#I thought the finals were going to be between The Moon and Titan

[celestialdaily]

The Moon vs Europa

Finals yay

[syoish-aot]

"I Found You" - EREN/READER - REVERSE ISEKAI (part 5)

reverse isekai, time travel, memory loss

post canon (ish)

reader/eren

word count: 2450

<- PART 4 | PART 6 ->

*****

When Eren was fifteen he didn’t know much about love.

He did know that he had a fierce desire to protect. To save. To help, not just his friends, but all of humanity regain the freedom taken from them by the titans.

He also knew that Mikasa’s hair was very soft.

That her eyes were pretty.

That her skin looked warm.

That her lips, often hidden under the red scarf he had wrapped around her when they were children, distracted him from conversation more times than he could count.

But there was never time. 

The more they learned about the world- and the more Eren learned about himself in turn- the more that their lack of time became obvious to him.

He told himself it was for the better than he never told her how he felt. That he never properly answered her question:

“What am I to you, Eren?” She asked him the night when they stood on the hill just outside of Liberio.  What am I? She was everything to him, is what he wanted to say; but- “you’re family,” is what he said instead.

Because he knew, Eren knew, that in that lifetime they would never have enough time to be together.

So, when he woke up in a new lifetime, his first thought was that maybe-... maybe this was his chance. 

But, when he opened his eyes,

it wasn’t Mikasa that he saw…

…when he opened his eyes,

all he saw was you.

*****

5 Years Ago

“I think I get why these men are on here.” You told your coworker, Mina, as the two of you leaned against the counter, your phone between you as you idly flipped through Hinge casting judgment on every man you saw.

“Why’s that?” Mina asked.

“Well, here’s my theory.” Tired of the mindless scrolling, you slide your phone into your back pocket and grab a marker from the lip of the register. You uncap it and begin doodling on a cup. “Men on dating apps are there because they give off such ick that they can’t meet women in person without setting off alarm bells, so apps are their only option.”

Mina shrugged. “Okay, so why are the women on there?”

“I dunno,” you replied with a snort, “why does anyone go to a zoo?”

“That’s kinda judgmental.” A customer, who appeared seemingly out of thin air, says at the counter.

“Jesus christ-” You jump and the sharpie in your hand goes flying toward him at a perfect angle to run a black streak straight across his shirt.

“Oh my god!” Your hands fly up to cover your mouth as your eyes widen. “I’m so, so, so sorry! Um- uh-” You glance around for a microfiber cloth (which normally makes your skin crawl to touch, but you can’t think about that right now). You quickly run the microfiber (ew) cloth under the sink. “Here!” You reach across the counter to press it to the front of his shirt. “Maybe it’ll um-” It does nothing. “Uh…” You try again. “O-Okay just…” That’s when you finally look up at him.

You figured you looked pretty pathetic, leaning over the counter and uselessly dabbing his shirt to get permanent marker out of polyester (spoiler alert: that doesn’t work and it never will).

So you’re pathetic.

And he’s gorgeous. 

The universe must have it out for you. Seriously have it out for you because- …holy shit. 

The first thing you notice are his eyes. A stunning composition that reminds you of the night sky on a full moon- swirling blues and greens beautifully illuminated with flecks of golden stars. 

And then his messy-on-purpose brown hair, half tied up in a bun with a few tasteful strands falling against his forehead.

His flawless skin.

His sharp cheekbones.

His adorable nose and-

And his smile.

Woah.

It’s a real “knees weak, arms spaghetti” moment for you ((made even more embarrassing by the fact that the first thing you think is “knees weak, arms spaghetti” but that’s where your mind goes and you’ll keep that secret with you until the day you die)).

“I don’t think that’s working.” He tells you as he gently grabs your wrist and guides your hand away. 

“Yeah um-” You clear your throat and drop the cloth to the counter, quickly standing back on the floor as your cheeks burn pink and you nervously look over his ruined shirt. “I really am sorry I could um- I could buy you a new one?”

“Eh,” he shrugs. “It’s old anyway.”

But it doesn’t look old.

Still, you’re too embarrassed to question him.

“Free coffee?” You offer instead.

He smiles again and you refuse to think about knees and spaghetti for the second time.

“Alright, “he laughs, “free coffee sounds good.”

Dammit.

Knees and spaghetti it is.

*****

He’s back the next day.

And the day after that.

And the day after that.

You think that maybe he’s new in the area and just happens to be the type of guy who likes a consistent schedule, if anything that makes you respect him; but sometimes you wishfully hope it’s because of… something else.

“If you ruin my shirt again, will this one be free too?” He jokes on the fourth visit as you had him a semi-sweet iced coffee.

“Yeah, but you have to sneak up on me or it’s not authentic.” You tease back.

*****

You learn things about him every time he comes in.

First, it’s his name: Eren.

Eren.

And god, now that you know it you spend a stupid amount of time pausing on those ‘roll for the first letter of your soul mate’s name’ tiktoks. At least you have the decency to not post them (except for that one time you accidentally did).

You find out he’s also attending university. That he’s an English major but school is making him lose motivation to write.

You find out his favourite colour is red.

That he’s never lived anywhere but the city.

That his friends are more important to him than anything, and he’s known them for most of his life. 

And then, a month after you meet, you find out something else…

“So,” you say, five minutes to closing as you wipe down the counter and Eren finishes off a donut you’d given him for free instead of throwing out. He has a habit of showing up when you’re closing. You aren’t sure if it’s because he has a night class or if he just likes the free pastries. Or maybe there’s a completely different reason entirely.

“So…?” He asks, when you don’t finish the thought (you’d gotten distracted by the way he was licking icing off his fingers).

You clear your throat and look down at the counter. “Why was I being judgmental?”

“Oh, because not everyone that’s in a frat is just there for the parties. My friend Reiner says he-”

“No not about that,” although maybe your opinions on frat boys are based on a stereotype and that’s deserving of its own conversation entirely, “I mean about the dating app thing.”

“What dating app thing?” He asks as his eyebrows momentarily tighten together with a scowl. It’s an expression he wears a lot and it always makes you laugh.

“The first thing you said to me!” You exclaim. “Mina and I were talking about dating apps and you said I was being judgmental. Honestly, I feel like it was the worst first impression ever.”

“Nah, the bad impression part was when you were feeling me up like three seconds later.”

“I-” Your cheeks burn bright red. “I was not feeling you up!”

Eren throws his head back and laughs.

You toss your microfiber (ew) towel at him and it lands smack in the middle of his face. 

Eren’s still snickering as he leans down to pick it up from the floor. “I said you were being judgmental because you were.”

“Elaborate, please.”

“Well,” he stands back up, cloth now in hand, “there are some genuine people on dating apps just looking for connections.”

You roll your eyes. “Yeah, but it’s all- it’s so fake. How many times can I repeat the same: ‘Hi, how are you.’ ‘I’m good, how are you’ ‘Good. What do you do for work?’ ‘I work at this shitty café and there’s a regular that’s constantly patronizing me to try to get free food. What about you?’.” You let out a short sigh. “If people actually want to get to know each other, they should-”

Your rant comes to a quick end when Eren stops in front of you.

He’s closer than he normally stands, so you immediately notice the flecks of gold in his eyes. The last time you were this close to him, you’d been frantically rubbing sharpie out of his shirt but now-

Now you’re- you’re just standing there…

Just close.

So close that you might have forgotten how to breathe.

“Some people have to meet that way.” He says, softer than normal, but maybe it’s just because you’re close enough that he doesn’t have to speak loudly to be heard.

“...huh?”

Eren snickers. Your heart hammers. He keeps talking: “Some people,” he elaborates, “have trouble getting dates any other way.”

“Wh-” You clear your throat as it constricts, “Why’s that?”

For the first time, you see him blush.

You notice the confidence he normally wears come crashing down.

He looks away.

“Because some people are… pretty shit at asking people out.”

You jump as the cloth he’d picked up meets your hand.

And this time, it’s not even because of the gross sensation of microfiber.

*****

Eren gets over it, apparently, because 6 days later he shows up at your work right before close.

“No free muffins today, sorry.” You immediately tell him.

“It’s fine.” He replies and you can’t help but notice the way he awkwardly shifts his weight from one foot to the other, completely avoiding your eyes as he does it.

“Um… Eren?”

“Yep?”

You snicker. “Are you ok-”

“Do you wanna go out?”

Your breath catches. “...what?”

“With me. Now. Or- Or in like five minutes when you’re off. Unless you have to stay late tonight because the place is a mess. I can wait around though. Or we can go another day I just-”

“Are you asking me on a date?”

“I-...” Eren sighs, but he finds a way to smile through his embarrassment. “Don’t laugh you’ll-... you’ll hurt my ego.”

So you don’t laugh.

Instead, you say yes.

*****

You have a casual first date, just dinner at a local pub.

Your second, third, fourth, fifth, and sixth date (although you start losing count towards the end) pass just as casually.

It’s comfortable. Relaxing. There’s no overly awkward tension between the two of you and you slip into a natural rhythm.

Your first kiss is in the park on campus.

You bring him day-old donuts any chance you get.

You meet his best friends and they quickly become your best friends too.

A year passes, you say “I love you”.

Another year passes, you both graduate.

By the third year you’re dating, you move in together.

By the fourth, you can’t imagine life without him.

And by the fifth year you’re dating, you have a feeling that it’s for life.

“Think he’ll propose?” Mikasa’s staticky voice comes through the speaker of your phone. You press said phone harder against your ear out of the embarrassment that Eren might somehow hear you from the kitchen. 

“I- I dunno. Maybe.” You answer, nervously nibbling your bottom lip as you watch your boyfriend from over the back of the couch. He’s in the kitchen making dinner. Shirtless, because he’s an idiot that doesn’t care about getting hot chicken oil on his chest.

‘Sluts can’t get third-degree burns, babe.’ He always tells you.

‘Then commit to the bit and lose the pants too.’ You always joke back.

He doesn’t, for the record. Apparently, he’s okay with hot oil on his tiddies, but his dick and balls are a different story.

“Would you say yes?” Mikasa’s voice cuts through your thoughts. 

You let out a short laugh. “Obviously.”

“Maybe he’ll do it tomorrow.”

“Pfft, that’d be tacky. Tomorrow is Niccolo’s big day, not ours.”

“Yeah, I guess that’s right.” You can hear Mikasa’s yawn through the phone.

“You sound exhausted,” you tell her, “don’t you have to get up early to catch your flight?”

“Yeah, but my hotel is lonely.”

You laugh. “Wanna talk to Eren before bed?”

“Sure. He’ll get mad if I don’t.”

You pull the phone away from your ear. “Eren!” You hold out the phone to him. “Mikasa wants to say goodnight.”

“Can you come stir?” He asks.

You pull yourself off the couch and step up to him in the kitchen, trading him your phone for the spatula. 

He kisses your cheek before pressing the phone to his ear.

“Okay, so did you see the new episode?” He asks as he walks into the living room. “NO FUCKING WAY YOU DID NOT CALL IT!!”

You roll your eyes as the two of them start their passionate back and forth about the latest episode of whatever show they’re both watching.

*****

That night, after a plate of spaghetti, a shared bottle of wine, and a decent amount of time doing R-rated activities that start in the living room but finish in the bedroom; you end up with your arms around Eren’s waist and your face buried between his bare shoulders.

He likes to be the little spoon, even though he’ll deny it to your friends.

But you don’t mind. It means you can pinch his nipples if he says something sassy before falling asleep.

You smile and nuzzle your face into his back.

He smells like Eren.

Nothing distinct about it that you can put a name to.

It’s just Eren and you love it.

You smile as you think about how perfect your life is. Your career is going well, you have an apartment with an amazing view, and you’re dating the love of your life. 

You wouldn’t change a single thing.

“I love you.” You mumble before placing a kiss on Eren’s shoulder.

“...that’s so fucking gay…” He mumbles back.

He yelps when you pinch his nipple, but afterward, he laughs.

Afterwards, he grabs your hand in his (mostly to keep his nipples safe from continued attacks) and pulls it up to his lips.

He kisses the back of your hand firmly.

Then softly.

Then firmly again.

“Love you too,” Eren tells you.

And the lights don’t need to be on for you to know that he’s smiling. 

You just know he is, because you’re smiling too. 

[witchofthesouls]

Hey, random thought I had. Is it just me, or does Gaea feel like a wasted opportunity as a character?

Like, she's only cannonically appeared once in the finale of the botcon Shattered Glass comics, and never again, correct? Like, I get that a lot of writers are probably just wanting to keep the simple, yet effective dynamic of Primus and Unicron... well... simple. But it feels like there's a lore of potentially interesting things you could do with Gaea if she were to be included.

Like, example, maybe Primus created female transformers as a way of honoring Gaea. Hell, you don't necessarily have to have her be Earth, maybe she's actually one of Cybertron's colony worlds in certain universe!

Same! My main gripe is that Gaea and the "Earth-is-Unicron" subplot can go hand-in-hand.

I understand the simplicity to keep the mythic feeling, but I think there's a lot that can be explored with the expansion of other characters that are connected to Primus and Unicron.

Even with the original Thirteen Primes, there could have been a deeper delve into religion and spiritual practices by sects or cults that venerate certain Primes or Titans. Especially since it's told in the eyes of the survivors and retold with a revisionist hand.

Personally, I'm too fond of the concept of Gaea being part of the Cybertronian pantheon soup itself. Like the new, strange bridge between her brothers/origins/fathers. Gaea stabilizes Unicron by providing him the sustenance via chaos between life and death. She could even fulfill Unicron's own mantle by becoming Primus' counterpoint to check his creations' expansion and address their stagnation.

I do enjoy @lets-try-some-writing take on Gaea being a creation of Unicron and being a Titan herself that both contains and sustains him. (And the cute romance between her and a Titan!moon.)

[renatogpadilla]

THOUGHTS ON CR3E92 IN NO PARTICULAR ORDER:

- FIRST EVER CR CROSSOVER EPISODE?!

LET'S GOOOOOOOOOOO!!!

- Dariax said "This Flute doesn't play itself anymore." Doriax canon offscreen?

- "After all the handjobs, this is what we mean to you?!" Damn... I mean, I'm glad Opal and Cyrus found a way to relieve stress, Gods know they're both stressed, but damn.

- Ending the episode on Opal Twice-Crowned hitting phase 2 of the boss fight was EVIL!

I love it, @quiddie ! I feel like when this gets animated in a decade or so, we'll get this fight and the fight with Otohan Thull overlayed one on top of the other for a Season Finale or something!

- Raven Queen going two for two on Rogues turned Paladin! Which is great, but now I have to replan Morrighan's moveset for that imaginary Critical Role fighting game that only exists in my head (somebody ask me about it please, I NEED to talk about it!) but at least she gets some Smite options out of the Bunny Hop command jump!

