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spork-supremacy · 2 months ago

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so what if I per se wanted to make another long fic. What If I per se wanted it to have each chapter be inspired and borderline following events from Epic:the musical but it’s Jay’s off screen journey in DR. I’ll outline it saga by saga to demonstrate my idea.

Also no same time frames won’t apply because mentally I could not handle Jay being away from everyone for twenty years. Let alone write that myself. I’m weak and want him living a very full rest of his life.

and pretty much some characters don’t have perfect parallels so they’re very interchangeable.

this is long.

Troy saga- I’m thinking this mostly could have chapters/songs 1-4 be on a field mission Jay is sent to command by the administration. Maybe around or in imperium because they were trying to gain intelligence on the “unethical energy source”.

Also Jay keeps his yin pendant and knows that he’s either married or engaged. He has no clue who but he’s given her a name in his head. For reference sake Penelope.

the issue is my dude has no child. So there is no chance he should mention having one.

Unless he got vaguely stuck with one post memory wipe. Maybe a literal infant at first, but would roughly now be 3-5 by the events of S1. He is left in the administration.

Or we go Nya pregnancy before the merge route, but she found out a week before the merge. They made little cards to tell everyone and he kept it in his wallet that also had his ID. So he knows he has a child, but he has no idea where that is.

because Telemachus doesn't actually know who his father is and I would like to keep that so I can keep the vibe. Acidentally created a need for a child oc, shit.

warriors of the mind would be hard to translate but I could just treat it like a dream sequence. Probably Nya or smth. Maybe she is a figure he thinks he makes up in his head who only appears when he sleeps and he befriends.

he just assumes he’s crazy because realm of madness and all.

cyclops saga- could easily be that second half of that mission where they do find something willing to wipe out his people. However at the end there is this thing where Odysseus is cursed by the cyclops and Poseidon follows him every where. Now because no character is going to be consistent parallels, what if the cyclops was just Ras’s master in hiding for reasons. And also I guess the Poseidon stand in would mostly also be Ras. And one out of three Zeus appearances.

No, I like it so I’m keeping it.

and my good bye could be some dream sequence after he makes it home to his office. It’s of the Nya figure being a manifestation of his own disappointment and is like “okay I’m out”

months have now passed. Maybe a year.

storm saga- Easily could be the entire way back to the realm of madness on the mysterium mission after his appearance in season 2 pt1. People lost their portal devices that day. They make a stop at the cloud kingdom for a deal to ensure safe passage home because writers of fate and such and they give him a thingy/ Euphrasia?. Wind bag. Master of wind. Eh?

Then boom Ras. Shows up like “you hurt my master now I have to kill you.”

people die once more.

Circe saga- I feel that most of it could work out like actually story. Get on island, save men from magic, Hermes is replaced by a helpful messanger dragon of sorts, figure out a way home. Bonus points the witch try’s to prove that all men suck by trying to seduce Jay and he’s just like. “But my hypothetical probably real wife...” That he can barely remember.

point is they’re directed to the remains of the cursed realm or departed realm.

underworld saga- they go to underworld. See parts of their squad. The dead ones. (Bonus points for fitting in an elpeanor moment). Now, tree’s a whole thing with Odysseus seeing his mother. I don’t know if I want it to be that way. Granted grief killing Edna, who was already old, could punch a lot considering he doesn’t even remember her, just vaguely recognises the voice of his mother. Anyway the go see a prophet like. “You can go home this way. And yes you do have a wife/fiancé. However I see her with a very creepy dude.��

yes it’s in the same way as the play.

also the chorus just works so well.

“I see a song of past romance, I see the sacrifice of man, I see tales of betrayals and a brother’s final stand. I see beyond the brink of death, I see you draw your final breath. I see a man who gets to make it home alive. And it’s no longer you.”

Anyway guess who decides to embrace his inner monster.

-thunder saga

Once more very simple one. Go through danger the same way, shit Ras. Thunder bringer is the point where Jay switches sides.

-wisdom saga

this one I have trouble with solely for plot reasons. it mainly because of Telemachus’s role and the suitor plot line. At best I could have it do we can make it the tournament or sources.

I've decided unkown pregnancy route for the kid's origins because it's much easier than the other version. Point is Little boy loves his mother and can't wait to meet his father. Telemachus has a whole battle with antinous over saying natsy shit about his mother, later Athena helps.

Consider this, the kid, still to be named, aged around 6, maybe 7, actually picks a fight with a random child, who disrespects Nya in some way, and who has clearly been raised too violently. At this point the general "punch your way out of this one" conclusion can not be reached but instead replaced with Nya picking up her child and leaving, telling him he should know better than to resort to violence, and instead use his heart.

The entirety of legendary- we'll be fine, for plot aligning reasoning would be the kid feeling akward in the crowded and new environment and being extra vigelant of creeps or general bad people. Also most of we'll be fine probably wouldn't apply well, but we keep Nya telling the child about Jay and how similar they are.

love in paradise would be very hard. Unless....

It's literally a one off where Jay finds himself stuck on an island. Probably stepped on a portal device and is now completely stuck, with no way home. Or even knowing where home is anymore. Instead of regular events, lets say Calypso- stand-in is actually a powerful being that helps him with clearing his mind and healing a bit because the man is a wreck. She's forcing him to self care and he wants to leave. Also I'm gonna give her mind related powers, kinda like neuro.

God games is fun because I could have that just be Nya finding a way to call on the source dragons, specifically energy and begging for some devine intervention. She has to convince many dragons.

Vengance-

I'm not sorry for loving you could either be another dream about Nya that helps him realise she was being genuine. Or It's the calypso stand in who is a shape shifter who tries to convine him to stay by shaping herself into "who he loves most" even though he doesn't know that is and just takes it as a further sign to go and pay the ninja a visit.

The same messanger dragon that helped him with the witch comes by to provide assistance across the sea and to the shore then leaves.

Now this could go down the forbidden Jay route, but here me out, he does find Nokt and the forbidden five randomly and kinda goes off on attacking them. At this point he'll electrocute anything in his way. Then Ras and Arin show up, the tiger man fully healed. Less intentionally and more they all ended up in one place type thing. Fight ensues. A storm approaches.

Arin is encouraged to hide. He actually comprehends the power scaling he's up against and does just that.

During the fight instead of finishing Ras off themselves, the five all stratigically retreat. The strength and at some point they realised you don't want to be on the other end of an electrical shock. Maybe Jay kills the weakest one. for funsies.

He goes for a beaten Ras next, aiming for the kill. He tries his best at least, but doesn't bother to confirm before taking the cloak and hat of one of the five that had been lying on the ground, and walking off to whereever home is.

He notices Arin, does bother much to question the kid on too much, and asks him where the ninja live. Arin just points to the vague direction of the monastery and says "On the mountain outside Ninjago, can't miss it."

And so Jay walks.

thats all I got so far. Until the Ithica saga comes out I guess.

I was very loose with vengance but that saga is all about just getting the vengance.

#wow this is kinda messy and a lot #welp I shoud get writing #*questioning how I could ever pull this off*#This so did not take me two hours to write.#I've been meaning to do this type of thing for a while actually #jay ninjago #ninjago jay #jay walker #Ninjago #spork likes to write #Epic: the musical #au's that aren't completely different from canon #ammi right?#THis will not be read over #If spot of inconsistancy just tell me #When writing I could wierdly feel the shift when this became less admin Jay and more wolf Jay centric.#Definitely left out how Jay gets closer to his team as this goes on

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the-firebird69 · 1 year ago

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This is a huge deal this guy cannot understand the thing our son is saying but he says I don't like living with people who are like that I don't like living with people in that mental state and I don't like living with other people who aren't family in the first place and he's just getting mad he says I don't care what you like then you're holding me as a prisoner and it's hostile and become hostile and you lose all your armies and it's like you're going to lose pretty soon anyways it's not my fault it's your fault for not understanding what will happen in certain situations. So he turns around and says screw you so I'm not an emotional basket case if you're attacking me you're going to lose and holding me in that facility is holding me under duress and every other mental retard facility I'm not a mental retard and I really really take it the wrong way and he says you are under duress by these people it says yeah it was and you took that as a sign that you could start abusing and blame them and you are getting a clock cleaned and it will be forever and expose them too I did need to shelter from them but wasn't that badly but they died and most of them are gone Air Force is mostly gone except for the ships and it's a hell of a price to pay and wanting someone to live somewhere. You get up in her face and said I did much better without doing that these people did too they said we're trying to get him money and funds and the max are in the way looks around says what can I do so I don't know we're still trying we have tons of stuff out there thanks to have my money people that have my money none of them will pay it people won't release my 401K money so it starts thinking who's in the way and they're going to check it out and everyone else seems to be looking at that but what we say is it's a few people the rest of her against it because her stupid and they're the ones dying

