a list of different abilities that Loki has picked up and/or mastered over the years. Please keep in mind that this list will grow over time as Loki becomes more and more familiar with new forms of magic and even if something is not listed here, that does not necessarily mean that Loki cannot do said magic or is completely unfamiliar with it.

In no particular order and not limited to, here are Loki’s abilities:

i. Elemental Manipulation 

Simply put, Loki can manipulate the elements that exist around them. Fire, earth, water, and air can be controlled to do Loki’s bidding so long as Loki is close enough to whatever source they wish to draw from. Think of this as bending from Avatar. It’s extremely similar to the concept of using the elements that exist around you.

ii. Elemental Creation

Unlike the previous listing, this is the literal creation of elements. Loki does not need to draw on an existing source. They can create the source themselves, though it does take a significant amount more to do so.

iii. Fire Manipulation & Creation

While this does technically fall under the previously mentioned entries, fire deserves its own entry because Loki is literally credited as being the Norse God of Fire. Fire manipulation and creation tends to be a bit easier for Loki than the other elements.

iv. Ice Manipulation & Creation

Again, this does fall under the same category as those already mentioned, but it’s worth noting that Loki’s water—and more specifically, ice ( yes, I know it sounds very Elsa-like, but honestly, I’m okay with that )—abilities are also rather advanced in comparison to things like earth and air. While it does act as a contradiction to the God of Fire title, Loki’s Jotun heritage makes these abilities feel almost like second nature. 

v. Illusion Casting

We’ve seen it, we know it, we love it. Loki has an uncanny ability to project images so real, you’re convinced that what you’re looking at absolutely is. The illusions can range from simple images to complete glamours that cover extensive areas and even create sounds and smells to make them even more realistic and vivid. The size of the illusion and the more detailed it is, the more energy it takes to create and keep up. It does make it difficult to tell what’s real and what’s not when Loki is around, though.

vi. Mind Magic

This can get a little dicey. We’ve seen evidence of Loki being able to bring memories and ideas to the forefront of people’s minds ( like what they did to Valkyrie in Ragnarök, for example ), but just how far do these abilities stretch?

For me, Loki’s mind magic is severely underdeveloped because it’s a relatively new concept for them and it’s something they don’t entirely feel all right using. While Loki did have the ability before their experiences with the Mind Gem, the Gem being inside Loki’s mind definitely brought the ability to the forefront and forced them to acknowledge and utilize it more. 

Loki’s shown abilities in forcing thoughts and ideas to the forefront of someone’s mind, while also pulling thoughts and memories from them. In some ways, this means that Loki can both force their will onto others as well as force their way into the minds of those around them.

Because this very thing has been done to Loki so thoroughly that it traumatized them, however, Loki doesn’t much like tapping into the abilities. They are severely underdeveloped in comparison to the rest of their magical scope and every time they utilize the power, they get a sick feeling in the pit of their stomach. It’s not a pleasant thing, it’s not something they actually enjoy doing, and if it were up to them, they’d never use it.

Unfortunately, the Mind Gem amplified those abilities. It is the one piece of the Mind Gem Loki feels they can never truly scrub from their mind.

vii. Teleportation 

As simple as it sounds, Loki can fast-travel pretty much anywhere they want to go within reason. It usually has to be a place on the same world or realm they’re already on, but it’s become such a quick and easy way for them to travel, it’s so simple to them now. If Loki is holding onto something or someone else, that something will be brought with them.

viii. Portal Conjuring

For off realm travel that Loki doesn’t want to use or doesn’t have access to the Bifrost for, Loki does have the ability to create small portals that connect one place to another temporarily. While this is a relatively easy thing for Loki to accomplish after years of practice, this does actually take up a lot of energy. It’s way more difficult than teleporting and it extends over much longer distances. Loki usually needs a rest after this, and they don’t tend to leave the portal open longer than it takes for them and whoever may be accompanying them to step through. It’s far too draining to keep a tear in space open for any sort of extended period of time. Even a moment or two is sometimes too overbearing, especially if the distance between those two spots is also extreme.

ix. Item Conjuring & Transfiguration

As we have seen countless times with Loki’s daggers randomly appearing in their hands, Loki can call items that are not currently on their person to them at any given point in time. Most of the time, Loki is calling on an item that already exists elsewhere, however, they can create an object from nothing ( or from something else! Like turning an apple into an orange ) if they wish to. Creating something with magic does take a lot more energy than calling something that already exists, however.

x. Creationism

In this sense, I’m not referring to the belief that the universe was created by some sort of divine intervention. I’m referring to the idea that, on some scale, Loki and their magic can be that divine intervention. Loki’s magic has created life numerous times over the course of their lifetime. All four of Loki’s biological children were the product of magic. 

Although Loki is unaware of this, Loki’s magic is also the reason that Jotunheim and their biological mother now thrive ( you can read more about this in Laufey’s biography on my “other muses” tab ). 

In short, Loki literally has the ability to create life and while such magic is draining and often takes a long period of time, it is one of the most powerful forms of magic Loki possesses.

xi. Shapeshifting

We all know that Loki is a shapeshifter. They can take the form of anything and everything they want within reason. The larger the form, the harder it is for them to maintain over the course of a long period of time, however. Loki can stay in any form they choose for any given period of time, though some forms are simply more difficult to actually maintain for significant stretches than others.

When it comes to shapeshifting into animals, it’s a bit more complicated though. While Loki doesn’t lose sense of themselves or the understanding of who they are, the longer they’re in an animal form, the more that specific animal’s instincts fight for dominance over rational thought. While in an animal form, Loki often has to surrender a certain amount of sentience to the animal’s natural habits, otherwise, they wouldn’t be a very convincing version of said animal. The longer they’re in said form, the more like that animal they become.

This is one of the easiest things for Loki to do, though, as all Jotun are, to some degree, able to shapeshift. Not all of them can do an entire body transformation like Loki can, but they are all able to change certain aspects of their body. It’s as much heritage as it is magic for Loki.

xii. Language

While most, if not all, Aesir use the All-tongue to speak ( a language that allows them to understand and be understood by anyone within Yggdrasil ), Loki has a natural born gift to understand and decipher languages and stories over time. Words are often credited as being one of Loki’s most powerful weapons and it’s partly because of this ability. We see a lot of it in God of War 2018, where Loki ( called Atreus by their birth father ) can easily pick up on runes and various symbols from many different realms and figure out what they mean without the use of the All-tongue. 

Loki is the God of Stories and is often credited with the reason the ability to tell stories and even keep historical records exists. It makes sense that Loki would possess such an ability.

xiii. Energy Channeling

This is kind of a broad category in that it covers things like redirecting attacks from opponents and using raw energy as defense or offense. What I mean by this is that Loki can use their own magic as a raw energy projectile, or they can use it to create a barrier/shield around themselves or something else. They can also use the power of others to accomplish the same thing, though that takes way more caution and concentration. To stop someone’s oncoming attack and either redirect it or use it for something else is a useful skill, but a dangerous one because there is so much room for error.

xiv. Absorption of Foreign Magic

Loki can literally absorb magic from other sources or people. This is technically the method that resulted in Loki's pregnancy with Fenrir, Jörmungandr, and Hel. Loki absorbed Angrboda’s magic, but her magic was so potent that instead of simply fusing with Loki’s once Loki took it, it literally created new life with the help of Loki’s magic ( rooting back to the creationism thing I mentioned earlier ). 

Loki can technically use this technique to make their own magic stronger, though that can be a dangerous game to play. If another source of magic doesn’t agree with their own, it’ll be like a patient rejecting a blood transfusion because the blood type is wrong. 

Loki can also use this as a way to alleviate someone else’s burden if their magic is running rampant and they can’t get control of it. It can be temporary, and Loki can return the magic to them. In a few threads, Loki’s actually done this for Heimdall, when his power became too much and he couldn’t stop it.

xv. Prone to Visions ( aka Foresight )

Some Jotun ( not all ) are rather gifted in the ways of seeing into the future. Laufey, Loki’s mother, was one such Jotun. 

Loki’s abilities in this haven’t cropped up much as of yet. In fact, Loki would even go as far as to say they don’t have any abilities with foresight. This, however, is not entirely true. As they grow older and more powerful with their magic, visions will begin making themselves know, rarely at first, and often in the form of a dream. 

Loki doesn’t have much experience with this yet and what they have experienced was easily chalked up to random chance or coincidence, but it will not always remain as such.

xvi. Cloning

Loki can literally create doubles of themselves. The clones are lifelike and realistic, often able to fool anyone into believing they are the real thing. Loki’s clones can act independently and make their own choices without Loki pulling the strings, giving them the illusion of free will, but they are connected to Loki. Loki can feel anything that one of their clones experiences and Loki can sort of look through their eyes, so to speak, so whatever their clone sees and hears, Loki can choose to as well. 

xvii. Healing

Healing is a relatively easy thing for Loki depending on the severity of the injury. The worse an injury is ( aka, the closer to death someone is ), the more difficult it may be for Loki to mend the wound or do so in a way that would actually prove to be effective in helping save the person’s life. Small and even medium-sized wounds are no problem, though, making Loki someone you definitely want to have in your corner during adventures or wars. 

While Loki can also help ease or soothe some of the side effects of certain ailments, curing said ailment is much more difficult than healing a wound. Loki isn’t exactly proficient at curing sickness, but can often help when it comes to fevers, aches and pains, or general pain and/or discomfort caused by ailments. 

Loki can also heal themselves. Much of the time, their magic does this without them consciously needing to activate it. This is why Loki can heal even when unconscious. Loki’s magic kicks in the second injury happens and goes to work repairing their body. This also attributes to why it’s much harder for Loki’s skin to scar than the average person. They simply heal too quickly more often than not.

xviii. Empathy

While this isn’t something Loki consciously activates and often doesn’t even realize they possess, Loki is able to read and even feel the emotions of people around them. For most of their life, they’ve passed this off as being particularly acute to reading expressions, body language, and tone of those around them. That does not explain why Loki can often identify so intensely with someone else’s emotions that they can understand and even feel them, though. Loki usually chalks this up to the idea that they feel too much and allow others to project on them.

[scatterpatter]

15 w Corren!

15: What is your characters background story?

OHOHO, so I’m going to leave One Detail Out because there’s one part of his backstory I don’t wanna spoil for Jazz yet, but... >:3c

Also it’s under the cut because i totally infodumped and then some OOPSIE

oh also cws: serious illness, death, domestic violence, depression

Corren Hartwell grew up the youngest of 3 siblings, the oldest being his big sis Mila and the middle child being his bro Julian. Their parents were pretty detached emotionally, but that’s pretty par for the course where he was from, and they provided for the kids so it really wasn’t all that bad. Not a perfect family, no fam ever is, but they were happy.

His race’s culture is super inclined to intelligence and studying technology, the mind, etc, so Corren spent his childhood being a total bookworm. Studying history, arcana, all sorts of stuff... he never really minded it, though. He was actually quite good at what he did! 

Mila was a spellcaster- I honestly forgot what school of magic she was in OOPS, and Julian dual-classed as a Necromancer and Bard! Jules and Mila were both pretty close in age, and they were like besties on top of being siblings, and they’d often team up to do small adventuring jobs: hit up the help wanted board in town and take care of short deliveries or a monster stalking a farm or something like that- both for the thrill and to also earn some extra gold for the family. They loved Corren, but they couldn’t take him with them because it was too dangerous for him since he was still just a little kid. Still, Corren admired them and wanted to be just like them(better, even?) when he grew up! ... Oh yeah I always forget this detail but Corren’s totally trans XD He came out pretty young but his family was chill with it so like... ayyyeee

Though one day, Mila started getting sick. Corren doesn’t really know what it was, but for whatever reason she wasn’t able to heal from it with simple healing spells. It was a slow process, but she was just getting worse instead of better, and one day she passed. The family was a wreck, understandably. The issue is... Corren and Julian had... different ways of grieving. Corr was still young, the equivalent of like someone 10-12 in human years, so he didn’t fully grasp the concept of death just yet. He retreated into himself a lot, had trouble grounding himself to the present and really struggling with depression. Julian, about the equivalent of someone 16-18, had a better understanding of what was going on, but he was wrecked. He wanted their sister back, and was so upset he couldnt do anything... but he wanted to try. He ended up doing something rash, and... well, spoilers ;) (dont worry he didnt hurt Corren or anyone else, but... he Fucked Up in what he tried doing)

Things quickly went downhill from there for the Hartwells. There was often a lot of fighting between Julian and their parents, or Corren would be chided for being unable to focus, like, at all, and... Corren and Jules never really fought, but there was a clear rift between them after what happened. They still loved each other, but it was so obvious their relationship would never be like what it was when Mila was still around, and that hurt both of them so much.

A few months later, things reached a boiling point and Julian was kicked out of their home. Before he left, though, he found Corren and gave him something: a small amethyst pendant on a necklace chain, something Julian used to always wear. They made a promise that this wasn’t gonna be goodbye, that they’d find each other again, and then Jules was gone. It was just Corren and his mom and dad.

