#I'm not sure what else to tag this as

[emilykaldwen]

thinking about that talk with @murmel-malt about how george's ages for these kids in F&B is just... a mess. Like we know George keeps his characters young (Look at... 90% of the cast of ASOIAF being like, 20 and under or what have you) and now I'm on a distraction rabbit hole of how do differently?

Which basically boils down to extending Viserys' reign, and then putting larger age gaps between Rhaenyra's children specifically.

But I thought: Okay, let's break this down side by side for everyone else who is staring at these ages in show vs book canon and trying to make sense of it. I want you to know that you're not alone in this, and I hope this could be a helpful resource for making your own narrative decisions.

TL;DR - the show time jumps do not track and make no sense and has weirdly aged people down and also up and so you make your own decisions. I've put my age recommendations at the bottom of the post.

We know Vizzy doesn't care about the health of his wife, since good lord we know what happened to Aemma and the text specifically states it was not only how young she was when she first started getting pregnant, but also the frequency she was getting pregnant/stillbirths. Like that took a toll. Luckily for Book!Alicent, she was 19/20 when she started having children, and could handle that better

We have two years between Aegon and Helaena, and then 1-2 years between Helaena and Aemond depending on when Aemond was born, and then four years between Aemond and Daeron

With Rhaenyra, we have:

Jace was born at the end of 114 (Rhaenyra is 17, and Jace is the same age as Daeron), Luke is specified as late 115, which... doesn't make sense? Like TECHNICALLY, you could get pregnant as early as three weeks after giving birth (I googled a... lot for this) but like really?

(ETA: I'm not saying this doesn't happen, we have it seeming to happen with Aemond and Helaena, it's the same with Bran and Arya, but as I address below, It doesn't seem to fit with Rhaenyra's character)

Westeros has a 12 month calendar. Jace is a december Baby, which means late 115 means... Oct/Nov/December, which means Rhaenyra was pregnant by February with her second kid.

then Joffrey is born in 117, however it doesn't specify what time of year. We just know that when Aemond loses his eye, Joffrey is 3.

Aegon III is born towards the end of 120 (again, Oct/Nov/Dec). We know that Daemon and Rhaenyra married in 120, not even six months after the death of Laena and Laenor, who died early 120 and Laenor not long after. so with this, like, is Aegon a wedding night baby? Had Daemon and Rhaenyra started boning before they married? (I mean, likely). Then Viserys II is born in 122, then we have a seven year gap before Rhaenyra's birth of Visenya.

Like, I'm sorry, but you want me to believe that Rhaenyra Targaryen who watched her mother have miscarriage after stillbirth for the first 10 years of her life wasn't gonna be more careful about this? Like George, just because we didn't have condoms and birth control pills doesn't mean that there wasn't some kind of bc was used (and there's evidence of that in our real world).

(and like I was saying to Mo: I mean at the end of the day, these ages don't matter, since 78% of these kids died and yes I calculated that percentage, and he wasn't thinking about people digging into the age things because at the end of the day, that doesn't matter for the story he's telling)

Which then brings us to the fuzzy show logic:

The Time Jumps As Follows:

Episodes 1-2: over the course of 6 months.

Episode 3: Two Year Time Jump from previous

Episode 4: No time jump specified but Alicent's given birth. Did Rhaenyra only go to Storm's End? In the book she traveled all the way to Casterly Rock.

No time jump is specified from what I could find for Rhaenyra's wedding but to get everyone there for Rhaenyra's wedding, to put together a royal wedding, you need 6 months at least. Given how big baby!Helaena is, we're looking at a 6-10 month time jump. And I'm sorry but by ship, it's taking like, two-three days to sail from KL to Driftmark, and then you have negotiations that last more than a single conversation. So I feel safe in assuming the 6-10 month time jump between Rhaenyra's return/daemon thing to the wedding. (HOWEVER, everything I found claims there's no time jump, but that's literally impossible because people need time to travel to King's Landing as it takes at least two months from Casterly Rock/Oldtown to get to KL)

Aegon is the child we have confirmation for on his age. He is 3 years old when Rhaenyra is married. We know that Helaena, on the show, is exactly two years younger since Alicent is clearly popping any day on Aegon's 2nd birthday.

The Ten Year Time Jump

Aegon - 13

Helaena - 11

Aemond - 10

Jace - ??? Book canon states he's 4 years younger than Aemond, but there's no way Jace is 6 years old.

