#I think he said that the language he and asha speaks are pretty similar

[thisnameisnotspokenfor]

Fun fact:

Cepheus is a polyglot!

Now whether or not it's through supernatural means is up to you- but my personal headcanon is that he listens and mentally cross-examines the similarities/differences between languages and root dialects in order to figure out what language would be best to communicate!

[wanderingpages]

‧͙⁺˚･༓☾Gentle Sins AU☽༓･˚⁺‧͙

“Are you going to help me take my clothes off too?” I meant it to sound teasing – I wanted to show him I could play his game too – but I was breathless, I was buzzing with anticipation.

“You know it wouldn’t end there, Jude,” he gave me a wry look. “It's a shame,” he rose and ruffled my hair, “It's a shame you’re my sister,” he murmured, needlessly reminding me. “Because that was some damn fine pussy, baby.”e pussy, baby.”

TFOTA // All Human // AU : Jude and Cardan do things step-siblings shouldn't do.

Trigger Warnings: Crude language, Allusions to Drugs/Alcohol, Debauching Catholicism/Religious Metaphors, Taboo Sex.

Shout out @headcannonxgalore, even though she has nothing to do with this fandom, she kept me in check lol

Jude's POV

When it’s my first year of college, it’s his third. He lives on campus – in a frat house, I think, but as far as I know, Cardan’s not actually in a frat, just an honorary member who’s never been hazed or rushed. He doesn’t play any sports but he’s at all the games, never organizes a party or fundraiser but still the reason people even show up. He doesn’t own a Grecian alphabet dotted ring, but a bomber jacket instead, with ‘Greenbriar’ above the Greek letters. He’s cool, I guess, but I hate that I’m not the only one to notice.

Despite the first day of the semester, when he told me, “Mom and Dad said to watch out for you,” as he plucked the phone in my hand, furrowing his brows as he read through my schedule, I haven’t spoken to him since, and finals were only two weeks away now. I’m not complaining; I’ve lived my whole life without his help, I can surely live out the rest of it the same way, too. It doesn’t help that he plagues a lot of my waking dreams, though. I take a religion class that I constantly debate on dropping because all I can think about is the utter blasphemy that went on in the church our parents got married in. Still, I pull through for the sake of understanding Asha and why all the Jesus paraphernalia she’s added to our home makes my skin crawl. I don’t remember her being so god-fearing prior to the wedding, but if it’s her hobby, I wanted a way to relate.

I lie when I speak to our parents, when they ask how he’s been and how he’s treating me. I tell them he’s great and we’re good, and maybe he lies too because they never point out any inaccuracies. I see Cardan in passing sometimes, when I guess he leaves his first class of the week and I’m heading to my second. Today, the girl on his arm is brunette, last week was a blonde pixie cut. His taste is diverse; I wish I hadn’t been paying enough attention to know that. As they near, Cardan gives me a nod like he always does, but I have to do a double take today. The girl next to him could be my twin if I weren’t an only child.

“Thanks for the notes, Taryn,” Cardan says before separating from her and making a u-turn to me, in a surprising twist of events. “You okay? You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”

“Uh…” I glance over to the girl – Taryn, picking out all our differences, trying to make it out-way the similarities. Long auburn hair – more dark and red in hue than my light chestnut color – in tousled waves, framing her heart shaped face, full lips like the ones on my face that I touch tentatively, sun kissed skin like mine, but still easy to see the pink in her cheeks. Her eyes are darker than mine, and freckles dot across her cheeks whereas I just have a single, small, dark one under my eye. Even her curves match mine, however her’s is softer than what I’ve tried to tone all summer long. I feel a little queasy, watching her walk into a room.

“Who’s ass do I have to kick?” He has a pointer finger under my chin, I feel cold metal graze my skin where a lone ring rests today. I asked him at the wedding if they meant anything, but he laughed and told me he just liked how they looked. I like pretty things, little sister. And I like adorning myself with them, too.

He guides my gaze to his, tilting my chin up slightly. My eyes widen just a fraction at his swollen lips. I lean back just a little, taking in the bigger picture. His dark hair is ruffled, more askew than it had been the day of the wedding. Of course, it had rained later that day, matting waves over his face. My fingers twitch now, wanting to fix the mess just as I had tried to fix his damp hair before. Down his neck are a few pink splotches that seem to be disappearing now, and at the collar of his shirt, on the skin peeking through the neckline, I see faint scratches, four equal lines running beneath the cotton. “As your big brother,” he murmurs, leaning closer to me, like we’re sharing secrets. “I think the saying goes that nobody bullies my sister but me, right?” I bat his hand away, shaking my head. I hate when he calls me his sister. I hate when he reminds me that he’s my brother. I hate when he refers to my dad as his dad. I hate that I’m tainted by just being a bystander to his sacrilege. I hate that barely-there glint in his eyes when he knows something I wish he didn’t. He catches my wrist before it falls to the side, his thumb running over the bright red knuckles, uncovered today, looking at them disapproving for a fleeting moment.