Things were still strained, and Corren just did his best to keep to his studies to distract himself from everything. Not wanting Corren to end up like his brother, his parents forbade anything necrotic in the magic he learned. The problem was... Corren still loved Julian. And still wanted to be like him, to a point, so... he would study necromancy in secret. It was kinda like his little lifeline like “hey Jules is still here to an extent if I know the spells he does”, and things seemed to be going okay, for the most part

Well uh... one day his father caught him practicing his necromancy and... well, was far from happy about it. An argument quickly erupted between them both, a lot of yelling back and forth, and before Corr could react properly, his father grabbed something from the desk and struck him with it, giving him a pretty bad cut across his right eye(the smol scar I always draw? Yeah...). In a panic, Corren’s flight of fight kicked in as he cast a magic missile at his father in retaliation. Corren isn’t sure if his attack just stunned, knocked out, or killed his father, but the flight of fight-or-flight kicked in as he just ran from the situation. He had no idea what he was to do or where to go, but he just knew he couldn’t go back home after that.

SO this poor kid, probably the equivalent of a 14-15 y/o, is out on his own now... and he sure does his best. He mainly spends his time hopping from town to town, taking up small jobs to get some gold in his pockets, and is just... focusing on surviving. Going from this sheltered lifestyle to suddenly on the streets was a wake-up call and then some, but he found ways to make it work. Luckily his background of studying all the time gave him enough intelligence to take up tasks others weren’t as capable of, but it was still... far from easy. But he made it work!

One day he’s in a city known as Lilenthemar, just taking a break in one of the town squares, when an Elven man takes a seat on the bench next to him. They both sit in a comfortable silence for a while... but the elf then strikes a conversation. Corren, socially awkward like no tomorrow, tries to keep up the conversation... key word tries. The man introduces himself as Jethro, and I imagine the conversation took a turn like this:

Jethro: I don’t see many Marelienths around here, are you new in town?

Corren: Yeah, just passing through I guess. ... Gotta say, wasn’t expecting to see the Dragon Saint of the Green as I came here, though.

Jethro, laughing: Ah, yes, Raerose. Don’t worry, he’s a kind dragon. Though, it’s certainly surprising to those who are new to the city.

Corren: Oh, no, I know all about Raerose and his connections to this city and the Edgewoods. I just wasn’t expecting to... you know, run into his path as quickly as I did.

Jethro: Oh, so you’ve done your research, I take it?

At that point, Corren does what any neurodivergent would do when asked about his hobbies: Infodumps the hell out of what he knows. He’s far from a great scholar, considering he’s only the equivalent of someone 16-21ish at this point and spent quite a few years away from studying in favor of surviving, but he was still very intelligent and knowledgable about what he talked about. Jethro, picking up on this, decided to offer Corren a temporary position as a Family Historian. Jethro was actually a noble, something Corr somehow didn’t pick up on, and not only could’ve used the help... but also, he kiiiinda picked up on the fact that Corren looked like a kid who could use a place to stay for a while. Corren, not one to look a gift horse in the mouth, immediately accepted the offer.

Now, Corren wasn’t intending to stay for long. A few months, maybe a year or two... but. He realized he was building a pretty stable life by having a consistent job for the elf- it didn’t make much sense to just leave that in favor of hopping from place to place with no purpose. Not to mention, he was actually growing quite close to his boss. They’d often spent time together during off-hours, sitting in a comfortable quiet, just taking comfort in each other’s presence. Jethro’s actually the only one Corren ever opened up to about his past, and over the years Corren really grew to love him in a strong platonic way. They both struggled with their own grieving, Jethro with his passed wife and son he hadn’t seen in years, and Corren with his passed sister and brother he hadn’t seen in years, which only helped them grow closer, since they understood each other’s pain, in a sense.

He still struggled with depression, but overall Corren was doing pretty damn well in life. ... Many years later, Corren being 44(idk which human-equivalent this would be. Mid-Late 20s? Early 30s?), actually gets to meet Jethro’s son, Jericho, and the party he traveled with... called the F.U.C.K.s. ... I couldn’t make this shit up even if I tried. They needed help getting to a place called the Menoa Tree, which Corren happened to have studied for a long while, so he offered to help the party. ... They totally broke him with their antics. He proceeded to have a mental breakdown in front of them, and essentially went “FUCK THIS IM GOING HOME AND TAKING A NAP”. Jethro got a laugh out of the furious rambling Corren came home with.

... But despite that, something stuck with him. He just couldn’t quite get the party out of his mind. Something about them, as frustrating as they were, was almost... magnetic? ... Well, weeks later, word came to Lilenthemar about a war that had been raging on for years now... but specifically of a battle at a city known as Joshua, the forces being lead by Jericho alongside many others. Jethro was of course worried about his boy... and Corren... well, something in him changed. He wanted to know more about the FUCKs and just WHAT their deal was, and he wanted to ease Jethro’s worries, so... he grabbed a sniper rifle and decided that he’d go help protect Jericho and his friends as they fought. 

He eventually caught up to the party, convinced them to let him help, and after many battles... the war was won(Corren kinda came in at the tail-end of it all). The only thing is... after that, Corren didn’t really want to go home just yet. He actually enjoyed spending time with the party... and then it clicked: They were powerful adventurers who were totally crazy, stupid, and had no sense of self-preservation... they were just like Julian. And Corren loved it, even when they drove him crazy. He felt alive, which is something he realized he hadn’t felt in a long time... and quickly grew attached to his party, Alistair now taking the reigns as leader as Jericho retired from adventuring. And, well, he’s stuck with them ever since!

He still has Julian’s amethyst, as they’ve yet to reunite(yknow, assuming Jules is still alive even), but... certain events are causing some concern with the story I’m telling. Mainly... Corren is slowly facing Aboleth Corruption(he doesn’t know this yet, but is starting to suspect there’s something wrong with him), and that’s causing parts of his memory to be... patchy. Certain things aren’t lining up, and there could be more(or just different altogether) pieces of this story than what I’ve just told... but we’ll have to wait and see until we get to the quest that deals with that before we find out what’s REALLY going on ;)

... HEY UM I HOPE YALL DONT MIND THE IMMENSE INFODUMP IF YOU MADE IT THIS FAR THEN THANK U FOR CARING ABT MY BOI ;-;

[dothemacarena]

a new wild dnd session to scream about online

This session started with us dealing with a t-rex which we left off on as a cliff hanger. This was the least interesting part of the session. 

the characters in this story are: Jomu my kenku fighter, Jond @pippenpaddlopsicopolisthethird a tabaxi rogue, Lwdd @spontaneousmusicalnumber our elf bard, and Veritas @chimpoot a wizard rogue who turns into a dragon born on nights near a full moon like 7 nights a month. 

Many sessions ago and weeks ago in game the Jond admitted under zone of truth that he had a crush on someone before promptly running away as fast has he could, which is very fast.

The party decided not to press him on it and wait for him to be ready to talk about it, but did not necessarily give up trying to figure it out/set him up in some way. 

After fighting the T rex which ended up being a rather quick fight we travel montaged for two days and then sent Jond to sneak into a town for supplies while we waited. While waiting a Remorhaz attacked. This thing did dealt fire damage whenever it got hit with a melee weapon and tended to focus attacks on one creature. The fight starts Lwdd sends Jond a message and he manages to get back fast enough to get the first attack in. My character can usually tank their way through most fights with 21 ac and 98 hp going into this fight wasn’t too worried even with the damage taken every time I hit.

First round starts Jond attacks, Lwdd attacks, and Veritas uses his breath weapon which for him does a random wand of wonder thing. In this case that random thing is that his mind leaves his body and goes into someone else’s his body works on autopilot and can do physical attacks and his mind can cast spells. He rolls a d4 and the dice says it is Jond’s body. Que loud distressed “can he read my mind?” after a dice roll it was decided that the answer is no. Lwdd and Jomu don’t know this has happened his body is still moving around. The remorhaz fails to bite Jomu and Jomu attacks taking about 12 points of damage each turn.

Second round Jond attacks, Lwdd attacks, and Veritas uses mirror image to make there be 3 more Jonds. This thing gets manages to successfully bite me dealing fifty something damage. I am in its mouth restrained and grappled. I struggle and manage to stab it once forgetting that that does more damage to me so I second wind to heal a bit. 

Third round more attacks happen, Lwdd heals me a bit and it is not enough as this thing manages to do exactly enough damage to knock Jomu unconscious and swallows him so he can’t be healed. My turn one failed death save

another round goes by the remorhaz thankfully misses a bite attack on Lwdd which might have been able to down our healer in one attack and his stomach acid does damage to Jomu leading to an automatic failed death save, and I roll and fail my third death save and the race is on. It is now that I will mention my character dying is also not even close to the most interesting thing to happen this session.

Over the next round the party manages to kill the monster and then they manage to cut it open and revivify Jomu before I am gone for good Jomu talks to the one god he is friends with. We go to the town to rest but don’t go to sleep right away because we haven’t been awake that long but we aren’t going to keep adventuring with the tank on deaths door so we have some down time.

Veritas tries to read a book but because of plot reasons all of the words have been turned into the word become. So Lwdd pulls out her book that has the most pictures I can’t remember its title rn but it is along the lines of Dwarfs getting down and dirty, and is basically a dwarf Kama Sutra. Lwdd starts trying to make memes out of the pictures with the word become under them.

Jond goes outside to practice and Veritas follows after a while to try and fish for information on the crush or on any other secrets there might be, “so anything you want to talk about”. Because he knows he couldn’t read Jond’s mind but Jond doesn’t. Jond however shuts him down without him getting any info and he returns to the tent.

Then Lwdd goes to talk to Jond and asks how he knew he was in love. He explains how he knew and goes and after asking her to promise not to tell reveals to her that his crush is on Veritas. Lwdd listens to the reasoning rolling a high deception roll to keep a straight face and then after Jond had finished talking said “I need to go have a problem now” promptly dimension doors away.

While that conversation was happening Veritas was asking Jomu if now (while in the relative safety of the city) is a good time to give Jond some catnip and lock him in a room with Jomu (because the three of us had decided out of game of course Jond’s crush is on Jomu he always talks about how strong Jomu is and that one time a guy came to our table and said hey beautiful to Lwdd Jond responded with “yes Jomu is quite beautiful” and when they were trying out for some positions he encouraged Jomu to go for one of the highest ranks instead of a lower easier one because “of course you can do it Jomu your amazing”)

Jond comes back to where we’re staying to find out why Lwdd teleported away so quickly only to find she is not there like he assumed. We ask about the conversation and Jond says I don’t think I said anything mean to her or that would have gotten her angry. Jond tells us that she said I need to go have a problem before she teleported away. In the parties mind this means one of two things if Jond really said nothing to upset her either she is having some digestional issues and had to go poop or she is going to go get in a fight with someone. The only person we know in this town is the mayor so that must be who she is going to fisticuffs with so we start walking to his house which takes 20 min

Meanwhile Lwdd teleported south of town an cast silence on herself before screaming. when the silence ran out after 10 minutes she did it again,

We get to the mayors house ask the guards if they have seen or heard her (no) so we decide to head back and if she isn’t there and doesn’t show up after 15 min we will start looking for her, she can message us if she needs help.

We get back and there is a tiny hut dome colored black filling half of the tent we are staying in. It won’t let us through we knock and say “hey Lwdd is that you? It’s ok if you want some time alone but it could be any magical person in there and we need to make sure it’s you” she responds with it’s me an won’t say anything else prompting us to go outside to try and figure out what is wrong with her out of her hearing range.

After needling Jond a about what they discussed to try and find out what is wrong Jond tells us that he talked to her about who is crush is, but he still won’t tell us who it is. We come up with three possibilities of why she is upset.

1) She has a crush on Jond and is upset it isn’t her.

2) She has a crush on the same person as Jond.

3) While we were away she looked at more Dwarf’s Getting Down and Dirty and needed some private time.

We resolve to let her know we are here for her and she can talk to us about anything if she needs to but not push her on why she is upset in the morning. We also all leveled up during the night because we beat the remorhaz yay.

Come morning we get ready to head out. While Jond is off filling canteens Jomu asks once again if she is ok and with one bad deception roll gives her a big hug.

Two days of tense traveling pass before one night Lwdd asks Jomu to take watch with her. Jomu seeing this as her wanting to talk like was offered is glad to accept and after the others are definitely asleep she talks. At first it is very hard to give advice as she is talking very quickly and vaguely in a jumbled mess. Eventually Jomu calms her down a bit and explains that Jond already told us what you talked about and what is upsetting you has to be one of three things. Replacing private time because that wouldn’t cause all of this tension in the air with Jond confessed to you and you had to turn him down.

Lwdd tries to avoid saying who Jond’s crush was on because she promised she wouldn’t.  “hypothetically if you had a crush on the same person as a friend what would you do? Confess to the person, or tell the friend you have the same crush, or just do nothing and hope the feeling go away or tell the crush that we both have a crush on them and let them choose.” Jomu;s advice is that ultimately it is up to the person you have a crush on to decide who they like more or if everyone is open to an triad or an open relationship, but I definitely don’t think not doing anything is the right answer because you have been not doing anything for two days and it has been really tense.

After some dramatic high school drama along the lines of what if I am lonely and miserable for the next 1000 years, Jomu mentioned that “none of us are going to live as long as Lwdd. Unless you do some weird necromancy I’m sure if it doesn’t work out with this crush you will move on. You will have other friends and loved ones in your life and that is ok.” “is this a bad time to say that I learned some weird necromancy spells recently” “a little and please don’t necromance me for the full 1000 years of your life you can go for 100 years right after I die if you need comfort or help in a fight but please learn to move on”Jomu thinking she would necromance all of her friends and just wanting to be clear that she can necromancy my body for a little but not forever and she then slips by saying “I don’t have a crush on you!” proving that her and Jond both have a crush on Veritas.

