#Julia Burnsides vs Canon Lore

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9, 15, 20 for ao3 asks?

ao3 wrapped questions here!! <- send some in? :D

9. Favorite pairing you wrote for this year?

Romantic pairing? Blupjeans lol I think I wrote a lot more of them this year too than I did any other romantic pairing considering blupjeans week lol But like, other types of relationships, I think I've had the most fun this year writing Taako and Lup, Julia and Merle, and Julia and Taako

15. What WIP are you taking into next year with you?

I'm taking Julia Burnsides vs Canon Lore (a Julia survives Raven's Roost AU) and Double Troubles (an OC 8th bird AU) with me into next year and also the Kravitz origin story one lol That one isn't a chapter fic, but it is really really long lol I'm only two thirds through I think and it's a little over 10k words long

I'm also done with Here There Be Gerblins and Moonlighting for Julia Burnsides vs Canon Lore, and I'm halfway through the scenes I want to do for the interlude between those arcs and Murder on the Rockport Limited, so I'm really excited about that and that it's getting moving again! lol

20. Which work of yours have you reread the most?

That's hard to say because I generally reread a work a lot right after I post it and as people are reblogging it/commenting on it/leaving kudos/interacting with it in general, and then I don't really come back to it except on occasion lol I think the ones though that I'm particularly fond of from this year that I still go back to read fairly often are A Witness of Corruption, Broken Trust, One Last Dance, No Aliens on the Moon, Strength All Spent, and The Man Who Became the Hunger

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Done with chapter 5!! :D Now it's free style scenes before Murder on the Rockport Limited!!

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30?

ao3 wrapped questions here!! <- send some in? :D

30. Biggest surprise while writing this year?

I think it's a toss up between writing fewer fics overall in the entirety of this year than I did in the half of a year I wrote during last year and actually starting my long term wip Double Troubles lol

I got really disheartened by the fact that it looked like I was writing less this year, especially since I haven't really been doing anything else like I should have been doing, but then I remembered that for most of the year, I've been focusing on Julia Burnsides vs Canon Lore and then also Double Troubles for a short stint when I decided to write down my thought and some scenes for that. I haven't actually checked to see how much I've written this year that I just haven't published, so it could very well be way more than last year, but I honestly have no idea yet lol

And as for starting Double Troubles, it was at first a not very well fleshed out daydream I had for a long a while that I kind of slowly put aside that I never thought was going to get written down, let alone seen by other people, because I didn't think there would be an audience for an OC 8th bird fic and the OC is a self insert and the whole mortifying ordeal of being known and whatever, but @institute-of-planar-shitposts is writing her self insert OC 8th bird fic and shared a lot of her ideas and stuff with me and on tumblr (which you can find under my "Sunshine tag! :D" and idr if Sunny tagged her Sunshine posts with a specific tag, but you can find more information about her in her pinned post) and I thought it was really fun and cool, and she seemed to be having a lot of fun with it, and I thought the whole concept of Meadow was a really cool idea that I didn't really want to just leave to oblivion, so I told Sunny about it, and she encouraged me to write it, so now it's a thing! lol

Oh! I should also just mention this here since I brought it up, and I think you probably don't know much about either, you can find more information and passages I've shared for Julia Burnsides vs Canon Lore and Double Troubles under the tags "Julia Burnsides vs Canon Lore" and "Double Troubles"

I need to update my pinned post promoting those tags and other frequently used tags that could be helpful for people looking for specific content lol

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5, 10, and 18 for the ao3 wrapped?? (if any of these are double my bad!!)

ao3 wrapped questions here!! <- send some in? :D

I answered 5 in this post here, but the other ones are new!! :)

10. What work was the quickest to write?

Honestly? The Screams Came Back. That was written at around 11pm in a little under an hour I think and was a result of despair fueled energy. The one that I think I wrote the fastest this year that was not an extremely heavy handed vent fic was Advice for When it's Time to Say Goodbye. I think I also wrote that one in about an hour after I woke up from the dream it was based on lol The difference being that I left out the part where Davenport took Merle to a concert to try and cheer him up and ease his anxiety about going on the Wonderland mission, and it was also Merle's birthday?? And Davenport was slowly regaining his ability to speak, so he was able to get everyone at the concert to sing happy birthday to Merle, and I think the dream ended with Davenport being like, something is up with the Director, and we need to go stop her and figure out what lol

18. The character that gave you the most trouble writing this year?

I think I'm going to have to say Julia lol I didn't firm up what I wanted her personality and arc to look like until this year, and I kept getting stuck in rewriting hell on the first chapter and just left it alone for a little while because I was tired of not being happy with it. Then I started writing Double Troubles and just kind of fucking around with it and realized my problem with writing Julia Burnsides vs Canon Lore in general was that I was focused too much on trying to make it perfect and close to the podcast to try and keep everyone in character that that was the reason it wasn't coming out the way I wanted to and why I was getting so frustrated with it. Now it's been a lot easier to write her and her story, and I've finally made it past Here There Be Gerblins and Moonlighting, so hopefully I'll be able to keep up the momentum!

Still want to rewrite chapter 1 though now that I feel like I know what I'm doing, but the idea of doing it yet again is exhausting lol

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So @spookyprincetothesun added these tags to this post:

[Image ID: #op PLEASE talk about how you figured out the timeline I'm fascinated #taz #edit if he'd done Magnus first it would've been such cool foreshadowing for bringing Barry back though omg End ID]

And I thought I'd make it a separate post lol

(Also, you're super right about how great foreshadowing it would have been if Magnus came back first lol)

So, I figured out first that Midsummer would obviously be in June, right? Because that's when the summer solstice/midsummer is in our world, so that would be the equivalent reference for Faerûn. And the Suffering Game happens right before Midsummer because it was only a few days before the Hunger was due to arrive and a year after the festival.

Then during the interlude after SG, Griffin said it was about 14 months since their adventure began, which would have made Here There Be Gerblins happen in April of the previous year.