Luke - 4 years old. AGAIN, there's no way. I cannot confirm an age for the actor (who did a fantastic job) but he's definitely closer to 5 or 6.

Joffrey - NEWBORN vs being 3 years old at the time.

The Six Year Time Jump

Aegon - 19

Helaena - 17

Aemond - 16?????

Jace - ?????

Luke - 14 years old which makes him 8 years old during Driftmark (Luke's age was confirmed as 14 at the end, he was 13 in the book)

Joffrey - 6 years old

In the book: Aemond is 19 years old when Viserys dies, which should make him 19 years old for the final time jump. But instead Aegon is 19/20 years old.

SO HERE IS MY ADJUSTED SUGGESTION

It's just my suggestion, just my opinion, because again, none of this makes sense.

THIRTEEN YEAR TIME JUMP FOR DRIFTMARK

Aegon - 16

Helaena - 14

Aemond - 13

Jace - 10

Luke - 6

Joffrey - I mean you can keep him as a newborn to track but I don't think there's anything wrong with making him 3-4 years old IMO

ETA: adding in, Rhaenyra and Laenor talk about them trying to have a child, which means this actually builds in time for Laenor and Rhaenyra to try make their arrangement work instead of Rhaenyra just fucking off and hooking up with Harwin immediately.

SIX YEAR TIME JUMP FOR FINALE

Aegon - 22

Helaena - 20

Aemond - 18/19

Jace - 16

Luke - 14

Joffrey - 6 years (if newborn) or 10 years old.

Little Aegon - 6

Viserys - 4/5

I myself write a blend of show and book canon, but have tried to stick to show ages/timelines because frankly, more people have watched the show and I wanted to make barrier to entry easier for people. But the show timeline didn't make sense after Episode 5 so... here you go.

ETA: I FORGOT THE DRAGON TWINS but I suggest Baela and Rhaena to be the same age as Jace or Luke. Book!Canon, the dragon twins are the same age as Luke. Take that how you will.

THIS MAKES ALICENT AND RHAENYRA BOTH 17/18 DURING RHAENYRA'S WEDDING, AND 37 AT THE START OF THE DANCE.

[starstruckxstray]

Long, slender fingers of obsidian, deadly sharp and deep black, slid beneath her chin. She tensed as they stroked along the scruffy fur, pressing almost teasingly against the soft, throbbing flesh of her throat. Kerosene whimpered, waiting them to tear in. Her eyes shut tight, her mind already envisioning her blood staining his pure white and soft blue sleeve.

"Aw," his voice spoke in a mocking tone. "Poor thing." His hand continued to stroke along her clamped jaw. Her eyes shot open and strained to the side, staring at their reflections on the filthy, busted window. His long horns and figure towering over, and she kneeling, practically leaning into his petting. Just like a needy dog.

"Such a good girl." He purred, though his voice lacked any genuine warmth. Yet she craved it all the same. It was a yawning, hollowing ache deep inside her. She pressed her head even harder against his sprawled palm, and she could feel that yellow smile twist wide upon his glossy, unnatural face.

"Good girl..."

[bluewolfangel01]

I love the unhinged idea that if Mc is angry or dissapointed with the demons, that they would create a circle of salt around themselves and just stay in it

And no matter the immense combined powers that Diavolo, Barbatos, and the Brothers hold, they ain't getting past the salt circle no matter what they do

Salt is the most powerful thing in the Devildom, confirmed

[local-diavolo-anon]

i apologise if i'm posting this much about the DLC but i am very excited

so theory time! this time about Glamrock Bonnie!

someone found Glamrock Bonnie in bonnie bowl and someonw else got his pieces from the gamefiles and stuck the model back together (the images are not mine, i have no idea who even psoted them ebcause they've been reposted a crapload of times, but i know the originals came from twitter)

i feel a bit sad than logically he was there the whole time during the main game as well and we simply couldn't see him

but also: He has claw marks on his chest, which i think pretty much confirms that monty is the one that broke him apart.

however. that's not nearly enough damage to decommission a glamrock animatronic, as we have seen.