-in about 29 people go to the first ring this morning on a 10 returned and 19 joined them to go back out. Most of their army from the inside and outside died last night and they're regrouping if this this group goes there will be 20 households. And that is right it's a very small number half of them are these idiots and there's high as it goes and the other half would be what remains of their realm which are a few Islands and a couple hot spots and that's it they're pitiful their attitude is horrible

-Charlotte county is removing 50% of its workers from government jobs today that remain and it's all more lock so that means it's hard to guess and they are going to be wandering around being dicks and yeah that's the 5% that remains no they're trying tried to fire the 5% and they couldn't and they trying today and it really works out to 50% and they're also trying to get rid of the two and a half percent actually no it it's 5% total 2 and 1/2% is what they're trying to get 2.5% of the government workers now that the private workers are at 10% and no that's what we've been saying the government workers are at 10% 5% would let go today the private workers are at 15% and 7.5% are being fired all day long in Charlotte county and they're doing it today we saw them do it. They're trying to get to 100 sheriff and they're going to lay off John remillard and Tommy f is helping because he wants him to drive off the bridge and we don't want him to do that it seems like a plan that went around is to bring our son to Saturn and practically all of them have it and we want them dead it's a stupid thing to do and obviously it tells everybody what you're up to they say they get together on it and that's apparently what might happen that's why we're here and that's why foreigners are here. They have not started firing the sheriff or the local PD they have started firing the fire department and they're firing people from the hospital and we're not renovating it but someone else is and it's Dan cuz he wants to do things to people and our son and we're going to hit him he's a vulgar piece of crap. Is more happening but we are coming in now to take care of problem people there's a whole bunch of them Stan is one of them and his heinous Lord Dan Terry cheesman bja all these people need to get arrested even mac daddy is a heinous a******. What a bunch of losers just March around try and get rid of your own people so you're going to Saturn to win and you don't know what's up there and he might have an in bed and you'd all be dead because the computer needs it from him. So does Dave he's been trying to talk to you but you're really stupid.

We're not going to let him go up there with you idiots or anybody else except to us it won't be for a long time and he knows it really huge schedule coming up this year and we're going to meet it and we're going to go through it everyday and we're going to start it up and he says that's a great idea we're going to prep equipment for the first one and he thinks that it's Mars. And we do have to prep that it's not the full-blown program but it's pretty close so he wants all of the equipment ready and set aside and the maintenance program on it and everybody hired it's going to be using it and there to run programs to get the program going and he wants the equipment to start be worked on for the other second one and we're going to head to do that now and a timetable for when we should have the second one's equipment all of it and personnel and etc kju and prep for Cajun we're going to start doing that it's a great idea and zigzag loves it and helps answer it and it's a perfect idea we need it now. We're moving on the stuff and we're going to get done we use whatever we have to to make sure we have it. Right now I need people to focus on these morons we need to get some of them out of the way and immediately I'm running up a list of who has to go

This wonderful little red car that our son came up with with his wife and she was silent again it's going to save a lot of people if we just get on it now Megan Merkel is willing to subcontract us to make chassis for a Time and we want to do that she lost a factory to the trumps and she wants Force protection and bja will have to move in just want to sell to Trump and their son said she should make a deal and bja said good and he came in and said I want a third and I'm going to buy them and our sunset with money and said yes good money good we can kind of discount for volume and she says that's terrific should be charging four grand at least and with the automobile chassis and the discount for volume of that nature so she said that's a good idea and she was not charging for Grand but they were lawn mower chances and she's charging now like $4,500 and VGA said I'll buy them for four grand each and she said okay turning off and... So she wants a list of which ones and he's happily going to provide it and she wants to know what to do for protection and he's going to move in and start putting it in and it's going to work and we'll have some suggestions and he doesn't want to hear their names at all but he wants to hire our security consultants and I said Ken potato might be on board. It's just a matter of design input as to what components to use and how to integrate he probably won't be involved in systems and bja loved it he said that's a great idea so he's going to call him out and he does have the alias and he does do security part of the security team has to stay home and he says that can might do something strange 10 and he's going to give Brian the heads up for doing business and he may try and get you to stare at his buttock I know you already paid for it and hodus in North Carolina but he had to put up with you at the house so he's laughing and he's saying this is gross but I'll have to do it so they're going to go into the meeting today and so are we about the chassis a separate meeting lately this is how it goes it's working pretty good

Thor Freya

We need to get in on this business and Ken seems to be some sort of hub or business magnet and we're going to talk to him about businesses and we're going to see if he can arrange it and he says good and yeah the big butt is calling us or the blue butt and probably think it's something and it says Blue button jeans it sounds like blue button so

Mac

I noticed something you can't buy jeans that fit to save your life it's all these spandex ones and they look freaking weird like you're all from fat Albert in the game so I'm going to start this company blue butt. And it sounds weird but it's fun.

Ken

I got a better name blue bottom and it's less offensive but everyone's really offensive these days so we have to roll with it and you saved our company

Bob birdies we noticed something your people have money and have your money and you're buying land and selling it back to them it's very rude it's something we could do and it says that's a great idea you have to talk to Mr big blue butt and I have to talk to my people and see if they can arrange something although it's very difficult to get the money but it is something to do it now and then you might have some land we're going to go ahead and do that

We're going to sit down and talk to him we need cover of some kind

Olympus

I want a pair of these jeans right now I've got a big butt and the way they're going to design them is to hide them not accentuate this gigantic ass

Justin

I don't want to hear anymore I don't want to see anymore he wants to start the cartoon balloon company and Ken petito is much too serious and he's asking Justin to take the helm and he is going to go ahead and do it and he's going to probably get the name levon but that's okay

Matter of fact is my son and I'm calling him levon and it makes sense and his people have the material and a lot of designs it's worth looking at because it's for birthday parties and they come in like one foot and it's for big parties so 10 ft and they range from one to two to three to four I mean all sorts of different sizes and gigantic ones for parades and yeah we can have all sorts of things a fun things to do this boring as hell and he wants to try and get into it Justin in New York City we got to Thanksgiving coming up if we make it through November and LOL hopefully and he wants to make a huge balloon for above a float or by itself so if you want to try and talk to them and try and work on a design that would be great he was thinking of a giant turkey and used to have one and actually looked pretty good but they couldn't get it to work and it fell apart and the maker was not around anymore and it would be a great thing so we can try and find the family to help them help make it because our son and a friend here remembers it was beautiful it looked actually like a real turkey not like a cartoon and we're going to go ahead and try and find them and see if they can do it in the new material works really well and you might actually have some odd ones some of the designs of our friend the f-18 was part of his f11 the B2 some of the giant planes and the x-wings and you can make them all in balloons and computer does it colors of the cuts in the right shape and you just stick them together with the machine does and you know I can have like Star wars parades with the Star wars spaceships it'll be insane because people will be grabbing them and trying to say here comes one are they trying to make their own and yeah it's for you idiots

Mac

Probably start calling your father we like the idea and we want want Justin to get it going

Bja

Olympus

Just hit me I want to do this pancake House I want to do it now to avoid getting hurt I know who sings and he's not me and he plays Jaws and what an ass now he's doing the right thing is a giant little infected but he's always big so we're going to have trying to do the pancake house and I'll have to talk to Ken petito if that doesn't work he says you might have to find the big man himself and he's the one lapena we know about too he's more crazy and he's wealthy I want the pancake House I know where to put it we have a place that's in the United States it is California and they're crazy for it and I'm going to call him up now and he wants me to because he wants one in New Vegas this is exciting he wanted me to do it before and to put in a Norwegian casino with like a hut and I want to do that too

Big Joe

I want them to do this so I'm going to spearhead it I'm going to head this up I also have a company Boss hoss they're not producing anymore and I'm going to take it over and what whatever friend says here is actually he's our son damn it and she's messing with me s*** and just start building them and take it over I get that little attract and go over it you know who it is it's this a****** next door

Thor Freya

What a jerk you leave me out of all the stuff and we want to start the motorcycle company but really they're not doing it they can't get China to do it it says what about Mexico so I'm going to look into it that's where I am a lot

Hera

Olympus

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destinysbounty · 2 years ago

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I think one of the things that made the original series so compelling is how interwoven everything was. Sure, it wasnt always perfect, but each season brought to the table some new connections to the lore, some character growth, some advancements in continuity. Even if a character or subplot only lasted one season, you could still feel their influence on the story several seasons later.