Jomu thinks for a bit getting used to knowing both party members have a crush on Veritas who is a certified dumbass and eventually gives the advice to talk to Jond about it. Maybe you both eventually confess to Veritas or one of you decides to root for the other but confessing to Veritas with out letting Jond know in advance would be betraying Jond and letting Veritas know you both have a crush would be breaking your promise to Jond to not tell anyone, and we already know that bottling it up and not doing anything doesn’t work for you since the past two days have shown us that. So you need to talk to Jond. It probably won’t go as poorly as you are thinking you guys are too good of friends for having a crush on the same guy to ruin it. maybe it will make your bond stronger you can take watches at night together and talk about how cute his butt is or whatever it is you guys see in him that I don’t. Lwdd says she will and makes Jomu promise that he wont tell anyone about this conversation. Jomu promises and has no plans to break her trust. Lwdd then says “Jomu do you trust me” “of course we have been through so much together and just two days ago you brought me back to life”

Lwdd pats Jomu on the head and casts modify memory.

Jomu successfully wisdom saves.

A quick scramble of Jomu instinctively resisted not because I don’t trust Lwdd and do I know what spell that was no I have never seen it before but it doesn’t feel like zone of truth which would make sense if she just wanted to be sure I was truthful in my promise. Lwdd awkwardly says “good talk” to having the spell not work. Jomu says “Hey I do trust you and I promise I am not going to tell anyone”

end of session

[glassworkspiderlilies]

oh traveler, take heed (additional notes)

some extra notes for my giyushinoweek day 8 fic, oh traveler, take heed! i wrote that one in one shot last night, so it’s like, extra-hastily written haha. somehow i still ended up thinking of a bunch of background info though??

the general idea for the roles were as follows:

-Shinobu as the Butterfly Witch. She turned out to be a little bit like Rui (the spider demon) ability-wise, re: combat ability with threads/spidersilk in what i wrote. But!! she’s more of an “insect-witch” and draws her ability from various bugs and insects, so i suppose her array of physical combat would stem to like, poisoned needles/darts/knives, or some kind of created piercing weapon via magic. she wouldn’t have a sword in this au, but the combat portion of her magic would still draw from her Breath style. she’s a master at general healing and poisons, but also an expert on curses and hexes and suchlike. originally i kind of wanted her to have this exaggerated, not-so-good reputation, more befitting of a scary witch kind of thing, but in the end it’s more mixed. some will find her kind, some will find her cruel. again, i wanted to draw from CLAMP’s xxxholic, or necromancer by soga shina, where requesting help from shinobu is sort of like...”be careful what you wish for, as the results will not always be what you expect.” sometimes, curses are in place for a reason, or sometimes, what one person sees as a curse another sees as a blessing. the price that shinobu extracts is because she uses that “value” or “energy” to combat the curse/hex/illness/whatever. it is not often that she keeps the price, itself. ailments that she can cure with herbs and whatnot she’ll dispense for free--she has no need for money, since she’s still a princess. but magic of her particular kind has a price, and cannot/should not be used so easily. 

-Giyu as the “Grim Reaper”. He was supposed to be more scary!! He’s Sabito’s loyal knight, and also has the ability to lay souls to rest. He’s more in line with a canon demon slayer--that is, in this au he’d be of the few that can kill demons via cutting off their head. (witches can also kill demons!) he’s also of the few that can combat shades, remnants, the undead, and suchlike. to be honest, he takes it upon himself to do the dirty work that sabito would never ask him to do; it’s never anything terribly immoral, as he shares everything with sabito and makomo, but it pains sabito nonetheless that such a thing is necessary. some call giyu the reaper in fear, and some in hope. theoretically, he also has some necromancy abilities, but he’s not actually aware of it yet, and it’s something of a forbidden art. spirits who will willingly do his bidding are one thing, forcing them into a vessel is another. because his ability revolves around death, the common people find him very difficult to be around. it doesn’t help that he’s normally quite taciturn. sabito, giyu, and makomo are childhood friends, but before he met them, giyu was raised more by the dead than the living. (tsutako’s ghost, perhaps?) 

-Sabito as the Fox Prince. sorry, that’s it, i didn’t think any further than that LOL. he has some latent abilities too, but i didn’t think on that long enough to flesh them out. he’s a very good swordsman himself, and is often away from the castle amongst his people. he’s very well liked and has a very strong sense of justice and protecting the weak, and is constantly looking for ways to improve the kingdom. he’s a bit of a workaholic, and relies deeply on makomo and giyu. he kiiinda usurped the throne, but to the relief and benefit of everyone, since before him, it was the hand demon that was sitting on it, who had killed and eaten the previous king and all his family and heirs. he sleeps poorly, hence why makomo says that she hopes he’s at least dreaming well in the fic. (he’s not, unfortunately. the poor boy.)

-Makomo as the Fox Witch. Lady Makomo is the Prince’s companion and assistant in running the kingdom! she also acts as the ambassador to the surrounding kingdoms. she’s also kind of like a shadow operative within the kingdom--like a spy, i guess? her magic is a little unclear, but ranges more on the defensive/communication side. i imagine it extends to foxes also, like she can communicate with them and possibly transform into one. she’s the last line of defense.

-Kanae as the eldest Kochou Princess. Kanae is not quite a witch, more of a seeress or oracle. she tells fairly accurate common fortunes, and has a very good sense of incoming danger. this is also why their small kingdom has remained at peace for so long. she can be a little careless with this ability--shinobu thinks they should have kept it much more hidden. it’s not exactly widespread, but kanae would be safer had she not been so selfless. a more extended fortune-telling would need a more formal ceremony, and so the kochou kingdom will receive requests from high-ranking people on occasion, which the kochou sisters decide together whether or not to take. as such an in-depth telling would drain kanae, taking her days to recover, and so they do not take these requests very often, no matter what they’re offered. kanae’s combat ability affects the mind--she can scramble and distort thoughts if she concentrates, though this can also affect her negatively. she has very strong mental fortitude as a result of her magic. i’d like for her to also have a physical means of defense, so she can probably also swing a sword, haha.

-Kanao as the youngest Kochou Princess. Kanao has some seeress ability, and so is training under kanae, mostly, to hone/develop these. when she was young, she was able to hear voices which were other people’s thoughts. but because she grew up in the slums and no one was really around to explain her abilities to her, she and others believed she was cursed, and she broke under the stress of others’ emotions until she was picked up by kanae and shinobu. kanao was trained by shinobu in combat, and so she’s also kanae’s bodyguard while shinobu is away from the castle, especially when kanae is performing rituals which leaves her defenseless. 

-Doma, as the second prince of demons. There are twelve princes corresponding with the twelve demon moons. i guess there should also be twelve minor princes or nobles, to coincide with the lower moons? anyway. his followers attacked the kochou kingdom once and were repelled, largely by shinobu’s tactics. he’s been in love(?) with her ever since, but has marked her elder sister, because he knows that’s more motivation. 

misc other things:

- the village that shinobu told giyu not to go to--she was, in fact there, releasing the village from a “curse”, but it was one of those things where the releasing the spell was actually more detrimental to the village, but it’s the village’s problem of their own making because they’ve clung to traditions due to malice. the villagers end up being their own undoing, and the “curse” was actually to keep worse things from happening. it’s super vague since i didn’t think that deeply into the actual details of what happened--again, i just wanted that feeling of “be careful of what you wish for” type of thing. 

-i actually wanted shinobu to travel with giyu for a bit before they go to sabito! i wanted something like, giyu takes a small retinue of knights/people from a local village or something while on the search for the butterfly witch, and shinobu slips in and pretends to be one of them (though i was worried her height might give her away lmao). after a side mission is all said and done with, maybe that’s when they all go to the kochou castle, and giyu’s like, “i’m looking for the butterfly witch” and kanae laughs and says “but haven’t you already found her?” and giyu’s like “what?” and kanae’s like “she’s next to you, isn’t she? welcome home, sister.” and shinobu reveals herself and is like “hello. :) thank you kanae, i’m home.” and everyone loses their mind. i love dramatic reveals!! i wanted there to be a dramatic reveal!!!

-the “fox kingdom” (lmao kingdom names are hard and i didn’t actually come up with any proper ones, so i just. vaguely referred around it) and the kochou kingdom are officially allied. sabito saved kanae’s life once, and he and makomo are friends with kanae and shinobu. kanao and giyu were for some reason not present during when this happened LOL. but this is also why makomo tells giyu to search for the butterfly witch. the butterfly witch’s status is not actually public knowledge, hence why makomo tells giyu to go to the kochou kingdom. she would’ve explained more/the fact that the witch is also a princess, but giyu left before she could, lol. 

-originally i was gonna have giyu end up being shinobu’s familiar but then i was like......that’s too much too complicated so he’s just her traveling companion and partner to kill doma lol

hmmmm i guess that’s it for now!! thanks for reading!!

[silvershadowoath]

The Journey of a hero - Requiem

Following story contains spoilers to the game Guild Wars 2.

Speedpaint, where you can listen to my glorious Charr-voice reading the story: https://youtu.be/hO-d-wXj6Dw

"What do we do now?", Asks Braham. "I don't know", I reply with a voice, shattered from grief.

I stare at Aurene. At Aurene's remainings.

How should we go on now? What will come next? Who... will DIE next?

I feel lost. I'm at the same point like I used to, when my journey bagan.

Back then, when I was in the Fahrar. I always admired the warriors and guardians with their noble heavy armors, out of iron and steel. Especially guardians, with their blue shining heal spells. I wanted to become one. I begged to be one. But in the end everyone had other plans for me. I became a necromancer. The years went on, and my journey began the day Barradin attacked Smokestead. The day I almost became a gladium, like my father. The day I lost my whole warbrand, exept of Reeva. From this day on, everything changed.

The next day, tribune Goreblade called for me. He introduced me to the idea to build a weapon we could defeat the ascalonians with. We called the plan 'The Ghostbore Musket'. I agreed. While defeating the ghosts, we partnered up with the blood legion.

But one problem eliminated, another came.

Tribune Rythlock Brimstone called me to his office. My fater, Vallus Smokemane, was absent. He disobeyd his orders. He stole something his warbrand guarded, just to trade it at the human seperatists for his comrade Sesric. The humans didn't held their word, and killed his friend. Emer Whipmane was about to send him into the bane. Unarmed, and left to die alone. I had to say something. Vallus deserved a more honorful way to die. I could change Whipmane's mind. She'd let him die in the arena. But I was the one to kill him.

Weeks passed. Rythlock called for me again. The orders of Tyria searched for an amulette, wich belonged to my comrade Howl. He bought it a few days before he died from a necromancer named Rissa. And here comes the problem: Howl the Brazen died. The orders decided to look in his grave for it. I was against it, but orders were orders. Risens attacked us. Not the Risens of Ascalon, with ghostly bodies. No. It felt different to kill them, it felt like they were controlled by something else, something bigger. They were the minnions of Zhaitan, the elder dragon of the undead.

As we examined Howl's grave we found nothing. The amulette was gone. So was his body.

The Orders were argueing about what to do next. I decided to go with the Vigil to Snowdrift Haven and met up with Gahn. We had no time, we got attacked imediately. But we found another amulette. The Durmand Priory suggested to perform expiriments on it. As we learned more about the amulette, we returned to the Black Citadel to give report. It felt good to be home again. The Citadel had a guarding and calm charisma to me. But this didn't held for too long.

The Vigil's keep was under the attack of the undead. I needed to help. As the enemy got weaker, we decided to take the problem on the root and find Rissa to destroy her amulettes, and eventually to find out what happened to Howl, so he may get the peace he deserved. Rythlock suggested me to join one of the Orders. This is how I joined the vigil. As we searched for Rissa, a strange feeling packed me. I turned around. A way too familiar face came into my eyes. It was Howl. But in rotten. For a moment I could see eternal pain in his eyes. It was like he begged me to end this insulting rotten illusion of him. I hacked his skull open with my axe, until I was sure he doesn't needs to suffer ever again. We went on, I don't remember that much anymore. I was too traumatized. But we killed Rissa. This was everything that counted in that moment.

Rythlock told me I make the Legions proud. He talked nonsence. This wasn't just about the legions anymore.

It was about a bloddy Elder Dragon destroying Tyria.

Weeks passed. I went to Lion's Arch and met the Destiny's edge. I also met my new mentor in the Vigil, Warmaster Forgal Kernsson. He was suspicius about me first, but I could earn his trust. Until the undead attacked the Claw Islands. We got defeated. Forgal sacrified hisself. I became cold. I lost every emotion remaining. Trahearne became my new mentor and marshall. I hated working with him. But at least he wouldn't stand up again if he get's killed.

The three orders got united, and forged the pact. Then we took back the Claw Islands from the undead. I could swear I saw Forgal in their armys. I hoped someone ended his suffering fast. So many innocent people died. They didn't deserved that. But some must fight, that all may be free. That's what general Almorra Soulkeeper said.

We took a fort in Orr to have a base near the enemy. Then we cleaned the source of Orr from it's curroption. And then, We killed Zhaitan. We went to Arah, the former city of the human gods, now drowned in the curroption of the undead elder dragon. The sky was dressed in thousands of clouds, and decorated with some airships. Here and there I could see a piece of the black sky.  everything would change I thought. Zhaitan would die. If not, it would mean the end for everyone I love. I couldn't let that happen. Even if it would mean that I'd need to let my own life for it.