At the beginning of Murder on the Rockport Limited, Griffin said it was about 3 weeks since Phandalin which would have made that arc happen in around May

Then there's no specified time that he said Petals to the Metal happened during that arc, but he did say that the Crystal Kingdom happened a couple of months after Petals did. Crystal Kingdom happened on Candlenights, so that would be at the end of December, and two months before December is October.

Then at the beginning of the Eleventh Hour, he said it was a month or two after Crystal Kingdom, but he also said it was late winter/early spring. Bringing us to late February/early March. (I personally head canon that it happens early March because in writing the Julia Burnsides vs Canon Lore fic, I want to write a couple of scenes where the boys, Lucretia, and Davenport are dealing with the anniversary trauma of the Hunger and how Julia helps with that, and I wanted that to happen before TEH arc. And I head canon that to happen in also late winter/early spring because it doesn't make sense to me that the crew would have left on their mission on New Years like I've seen some people head canon that happening because New Years is a holiday, and it would be weird for the Institute to have them leave on a holiday. So I'm making that happen at the end of February)

Then, of course, Suffering Game is Midsummer, so the timeline is:

Here There Be Gerblins: April

Murder on the Rockport Limited: May

Midsummer Harvest Festival: June

Petals to the Metal: October

The Crystal Kingdom: December

The Eleventh Hour: late February/early March

The Suffering Game/Story and Song: June

(Also, as someone who lives in a desert, it is absolutely still hot in October, so Griffin's description of them sweating their balls off in the crate and out on the track still makes sense lol)

Thank you for coming to my TED talk lmao

Edit: Oh yeah! I guess I can talk about how long Lup was in the umbrella for too lol

So it had been ten years from when Lucretia erased everyone's memories to the start of the adventure right? And Lup disappeared about a year before that (because Griffin said that she left 14 months into being on Faerûn, and then the erasing happened 2 years into being on Faerûn.)

Then it took a little over a year to get to S&S which added all together would have made Lup being stuck in there for about 12 years lol

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*Sits down to describe Johann’s music from Julia’s point of view*

*Realizes Julia probably doesn’t play an instrument and does not know musical notation*

*Is someone with a pretty decent knowledge of music because I was in band for seven years and played an instrument on and off since I was 7*

Me: What is a regular person who does not know music’s normal amount of knowledge about it and how would they describe a song they are actively listening to in a way that conveys what the song is actually doing

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Characters Out of Context

➥ Include one character quote — of your choosing ⁠— from each chapter of your WIP (or as many chapters as you'd like).

➥ Give absolutely no context, save for what's between two parts of an interrupted sentence, should that occur. You may mention who said it.

Tagged by

@spuddlespud

Thank you for the tag!! :D

So I now have. Two multi-chapter fics going lskghsdlkgha I don’t have much written for the second one which is called Double Troubles, and I can talk more about that for anyone interested, but it’s basically an eighth bird AU except the eighth bird is an OC named Meadow, and they have a body in the Material Plane and a body in the Plane of Logic, and the two bodies share one consciousness that switches between the two when one body goes to sleep and the other wakes up.

Just thought I’d give that little bit of context because I’ve literally never talked about it even existing with anyone except Sunny lol

Also, most of the stuff I have written in the Julia AU is still random pieces of different points in the campaign, so I’m just going to pick a quote from each individual file I have saved lol

And this is all going under a read more because it’s gonna get long

Julia Burnsides vs Canon Lore

Prologue Memory: Steven Waxmen: “I want you to know that no matter what you decide, whether you're ready to do this or not, I'm always going to be here waiting for you.”

Chapter 1: Yeemick: “We got attacked by these four idiots who came to take back our captive. We managed to chase them off, but they said something about wanting to kill you, sir.”

Klaarg: “Oh, that's so weird because four of the loveliest people I have ever met came here, also looking for Barry Bluejeans, and they told me that you sent them to kill me!”

(I know I know, but I had to add Klaarg’s line too because that exchange is really funny slkghsdlgkh)

Chapter 2: Julia: “One, what is electronic dance music? And two, Kenny Chesney isn't that bad. My dad used to be a big fan too, but as far as I know, he wasn't a big enough fan to actually get him tattooed on his ass!”

Taking the Gauntlet and Going to the Moon: Taako: “I did a traveling cooking show called Sizzle it Up with Taako,” Taako says proudly. “And a TV, Julia, is...” His gaze gets a little unfocused as he scrunches his face up in confusion. “It's like... um... I remember there's moving pictures. It lets people see what people are doing from far away I think. That's why I say I'm from TV.”

Killian: “Are you talking about a telescope?”

Julia: “It kind of sounds like those video james Magnus talks about sometimes from his dreams. Doesn't it, babe?”

Meeting the Director: (this isn’t really dialogue, but it is a thought Julia has, so I’m counting it lol) Julia: Oh to be able to be slightly irritated at his ego again instead of full on wanting to murder him, it truly is a blessing.

Lunch Conversation with the Director: Julia: “It's a long time ago now. I just...” She sighs. “I just wish I knew sooner, you know? I understand why everything had to be erased, but it makes it harder knowing in retrospect. Now I'm mourning them again, but it hits a little harder this time around.”

Briefing Before Rockport: Julia: “If she thinks I'm gettin' dress for this, she's sorely mistaken.”

Petals to the Metal Elevator Incident: Julia: “Don't worry, it is plenty impressive for me, babe.” She smirks at the way Magnus' face goes even redder and ignores the other boys cackling behind her. “Should we go up to the vault now?”

Julia’s First Conversation with Leon: Leon: “I don't think it's supposed to make sense to people like us. If it did, we probably wouldn't be here trying to do our part to save the world.”

Lucretia Confronts Them about RR Crystal Kingdom: Julia: “We have the Stones, Merle. And Director, I– I'm sorry, but even if we did try to run away, there weren't many options of places for us to go. He stopped time, or at least, he stopped Lucas and Killian and Carey and Noelle from moving and perceiving time while he was there, so there wasn't anyone we could turn to for help, and our other option was to run out of the room to a crystallized central hallway with almost all of the airlocks shut down. We couldn't go anywhere, and even if we did have a place to hide, it would have been a waste of time to wait for him to leave, and we might not have been able to stop the crystal from spreading.”