- Dariax is a Bard now too! That's honestly so perfect for Matt! And the fact that both Sorcerers and Bards are Charisma Casters makes me feel like the Synergies are gonna be great!

- Oh, Dorian, wonderful blue king... That's a lot of strength that your Dice will never agree to let you use for anything cool. I missed you SO MUCH!

- Speaking of that imaginary CR fighting game, this just solidified Opal as a puppet character. The tag combos with Ted would be WILD! Think Kenshi from MK1!

- Fy'ra Rai... Just... FY'RA RAI! Gods, I've missed Anjali at the table! Her memory with Opal, her tug-of-war with her thoughts about her sister... THE LAVA WHIP! Nothing sexier than Monks! Except a pissed off Wizard or Druid.

- On the other side of the table, I LOVE the moment the girls all collectively remembered they had to break the news to Frida... Oh, that's gonna hurt BAD!

- Anyone else noticed that Ashton is BURNT OUT and laying on the ground after his Titan form wears off, but Fearne just says she's really tired and just KEEPS GOING? Ashton is DONE for now, but Fearne needs to keep moving forward... Fuck, I love these two.

- Orym... Just... Orym. If you take a level in Barbarian after this, I wouldn't blame you.

- Side-Note: This means Dorian DID get Orym's last message before they went to the moon! He just didn't/couldn't answer! Which means, through the static and everything, Dorian COULD hear Orym! And now he's probably gonna get this message once the battle is over... Jesus, if they get to Zephra and Keyleth went to the Lodge next to the lake that's gonna be a problem...

- Side-Note Side-Note: Anyone else hoping to GOD that Allura called the Nein to help? Cause Beau and Caleb were involved, but now it feels like an "All Hands on Deck" situation, and we could use Kingsley's small army of pirates right about now...

- So much happened this episode between the grieving and the flashbacks and the rolling for handjobs that I didn't have time to process the splinter cell of Xhorhasians that split their soul in twain until I woke up... Opal may have forgotten, but maybe Ted hasn't? Though if they're the same person, maybe they both forgot...

- Aabria, the corrupting of the Memories was FOUL, I LOVE IT!!!

- Somebody needs to tell Essek about the soul-splitters. In fact, let's get to that while we deal with Ashton too!

- IF OPAL DIES, AMY CAN COME OVER AS DENI$E! Like, I don't WANT her to die, but Westruun isn't that far... 👀

- I just realized this is the first ever FULL episode of CR without Sam at the table... Fuck, man, when it hurts it hurts. Glad Marisha brought back the fan.

"Forgot the Consonants?" "No Letters." OUCH, MISS RAY, WHAT THE FUCK?!

- Raven Queen Paladins hasting themselves first thing in the fight. Vax is back, and he's a Bunny Girl now!

- I like that the Crownkeepers are a two-way Overwatch reunion (McCree Cassidy and Symmetra) and a three-way Persona 5 reunion (Yusuke, Ann Futaba and Akechi).

- Everything was so fucked this episode that everything with Liliana got knocked to the background for me, THAT'S how good it was!

- The SECOND Evoroa said Ludinos was on Exandria I knew EXACTLY where he would be! Now we HAVE to get the Nein involved, right? Unless the bastard makes the city float again...

I cannot WAIT for the next episode! And if Sam brings a new character when all the groups are together, it would be SPECTACULAR! I'm guessing he's going to play one of the moon races, because that just sounds cool... Either that or Tary!

[hmslusitania]

Ask meme again! 19. “Of course I still love you, why would you even ask me that?” for RoyDonna!!!

sorry it is days late and also that I'm posting this at [you're asleep o'clock] lol

Donna sighs and lets her head fall back against the bulkhead.

It hadn’t been a bulkhead twenty minutes ago. Twenty minutes ago, it had been a hallway in the Watchtower satellite, and the Titans had been dispatched up to test it out, kick the tyres, see how the place was holding up since the Justice League had abandoned it.

Since now, the Justice League is coming back, and they’ll want a seat of observation, and so…

And so they’d gone to test, and Vic had spun up the systems while the rest of the crew tested for structural integrity, and—

And, the bomb, which whichever rogue-of-the-week had affixed to the central engine years earlier, had finally gone off, and had shattered the Watchtower into a zillion pieces and now what had once been a hallway, and is a section of what is functionally the shatterproof glass of the Watchtower base components, is an autonomous shuttle, and Donna is stuck in it.

The Watchtower had been comprehensively designed to shatter into contained pieces in the worst-case-scenario explosion situation, and each segment has its own emergency supply stash, just enough to last for the length of time to either crash land onto Earth in [destination unguessable] or follow the automatic targeting trajectory towards the other nearest possible location: the Justice League’s former Moon base. The protocols had been Bat-designed, and so they’re the far side of NASA for over-preparedness, and probably, a squadron of compatriots could survive so far as Mars in any given section of the Watchtower without too many problems besides going insane from cabin fever.

Donna doesn’t have to worry about the months’ long journey to Mars, at least. The segment’s management AI had helpfully informed them some minutes earlier that they’d been tractored in to the Moon base’s homing signal and should expect to arrive there within forty-eight hours.

“I’ve been on longer, shittier train rides,” Donna’s travelling companion says, resting his wrists on his bent knees and letting his head fall back against the bulkhead on his side of the former hallway.

“Surely, the trains were more comfortable,” Donna says, resting her own wrists on her own bent knees. The Amazonian steel of her bracers hums faintly when it connects with the star fields on her outfit. It’s useful, being able to navigate in space without needing any sort of system, but right now, it only lets her know that they’re in the null-atmosphere nothingness that stretches between Earth and her only natural satellite.

Roy thinks about it for a second and then grimaces. “Honestly? No. And here, we’ve got a much better view.”

He nods significantly towards the bulkhead door that makes up the airlock segment they’re stuck in. It’s only got a small window, but that small window is fairly fixed in the direction of Earth, and… he’s not wrong about the view.

“I don’t suppose they packed any entertainment centres in their little pods,” Roy says a moment later.

“The pods were designed by Bats,” Donna replies. She loves Dick, really, truly. She’s entertained a thought every once in a while that maybe, just maybe, her birth parents had actually been John and Mary Grayson and they’d been under the impression she’d died at birth or something, and that Dick isn’t just the other half of her soul by coincidence, but by originating brotherhood. But in loving him, she also knows him, and she’s fairly certain the Bats amongst them — erroneously considering themselves the most “normal” — wouldn’t have packed entertainment for the days’ long journey to the moon because they’d be busy mentally going over the circumstances that had led to the Watchtower’s abrupt dissolution. An outcome the Bats had not prepared for: boredom.

 “Right,” Roy says, and groans.

“Don’t think you can make it two days without a distraction, Harper?” Donna asks, smiling at him.

Roy laughs, and smiles just a little in return. “You’re plenty distracting all on your own.”

It’s the same sort of flirting he’d done when they’d been idiot teenagers out trying to save the world, when they’d been off again-on again, and never quite serious. But it’s also the same sort of flirting he’d been doing before he’d died, when it might’ve been flippant, but had been, without any doubt, absolutely honest.

Which they… haven’t talked about.

He’d been some zombie thing while the Batman Who Laughs had been trying to destroy the universe, and then he’d turned up at the Titans Academy and then the world had ended for the umpteenth time, and everyone besides her had gotten their previously missing pieces of the multiverse back — since she’d still had hers; the worst curse — and then the beast creatures and Amanda Waller and…

“How’s Lian doing back home?” Donna asks instead.

“She’s incredible,” Roy says, and his smile gets brighter and sadder all at once. “It’s — she’s everything I hoped she could be when she grew up and everything I never wanted for her all at once and most of the time it feels like I’m losing my mind a little.”

Faint tears well up in his eyes and Donna can’t stand it. She slides across the hallway and wraps her arms around his shoulders. She’s glad when he takes the opportunity to hide his face in the junction of her neck and shoulder. She can feel the slight dampness from his eyes, but also the softness from his eyelashes and the tiny, grateful brush of his lips against her clavicle.

“When we’re not lost in space, you should come by some time,” Roy says, voice muffled by Donna’s shoulder. “She’d love to see you.”

“I’d like that,” Donna says, and when Roy clears his throat, she lets go of him. She doesn’t slide back to her side of their hallway-capsule, but sits beside him instead, and after a hesitant minute punctuated by their automated systems guide telling them they have forty-seven hours left of travel time to the moon base, she reaches for his hand.

Roy tangles his fingers in hers and lifts them both up to press a small kiss to the back of her hand before he lets them fall to his thigh.

They’re quiet for a minute, and then Roy clears his throat. “So you, uh, you remember the various iterations of the multiverse. Have either of us ever died like this? Lost in space?”

“We’re not lost,” Donna replies. She lets her head tip sideways onto his shoulder and hums. “And no. The only time I really remember dying, it was the time you ended up getting into an unmarked space ship and flying halfway across the known universe to come get me—”

“Always,” he says without hesitation, the picture of the same man who’d been willing to jump into a theoretically bottomless cavern on target for a sun-eater to try and save her from her fellow Titans of Legend.

“—and the only time I can really remember you dying, it was…”

“Sanctuary,” Roy offers.

Donna hums in agreement, preferring to not think about any of that or that place. “And there was no space ship for me to jump in so I had to content myself with leaving flowers on your grave, and I did not appreciate you coming back from the dead and not telling me. Just so you know.”

“Won’t happen again, promise,” he says, and it’s flippant, but it’s flippant like his flirtation the last few years — where he delivers it with a shield against the vulnerable truth, but where the truth is, well. Vulnerable. “Does that mean you still — I mean, after all of that, you can’t still…”

“Can’t what?” Donna asks, frowning hard enough that the reflection of their faces in the far bulkhead picks up a little of her disapproval.

“Love me,” he says, and he doesn’t let go of her hand or shrug her head off his shoulder but he does… tremble. Just a little.

It breaks her heart, the uncharacteristic vulnerability in his voice. It’s not a conversation they could have without the fantastically shit circumstances they’re in, but in that moment, she’s just a little grateful for it.

“Of course I do,” she says. “During which subsequent apocalypse and my entire country becoming personae non grata for the entire United States was I supposed to fall in love with someone else?”

Roy laughs, just a little, and then he slides his free hand into her hair and tilts her face up so he can kiss her. It’s been years since she’s last kissed him, and she’d nearly forgotten that quite apart from everything else she loves about him, Roy Harper is a damn good kisser.

He’s damn good at quite a few other things, too, and she’s willing to bet that the intervening decade or so since she’d last spent time with him naked has only improved those skills.

And.

Well.

They’ve got 46.5 hours left until the moon. And no entertainment systems.

And perhaps, being temporarily adrift in space is not the worst possible outcome of the Watchtower exploding.

[themculibrary]

Arranged Marriage AU Masterlist 2

part one

A Marriage Between Realms (ao3) - professnerdiness loki/sylvie E, 16k

Summary: “She and I are both the offspring of Kings. The son of Laufey and the daughter of Odin. Two children whose fathers have been mortal enemies for millennia. They stole us from each other when we were babes, and raised us far from our lands and people. And now, we’re being married in order to reunite our families and bring peace to the Nine Realms.”

Prince Loki of Asgard and Princess Sylvie of Jotunheim are wed in a marriage of convenience and political necessity. Can they find something deeper between them?

A Sylki Arranged Marriage AU

A Promise of Peace (ao3) - neonheartbeat loki/sylvie E, 107k

Summary: Sylvie Odinsdottir knows her duty as a princess: to place Asgard above her own wants and desires. But when she meets the Jotun prince she's been promised to marry since she was young, she finds her loyalties begin to shift, and trust is a luxury she may not be able to afford for long...

Arranged (ao3) - NotEvenCloseToStraight steve/tony T, 8k

Summary: Royalty AU-- Howard arranges a match between Tony and Steve, but when Tony tries to run away with Tiberius instead, Steve goes after his betrothed and brings him home. Things are difficult between the couple at first, but an impulsive kiss leads to softer moments, and finally the arranged pair find happiness together.

Come lay with me, You're safe with me (ao3) - annunziatina tony/bruce M, 48k

Summary: In exchange for a military contract that would save his family from financial ruin, Tony Stark is forced to abandon his desire for love. But the reclusive scientist to whom Tony is promised is far from the army grunt he imagined. And maybe love isn't really out of reach.

everybody wants to rule the world (ao3) - bevioletskies peter/gamora T, 109k

Summary: Peter is the one and only heir to the Celestial throne. Gamora is expected to successfully lead the Titans to conquer the galaxy. A political alliance is in the works, and there may or may not be wedding bells in the air.

Alternately: Peter and Gamora find themselves in an arranged marriage and want nothing to do with it, but might need each other more than they think if they want to escape their genocidal fathers forever.

heavy is the crown (ao3) - Anonymous steve/tony G, 17k

Summary: “Why did you pick me? As a match. Howard forced you to marry, but you had - there were other options. Many of them.”

“Maybe I wanted to help you,” Tony says. “To help - anyone, for once. Your people needed it.”

Oh, Steve thinks dully. So it wasn’t about him at all. It’s - a comfort, in some ways. In others, it’s… less so.

“And-” Tony hesitates. "Everyone said you were kind. I thought… if I had to marry, I’d prefer to marry someone kind.”

(Or, Arranged Marriage AU.)

I’m With Him Until the Death Do Us Part (But It Doesn’t Do for this Hungry Heart) (ao3) - Just AnotherMarvelGirl wanda/vision E, 4k

Summary: I really tried to come up with a better summary, but I keep going back to the basics: an arranged marriage royal AU, with cheating, smut, and murder.

In the Hall of the Mountain King (ao3) - Hippiebuckyharrington steve/thor, background bucky/tony E, 26k

Summary: Thor doesn't mind taking the throne when his father dies. He doesn't mind giving up his partying ways with his brother in order to be the responsible King Asguard deserves. What he does mind is having to marry the prince of the neighboring kingdom of Midgard. He doesn't need a spouse to run his country, and he isn't ready to settle down.

Steve really would just like love, a family maybe, and to not be stuck watching his newly married brother mooning over his new husband. And he'd rather be painting anyway, so an arranged marriage is not the worst idea. What Steve doesn't want is to be married to the strange almost barbaric King, who shows up spectacularly hungover to their wedding. Now he's alone, and scared in a place miles from anything he is used to, saddled to a King who doesn't want him.

But maybe, maybe all hope is not lost, even with the disaster their wedding turns into. Maybe, just maybe, there is something to be salvaged from the less than ideal circumstances that brought them together.

just wrong enough to make it feel right (ao3) - thelilacfield wanda/vision M, 7k

Summary: “This is Vision. He is my personal guard. And he will be yours, my lady, whenever you ask.”

She thought that coming to the kingdom would be the end of all her troubles. Marrying a king would be her happy ever after. And yet, as Vision steps forward and shyly bows to her, she can’t help thinking that troubles are only just beginning with the way her heart flutters when those blue eyes meet hers.