We made our way through the ruins of the fallen city. In evey breath I could feel the energy of the dragon. I felt how it sympathized with my necromancy-abillities. We couldn't find a  way to get in further, so we took the airships. We were constantly under the attack of the dragon's minions. Then came the moment. The moment wich will rule over the destiny of Tyria.

Zhaitan appeared. Directly in front of our airship. I took one of the cannons. I heared screams of anxiety, pain, and death behind me. I smelled the blood of my comrades and friends, and the rotten flesh of the foes. I could feel the necromantic energy around me.

But I was all centered about one thing: bringing that dragon down.

A sharp pain burried into my shoulder. I turned around, took my axe,  and splitted the skull of a young undead charr in half. The kit was half as tall as me.  Probably only about ten years old. But I didn't felt any guilt in that moment. I ignored all the blood running down my shoulder. I ignored everything. I couldn't let the dragon win.

I headed back to the cannon. I targeted the dragon, wich held on what was once a gigantic, beautiful tower. I pulled the trigger. A loud explosion was cutting through the air. The dragon cried aloud in pain, and tried to hold onto the building. A crack was to hear. The tower fell. The dragon too. I sank down on my knees. I made it. I killed an elder dragon. The last thing I saw was how the ground came closer. Everywhere was blood. Was it mine? Was I bleeding out? Would I die?

I laid in a coma for a few weeks. I couldn't move my arm like I used to before. I couldn't fight with axe and dagger like I used to. So I learned how to cast curses with a staff. It felt wrong to stay in the Black Citadel when Scarlet attacked Lion's Arch. But Rythlock ordered me to do so. So I let other heros do the job.  They could defeat Scarlet. But her death didn't ended everything. She awakened Mordremoth. On the journey of killing the elder dragon we got our hands on a dragonegg. Glint's egg.

I got tired of casting spells with my staff. So I learned how to hold a greatsword. Almost like a guardian. But I learned my own techniques.

We managed to kill Mordremoth. But we had to sacrify again. Eir, Trahearne and countless others had died. Most victims were Sylvari, Mordremoth corrupted them. He even almost managed to corrupt Caithe.

We had not much time to think about the victims and honouring them. Primordus, the elderdragon of fire, showed signs of activity. But we could set him to sleep again. Around that time Aurene was born out of the dragonegg.

We went trough so many things. Balthazar, the god of war, got abandoned by the other gods, because of his growing hunger for might. He managed to kill me. After that, Grenth payed me mercy and let me continue living. Then I killed Balthazar.

From then we specifically targeted Kralkatorrik. We tried everything to defeat him. But in the end, it was all for nothing. Our only spark of hope, Aurene, died.

I raise my head. I didn't even notice that I boke down on my knees. I look around. Rythlock and Logan are standing on a table, and talk about something. Caithe sits near Aurene's remainings. She's crying. So is Taimi, who is sitting next to a bunch of candles and Caithe's crystal flower. I look at my sword. It has a purple shining crack. Dark Harvest, the greatsword for that I went trough the whole Magumaa-jungle to get, got branded. I look up again. I see Braham, how he walks past Gorrik and lays some pillows next to Taimi. I remember Braham's question. I get back on my feet, and go to the passageway wich is gated of hundreds of big branded crystals Kralkatorrik left as he backed off.

"I am Silver Shadowoath.", I say as I turn around to the audience. "I killed a God. I also killed two elder dragons. Everytime something went other than expected we figured out a plan. But not this time. This is the end. Without Aurene we have no chance.", I have tears in my eyes. We will all die next. Kralkatorrik will heal himself and consume all the energy of Tyria. "We should all go to our family and loved ones and enjoy the time that remains us." I dropped my look to the ground.

"I think I speak for everyone when I say that we already are" Taimi almost wispers in her griefed voice. Some of our group are silently agreeing.

Caithe stands up. "Commander, no. We still can do something." She says with her broken voice with an hopeful undertone.

"We can still try fighting. What would we loose? A few days that would not even matter in the end? I'd rather die in a battle against the dragon than waiting for getting killed by it.", Rythlock gowls.

Braham raised his voice too. "I also won't wait for a dragon to kill me. If I need to join my mother that soon, I want to make her at least proud"

I raise my head again and look into Caithe's golden eyes. She has so much hope in them.

I wipe the tears out of my face, and try to find my voice again.

"We will take heart, and rejoin the war eternal"

[creativerogues]

Would you have any game twisting ideas for Asmodeus?

Here’s just a few ideas, based purely on the good ol’ history of the devil lord himself:

Asmodeus could create up to ten avatars! So mess with the party for a bit and make a bunch of Asmodeus-es magically appear!

Another powerful effect was that everyone within 120 ft of Asmodeus or his avatar was under the effect of an awe effect that made it impossible for people to attack him when they were not attacked first by Asmodeus or one of his avatars.

He could cast animate dead, dominate monster, create undead, detect magic, geas, dispel magic, hellish rebuke, fire storm, magic circle, major image, mass suggestion, project image, greater restoration, resurrection, suggestion, teleport (without any chances for error), true seeing, wall of ice, and blight as often as he wanted and any power word, any symbol spell, meteor swarm, true resurrection, and wish once per day.

And once upon a time, Asmodeus could cast practically any magic he wanted as an exercise of will. So an ability such as “Asmodeus makes a Wisdom check and if he succeeds he casts a spell he doesn’t know of his choice.” would make a show of power…

Asmodeus has almost always had absolute control over the Nine Hells and can change the landscape of any layer in any way he wanted when he wanted it with his mind. This control over form extended the archdevils too. He could change their forms in any way he wanted.

For example, he changed Baalzebul’s form into that of a giant slug.

So why not give Zariel a bunch of sharks fins and dragon’s breath and octopus arms and flaming skin and- actually that’s terrifying don’t do that!

People were not sure whether he could kill an archdevil with a mere thought, but hey, if he can summon them to his lair and they betray him, with just a thought they go POOF!

And his more defensive abilities are even more impressive!

It was impossible to harm him with spells below a certain level of complexity as well as poison, paralysis, petrification, magic dealing with death (so basically all necromancy magic, sorry wizards), illusions (again, sorry to all illusionists and wizards), and attempts to influence his mind (again, SUPER sorry wizards, I love you! I swear!).

So immunity to spells of 5th level or lower, immunity to poison damage and the poisoned condition, as well as paralysed and petrified, give him truesight and immunity to charm effects and the charmed condition.

Physically, it was impossible to hurt him with weapons that were not enchanted with magic that was at least on the level of a +2 weapon.

So immunity to the effects of common and uncommon magic items would really show your party how much Asmodeus hates other magic...

However, even when hurt by such a weapon, if the weapon did radiant damage or was otherwise blessed, the wounds immediately healed instead.

And his Ruby Rod is nothing to laugh at: he had magical abilities that allowed him to slow people down (like the slow spell) or instil fear (like the fear spell), while also having the ability to sap the physical strength from a person by merely looking at somebody and reducing their strength score.

His voice worked like an irresistible suggestion spell that made people subservient to him for ten to hundred days.

So maybe something similar to Unimpeachable Words from Vecna, but the effect lasts for 10d10 days.

He could summon a pit fiend, a bone devil, a chain devil, a bearded devil or any other kind of devil once every hour.

And all this is just what he can do naturally!

Some of my ideas are that:

Asmodeus can use his reaction to absorb a spell that targets only him. The spell has no effect, and he regains a spell slot equal to the level of the spell cast on him.

All Tieflings, being descended from devils, are under the rule of Asmodeus. So any Tieflings within let’s say 120 feet of Asmodeus have a 80% chance of having their alignment shift to that of Asmodeus and they become Charmed as if under the effects of a Dominate Person Spell.

And finally, he has the lair actions of any other devils, as well as having lair actions of his own, such as having the ability to warp the landscape around him to open up fiery chasms to deal fire damage, create a cold air around a creature to deal cold damage, maybe another effect causes lava to burst from the ground, and that fiery chasm can swallow several party members whole, blinding them, restraining them, and dealing massive amounts of fire damage until they break free...

Because Devils just love fire…

[rallis-fatalis]

The Forms of Magic

Powerful, incredible, dangerous, extraordinary. Magic comes in many descriptions and forms, as do the mages themselves. There are as many different spells as there are practitioners. Vastly different spells don't generally work well together, and just like their magic, vastly different mages also struggle to get along. When Rallis meets a fellow mage with ideals quite different from her own, sparks threaten to quite literally fly as they attempt to work together. Hopefully they have more sense than their spells and can come to a conclusion that doesn't involve setting fire to a library.

It was rare Rallis visited Arceuus anymore. After an incident she'd rather not dwell on, she didn't feel safe in the city on her own. That being said, she loved the library and would brave a trip into the district for reading and research. Today was one of those days, and she hadn't gone alone either. Both Peg and Adam joined her and it made her feel much more comfortable, even if one of them was just there to goof around. Adam was used to Rallis dragging him along by now, she had begged him to accompany her so many times. At first, he thought perhaps she was still not well enough to be on her own from her most recent attack, but now he was starting to grow suspicious that it may be something more.

Rallis wanted to go to the library in hopes of finding information on something. Adam also had something on his mind lately he wanted to research, so at least tagging along with his friend wasn't completely unproductive. Peg just tagged along because she wanted to hang with them, but once she realized they were headed to a library of all places she knew she would grow bored quickly. While Rallis and Adam did whatever boring nonsense they were going to do, Peg found her entertainment in watching a young man talking to himself by a table against the far wall of the room as he fiddled with things in vials. He had a few books open and runes scattered over the table. As Peg continued to watch, the man jumped back with a shout and ducked under the table. A whirlwind of violet fire and sparks raced through the room shot down the connected corridor, threatening to set the books on fire.

The man whimpered under the table as he covered his head, whining about what to do over and over. Peg took action. "HEY! RALLIS! ADAM!" she hollered down the halls as she took her cloak off and pat out some of the smaller flames before they could run rampant.

Rallis came running first, quick to put the the main fire out with a blast of ice. That seemed to amaze the cowering mage, admiring the odd magic dragon from his spot on the floor. Adam came next and swore at the remaining sparks reaching for the books. "Peg, go get one of the librarians!" He pat out the rest of the sprouting flames with Rallis while Peg ran off and soon the explosive magic was no more.

Rallis held out a hand to the cowardly mage. "You can come out now. The fires are gone."

His eyes nearly popped out of his head at Rallis speaking. He forgot to even say thank you, and instead of taking her help to stand, he took her hand and looked it over. He jumped up, startling the dragon, and continued to look her over in wonder. It was making Rallis uncomfortable.

"Is something wrong?" she said with drooped tail and ears.

The mage nodded and muttered to himself before coming to a conclusion. "Yes, I've got it. You are simply... a marvel. You're made of some crazy magic, aren't you? What an odd reptile. Why do your scales look like woad leaves? Hmm, maybe they are! And your ability to speak and use magic! I'd love to examine you..." He spoke rather quickly and without censor.

Rallis paled and slithered behind Adam who had now joined them. She grabbed his hand and whispered to him. "He makes me nervous."

He rubbed her arm as if to say everything was fine and stepped forward. "Are you alright, sir?" Adam asked. "That was a rather sudden explosion."

The mage waved his hand. "Pssh, I've done worse. It was just some magic gone wrong. I'm fine."

"I seem to remember the librarians having a strict rule against practicing magic in here for just this kind of reason," Adam scolded. "You could have burned everything."

"But I didn't," he said snarkily. "Thanks to you and your... incredible friend." Rallis hissed under her breath. She didn't like how he spoke of her. It wasn't just admiration, it was more like evaluation. "Besides, as long as the librarians don't find out, everything's fine! You didn't tell them, right?"

Before either of them could reply, Peg came sprinting into the room, followed by the most furious and shrill scream they had ever heard.

"LLLAAANNNCCCIIISSS!!!"

In stormed a furious Biblia, screeching harsh enough to give a wyvern a run for its money. Seeing the normally quiet and collected specter seething pure anger was startling to say the least.

"Oh boy, you did," the mage winced. "Hi Bib--"

She grabbed him by the ear and yanked him hard, like a furious mother. "LANCIS I INFORMED YOU OF WHAT WOULD HAPPEN THE NEXT TIME YOU DISOBEYED OUR RULES!" She continued to pull his ear as she shouted, forcing a tear out of his eye and quickly having him beg for mercy. "POTENTIAL TO HARM OUR GUESTS, POTENTIAL TO HARM OUR STAFF, POTENTIAL TO BURN THE BOOKS, POTENTIAL TO BURN THE BUILDING, AND MORE! I HAVE HAD ENOUGH!" She gave him one last harsh tug and let him go. The mage whimpered as he rubbed his ear. Biblia calmed herself and returned to her normal indoor voice. "From this point onward, you will be searched every trip you make into the library. Any runes, vials, concoctions, or otherwise possibly dangerous contents will be left with a capable mage until you leave the premises. If you have any objections, I'm sure Logosia would love to speak with you. Am I understood?"

He opened his mouth to argue but the tension in the air quickly made himself realize that would be a foolish decision. He gave the librarian a pouty 'fine.' Biblia held her hands out, waiting for him to hand everything over. The specter floated away with stacks of runes and rather unsafe looking chemical compounds.

Rallis worriedly eyed the bubbling vials the librarian was taking away. "Just what kind of mage are you?"

Adam thought he had an idea who. "She said your name was Lancis, right? You wouldn't happen to be Lancis the Wild Formula, would you?" The description he had certainly matched the mage in front of him. Long dirty blonde hair with a beard of a similar color, simple glasses to help him see, stood around 5'8, blue and white wizard robes the mystic mages of Yanille usually sported, and a demeanor as wild as the story behind his title.