Julia Catches Taako Crying After Refuge: Taako: “When I was with the Chalice, some parts of the memories of my childhood looked like static, and I can't help but wonder if the dreams really aren't just another aspect of myself that I've projected as being another person and they actually are something or someone missing. So I started writing a letter to them. Or me. Or whoever or whatever this dream person is.”

Magnus and Julia Talk to Fisher: Julia: “We're going to find out what happened to it. I promise.”

Julia Talks to the Red Robe: Barry: “There's a thing coming. The thing I've been warning you guys about. The hunger of all living things. It'll be here soon, and our only hope of stopping it lies with, well...” The Red Robe looks uncomfortable for a moment. “You were never supposed to get caught up in the equation, Julia, and I am truly sorry for that. None of this was even supposed to happen. But we're here now, and this is happening, so I guess we have to make do with the cards we're dealt with.”

Julia Talks to Magnus About [redacted]: Merle: “You just admitted that you put ketchup on spaghetti when you don't have immediate access to any form of tomato sauce or don't feel like making it.”

Magnus: “I've seen you eat dirt, Merle, so you're one to talk!”

Wonderland Catwalk Scene: Julia: “Leave Taako alone,” Julia says with a shake of her head. She glares at the stupid mannequins and the stupid catwalk with its stupid spotlight shining down on it. “I'll get up there and strut.”

Julia Hears the Story and Song: Julia: “You literally know way more than I do, Merle. You know who the lich that came out of Taako's umbrella is who is apparently his sister I'm assuming?” Magnus nods, so she continues. “I'm assuming you know what's in the sky and currently destroying the world–”

Magnus: “Yup, it's called the Hunger.”

Julia: “According to the Director, you... you're... all of you are from a different reality?” Julia exclaims, and Magnus hums in agreement. “And, what is hap–”

Julia Talks With Leon After S&S: Leon: “You know, your husband is like a roach, you know that right?”

Julia’s Conversation with Taako After S&S: Taako: “I grew up with Lup. Yes. But where the fuck was she for the past twelve years, Julia? Because it certainly wasn't with me!” Taako tries to stand angrily, but as he puts weight on his legs, he curses before sitting back down. “And everyone else! Where were they? Spread all across Faerûn because someone couldn't fucking handle being wrong! Because that person couldn't fucking handle holding a conversation!”

Double Troubles

Chapter 1: Taako: "Fine, if you don't want them, then Merle and I will eat them, and you can just have the stale ass bread."

Chapter 2: Meadow: "Um, yeah actually. I uh– I got back into contact with some old friends in the past couple of days, and just yesterday, I actually got back into contact with a friend I have been trying to reach for a really long time.”

Chapter 3: Merle: “Gundren could be dead by the time we get there, but that's just my opinion.”

Chalice Scene: June/Chalice: “This lead to your fateful argument where you failed to convince her to take off the Amulet, and she used it against you to completely take over your will.”

Tagging

@institute-of-planar-shitposts @holdmecloser-gandydancer @barry-j-blupjeans @noodyl-blasstal  @yaboyspodcastpalace @lexarga @phantasmagoric-acquaintance @taakosleftshoe @idkanameatall and anyone else who wants to do it!! :D

and if you don’t want to do it, no pressure :)

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I was tagged by @yaboyspodcastpalace to find some words in my wips!! :D

Thank you!!! <3

Also, this is really long, so I’m putting it under a readmore lol

So for “heart”, I’ve got something from my Kravitz fic about his origin story lol >:3

“Jaclyn and Kravitz, by order of the Raven Queen, I charge you both with multiple accounts of various necromancy crimes including the ritual you are doing right now. Please step out of the circle, now.”

Kravitz and his mom, Jaclyn, look over at the skeletal figure in the flowing black robe that had just stepped out of a tear in space. They're holding a scythe raised in the air, ready to strike, and their eyes are glowing red with anger.

“What do you mean the ritual we're doing right now?” Kravitz asks in confusion. “We were just–” Then he stops himself as his heart sinks. He should've seen this coming. He had seen this coming, but he faltered in his judgment again when he knows. He knows it always ends this way with his mom.

He drops the basket of bleached chicken bones as he rounds on the old woman standing next to him. He clenches and unclenches his fists as he fights back tears. “What ritual did you drag me into doing this time?!” he demands.

“I promise it's just a religious ceremony to bless my body and prepare me for death,” Jaclyn says in her cracked and sickly voice. “I have no idea what they are talking about.”

Kravitz clenches his fists again and holds them tight. “You're lying. I knew you were lying to me.” He steps closer to her, and his figure looms over her frail and withering frame. “What ritual did you drag me into doing?”

The skeletal figure laughs sourly. “Are you telling me you really don't know, Kravitz?”

Kravitz rounds on them again, and he blinks angry tears out of his eyes. “No, I don't,” he spits. “She used to drag me into doing this shit all of the time, but I never actually studied it because I hated it! I thought I had finally gotten away from it! I thought–” His voice cracks, and his breath catches in his throat.

“You thought what?” the skeletal figure asks forcefully, but there is a waver in their voice.

Kravitz tries to get a hold of his breathing. “She told me she was dying. She told me she was just getting ready for burial when she finally did kick it.”

The figure lowers their scythe a little. “She is preparing her body for death, Kravitz. You're helping your mom turn into a lich.”