Chen is my favorite example of this. He may have just been the villain of season 4, but his schemes introduced a lot of information about elemental powers, his defeat initiated season 5, and his impact can still be felt as late as season 7 (foreshadowing about Ray and Maya, elemental alliance stuff, etc.) In Way of the Departed theres even suggestions that Chen had Clouse use dark magic to corrupt the Time Twins, leading to their villainy and causing not just the plot of season 7, but also Kai and Nya's whole backstory. Clouse, having returned as a ghost thanks to season 5, is responsible for conjuring Nadakhan and starting season 6.

And on the note of season 5! That season introduced us to the Sixteen Realms and the Realm Crystal, which become important aspects of season 6, and Yang's temple, which became important in DotD and season 7. It also formally introduced Ronin and turned Cole into a ghost, which are *also* major plot details going forward. AND it planted the seeds for Wu's eventual character arc in seasons 7-9. This season's impact expands past itself.

A lot of times, not all the time but often enough, whenever lore gets introduced at some point in the og series, it gets utilized much later on. Captain Soto, formerly a one-off villain from season 2, becomes plot-important in season 6. The Golden Weapon is shot into space in season 2, melted into Golden Armor in season 3, then melted down back into the weapons to defeat the Oni in season 10. The Great Devourer causes Harumi's tragic backstory. Mystake, who started out as a background gag character, became a key participant not just in the show but the worldbuilding and lore. The love triangle and subsequent rift between Jay and Nya doesnt get fully resolved until season 6. The ninja return to the burnt-down monastery in season 6, DotD, and season 7, and eventually rebuild it in season 10.

See what i mean? Everything somehow ties back to itself. Its far from perfect, but there is a solid sense of continuity that connects everything in increasingly complex ways.

I think thats a big part of what makes Wildbrain feel so different. Dont get me wrong, i love Wildbrain and i enjoy a lot of it, but it definitely lacks the cohesion that had seemingly defined Masters of Spinjitzu. A lot of their Wildbrain adventures feel less like installments in a greater narrative, and more like a series of loosely connected sidequests. Exciting sidequests that are usually really fun to watch, certainly, but sidequests all the same.

With the exception of Seabound and Crystalized, you could probably watch Wildbrain out of order and not much would change. If Prime Empire or the Island happened before SotFS, none of those seasons would face any impact from that. They are largely episodic and detached from each other in ways the og series never was. But if you tried to shuffle up the season order in Masters of Spinjitzu, youd have to rewrite a lot of stuff to make it work.

I almost wanna say thats part of why Seabound and Crystalized feel like such a return to form, and why MotM is so well-beloved. MotM introduced us to Lilly, fleshed out Cole's backstory, gave Wu a lil character arc that built on what came before it (Wu feeling useless bc the past few adventures were done without him), and finally gave some kind of resolution to Lloyd's Harumi-related trust issues (not just referencing her, but actually giving him a character arc about it). Seabound introduced us to more lore about the world's history and the backstory of the FSM, gave Nya one of the most compelling character arcs in the whole show that builds on and satisfies her past arcs, even gave her name a backstory that ties into the lore, featured relevant cameos from prior seasons (Vania, Maya, the Keepers), and provided an ending that would have lasting repercussions on seasons to come. And Crystalized...well, i wont spoil anything, but you get where im going with this.

Now, obviously this isnt the only deciding factor of whether or not a season is good. Seasons 6 and 7 are a mixed bag in terms of quality, yet have very integrated lore and character arcs. But seasons 11, and 12, which many people dislike, are also the ones that most noticeably feel like theyre happening in a vacuum. Any effect they have on later seasons, or any effect prior seasons have on them, is not as significant or immediate as in other seasons.

With the original series, there was a sort of cause and effect, almost. Rebooted caused ToE, which caused Possession, which caused Skybound, and so on. Theres a clear and specific chain of causality, and the sequence of events has a large impact on the events themselves. The same cannot be said of Wildbrain.

Again, i do enjoy Wildbrain, and there are a lot of things i even think it did better than the og. But i definitely feel like it wouldnt be half as contentious among fans if it had the same cause-and-effect plot structure as the og. Like, something in ns11 being the inciting incident for season 12, and something in season 12 causing season 13...you get the idea.

Anyway brb i gotta go rewrite Wildbrain

#i do genuinely wanna rewrite wildbrain but i wanna wait for crystalized to be done first #with the goal of making it feel more consistent with the tone and structure of the og #ninjago #destiny post

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barcode-kid · 2 years ago

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ninjago genetics. sorta. a confused ramble. (spoilers)

So after seeing an obscene amount of people say that they'd like to see/think that whatever is coming after Crystalized will be about the ninja's children (personally, hate the idea), I began to think about Ninjago genetics--more specifically, in relation to powers.

So. We know that elemental powers can be inherited, received after a master dies (i'm assuming. otherwise, there'd probably be some weird 'royal' lines), and… possibly given away…? What happened with Zane and the previous master of ice isn't clear to me. Anyway, it seems only one elemental holder can exist at a time (ignoring time travel), so that made me wonder how the powers are transferred. Kai has fire. His dad had fire. Did Ray's powers automatically just 'transfer' to Kai the moment he popped out of the womb? Or did Ray's power gradually dwindle after Kai's birth? Because we've seen some of the ninja as kids in flashbacks, yet they are never shown or mentioned to have powers. But we know that Kai and Nya had to take over the blacksmith shop young, meaning they may have had to use their powers. I'm also wondering how one figures out they are an elemental, especially if they have no parents. I attribute Nya not knowing about her water to writing/production, but her not assuming she's an elemental could also allude to the fact that children of elemental masters don't always receive their parents' powers (but honestly i can't remember if the siblings even knew their parents were elemental masters). So what determines if a child gets genetic power? Is it chance, or does it happen 100% of the time? Ignoring that the writers probably just wanted to match Nya and Kai to their parents, what was stopping Kai from inheriting water? And then we have Cole. His mother was an elemental master, but his dad was not. Does this mean Cole had a chance of not receiving Lilly's power? Jay also falls under this category.

I have so many questions, especially about Lloyd. According to the wiki, his energy isn't an element but an essence from the First Spinjitzu Master's powers. As we know, all the powers come from the FSM (except amber?); this includes creation and destruction, the first which is possessed by Wu and the latter by Garmadon. The FSM basically materialized the brothers (iirc), so we're just gonna ignore genetics there. But since Lloyd's dad is Garmadon and Garmadon still has his powers, does that mean essence isn't passed down and instead simply inherited? Neither of the brothers have energy power, but Lloyd has it anyway, so it might just be about being connected to the FSM. This makes me wonder if Lloyd had a kid, would they inherit one of the four essences? Or Lloyd's essence? Anyway, moving on and coming back to Zane. Zane has technically died. Same with Cole. And Kai's heart has stopped. How long do elementals have to be dead before their powers are 'transferred' to someone else? Do they have to go to the departed realm first and chill there for a while? Were there just no babies being born during the times the ninja in question were dead? WHY IS THERE NO NEW MASTER OF WIND? Like don't get me wrong; I don't expect some AtLA avatar council to scour the globe (island) for newborn elemental masters, but idk man. Returning to Zane once more--he is almost as confusing as Lloyd. Personally, I feel like he can't really ever die. But that's a whole other conversation. Basically, he could technically possess ice for eternity, but if he didn't want to anymore, how the hell would he give it away? While we're on the topic of parents, big rip to Jay. IIRC, he would have gotten his powers from his mom. Wish we knew more about his parents and backstory. k side note but if elements are transferred to children immediately upon birth, can you imagine ed and edna with a damn lightning baby? now i wanna see the ninja as kids…

#ninjago #the first installment in: help im supposed to be writing an annotated bibliography but legos have hijacked my brain

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kittydemon9000 · 3 years ago

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Okay so I was thinking about ToE and had ideas to add for my Not Today Destiny AU(tl:dr, Kai keeps Lloyd’s Green Ninja status secret from everyone and how canon is affected from there)

Also, before we get into it, because there was no Overlord messing with tech, THERE IS NO LOVE TRIANGLE! I am fully subscribed to the theory that the Overlord messed with it in order to split the team up, and it’s stupid that it worked. So no Love Triangle and no Jay Cole Fight. That’s important later.