Peg and Rallis looked at him questioning who that was, and the mage tilted his head back with a groan. "Yes, that's me. Could you please not call me by my name? I hate my name. Form is much better. You know, 'form' from 'formula?'" He laughed at his attempt at a witty name, but no one played along. He groaned again. "Please just call me literally anything other than my name."

"He seems like a kook," Peg said. Adam tossed her a withered look and Rallis nodded in agreement.

"He's a Legend," Adam explained. "He's a mage and alchemist who saved an entire city from being wiped off the map."

Form interrupted him. "Yeah, I stopped a plague, cured the sick, did some cool magic, you know how it goes. What a ride that was!"

Rallis grumbled under her breath. "The last Legend mage we met tried to kill us. This one makes me just as nervous."

"He's no Miles," Adam assured her. "He's just... well, 'wild' is in his title for a reason." He turned his attention back to Form. "What brings someone like you across the ocean?"

"What else? Magic of course. The magic on the continent over is stale. There's a whole new kind to be discovered here! I've been trying to test the limits of Arceuus magic, but everything I try has been blowing up in my face lately. Just like my most recent trial, as you saw..."

"Arceuus magic is used for reanimation," Rallis said. "What were you doing to get it to explode?!"

"Trying to turn the magic into a potion." He said that like it was obvious and that she was stupid for even asking. "Reanimation magic is such a pain to learn and practice and it's harder to do the farther away you are from the Dark Altar. So I'm trying to make it portable and usable by all, regardless of skill. Pretty cool, right?"

The three of them were intrigued. Such a feat didn't sound possible, but the idea was certainly an interesting one.

"So with your potion I could, what, dump the thing on a dead person and they'd come back as a zombie or something?" Peg piped up. "Even if I can't do magic?"

Form shrugged. "If it worked, then yeah, pretty much. Except this way they'd hopefully come back as their normal selves and not mindless cannibals."

"That seems rather reckless and dangerous," Adam warned. "The dead stay dead. Whenever they're forced back to life, there are always complications. Also I'm pretty sure that's considered necromancy which isn't entirely legal."

"Well I'm obviously not going to test this on people immediately. Maybe I'll try it on some flowers or a dead tree or something, see what happens. I can deal with complications when they happen." He completely ignored the legality statement. "And if for some reason it just never pans out, the idea could be pretty useful for making a healing potion. If the power that lies here is strong enough to heal the dead, I don't see why it couldn't heal the living as well."

Rallis had to admit, that seemed extremely useful. She could use healing magic herself, but it wasn't a common practice and in reality it only transferred the pain from one person to another, not actually heal a wound completely. An actual healing spell at her fingertips that anyone could use seemed incredible.

"Why can't you get the spell to work as a potion then?" she asked.

Form smiled, eager to explain his process. "I've already made enough progress to know what needs to be combined in order for this thing to work. Trust me, that took an experiment or five. Why do you think the librarians here hate me?" He scooped up his now partially burnt and stained notes from the table behind him and showed off his notes and drawings as he spoke. "The biggest issue for me is getting the most important part physically into the vial. If my theory is correct, this potion will only work if it contains magic from the Dark Altar. Not much, but some. The way to get that is through these."

He fished out a small shard of purple crystal, a sliver from the giant ones that grew all around the Altar like weeds. It was hardly bigger than a fingernail.

"These need to be ground into powder and mixed with the rest of the ingredients. Only problem is when you shatter or grind one of these crystals, they explode. That fire you saw earlier? That was from something this tiny."

Rallis frowned. "Are you sure? They're not exactly easy to break, granted, but I've broken a few with no repercussions." She snatched the shard from his hand and bit it in half. Form squealed in fear and ducked for cover, but nothing happened. He stared at the dragon in shock and awe.

"Why didn't it explode?! How did you do that?!"

"Simple. The magic grows unstable if you break one of these. So you just move the magic then put it back when you've broken it." She snapped the weakened small shard between two claws and showed them to the mage. The claws she cracked it open with glowed the faintest bit of purple. "Remove the magic, break the crystal, and..." She touched the bits again and they sucked the glow out of her nails. "Put it right back."

Form's jaw hit the floor at the realization while Peg and Adam just watched in lost confusion. Neither of them entirely understood how magic worked. Rallis handed back the fragments and snapped a spark out of her fingers. "That's amazing!" Form sputtered. "You're amazing! I can't believe... I can't do that! Please, you have to teach me how to do that!"

"Umm..." She turned to Adam. "That's up to you. If it's late, we can go back to Hosidius. And I don't... I can't be here... alone."

"I know." He pat her head. "I'm quite lost but it seems interesting. A potion that could heal any wound on the go is certainly something I'd like to learn about. Could have used that this past year, that's for sure."

Put that way, Peg was interested as well. And if she got bored during their experimentation, she was sure she could find some poor soul to entertain her, whether voluntarily or not.

"As long as I'm home to feed Tanner in time, I don't mind," Adam told her. "It's your decision."

Rallis chirped a thanks to her friends. She was still wary of mages in general, but this one seemed to have good intentions, even if he was a bit eccentric showing them. She decided she'd help. "Alright I can try to teach you how to transfer magic." Form's eyes sparkled. "But you'll need to practice on your own for a long time. You can't learn this in a day."

Form seemed to ignore her statement. "Fine, sure, now let's get started!"

The four sat down at the now burnt table and listened to Rallis with varying degrees of interest. "In order to transfer magic from one thing to another, you need to know where the magic is going to be momentarily stored. When I broke the crystal, the magic was stored in myself, more specifically my teeth and claws. I can do that because of what I am. I can store magic anywhere at all. It's different for you since you're a human. Tell me, where do you think you would have to house the crystal's magic?"

Form may have been a master of magic, but even he had no idea the answer to that. "In a piece of essence?"

Rallis shook her head. "You can't get the magic back out if you do that. You'll just end up making dense essence and then all you can do from there is make some runes."

The mage grew huffy. "Then where does it go?"

"How well do you know the four locations of magic?"

Peg hopped out of her seat at that. That sounded like the beginning of a boring lecture she wanted no part of. She ran off to bother the nearby librarian for something more interesting to read. Maybe there was some tale of romance somewhere.

"What kind of half-baked mage do you take me for?" Form scoffed. "Of course I know them! In humans, they are the eyes, the mind, and the hands, and in more powerful beings, they gain the fourth of the heart." He smirked, proud to show off his knowledge.

"Exactly," Rallis praised. "So for you, which of the three would make sense to store excess magic in?"

"The mind is always the safest bet."

"Normally, yes. But this magic isn't normal. You'll go mad if you let it persist in your thoughts. It's safer to hold in your hands. That way if something goes wrong you'll just cause another explosion and not kill yourself or go mad."

Form nodded at the valid reasoning. Adam tried to keep up with the conversation. "I had no idea magic was this complicated. No wonder I could never do it."

"You probably couldn't because you have to master magic sight first and your eyes are always too busy staring at women," Rallis snorted. Adam playfully swat her with a scowl and she giggled.

"So all I have to do is will the magic out of the crystal and into my hand and that's it? That's not hard! That's the same as pulling magic out of a rune!"

"When you pull it out of a rune, you use the spell immediately. This isn't a spell and so there's nothing to 'use.' It's not the same. It's going to be hard to just take out and hold onto, not to mention you have to put the magic back after. Go ahead and try it like you would a spell. See what happens."

Cocky, Form concentrated and tried to will the magic out of the crystal. The shard grew a flicker brighter but otherwise nothing happened. He frowned and tried again. Nothing. He grit his teeth in frustration and tried once more, trying to picture the purple glow leaving the crystal and resting at his fingertips as clear as he could. The crystal almost seemed to sigh in disappointment as it ceased glowing. Form slammed his hands on the table. "What gives?!"

An angry shush echoed down the halls at his scream.

"Told you, it's not the same," Rallis said. "It's hard to train yourself to hold onto magic instead of just immediately using it, so when it comes to something like this, it's either you pull it out and hold it or nothing happens at all."

"Magic is all about thinking! I'm thinking I want to hold it and it's not working! There's obviously a secret to this so what is it?!"

"There is no secret," Rallis stated matter-of-factly. "It's just hard and takes practice. Humans can't do it easily so it's going to be a lot harder for you than it is for me. You just need to keep trying to feel the magic in the crystal and help it move from one point to the next. You can't force it, just take it slow, think, and feel."

Form grumbled and tried again. Time sped by as the mage tried and failed to make the dark magic bend to his wishes. Rallis gave him tips and examples here and there, giving the mage every trick she could think of to make this work. Adam and Peg came and went as they pleased, checking in on the dragon from time to time. Peg found the closest thing to a romance novel she could find and sat down at their table to read it. Adam was shocked the girl was actually reading a book, but when he asked what it was about, she would hide her face and cover the page with her cloak. If she was going to act strange, he wasn't about to bother her. He continued hunting for any book on something specific he was interested in, but he had little luck. The only book he could find with the librarians' help was an old childish book of fables, which he sat down with and absentmindedly flipped through.

Hours had passed and Form had no progress to show. He was growing angry and Rallis grew frustrated at his anger. "This is impossible!" he shouted, startling Peg out of a particularly heated scene of the book. "I'm no magical talking beast, I can't do this!"

Rallis frowned. "I told you this isn't something you can do in a day. It's going to take a while."

"Well since you seem to be such a master, why don't you make my potion for me?"

"Because it's your work, not mine. And if I made one, would you have me make another? Or all of them? I would end up doing all your work for you. You're a mage, you should want to practice something new like this."

"No! I'm supposed to get everything quickly! When I wanted to learn magic, I understood it immediately! When I wanted to learn alchemy, I mastered every combination in weeks! When I had to find and create a cure for a plague that gave me my name, I did so quickly, efficiently, and masterfully!" He growled at the unassuming crystal shard on the table. "So why can't I do this?!"

"That which is worth learning does not come easily," Adam interrupted like some poetic sage. It was obviously not what Form wanted to hear.

"That's what the unskilled tell each other when they're not good enough to get it the first time. I am a prodigy!" He did a double take at what Adam was slowly flipping through and snatched the book away from him. The man gave a whiny 'hey' at the action. Form hurriedly flipped through the book and slammed his hand down on one of the pages. "This! This is what I need! If I had this, I could do any feat of magic without issue, even something like this!"

Rallis tried to peek at the page, but Form's hand covered too much. "That's a book of myths," Adam said. "I was looking through it for information on an old tale. Nothing in there is real."

Form waggled a condescending finger at him. "You're wrong to think that. I've done research on this exact book and all the tales of magic inside and I know everything there is to know. This is probably the only thing in this book that's real." He moved his hand off the page. "The imbued heart."

Rallis turned a ghostly shade of white, Adam curiously waited for more information as that was what he was investigating, and Peg's attention was finally captured.

"'Ancient beasts that walked the land, humans with their heart in hand, the fires of war grew and fanned, with magic imbued turned life to sand.' I could recite the whole tale by heart, no pun intended." He laughed at his own remark and continued. "The imbued heart lets anyone use nearly any kind of magic, whether they're a mage themselves or not. I could perform a party trick like this without issue if I had one of those! Hell, I probably wouldn't even need to resort to making a potion if I had one! I could just heal and reanimate as I desire!"

"You should never wish to own such a thing," Rallis hissed. She scowled at the meticulously painted colorful picture next to the tale Form spoke of. It held a gruesome stylized drawing of a human tearing out the heart of a monster and using it to become a mage-king no one could disobey. "You would have to murder the innocent for one. Disgusting."

"Innocent?" Form snorted. "It's a monster. You think I'd care? Monsters aren't innocent, they kill people. Another dead beast doesn't matter if it means we can--"

He didn't get to finish. Rallis was out of her seat in such a fury, the poor chair went sliding across the floor. Her claws and fangs were out as she snarled at the mage. Peg instinctively turned into a raccoon and hid under the table, and Adam was out of his chair just as quickly, ready to restrain his friend if she went mad. The mage cowered in his chair, as if just remembering who, or rather what, he was talking to.

"So it doesn't matter if the beast you kill doesn't look human! As long as it's not your kind, you're free to do whatever you want with it! Since you can't understand it, it must be an evil killing machine! People like you are the reason they're all dead!" Her fangs were growing dangerously close to the mage's face as she snarled. Form was shaking in his seat as she inched closer. "You are the murderer, not us! People like you...! Like you... are the reason I...! The reason I nearly di--!"

Suddenly, Rallis began to cough and waver. She nearly fell to her knees, holding steady against the table for support, claws digging deep into the wood. Peg squeaked worriedly from under the table and Adam reached to help her but she pushed him back.

"People like you... are sick..." she rasped between coughs. "You don't deserve magic."

Without another word, she turned tail and stomped away. Peg turned back into a human and motioned as if Adam should follow her. Form hadn't even noticed the girl's own transformative magic he was too shaken from the dragon's rage, nor had he noticed the grooves Rallis carved into the table faintly glowing blue for a moment before fading away. Adam ran after his friend, leaving Peg to handle the shaken mage.

Rallis had ran off into a dark quiet corner of the library, hidden from anything and anyone, even proper lighting. She was leaning against one of the shelves and panting like she had run laps around Kourend. She faced a wall of shelves and didn't see her friend appear behind her.

"Hey, Rallis, you okay?"