hell monty looks like this in the dlc and he is still kicking (probably by the power of god tho) and i remember seeing THIS video some time ago, so let me bring you something a bit painful:

most people i've seen pinpoin monty's actions toward bonnie as envy and resentment, however in monty golfs whenever we see character cutouts or holograms Freddy is the one in the shadows, always. wouldn't have made it more sense for monty to try and attack someone he quite clearly disliked instead of bonnie? we know freddy and bonnie were close, so with some stretch you could even say monty was jealous of freddy's relationship with bonnie (but i'm not going to account that here) If the theory from that video is true and bonnie was the first and only trial test of the grlitchtrap virus on a full glamrock animatronic, what if monty noticed? what if monty saw that bonnie was acting weird, and when confronted him realized something was severely wong for a reason or another? and either to prevent the spread of the virus, OR simply out of self preservation he was forced to fight with bonnie? because if the mimic were to see someone noticed him, he'd likely try and make them disappear in one way or another so my theory-timeline is: Bonnie was infected, started acting weird, wandered around and ultimately ended in monty golf, monty saw him and went to him, then noticed something was wrong, bonnie attacked him to make sure nobody knew, and monty had to defend himself.

i'm fairly sure this is at least somewhat correct because Monty's claws can do some serious damage, and definitely more than what Bonnie's torso and head show. (edit: yes even without upgrade, Monty still has very big and sharp claws, realistically they could totally do that amount of damage, + in the original draft of the game, from Monty you were supposed to take his legs, and the claw upgrade was not a thing at all, yet it was always hinted he did caused bonnie's decommission)

all of this to say that bonnie more likely was decommissioned not because of the damage, but rather because because when technicians tried to fix him they noticed something had infected him, and to prevent any further spreading they were forced to deactivate him.

[fun-esta]

[idlewarning]

if anyone's heard of the 90s computer game "petz", I'm doing an Artists for Palestine-adjacent program where if you show me proof of donation you can buy in-game creations from me.

So if you want something like one of these...

...or dozens of other things I've made as a virtual pet to play with on your computer, download one of the games and then shoot me a message to sort stuff out. Links to the free download, my portfolio, and the official forum thread (not necessary to post in, but may be of interest) will be in reblogs since I'm not sure if all of the links are clear for Tumblr searches.

if you're not interested, please still reblog! this is my only major creative outlet and I know it's niche but I've already had people donate for it so I know there's potential to make a difference.

[starrysharks]

hotel manager

[misc-obeyme]

Worth It

I was possessed by the spirit of macaron (or barbmon or mambatos or... what was the other one I saw? something to do with greed?) and HERE IT IS. I just- they're so- I can't help it, okay??? This is absolutely ridiculous but I REGRET NOTHING. Left it so I had the option of a smutty part two but I haven't decided if I'm gonna write it yet or not. Also, tagging @lonely-north-star as requested in exchange for the cutest art I ever saw~

Mammon x Barbatos - okay you can read part two here it's smut lol

Warnings: nothing really this is mostly fluff - just some making out and a cameo by Little D No 2

Mammon pressed himself up against the wall of the castle as he crept down the massive hallway in the semi darkness. He knew the passages well enough by now, having mapped out the most important ones. This particular hallway would lead him to the vault if he followed it far enough. However, Mammon also knew this was the way to the kitchen.

Technically, he shouldn’t be here. He should be at the House of Lamentation working on that stupid report for Devildom Law. And yeah, he’d tried to write some of it. It took maybe five minutes before he was bored out of his mind and decided he had something more important to do.

He was so focused on the task at hand that he didn’t notice Little D No 2 until he was tripping over him.

“Ow, hey watch it!” No 2 protested.

“Shhh!” Mammon bent down to clasp a hand on No 2’s mouth.

“Mm-mm!” No 2 exclaimed.

“How many times do I gotta tell ya?” Mammon whispered. “I ain’t nobody’s papa! Now be quiet or he’ll hear you!”

A door opened and light spilled into the hallway, illuminating the scene. Barbatos looked about for a moment before spotting them.

Mammon stood up straight, No 2 still clasped in his hands.

Barbatos shook his head a bit. “Did you truly think I would not notice you sneaking by?”

“I wasn’t sneakin’!” Mammon said immediately.

No 2 kicked his legs. “Mm! Mm-mm-mm-mmmm!”

“Ya little traitor!” Mammon said.

“If you would please let Little D No 2 go,” Barbatos said calmly. “He has his own work to be getting to.”

No 2 groaned as Mammon put him down, surprisingly careful.