ANYWAY, with Zane not dead they’d be a bit less desperate to go to the island, and without that incentive of keeping quiet they’d probably immediately go talk to Wu about this weird invite and the fact that other Elemental Masters existed.

Wu would fill them in, explain how Chen was definitely up to something, which has them all go in the first place, and Nya and Wu agree to stay behind to watch Lloyd and defend against Garmadon.

How does this exactly tie into this AU? Well, there were two extra letters sent, one to Kai and Lloyd respectively.

Lloyd’s letter explained how he was also being invited, and if he won he would be awarded some info about his mom. Lloyd knows the ninja would never let him go, so he opts to sneak there and then explain. Better to ask apologies than permission. But don’t worry, he left a note for Nya and Wu

Meanwhile, Kai’s explains how they have found knowledge of who the Green Ninja is, and if he wins he’ll get that info and can do whatever he wants with it.

These two are connected and also important later.

They go to the boat, Nya gets them some hidden trackers to be safe, Kai is secretly freaking out since “How the heck does Chen know???” and then Lloyd sneaks on too. Now, at first everyone just thinks Lloyd is just really short and keeps to himself. It’s not until they land and get to the main room that it finally clicks to Kai that it’s Lloyd when Chen points him out as the Master of Energy.

He of course, is very not happy that Lloyd is here and makes that very well known. The other ninja are equally unhappy while the rest of the EM’s are given a slight Moral Dilemma since yes they want to win, but that means there’s a chance of them fighting a literal child(it’s been….almost a year since they first met Lloyd so he’s about 10 right now).

Lloyd’s room is next to Kai’s, just on the other side so he still shares a balcony space with Skylor. Maybe one of the other EM’s finds Lloyd desperately looking for a Jade Blade and “accidentally” drops it so he can pass.

Later when Karlof is dropped through the floor more than a few cast a glance over to Lloyd, each silently dreading who will have to go against him. Nobody comments when Kai holds Lloyd close and if anyone saw Lloyd sneaking into Kai’s room that night, they didn’t say anything.

It’s that night when Lloyd explains why he came, which makes Kai panic even more. On one hand, he cannot let anyone else find out about Lloyd’s Destiny. But on the other….Lloyd could finally get answers for what happened to his mom unlike Kai who has no idea what happened to his parents

So yeah. Not a fun time.

But it only gets worse from there.

You see, at first each of the ninja let out a silent sigh of relief when they learned they wouldn’t have to fight Lloyd.

Wellllllllll since there’s no Love Triangle and no fighting between Cole and Jay, Chen has no reason to pit them against each other to further split up the ninja.

What he does instead? Changes things so instead it’s Kai vs Lloyd

Now, it’s plainly obvious to everyone that those two are very close, so they’re not looking froward to this next fight at all. Camille honestly isn’t sure if this is better or worse than if she had to go against him

At first, their fight is mostly a verbal one, trying to get the other to take the Jade Blade, with only the occasionally very wide shot to try and herd the other toward the Blade. At some point Kai ends up physically picking up Lloyd and trying to carry him over to the Jade Blade, yelling about how Lloyd has a chance to find his mom and he shouldn’t that up, but Lloyd is fighting him and immediately yells back that he doesn’t want to find her at the cost of his Big Brother and god if that isn’t a knife in the heart of the other EMs.

But Chen, being the bastard he is, decides this is boring because it’s going no where and release the bikes like canon, and then these two fight like a well oiled machine.

But ofc, we can’t have nice things and the arena starts falling apart.

And Kai….as much as he’s terrified of Lloyd’s Destiny, he even more terrified of loosing Lloyd.

So with a bright smile and a good luck wish, he jumps.

That night when Chen takes away their rooms as punishment, none of them can be mad. They don’t comment either when the remaining ninja drag two of the bunk beds together a curl up around Lloyd. Instead of splitting them apart, it only lets them know that Chen is not their friend. He sees all of this as a game, going as far as to lure a child here with promises of finding his mother and making him fight the family he has left.

This actually makes their Elemental Alliance work out better this time.

(Also this time Jay fought Ash, then Cole fought Camille(I’m also 99% sure the skating thing was just another attempt to split them up, so again it’s kinda useless here).

Meanwhile Kai does not have a fun time. Clouse is upset since 1) the plan was for Lloyd to be the one to loose, either by Kai winning or making Lloyd fall, since because he’s the green ninja he’s bound to be powerful and 2) because Skylor got attached to this stranger and Chen ordered him to make Kai useful to them. So now he’s trying to keep a very annoying, very loud prisoner while waiting from the Master of Mind to be captured so he can use those powers to make Kai more docile.

Unfortunately, a side affect of Kai being as loud and obnoxious as possible means he spends a lot of his time knocked out, so he has no idea how long he’s been stuck under or if any of his family are stuck under here too. At the very least he shares a wall with Karlof who tries his best to fill him in(when he learns who Kai was made to fight he also gets pretty pissed).

Later when they’re all dropped from the plane, all of them are quick to make sure Lloyd has a parachute. This time the objective is to a “Safe Zone,” but there’s only enough for four of them. However, the Safe Zones are, unsurprisingly, traps and there’s enough for everyone. Once you step in one, it descends, then vengestone cuffs fly out and trap the Master inside.

Skylor ends up finding Lloyd and offers to help him look for one. They end up talking and joking, Lloyd saying how Kai has an enormous crush on her and kept trying to impress her, but Lloyd thought she was good and would like Kai if they didn’t need to fight each other, which accidentally slams her with guilt.

Some how she ends up slipping, maybe by accidentally revealing how she knows the locations/number of traps and Lloyd realizes she’s the spy which crushes him. He tries to fight her but she just pushed him onto the trap.

Going to the small cult area below, the remaining EMs are brought together. They try their best to keep Lloyd protected but he’s brought to the front anyway. Lloyd asks if they even knew about his mom, to which Chen reminisces about a woman they meet a few years ago who was stealing from them and how they stole some of her things, but they were mostly worthless. They honestly have no idea where she is, which just makes Lloyd mad.

Mad these people tricked him. Mad these people had the audacity to pretend to know his mom. Mad these people made Kai sacrifice himself for him.

However, they weren’t lying About having met Misako. That’s actually how they found out about the whole “Lloyd Being The Green Ninja” thing

But anyway. Chen steals their powers, Skylor is having a moral dilemma, and they start getting ready to Make Trouble in the Noodle Factory

Only this time when they go to steal the staff, they now have to fight Kai.

Only this time for real.

This is the replacement for the Staff Scene. Because of his affect under the Staff Kai…..isn’t really there. Like, he’s just a blank puppet. There’s the tiniest amount of emotion, but his eyes look empty.

At some point the staff goes flying and it turns into a mental tug of war between Clouse commanding Kai and Lloyd and the others trying to get through to him. Lloyd is luckily able to get to Kai enough for him to smash the jewel, releasing the EM powers and the control on him. It gives him the worst headache though.

And from there, canon is mostly the same for a while. The whole time this has been going on Zane has been having dreams/nightmares about an Ice Dragon and finally makes the connection to unlock it. Skylor is still captured, Chen still escapes but now Clouse is still around, Pythor is captured, TIME FOR THE END

This time around, the EMs are able to follow Chen to their base of operations and have the final battle there. They fight, and even though they’re only partially Anacondrai, they’re still hard to fight.

Clouse tries to do the whole “Banish You To the Departed Realm” thing, but accidentally summons the Anacondrai Generals as well, who are very not happy over what these humans are doing.

And yeah. That’s what I got.

I might do more in depth posts for some of the other seasons, not sure. But feel free to ask or submit ideas of your own

#if you cant tell #ToE is my favorite season #but at the same time #i love to change it #Not Today Destiny #info dump #kai #kai smith #lloyd #lloyd garmadon #tournament of elements #ninjago #long post

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hopeshoodie · 3 years ago

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Ok so in light of the Independent article (see my tag #fusebox layoffs for more info), I’ve been trying to piece together the sequence of events that lead to FB Going to Shit™.