I’m probably going to go back and add some more descriptors of the ritual circle because I have new ideas of what it looks like and what the ritual involves even though it’s basically not really shown lol

For “Moon”, I’ve got a bit from the scene where Julia and the gang destroy the Gauntlet! (Also, sorry it’s such a long passage, but I wanted to include the part where they present the umbrella to Lucretia lol >:3

Julia, Magnus, Taako, and Merle are shown into the foyer of the biggest dome on the moon, and on the ground, there's a carpeted runway leading into a throne room and up to a dais. On the dais is a throne, and as the four of them walk closer, they can see the person sitting on the throne is a dark skinned human woman, probably in her early to mid fifties, dressed in a very ornate blue and white robe. She's holding a plain looking white oak staff that Julia side eyes for a second. It's got a weird vibe too. Or maybe it's just residual weird vibes from the gauntlet. It could also be that she's paranoid. Yeah, it's probably the last two now that she thinks about it.

She takes her eyes off it to look back up at the woman as they reach the dais, and the woman smiles and says, “Welcome, the four of you, to the Bureau of Balance. Uh, it's a pleasure to have you. I've– I've heard a lot of great things about your performance from Killian. Um– Before we go any further, I'm– I'm going to need you to hand over the gauntlet so we can destroy it promptly.”

The thing that's annoying Julia the most about this whole gauntlet business is that she can no longer trust her gut feelings. The gauntlet's got her gut in a choke hold, and she can't tell if her immediate panic and distrust of this woman has to do with the valid fear of if she's lying to them and what she could do with it if they give it to her or if it has to do with the gauntlet trying to reach her from Taako's bag. She squeezes Magnus' hand slightly, and he squeezes hers back.

“Really,” Magnus says. “Well for one, it's our gauntlet–”

“Yeah,” Merle cuts in. “You see, that's the kind of business we're in. You know, we kind of get stuff, and people pay us for it.”

Is payment really the first thing they should be concerned about? Julia sighs a little. She would do anything to get rid of the stupid thing as soon as possible as long as the director's on the level, but considering how low her and Magnus' funds are currently, it would be really great if they could wiggle their way into payment she relents.

“Oh you will be paid,” the director says. “You will be paid very very handsomely. Um–”

“That's the kind of thing people say when by 'paying us' they mean 'kill us',” Taako says.

“Yeah, can we get some kind of guarantee that you're not going to do that?” Julia asks.

“Yeah, no that's not how the Bureau operates. I'm not going to kill you. Uh, just give me a moment.” She claps her hands and looks to the side of the room. “Davenport!”

A very finely dressed gnome walks out of a doorway, holding a tray with a coin purse sitting on it. “Davenport!”

The director smiles at him and says, “Go ahead and pay them, Davenport.”

Davenport nods and walks over to them. Magnus grabs the coin purse, and Julia says, “Thank you.”

Davenport smiles and nods before walking away and back through the doorway he came from.

“Thank you,” Magnus says, looking back up at the director. “And secondly– wait, what's your name, madam?”

“That's actually classified, but–”

“Then how should we address you?” Magnus asks, cutting her off.

“Uh, the Director is fine. Or Madam Director is fine also.” The Director says.

“Right, uh, Madam Director, I'm happy to destroy the gauntlet, but I would like to be present while it is destroyed, so I can confirm–”

“Oh yes, I imagine you would. It'll be quite spectacular.” The Director says.

“One moment, could you – could you maybe, tell us about the organization first? Like, why should we trust you? Anything?” Julia says.

“Yeah, we did just see it destroy an entire town. I'd rather know more about who we're giving it over to before we just do that.” Taako says with his arms crossed.

“Right, I can see why you'd be trepidatious. Um, the– the Bureau of Balance is a sort of disarmament organization whose sole purpose is to make the world safer by collecting and destroying certain destructive, powerful artifacts we call the Grand Relics. Artifacts such as the gauntlet in your possession right now.” The Director explains.

“Gotcha,” Magnus says.

“Sounds good to me!” Taako exclaims.

“Since this is a really powerful artifact, how exactly do you plan on destroying it?” Julia asks with an eyebrow raised.

The Director waves her hand toward the side of the room where there's a long curtain drawn across the wall. A guard walks over and draws back the curtain to reveal a large window overlooking an enormous chamber with a raised platform. “We're going to put the gauntlet in a large ball and wheel it in there, and then we'll turn on the lasers built into the walls. The lasers will be beamed into the ball, and when the process is finished, the gauntlet will be destroyed.”

Julia glances over at Taako. “Does that sound solid? I don't know much about magic.”

“Hell yeah! Let's get this thing destroyed!” Taako says.

Another guard walks to the back wall the dais is up against and walks through a door. Then they come back out with a cart and a heavy looking lead sphere with a glass window door that they pop open. “Plop that bad boy right in there!”

Taako snorts, but he pulls out the gauntlet and puts it in the ball. The guard wheels the ball into the chamber before picking it up and placing it on the platform. When they leave the chamber, the Director takes her staff and walks over to the window, gesturing for the other four to follow. They walk up to the window, and the Director taps her staff against the glass. The ball starts to float in the air, and bright pillars of light shoot out from the walls, stabbing into the sphere. After about a minute or so, the beams shut off, and the sphere lowers slowly to the ground. As that happens, Julia feels an immense weight get lifted from her chest. The residual nausea from being around the gauntlet is gone, and she can feel her whole body relax for the first time in hours. Thank fuck.

The guard wheels the cart back in and places the ball onto it before wheeling it back out. The guard winks at them and says, “That's one spicy meatball!”

They laugh as the guard opens the sphere's door, and inside it's empty. As the guard starts rolling it away again, Julia swears she can hear Taako mutter under his breath, “Spicy meat?” She looks over at him, and he seems a little lost in thought.

The Director turns to them and says, “The Phoenix Fire Gauntlet you just destroyed is responsible for some of the worst atrocities this world has ever known. You should be very proud of yourselves.”

“Oh, speaking of magic items, do you know anything about the umbrella Taako has?” Magnus asks.

They all look over at Taako who shakes his head and says, “Oh yeah! Here.” He pulls out the umbrella from his bag and hands it over to the Director.

The Director's eyes go wide for a split second, and her face seems to go through about a half dozen different emotions at once before settling on neutral professionalism. “Um, no, unfortunately I don't know anything about this umbrella. Our artificer, Leon, might though. Out of curiosity, where did you get this?”