“But Mr. Barbatos!” No 2 exclaimed as soon as Mammon removed his hand from No 2's mouth.

“No arguments, No 2,” Barbatos said, though his voice was soft and there was a trace of a smile on his face. “You still have dusting to do, if I’m not mistaken.”

No 2 groaned again, but he scampered away down the hall as he did so.

Barbatos looked across the hallway at Mammon, who stayed where he was, frozen in uncertainty.

“You’re slipping, I fear,” Barbatos said. “Normally you make it quite a bit closer to the vault before being caught.”

Mammon folded his arms. “Yeah? Well if I’m slippin’, so are you. How long have ya known I was here? Didn’t even bother to come lookin’.”

Barbatos actually chuckled at this and Mammon was suddenly fighting down a blush. “My apologies,” Barbatos said. “I’m afraid I was unable to leave the cake I’m baking unattended in order to apprehend you.”

Mammon blushed harder and looked away. “Yeah, well, I ain’t here for the vault anyway.”

“No?” Barbatos asked and there was genuine confusion in his voice. “Then what has brought you here this evening?”

Mammon pulled a small packet out of his jacket pocket. “I-I happened to come across this. Know it’s pretty rare. Thought ya might appreciate it.”

Without even looking at Barbatos, Mammon crossed the space and put the packet in his hands.

“That’s all, I’ll see myself out,” Mammon said, as he turned away.

Barbatos caught his wrist.

There was a brief moment where neither of them moved or spoke. Mammon’s heart was racing.

“This is one of the rarest teas available in the Devildom,” Barbatos said quietly. “Did you really intend to give it to me without staying to sample a cup?”

Mammon gulped, still turned away. His wrist was tingling where Barbatos was still holding on. Barbatos wasn’t wearing his gloves, having taken them off while he was baking. The contact between their skin was both thrilling and terrifying.

Mammon turned around, effectively removing his wrist from Barbatos’s grip. “I-I mean, if ya want me to…”

“I would enjoy nothing more than serving tea to the Great Mammon,” Barbatos said.

Mammon looked up at him sharply. He was greeted by a teasing smile, but also a glimmer of genuine pleasure. Mammon took a deep breath and said, “That’s right! Of course ya want me to stay! I don’t mind stickin’ around for a bit, but ya better be grateful!”

Barbatos stepped aside to allow Mammon to enter the kitchen. “My gratitude knows no bounds.”

Mammon narrowed his eyes at Barbatos as he entered the kitchen and settled on a stool by the island counter. Barbatos went around to the other side with the packet of tea and began to prepare the tea pot.

Barbatos looked up at Mammon through the fringe of his bangs. "If you had no intention of stealing from the vault, why were you sneaking through the hallway in the dark? You should have let me know you were coming."

Mammon huffed. He was annoyed at how hot his face still was. He couldn't seem to calm down. "I just… wanted to surprise ya."

Barbatos chuckled. "Then you have succeeded," he said. "I am both surprised by the fact that you are not here to steal and by the rarity of the tea you've brought me. Do I want to know how you obtained it?"

"I didn't steal it," Mammon said instantly. His blush was gone now and he sat up straight. "I saw it for sale and Lucifer told me what it was. So I earned some extra cash by pickin' up a couple modelin' gigs, that's all."

Barbatos paused what he was doing to meet Mammon's eyes across the counter. "You would do that for me?"

Mammon knew this was his chance to be honest. For how long had he been playing this little game with Barbatos? How long had they been tip toeing around each other, never fully committing, never even acting like they were close. Mammon didn't know what was holding Barbatos back - propriety probably - but for him? It was the knowledge that this demon was too good for him.

Despite that, he wasn't afraid of being rejected. He knew better than that.

"Yeah," he said, easily, not breaking eye contact. "I would. I did."

The smile that spread across Barbatos's face was the most beautiful thing Mammon had ever seen. So often he saw the knowing smile or the indulgent smile, but this was a genuine expression of fondness. Like Barbatos had finally cast aside his mask to reveal how he truly felt.

"Thank you, Mammon," Barbatos said, simply.

Mammon's heart suddenly became noisy in his ears.

When the tea was ready, Barbatos poured them each a cup, then came around the counter to sit on a stool beside Mammon. He placed the cups in front of them.

Mammon took his cup, which was still quite warm. Steam rose from it, fogging up his glasses.