Marriage and Mate Chases (ao3) - NotEvenCloseToStraight steve/tony, bucky/natasha, sam/clint E, 439k

Summary: A Regency-ish AU:

Strict, stern Alpha Captain Steve Rogers is firmly in control of himself, his army, and his life and intends to marry an Omega who shares the same ideals while wild, flighty Omega!Tony loves to flaunt Howard's rules, society's expectations and has no intention of settling down.

An arranged marriage forces Alpha and Omega together, but Steve's constant disapproval and Tony's refusal to compromise leads to anger and arguments, missed heats, harsh ruts and a lack of bonding bites. Vicious rumours fly about the Omega's fidelity and the Alpha's ability to control his mate and when Steve runs away to war to distance himself from his unpredictable husband, Tony turns to new friends and illicit activities to hide his hurting heart.

Steve returns from war a changed man ready to be a good husband, dedicating every minute of every day to winning Tony's heart back, but Tony is tired of being ignored, busy with his own projects and unwilling to give the Alpha another chance.

With outside forces plotting to ruin what little happiness they have, are Steve and Tony doomed to be unbonded husbands, married but never truly mates?

marry the sunset (ao3) - becuille t'challa/m'baku E, 5k

Summary: On the night before his wedding, T’Challa is not surprised by his inability to sleep. He is plagued by thoughts of M’Baku from years ago, pushed back in his memory like a long forgotten dream.

Of Broken Dreams and Mended Hearts (ao3) - Kellyscams steve/bucky, peggy/gabe, clint/natasha, pepper/tony, bucky/rumlow M, 354k

Summary: When the House of Barnes is left in massive debt after the death of George Barnes, their oldest son and heir, Bucky, is forced to sacrifice his own hopes and dreams by entering an arranged married to Steve Rogers. Steve seems kind enough, has a prominent job in the government, and was even voted Society's Best Catch. But the House Rogers is significantly higher in status than Bucky's family, which means Bucky is marrying up in Society, and marrying up doesn't only come with rewards, it also comes with certain...expectations and losses--some of which Bucky might be willing to do anything to avoid. And those opportunities might come his way.

Unless, of course, he actually starts falling in love with his new husband...

Seasons of Time (ao3) - ABrighterDarkness, britbrit99 steve/thor T, 56k

Summary: Thor hadn’t put much thought into what marriage and bonding might look like for him. The consideration only ever went as far as acknowledging that it was something that would need to happen, that was expected of him. He certainly didn’t ask questions or press for answers he was wholly uninterested in hearing.

Someday he would be required to court potential mates that would inevitably lead to marriage and, of course, bonding. He would be expected to have a child, at least one, preferably born with an Alpha designation, who he would then be expected to raise to take his place some many, many years down the road.

Someday, the time would come where he would need to conform to the role of King that he would eventually fill and that included the aforementioned expectations.

The Norns Write Right in Crooked Lines (ao3) - Anny_Franny loki/tony T, 17k

Summary: Two princes are forced into an engagement to form a military alliance and save thousand of lives. Thor and Tony had everything to be a happy couple: they were friends, they liked to drink, they knew how to deal with their weapons. Maybe they didn’t love each other, but hey, given time, who knew? Except…

Well, except Tony kinda fell in love with his hot dickish brother-in-law.

The Robot King (ao3) - betheflame pepper/tony T, 27k

Summary: Howard Stark has been a narcissistic control freak for a long time, so no one should really be surprised he added his son’s betrothal to a business merger, even when said son is 4 at the time.

Pepper and Tony are soulmates and all is looking peachy, until a tragic car accident, a well-placed lie, and years of emotional abuse conspire to force them apart.

Can they make it back to each other? And despite Howard’s indifference, find true love?

+++++++++++++

(Of course they can. I only write happily ever afters.)

Basically, this is Lion King, which means it's Hamlet, because evidently I only write AUs now.

The Selection (ao3) - worrisomeme steve/bucky, riley/sam, peggy/angie, clint/natasha M, 20k

Summary: The Department of Spousal Selection. Anyone not married by age 25 gets a spouse assigned to them by the government. And it’s fine, really. The matches are almost always a perfect fit. Steve Rogers is a successful tattoo artist who’s about to have his world turned upside down when he’s matched with a one Bucky Barnes. As they navigate their new life together and learn to deal with each other’s baggage, will their match prove successful, or will their inner demons tear them apart?

we deserve a soft epilogue, my love (ao3) - zashizawa tony/natasha N/R, 9k

Summary: "Love. . ." She trailed off, brows furrowed, "Love isn't always enough to make someone stay, Tony."

His eyes met hers, the green shining from the weak streetlights nearby, and he wondered when that had become his favorite color.

"It can be." He argued, because he knew his parents loved each other, and that was enough for them. He didn't know why, but they did.

"But, not always." She replied pointedly, looking between him and her. He knew where she was coming from.

They'd gotten closer, he didn't know how, but he could feel her leg brush against his under the water.

They both locked eyes for a moment, and Tony found himself gravitating closer. "It can be." He murmured yet again, his fingers brushing delicately against her bare side, his eyes flickering from her eyes to her lips.

"It can be." Natasha finally agreed, looking at him just as intensely as he stared at her.

(Or, the arranged marriage au nobody asked for)

What Comes on the Stage (ao3) - buckybarnesdeservestobehappy (hutchabelle), chaosmanor steve/bucky E, 11k

Summary: Living in Wyoming Territory in the 1880s, recently widowed Bucky Barnes needs a wife—someone to help him on the farm and bear him children. When he arranges for a bride from the East Coast to join him on his homestead, he’s met with a surprise. What he doesn’t foresee is falling in love, especially when Steve Rogers isn’t at all who Bucky expects to step off the stagecoach.

wish you were the piece to get me out of the game (ao3) - disaster_energy loki/mobius T, 10k

Summary: “It is only courteous of us to propose an option as well, the peace between the realms would-”

“Propose me.”

-- Or; King Mobius is looking for a consort among the Nine Realms. Loki discreetly throws himself as tribute.

[chainera]

Rage, Misery and Secrets

Ganymede scowls, drifting quietly as the war between the planets and the moons wages on. Asteroids are hurled through space, voices are raised and the Sun is stuck, unable to move out of the fear that the whole system would be disrupted. Around the fight the cosmos twinkles, like a bath of glitter, uncaring of the chaos.

Then he spots him— the Earth’s Moon, standing helplessly as the fight continues. Ganymede’s scowl darkens, and he grabs an asteroid and hurls it straight towards his target. 

The Moon, of course, notices just in time and dodges. 

“Ganymede?!—

“This is all your fault!” Ganymede shouts, collecting more asteroids and flinging them towards the other, who quickly avoids them. “If it weren’t for your sweet talk, Callisto and Io wouldn’t be there, fighting on the wrong side! If it weren’t for your stupid, fake, disappearance, then Titan wouldn’t be all ‘buddy-buddy’ with the planets!”

“Do you seriously think what you’re doing is right?” Earth’s Moon protests desperately, “You’re causing a war here! Violence isn’t going to solve anything!”

“If you weren’t here…” Ganymede grits his teeth, feeling his core burn in rage. He encourages it, stoking the flames until they grow, clawing at his crust and consuming him. Memories flash back into his head, memories of—

—Jupiter grinned triumphantly. “Y’know Titan? Saturn’s pride and joy? Well, we measured who is bigger, and you won! I knew you could do it!”

Ganymede blinked, and felt a sudden rush of misery. It caught him off guard.

“You’re obviously—

“Jupiter.” Ganymede interrupted. “Do you even know anything about me anymore?” 

Jupiter smiled. “What do you mean?”

“Who do I hang out with the most out of all the moons?”

Jupiter frowned, but quickly plastered it up with another, fake, smile. “Why, Io of course!”

The misery intensified, and Ganymede felt unexpected tears prickle at his eyes. But along with the misery was a spark. 

A spark of anger.

Ganymede looked away. “”Forget it.”—

Looking at the Earth’s Moon now, Ganymede realized he saw Jupiter. The same Jupiter who regarded him and the other moons as nothing more than a trophy. Some kind of accessory—

“If you weren’t here,” Ganymede glares, and the Earth’s Moon’s eyes widen in fear. It gives him a twisted sense of satisfaction, “this would all be easy as pie. But if you want to ruin everything, then…”

A barrage of asteroids float up behind Ganymede, far more than he ever thought he could raise. He collects his rage and aims it all at the Earth’s Moon.

“…be my guest.”

And the asteroids rain down like bullets. Distantly, Ganymede can hear the Earth’s pretentious voice, screaming. Distantly, he can hear how, for just a moment, the fighting lessons. But all he cares about was how the Earth’s moon dodged and dodged and turned—

One of the asteroids hits its mark. The Earth’s Moon stumbles back, but there’s something different. He looks up, his eyes a pure black. 

The Moon grins. “As you wish.”

Additional notes:

-This is a submission for a writing event on solarballs. One of the requirements is for it to be only 500 words, so unfortunately I couldn’t expand on the story more. I might continue this, I might not.

-This is (obviously) not canon. We don’t know Ganymede’s motivations yet, and we don’t know how the final fight is going to play out.

-Ganymede actually hates the Moon more than he hates the Earth in this story: while the Earth is the enemy, he sees the Moon as the traitor, someone who backstabbed people who were only trying to help and maliciously convinced his friends to go against him.

-The story refers to the Moon as “Earth’s Moon” until the very last sentence. -Ganymede doesn’t even consider Phobos and Deimos’ betrayal, because he never cared about them in the first place.

[starstwinkleplanetsshine]

Daughter of the Sea

This one is dedicated to @aswallowssong. Thanks for being the Cady to my Angie, and thanks for trusting me with your beloved daughter of Apollo. It's been a blast getting to know her <3

Chapter Twenty-Nine: Drachma for Your Thoughts (Read on AO3)

“Drachma for your thoughts?” 

Cady’s voice pulled me out of my swirling head and back to where we were sitting on the beach. It was well past curfew, but Percy had left earlier that evening with Nico to finally start the plan that the son of Hades had suggested almost a year ago now. A plan so dangerous, so insane, that the mere thought of my brother going through with it meant I had been on the verge of a total breakdown all day. So when I showed up to the infirmary well past midnight, my eyes bloodshot and my hands trembling, I didn’t argue when Cady suggested we take a walk to the beach. 

The harpies hadn’t been very active this summer, anyway. 

“I’m just thinking about how in a week all this will be over.” I kept my eyes on the dark waves in front of me, but I could feel that Cadys’ were trained on me. I wished I could just walk into the sea and run away from it all, but I knew things weren’t much better under the waves. 

“Four days until your birthday.” Her voice was more somber than I had ever heard it. What she should’ve said was “four days until Percy’s birthday.” It didn’t matter that we were twins. His was the one that counted. 

“Four days until the end of the world.” I was trying to make a joke, but Cady didn’t laugh. 

“Do you ever think about the mortals?” I asked after a couple minutes of the waves being the only sounds between us. 

“What?” 

“They have no idea their whole world is hanging in the balance right now. They have no idea what's going on, the war we’re fighting, the battle that will determine the fate of…everything. They have no clue what we’re about to do for them. They just think there’s some really bad storms.” My words spilled out and I didn't try to stop them. There was no point censoring myself with Cady. 

She was quiet again before chuckling lightly, which caught me by surprise. “I think about them all the time. I think…I think that’s who we’re really fighting for.” 

I finally turned my head towards her, and I could see a look of resolute determination on her face in the pale moonlight. 

“We have to fight for those who can’t fight for themselves,” she continued, “whether that’s the gods who are too busy or mortals who can't know the danger they’re in.” 

I let her words settle on me as a smile crept onto my face. I thought about how much older she looked in the shine of the silver moon, and how much she had taught me about the world we shared in the past year. So much of the half blood I was, or was becoming, was thanks to her, Percy and Annabeth. 

“That’s very heroic, Cady.” 

She shrugged, her expression unchanging. “It’s our job.” 

I had never thought of it that way before, but as soon as she said it, I knew it was true. If demigods had one purpose in the world, it was to span the gap between the gods and mortals—to fight both of their battles. It always had been. 

My gaze wandered from the waves to the sky above and I began absentmindedly searching for stories in the sky, the ones that Annabeth had taught me—anything to get my mind off everything that had happened that day. My eyes landed on a new constellation, the form of a hunter who seemed to be a little older than a girl—Zoë. Percy had told me about her, how she was a Huntress of Artemis who had died fighting the Titan Atlas while defending him and, ultimately, the gods. 

Her place was in the sky now, as Beckendorff’s was underground. Along with Lee Fletcher. And Castor. And so many others that had been lost in the past year. 

Would I, too, find my own place amongst them soon? Would I join my namesake in the sky with my brother close behind as our souls found their way, hopefully, to Elysium? 

“I only met her once.” Cady’s voice once again saved me from my thoughts. I peeled my eyes off the sky and turned to her. 

“The Hunter?” 

She nodded. “I saw you looking at her. She was strong, and brave, and very wise.”

“Do you think we’ll end up there someday?” The words tumbled out of my mouth before I could stop them, and Cady furrowed her brow. 

“Angie…”

“I guess there’s already an Andromeda constellation, so probably not—” 

“Angie!” Cady cut off my pathetic attempt to downplay my question. “Why would you say that?” 

I met her eyes and immediately wished I hadn't. Something about them made me drop the walls I always had up. Maybe it was because I was so close to the sea, which always made me feel more honest. Or maybe it was the inherent vulnerability of being under the night sky after midnight. Or maybe it was just because Cady had become the closest thing to a sister I had in the past year. 

But whatever it was didn’t matter as I let out a heavy sigh and took a deep breath. 

“I don’t think I’m walking away from this, Cady.” 

Her eyes got sad. 

“You’re gonna be okay.” 

I started getting flashbacks to my conversation with Percy just the night before that had sounded a lot like this. I heard his words echoed in my own.

“I wish I could trade places with him. Take what is supposed to be his.”

The words were a lot harder to say than I thought they would be. Cady was quiet, but I knew she understood who I was talking about.

“It should be me, anyways.” I finally got out. 

“Why would you say that?” 

“Can you imagine a world without Percy?” 

Her eyes fell to the sand and she took a deep breath before answering. “No.” 

I wondered if she was remembering those awful two weeks last summer like I was. The time we feared we had lost him for good. 

“Me neither. I don’t…I don’t think I’m supposed to live in a world without him. I don’t know how to explain it, but I just know. So if that means I give my life so he lives, it’s what I’ll do.” I had never been more sure of anything in my entire life. 

“Angie—“

“No, Cady. I’m serious.” I met the girl's eyes, and all I saw staring back at me was fear. And pain. And heaviness. Eyes that were usually as bright as the sun, kind and shining with her father’s light, were as cold and dark as the moon. 