“We found it on a dead guy in a cave. The same cave we found that gauntlet actually. Seems like Gundren was kind of right. Maybe the vault didn't have all of the magical armaments and artifacts that was supposed to be there, but there were the two things.” Taako says in kind of an amused way. He takes the umbrella back and puts it in his bag.

The Director looks down for a second and mutters something that sounds a lot like of course she would, but Julia can't be certain. She takes a breath to prepare to ask her about it and if she's sure she doesn't recognize the umbrella, but Merle speaks up first.

“So you called the gauntlet a 'Grand Relic', right? What's that about?”

For “Dream”, I’ve got a little bit of Suffering Game angst from Julia Burnsides vs Canon Lore lol >:3 (I’m gonna rewrite this a little bit eventually though because I used a lot of direct quotes since it’s mostly just a place holder scene for what I actually want to write. I just wrote it because the idea of how Julia would react wouldn’t let me go lol)

They all make it into the room, and Julia looks behind her to see the worm about to smash into the door when the door slams shut and disappears. She slumps against Magnus, shaking slightly as she breathes heavily, and Magnus puts an arm around her comfortingly. “We're almost out,” he murmurs. “We just need to figure out how to get out of... here.”

Julia turns slightly to look around the room. It's another circular chamber, but it's way bigger than the rooms they've been in before. Magnus steps further into the room, and she hesitantly follows. Looking back behind her again as she gets further away from the wall separating the previous room with this one, she can tell that it's actually a featureless cylinder. One of many wrapping around a huge central staircase, with the only thing on it being a label that reads Merle, Taako, Magnus, Julia, Cam.

“Come on, guys, I think... I think this is where we need to go next.” Julia looks at Magnus as he gestures to the circular staircase. It climbs about twenty feet up to a circular platform in the center of the chamber. A perfect spot for a final fight in one of those video james Magnus talks about sometimes from his dreams.

Taako and Merle walk a bit closer to him and the stairs. “You think the bell would be up there?” Taako asks.

“Well, it's not down here,” Magnus says with a shrug.

Cam floats a little further away from all of them and clears his throat. “Uh, listen, guys. It looks like you all are going to get out of here, and I hope you find what you're looking for before you do, but I uh... I think I'm going to part ways with you now.”

“What?” Magnus asks in disbelief as they all turn to stare at him.

“It's... It's like I said, Magnus, I'm a living disembodied head. I'm pretty sure the only reason why I'm alive is because Wonderland is keeping me alive eternally just to pump more suffering out of me, so if I leave with you all, I'm toast.”

Julia laughs a little unhumorously, and Magnus takes a few steps toward him, eyes narrowed. “Wait, so you'd rather– let me get this straight– you'd rather stay in here, as a head, forever, in a place that feeds on suffering, rather than go with us and be free from this.”

Cam bites his lip. “To be free from this place that's keeping me alive. Yeah, that doesn't sound good either, Magnus.”

Julia feels anger building in her chest and behind her eyes as Taako asks, “Why did you come with us then and make us take all those extra punishments?”

“I thought I could help y'all get out of here, and I did!” Cam says in an attempt at a self congratulatory voice. “Gooo Cam!”

“I mean, you cast a spell!” Taako says indignantly. “Two!”

“Yeah, I provided some sage guidance! Let's not split hairs–”

“All the sage guidance you gave us was back when we first met you!” Julia seethes. “And most of it we either already pretty much figured out or we could have figured out on our own!”

“Again, that's splitting hairs–” Cam tries, but that only makes her angrier.

“It's not splitting hairs when you had us under the assumption that we were helping each other! We didn't need to take you with us! If you wanted to just stay here, why on earth did you ask for us to suffer more for you?” she demands.

She takes a few more steps toward him as he floats backward away from her, but then she feels Magnus' arms wrap around her and stop her from cornering him. “Jules, it doesn't matter,” he says quietly. “The damage has already been done.”

“Okay, I see that this conversation isn't going to go down well, so I'm going to go hide out somewhere, I guess,” Cam says nervously. “Thanks for trying to rescue me and all that, and when you see Lucretia–”

Magnus stiffens and straightens up. “Now, hold on, Cam! I'm just going to stop you there, we successfully rescued you. You're refusing to be rescued. This is not a failure on our part.”

“Yeah, fuck it. Put him in your Pocket Workshop, Maggie.” Merle says with his arms crossed.

“Please don't throw me back in your Pocket Workshop,” Cam says quickly. “When you see Lucretia, tell her... I don't know. Make up something... heroic for me I guess.”

“Nope!” Merle says.

“Are you–” Julia tries to fight her way forward, but Magnus holds her fast. “The audacity–”

“Hey, Tam?” Taako says, cutting her off.

“It's Cam,” Cam says.

“Right, Cam? I'll make you a deal!” Taako says in a little singsong voice.

Cam laughs nervously. “Alright, but it's gonna have to be a pretty sweet one.”

Taako snorts. “If you let me kill you, you can live in my waaaand!”

That breaks Julia out of her building rage enough to make her snort.

“No, no I don't want that at all!” Cam says, laughing nervously again as he begins to back away some more.

Taako and Merle step closer to him as Taako says, “My umbrella will eat you–”

Merle laughs as he finishes Taako's sentence: “And you'll live forever!”

“You'll live forever in service to meeee!” Taako shakes his umbrastaff at Cam. “Imagine the possibilities!”

“No, I'm good. Thanks though.” Cam says, backing up even more.

“No wait, Cam?” Julia says, and he turns to look at her.

She pauses for a second to consider. Somewhere deep down under the turbulent ocean of her darkest fears and deepest anger, she does feel some sympathy toward Cam and his situation.

Unfortunately, she decides, she's not in the mood to listen to that part of herself.

Somewhere to the left of that place is her usually strong sense of morality. Forcing Cam to die instead of letting him make his own decision, no matter what he did or did not do, is wrong on a lot of levels.