Barbatos shook his head, though he was smiling. He put down his own cup and reached across to take Mammon's glasses off himself. He put them down on the counter. "You really needn't wear your sunglasses indoors, wouldn't you say?"

Mammon was so stunned by this intimate gesture that he didn't know how to respond for a moment. "Y-yeah," he mumbled.

Barbatos sipped at his tea, then closed his eyes in satisfaction. "This is indeed a high quality blend. You must have paid quite a bit of Grimm for it."

Mammon shrugged. "Eh," he said noncommittally. He didn't care how much the tea had cost. Barbatos's smile and his satisfied expression was worth every Grimm.

Barbatos opened his eyes. "Eh?"

Mammon sipped at his own cup before responding. "It was worth it."

Barbatos seemed to understand what he meant, the part that he didn't say. Though it was often hard for Mammon to tell just what Barbatos was thinking. He was too good at masking his emotions. Mammon was aware of how Barbatos only ever let him see what he wanted Mammon to see.

Barbatos put his tea cup down on the counter and slid off his stool. Mammon looked at him curiously, once again unable to read his expression.

Barbatos took the cup from Mammon's hands and put it on the counter next to his own. Mammon let him, responding easily and without resistance.

And then Barbatos moved in between Mammon's knees and kissed him.

Mammon's eyes fluttered closed as he tasted the light flavor of the tea on Barbatos's lips. His hands reached out instinctively to pull Barbatos closer. Even as his heart was racing again and the blush had sprung back up, Mammon also wanted more of this.

To his surprise, Barbatos responded almost as eagerly, one hand on Mammon's waist, the other on his thigh. Mammon thought he would combust when he felt a light nip at his bottom lip, causing him to open his mouth.

The next few minutes was all heat and tongues and the lingering taste of tea. Mammon thought he'd fall off his stool because he felt so dizzy.

Barbatos pulled away for a moment and looked at Mammon with half lidded eyes. "Shall we take this somewhere more comfortable?"

It was a miracle that Mammon did not die on the spot. Instead, he let Barbatos lead him out of the kitchen. When Little D No 2 returned in search of his boss, he found nothing but two cold cups of expensive tea and a pair of yellow tinted sunglasses.

worth it part two | masterlist | Thank you for reading!

[labyrinthofpassion]

I made a 4 hour 9-1-1 deep dive because this show cured my depression (sort of.) anyone in this thread seen Step Up: All In?

[starry-bi-sky]

how do you clone a fey? that's trick question; and fey love those!

@the-navistar-carol (<333) brought up a good point while I was talking about my changeling danny au with her -- Dani! How would she exist in this au? Danny's a changeling - a fae. How would Dani, a clone of him, be created? How do you make a fey? Not through any means that Vlad is doing; you can't make a fey through unnatural means, considering the Fair Folk are nature. And Vlad's not a fey himself -- he's a halfa, even if he could make a fey, it's not in his best interest too. He's a powerful ghost, but even the weakest fae can overpower the strongest ghost. He won't want a clone of Daniel to be more powerful than him.

(In a three tier hierarchy it goes Ancients -> Fae/Mythos -> Ghosts. They all live in the Infinite Realms, but on different Planes. The fae live above the Ghost Zone in the Fey Wild, while the Mythos live beside the Wilds or down in the ghost zone depending on where they are. Places like the Frozone, the Athens Acropolis, and other such large islands climb throughout all three Planes.)

(While Ghosts can travel into the Fey Wild, its generally advised against as the ectoplasm tends to manifest differently there due to close contact magic. It can make it rather disorientating for a ghost, and as human spirits, the Fae living there would jump them faster than they could blink. So unless you're willing to play mind games with 'steal thy name eat thy face' fae, most ghosts keep out of the way of the Wilds. Fey can travel down into the Ghost Zone, they just don't bother.)

That's of course, not taking into account if Vlad even knows Danny's a fae himself. Vlad doesn't ring me as someone who really cares much about ghost culture or the going ons of the GZ. He might be aware that fae exist, but the moment he realizes he can't use them for personal gain he just doesn't bother with them. The risk is greater than the reward, and he'd rather not get eaten. But lets assume he's aware by now that Danny is fey, and has to take that into account while cloning him.

So, how does Dani exist? Good question! Honestly; i'm not sure. She might not exist at all, or if she does, she's more halfa than fey. Vlad would need a lot of human dna and ectoplasm to balance out all that fae magic. He manages to steal DNA from Jack and Maddie to do it, and since Jack's fey ancestry is very dormant its much easier to use alongside Danny's DNA.