“It should be me.” I kept talking in the heavy silence. “Percy’s the hero, he’s the one everyone needs. If he was gone, camp would never be the same. You know it’s true, you felt it last year. Everyone would be…lost.” 

Cady looked like she wanted to say something, but stopped herself. 

“No one needs me that way. Maybe…” tears filled my eyes as I started to verbalize the one thing I had known for so long, but could never utter, “maybe that’s why I was sent here so late. Maybe that’s my destiny. To save my brother, the real hero, so he can fulfill his purpose. Fulfill the prophecy. Maybe I’m supposed to be the spare. And—” my voice broke— ”maybe that’s not a bad thing.” 

“Angie, we’ve talked about this.” Cady’s eyes were filled with exhaustion. 

“I know! But this time…this time these thoughts aren’t coming from Kronos. It’s not because I don’t think I’m good enough. It’s because I think I am. Just maybe. Maybe I’m enough to save him. To give him a future. To give everyone a future.” I watched as Cady's eyes filled with tears, her shoulders slumping even more. She stayed silent, as if she could tell there was more I needed to say, and I took a deep breath. 

“For my whole life I never knew where my place was. It took me fourteen years to find it, to be shown it. And I know I haven’t been a part of this world for very long, but from the second that trident appeared over my head, I stepped into a shadow I didn’t even know was there. And I spent a long time resenting that shadow, even if I wouldn’t admit it. But the past few months, few weeks really, I realized—maybe that’s the point. Maybe if I can be a shield for Percy, somehow, that will be enough. Maybe I was brought here—“ 

“You weren’t brought to camp just to die.” Cady's words were sharp, cutting like the knives she loved to throw. 

“But what if I was?”

Cady just sighed. “What aren’t you telling me?” 

“What?”

“I can see it in your eyes. There’s something you’re not saying”

I took a deep breath, wondering if I was that bad at hiding my feelings or if she was just that good at reading them. 

“Hestia visited me this afternoon.” 

“Hestia?”

“Ya, like the goddess.” 

“I know who Hestia is. But why did she visit?” 

“She…” Now that I had to put it into words, I was having a hard time making sense of it. Between helping Percy prepare to leave, and feeling the need to be strong for the other counselors and younger campers after Beckendorff’s funeral, I hadn’t had much time to process her words. I told Cady everything the goddess said—the parallels between the original Andromeda and myself, the way that the fates of my brother and I were tied just as Perseus and Andromeda’s had been. I told her about the warning she gave me, how I shouldn’t fight Percy's battles. 

“She said that learning to yield is powerful, and sometimes more important than fighting.” She was quiet for a while, probably trying to untie all the words I had laid in a tangled mess at her feet. 

“What does that even mean?” 

“I have no idea.” I began tracing my fingers in the sand, doodling seashells that didn’t hold their shape. 

“There’s more, isn’t there?”

I let out a sigh—keeping any secrets around Cady was hopeless. 

“I told you she warned me. But what that warning was…I’m really scared, Cady.” 

My best friend's eyebrows pulled together as a concerned frown grew on her face. She reached a hand over and gripped mine tightly, the feeling grounding me and giving me the strength to continue. 

“She said that I needed to learn to control myself, learn to yield, or I would ‘doom us all.’ Those are the words she used. ‘Doom us all.’” 

“That’s encouraging.” 

Cady’s words were so dry, I burst into laughter. She quickly joined me, both of us unraveling as we howled into the night. It must’ve been a ridiculous sight—and we were getting too loud, I knew it. Soon the harpies would find us, but we didn’t stop. We laughed until tears pooled in our eyes and our sides hurt. 

It felt strange. There was nothing to be laughing at, really. Percy was gone. We were at war. The titans were getting closer by the day. But even so, we were laughing. It was almost as if we could forget it all, even just for a moment. 

But then that moment ended. 

Our laughter died and soon the sound of the waves was once again the only thing between us. The air grew heavier, and with it, my heart. The lightness the laughter had brought flew away on the wind, and we were left alone in the black night once again. 

“I wish I knew what she meant.” 

“I think…” Cady hesitated, as if she was afraid to keep going. “I think she was pretty clear, actually.” She turned to face me again, and her eyes were that mixture of gentle and serious that I had only ever seen her pull off. “You can’t fight Percy’s battles for him. When the time comes…maybe you step aside.”

I shook my head. “I can’t do that. Maybe…Maybe that’s not what she means.” 

Her eyes got sad. “You need to realize that you’re not Percy.” Those words would’ve been harsh coming from anyone else. “You don’t need to be Percy. You said it yourself—ever since you got here, you’ve been living in his shadow, a shadow you didn’t even know was drowning you. And sometimes I wonder if you stay there because you think you have to. Because you think you’re not worthy of the sun.” 

Tears rushed to my eyes quickly as her words knocked the air out of my lungs. 

“But believe me when I say this, Angie—everyone is deserving of their place in the sun.” She managed a smile, and I swear the stars shined brighter. “You don’t have to live in Percy’s shadow. It’s like the myth—your destinies are intertwined, Percy’s success is yours. That means that you can do different things, be different people, and still stay connected. You don’t need to stay in his shadow for that.” 

“But what if—” my voice caught and I couldn’t stop the tears from falling onto my cheeks. “What if I don’t do enough, and he dies. What if I don’t try and protect him, and we lose him.” 

Cady took a deep breath as if the very thought pained her. “If Percy is…fated to die, there’s little we can do. But we don’t know that. Prophecies are tricky, and hard to understand. And the more we try and change them, or work against them, the quicker we make them come true.” She looked into the sky before continuing. “What if you interfere and that ends up causing more harm?” 

A sense of hopelessness washed over me. “I don’t want to live without him.” 

I saw a tear streak down Cady's cheek. “I know. But someone has to keep on living when others die.” 

I felt my eyebrows pull together as a terrifying thought crossed my mind. I had never considered that I would live past this week, past my sixteenth birthday. I had made up my mind that Percy was the one walking away from this, not me, and I was determined to do anything I could to make that happen. 

I hadn’t considered other people might be thinking the same thing, might be making those choices, too—regardless of what other people wanted. 

“You don’t think you’re walking out of this either, do you?” 

Cady dropped her head, staring at the sand. “I know I’m not.” 

“Cady—” 

“You’re not the only one who wants to protect people.” Her head snapped up, and I saw a harshness in her eyes. “This is what I’ve been trained for. My siblings walk away from this. You walk away from this. Gods willing, Percy walks away from this. But not me. Not if I can save them.” 

My head felt like it was spinning. No no no, it screamed. This isn’t right. It as to be me, it has to—

“They need you, Cady.” 

She shook her head. “Nobody needs me. They'll miss me, sure. But they’ll be alright. They’re strong.” 

“I need you.” Desperation and fear were swelling in my chest as I choked back a sob. “I can’t do this alone.” 

“You’re not alone, Angie. You never have been. And even when I go, you never will be.” 

Her words weren’t making sense to me, and panic rose in my stomach as I thought about the very real possibility of losing Cady and Percy within the next week. And Annabeth. And Rosie. And—

I was about to break into hysterics when I felt Cady's hand on my arm, with it the familiar feeling of her magic spreading across my nervous system. Usually I didn’t like when Cady used her gifts on me without asking, but in this moment, I was glad. I couldn’t go down that spiral. I would be falling and falling into the darkness for days—that was a bottomless pit I knew I would never be able to climb out of. 

“Thanks, Cades.” I breathed out as her healing touch calmed my anxiety. I took a deep breath, my first one all day, and met her burdened eyes. 

“You’re gonna be okay, Angie. We don’t know what’s going to happen. Maybe we all walk away from this.” But I could tell she didn’t believe her words. “But even if we don’t, you’ll still be okay. Maybe staying behind is what you were sent for—if there’s still a Camp Half Blood in the next week, they’ll need someone to turn to. They’ll need a leader. They’ll need you.” 

I shook my head instinctively. “I’m not—” 

“But you are, Andromeda. You’re Percy’s sister. You’re Poseidon’s daughter. Whether you like it or not, that power is already within you. Everyone else sees it. It’s about time you start seeing it, too.” 

It was all too much. I clenched my eyes shut and forced myself to listen to the waves, to think of nothing else but the sound as they crashed onto the shore. No more wars, or battles, or prophecies, or doomed brothers, or self-sacrificing best friends. No more gods and titans and doomsdays. Just the sand under my fingers and the sea in front of me. 

It didn’t work. 

“I’m not who everyone thinks I am. I can’t be what everyone needs me to be.” 

I was on my feet and sprinting away from the water before Cady had time to call my name, and I didn’t stop running until the door to Cabin 3 was slammed shut behind me.

[bamdelune]

the buried feeling of regret ★ levi ackerman x reader

notes. excuse this work if there were any typos and grammatical errors i wrote this on the spot impulsively after seeing a quote bot on twitter 😭 the events of this drabble happen before the 2nd half of the final season pt. 3, also kind of short as well

night draped over the air of marley. it was awfully peaceful for a time where war that was going on.

there was always a difference between alone and lonely. levi ackerman never had a problem being alone but now, when most of his comrades and those closes to him were deep underground, he felt lonelier. erwin always told him to live with no regrets, to carry on with his life to the fullest. but how can one live their life when there's nothing but murky darkness and the unknown with nothing to aid him in navigating the depths of whatever the world held so secretively.

levi hears shuffling next to him and cranes his head to the source. it was you.

"you've been zoning out often"

levi only hums in acknowledgement. he never really had a quiet moment in his head, even when he was just a new recruit from the underground. these thoughts were never silenced, they only grew louder each night he fails to fall asleep.

you join him on the grassy terrain that faced the deep blue waters of the port of marley. the moon illuminated the calm rippled waters brightly. a comfortable silenced rested between the two of you.

"(name)." he breaks the quiet, still staring into the distance.

your eyes shift to him, "mhm?"

levi struggles to find the right words, his mind drawing blank for a few seconds.

"do you regret anything?" he finally lets out. you tilt your head in question at his words, pondering for a moment.

"you mean if i ever regretted joining the scouts?"

"anything, in general." he clarifies.

you keep quiet for a few seconds, only the sound of your steady breathing filled the conversation.

"no, i don't think i regret anything. well, at least not yet." you chuckle softly. "why? do you?"

levi laughs dryly at your response, a gentle smile ghosts his features. "erwin would've beat the shit out of me if i admitted it."

erwin.

your mind drifts back to the blonde in memory of him. he was someone you cherished as well. you wonder if things turned out differently had levi chosen otherwise that day. suffice to say you believed that he didn't make neither a correct nor a wrong choice when he administered that serum to armin.

"what is it that you regret?" you ask.

"i don't know. at this point, it's just a deep feeling buried in me. i'm not sure what i regret exactly, but i know it's there."

hope was the sole factor that carried levi throughout the hurdles of this predicament. a twing of hope was what he felt when eren had presented himself as a titan shifter. hope was the one that drove him during the fight with zeke (perhaps fury was in the mix as well). and hope was the one that pushed him to fight, even when he had taken a blow to his body.

he wanted to live the life that was constantly ripped from his grasp, even when he still resided in the depths of the underground. the life where humanity had no complicated situations with titans, marleyans and eldians, and staying alive to see the sun rise the next day.

maybe that life would be better if you were in the picture as well.

but at that moment, the remaining members of the survey corps—the ones who truly wanted best for humanity, needed to act now. for if they acted, perhaps the hope the drove levi wouldn't disappear in vain.

masterlist © bamdelune may 2023. do not repost, translate, plagiarize any of my works without permission, thank you so much! reblogs, notes, and comments are always appreciated!

[lampmanliveblogs]

Happy Halloween! I hope you’ve had a spectacularly spooky time! Me? Oh, you better believe I had the most frightening of days! I went to work. I know, I was terrified the entire time.

Nah, but Halloween has never been anything I really celebrate. The closest I got this year was watching that Soul Eater AMV and listening to some ”spooky” music on my way home from work today. If I feel like it, I might watch the Nelly Rapp movie. I’ve got it on DVD, but I’ve yet to watch it. And what better time to watch a movie about everyone’s favorite Monsteragent than on Halloween?

I’ve had a rough couple of days, I won’t lie. I wasn’t kidding when I said work was scary, cause bloody hell’s bells, it’s been A LOT to deal with. I work in this really big department store, an absolute unit of a store, a real superstore. And school’s out for the autumn holidays AND people got their pays recently. You can imagine the chaos, we had checkout lines going on for several meters.

This is all to say that I’ve been super tired and in a bad mood the last few days, so I haven’t had the energy to do much of anything. I did manage to do a rewrite of the story I posted a few days ago and it’ll be below the cut. I feel it’s fitting since it’s Halloween and it takes place on Halloween.

I don’t think I’m gonna publish it officially yet, I might want to take another look at it first… and I’ve given some thought to a potential second and even third chapter. We’ll see.

I still haven’t settled on a title yet.

Comparing this version with the first draft, you’ll notice that this one has been expanded a bit. I don’t often remove things between the first draft and the rewrite, I usually expand on stuff, which is what I did here. I’ll leave a few more notes at the end.

Enjoy!

Lamp Entertainment presents…

[Title]

Vee watched Luz and Camila disappear into the light of the portal. Off to save the Demon Realm from the evils Belos was bound to unleash with his return. The portal closed mere seconds after they crossed the threshold. 

Vee could still feel the scent of the spent magic lingering in the air. It was potent and powerful, but not unpleasantly so. The Titan’s own magic, such a primal, primordial force of nature that Vee doubted she could feed on it if she tried. It’d be a bit like a human trying to eat grass, if grass could also spontaneously explode. A bad idea.

She turned around to begin her walk back to civilization. A small smile played on her lips. Despite the difficulties they were bound to face in that realm, a realm Vee herself was not ready to return back to, she couldn’t help but feel optimistic. If any two people could handle Belos and The Collector, it’d be Luz and Camila, two of the coolest people Vee knew.

Well… they were at the very least in the top three of the list Vee kept of cool people she knew (admittedly, a pretty short one). One person in particular was very high up on that list. They were a stranger that Vee knew very well, a clueless fortune teller. Pretty as a picture, dancing the night away.

Vee felt her cheeks heat up, and she quickly shook her head to try and clear it. She could think about those feelings some other time. Maybe when Luz got back she could give her some advice. For now, she had to focus on getting mom’s car back ho-

Her eyes widened and she shoved her hands into her pocket. She had her phone and… that was it.

”Sho-ot!” she yelled at the sky. The moon looked down on her, it’s cold light coloring every shadow blue. ”Camila still has the car keys!”

Well. That was her good mood ruined. Vee grumbled curses under her breath the entire way back to the town square. The festivities had died down by now, only a few organizers left trying to clean up the worst mess before giving up and going home. She threw the car a dirty look, as if it was its fault that Camila had brought her car keys with her like some kind of responsible adult. Now she’d have to walk all the way home, get the spare, walk back here, and then finally drive the car home.