I snatch my hand back, giving him an almost petulant look. I’m nervous, I try to tell him with my eyes, hoping he won't ask. It’s not the first time he’s seen my battered fingers and it probably won't be the last either. It’s the end of my first semester and every day feels like I’m closer to impending doom; of course my nervous tick has been amplified. “We barely talk,” I narrow my eyes at him, “let alone do you get the chance to bully me.”

He holds his hands up, palms facing me as if to say he’s surrendered. “You’re right,” he admits. “I’m not taking my role very seriously.” I want to bash my head in because I don’t want him to take his role seriously. I don’t even want him in the role. He’s absolutely not joking, though however teasing he may sound. I’ve played out every interaction we’ve had together, all I can count on one hand, and there’s always something underlying to them. I wonder, belatedly, if Cardan actually hates me. Or maybe it was my dad and he was taking it out on me? Maybe I should have asked during that car ride, or during that dance we shared, or maybe when we were outside right before the storm. Maybe that’s why he’d acted as he had that night, why he had said what he said about our parents.

“Cardan…” I trail off, not knowing what to say, but I suppose I don’t really have to say anything.

“There’s a get together at the house,” he explains, and I know he means his house, the frat house. “Swing by on Saturday. Tell them you’re with me.” He takes hold of my bag and I’m too startled to stop him.

“I’m with you,” I repeat in disbelief.

He shrugs, “Or just tell them your mine.” My heart must have stopped for a moment. “My little sister. It’s all up to you, Jude.” His words have weight I don’t want to hold and it makes me uncomfortable. “Your class is down the hall, right?” He changes the topic so swiftly and it takes me a second to catch up with him. I guess he had remembered my schedule.

“Why are you guys having a party so close to finals?” I finally ask, while I attempt to take my bag back. He holds it out of my reach and brushes my hand away.

“Why not?” he counters, making my brain rattle. Every time we talk, it feels like pulling teeth. I give up and let him hold my bag.

“Sure,” I say, hoping it surprises him that I’d want to attend his party. He only smiles wider.

“So, how’s having Asha as a parent?” he asks, conversely, confusing me with his subject changes. A whole year, and now he decides on small talk?

I frown, and decide to be truthful “She’s great. I’ve had to do my own hair since I was five years old,” I laugh a little, wringing my fingers. “It was nice to have her brush it every once in a while.” My brows crinkle and my lips purse, “Though, I had to go to church a few Sundays. I didn’t know she was that religious,” I admit. “I’m not even Catholic. I don’t think Dad even had me baptized.”

Cardan chuckles in surprise, “Church? Yeah, that does sound just like her.” The way he says it makes me think that this is not like her at all. Maybe it was just a hobby she spontaneously picked up after getting married. Bored housewife syndrome or something.

“Yeah well,” I reach the door of my class and give him a pointed look, “No one warned me.” He holds the door open for me and passes me my bag. He doesn’t respond because maybe he doesn’t have to. I was there that night too, and nothing could have ever prompted me to stop our course of action to talk about my stepmother.

He follows a lock of my hair with his finger, twists the curl and tugs it lightly, childishly. “See you, little sister.” I wait for him to leave before I roll my eyes heavenwards.

I wait a few minutes in class before I excuse myself to the bathroom. The halls are empty now so it’s easier to navigate. I back track to where Cardan usually comes from, confused when I only see a storage room at the end of that specific hall. I feel uneasy as I figure it out. I guess it wasn’t that hard to begin with. “Notes, my ass,” I mutter.

With trepidation, I open the door, more heavy than other doors in this building, but unlocked, nonetheless. There’s a string that dangles from the ceiling, so I pull it, letting the light shine before I shift my weight from the door, and let it slowly shut behind me. It does hold a few cleaning supplies, but it’s mostly empty. I can smell that subtle amber fragrance Cardan always smells like. I grimace, feeling dirty being in here. I lean back against the door, finding myself wondering if the lights are on or off when he’s in here. If she’s leaning against a shelf, grasping at the panels to hold her up, or if she’s facing them instead, her back to him, resting her cheek on the lowest shelf, hands behind her back while he holds on to them, fucking her rough and quiet. In my head, the girl is Taryn, I tell myself.