Adam worriedly reached for her shoulder. She spun out of his reach with a gasp, slamming her back against the shelves and knocking books to the floor. She looked terrified as she wished the books would swallow her whole and let her escape from her friend's sight. Her claws glowed bright blue, one hand gouging similarly glowing marks into the shelf she held onto, the other gripping her chest in pain. The same blue glow flickered in her eyes and chest, barely visible through the dragonhide top. He reached for her again, this time much more worried. "Rallis, what is going on?"

"Nothing! Just...! Go away! Give me a minute... Please..."

"Alright." He backed away. "You'll be alright?"

Rallis nodded her head and turned away, sinking to the floor to sit with the fallen books.

"I'll be right here." He turned the corner, out of her sight. She breathed a sigh of relief and focused on calming down, thankful to be alone in her quiet dark corner. Adam worriedly poked his head in every now and then, wanting to make sure she was okay. After a while, she calmed down and the glow vanished. She quietly put the fallen books back into their spots and shuffled out of the corner. She grew embarrassed upon seeing her friend again, wishing he hadn't seen her little fit. He, however, was just happy she seemed to be walking around just fine despite whatever episode that was. "Are you alright?”

She sullenly nodded her head.

"And how about your snarling at Form? That was quite the explosion, even for you. You mind telling me what that was about?"

Rallis hissed and he could see her claws dig into the carpet they stood on. "I just can't stand it!" she shouted. "He just wants magic handed to him on a silver platter, and he doesn't care where that platter comes from! Thinking it's okay to kill what he thinks is a monster just so he doesn't have to work as hard!"

Adam could see her claws start to flicker blue again until she shook her head with a groan.

"He's just like the rest of these damn Arceuus mages! Too lazy to find a real solution to their ineptitude so they resort to cutting open another living being! They don't care where their magic comes from so long as they get it!" Her screaming quieted into an angry whisper as a tear trailed down her face. Her claws dug into her chest again. "They don't care..."

Adam realized what was going on, why she blew up and was acting so strange. He already had his suspicions. "You have one, don't you? What he's looking for, an imbued heart." He could hear her breath hitch and see her grow completely still. He was right. "That's why you got so mad."

Rallis whined, wanting to keep that information hidden, but if she couldn't trust her friend, she couldn't trust anyone. "Yes, I do... And you can't tell anyone. I've had enough experiences with the mages here trying to rip me open to get it, I don't need anyone else knowing what I have. Especially not someone like him."

'The mages here?' he thought. He had figured that was the case, but to have her confirm it. "So it did happen here. I started to assume so. You've grown scared of this place even in passing conversation ever since I found you bleeding behind the bar. How come you never told me who did it?"

"I don't know... Maybe I thought if I didn't speak of it, if I stopped thinking about those four awful demons, it would all fade like a bad dream and I'd stop being scared," she admitted. "But that wasn't the case. Now it's become part of my nightmares like Galvek and everything else." She let out an angry bark of a laugh. "It seems even an entire continent over, nothing has changed. I saved Arceuus by helping them with their ice elemental problem, and how do they thank me? By trying to cut my heart out, that's how! I save the world from Galvek and I'm treated like a monster here to end mankind in his place. Galvek, Wintertodt, whatever comes next, it will always be the same. Humans really are no different no matter where you go..."

"That's not true and you know it. Don't let the faults of the few make you lose your faith in the many. There are plenty of people here and the continent over who are grateful for what you've done. I know I am, and I'm glad you're still here." He grabbed her hand and her pout bloomed into a smile. She nuzzled his arm with a purr as a thanks. "Now come on," he tugged her hand. "I'm sure they're worried about your storming off." Rallis nodded and they began their walk back. She already seemed better. Adam was glad she bounced back quickly.

A thought popped into his head as they walked. "So is this how you were able to pull that crazy stunt against Galvek?" he asked. "You froze the damn ocean and more during that fight. I've never seen anything like it!"

Rallis nodded. "Yeah. It lets me do magic as strong as I want without runes." She winced as the ghost of the painful aftermath made itself present at her remembrance. "It hurts so much though."

"Considering what you're using instead of runes, I can imagine it's a little more painful than some heartburn, and likely infinitely more dangerous. I wouldn't use that power if I were you." Even still, he couldn't help but admire at how incredible it must be to have such power. He found himself wanting to use it, but sharply reminded himself such power always had dire consequences.

"I try not to. And please, tell no one. Don't even tell Peg."

"Don't even tell Peg what?" a different voice broke into their conversation. Peg popped her head out from behind a corner as Rallis and Adam neared the table they had spent most their day at. Rallis jumped out of her skin at how stealthily Peg had snuck up on them. "So what aren't we telling me?" she pried again.

"That I'm making nothing but vegetables for your dinner," Adam joked.

Peg stuck out her tongue and pretended to puke. "Disgusting! How dare you even suggest such a thing!"

Form awkwardly walked over to the three, much more quiet and shy than before. Rallis didn't want to continue talking to the mage. She just wanted to go home where it was nice and safe. But she supposed she had to finish what she started.

"So, listen," the mage began. "I'm not good with the whole apology thing because I just don't do anything wrong, or even when I do I personally don't think it's worth apologizing over, and even then--!"

Rallis scowled at his tangential nonsense.

"Off track, I know. What I mean is... I'm sorry. Really sorry. I've been rude. I'm just not used to... not getting things perfect immediately."

"Hard work is the only way to get things done," Rallis scolded. "Instant perfection isn't a thing. Nor are shortcuts."

"I know, I get it. I'll keep practicing. Hopefully I can make this project work, and soon!"

"And with your own power. Don't go relying on a murderous myth."

Form was appalled remembering his outburst. "Ugh, god, yeah, I'm sorry about that. I guess that's like if you told me killing people would be fine if it meant you could do some fancy magic. I did not think that through and I'm sure it was insulting."

"Very."

"I'll be more careful in the future," he vowed. "I suppose I'll have to get out of your hair now. Or, horns? Either way, I'll leave you be. Thank you for the insight and help. If this ever works, you'll be the first to know!"

"I hope it does work. It sounds exciting and useful."

"Just don't use it for illegal reanimation," Adam warned. "Prison isn't fun."

"Yeah, yeah, I get it. Oh but I do have one last request!" Form excitedly bounced up to Rallis. "Could I possibly have some of your scales?"

"What?!"

"Well, they're just so different from standard blue dragon scales! You are a blue dragon, correct? Yours are so pale and oddly shaped, I swear they look like woad leaves! And with how interesting and magical you are, they must be too! Please, I must have some for tests!"

Rallis hissed. "No way!" She booked it down the nearest flight of stairs, fast as she could. "Bye, Form!"

The mage cursed but did not pursue. He had to clean his mess of a table up and more practicing to do before he went chasing after the dragon. Adam and Peg said goodbye as well and much more calmly scaled the stairs to the ground floor.

"They do look like woad," Peg mumbled. "What if she glues them on?"

"Rallis does not glue on woad leaves. That's ridiculous."

The two met back up with the dragon and readied to leave. Before they could exit, Adam took note of Peg trying to hide a book under her cloak. "You know, I'm glad you found something you actually enjoy reading. But are you really trying to steal from a library, Peg?" Adam chided.

Peg's face turned bright red. "N-no!"

"Then why are you hiding a book that's obviously not yours under your cloak?"

"I'm not!"

Too occupied with arguing with Adam, Peg had no time to react to Rallis swiftly yanking the book out. She ignored the girl's desperate pleas for its return and read the title. "'The Tale of Sir Richard and Princess Felidae.' Never heard of it."

"Give it here," Adam said, holding his hand out. "So this is what you were reading? The title seems adventurous." Peg had no hope of reaching it now. He flipped it open and skimmed through, not only curious about what kind of book could capture Peg's interest, but also have her trying to hide it. As he flipped through, something caught his eye and his green face began to turn red. Peg immediately knew what he just read. "Peg! I can't believe--! You shouldn't--! Peg!!!"

"Stoooooop!" she howled, embarrassed.

"What is it?" Rallis asked.

She reached for the book and both of them screamed 'no.' Adam cleared his throat and composed himself. "Why the library would have such a book on display for children to read..."

"I'm not a child! Besides, you have worse under your bed."

"PEG!"

Rallis finally understood. "Oh is it like the pictures of naked humans I found that you told me not to ask about?"

Adam's face grew brighter red and Peg smirked. "Yeah but this is even better. You have to picture it yourself since it's only words and it's so much more descriptive."

"Huh. So am I allowed to ask now why there's drawings and now books about naked humans that both of you seem to enjoy?"

"No, absolutely not!" Adam shouted. He stomped over to the nearest librarian and all but slammed the book in their hands to be put away. "We are never discussing this! Now let's go home!"

Peg followed after Adam with a cheeky grin and evil laughter, leaving a confused Rallis to trail behind.

[godaime-obito]

My fill for @kakaobiweek2019 day 4: fantasy. It’s set in the same ‘verse as my fantasy fill from madatobi week- Reluctant Questing. It’s on ao3 and under the cut!

Obito has only been Madara’s ‘apprentice’ for two months and he’s already prepared to kill him. He can’t believe he’s stuck here for a whole year. Accidentally set a festival on fire once and suddenly everyone thinks you ‘have anger management issues’ and need to ‘go learn some management skills from Madara; he’s been through this’. Honestly every moment he doesn’t set something on fire is a surprise to Obito, because in spite of his decade or so fire free he always seems on the verge of setting things ablaze. That Tobirama guy who’s always hanging around says he’s just biased, and that Obito specifically is what makes him contemplate arson. Which is ridiculous because he is great company.

The point is, Madara has sent him on another fetch quest, which he insists are vital to teaching him patience. Obito is half convinced the thing he’s looking for doesn’t exist. If he stabs Madara in his sleep all the magic in the world won’t give him an advantage. He can find his mystic illusion crystal in the underworld.

He’s talked to everyone in town who knows anything about magic, and checked every supply store. If it exists he’s going to need more information on where to find it. That means a trip to the ridiculously large library on the outskirts of town Tobirama is in love with. Obito heaves a dramatic sight and makes his way through the back streets toward it.

Obito pushes open the grand double doors and slips into the library as quickly as he can. The doors still almost catch his coattails as they slam shut. The four-story shelves loom over him. There is no librarian in sight. There never is. Obito doesn’t think there is one. He doesn’t even know where to start looking. Maybe he should have hunted down Tobirama for help.

“Hello?” he calls out, “Anybody here?” Please let there be someone who might have a clue on where to find a tome on crystals. A blot of silver peaks around a distant shelf. “Hey there! Can I get some help?” Obito’s definitely above normal library volume, but it’s not like there is a librarian to yell at him.

He heads in the direction of the mystery person as they walk out into the aisle way to meet him. They’re starting to look familiar. “Kakashi?”

“Obito,” he replies with a cheeky grin, “I never thought I’d see you in a library!”

“Ha. Ha. Look,” he deadpans, “I don’t know what you’re doing out here, but I just want to find a tome on crystals.”

“I’m here to study water based magic with Tobirama,” Kakashi says, elaborating completely unwantedly. “He may focus on necromancy, but he’s the best water mage in the country too, and I want to master all the elemental magics. I’m surprised they haven’t mentioned it to you, since you’re living with them,” he continues, still not wanted.

“Them? I’m staying with Madara.”

“…Obito, Madara and Tobirama live together,” Kakashi is making his old ‘I can’t tell if you’re joking or just that dumb’ face.

“What? I thought he just hang out at Madara’s a lot?”

“Obito,” Kakashi says pained, “They’re married.”

“…What.”

“You know Obito, since we graduated the Academy I’ve really come to miss your antics. This is the funniest thing that’s happened all week.”

“What the fuck,” he replies, still too caught up in the realization that Madara is married to register what Kakashi is saying.

“What are you looking for exactly?” Kakashi prompts, placing a hand on his back and directing Obito further into the shelves.

“Madara told me to get him an amethyst of Cyric?” Obito answers, still slightly dazed.

“Cyric? The god of lies, domain over trickery?”

“Is he?”

“I don’t want to brag…”

“You? Brag? Never.”

“…but I know a lot about crystals, and that most definetly does not exist. He even said Cyric, that’s an obvious, well, trick.”

“So, I’m not that up on my deities, it’s not like I’m a paladin,” Obito retorts, “and I already guessed it was probably made up. I’m going home to set Madara on fire.” He turns on his heal and stalks toward the grand entrance.

“That is not going to help you with your anger management,” Kakashi snarks, running after him. “I have a better idea. Why don’t you forget about Madara and his quests for a while and come see something I found nearby?”

“What something?” he asks as he slows down from his near sprint.

“I really peaceful something I think you’ll like,” he says with a grin.

Kakashi slips ahead of him and swings the doors wide open with a burst of wind magic. Obito follows reluctantly behind him as he walks toward the woods that surround the town. He went from a bogus quest to following a schoolmate he hasn’t seen since he was thirteen into the deserted woods. What a day. They walk through the dense trees and vines for about ten minutes before Kakashi begins to slow down.

He stops in front of a particularly dense wall of undergrowth and pulls back the vines gesturing for Obito to go through. “Beauty before intelligence,” Kakashi chirps. He’s not sure if that counts as a compliment or not.

Obito walks into an open clearing. It’s…actually beautiful. There are wildflowers, swarmed in spots by butterflies, and a slow-moving river cutting through the far edge. Kakashi pushes through the vines after him steadily following behind him as he walks toward the water.

“Have a seat! Or better yet just lay down by the water! It’s impossible to be angry there,” Kakashi insists.