In turn, it results in a little girl whose more human-ghost hybrid than clone. With that little extra boost in fey magic making her not a fey, but still relatively powerful. Dani is less of a clone and more of a lab-grown little sister. It's a rather tedious, complex process that has Vlad tearing his hair out trying to figure out. But he does eventually figure it out.

[secriden]

WAIT.

What if Fadel goes on the run not, as I thought before, because the police are on to him/them.

But because he's trying to save Style from Bison????

Potential reasons why this could work:

Fadel seems way more conflicted about this than Bison in this scene

He's asking Bison what he, not they, are going to do. Although this could be a translation thing :'(

It explains why Style is with him but seemingly reluctant (at first) to be there.

Style not realising why Fadel is dragging him on the run/not fully understanding the danger he's in could explain the whole "handcuff to the bed" scene

It's Fadel that wants to stay and figure out if it is really Kant/Style. Bison was ready to vanish into the night.

Fadel has more reasons to forgive Style (Style didn’t know at first; Style has been dropping painfully obvious hints in context that he knew) and frankly a better disposition (less drastically emotional, more patient, more focused on finding solutions than dwelling on the problem) than Bison has to forgive Kant.

[bluewolfangel01]

Levi: "I don't understand why you like someone as pathetic as me, I'm not that good at anything other then being a nasty useless otaku, (insert more self degrading here)."

Mc: *blank faced, moving sneakily close to Levi and picks him up bridal style*

Mc: "Snake <3."

Levi: *Stunned silent, he doesn't move for a few moments, then his tail curls around Mc's leg, and leans into their touch.*

Levi: "Y-yeah...."

[moiraimyths]

TRUE FORMS FOR YOUR FAVE FATES JUST DROPPED 👀‼️

Shout out to our lovely character designer (tskazane on IG) for this depictions of our game dev personas ❤️

[midnightwind]

you guys like me going off on random DA tangents and musings, right?? because I've been awake too long so you're getting another one

I have been sat here trying to figure out Why Lucanis' prison looks like a bunch of ice and why it was so far away from the "lab" settings for a while now. (arguably two rooms fit this description, the one where Lucanis tells you about Zara and the one right outside his phylactery room) Like, even without that bridge being broken, it's in such a bizarre corner of the Ossuary. And I mean, it wouldn't really matter with a normal prisoner, but Lucanis was a notorious Crow and mage killer on top of that, plus he was Zara's special little guy to fuck with. You would not want to take him for a long walk to experience the worst shit on earth every few days. Maybe it's close enough to the little room where he mentions Zara and maybe she wanted him close to the door so she didn't have to go far to torture him, but again, leaving such a challenging subject close to the exit seems like a bad choice. You want him to have to get through so many guys and doors before escaping so you have time to take him down.

This also ignores the magic required to leave, but they're not clear on what that is and not all the Venatori are mages so there's gotta be a mundane way out he could snatch off a guard. I digress, the whole ice cage and far off room doesn't make sense. But we know they were shipping demons to Zara. (I'm pretty sure the few demons you confront in Minrathous were Zara's little pets set loose so we can assume she wanted them in the capital for the eventual Venatori coup on the crown) If Zara was about to be stuck in Minrathous for the foreseeable future, setting things into motion for Elgar'nan, I could see her wanting her pet Crow at her side. Especially if you consider the initial idea for Lucanis: he was going to be a mind controlled murder puppet before you break him out.

Sure, Spite didn't crack open his ribcage and crawl out like some new horror, but having a demon in Lucanis lets her control him via the phylactery if not just outright with her blood magic. Maybe his will was too strong for mundane control, but the phylactery works. We know it works based off of Lucanis' dialogue about it. So we know she had a surefire way to keep him under control. (There's a whole other post exploring the amount of dead Venatori and the fact that Lucanis still has his leathers and weapons [which would make sense if he was Zara's murder puppet, but alas] and whether Lucanis recently made a break for it or if the loose demons/spirits/undead killed them all) Maybe he kept his leathers because Zara wanted him presentable upon delivery, I don't know.