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Masterlist

Gentle Sins Masterlist

[jq37]

The Report Card – Fantasy High: The Seven Ep 3

Let’s Split Up and Look for Clues! 

Welcome back to the Seven and the Museum of Adventuring. My previous pronouncement of combat was a little premature but hold tight, we’ll get there. For now, we’re back with Antiope who just saw a glimpse of the Ending of Things (aka, Ending) and is freaking out a bit. She tells the others and they all do various checks to see what they can find out.

Ostentatia casts Commune With City and clocks that there is some kind of abjuration shield magic on the government buildings in town, stopping them from being spied on. She also clocks some lingering undead-ish magic and a weird divination effect on Antiope, specifically on the Aguefort logo of her jacket, like someone scryed on her and just got that she had something to do with Aguefort. At this, Penny reminds her that the only true piece of info they gave Ending when they broke her out is that they were from Aguefort.

Sam with a 19 Insight still feels the connection she and Ant have with Ending because of their spells turned against them in the initial encounter. Yelle does a Perception check (27) and once again doesn’t really get bad, dreadful, menacing vibes. But also, she recognizes that she’s chill with a lot of things most people don’t love. 

Antiope reiterates that she texted Charity that she’s interested in the internship so she can learn more info--even better now that they know the buildings are safe from scrying. Yelle remembers Aguefort’s warning about people watching them and Sam asks Zelda if her “weird boyfriend” (“he’s actually really cool”) is friends with the elven oracle. Zelda says yeah, they’re both friends with Adaine, she can ask about any weird divination stuff. Sam makes sure to specify she should look into TK but NOT Ending, no doubt remembering what happened when she tried to do a spell on her. 

It’s been a big day as Zelda says so they all go to the TGIF-esque Slappy McFinnigans to celebrate (which Sam has problems with--the fact that they’re celebrating I mean, but she’s mainly ignored). They’re quickly kicked out because Katja can’t help herself from trying to brush the mane of their centaur server and they reconvene at the more their speed SlamBurger, where a horse can fully destroy a soda machine to absolutely zero reaction.  Zelda says that Ostentatia was right in that they should all do the quest because it doesn’t close any doors and they have the 2 weeks to figure things out. They all seem a bit more on the same page (though Sam is still pretty frosty towards Ant) and start making plans.

Before they leave, Yelle pulls aside Ant and Sam and says hey, first of all, you two are still linked to Ending from before. Second of all, I know y’all are Going Through It right now and you don’t have to talk about it or make up right away but you need to get your heads in the game and you need to know that you’re both loved and still family. 

Penny, Zelda, Katja, and Ostentatia go back to the museum to try and get more information for their quest. Katja goes to the information desk (horse in tow, of course) and just starts asking information about TK. She’s told that she’s one of the museum’s benefactors and has been missing for years, and hey, do you understand that a museum’s info desk is about where the water fountains and exhibits are, not just random information about the world?

Ostentatia bails her out by calling her over so she can do her plan which is just to walk into the back area like she owns the place. Now, Aguefort students do have a certain level of clearance to be back there and she does have her school ID. But instead of explaining that, she tried to use her Earrings of Diamond Charm to charm the employee she runs into which fails. And then she does a pretty good tag-team lie with Katja about how they NEED to pass a class but that doesn’t fly. Then Ostentatia tries flirting which ALSO doesn’t work. Zelda at this point steps in and just headbuts the dude so they can book it away. I personally would have gone with, “Do you know who we are? We killed the dragon that’s your current main exhibit,” but you know. No backseat adventuring. 

While this is happening, Penny is stealthing like a pro, looking for anything Arcana related. Ostentatia and Katja also did checks (O getting a nat 20) and we’ll go through all their info gathered now. 

Katja basically gets info on TK we kind of already knew. She was a benefactor of the museum. She’s centuries old like Aguefort. She was concerned with consciousness and divinity and specifically how will and divine will manifested, as well as elemental magic.  

Ostentatia gets a lot of info with her Nat 20. She gets a full map to the temple where TK went which is called the Temple of Earth Defiant. The point of the temple is that it’s up in the open air and harsh winds--wind being a symbol of chaos and unpredictability to dwarves--but they still use it as a place to honor their heroes and they rebuild and upkeep it despite the erosion and how hard it is to get there. It’s hallowed from evil and lots of stories about it involve heroes racing there for sanctuary. It was made by dwarves but it’s a pilgrimage site for other primordial beings like goliaths and earth genasi (which is what TK is). There are 3 heroes who have big statues here: Asha Hammerheart (a SUPER dope name I must say), Yvonna of the Sundering Hills , and Kora Ironbrow.