She stifled a yawn. Maybe she could wait until tomorrow?

Whatever. She had a lot of time to think about what she’d do next.

She walked along the streets of Gravesfield. By now, most trick-or-treaters had trick-or-retreated back home with their bounty. A few jack-o’-lanterns still spread some light onto the streets, alongside the streetlamps and other decorations. The buzz of the last few organizers cleaning up after the festivities at the town square disappeared fast behind buildings as Vee navigated around them.

Her nose was a lot sharper than her ears though and if she took a few deep breaths she could still make out some faint scents in the air. Pumpkin and spice, candy and exhaust fumes from the Haunted Hayride tractor.

In a somewhat ironic twist, because she was so focused on trying to discern those quickly fading smells, she missed the one in front of her. Once she did notice it, she stopped dead in her tracks.

”It’s you!” A voice that was unfortunately familiar to her called out in the night. It was Jacob Hopkins, the man from the Gravesfield Historical Society, standing there, right in front of her.

Vee froze in place. Of course. Of course she had been too optimistic in thinking she wouldn’t have to deal with that man again. When she burst through the doors at the GHS and realized he was gone, she had felt so relieved. Like he couldn’t hurt her anymore. It was foolish, because he was still around. Did she really think he’d move towns because he got kicked out of the history club?

Before she had time to run, Jacob marched up to her.

”It really is you!” he said again. ”I’d recognize those evil eyes anywhere! You’re my demon!” He grabbed her wrist.

”I-I have no idea what you’re talking about,” she said and struggled to free her hand. She saw his eyes go wide and realized her mistake. ”Let go of me!” she said, this time imitating Willow’s voice, but it was too late.

”Don’t even bother trying to distort you voice, demon!” Jacob spat. ”I see right through your tricks! Where is the poor woman you had enchanted as your thrall? Did you eat her, you vile creature!?”

”No!” Vee cried. Hot tears threatened to flood her eyes, but behind that lied something else deep within her.

All her life she had been a prisoner, fettered, locked up and sealed away. Then she escaped and was on the run, always running. When she came to the Human Realm she was hiding, always terrified of slipping up and exposing herself. She was always ready, should the day come, to run again. Run, flee, hide, survive.

Not anymore. She has a great life here with a family and friends! Not just surviving, she’s living for something now! Who is Jacob to think he could take that from her? Did he really think he had just cornered the only wild animal that wouldn’t bite?

”Let go of me!” Vee repeated, this time with a hiss as she bore her teeth. Her teeth, which now looked less like the relatively dull incisors and vestigial canines of a human, and more like sharp fangs. The skin on her hands and wrists began to change too, hardening into tough scales while her fingernails turned into claws.

Jacob did look a bit worried when he spotted the teeth. But, be it because of bravery or stupidity (though Vee knew what she’d bet on), he didn’t relent. He held steadfast her wrist, intent on not letting his prize catch escape again.

”As if!” he said, while trying to make himself look bigger than he was. ”I’ll never let you go, monster!”

”Hey!” A third voice joined the growing chaos. Both human and demon turned their heads towards the voice, a voice that was familiar to them both, though more so to Vee. Despite the situation she found herself in, the basilisk felt a wave of relief wash over her. Suddenly, she knew things were going to be okay. Because who would come to her rescue other than Reality Check Camps very own Cabin 7?

Marco, dressed as a Frankensteiner, with his distinctive bangs covering his eyes. It was a wonder he saw anything at all, especially on this dim evening.

Samuel, dressed as a werwolf, albeit a werwolf with glasses. Apparently even lycanthropes are subject to bad eyesight.

And finally Masha, dressed as a witch. They were the spearhead of the trio, just as they were at summer camp. Always the first one to get them into trouble, only occasionally the one to get them out of it. This time, they arrived to help Vee out of trouble. It seemed that even though they were now strangers, Cabin 7 still had her back.

”What’s going on here?” Masha shouted, making Jacob flinch. ”Let go of her, you pervert!”

”Wha-no!” Jacob explained. He might’ve been some flavor of crazy, but even Jacob realized how bad things must look from an outsider’s perspective. And even he realized the consequences of that was not something he wanted to deal with. ”Y-you’ve got it around your back foot! This is not what it looks like!”

”Really? How about we call the police and ask them what they think it looks like!?” Masha yelled back. Marco and Sam stood by their sides, ready to back them up if things got ugly… well, uglier.

”I-it’s not like that at all!” Jacob said quickly, very keen on not getting the police involved. He looked around, as if the fuzz were hiding behind the corners, ready to jump him. ”Listen, uh… Sasha? No, no, was it… Vasha…? W-whatever, it doesn’t matter.” He yanked on Vee’s wrist, making her stumble forward.

”This is no mere girl!” he exclaimed. ��This is a demon! She has come from another world and has been living among us humans for months! And now her allies, the witches have come too! I’ve seen them perform their wicked magics! They’re not here right now, they must’ve gone back to their own world, but who knows when they’ll be back? You must help me contain this creature so we can warn the president! We’ll share the fame and fortune! I’ll even let you collab with me on Mewtube once my account gets restored!”

He smiled manically.

”If you don’t believe me, just look at her teeth! Look at her claws!” He held up Vee’s hand in the light of a streetlamp for the three teens to see.

It was a completely normal human hand with the soft nails so typical of humans. Vee smiled nervously, showing off a set of very normal human teeth.

At some point during his little monologue, Vee had realized that the best way out of this situation was to just let Jacob keep talking, so she had retracted her claws and dulled her teeth.

Masha, Samuel, and Marco shared a few glances with each other. Vee knew them well enough to follow along.

”This guy’s a loon,” Marco’s gaze said.

”I know you said he was a nutcase, but I didn’t realize it was this bad,” Samuel’s look said.

”Yeah, even I didn’t think it was this bad,” Masha said with one stare.

Samuel stepped forward.

”You’re crazy,” he said simply. Then he punched Jacob in the stomach.

Jacob made a funny sound as all the air was forcibly evicted from his lungs. He fell to the ground, holding his tummy, letting go of Vee in the process.

”Come on, let’s get away from this creep,” Masha said, taking Vee’s hand. They gently coaxed her into following then, not that Vee needed much convincing. They led her away from the gasping and writhing Jacob while Marco and Samuel stayed behind to make sure he did’t try to follow.

”Hey, I don’t think I got your name before?” Masha asked in what was an obvious attempt to distract Vee from what had just happened. ” We met at the GHS yesterday, remember? I’m Masha. I offered you a tour of the town.”

”Y-yeah, I remember,” Vee said. In the moment, she hadn’t realized just how fast and hard her heart was beating, or how ragged her breath had become. She took a few deep breaths to try and calm down, force her body to stop shaking. The danger was gone, no need for flight or fight right now. ”I’m Vee,” she said, finally remembering that she had to reintroduce herself to the friend that didn’t know her. ”And, uh… as much as I would like that tour, I think I just wanna go home at the moment,” she said in a feeble attempt at levity.

A small smile flashed on Masha’s lips.

”I saw your friends at the Haunted Hayride,” they said. ”I didn’t see you though. Too scary for ya?”

”I was staying home with mom,” Vee said, so focused on trying to stay calm that she let her mouth go on autopilot. It took her a moment to realize the slip-up and try backpedalling. ”Or, uh, I mean… aw, geez, I misspoke, I didn’t mean to say-”

”Hey, hey, calm down, it’s fine,” Masahs interrupted the panicking basilisk. They had reached a car parked in front of some small store. They opened the door to the passenger seat and made Vee sit down. ”Just take it easy. That creep didn’t hit you, did he?”

Vee shook her head and massaged her wrist. She could feel where he had squeezed her, though that wasn’t too bad. She had spent the better part of her first decade and half alive in chains, a little pain in her hands was no biggie. No, the thing that bothered her was that she could feel the smell of him on her. It was like a brand. She couldn’t wait to get home and wash it off her.

”I’m fine,” she said after a while.

”Are you sure?” Masha asked, sounding a bit skeptical. Not unwarranted, most normal people would probably be a bit more shaken than Vee was appearing. They probably thought she was in shock.

”Yeah, I’m sure, I promise.” Vee gave Masha  reassuring smile, but not too reassuring. ”He didn’t even grab me that hard. I was just a bit shocked. I mean, this was a lot, even for him.”

”Mmmm…” Masha hummed, their thoughts trailing off. ”I knew the guy was unbalanced, but not that he was this unhinged… what was he even talking about, demons and witches?”

”Haha, yeah, I know.” Vee’s laugh was stilted. ”What a nutcase.”

Marco and Samuel came walking back to the car.

”What a wimp,” Marco said. ”After you left he started crying. I think he’s stilly lying there on the ground.”

”Serves him right!” Samuel spat. ”He should be lucky to get off so lightly.”

”I tied his shoestrings together and threw his wallet up on the closest roof,” Marco added. The two boys hopped into the backseat of the car while Masha made it over to the driver’s seat. ”So he’ll have fun with that for a while.”

Vee couldn’t help but smile, the mental image of Jacob trying to scale a wall and falling down too funny not to laugh at.

”Should we call the police?” Samuel asked.

”N-no,” Vee said quickly. While the police might be interested in finding out that a man tried to abduct a girl, they would also be interested in finding out that said girl seemingly did not exist. ”I don’t think its necessary.”

Vee didn’t know it at the time, but she ended up being right. While trying to get his wallet back, Jacob woke and nearly scared the life out of the poor people living in the house. He ended up getting arrested for trespassing. It remains to be seen if he learned his lesson from that.

”Alright, if you’re absolute sure,” Masha said. ”Let me drive you home at least. Or do you have a ride?”

”I’d appreciate it,” Vee said. ”I, ah… missed my ride home.”

The ride back to the Noceda residence was spent mostly in silence, broken by Vee giving Masha directions when needed. Marco and Samuel also formally introduced themselves, unaware that Vee already knew them very well.

Vee had some time to think during the car ride. When Luz returned from the Demon Realm and reclaimed her life, Vee had stopped hanging out with her old cabin mates. With all the new friends in the house, she hadn’t really had the time to stop and think about how much she missed them. But, now they were together again, yet still separated by this new face and voice… it hit her, all at once. How much she missed them and how much she wanted to spend time with them. But she couldn’t, or… maybe…

”There you go, back home, safe and sound,” Masha said as she pulled up the driveway.

”Wait…” Marco said slowly, scratching his head. ”Isn’t this where Luz lives?”

”Yeah, I live here too,” Vee replied. ”I’m uh… well, you see… it’s complicated, but, ah.. Camila lets me live here.”

Out of the corner of her eye she could spot Masha looking at her. They were clearly remembering the comment Vee made before about her mom. They didn’t say anything.

Vee took a deep breath, gathering up all the courage she had. ”Grow a spine,” was the human saying. Vee was a snake, she had plenty of spine.

”Why don’t you guys come inside?” she said quickly, not giving herself enough time to chicken out. She was going to commit to this now.  ”I’d like to give you all a proper ’thank you’ for helping me out.”

There was some hesitation.

”It is getting pretty late and we were supposed to sleep at my parent’s house,” Masha said. ”But I’m sure they’d let us sleep at Mrs. Noceda’s house, right?”

”It should be fine, Samuel said, grabbing his phone to send his parents a text.

Marco shrugged and said ”I don’t care.”

”Sounds like it’s decided!” Ve said, a little too chipper and eager to get them inside. ”Come along!”

She lead them inside the mostly dark house and gestured for them to sit down on the sofa.

”Sit down, sit down, I’ll get snacks,” she said and hurried off to the kitchen. Her friends were left in the dust, looking around the messy living room. It looked like a whirlwind had swept through the house, with boxes of costumes strewn about.

In the kitchen, Vee was washing her hands while trying to work up the courage to go through with this crazy idea.

”Come on, you can do this,” she said while washing the stench of Jacob off her hands. She dried her hands off before gathering the snacks she had promised. This was going to take a while, she might as well give her guests something to chew on while she told them… what she was going to tell them. ”You escaped the emperor’s dungeons and evaded his scouts. You helped fight him tonights for Titan’s sake! You can tell your best friends a secret. It’s not hard. They won’t hate you… yeah! Us weirdos stick together, that’s the Cabin 7 way!”

”Hey, Vee?” Masha interrupted the disguised demon’s personal pep talk and nearly made her shed her skin at record speeds.

”Yes!” Vee almost yelled and spun around. ”Wh-what’s on your heart?”

”Is Luz home?” Masha asked. ”Cause we haven’t talked to her in ages…”

Masha’s usually confident eyes flickered down for a few seconds. It hurt Vee to see them without that characteristic confidence that she admired so much. They must be thinking that their friend Luz had abandoned them, left them for some new, cooler friends.

That sealed it in Vee’s mind. She was going to do this. She might come to regret this immediately afterwards, her friends might hate her, she might have to run and hide again… but she was going to do it. She couldn’t stand lying to them anymore, to cause them any amount of suffering. Not after all the kindness they had done to her.

”Yes… or, no,” Vee said, having taken just a little too long to answer. She grabbed the snacks and lead Masha out the kitchen. ”No, Luz is not home right now. She and Camila are away, it… it was a very sudden thing. Kind of an emergency.”

”…okay?” Masha replied, confusion on their face. They shared another few looks with Marco and Samuel. Vee realized that all things considered, she was acting very suspicious. It was Halloween after all. Someone acting this odd on an evening like this… watching horror films the night before, debating witches and folklore… it’s only natural that the unknown would trouble on a human’s mind.

”I’ll explain, I swear,” Vee assured them, not that it did a whole lot to ease their worried minds. If anything, it just made them more confused as to what was going on. ”But it’s a long story, so you might wanna sit down,” Vee continued and gestured to the sofa. The Cabin 7 Crew collectively hesitated before finally sitting down. Vee dumped the snacks on the coffee table and grabbed a chair for herself.

She felt around in her second stomach. She had absorbed a fair bit of magic from Belos during the fight. Amity and Willow had left plenty of abomination slime and enchanted plants behind. So she had a lot of leftover magic to scarf down on if need be. She could afford to show off a little.

”Have you guys noticed something… off with Luz lately?” she asked. ”In the last two months or so… almost like she became a different person overnight?”

Of course they had noticed, and Vee could tell based on their expressions when she asked that question. She also suspected that they had talked about it with each other. Not only had Luz more or less ghosted them and started hanging out with a bunch of strangers that no one knew, her personality had completely shifted. The Luz they knew from camp was gone… almost as if she had become a different person overnight.

”What I’m about to say next might sound insane, but I can guarantee you it’s the truth,” Vee said. ”All I’m asking is that you listen to me… and maybe don’t be too angry with me… okay?”

More glances were exchanged, glances of confusion and worry.

”Vee… what’s going on?” Samuel was the first one to speak up. ”Is… something wrong with Luz? What happened to her?”