But I do think he was being prepped to move. The Ossuary is falling apart, Zara is pulling all the best results, they're losing personnel and servants without being given more; Zara was clearly moving on from that location. But she wanted her little Antivan prize. He's too dangerous to move normally, a Crow is likely to escape if given an inch especially a skilled one like Lucanis, so they need to lock him down somehow. Ropes and chains aren't reliable, not with a Crow, but he's not a mage. You can use magic. You can literally put him on ice. I think they were packaging him up in an ice cube and doing it next(ish) to the door so they could more easily move him. I think Zara was going to take him and his phylactery to Minrathous and use him to cause some absolutely ruthless mayhem in the city before her cult took it over.

I think Rook showing up weakened the spell being cast just enough for Lucanis and Spite to break out, and I think it saved a whole lot of lives.

[thelampisaflashlight]

Honey Sweet

Hidden beneath a layer of rain slick leaves, the ground is hard and cold with the first frost of the year, and when it comes up to greet him, Dew is briefly numbed from the impact by the shock of the earth's cool touch.

The pain sets in an equally electrifying fashion.

As he's scrambling to process the situation, head spinning, Alpha emerges from the trees, a husk of the ghoul Dew had known in those early days...

Gone are all things familiar, melted away and turned to ash and cinder; Dew recognizes him solely by smell, and even that has turned into something foul.

A feral ghoul is truly something horrifying... but, even as he stares down the burning beast, eyes wide, vision distorted by pin pricks of tears, Alpha stares back, gaze somehow...

"It doesn't have to be like this..." he says, still prone on the forest floor, unable to rise to his feet as the other begins to loom over him, "...You could go home. You could go peacefully."

The ghoul's jaw pops open and a plume of dark smoke -acrid and caustic as it wafts against Dew's face, it's enough to make him flinch- falls from his lips along with a hiss.

"...I'm sorry."

Dew blinks.

"I'm sorry." it groans, "Can't... Go... Help. Need help."

"Help...?" Dew echoes, "To do what?"

"Leave." Alpha pleads, "Can't go alone. Scared."

Scared...

Dew carefully shifts, dragging his palms along the ground, feeling the frost melt beneath his warm touch.

"Okay." he whispers, opening his arms for the corpse, breathing as the larger man crawls into his arms like a frightened child to its mother, "...Okay."

He isn't sure how he manages it, skirting his hands along Alpha's spine, spreading the cold soil across his back, the water held within clinging to what little of the man remains beneath the fire, but...

"You go back." Dew says, eyes watering, "You go back to the fields, the far lands where the wind blows ceaseless, and you become part of the grain itself. Make yourself anew..."

He tenses slightly as Alpha grips the back of his shirt with a trembling hand.

"Be in every bite of bread and sweet, sweet honey..." he says, feeling the body pressed to him begin to grow still, "Go home, Alpha."

There is no thank you or last goodbye to tell Dew the other is gone, it happens so gently, so kind, that he only notices when the weight in his arms lessens, and he is left only with the stains of ash and powdered bone across his chest.

...And then he weeps.

And then he weeps.

The walk home is long, and Dew's bones ache, the cold morning air seeping in from all the places his body man contact with the ground.

Home sits on the horizon, beyond the lake, through fields of endless wet grass, but as he shivers, he grows warmer, the sun falling upon him like a warm blanket.

It's been a long night, and a harsh dawn, but the morning looks clear and bright.

He shivers.

"Dew!" someone shouts from the stairs leading up to the abbey's doors, and only moments later, he feels the warmth of bodies around him, followed by the fawning and fretting of his pack.

He lets himself sink into it.

And then his stomach growls.

"...Bread with honey."

"H-Huh?"

"That's what I want for breakfast."

[warmfuzzyanimal]

Hello everyone, I really don't like asking for it, but it's undeniable that me and my housemates could use some help. We live in a very conservative area, and all of us are visibly queer. We're trying to raise funds to move somewhere safer, but the only way I can earn income safely is through art, as I've been threatened or put in harm's way due to my apparent trans-ness at every place I've worked at. My roommates face similar tribulations, living in the public eye here is simply unsustainable. There's more info on the going-ons of our situation in the gofundme, but if you can't afford to donate, sharing this post, my commission post, or the gofundme on my other social medias does so much in the way of getting us out of here.

if you'd rather donate directly, my paypal and kofi.

We are extremely appreciative of any help we can get, shares makes a huge difference.

AND, for your time, an image of our cat, Mr Mayor, who you would also be benefiting.

Thank you.