Penny finds that, amongst Kalvaxus’s hoard there were 7 unrecovered artifacts--the Mirrors of the Eidolons (which are the smashed mirrors they found it seems). Eidelons are kind of like the elemental plane version of angels/celestials. They’re primordial (remember Katja saw primordial language on the wall of the dragon cave) and kind of aligned with things like titans and genies. Raw element with no agenda (unlike celestials and demons and such which have a clear alignment which makes up the D&D religious system). It is said by wizards--who look at these things in more of a nuts and bolts way than say clerics who take the fuzzier religions view--that Eidolons are the hands of the gods because gods are beings of spirit--how could they form the physical world. Will of the divine manifested by elemental beings? Sounds right up TK’s alley.

Sam decides she’s desperate enough for information that she calls her mom who she is understandably snippy with. Her mom gives her a contact to talk to when she asks about TK but Sam stonewalls her on show business talk. She tries to play the “mother knows best, you’ll thank me later,” in a kind of Gothel-y way while acting like anything in the past never happened and says Sam is attacking her but when Sam accuses her of neglect, she proves her right by hanging up the phone.

Sam then calls the number and it turns out to be Lola Embers (Fig’s agent) who has been waiting for Sam’s call for ages and wants to talk to her, even though she’s currently chasing her dog across the park. She says she met TK once at a genasi woman networking thing and also says she once saw Charity get into an argument with TK over government funding or not getting a grant or something similar. She then says she’s in a lake trying to get her dog and Sam, being a water genasi who can breathe underwater and also a fundamentally good person even though she’s currently being aggro as hell, goes to the park to help her. Lola assures her that if she’s ready, she’ll help her get new acting gigs and that the world is ready for the new her. 

Yelle meanwhile casts Speak With Plants on some trees near TK’s office and, after a super stoner to stoner conversation, gets a magical footprint trail of where she ran off to when she absconded 12 years ago. 

Antiope (who is in a sports bra because she destroyed her top with the Aguefort logo since that’s what was pinged, revealing in a wild, nat-1 fueled retcon that she got a tramp stamp reading “Leader” in the Red Waste) goes to see Charity to fill out some paperwork, ingratiate herself, and perhaps get some info. Charity has her hot, young, assistant (who Antiope is instantly crushing on) give Ant his shirt (and Charity’s lack of surprise at seeing his 4 horses pulling a chariot tattoo makes the group think they’re def banging). She kind of explains what the Ministry does and Antiope boils it down a bit to snitching on other adventurers. Charity says it’s more of a who watches the watchmen situation and visibly twitches when she has to say the word “snitch”. 

When she takes a second to call Antiope’s dad, she accidentally leaves a tab open on her computer which has TK’s file open (probably up from when the Maidens asked about her earlier). Antiope sneaks a peek and learns that the artifact that TK stole is called the Legendarium Extrodia and it tracks quests. It seems that at some point TK must have had top level access to get her hands on it. It also shows that TK was marked for assassination (which seems like a pretty good reason to get the heck out of dodge). Brennan also says she’s learned enough that she can use the L.E. if she finds it. 

At this point, Yelle tells everyone to come back ASAP so they can follow the magic footsteps. Antiope wants to come but doesn’t want to burn bridges with Charity (or chances with Preston--equally important) so she, at Katja’s suggestion--pretends to have diarrhea and is Nat 20 convincing. Interesting choice for the end of the first meeting with a person you’re crushing on. But Preston is actually pretty supportive as she races out the door as fast as possible.

The Seven follow the footsteps out of Solace and it becomes clear that TK was headed to the dwarven temple Ostentatia learned about. This is a multi-day journey so Cinnamon sings a glorious, magical, horse song and summons mounts for everyone which I will now name because this is obviously the most important part of the episode:

Snowfire - Danielle

Taffodill - Sam

Alagonia - Antiope

Candyheart - Penny

Starforge - Ostentatia 

Strawberry Dancer - Zelda 

Crucial info. 

As they travel, Antiope casts Primeval Awareness and gets that there is something ancient in the mountain. They travel through Pilgrim’s Pass (a village area most travelers to the temple pass through) but find it completely razed to the ground. They investigate. 