Obito does so. “I hate that you’re always right, and as soon as I’m out of this clearing I’ll be very angry about it,” he complains. The only response he receives is a giggle cut off by a snort.

“This is way better than letting the old hothead know I figured out his quest was bull,” he says.

Kakashi plops down and lies on his side facing Obito. “I thought it would be. It’d be a great spot for a picnic, wouldn’t it?”

“I guess, are you inviting me to a picnic?”

“Why not? Ditch whatever errand Madara sends you on tomorrow, and meet me here for a nice lunch,” Kakashi suggests.

Obito twists from where he’s been laying sprawled out on his back to look at Kakashi, mirroring his reclined pose. “Shouldn’t you save the picnics for asking someone on a date or something?” he wonders.

“Obito,” Kakashi deadpans, “I realize based on our conversation at the library that I’m going to have to be very clear about this.”

“Huh?” Obito’s face scrunches up in confusion. What is Kakashi on about this time?

“A picnic, particularly one here, is in fact very date like, that is because I do in fact mean it as a date. I, Kakashi Hatake, am in fact, asking you, Obito Uchiha, on a lovely lunch date tomorrow. Here, as a picnic.”

Obito squints at him in reply. As much as he acts like he doesn’t like Kakashi, he actually does think he’s really smart, and maybe a bit cool, in a nerdy way. “Oh. Yeah, I’d love to ditch on Madara and make eyes at you by this river or whatever.”

“Yeah? That’s it? Just. Yeah?”

“Yeah.”

“I thought you’d be more dramatic about being asked out.”

“Well now that you’ve made me think about it, there’s nothing really subtle about taking me out to the flowers-and-butterflies-clearing,” Obito informs him.

“Right, of course,” Kakashi says, not sure what exactly to do next. Eventually he decides to assume Obito’s earlier position of sprawled out on his back. “I think I should have waited to ask until we were leaving. It’s sort of awkward to just lay here now, isn’t it?”

“Well, for being a genius, you’ve always been awkward,” Obito answers.

“Thanks,” he deadpans. Kakashi can’t believe this is the person he choice to have a crush on for all these years. He needs a spell for teleporting out of embarrassing situations.

[junkyardlynx]

Pt. 6

“Why would I tell you? You were - fuck!” 

Miss Lewis’ words were cut off with her hiss of pain as she attempted to squirrel out under from Sarisa’s malingering foot. Her blood joined that of her associates, and the stench of death began to permeate the room, fresh as it was. I couldn’t stand it anymore. Self-loathing squirming in my stomach, I knelt down in front of Lewis, black mana gathering in my fingertips and running down my palms like a viscous ink. Sarisa took a few steps back, moving behind me.

“W-what are you doing?”

Her fear was justified, really. Most magical spells have an elemental component that tints the mana, and black was the realm of necromancy and bodily change - life reversed. 

“Shut up. I already regret this.”

My voice was thick and heavy, and it seemed to bludgeon the air from her lungs. Nobody seemed to comprehend what was happening until a sound like a wet bandage hitting the floor reached their ears. Sarisa watched, halfway between amazed and amused, as ribbons of flesh began to peel themselves from the dismembered corpses, slowly and almost lazily drifting through the air. They hovered in front of my face for a moment before twisting and melting together into a wet and tumescent mass.

Diane’s face reflected only horror.

“I said, what are you doing? Don’t do it. Don’t do that, don’t you fucking put that in m-”

The mass of flesh leapt from the stagnant air, filling the sizeable hole in her knee and spreading through. Sickening sounds of crunching and squelching filled the sanctum, and Diane’s screams of pain and terror only served to heighten the horrifying atmosphere.

This was the healing side of necromancy, using the dead to preserve life. Considered an ultimate taboo by those outside of the necromantic arts, it allowed the caster to shape and repair most any body part as long as there were...materials around.

It bothered me in the past, but not any longer. Life is life, and the dead aren’t sticking around inside the shells. It seemed stupid and downright disrespectful to not use what was left if it was needed. My dad taught me that.

“Stand up.” 

Sarisa gave her the command, barely hiding her lopsided grin. For some reason she really, really loved watching me utilize that dark magic. Maybe it was the thrill of the unknown, or the bewilderment that ensued. Diane had time to process and deal with the event, but she seemed unsure. I rose, shaking my hands a few times to bleed off the excess mana.

“C’mon, coach. Those that can't do, teach. Those that can’t teach, teach gym. You should be able to stand up and give us some Suicides or some squats, at least, right?”

At Sarisa’s prodding, unsteadily and bracing for pain, Diane Lewis stood. 

It was rather uneventful.

“So what were you saying about Jeal and I?”

“You...were always complacent kids in P.E. You sure turned out to be cruel.” If you asked me, she seemed confused at her own words. Diane had been bouncing between terrified and vengeful so much that I felt exhausted listening to her. She’d screamed at us to stay away. Most people in a death cult under their own will weren’t reduced to hysterics after the loss of their fellow cultists. Something in them was broken. Unfortunately for Diane, her mind remained whole and mostly her own. 

There was just something directing it down the darkest path.

Deciding that this game of torture and treatment had gone on long enough, I fixed Diane with an almost impenetrable stare before reaching my right hand out, placing it on her neck.

I could feel the confusion and annoyance radiating off Sarisa. Was she...jealous? Wh-oh. Oh. I have my hand on the neck and shoulder of an adult woman. That probably looks pretty uh, tender from her point of view. Miss Lewis seemed stricken by confusion and hadn’t batted my hand away. That’s not. I. I better just wrap this up before it turns ugly.

Before she could regain her senses, raw mana pulsed through my hand with an ugly red and black crackle, prompting a new series of screams from Diane as it seared the Mark of Soritoroth off of her skin, leaving an admittedly ugly scar. With heaving breaths, I removed my hand from her skin, sweat collecting on my forehead.

I’d used far too much magic today. It felt like every nerve in my body was on fire. I’d be damned if I showed weakness, though.

Sarisa, having understood after the fact, walked up behind me and slung her arm over my shoulder before addressing Diane, unable to hide her lopsided grin any longer. It felt possessive.

I didn’t hate it.

“This big idiot just freed you from your Mark. No more dark whispers in your ear or weird dreams about fire and a never-ending queue at the DMV. He’s too kind, really. I’d have just left you locked in here with your fellow teachers until the Mark consumed you. Guess he figured it out because of uh, well, how scared you are. Real believers usually aren’t terrified out of their minds.”

We were met with a cascade of sobs. Slipping down to the blood-stained floor again, Diane was reduced to tears as pain and regret wracked her seemingly fragile frame.

“Let me guess. They knew you were a mage of some talent. Told you big things. Scared you, and right after, promised you safety. Then they dragged you into some pit, put that Mark on you and began to twist you. I mean, no one really likes P.E., but we all liked you. Didn’t really think you’d turn evil at the drop of a hat. Mr. Morrison though...man, we should have seen that coming. Haughty english teachers are the worst.”

I wonder how many times Sarisa’s penchant for humor saved me? I always ended up walking down dark lines of conversation, saying the wrong things at the wrong time to anyone but her. She managed to be my voice, and she understood me better than anyone.

Honestly, I don’t think I’d have even made it this far without her. I would have tried to save my parents if she wasn’t around. She was my guidepost.

“I gotta admit though, you made me really mad. So in exchange for all these wonderful things Jeal’s done for you, can you please tell us where our friend Thom is and what he’s told you?”

Diane was quiet for a time as the sobs shriveled up. Her head rose from her knees, and she looked around the room as if seeing it for the first time.

“They’re all dead, aren’t they?”

A barely audible whisper.

“Yes. Mr. Morrison, Mrs. Takao, and Mr. Krenick are dead. So are fifty people your little cabal brainwashed into raiding this place. So I really, really need you to tell Jeal and I what’s going on.”

Sarisa hid no facts, but a sort of warmth leaked into her voice, gently urging Diane on. 

“Please,” I said. 

“Thomas...he, two weeks ago, he came to us. Said he knew we were mages, and that you two were mages and that Jeal was actually a Culaine. Last thing he told us before we stuck him in that hole was...was that you’d be coming back around 7 today. Dunno how he knew that. Guess he was watching you.”

“Where is he, Miss Lewis?”

A long pause, as if everything that had happened since receiving her Mark was finally setting in.

“He’s in hell. He’s burning. He’s burning in hell. He’s gone, I think.” She stopped for a moment, eyes glassy and distant, finally free of that dark passenger and unable to collect herself in the aftermath. We were losing her.

“They already moved him. I don’t know where. Just the shell. Nothing left inside, all empty, ready to be filled up. The materials are still good...”

Lightning cracked on my fingertips, but I gripped my hand tightly. The torrent of images and impulses, no longer channeled and directed by the Mark, began to leak over every thought she had. They’d bleed out like mere bad dreams in time, but time was not on our side. 

“He was in that square hole. Seven feet deep, a tiny prison for a god. The abandoned observatory to the west. From the 80′s. I wonder if they knew? A cocoon as a prison for god. I wonder if we could have seen him...?”

Her voice trailed off as her head lolled to the side, shock finally pulling her consciousness under. I grappled with myself for a moment before flicking my wrist, a lash of red thunder removing the last traces of the three dead teachers. Leaning on Sarisa a little as she kept her arm slung around me, I made my way to the desk in the sanctum. Sarisa seemed to understand what I was getting at and began preparing one of the cots. My shoulder and neck seemed somehow lesser for the absence of her weight and warmth.

Penning a note to Diane on a piece of paper, I gathered a few materials and reagents from the cabinet beside the desk. Setting to work with practiced movements, I began to prepare a tincture using thornblood, the teeth of an imp, water, mint, and ethyl alcohol inside of a reinforced flask. She’d need it, after what she’d been through. For myself...well, for myself, it was going to be less pleasant than anything with alcohol in it. Too bad I also needed it.

Forcing a gelatinous black mass into my dry mouth, I began to chew hurriedly, ignoring the bitter taste and oddly crumbly texture that followed the jelly-like outside as I pawed around blindly for a bottle of water, draining nearly the entire thing in one gulp. I turned around to find Sarisa on the verge of laughter, having just set the bloodied Diane down on the cot.

“Oh my god, did you eat that? You actually ate that dragon eye? What the fuck, Jeal.”

“Everything hurts, Rissa.”

“Oh, c’mon. Don’t sound so annoyed. I mean, I know it’s a really good pick me up, but oh my GOD, that had to have been like, 800 years old! And you just ate it! In one bite!”

“... probably still kiss me.” 

“Hmm?”

“Nothing. Let’s go.”

I don’t know if she actually heard me or not, but it didn’t matter. We needed to check out the old observatory, even though he was probably gone. Thomas had been wrapped up in all of this, somehow. He knew who I was, what I was. He knew who Sarisa was.

Everything hurt. Body and soul.

[shy-violet-soul]

Try to Remember (2)

Summary:  Continuation: A forgotten memory surfaces and breaks Rae’s heart.  How will the boys, with their own heartbroken history, help her heal? (Read Part 1 HERE) Warnings: Graphic descriptions of injuries/fatal injuries; grief; parent death; depression; angsty fluff Pairing:  OFC Rae Himmel, Dean Winchester, Sam Winchester, Castiel  Rating: Mature due to descriptions of canon-type gore Word count: 1300-ish

A/N:  We all love the funny moments with the brothers.  But their sensitivity to someone else’s pain has always broken my heart a little, and I wanted to explore that. This is a companion piece to Life is Good (for you) & Just Desserts. You don’t have to read them to understand this story. This is my OFC Rae’s “origin” story. 

A huge, sparkly, fluffy hug to my 2 betas @pinknerdpanda and @thesassywallflower. Ladies, you get all the Sam cuddles!

This is a work of fiction based upon characters created and owned by the CW. My work is not to be copied/distributed elsewhere without my written permission.

To listen to for this part: Try to Remember by Harry Belafonte

After a half hour of just sitting on the shower floor, letting the hot water pour over her, Rae finally found the energy to get up. Busting out her fancy, boutique soap and expensive, impressive in-shower lotion, she scrubbed. The debrided bits of painful memory from her careful box washed away, soothed with shea butter and the newer notes of Winchester hugs. A little achy, a little empty, Rae felt both tethered and light as she bundled her favorite fleece robe around her. A knock on her door frame caught her attention as she combed out her wet hair.

“Cas! I didn’t know you were here!”

The angel took in her genuine smile along with the puffy, drawn pallor as he accepted her hug.

“Do you mind if we sit a moment, Rae?”

“Of course, please.”

A methodical, analytical thinker herself, Rae had never chafed under Castiel’s considering stares. She only smiled as the blue eyed angel tilted his head as he pondered her.

“I know you have questions, Rae. About your parents’ death.” Rae only nodded, waiting for him to continue. “I also want to tell you how sorry I am for your loss. It’s always awful to watch someone you love die.”

Rae dropped her gaze to her hands, feeling the echo of her pain in her ribs. It thrummed anew as she thought about the times Cas had watched his own loved ones die. Two of them repeatedly.

“No, it never is.”

“I have those answers for you, Rae. Dean and Sam had me follow up on your case while they cared for you.” Cas sighed gently as he glanced around her room. “Knowledge. It doesn’t always end pain. In the millenia I’ve watched God’s children on this Earth, I’ve learned something. I think that the resonance an answer carries depends upon the heart that receives it. A soul fueled by anger, by fear - answers can trap them. Anger and fear take over their lives. But a soul led be compassion and hope accepts the pain along with the truth. They let it be their freedom.”