Vee took a few quick, sharp breaths. She was about to go against every instinct in her basilisk brain, instincts ingrained into her very core by countless generations before her. Here goes nothing.

”Luz did become a different person overnight.” Vee was having to force herself not to speak too fast. She enunciated every word, trying to make sure there was no room for misinterpretation. ”Or rather, she became herself. You see, the Luz you met at summer camp wasn’t the real one. It was me. I was disguised as her and took her place. It was an accident, I didn’t mean to, but… well, I think is worked out for the better for both of us.”

Silence. The three Cabin 7 members sat opposed to her stared at her. Confused, bewildered, positively befuddled. Indeed, was this not an incredibly odd thing to be said by someone who wasn’t insane? 

”I… don’t get it.” Marco was the first one to speak. ”What do you mean you ’took Luz’ place?’”

”I know it’s probably a bit hard to believe, I mean, me and Luz don’t exactly look or sound alike,” Vee said, a small smile on her lips. ”But what about now?” she said, speaking with the voice of Luz.

The Cabin 7 Crew sat still as rocks while their brains tried to process what was going on.

Vee giggled.

”S-sorry, but you guys look so funny,” she said, sounding exactly like Luz from camp. She stood up from her chair and spun around in place, transforming into a spitting image of Luz. No, not a splitting image, the original image. Because that was Luz from camp. ”How about now? Do you believe me now?”

Masha gripped the armrest of the sofa so hard their nails threatened to rip the fabric.

”Explain,” they demanded. ”Right now.”

”Sure thing, though it’s a long story, which is why I brought snacks,” Vee said, shifting back to her regular human form, but with a slight adjustment to make her ears more obvious. She decided against reverting back to her true basilisk form just yet. It was probably for the better if she eased her friends into it.

She cleared her throat.

”What Jacob said before was true. Well, kinda…’even a broken clock is right twice a day,’ I think the saying goes. There is a world beyond this one. A world of magic, and witches, and demons. Demons like me. I’m a basilisk.”

Masha raised their hand.

”No, you won’t die if you look at my true form,” Vee said.

Masha lowered their hand.

”That was a rumor started by witches because… well, you see, we basilisks eat magic, that’s how I can transform.” Vee paused to think for a second. Her captivated audience waited with bated breaths. ”You know what, this probably isn’t the best order to take things. Let’s start with Luz, on that fateful day while she was waiting for the bus to take her the horrible summer camp. As she stood waiting, she spotted a strange owl which she followed into an abandoned house in the woods…”

The End… or is it?

xxXXxx

Author’s Notes

…even more of them

The Lampman tries not to worldbuild in one of his fanfics challenge. Level: impossible.

Probably my favorite line in this was ”Did he really think he had just cornered the only wild animal that wouldn’t bite?” though the ”trick-or-retreated” line is a close second, I thought I was really clever there.

You might’ve noticed I changed ”Marco” and ”Samuel’s” costumes around. I have a reason for this, but I won’t explain it. You might wonder about the term ”Frankensteiner.” It’s from the books about Nelly Rapp by Martin Widmark (illustrations by Christina Alvner). Nelly Rapp is a monster agent, a person who deals with monsters and other supernatural beings. Her first mission has her take on the cold-hearted debt collector Robert Steen, a Frankensteiner.

A Frankensteiner is basically a Frankenstein’s monster, a human made up from separate parts  (it’s a kids book, so they never explain exactly where the separate parts come from). They are often kept isolated from humanity and thus don’t develop a connection between their hearts and minds.

After spying on Robert, Nelly finds out that he has two left feet, and that he must be in constant pain from walking. So she manages to trick him into getting a foot massage. With his pain alleviated, he becomes a better person, even getting engaged with the masseuse.

In the next book, Nelly (with some help from her loyal dog London) cures two werewolves from their lycanthropy with vegetarian sausage, the power of laughter, and a strong lamp.

ANYWAY, one of the things I was very conscious about with this story was trying to make sure every member of the Cabin 7 Crew got to do something. It’d be very easy to have Masha be the only one doing stuff since, you know… they’re the only one with a name. Or personality. Also a ship, and fanfic writers love their ships almost as much as they love putting A Guy in a Situation (did i use this meme right?).

I sometimes steal take inspiration from song lyrics while writing. Usually, this is because I happen to be listening to that song while writing. Living in America by The Sounds doesn’t really have anything to do with anything, but it was on while I was editing, so Masha gets to be ”pretty as a picture, dancing the night away.”

A more obvious example is a few lines I stole borrowed from Fear of the Dark by Iron Maiden. ”Watching horror films the night before, debating witches and folklore, the unknown troubles on your mind.” Great song for driving home from work on a dark autumn evening.

So yeah, I would say this story shaped up pretty well. Let me know what you guys think. until next time, take care of the planet Earth, and remember that anything can happen in space!

[statecryptids]

A new page from my Field Guide to Saturn WIP.

The book consists of messages exchanged between two explorers, Hyacinth and Jess, as they study the life of the Saturnian system of moons and rings.

This message from Hya talks about her fondness for a flower on the moon Titan that resembles the Earth flower from which she took her new name when she came out as trans.

Here's the full text of her letter:

"To My Brave Explorer,

I found a flower today. Not very surprising, I know. But this flower- well, it feels like it was meant for me. I know that sounds silly. But let me explain.

I don’t think I’ve told you yet how I chose the name Hyacinth. It’s not the name I was given at birth, as you’ve probably guessed. I don’t want to write my birth name. I don’t hate it. I’ve made peace with that name and the time when I had to use it. But that wasn’t me.

I’ve always loved flowers. When I was a kid, I tried to help my mom in the garden, but my dad always pulled me away. “Boys don’t play with flowers,” he’d say. Soon he wouldn’t even let me get near mom’s garden ‘cause he said it’d make me “soft” (that’s the least nasty of the words he used). I used to cry until I fell asleep.

Eventually I decided I didn’t want to cry anymore, so I made the weeds in our lawn into my garden. My secret garden that dad wouldn’t notice. The dandelions, the white clovers, blue speed-wells, thistles, oxalis. The little tough, pink spurge that grew in the sidewalk cracks. But my favorites were the grape hyacinths. They were tough. Everything in my garden was tough. Even after I mowed the lawn, everything grew right back in just a few days. And everything in my garden was beautiful. But that blue-purple in the hyacinths became my favorite color. It was the color of the evening just after dusk.

 I used to lie on the grass in the morning watching tiny green wasps, striped bees, and fuzz-ball Bombylius flies drink from the tiny violet bells.

When I decided it was time to choose my own name, I knew right away what I wanted. I practiced writing it out for weeks   before I finally had the courage to say it out loud. I thought about using the scientific name at first- Muscaria. Kind of a nice ring to it, don’t you think? Except it means “musk” in Greek, so that wasn’t going to work. So I’m Hyacinth, then.

So why am I talking about my name? Because, Jess, the flowers I found today? They’re my grape hyacinths.

I mean, they’re not really hyacinths. They’re nothing like Earth plants. They don’t photosynthesize. They get their energy from kinetic energy given off by other organisms- that’s an explanation for another letter.

But the little violet bells are there. And when I laid down to watch them, I saw pollinators climbing up into them. I caught a couple for Dr. Salmonson to study. I’ll send you some drawings soon.

I know this’ll sound silly too, but seeing these flowers so much like my Muscaria, it makes me feel, well, please don’t laugh at me, Jess. It feels like Titan is welcoming me. Like it’s saying I belong here.

I don’t know- does that sound stupid? I have to think about this.

             ��                                        ***

Okay, I’m back. I thought about just throwing out that last part, but it’s a feeling I can’t shake. I know Titan isn’t alive. I just- I’ve never felt at home anywhere on Earth before. I didn’t even understand the idea of “home”.  But since we got to Titan, I’m starting to understand.

And, well, I think I feel the same way about you, Jess.

Love,

Hya"

[deltastra]

Just gonna share my thoughts on Ouranos Island story and the ending of Sonic Frontiers!

This is from a casual fan’s perspective

SPOILERS FOR OURANOS ISLAND AND THE END

Haha Eggman helping Sonic out is neat. But I much prefer climbing the Titan and getting the last emerald myself. It feels more hype-inducing.

Awwww Sage is so cute here! Also, are Amy’s and Sage’s memory tokens the same?? They look similar. If so, that’s pretty disappointing. But I’ll hold out hope that I just looked at it wrong.

Anyway I love how much she’s enjoying the banter between her father and his enemy

THIS BOSS…THIS BOSS WAS…lame. I’m sorry.

Listen…it looked cool. I loved the sniper rifle. But man, it was so easy to take down. I just ignored the turrets and went straight for the head for the majority of the battle. In fact, I tried to stall out phase 2 just to let the music build up the hype. I love “I’m Here” but I felt as if it was wasted.

I MEAN COME ON. WHEN PHASE 2 HIT, I GOT SO EXCITED. LIKE WHAT IN THE EVANGELION WAS THAT??

But then I got disappointed again when they didn’t even show the wings as the Titan was flying…

And I always looked forward to the “killing blow” at the end while the softer ending tone of the music played. Didn’t get tht here, the Titan just fell to its knees. Probably cause Sage needed that thing intact.

This scene was sad. Eggman didn’t want to say it to her face but he did see her as his daughter :(

At least Sage somewhat knew that her father did care for her.

Ok I’m sorry but when they revealed this…I laughed. I do not know why…the zoom in on this moon thing was just funny to me…

But while we are on the subject of this final boss, I have some strong opinions for this as someone who chose to play on hard mode

WHY DID THEY MAKE IT A BULLET HELL GAME? Like…I get the concept they were trying to pull. You fought all these titans head on but now for the final fight, you need to approach it differently. But as someone who didn’t grow up with these types of games and disliked them…this was torture. I had to keep retrying till I got 2 more lives. I even contemplated just changing difficulty and skipping the boss entirely (I didn’t because I knew “One Way Dream” wouldn’t play).

Now the monologue for the boss is pretty interesting (although I began to hate it after constantly retrying). This thing feels more like an entity of destruction. How was it created? Don’t know, but I hope it isn’t the last we see of it.

And Sage sacrificing herself ;-;

R.I.P Sage. I felt sad over her death even if I knew it was coming to some degree.

I love this scene so much. Sonic actually accepting Amy’s hug, Knuckles giving him a fist bump, and Tails giggling at them while the falling debris form shooting stars. It’s so pretty.

Eggman staring at the sky is such a beautiful scene, no words needed. You could feel what he’s feeling without needing to see his face. And when “Dear Father” played, I could feel the emotion.

Ok now as funny as this scene was….did Sonic have nothing to say about Sage sacrificing herself? I feel like Sonic would’ve at least tried to console Eggman to some degree…I don’t know, it felt weird that they glossed over that.

But I’m glad this scene also cements the fact that the trio’s plans ARE legit. They do want to go off on their own. I hope for spin off games for them!

AND NATEWANTSTOBATTLE SINGING “One Way Dream”!! IM SO HAPPY HE’S SINGING FOR AN OFFICIAL SONIC GAME! And the song is 10x more wholesome when you learn that it’s supposed to be a message from the dev team to the fans.

Hearing that song makes me confident for the future of Sonic. I doubt I’ll buy EVERY game that comes out after this…but I’ll certainly keep myself updated!

Okay, regarding the post credit scene. I have mixed feelings about this. No, it’s not about Sage surviving. I don’t mind that, because this means we get more of her and a chance to explore her character as part of Eggman’s crew rather than a mysterious ghost girl on an island.

My issue stems on the “emotional impact” of the symbol. Did we ever get confirmation on what it means? What’s the point of that symbol. I feel like seeing that symbol flash on the screen with Sage’s voice would’ve felt more impactful if we understood the weight of it. For now, I’ll go with the theory that Eggman just took some spare code from the island and of Sage to “revive” her, that’s why she has the symbol. I know it’s a nitpick but I felt cheated off of the mystery.

__

Welp, that’s it. I finished the game. Took me about 20 hours! I’ll write a proper review soon, don’t know when. Despite this post being a little more on the negative side, I really did enjoy the game a lot. My overall experience is positive!

It’s a solid game but the ending scenes were too rushed in my opinion. However, if this cements the next 10 years of Sonic as they plan, then I have hope.

The open world idea is definitely something that could work for Sonic games. I was running around completing puzzles just to unlock the whole map, it was so much fun

Combat was amazing, I hope the future games keep this. But maybe cool downs might be needed because it felt way too easy at times.

I do like the mini bosses, each of them had a unique combat style and you had to change the way you play in order to face them. With such simple names, they have such cool designs

Now…regarding the Titans, BEST PARTS OF THE GAMES. Like, I get that we won’t see monsters with the same type of design in future games because the story of the ancients is done. But if we could get boss battles with the same amount of excitement and thrill the titans gave, that would be perfect. (I’m literally listening to “Undefeatable” as I write this)

The story is much more mature. So I hope they keep this tone. I love the characters’ facial expressions and movements even if the models look a little stiff at times (can we please have CG scenes again? I was hoping for some when watching the trailers from the game)

This was a wild ride guys, I was surprised by the amount of people that were liking my silly posts so thanks everyone! I wonder what I’ll talk about next…

[legion1227]

Every Movie Watched in 2023: Ranked.

Unlike my previous ranked lists of TV, music, and games, I'm gonna try and wrap this up in one sentence thoughts of all the 117 films I watched this year.

117. Norbit. 0.5/5.

Eddie Murphy plays a nerd, an obese woman, and an Asian character, it's painfully unfunny.

116. Due Date. 1/5.

Robert Downey Jr and Zach Galifianakis are terrible people with terrible chemistry in this unfunny 2010 comedy.

115. Winnie The Pooh: Blood and Honey. 1/5.

Besides some decent gore, there's nothing this movie has going on.

114. Clash Of The Titans. 1/5.

Another despairing entry from 2010 enters the fray as Liam Neeson and Ralph Fiennes fail as portrayals of Zeus and Hades on every level.

113. The Third Saturday in October Part 5. 1/5.

Arguably in the so bad its good territory, but it annoyed me still.

112. Old Dads- 1.5/5.

Old man Bill Burr yells at cloud.

111. Hidden Strike. 1.5/5.

The novelty of Jackie Chan and John Cena on screen together is nowhere near good enough to carry the film.

110. Fast and The Furious- 1.5/5.

The first movie is shockingly more dull than I remembered as a youth.

109. Dark Shadows. 2/5.

The least engaging vampire film I've seen in a long time.

108. Justice League: Warworld. 2/5.

Imagine taking the anthology approach with variants of Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman and your movie still sucks.

107. The People We Hate At The Wedding- 2/5.

Ben Platt, you will pay for your crimes.

106. Shotgun Wedding-.2/5.

Another disappointing wedding movie but this one had Jennifer Coolidge so it's slightly better.