With an 18 Survival check, Antiope finds tracks that seem halfway between dog and cat. There are more than 4 legs and it’s hard to tell how old they are because there’s not a lot of rain in the area. They could have been left long ago and been undisturbed. Regardless, these are clearly from monstrosities. On a 26 History Check, Katja knows that this area used to be protected by Blink Dogs (teleporting dogs) but they seem to be all gone now. On a 22 Nature check, Yelle sees a weird feather made out of plant material. It seems like fae stuff but bad vibes. On an 18 Insight check, Sam knows this was a purposeful slaughter.

And on Penny’s 30 Arcana check, oh boy. Penny finds broken common scrawled on the wall in human blood talking about a queen of the mountain who rules the skies. That only the queen may see and none may see themselves. And that the people were told to destroy the seeing glass and did not obey. In from of that message is a bear hide covering something magic. Penny lifts it with reckless abandon and sees tons of mirror shards.

Friendship bracelets! She thinks.

Gotcha bitch, the thing in the mirror says.

Uh-oh.   

Penny calls over her friends to let them knows she may have made a tiny mistake. The group is pretty split between, “Understandable,” and “Girl, WHAT?” In her defense, she did try to cast Friends on the person on the other side of the mirror shards but that’s not enough to stop an entire pack of 50-60 Displacer Beast (magic tentacle cats)/Blink Dog hybrid monstrosities along with the Harpy Queen (voice from the mirror) and her plant feathered harpy minions to start rapidly making their way to their location. 

It is at this point that Ostentatia remembers that abominations and monstrosities cannot step into the temple which means it’s time to RUN. 

And NOW it’s combat time. 

The premise of this fight is that the girls are on their horses, moving towards the center of the temple as fast as they can while fending off the closest enemies. I won’t give an exact play by play but the two highlights are as follows:

Yelle conjures up a bunch of geese with raptor stats (...so normal geese) to swarm the head cat/dog abomination and has to do a truly stunning amount of math for which she is rewarded with SEVENTY POINTS OF DAMAGE. 

Antiope does some insane arrow trickery and gets the Queen Harpy in the wing (which Ostentatia helpfully gets on video so she can show Preston later) and then forces her to take damage as she falls. If not for an extremely lucky Box of Doom nat 20, she may have been down for the count. Antiope still comes away with more than FIFTY points of damage on her though. 

And we end the episode mid-combat! We will catch up on our girls next time!

Superlatives 

Penny: Most Likely to Make Friends During a Hostage Situation 

As a companion to Danielle’s superlative last episode, Penny gets this award for reading or misreading every situation as an opportunity to make friends or make friendship bracelets for the ones she already has. 

Random Thoughts

Did you guys notice that with Katja having Cinnamon and Charity’s assistant being Preston, that’s two of the main pet NPCs from A Crown of Candy?

Antiope’s Reaction to Yelle Saying That Maybe Things Ending Isn’t So Bad: Rail against the dying of the light! Why are you OK with this?

Penny’s Reaction to Yelle Saying That Maybe Things Ending Isn’t So Bad: Entropy is TERRIBLE! Everything needs order!

The greasy cashier’s response to Ostentatia’s flirty, “Come here often?” is “To my job? Honestly no.” Brennan? Chef’s kiss. 

My other fave line this episode is from Sam. “I believe Cinnamon fucks.”

It’s very cute that Penny is like, “I gotta text Riz about this Eidelon stuff!” Not because she wants help. Just so they can geek out together. 

The joke that Brennan didn’t think about the birds is so funny considering all the bird facts in Misfits.

Also re Birds attacking: “They made a movie about this Brennan!” 

Good on Ant for refusing an Aguefort sweatshirt from Charity when offered after the little scrying incident before. Remembering things like this saves lives. 

It has been brought up several times that Ending isn’t necessarily Bad just Ancient and Powerful and I trust Yelle’s vibe check but also, like, a forest fire doesn’t have malice behind it but it can still devastate a city while it clears out dead trees that need to be cleared, you know? Not ready to start wild speculation yet but I am curious. And am similarly curious about the sisters Ending has mentioned. Oh and the parallels of 7 Maidens, 7 mirrors. It’s all there, we just need a little more info. 

Honestly, get you a man who will see you rushing out of a building, loudly claiming to have diarrhea, and instead of being grosses out will just supportively confess his own stomach issues. I wish he was just a little younger cause I want that for Ant. 

I do like that D20 has been playing a little more fast and loose with the RP ep/combat ep format. I think it really helps with story flow. 

In this episode Antiope and Brennan as various non-Zelda NPCs rolled 2 Nat 20s. O rolled one. Ant rolled 1 Nat 1--which was on a self imposed roll to see how she responded to Sephie’s tramp stamp improv. And O may have rolled one for initiative also but I wasn’t sure.