Even more unfortunately, she decides that in this moment, she doesn't care about that either.

“Taako,” she says coldly while keeping eye contact with Cam. “You're going to need all of the magical potency you can get if we're going to really make it out of here. Just fucking kill him.”

“Taako, don't,” Magnus says quickly as he pulls her back a couple of paces. “Your staff already ate Wankins' wand. We should just focus on getting out of here.”

Julia glances at Taako, and he looks at Cam long and hard. Cam squirms a little under the scrutiny of his gaze.

Finally, he sighs and flips his umbrastaff over his back. “Can I have my wand back?”

Cam sighs in relief. “Yeah, hang on.” He wiggles around a little to get the wand to fall from his ear and into his mouth before he flings it at Taako.

Taako catches it and puts it in his bag. “Thanks.”

“Yeah, good luck!” Cam floats away and skulks behind the cylinder that they all came out of.

Merle sighs as Magnus hesitantly lets go of Julia. “We're never picking up another hitch hiker.”

“Agreed,” Taako and Julia say at the same time.

“Yeah, let's just find the bell and get out of here,” Magnus says.

Okay! I’m gonna tag @holdmecloser-gandydancer, @barry-j-blupjeans, @institute-of-planar-shitposts, @noodyl-blasstal, and anyone else who wants to do it! :D and your words are stars, light, and dark lol

[liltaz-asatreat]

Finished chapter 4 of Julia Burnsides vs Canon Lore!!!

I can't wait until I get to start posting, but I'm literally not even done with Moonlighting dhskfhalfhaldhal :3

I might reblog a word finding ask game soon, so I can share what I've written so far lol

[liltaz-asatreat]

🌹🌹 I'm excited!

Barry crosses his arms and taps his foot impatiently. “Can you... cut more? Can we do more holes? I thought you guys were like big brave heroes, and you're just like, it's like a child getting a booster shot over here.”

“Yeah, eat me, Barry,” Merle says irritatedly.

“He's got a point, and you were the one who offered up your own blood,” Magnus says.

“I don't want to cut anymore of my hand, Magnus! I need my hands to cast spells and shit.” Merle says.

“Then do an arm or something! Clearly your finger isn't enou–” Taako says, but Merle cuts him off.

“Fine! Pan damn it!” Merle stabs at the top of his hand with the fork in anger. “Ow! Son of a–”

“I've got one order of pancakes right here for you, and– oh my gods! Are you okay?”

The five of them look up to see the waitress standing by their table with plates of food stacked up on her arm. She's looking at Merle with concern, and he just glares at her.

“Yeah, yeah, I'm fine.” He smears his hand over the parchment before letting Barry move it aside and out of sight. “Just a little hangry, I guess.”

“Right. Do you... need a napkin?” the waitress asks tentatively.

“I've got bandages, don't worry,” Julia says. She puts her bag in her lap and rifles through it as the waitress puts their food down on the table.

“Um, the breakfast sampler will be out in just a few minutes,” the waitress says, and Magnus nods at her.

“Thanks.”

[liltaz-asatreat]

Baked Or baking appearing in any wip?

You can find the ask game here! :D (Feel free to send something in if you want!!)

I have exactly one "baked" in all of my files for all of my wips lol

Unfortunately it's part of a scene I've already shared before, but idk if you've read it, so this might be a new one for you!! :D

From Julia Burnsides vs Canon Lore:

Leon tilts his head in thought for a second. “I'm not too sure of something that could be made to dampen the effects of the Relic's power directly, but...” He pauses to think some more. “To take over someone's will, that falls under enchantment magic, so all of them must have that baked into them as well. I don't think I can make something quite strong enough to cancel out the thrall completely, the Relics are just too powerful, but since you and the boys are already somewhat resistant to their power for what ever reason, I think I might be able to make something that can dampen enchantment magic in general. That should make it easier to collect them without you all losing your heads.”

[liltaz-asatreat]

🌹

!!! :D

“Maybe you should go ask your tattoo artist if you ever gave them an explanation, or– and this may be an even better idea– ask them why they decided that giving black out drunk people extremely specific and detailed tattoos is a good idea!” Taako says before cackling.

Magnus and Julia laugh too, and Merle's eyes get a little unfocused. “Good questions, but I think I got these tattoos done years ago. I don't even remember who did them.”

“Well that sucks,” Julia says, and Merle shrugs.

“I'm not complaining, they're really good tattoos. Whoever did them is a really good artist. It's just weird.” Merle shakes his head and then smiles. “I haven't even told you all about my favorite tattoos!”

“What's your favorite?” Magnus asks.

“Is it something of another board game you don't play?” Taako teases, and Merle laughs.

“No! I've got one on my left butt cheek that is of Kenny Chesney's face, and on my right butt cheek is one that says 'She thinks my', and then there's a picture of a tractor and an apostrophe and an s, and then the word 'sexy'.”

Merle looks up at the other three with a proud smile on his face as they all look at him in stunned silence. Then they all burst out laughing, and Merle frowns. “What?”

[liltaz-asatreat]

🌹 🌹 !!

:D!!

Ask game here!!

These are both from Chapter 2 of Julia Burnsides vs Canon Lore :D

1. “I also have a willow tree with the colors of a sunset in the background on my thigh,” he slaps his left thigh with a large grin on his face. “That's for my family and my home after I decided to leave and explore the world and spread the word of Pan. The weird thing though is that the color of the sunset is a blue-green color with some light purple in the mix?” He laughs again and shakes his head. “Guy must have been color blind or somethin'. Either way, it's still a fantastic piece of art.”

(The different color sunset is from the minimal research I did about the colors of sunsets on other planets with different colored skies and came to the conclusion it would probably be the color of light frequencies a little bit above the regular purple which could honestly be completely wrong, but it's a fantasy world so shh lol)

2. “Magnus, what are you–?”

Before she can finish her sentence, he whips the chain around the spider's left legs, and he trips it, causing it to fall onto its side.