105. Vacation Friends 2. 2/5.

Between this and Hidden Strike, this might not have been John Cena's best year, I'm afraid.

104. Shazam: Fury of The Gods. 2/5.

Maybe it's a good thing the DCEU is dead.

103. The Killer. 2/5.

Not bad on a technical level, but not what I was expecting.

102. Five Nights At Freddy's. 2/5.

Either be menacing or be goofy, pick a lane, FNAF!

101. Top Gun. 2/5.

Besides homoerotic undertones, I can barely recall the film.

100. In The Shadow of the Moon. 2.5/5.

A Philadelphia police offers spends their whole life trying to track down this killer and I promise you I cannot remember the plot twist.

99. Police Academy. 2.5/5.

The guy that makes sound effects with his mouth is a beast, I cannot front.

98. White Men Can't Jump (2023). 2.5/5.

Jack Harlow and Sinqua Walls will never be Woody Harrelson and Wesley Snipes.

97. Batman: The Doom That Came to Gotham. 2.5/5.

Batman in the 1920s is fine...I guess?

96. Adult Swim's Yule Log. 2.5/5

Serial killers and aliens and possessed fire logs...there's too much going on.

95. Fractured. 2.5/5

Shutter Island but worse.

94. A Man Called Otto. 2.5/5

Not enough redemption for me to not still think of Otto as an asshole.

93. The Little Mermaid (2023). 2.5/5.

I like Hailie Bailey but the rest of this cast...mm.

92. Final Destination 3. 2.5/5.

Easily my least favorite of the Final Destination franchise.

91. Champions. 2.5/5.

Woody Harrelson coaching a special needs Basketball team has its moments.

90. Extraction 2. 2.5/5.

Didn't see the first one, but the fight scenes here were enough to carry the film at least this high.

89. The Flash. 2.5/5.

Warner Bros banked everything on a movie that harbors a scene that basically parades around long-dead actors in disgusting CGI.

88. Zom 100: Bucket List Of The Dead. 2.5/5.

Not sure how this holds to the anime or manga, but on its own it's fine I suppose.

87. Mars Attacks. 2.5/5.

A deeply bizarre film but some fun moments here and there.

86. The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It. 2.5/5.

Weakest Conjuring movie so far and it's not really close.

85. Barnyard. 2.5/5.

I liked this movie a lot more as a kid, but I respect it still as an oddity.

84. The Grinch (2018). 2.5/5.

One of the Christmas movies of all time.

83. Infinity Pool 2.5/5.

Deeply disturbing Nipple scene, I cannot.

82. Theater Camp. 3/5

Great cast, but need better material.

81. Renfield. 3/5.

No one matches the greatness of Nicolas Cage as Dracula.

80. Trilogy of Terror. 3/5.

The last story, "Amelia" is the most terror-fueled of the three stories.

79. Final Destination 4. 3/5.

One, it should've been called FD4 instead of "The Final Destination" because that's too confusing, and two, it has the weakest opening death scene of the bunch.

78. Private Parts. 3/5.

Howard Stern's rise to the top is mildly entertaining.

77. Blue Beetle. 3/5.

I like it when George Lopez gets work.

76. Kick-Ass 3/5.

No pun intended, but the fight scenes are pretty kick-ass.

75. Tetris. 3/5.

The second the guy stepped foot in Russia I sorta clocked out mentally.

74. No Hard Feelings. 3/5.

Jennifer Lawrence beating up teens while naked makes her an icon.

73. Totally Killer. 3/5.

A slasher mixed with time travel elements contributes to a fun film.

72. The Woman King. 3/5.

Powerful cast, but the subject matter didn't move me as much as I wanted it to.

71. Strange World. 3/5.

Nowhere near Disney's best, but it's got its moments.

70. Prometheus. 3/5.

I like how it's a prequel to the Alien movies.

69. Mission Impossible. 3/5.

The very first one feels tame, but I'm hoping the rest get more over the top as I try and go through them.

68. Dungeons & Dragons. 3/5.

I'm not into D&D, the game, but the movie was decent.

67. Insidious. 3/5.

Patrick Wilson was better in this than in Conjuring three. Wild.

66. The Last Voyage of the Demeter. 3/5.

It has its moments, but a vampire picking off shipmates drags too much, surprisingly.

65. The Boys of St. Vincent. 3/5.

This movie is why I don't fuck with the Catholic Church and why I make fun of them.

64. Rashomon. 3/5.

Classic movie involving an unreliable narrator trope, but I have a hard time feeling movies that came out before 1970.

63. Seven Kings Must Die. 3/5.

The movie sendoff for the show, The Last Kingdom, is better than the show's last three seasons.

62. Drunken Master. 3/5.

It has some nice fight choreography, but Jackie Chan has a better kung fu flick.

61. Stephen King's Cat's Eye. 3.5/5.

A better version of the Trilogy of Terror with better stories.

60. Silver Linings Playbook. 3.5/5.

Romcom with Jennifer Lawrence and Bradly Cooper is more devastating than funny.

59. You People. 3.5/5.

Eddie Murphy and Jonah Hill are a fine duo for most of the film.

58. Cocaine Bear. 3.5/5.

Fun, but I was hoping for it to be more chaotic than it was.

57. Antman & The Wasp: Quantumania. 3.5/5.

Yes, its flawed in many ways, but I don't care cause I like how ugly MODOK looks and Paul Rudd.

56. Terrifier. 3.5/5.

Murderous clown rampage made some good content for a little bit.

55. The Blackening. 3.5/5.

A really funny take on the horror genre and black people in horror films.

54. Loaded Weapon 1. 3.5/5.

A parody film reminiscent of The Naked Gun or Scary movie franchise in some ways and I love that.

53. Lethal Weapon 1. 3.5/5.

Loaded Weapon 1 working off of a classic like this makes sense to me.

52. Don't Breathe 2. 3.5/5.

As someone who didn't see the first one, but ended up seeing this, I think there's some enjoyment in seeing a blind old man harm bad guys.

51. A Disturbance In The Force. 3.5/5.

A documentary about the horrid Star Wars Christmas special is honestly enlightening.

50. Nimona. 3.5/5.

Adequate animation coupled with likable leads give a good time for animation fans.

49. Rise of The Planet of The Apes. 3.5/5.

Caesar yelling "NO" gave me chills, bruh.

48. Stephen King's IT (1990). 3.5/5.

Tim Curry's Pennywise will forever be iconic.

47. Asteroid City. 3.5/5.

For a first ever viewing of a Wes Anderson film, it was a bit confusing at times, but fascinating nonetheless.

46. M3GAN. 3.5/5.

M3GAN was serving the entire time.

45. Kung Fu Panda 3. 3.5/5.

The weakest of the KFP movies, but still has a good main villain.

44. Fearless Hyena. 3.5/5.

This is the other better Jackie Chan movie I was talking about.

43. Elemental. 3.5/5.

The best love story ever told...not really, but it's cute.

42. Tangled. 3.5/5.

Also cute, but I can't look past the age gap.

41. X. 3.5/5.

Mia Goth was serving as well in this horror prequel to Pearl.

40. A.I. 3.5/5.

Very ambitious Spielberg project with tinge of creepiness that I'm unsure if it was intentional or not.

39. Violet Evergarden: The Movie. 3.5/5.

Gorgeous animation, likeable characters, HUGE problem with that age gap.

38. We The Animals. 3.5/5.

Based on a true story, I feel for the plight of these young boys.

37. Jackass Forever. 3.5/5.

Idiots doing dangerous stunts even in their older age remains idiotic fun.

36. Interview With A Vampire. 3.5/5.

Leagues above Dark Shadows as a vampire movie.

35. The Super Mario Bros Movie. 3.5/5.

Lovely animation and a fun take on the Mario franchise in spite of underwhelming voice performances from some, but not all.

34. Final Destination. 3.5/5.

The first one set a pretty high bar to top in its franchise.

33. Suzume. 3.5/5.

It's a good time, but there are opportunities not taken here that infuriate me.

32. Final Destination 2. 3.5/5.

The first scene on the highway is the best scene of anything the franchise provided.

31. The Princess Bride. 3.5/5.

Oh my god, I miss Andre The Giant.

30. Scream 6. 3.5/5.

There is a reason this franchise is arguably the king of the slashers.

29. Juice. 3.5/5.

Oh my GOD I miss Tupac TOO.

28. Knock at The Cabin. 3.5/5.

The classic Shyamalan twist is predictable, but it's still a pretty entertaining movie.

27. SISU. 3.5/5.

Soldier is intent on not letting Nazis take his gold and goddammit I GOTTA respect it.

26. Missing. 3/5.

Maybe the most fun of those kinds of thriller screenlife-type movies.

25. Atlantis: The Lost Empire. 3.5/5.

An underrated Disney classic I wish I saw sooner.

24. The Princess and The Frog. 3.5/5.

Dr. Facilier is one of Disney's coolest villains and his song is one of my favorites ever.

23. Beau is Afraid. 3.5/5.

Did NOT need to be 3 hours, but it definitely wasn't boring.

22. Alienoid. 4/5.

Time Travelling shenanigans lead to unbelievable fun adventure.

21. Venture Bros: Radiant Is the blood of the Baboon heart. 4/5

A beautiful, possible, send off to an underrated Adult Swim TV show.

20. Call. 4/5.

More time travelling shenanigans involved that I like for the most part until the dark ending.

19. One Piece Film: Red. 4/5.

I love One Piece to bits and this film satisfied me immensely as a One Piece fan.

18. Air. 4/5.

Better version of the Tetris movie.

17. Dredd. 4/5.

I respect that Karl Urban never once took off the helmet.

16. Evil Dead Rise. 4/5.

Bloodiest, goriest spectacle that's a triumph.

15. Edge of Tomorrow. 4/5.

In spite of Tom Cruise's flaws, damn if he isn't a movie star.

14. Fargo. 4/5.

Watching all the seasons of the show before seeing the film is really eye-opening to see where the seasons got their influence from.

13. High Fidelity. 4/5.

I could listen to the guys in the film talk about music all day.

12. Fahrenheit 11/9. 4/5.

I got so mad watching this documentary.

11. Speed. 4/5.

Everything on the bus to "Pop Quiz Hot shot" is pure cinema.

10. Oppenheimer. 4/5.

Human meditation on one of the most devastating acts pulled off in human history makes for troubling watch.

9. They Cloned Tyrone. 4/5.

Tyrone gets cloned and its sublime.

8. Another Round. 4/5.

A simplistic premise of seeing how far the human body can indulge while still working is so damn good.

7. Barbie. 4/5.

Not only is its message thought-provoking but it's funny as hell.

6. The Menu. 4/5.

Between this and The Bear, this was a good year for me and cooking-related media I watched.

5. Puss in Boots: The Last Wish. 4/5.

Stunning animation, and two excellent antagonists help lend to a stellar animated film.

4. Prisoners. 4/5.

Hugh Jackman losing his shit makes for compelling watch.

3. John Wick 4. 4.5/5.

Action so good I could watch this forever.

2. Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse. 4.5/5.

If it was like ten minutes longer, it would be at my number one.

Guardians of The Galaxy Volume 3. 4.5/5. I almost cried over a CGI raccoon, you bet your ass its my movie of the year.

[missallanea-a]

Trades, it was always trades with them. Information for information. The Collector knew they'd probably given Philip too much, between teaching him the full extent of magic and the draining spell and everything, but it was fair. It was fair, because they were best friends, and because he was going to pay him back once he had the Titan's blood.

Fair's fair, and all : but when Philip mentions the option of telling him more about the other Collectors, he cannot help the prolonged groan of annoyance that slips free, their form melting along with the sound to pool on the floor in a puddle of darkness.

"BOOORING. That's all you ever wanna talk about, these days." Spilling through the cracks in the cobblestones of the castle floor, they swim across the surface before winding their way up one of the pillars at the other end of the room. "Those guy's're just a bunch of bullies, anyway. There's nothing good to say about them."

Childishly, they punctuate the thought by blowing a raspberry, finally reforming on the wall beside Philip's pet project, the doorway that would lead back to his realm.

Swinging their foot, as if it would have been able to make contact with anything, they huff out a breath. Then, their face splits into a grin, "Y'know, once you get me outta here, I can show you. If you think witches are powerful, just you wait. We could teach you all kinds'a magic."

Not realizing that this was, perhaps, not the selling point they thought this would have been, their appearance shifts to sit on top of the portal door.

"Collectors see everything, y'know. E V E R Y T H I N G . That's what we do. Watch and learn, and when things don't do what they're supposed t'do, we..." His voice trailed off briefly, expression turning darker for a moment. But the eclipse passes, their crescent moon smile returning : "Well, we see lots more powerful things than just witches and demons."

Even as he made a show of having his full attention on the Collector (though he did observe the influence his words had had on the being), Philip's mind was working. He still needed a few things for the Day of Unity and the Draining Spell to be successful…., and then he would be able to use the portal, to return to the Human Realm……, once this place had been destroyed, the cursed life within it sacrificed for the greater good.

Which meant he needed the coven guards to round up as many wild witches before the Day of Unity as possible. Fewer wild witches meant more coven members. And more coven members meant more fuel for the Draining Spell, more power to see to his own needs.

Because that was all these witches were good for, was getting him back home. They were cursed and evil, and there was no hope of saving them. He had thought, once upon a time, that perhaps they could be saved, but Evelyn had shown him what witches were truly like.

He's drawn back to the present when the Collector speaks, and he's reminded that he needs to be paying attention to the child-being. After all, he needs to keep him on his good side, and letting himself get distracted wouldn't do that.

Philip offers the Collector another smile, and he doubts that the creature will be able to tell his mind hadn't been on their conversation, on the games they could play.

And without any prompting, the Collector offers up more knowledge, if only Philip will share more about the 'games with disguises' he'd mentioned.

"Why don't you tell me more about your kind, Collector, and I'll tell you all I remember about such games," he suggested, as though it was a fair exchange. But he was getting more out of it than the child, the way he always did. And that suited him just fine.

[12pt-times-new-roman]

lore updates and commentary for the EXU:C finale brought to you by tears, destruction, and sweet, sweet tragedy

Brennan. Starting the finale in the exact same way as the first episode. I fucking love this trope and goddamnit it's so well done. And the way he's handling the explosion of the tree, the shattering of a spell the size of the entire fucking world, the sudden and immediate intrusion of beings of unfathomable power who have not set even a finger on Exandria in thousands of years? Impeccable.

This whole sequence (and it's not even over yet) is just incredible. The way that Brennan is able to take this moment and stretch it to the absolute limits of tension, to describe in such visceral detail something so incomprehensibly powerful and so incredibly fucking dark is just amazing and it breathes so much terrible, tragic life into these moments that I have no doubt that Brennan was the absolute best choice to DM this thing (besides maybe Matt himself, but honestly? With this? I don't know).