All of the below is based on articles, tweets from the staff, and dates from screenshots. Especially with the Matchmaker stuff, I’m using the dates I personally accessed the stories- that might not be accurate to when they were actually released to an international audience, just when my phone updated the app. In hindsight, I’m not a great person to do this because I have a shit memory and don’t keep receipts, so if you have any corrections PLEASE lmk either in the dms or replies.

In sum, the timeline appears to be:

1. Key players left Fusebox in early 2020.

The one that people are probably most familiar with is David Gallopim, one of the artists who helped define the S2’s distinct style, leaving sometime before March 2020. He seemed to indicate that there was conflict over the new art style of S3, and released assets he’d designed of Harry in his own style (notably way prettier than Harry looks in-game).

But probably more important to the direction of the company, Michael Othen, one of the co-founders and former CEO, left in July of 2020 (I had thought it was earlier in the year but according to LinkedIn it was July). It’s much more unclear why he left, but it’s notable because he was a huge force in making the game inclusive of LGBTQ characters.

So all in all, not a great sign when employees who had a huge hand in creating the content and direction of a game that defined its success jump ship. Especially after the game was seemingly hitting its stride, with the host of Love Island (the TV show) doing a sponsored Let’s Play of S3 and projects in the works like Boat Party and CMM.

2. It seems like Fusebox‘s CEO/executives hired new management, either in 2020 or early 2021. Employees complain that the executives don’t understand what it takes to make a game and are pulling the studio in the wrong direction. It’s unclear if the newly hired execs had experience.

Wil Stephens, the CEO/founder, has been with FB since its inception but also appears to have only founded game distribution ventures and not worked in any development or employment capacity. If that’s the case, maybe the complaints about lack of experience/knowledge about the mechanics of making games work are about him. If not, then some of the newly hired execs would likely be to blame.

Paul Virapen, COO, was brought on in November of 2020. He’s worked with Disney’s gaming division, Big Pixel studios, Wooga. The quality of that experience is dubious since he headed up the ‘let’s make apps for Apple watches, it’ll be the next big thing’ department… Lol. Notably also, all of his roles had been in the executive/managerial realm, not the development teams, so the complains might have been about him. THIS IS SPECULATION, but I’m willing to bet that Virapen was a if not THE driving force in switching Fusebox’s focus entirely to matchmaker. All the studios he’s worked with have primarily produced and promoted Match 3 games, and he has a background working with big studios that produce games for large international audiences, not small studios making narrative games for limited audiences.

A new Manager of Finances, Ruth Erskine, was brought on in December of 2020

Rob Goddard, a new producer, was brought in January of 2021

Several key operations positions were filled by existing employees being promoted to management- 2 as far as I can tell. But as a whole it seems like December 2020 was a huge shift in leadership for the upper management while a lot of the other teams expanded but kept their old players as well.

3. At some point in late 2020- mid 2021, the executive team made the decision to switch LITG’s focus from a narrative pass-based game to a Match 3 incorporating romance narrative cut scenes. In early 2021, Fusebox teased more content to come while releasing S3 (seemingly referring to Matchmaker and not S4). In the interim between S3 endings and Boat Party’s release they put out an interview confirming the new game will be Match 3 but did seem to indicate that the plan at that time was for Matchmaker to be a side project with a different development team and not replace the main game. Notably, the LITG writers and artists were reassured that their roles will continue to exist (according to the independent article) as they’re working on S4.

3. In September of 2020, Matchmaker became briefly available in the US. That’s when I first downloaded it, at least. It would be added/removed from the google play store multiple times before having a unilateral release in July of 2021.

Throughout 2020, Matchmaker is available to Asian audiences solely with LITG S1 getting rolled out in incremental updates.

Eventually, Beanie Quinn is released (March 2021)

LA Noir is released (May 2021)

Seduction Games is released (late May or June 2021- I got the update and played it June 3rd, but hadn’t opened the app for a month or so. It might have come out before then, which is unfortunate for this timeline since it’s so inextricably linked to the open letter and layoff dates)

LITG S2 is released (only like 20 levels of it) the same month- June 19th for me. Notably, all of these stories are only released to an international audience, with the UK and USA still not having access to the app.

4. At the same time, Fusebox’s internal affairs are pretty quiet from 2020-2021, at least on social media.

S3 comes out in 2020, Boat Party comes out later in the year and finishes in 2021. Post S3 in October of 2021, a survey goes out gauging player interest in new art styles and representation, which was pretty in keeping with past actions and seemed promising for S4.

Boat Party features a promising cross promotion implementing irl brands into the game. It’s unclear if enough money was made from this on FB or the sponsor’s end to make that strategy viable, but that might’ve impacted management’s outlook for the profitability of LITG.

Fusebox teases more content for the summer on Instagram, and then follows up and confirms it’ll be a proper season.

5. More key players leave in early 2021

Ed Sibley is still listed as Narrative Direction on LinkedIn, but he’s not credited as a writer on Season 4 (he was on 3,2,and 1) and started work with NetSpeak games in May of 2021, so we can assume he left around then or at least transitioned away from Fusebox then.

Fred Francis, another writer who had been on the team since S1, turns in his resignation ‘weeks’ before the layoffs were announced in late June. So we can assume he made his exit sometime early June or late May.

6. Prior to the release of Seduction games in May/June, staff expressed concern about the biphobia in Seduction Games. No sources have given a specific time when this took place. They were reassured that the problem would be corrected prior to release, but then the story was released as is to an international audience in June. The article released by the Independent is unclear- there might have been discussion prior to the open letter where staff expressed concerns and then were reassured before the game going live. OR the open letter might have been the first expression of concern by the staff. I tend to think the former, and the open letter was a response to Matchmaker going live with Seduction Games anyways, but I have no proof for that. On May 24th, 31 employees sent an open letter of concern regarding the problematic content in Matchmaker. This letter isn’t public, so we don’t know the scope of the employees' concerns or who the employees were.

7. To resolve the situation, a meeting between the staff and at least the COO (likely more than just him though) was held sometime after May 24th. Allegedly, Virapen was disrespectful to the employees who had questions, refused to answer, and ended the meeting early before any resolution was had by closing his laptop and leaving the room. At least 4 HR complaints were made in the wake of that meeting, we do not know the nature of those complaints.

8. Some time mid-July (maybe July 26th? A writer tweeted about their job ending soon on that date), employees were made aware that the LITG app would move into ‘sunset mode’. It’s unclear what was communicated, but it seems as though S4 will be heavily delayed or cancelled altogether and no future seasons would be made. Writers begin to post about looking for work on Twitter

9. June 30th- The majority of Fusebox writing staff announce on twitter they’re out of work. In addition to the entire writing staff, unity engineers and producers are also let go.

10. July 5th - Fusebox executives respond to an article by MCVUK with a statement asserting they were “consulting with [their] employees on a proposed change to its business model” that would focus on producing Matchmaker content. They also expounded that the move was to secure “cash injections and and continued support from respected investors across the media and gaming industry”

11. July 6th- Fusebox announces that S4 will be delayed from the summer release date and that there is no fixed release date.

12. August 2nd- three jobs are posted to Fusebox’s careers page on their website, one being Head of Narrative Content. In the job listing, it specifies that they’ll be maintaining existing properties as well as new ones, and that because of the co-development model (re:fusebox outsourcing Matchmaker to another studio) the new Narrative Lead must collaborate with external content creators.

Hopefully posting this timeline gives players a better understanding of how radically Fusebox has changed in the course of 2021 (and how royally they screwed over the people who made LITG what it is). Again, please let me know if you have receipts showing dates are different or things to add.

#fusebox layoffs #fusebox games

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my-insanity-is-an-artform · 4 years ago

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Twist on all the fics where Sora is the last person/ second to last person to realise he’s in love with Riku.

I want a fic where:

The night of the Meteor shower, Sora looks up at his best friend, who has one hand clutched in Sora’s and a wooden sword pointed skyward in the other, and thinks ‘I want to be with him forever’

It takes three years, numerous ‘princess and her knight’ stories and a revelatory conversation with his mother about wanting a ‘prince and his knight’ story for him to realise he’s in love but that’s still quicker than everyone else.