“Babe, you didn't have to deal with this!” Julia says as Magnus raises his ax. “You could have gone for Magic Brian!”

“But I had this idea to keep it from attacking you, and no amount of fear is going to stop me from protecting you.” He carves out some of its eyes, and the spider hisses in pain.

“Magnus, I love you so much, but you are an absolute idiot sometimes.”

(This moment was born brought to you by the fact that if Magnus attacked Magic Brian, Magic Brian wouldn't have attacked Taako, and he wouldn't have nearly killed him, leading to him not being able to discover cheese lol Or have his abracafuckyou moment)

[liltaz-asatreat]

🌹

They move to the left side of the entrance a few seconds before they hear footsteps coming up the stairs. The three gerblins from the stage room, including Yeemick, walk into the room, and Klaarg smiles for a second before it morphs to a look of shock and concern. “Oh my gods, Yeemick! What happened to you?”

Yeemick eyes him warily. “We got attacked by these four idiots who came to take back our captive. We managed to chase them off, but they said something about wanting to kill you, sir.”

“Oh, that's so weird because four of the loveliest people I have ever met came here, also looking for Barry Bluejeans, and they told me that you sent them to kill me!” Klaarg says, and then he laughs.

Yeemick scowls. “I would never do such a thing, sir!”

“I know! It sounded so ridiculous when they said it, but they were insistent that it was true!” Klaarg says.

[liltaz-asatreat]

📝 & "love" :)

Another one from the Julia survived Raven’s Roost AU!! Which you can find here!!

---

As Julia drifts between semi-consciousness and sleep, she feels the bed move slightly, and the warmth of Magnus' arm around her waist leaves her. She turns over and reaches for her husband only to find empty air as the bed creaks again which is enough to wake her up a little more. She opens her eyes and squints in the darkness to find Magnus creeping toward their bedroom door. “Honey, where you going?” She asks, slurring her words.

Magnus freezes before turning to face her. “I'm just going for a walk, Jules. I'll be back soon.”

There's a waver in his voice. Something's wrong. Something's been wrong since Refuge, and maybe if she wakes up enough, she'll actually be able to finally get something from him.

Julia sits up in bed and rubs her eyes tiredly. “Magnus, I know something's been eating at you since Refuge. What's going on? You hardly sleep or eat, and you've been quieter than usual. Please, let me help.”

Magnus hesitates. Then he folds his arms over his chest and leans against the wall by the door. “Julia...” His voice trails off, and he looks down at his feet. “Do you... do you think I'm a bad person?”

Now Julia is wide awake. What could have brought up something like this? “No, of course not, babe! Is this about the loops we went through in Refuge?”

Magnus shakes his head. “No, and... I don't mean now currently... I guess. But... do you think I'm capable of being a bad person? In the past?”

Julia thinks for a minute. “Everyone is capable of being a bad person, Magnus. It just depends on the choices you make. You generally make a lot of choices that help people and have saved lives. I wouldn't necessarily say that some of those choices were good choices because you definitely put yourself in a lot of dangerous positions needlessly.”

Magnus chuckles at that.

“But most of the time you make choices to do good, and you've done that since the day I've met you. I can't imagine that wouldn't be true of the choices you've made before then.” Julia continues softly.

Magnus stays silent for a moment. “What about choices that I don't remember making? Do you...” He trails off again before trying again. “Do you think I'm capable of making decisions that might hurt people that I forgot later?”

His voice cracks a little at that, and Julia leans over to turn on the lamp on her nightstand. She blinks a little at the sudden light before looking back up at her husband. Magnus has tears slowly falling down his face. “Magnus, love, come here.” She opens her arms wide, and Magnus moves away from the door to sit down next to her. She wraps her arms around him, and he leans into her as he wraps his arms around her too. “Is this about the static the Chalice showed you?” She asks as she rubs circles into his back.

He stiffens slightly. “No– Well... yes? It is sort of about that, but...” He pulls away from her to look at her properly, and she can see the anxiety bordering on actual fear in his eyes. “If... If I show you something, will you keep it secret?”

“Yeah, of course I will,” Julia says automatically. What could be so bad that he's this afraid of it?

“And...” Magnus pauses again. “I– I don't want you to think less of me.”

“Magnus, there's nothing you can show me that will make me think less of you,” she assures him.

He nods stiffly before standing up. He walks around to the other side of the bed and opens his nightstand before pulling out a tube. He walks back over to her and sits down, looking at the tube in his hands. He takes a shaky breath, still without looking at her, and he opens the tube, pulling out the two pieces of paper inside. He hands them both to Julia who takes them and unfurls them. “June gave me this after the big bubble went down. I went to go check up on her, and... I swear I don't know anything about this or what this is supposed to even mean. But before I opened it, I heard the Red Robe's voice in my head, and he told me not to open it because if I did, he wouldn't be able to protect me.”

Julia snorts at that, but she's mostly preoccupied by the pictures of the statue designs of the Red Robe that brought Jack and June to Refuge. Her eyes swim over the page with Magnus on it, and her brain gets a little foggy. She tries to push past it, but the harder she tries, the more her brain hurts. “Is this why you didn't want to tell the Director about our encounter with him?” She asks gently.

She looks up to see Magnus nod. “I didn't... I don't...” He shakes his head. “I need to find out what this means, if I can, and I need to find out why the Red Robe thinks he's protecting me and who he's trying to protect me from. My first guess is the Director, and even though I still think there's things she's hiding from us, she's never been a danger to any of us. My next guess is... maybe it has something to do with that long period of static?” He looks at her, and she nods to let him continue. “This definitely feels like– like...” He struggles for a moment to find words. “Like how when Killian or Magic Brian talked to us about the relics and the Bureau before we got inoculated. And you know, the long period of static is literally static, but... it– it shouldn't be like that, right?”

“Right,” Julia affirms. “We should be able to understand everything. The Voidfish can't suppress anything if we've drank its water.”