"My greatest regret is that, when I have gathered all the mortals and my siblings into my pit, I will only have eternity to punish them." Endless torment without death -- this is what he is here to do. Gods. I'm so glad that EXU:C didn't go the route of "the betrayer gods were misunderstood and they had a point, actually" and instead went for the "the gods are eldritch horrors more ancient than the world and their minds are fundamentally incompatible with human morality" idea

The Raven Queen's ritual didn't just erase her name and the name of the previous god of death from history, scripture, and the minds of mortals -- her ritual erased them from everything, including the minds and knowledge of the gods.

Asmodeus left Avalir to the "Emperor and Empress," referring to the titans beneath the city, before leaving to a newly-built Ghor Dranas where he met Gruumsh and planned to storm Vasselheim. "I have help from some old allies of ours" presumably refers to the primordial titans, as the Betrayers fought on their side just before the Schism.

And just like those long nights spent in the line of duty, you'll still never get to hear children's laughter in this home. Cerrit's children got out of that scene but my heart did not

"I love you more than the stars, and the moon, and life itself." Moon. Singular.

Evandrin exposition! He volunteered to go through the leyrite instead of Laerryn, because he wanted her dream of traveling the realms of the gods to come true. When he got there, he became anchored to the other realm -- "the tree did not kill me, Exandria was killing me. I was a foreign thing, not of that world, and the tree was pushing me out." Zerxus got sent to the same place because Asmodeus sent him to a place between life and death as he made his decision, but eventually, Zerxus would need to go one way or the other.

There is no god that could walk the earth that I worship more than your heart. And there is a power beyond the stars that you alone can find, and though you may be his by working a foul magic, I bear your name. I bear it on this stone. And one day, I will bring you home. Goddamnit, all this talk and the star motif and the beacon in the intro, it means something and I gotta know what. I beggeth thee. (timestamp 12:02 am EST)

Oh my god. Oh my god. Zerxus casts Cleansing Touch on Vespin Chloras of all people, and with a 34 persuasion roll -- "I am going to turn back, I don't have the power to stop this. That mace, you know what it will do to you come sunrise. In life, I was an infernalist, I thought-- I thought I could do it, I thought I could do it and the world would remember me as its greatest villain... listen! I will turn back, and I'll cast myself far away from here but you don't have long! Do not bother with my name. I saw in the darkness that my name would be destroyed, and I wanted nothing more than for my name to be remembered. I am sure the Lord of the Hells will give me that. I am a fool... I am a fool, and I have brought ruin onto the world. Pray your name will be forgotten." Vespin Chloras, without an ounce of prompting aside from that first plea for magic, altered Zerxus' contract with the literal fucking devil to give him one more night apart from that creature, one more night in exchange for the moment that Zerxus gave him-- cast a ninth level Time Stop and gave Zerxus enough time (with help from Quay and Laerryn's ether stone) to cast Revify on Quay and Patia.

And the contrast. The way Brennan said that Zerxus could see the mortality in Vespin that he would never see in Asmodeus, the way he used that absolute devastation and shattering of belief and used that to instill that tiny shard of realization and understanding in Zerxus. The image of the mace actively writing Zerxus' contract, scribing the clauses that eternally keep him from deliverance, as the man steps out from the broken body of the tree that once protected Exandria with that same action.

"There's something magical inside you that you don't know if you'd survive releasing it... it's not Infernal, it's from the tree." It's a wish spell, bet your ass. (timestamp: 12:22 am EST) Update at 3:28 am EST: CALLED IT.

If the Primordials escape, "there is no new dawn for Exandria in any age of the world." And they will escape if Avalir touches down. And Laerryn has a working astral leyrite, with a tuning fork, during an apogee solstice, with no Arboreal Calyx in the way. Her plan is to use that to target the Primordials and move them to somewhere else, but either way, Avalir will eventually touch down or be forced down.

The Hells and the Feywild had an ancient pact that essentially bound Asmodeus to warn the fey of impending doom, effectively saying "this does not concern you, get out or be caught in it." This warning made the courts of the Feywild appear to all the fey in Exandria, offering a path home. And Quay stayed. I'm sorry, my lady, but I love another more. "You choose the woman and the world."

Quay's last broadcast ;-;

The stained glass from the intro is in the astral leywrite room!

Holy fuck. The Taxmen deal damage proportional to the highest spell slot level the target has available, and they can steal spell slots from people, and they have a short anti-magic cone, because they were made with a war in mind -- a war with Aeor. Indicating that Aeor specifically was a worry for Avalir -- not Zemniaz, Kethesk, or any other flying city (or even any other major terrestrial city, like Vasselheim or Shattengrod), but Aeor specifically.

Patia using the stained glass to cast a wall of force, glass shattering into this wall that protects her and Laerryn from the greatest villain in Exandrian history, inside the room with the astral leywrite and near-perfectly mimicking the introduction. gods. the cinematic potential of this entire thing is insane.

"You know me. I'd never have let my guard down like that. I took those blows." zerxus. zerxus. p l e a s e.

That's two failed death saves for Zerxus, minutes before sunrise.

With her dying breath, Patia sends a wish spell into the astral leywrite, and the city's batteries charge to 100%. and Quay's readied healing word saves the goddamned world.

They succeeded. In the end, they succeded, and the leywrite constructed a way out of this world for the Primordials. They were gone. And as the magic flows, energy erupts. The ground shakes. And the leylines angle up into the heavens. You hear the ground trembling... "What have you done?! No, no, no! If Domunas is the smile of Exandria, then let's shatter her teeth." In these final moments, there are many things that you do not see, but it would be right for you to know. A ship of sorcerous children flies from the city of Avalir-- I don't know how to describe what Exandria would have lost, and instead, all of those children are taken away.

Though the continent of Domunas becomes the Shattered Teeth, the titans are bound to a barreling leyline, thrown through as many realms as the astral leywrite could send them, and they do not join the Betrayers. Because they do not join the Betrayers, one day, the people of Exandria will triumph, and the Calamity will end. This eruption, of the titans destroying Domunas, will cover Exandria in ash for a hundred years, marking the beginning of the Calamity.

In Nydas' last moments, he hears his brother. "Nydas, this is Edilas. We're on the flagship, where are you?" "Yes, brother. All will be well." He got the kids out, the ships to those people. And he thinks that it's alright that no one will remember his dream, because it was real for them, and for those who survived it will inspire them to dream of things far better.

Zerxus knows that salvation is there for everyone, and though he goes to serve at the hand of the Lord of the Hells, Elias and Evandrin are reunited by a starlight griffin. And Evandrin swears that he will find this place beyond the stars where Zerxus lies, and will bring him home. And having given this world of Exandria a chance, the fire of Zerxus' love for Evandrin burns brighter than any fire of the Hells ever could.

In Patia's last moments, she sees that Laerryn did it. She succeeded. She remembers the words -- selfish, selfish, selfish. And at the end of the city that defined her, in that moment, she remembers her grandfather. "If a time will come when you should choose between the Por'cos and Avalir-- we built Avalir. We can build it again. What matters more? The dream, or the dreamer?" Her final thoughts are that there are many more dreams to come. She hears the voice of a young girl. "Dad? Dad, it's Maya, I've got some kind of orb, I've got--" She knows that the new paths don't have to trace the paths of the old.

Cerrit hears his stone. "Wingspan? This is Cleareye. I'm here." "I hear you, Cleareye." "What's happening?" "You sound so afraid. Don't be. Are you with your mother?" "Dad, this is Talon. We're back--" "Darling. We're in Jrusar, all is well. Wingspan, I'm here. They're both here. They're both here. Tell me you're fine." "I'm so sorry I was never there, I'm sorry I never saw you or them. If I can, I promise I will make it up to you." "That's a promise, dad. That's a promise." "Darling, is this goodbye?" "No. No. Those children are the best thing we ever did, and it's gonna take a lot more than this to stop me from getting back to them and you." "Don't feel regret. Moments feel like they're gonna last forever all the time. You look for problems, and I know you saw the moment you wanted there. Our children love you, I love you, you're a great man, and I don't know why--" And Cerrit survives. The last member of the Ring of Brass flies for weeks over oceans choked by ash and soot. You don't get to give your kids the world that they deserve, but you get to give them the world they fight for with you.

Quay and Laerryn are alive, for now. Together. Married, embracing, as a labyrinth collapses around them. "This isn't the most romantic place in the world, but it sort of looks like a church... I've been able to become anyone I want my whole life, but I just wanna be with you." "You're the best thing that ever happened to me, and I have lived my life in defiance of the gods but I know that meeting you is a miracle, and so I know they're real."

There's something so satisfying, bittersweet, and beautifully melancholy about a really, really good tragedy. 'Cause like the Greeks have said, character is fate. These people had a thousand chances to fix this, a thousand chances to change it, to alter the course of history. And that would've been a nice story. A nice story about people coming to their senses just in time to save the world. But that's not this story. No. This story is about, are you the woman who doomed the world, or the woman who saved it? Are all of you the heroes you strove to be, or the villains you might have been afraid you were becoming? In a world with this much power, what can be said to be the difference?

Why do we tell stories? To make sense of a world that's complicated and enormous. In Exandria, I can't promise what will happen to Cerrit and his family, or to the children of the Sorcerous Academy, or that your stories will be remembered... But the Calamity, because of you, will not be here forever.

Every single member of the Ring of Brass could, in some way or stretch of the imagination, be blamed for things that led to the Calamity. And yet, as their world is burning around them, Nydas takes his armada of ships and automatons to gather the citizens of Avalir and bring them to the surface. Quay makes one last broadcast to instruct the people on how to get to those ships, and makes a last-ditch effort to get their names to be remembered. Cerrit has already saved his own children, and now aids a friend in saving his. Zerxus, with his final hours in his own mind, saves his child, and makes sure that the children make it out of Cathmoira first. Patia sends her life's work, her life's memories, to a clever little girl who could use it to better the world around her. Laerryn takes her own life's work and uses it not to raise the city above all others in wealth, power, glory, or knowledge, not to save its image or its name, but to save its people at the expense of all of those things. And this, I think, gets to the heart of what this story is: a story of mortality and immortality, and about the worlds of difference that exist between the human morality of mortals and the alien morality of elder gods.

[sepublic]

Jean-Luc, the Bat Queen, and the Temple; Made by Titans or their Trappers?

Something I’m fascinated by is whether King’s birthplace was created by his father the Titan, or by the Titan Trapper who killed him.

The mural seems to portray the Titan Trapper in a heroic light, pointing towards the temple being his creation; On the other hand, it’s possible Titan culture is different from ours, and thus they have different connotations for highlighting good and evil in their art. The murals and their moon symbolism might actually be a warning to King of the Grand Huntsman and his minions... And there’s also the idea that a Titan Trapper broke into King’s temple and simply defiled it with some propaganda, which places King’s speculation about graffiti in Keeping Up A-Fear-Ances in a VERY dark light.

Then we also have the matter of Jean-Luc, who resembles Belos’ meaty magic; If he was created by the Titan Trapper, this would indicate parallels between servants of the Collector! But this does raise the question, why does Jean-Luc protect King? Is he simply raising a lamb for the slaughter, as a living Titan’s power is most ideal for freeing the Grand Huntsman? For all we know, it could be that Jean-Luc and the temple were made by separate entities; One created by the Trapper, the other by the Titan!

Of course, there’s also the architecture as well. The doorway to the temple has strange markings that we don’t see on Titan Trapper island, nor do the Titan Trappers seem to recognize them on King’s collar... Alternatively, they DO recognize the symbol but don’t question it because at the time, they thought all the evidence pointed towards King being the son of a Titan Trapper. It’s been compared to the Collector’s prison, which was probably made by Titans, but it’s also possible a Titan Trapper designed the symbol as a glyph to interface with and open said prison.

King’s temple also seems to run on a strange blue magic that keeps Jean-Luc running and responds to King. This coloration could be in reference to his blood, indicating it’s of Titan origin; But it could also point towards the Titan Trappers, which use blue flames, likely styled after their quarry as their outfits are.

Finally, I want to mention King’s initial compulsion to build and stack things... Was he trying to create Jean-Lucs, or just working with what he had to replicate something familiar to him, lacking any other hobbies? Did he carve those rocks into Jean-Luc’s head shape, were they already like that and meant to be created as such? King suggests in Clouds on the Horizon that he can create sentient life...

This could point towards Jean-Luc and his kind being creations of the Titans, hence King’s compulsion to make miniature versions; He’s trying to create his own subjects, life itself! Plus Jean-Luc is shown bowing towards King in a reverential manner, which if he’s only meant to raise King to be slaughtered, wouldn’t make sense; Why program him with this type of respect if not by a Titan?

We still have yet to see Jean-Luc come back to life, and he was probably confiscated by the Emperor’s Coven. If King’s line about creating life is any indication, perhaps he’ll unlock a bit of his power in the season finale, summoning Jean-Luc; Who will break out of confinement and make his ways towards him! Maybe King is even gonna go out of his way to visit the basement where Jean-Luc is held, in hopes of using him to save Luz! That, and/or King will spawn a Jean-Luc or even more from scratch; Possibly from the flesh around Belos’ castle, where the climax will take place!

This would set up further parallels and foils between King and Belos, both using the flesh of the ground/Titan itself to create living constructs... Jean-Lucs and Grimwalkers. It’d also be King reclaiming his farher’s power and name against Belos, who has misused and abused it for his own antithetical means! King wanting to lead armies might not just be from Eda’s interpretation of his creation, it’s possible Titans naturally create Jean-Lucs to protect them... Maybe even absorb them to facilitate their growth?

There IS the theory that King is going to have a growth spurt this finale, and his broken skull is essentially him molting. This would coincide with a rise of power for the kid... And not to plug it again at the last second, but it kinda reminds me of my speculation of Belos using the bodies of everyone to heal and regenerate the Titan’s flesh and revive it; So that’d symbolically be Belos once again appropriating and bastardizing Titan magic for his own genocidal gains!

Finally, I want to bring back the question of the Bat Queen’s owner. In the mural, we see King’s father wielding what appears to be a staff against the Titan Trapper, which given what we now know, is a damning suggestion of Titans wielding Palismen; Since their wood grows from their bodies, and the Titan Trappers, who are Anti-Titan and not beholden to Belos (and thus wouldn’t sacrifice any hypothetical Palismen to him) don’t have any Palismen of their own. It’d be fitting if the Titan’s palismen kept watch over all subsequent palismen born of her creator, her little siblings so to speak...

Now obviously there’s the scale discrepancy. But I want to bring back that age-old theory of demons shrinking when wounded, as shown with Adegast and the Trash Slug. The Bat Queen said she was broken, so if this theory applies to her as well, that might be the reason for her (comparatively) small size. That, or she’s the Palisman of the Titan Trapper who killed King’s dad, since I speculated before on him being a giant big enough to even feasibly take on the Titan on his own.