Sora doesn’t know how not to be in love with Riku so he just carries on as normal.

They’re just kids after all. Everyone knows you can only get married as adults.

(Ventus may be asleep, but when he wakes up, Ventus is gonna have so much blackmail on Sora.)

Sora’s 13 when he looks at Riku one day and realises Riku’s in love with him.

Sora spends the entire day grinning despite everyone’s teasing.

Sora also knows Riku better than anyone including Riku himself. He knows the restlessness, the wanderlust, the perfectionist tendencies and mild self hatred wrapped in arrogance.

(He kinda blames that strange brown haired man that he saw with Riku one day. He knows they talked about something and that changed Riku. Not in a wrong way but in a way that wasn’t healthy for him. He also kinda blames the blue haired lady who told him to watch out for Riku. Riku hates relying on others and he feels that he should be doing the protecting, not Sora. Hence, perfectionist tendencies and mild self hatred.)

He knows Riku needs space to grow and to know himself before he can love Sora.

Riku may be smarter than Sora, but Sora always outdone him in the heart department.

So Sora decides to wait for Riku to 1) grow into the person Sora knows he can be, 2) gain enough emotional awareness to realise his feelings for Sora and 3) gain enough confidence to confess to Sora.

Because Riku needs to be the one to take that step. Sure it’d be easy for Sora to confess first, but it would be so much better for Riku if he took that step himself.

Sora’s been in love with Riku for nearly a decade now, he can wait for Riku.

He just didn’t think it would take literal years, the fall of Destiny Islands, fighting Heartless, Riku trapping himself in the Realm of Darkness, the return of Destiny Islands, amnesia ( Naminé couldn’t replace Riku so she went with Kairi and Sora very nearly confessed to Riku Replica), a year-long coma, Kairi getting kidnapped, Riku going missing, more heartless, meeting his judgy Nobody who knows, finding Kairi, finding Riku, fighting Xemnas, getting trapped in the Realm of Darkness, getting untrapped, whatever happened in the Mark of Mastery, going on a hunt for the Power of Awakening, rescuing Aqua, rescuing Ventus, the fight between the Seven Lights and the Thirteen Darknesses, time travel, more fighting, watching Kairi die, fighting Xehanort, gaining The x-blade, going after Kairi, and fading from existence.

What he’s saying is that he deserves to be wooed after that.

Meanwhile Riku watches Sora with his friends, having returned from the dead, post-kh3 and goes ‘oh...........ooh. oh no.’

Of course, Sora realises that Riku has realised and decides to give him six months. Because there is patience and there’s the bullshit he’s had to put with. AND SO HELP HIM KINGDOM HEARTS RIKU, IF SORA HAS TO WAIT ANOTHER THREE YEARS FOR YOU TO ASK HIM ON A DATE, HE’S ACTUALLY GOING TO SNAP.

(Xion is Sora’s favourite out his ‘Heart Hotel Gang’ because Roxas is judging [not that he has a leg to stand on, huh Roxas? How’s Axel doing?] and Ventus is gathering blackmail.)

Either: Sora lasts a month before he finally just snaps and snogs the living daylights out of Riku because the pretty idiot keeps sending him lovestruck looks and Sora does not have time for your preconceived notions of heteronormality, Riku. Eleven YEARS Riku, ELEVEN YEARS HE’S BEEN IN LOVE WITH YOU.

OR: Riku shyly confesses and Sora just snogs the living daylights out of him because he’s very proud of Riku’s growth (and he’s waited eleven years for this moment. he’s getting his fairy tale kiss, dammit!)

Sora deserves a fucking award.

Riku.exe cannot be found for a good hour.

Or something like this. Basically I want Sora to realise he’s in love with Riku first and decides to wait for him to catch up. Because Sora is clearly the most emotionally competent one out of the whole series. He may not completely understand what he feels but he acknowledges it.

#kingdom hearts #soriku #Sora #Riku #Sora Knows First AU #Sora Deserves a Fucking Award AU #If someone writes this tag me #hinted akuroku #I wanted to include Vanitas but I couldn't find a spot to include my garbage son #Also not included; Repliku having a bisexual crisis and conflicting memories #also not included; my headcanon of demisexual/demiromantic Sora #my brain; this whole thing is illogical #my heart; the sunshine one loves the cool one and the cool one loves the sunshine one

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hysterialevi · 3 years ago

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Hjarta | Chapter 19

Fanfic summary: In an AU where Eivor was adopted by Randvi’s family instead, he ends up falling in love with the man his sister has been promised to despite the arranged marriage between their clans.

Point of view: third-person

Pairing: Sigurd Styrbjornson x Male Eivor

Author’s note: Don’t worry, I haven’t stopped writing this fic ;)

This story is also on AO3 | Previous chapter | Next chapter

THE CEMETERY

Venturing down the neatly carved path, Eivor wandered through a tunnel of trees as he made his way to the cemetery, crushing little twigs underneath his boots. The snow in front of him lay disturbed thanks to a recent chain of footsteps belonging to the jarl, and up ahead, he could see the man himself.

Arngeir was currently sitting amongst all the tombstones, wallowing in the silence of his clan’s resting place. A touch of sunlight broke through the naked branches dangling above him, and kissed the top of his head as if it were a beacon sent from the divines.

Despite the serene nature of the graves lying around him though, the jarl seemed equally as lifeless as the souls he accompanied. Within a single day, he had lost two of the most important people he ever knew, and the grief was starting to take a toll on him.

He looked absolutely exhausted. His eyes were bloodshot due to a lack of sleep, his expression hung low from having mourned for so long, and his somber gaze seemed to lose itself in the nothingness before him.

It broke Eivor’s heart to see his father this way. He had gotten so used to the fortitudinous shell that Arngeir always wore, that now, it felt as if he were looking at a completely different man.

It was understandable, of course. Considering their clan’s recent losses. There were few things in the world that surpassed the pain of a child’s death, and Eivor couldn’t help but wonder how this would affect Arngeir in the battles to come.

Would the jarl even be able to fight in this state? Would he be capable of surviving? His mind had already been left in tatters ever since Thora’s passing, and the young man feared he’d be too weak for the ordeal ahead.

He just hoped that Gorm’s information would be enough to spark some hope in Arngeir before they faced Kjotve again. Thora may have been gone, but their clan had not yet been defeated. There was still a chance to recover from the damage that had been done, and Eivor prayed he’d be able to make his father realize that.

“Father?” He called out, approaching the forlorn man.

The jarl barely turned his head in response, showing a complete lack of interest in chatter.

“...Eivor.” Arngeir greeted bluntly. “What brings you to this place?”

His son stepped next to the bench he was sitting on, gazing at the grave before them. “I’ve come to tell you that Sigurd and I managed to get Gorm to speak. He told us where Kjotve is.”

The other man hardly seemed fazed. “Is that so.”

“Yes. We interrogated him just now.”

Arngeir was totally silent in response, leading Eivor to carry on the conversation.

“...He said that Kjotve intends to sail west. To England. Apparently, he has allies there, and plans to rally them in the war against us. He hasn’t departed yet, though. He’s gathering supplies on an island not too far from here before embarking on the journey. We still have time to catch him.”

Still, the jarl said nothing in return.

“Kjotve has powerful allies, father,” Eivor reiterated, trying to get the man’s attention. “According to Gorm, these men are more than simple raiders. They’re part of something bigger than we ever imagined. We can’t let him roam into English seas. Otherwise, we’ll all be finished--”

“--Hush, my son.” Arngeir said softly, raising his hand. “We will discuss everything later, I promise. But for now... allow me to grieve for our loved ones in peace. I grow weary of all this turmoil.”

Eivor nodded in sympathy, putting the subject to rest for the moment. “...O-Of course, father. I understand.”

Arngeir took a deep breath, refreshing his mind with the icy winter air. “Thank you, my boy. I realize our situation is urgent, but we must always make time to remember those we have lost, for we would not be here without them.” He glanced at the younger man, beckoning him to join. “Come. Sit. You would do well with a rest.”

The Wolf-Kissed complied and took a seat next to his father, basking in the tranquility of the graveyard. It was oddly peaceful, despite the tragic tales behind each of the shrines. The rustling of the trees harmonized beautifully with the wind that glided throughout the cemetery, and carried the scent of saltwater within its grasp.