Cas’ words cast about in her ears. More weary than she could ever remember being, Rae braced herself for anger, more tears; but numbness lapped at her instead. The achy spot where her cobbled box sat empty in her chest pinched at her, but with no true threat. She lifted her eyes and met Cas’ gaze unblinkingly.

“What is my soul led by, Cas?”

After a moment, the angel smiled at her with heart-tugging gentleness, and took her hand.

“The Thule Society is a splinter group of the Nazi Party.  They’ve practiced the dark arts and necromancy since before the second World War. Another group of Jewish Rabbis known as the Judah Initiative have fought against them for decades, their mission to stop their evil ways once and for all. The Thule High Command also made up Hitler’s inner circle, with their chief goal being to bring Hitler back from the dead. The leader of this effort was a man called Nauhause. After he died, his son, Christoph, swore he would abandon all heinous deeds of his father. Sam and Dean believed him.

A few weeks before your parents’ death, a member of the Judah Initiative contacted the Winchesters. He said he’d discovered that a sect of the Thules had happened upon a list of supposed Judah Initiative operatives who had immigrated to America after the war, and was systematically killing who they saw as enemies. The name of one of them was Aleksender Himmel.”

Cas’ heart thumped in sympathy as Rae’s eyes widened.

“My...my father’s name was…”

“Alexander Himmel.”

Rae honestly didn’t think she could hurt anymore, but the tightness in her throat wringing out fresh tears proved her wrong. Cas squeezed her hand, offering her wordless comfort.

“The worst part of the whole thing, Cas? My father was adopted. He wasn’t Jewish by birth,” a sob choked off the word as Rae covered her face and cried. “My parents were murdered by a monster because of a spelling mistake.”

Cas twitched as her pain emanated in cold, chilling waves, poking pinches against his vessel. After a moment, Cas couldn’t subdue the urge any longer.

“It’s appropriate in many societal groups to offer an embrace to one in pain. I would like to offer you an embrace, Rainbow, as I’m reasonably certain this societal group finds it acceptable.”

Rae snuffled out a chuckle as she flopped her arms around Cas’ shoulders.

“Your reasonable certainty is correct, and I accept, Cas.”

The two friends sat in a companionable silence for a moment before Rae leaned back, wiping at her eyes. She offered him a shy smile that was all fatigue and flusterment.

“Thank you, Cas. I mean it.”

“Rae, nothing will ever erase the pain of your loss, I know. But I can tell you I’ve seen their souls in heaven. They remember nothing of that moment, and their heaven is all moments with you.”

Bittersweetness trembled on her lips as Rae nodded her thanks. Dean suddenly poked his head around the doorway.

“I hate to break this up, but movie night is on in the Dean Cave in five. C’mon, you two.”

Rae huffed a chuckle as she let the men bundle her along the hall to the Dean Cave. The elder Winchester had commandeered one of the rooms, tricking it out with a couch, recliners, and a non-possessed flat screen that shone in a place of honor in all its HD splendor. Rae was given the comfiest seat, the middle of the recliner-couch combo unit. The brothers had gone all out - someone made an emergency run, and an array of theatre candy was waiting for them. Twizzlers, Junior Mints, M&M’s, Dean’s nasty black licorice, and Skittles.  Each one of them had their own bowl of popcorn, and Sam produced a surprise with a smiling flourish.

“3-D glasses! And, I did some research. The best movies to watch in 3-D are ‘Iron Man’, ‘Kung Fu Panda’, and ‘How to Train Your Dragon’. We’ve got all three. Rae, you pick the first one!” Sam urged, holding out the DVD cases excitedly.

Rae went with ‘How to Train Your Dragon’ first with a promise to Dean that ‘Iron Man’ would be second. While Cas blandly pointed out that night fury dragons didn’t really look like that, and that their belly scales were more dark blue in color, Dean started a personal contest on how many popcorn bits he could flick into Sam’s hair without him noticing. Dean and Sam got into a heated debate on how possible Tony Stark’s tech actually was. Rae stealthily dropped Skittles into Dean’s beer, laughing until tears smarted her eyes when he gagged at the first chewy, fizzy swallow. And as Master Shifu said goodbye to Oogway in a beautiful billow of blossoms, Sam slid his fingers into Rae’s hand.

“See? ‘There are no accidents’. You’re here. We’re here,” he whispered to her, wishing he could see her eyes behind the 3-D glasses.

Rae was glad he couldn’t. Her heart wasn’t ready to look too closely at the softer, warmer feelings she had been ignoring for weeks. She knew she couldn’t forget the pain of her past. To heal, she needed to remember. But, not just the pain. She would try to remember the love of her parents. Her dad’s Old Spice cologne, her mom dropping socks, and them holding hands. She would try to remember Cas’ compassion, and the safety and comfort she felt right now - resting among her friends, sugar high in her veins, laughter in her ears.

For now, Rae offered Sam a soft, tender smile, and snuggled herself in a hug around his arm. Rubbed her cheek against his shoulder just a breath. And studiously ignored Dean’s approving, ‘go get him’ wink.

She would try to remember it all.

[welcometomyworldofbs]

Reason Number Two! {{Major Spoilers}}

Kinda goes alongside reason 1>>> The second reason why I think Nick isn’t an evil prick is because he is, by nature, a bloodthirsty, homicidal, bay-shit crazy demon who thinks nothing deserves the sweet release of death. In short- he’s the Malachai. {{but he’s not JUST the Malachai, now is he?}}

I don’t know why this is so hard for some to grasp, but I’m serious on the whole he-acts-like,-a-million-times-better-than-any-of-his-fathers-before-him-thing. 100% serious about him being a big ‘ole Malachai. If you don’t believe me, google it. Also, if you were your own worst enemy ((literally speaking)) then you wouldn’t be happy either ((read the bottom if you haven’t read CON)).

Honestly- I think it’s easier to accept the fact that he’s a special bean rather than swim in Denial River.

Sorry to be the Bear of Bad News, but Nicky Gautier is a blue-eyed demon boy who the Simi loves and wishes she could eats. It’s a thing, people.

Key words being “demon boy.” I can’t stress this enough. And for those of you who haven’t read CON yet, allow me to educate you on the big bad nightmarish hatred-infused bloodsucking demon.

1.) they are the most hateful, angry demons. Period. They don’t give a fuuuuuuuuuuudge about who they hurt. The only time they’d care is if they personally wanted you dead {which is basically almost every being}. Ever.

2.) they have always been the most feared species of demonkyn. Ever since Monakribos curse his sons, to be exact. You know, beginning of Time and stuff.

3.) they are HELLA HELLA MACHO POWERFUL!!! I mean VERY POWERFUL. like, up there with gods and such.

Major powers include: ATTENTION!! THESE ARE COPIED FROM NICK’S (CON) WIKIPEDIA!! IT IS NOT MINE ORIGINALLY! I DID NOT WANT TO TAKE THE TIME TO TYPE THIS OUT, BUT IT IS FACT CHECKED AND WHAT NOT! PLEASE DON’T GIVE ME CREDIT OR WHATEVER FOR TYPING IT! hehe…anyhoo-

-Malachai Abilities:

Demon Glamour: Nick, due to being born from a race that were the consorts and soldiers to the dark gods, has extreme charisma and very good looks.

Demon Summoning: Nick was capable of summoning Caleb to an alternate universe and back again.

Divination: Nick has a talent for scrying. This means that he can see the past, present, and future on any reflective surface, though he seems to favor his black scrying mirror.

Empathy: The Malachai, being a creature born of hatred, has empathy so that it knows how to emotionally destroy his enemies. Nick uses this ability subconsciously to help his friends.

Enslavement: Nick is capable of enslaving a demon by saving his/her life. He accidentally did this to Zavid.

Eternal Enslavement: Nick is capable of tying an enslaved demon’s geish (or essence) to his powers, meaning that the demon will always be enslaved to whoever has his powers. Adarian did this to Caleb.

Eye of Ananke Absorption: By absorbing the power in the Eye of Ananke, Nick is now able to see all possible futures, instead of only seeing what is available in the Ether.

Fate god: Nick is capable of using the Eye of Ananke, something only fate gods are capable of doing.

Fear Factor: Malachai demons are the most feared of all demonkyn.

Elemental Control: Darkness Darkness Generation: Nick is capable of controlling the element of Night (through Noir). This allowed him to defeat Alternate Thorn with ease.

Electrokinesis: Nick is capable of creating lightning bolts.

Fire Blasts: Nick has the ability to produce extremely powerful balls of flame. These seem to function similarly to God-bolts and can disintegrate a Dramonk with a single hit.

Emotion Feeding: Nick grows stronger when in the presence of hatred and malice. When he went to prison his power increased.

God-killer: Nick is a god-killer in the sense that he is capable of killing gods without destroying the universe.

Healing: When Nick first tapped into his demonic heritage, his gunshot wound healed instantly. He also seems to be capable of healing others, such as when he healed Little Simi in the alternate universe.

Hidden Fate: Fate gods are incapable of using their innate abilities to see Nick’s true fate. When Acheron looked into Nick’s future, he saw Nick happily married with children instead of his Malachai heritage.

Immortality: Nick is immortal in the sense that he will never age. Though he could be killed by severe trauma, this is highly unlikely as it will upset the balance of the universe.

Immunity: The Malachai is immune to Chthonian powers as well as Acheron’s ability to make people desire him.

Languages: Nick has the ability to understand and speak any language. This extends to the Primal Language, which most high-level gods don’t know.

Lie Detection: Nick is implied by Ambrose to have this.

Magical Physiology: Nick’s blood, bones, and organs are magical by nature and can be used in several dark spells, such as when Xenon used some of his blood to send Devus’s master away.

Malachai Form: Nick is capable of unleashing his inner demon. In this form he has indestructible armor, claws capable of ripping enemies to shreds, fangs, vastly increased strength, speed and reaction time, and wings.

Mind Control: Nick is able to directly control the minds of others. This is seen in Instinct, where he confused the paramedics as well as the police officers.

Necromancy: Nick was capable of destroying the zombies the Mortents raised with a simple incantation and it has been said that once he receives enough training, he would be capable of restoring a soul from Azmodea, something that is said to be Jaden’s specialty.

Omniscience: Due to his connection to the ether, Nick can be considered omniscient with him being able to know anything at any given time.

Perspicacity: Nick can see through all disguises. The first time this ability manifested, he was capable of seeing Acheron in his “Harbinger” form, something even other gods are incapable of doing.

Pith Point Moving: Nick is capable of moving Pith points, something the Arelim (guardians of Time and Order) believe to be impossible. It is possible that he inherited this power from Jaden, seeing as Jaden does believe it to be possible.

Poisonous Blood: Nick’s blood is poisonous to Arelim.

Power Absorption: Nick can absorb the power of other beings by drinking their blood.

Presence Shielding: Nick can hide what he is to the extent that he appears human from others. This power works on Chthonians, demons, gods and psychics.

Realm Traveling: Nick can punch a hole between dimensions. He did this to travel from Agonia to his apartment.

Shapeshifting: The Malachai can theoretically assume any form that he wants. Adarian was able to pose as a 13-year-old schoolboy and later a middle-aged convict despite being thousands of years old.

Silkspeech: Nick can manipulate others using this power. It works by targeting aspects sensitive to others, such as when Zarelda used it on Nick by preying on his low self-esteem.

Spell Casting: Nick was capable of exchanging Devus’s soul with the girl Devus killed to make a deal with his master. He was also capable of summoning Menyara from a hell-dimension.

Super Strength: Malachai demons are incredibly strong, capable of overpowering gods, even the primary ones, with ease. Adarian used to tear lesser demons to shreds with his bare hands.

Supernatural Awareness: Nick can sense the presence of other supernaturals with ease, such as when he sensed Kaziel (something neither Caleb nor Xev was capable of doing).

Telekinesis: Nick can move things with his mind. His control of this ability, as of Invision, is weak at best.

Teleportation: Nick can instantly travel to any location.

Temporal Awareness: Nick can sense when someone is altering time. He can also see any changes made to the timeline, seeing as he remembers both the altered and the unaltered timelines.

Sephiroth Abilities:

Burning Light: Whilst trapped in Azmodea without his Malachai powers, he destroyed a portion of Noir’s forces by becoming engulfed in light. Since Malachais are creatures of darkness, it can be assumed that this stems from his Sephiroth heritage.

Healing: Malachais are incapable of healing, so it can be assumed that Nick’s ability to heal Little Simi stems from his Sephiroth heritage.

Other Abilities

Courage: Nick is capable of overcoming his fears and stand up to beings like Acheron, Noir and Thorn.

Indomitable Will: Nick is capable of maintaining silence under torture (as seen in Illusion when Alternate Acheron made him fight in gladiatorial-like matches against an Aamon).

Intelligence: Nick’s intelligence has been commented upon by numerous characters throughout the series. He got perfect scores on the admittance test to St. Richard’s, which is a very prestigious school.

——END FOR NOW——

If you didn’t take the time to read all that, I understand. BUT DO YOU GET IT NOW?

Notice the words SEPHIROTH POWERS above. That’s right. He’s not just a demon. He’s not just annoying and stubborn. HE’S ALL OF THE ABOVE.

Not so unreasonable for “no reason” anymore, huh? If you still think he’s an A-hole, I get it still. He really REALLY can be. But he can also, and should be according to history, be a billion times worse.

More to come later, but this post is hellaciously long enough.