Magnus nods. “So I was– I was going to go down to see it. Every time I've gone to visit it, it seems to really like me, and I kind of feel like it's been trying to communicate something to me too?”

Julia thinks about that for a minute. “Ooookay. But– hmm...” She pauses. “How do you think you're going to be able to have a conversation with it? As far as I'm aware, it doesn't speak Common or Elvish or any humanoid language.”

Magnus shrugs. “I know it's a long shot, but it wouldn't hurt to try, right?” He asks uncertainly.

“Yeah, I suppose you're right.” Julia glances down at the statue designs again before rolling them up and handing them to Magnus who slides them back into the tube. “Do you want me to come with you?”

Magnus hesitates for a second. “Would you? Please?” He adds a little quieter.

Julia nods and wraps her arms around him again before placing a gentle kiss on his temple. “Of course.”

[liltaz-asatreat]

📝 and the word "sweet" :O? n if you dont have that, then "brother" :O?? -ise

My long fic idea that I’m working on: Anyone want a Julia went with Magnus to the competition in Neverwinter, and now she’s adventuring with him AU? :3

(This is what I need to completely rewrite because I adapted direct quotes way too much instead of just summarizing while adding in Julia’s bits, so the first half of this is probably going to change, not too drastically, but enough lol)

---

Klaarg shouts a curse far off in the distance as the four adventurers make it out of the cave and back to the cart they left on the side of the road with Barry Bluejeans in tow. Merle climbs into the cart to make sure nothing's been tampered with as the other three turn to face Barry. Taako crosses his arms and leans against the cart as he says, “Barry, what the hell happened?”

Barry runs a hand through his hair and sighs. “A lot of shit. And it was all really terrible, and if given the option, I wouldn't do it again.” Julia makes a continue on gesture with her hand, and Barry sighs again. “Okay, how much do you guys already know?”

“We know Gundren was taken by the Black Spider,” Taako says.

Merle pops his head out of the cart to glare at Barry. “Yeah, in other words, you lied to us.”

“I–” begins Barry, but Magnus cuts him off.

“We found your map.”

Barry looks at him in shock. “You found the map?”

Julia nods. “Yeah, sure did.”

“So what's really going on, Barry?” Taako asks. He looks a little irritated, but his voice is still gentle. Gentler than he's been with the other two boys and a lot gentler than he's been with Julia. It didn't look like he recognized his name when Gundren brought him up at the bar, but he seems at least somewhat familiar with him now that they've actually met the dude. Does Taako know him? Julia is broken out of her thoughts as Barry begins to explain.

“Uh, okay. Let's start from the beginning. Gundren and his two brothers–”

“My cousins,” Merle says. He's clambered out of the cart now to stand next to Taako.

“Oh, right. Cousins, I forgot about that.” Barry says sheepishly. “Anyway, the three of them have a claim to the lost mine of Phandalin, and they managed to find out where it is.”

Merle puts his hands on his hips. “So why didn't he tell us that right up at the front?”

Barry folds his arms over his chest. “Because he didn't trust you guys, why the hell would he?”

“I'm his cousin!” Merle says indignantly.

“You're like fourth cousins. Dwarves have like eight hundred cousins, so you're basically perfect strangers.”

“Not true, but okay,” Merle says irritatedly.

“That's what Gundren told me,” Barry says, and Merle rolls his eyes.

“Well that bastard lied to you. We spent every Candlenights together at our aunt's house before she died.” Merle says.

“Okay,” Julia cuts in, “so I'm guessing the Black Spider, whoever they are, found out that Gundren knew where the mine was and had him kidnapped to try and get the location from him?”

“That sounds about right. I don't know who they are, but I would love to give them a piece of my mind!” Barry looks angry for a second before a wave of weariness seems to settle over him like a blanket. “After I rest for a little while. Or a long while. Listen– I've partied pretty hard before in my life, I'm going to need to sleep this one off.”

“Yeah, if we have no leads on the Black Spider, we should head back to town. Maybe drop off the supplies in the wagon.” Magnus says.

Barry looks at him appraisingly. “Listen, it's not my first gods damn time at the bodyguard rodeo is it, Magnus?”

Magnus shrugs. “How the hell am I supposed to know? I just met you.”

Barry rolls his eyes. “I should have a way to track Gundren down, but I would like to go back to town first and rest up a little bit. Sound good with you four?”

The adventurers look at each other before shrugging and nodding. “Yeah, I wouldn't mind getting some sleep myself,” Magnus says. Julia puts an arm around him, careful to avoid the wounds that are still there.

“We could go window shopping while you two sleep!” Taako says with a mischievous smile. Right. "Window shopping.” Julia shakes her head at the thought. If he steals anything, that’s not her problem.

Merle looks toward the sun starting to set in the sky. “Fine. Yeah, let's go to town. We won't find Gundren tonight, so might as well rest up.”

The rest of the trip to Phandalin is quiet and uneventful. By the time they make it into town, eat dinner, and unload the supplies to the various shops and stores they belonged to, it's late, and the two moons have already risen high in the sky. They find an inn and spend some of their pocket change to get a couple of rooms. Magnus immediately crashes onto the bed when he and Julia make it into their room, fully clothed and armored up, and she laughs.

“Honey, you should at least take your armor off. That can't be comfortable.” Julia says with a soft smile. Magnus makes a soft, disgruntled noise that's muffled by the blankets, but he doesn't move. Julia sighs. She focuses on getting her own armor off first and slipping into more comfortable and clean clothes before she sits down on the bed next to him. “Let me help you out of that,” she says gently.

Magnus groans again but sits up. “I've got it,” he mumbles, but he lets her help him out of the armor anyway. He gets up to change into more comfortable clothing too and to put his armor away before crawling back into bed with her. They get comfortable under the covers, and Julia turns off the table lamp before snuggling up against him. She lays her head on his chest and mumbles, “I love you.”

All she hears back is a loud snore, and she smiles to herself. She'll take that as an extremely sleepy I love you too. She closes her eyes and drifts off to sleep.