Meanwhile, a profound presence watched valiantly over the lost souls who now roamed in the unseen oblivion, guiding them from a realm that existed beyond rational understanding.

It almost felt as if Thora and Ulfar were still there, despite not having a physical entity anymore. The mark they left on the clan’s heart had yet to wither, and even now, Eivor could hear their last words whispering in his head.

He just wished he could’ve responded to them. There were so many things he wanted to say, and so many questions he wanted to ask. He would’ve given anything to have one more conversation with his deceased friends, but now, all he had were regrets.

“Father...?” Eivor said. “Can I ask you something?”

Arngeir’s interest was piqued. “Of course.”

“What did Ulfar do before he found us? Who was he when they still called him Wulfgar?”

The jarl paused. “...You know about that?”

“I overheard Ingrida saying a prayer for him at the funeral,” Eivor explained. “Instead of calling him Ulfar, she used his Saxon-given name. Apparently, he always requested her to do so. I tried asking her about his past, but she was reluctant to speak. She said I should talk to you instead, since you were closer with him.”

Arngeir’s eyes lit up with remembrance. “...Indeed. That man was like family to me. A brother from a different land.”

He turned to face his son, shifting in his seat. “Well, if you’re really curious, Ulfar always wanted to go by his birth name, but feared that his Saxon roots would instill suspicion in our people’s hearts. The only ones he trusted with his identity were me, Ingrida, and of course, Linnea.”

“But why all the secrecy? Our clan knew him well. They knew he was a man of honor. Surely, having Saxon roots wouldn’t be enough to change that.”

“Well, it wasn’t just about his roots. If people ever learned that Ulfar was originally from England, naturally they’d become curious. And with curiosity would come questions. He’d have to explain how he ended up living with a Norse clan, and the reason why he was no longer with them.”

Eivor urged him to continue. “And what reason is that?”

Arngeir sighed out of hesitance. “...Ulfar did not forgive so easily when he was younger. Even though the Norseman who raided his village provided him with a new home, he still wanted justice for what happened to his family. He wanted revenge.”

“...So what he did he do?”

“Nothing, at first. He was just a boy, after all. There wasn’t much he could do to begin with. Ulfar spent the rest of his childhood and adolescence living with the clan in peace, adapting to their culture. He learned their language, held faith in their gods, trained with their techniques. He became a Norseman in everything but blood.”

Eivor could already see where this was going. “But that didn’t last forever, did it.”

The jarl shook his head. “No. When Ulfar finally became an adult, he betrayed his clan and killed the four raiders responsible for his family’s deaths. Three of them were slaughtered within a single night. The fourth one -- a man named Geirmund -- escaped.”

That name sounded familiar to Eivor.

“Geirmund...?” He repeated. “I think Ulfar told me about him once. He met Linnea while he was searching for him. I never knew the history between them, though. What happened to Ulfar after he killed the other three?”

“Originally, his clan planned to have him executed. They wanted to put his head on a pike for his treachery, but his father convinced them to simply exile him instead. So, as a young man, Ulfar was banished from his home, and spent the next handful of years wandering Norway as a jomsviking, offering his services to anyone who could afford them.”

“What about his father?” Eivor wondered. “Did Ulfar ever see him again?”

Arngeir frowned in pity. “...No. The day he left his clan was the last time he spoke with him. Ulfar never forgave himself because of it.”

“He regretted his betrayal?”

“Very much so,” the jarl confirmed. “Ulfar often told me that he wished he could return home. Not for the sake of a reunion, or for making amends... but to simply apologize. He never had the chance to watch his father grow old, nor bid him farewell when he wandered into death’s embrace, and I know the guilt haunted him for years.”

Eivor’s gaze sank to the ground. “That explains much.”

Arngeir quirked a brow. “Does it?”

“Indeed. Back when you first adopted me, I often expressed my desire to go after Kjotve. To kill him for what he had done. I wanted to avenge my parents and reclaim their honor, but Ulfar was always there to soothe my pain. He told me to never lose sight of what matters.”

“And he was right. Not too long from now, Eivor, you and many others will be leading the final charge against Kjotve and his clan. It will be a battle that determines the future of this kingdom, and you must not lose yourself in your grief. Fight Kjotve with honor, and perhaps, the gods will grant you the opportunity to reclaim Varin’s.”

The young man nodded assuredly. “I understand.”

The jarl seemed pleased. “I know you do. You’ve always carried Odin’s wisdom, even when you were just a boy. I trust that you will do what’s best in the storm to come. My only hope is that the Allfather can protect you where so many others have fallen. I couldn’t bear it if you and Randvi perished too.”

Arngeir quickly changed the subject, unwilling to let his spirit dim again. “But enough about that. Go on, my son. Wait for me in the longhouse. I will meet you there shortly. For now though, I'd like to spend some more time alone.”

“Are you sure, father?”

“Yes. Don’t worry about me, Eivor. My heart sits heavy in my chest with sorrow, but I am not ready to lay down my axe just yet. I will be alright.”

Eivor rose from the bench and straightened his tunic, preparing to leave. “Okay, then. If you’re certain, I’ll meet you in the war room later.”

“Good. We have much to discuss, and I imagine Sigurd will be eager to devise a plan. Until then, take care of yourself, my boy. These next few days will be the most harrowing yet. Do not allow yourself to fall prey to the grief, or this will have all been for naught.”

~~~~~~~~~~

A LITTLE LATER

OUTSIDE THE LONGHOUSE

Peering at the view before him, Sigurd sat quietly on the very same hill where he and Eivor shared their first conversation, waiting patiently for the man as he lost himself in the distant horizon. At the moment, the sun’s light was being obscured by a gathering of wispy clouds that circled around the mountains’ peaks, causing its beams to spread across the land in a golden haze. It glimmered on the ocean’s surface like a handful of scattered coins, and warmed the sheets of ice that clutched onto the shore’s edge.

It was as beautiful as ever, despite the mayhem that thrived in it. An illusion of peace concealed the pandemonium raging amidst their kingdom, and sheltered the death that littered the ground below. It made Sigurd feel as if he had stepped backwards in time, and he found himself wishing desperately that he could rewind the clock.

Only a few weeks may have passed since the prince first arrived at Bjornheimr, but to him, it seemed like an eternity. So much had changed in less than a month, and he could scarcely recognize his own face anymore, nor the faces of others.

Ulfar was dead. Kjotve was losing this war. The son of the jarl had taken his wife’s position, and now, the man he once called brother lay forgotten in a traitor’s tomb. It was as if the Nornir were toying with his fate -- plucking at whatever threads they could find -- just to see how much of a mess they could make.

It felt cruel to Sigurd, to curse him with such an arduous path. In a strange way though, part of him was grateful for having braved this trek. If it weren’t for the gods guiding him to Bjornheimr, he never would’ve met Eivor, or discovered the true nature of those he trusted. He would’ve lived the rest of his life believing in a false brotherhood, and possibly have fallen to one of their blades sooner or later.

This war had caused him a tremendous amount of pain, that was true, but it had also taught him lessons that no mentor ever could. It would be a chapter in his saga that he would never forget, yet at the same time, never wish to remember.

“Sigurd?”

Tearing his eyes away from the view, Sigurd looked to his side and spotted Eivor approaching him from the longhouse, prompting him to rise from his seat.

“Ah, Eivor,” he said with a smile. “There you are. Have you spoken with your father?”

“Yes. I just finished talking to him in the cemetery. He’ll meet us in the war room later to discuss our next move, but for the moment, he wishes to spend some time by himself.”

Sigurd’s brow furrowed in concern. “...How is your father?”

Eivor sighed, his breath turning into a trail of mist. “He’s... faring surprisingly well, in spite of our recent losses. He seems to be doing alright, but part of me suspects it’s only an act.”

“You don’t think it’s genuine?”

The younger man lowered his voice. “He just lost a child, Sigurd. And an old friend. No one passes through an ordeal like that unscathed, especially during a war. I can tell my father is hurting on the inside, but I also know he’s far too proud to show it. He would never risk hurting his clan’s morale like that. Or mine.”

Sigurd nodded in understanding. “A man who cares more about his people than himself. Admirable, but I hope he doesn’t neglect his own needs.”

“As do I. We’ve already lost so much in this past week. I can’t lose him either. Not when we’re so close to victory.” Eivor trailed off into a brief silence, softly clearing his throat. “...Anyway. We’ll have plenty of time to talk about the war later. You said you had something to show me?”

The prince reached down and picked something up from the ground, patting it clean before presenting it to his lover.

“Indeed,” he said, flicking some snow away, “I brought a gift for you.”

Eivor’s expression beamed at that. “A gift? What is it?”

Sigurd held his arms out, laying the object flat in his palms. “See for yourself.”

Looking in the man’s grip, the Wolf-Kissed found a beautifully-crafted shield resting proudly in his hands, waiting for the touch of its new owner. It had been fashioned out of a wood darker than ebony itself, and bore the intricate design of a raven on its surface. A vibrant mixture of blue and white pigment had been used to paint the majestic bird, and the edges of the shield were outlined with a ring of engraved iron.

Overall, it was an impressive piece of craftsmanship. Its small yet sturdy build made it an effective piece of armor, and the colors stood out from the wood like an aurora in the night sky.

“You got me a shield?” Eivor said, staring at the gift in awe. “It’s gorgeous, Sigurd.”

The prince grinned. “Ah, but it’s not just any shield, my love. This shield was passed down to me from my mother when I was only a boy. She gave it to me at a young age so that I could start my training, despite my father’s protests.”

A wave of reminiscence washed over Sigurd’s face. “...I used to carry it with me everywhere I went. Even after my mother’s death, I would wear it proudly on my back and use it as a... good luck charm of sorts, I suppose. An accessory to ward off the shadow lurking in my step. I don’t use it much nowadays since I don’t want to risk breaking it, but I’ve always kept it close nonetheless. It serves as a good reminder.”

Eivor tilted his head. “A reminder of what?”

Sigurd’s tone faltered with melancholy. “...Of what really matters.” He paused for a second and glanced down at the shield, unlocking the memories that lived inside it.

“With all the losses that we’ve suffered recently, I’ve found myself thinking about the past more than usual. My mind is often preoccupied with the burdens of regret, and my dreams are tainted by the men I’ve killed. In times like these, it can be difficult to remember why we’re even fighting in the first place. Hatred can become a familiar face if you indulge it for long enough, and eventually, you’ll find yourself burying an axe in someone’s chest without really knowing why.”

“It’s frightening to lose control of your life in such a way,” he continued. “It feels like... all the love you once cradled is slipping out of your grasp, and that there’s nothing you can do about it.” He slid a hand down the shield’s surface. “But when I look at this, I think about all the memories I hold dear. I think about my mother, about Dag, about a life without constant terror. I think about the hope I once carried, and how alive it made me feel.”

Sigurd flicked his eyes up to Eivor, unable to hide the glint of hope shimmering in his gaze.

“It’s the same feeling I get when I look at you.”

Eivor was flattered by the comment. “It is?”

The prince displayed a faint smile. “Yes. You remind me of the life I wish I could give to our people. But more importantly, you give me the strength to fight for it. Had it not been for your company throughout this past month, I’m not sure I’d be the same man I am today. And that’s why I want you to have this.”

The younger man carefully brought the shield into his grasp, mindful not to scratch it.

“Are you sure about this, Sigurd?” Eivor checked. “I mean, this shield used to belong to your mother. If you want to keep it, I’ll understand.”

The prince shook his head, holding up a hand of refusal. “No, no. It’s yours now. Even if you don’t use it in battle, I still want you to have it. I trust you to keep it safe, and I know my mother would’ve been honored to pass it onto someone such as you.”

The Wolf-Kissed slipped his arm through the strap, testing its weight with a few gentle swings.

“I... I don’t know what to say, Sigurd. It’s a magnificent piece of armor. I promise I’ll treat with the utmost care.” He closed the distance between them and leaned forward, pecking a small kiss on his companion’s cheek. “Thank you.”

The older man’s face radiated with a warm delight. “You’re welcome, Eivor.”

Coming to an abrupt halt, Sigurd’s attention was suddenly diverted to the longhouse when he noticed Arngeir striding through its doors, eager to get started on devising a strategy. It looked like Styrbjorn had also decided to join his small entourage and was currently accompanying him to the war room, looking more determined than usual.

“I think your father’s ready to meet us at the war table,” Sigurd observed. “We should join him as quickly as possible.”

Eivor chuckled softly, letting out a short breath. “This war never waits, does it?”

The prince returned the laugh. “It would seem not.” He placed a hand on Eivor’s shoulder and guided him away from the hill, bringing his lover along for a quick stroll before heading into the longhouse.

“Come.” Sigurd beckoned. “We have a battle to plan.”

#hjarta #assassin's creed valhalla #ac valhalla #eivor wolfsmal #eivor wolfkissed #eivor varinsson #male eivor #sigurd styrbjornson #sigurd x male eivor #ac valhalla fanfic

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hopefulstarfire · 4 years ago

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Astrarium: The Adventures Between Realms: An In-Depth Look

What is Astrarium: The Adventures Between Realms?

Astrarium is a massive, written work of online fiction created by myself and my boyfriend Jonathan, with the art department fully manned by our best friend Tai (@cowboytai) and edited/possibly narrated by our other best friend Watta (found here at his YouTube channel).

The story follows the adventures of Artemis, or Ari as she's better known, a human girl raised by Dragons. The Dragons of are the deities of the universe, with a select group delegated to the task of Watchers, whom take the role of nurturing, shaping and recording the histories of the Seven Realms found in their universe. Ari, at age 16, is able to begin her training to become a Watcher (and the first ever human Watcher), and takes the four years of her training to explore each and every Realm, making friends and enemies along the way, and discovering more of who she is and who she wants to become.

We're currently looking at publishing it on its own website sometime in 2022. What we're looking at having done before then is the prologue, first five chapters, and the first trips to every Realm. Currently, we have the prologue and chapters 1-3 finished, with chapter 4 in progress along with the first round of trips. The prologue and chapters 1-5 will be posted together on the launch of the website. We will also have a Patreon set up for it, with some varying reward tiers!

What are the Realms?

There are Seven Realms featured in Astrarium, all named after constellations. They are Hydra (The Water Serpent), Auriga (The Charioteer), Ursa (Greater Bear), Cygnus (The Swan), Orion (The Hunter), Lepus (The Hare) and Lyra (The Lyre). Each one also features its own aesthetics, cultures, and even specialized races/species of civilized life.

Hydra takes place in a very water and island based world, with an aesthetic setting of the Age of Exploration/Golden Age of Piracy. There are seven major oceans on this world, and hundreds of islands, both inhabited and uninhabited and many filled to the brims with treasures. There are also large underwater cities that are elegantly built and homes to all sorts of academic pursuits.

Auriga is a world inspired by both the Old West and the Steampunk fashion and aesthetic. They have new inventions coming out every day, fueled not just by steam power but also by magical crystals. And they thrive off of having big communities that all rely on each other.

Ursa is a very natural world filled with gorgeous forests and lovely springs. It's world is heavily inspired by high fantasy, dungeons and dragons, and a certain other old tale that'll be evident in its cast of characters. It is filled with magics of all kinds and magical creatures left and right.

The citizens of Cygnus live on floating islands, all connected to each other by tethers, and the inhabitants fly anywhere they please. The aesthetic is based in 1920s/1930s fashion and glitz and glam, with a little bit of a seedy underbelly lurking in the city...as well as interesting horrors down in the jungles below them.

The Giantesses of Orion have kept to the simpler life, with a definite cottage core aesthetic throughout. They are an agricultural society with many settlements and even still wandering nomadic tribes that all unite for the big Games every year.

Lepus' people have been facing an endless winter for over a thousand years. The people have long forsaken and forgotten about their magic, and have relied heavily on science and technology to help rebuild their lives and try to find a way to combat the winter. It's a very sci-fi setting with some style influence from all over.

Lyra is the land of the dead and the home of an eternal party. With plenty of Halloween based influences, there is never a dull moment for those who find themselves in the built towns, and those who are stuck in the fog wander and sing their songs until they find their way to a new home.

Outside of the Realms, there is Dragons Keep, a large mountain in space that acts as the home to all Dragons. It's caves are vast and plentiful, winding all the way through from the head of the mountain, where the High Council meets, to the very bottom. And even with many areas claimed and made use of in this large mountain, there are always mysteries to be found.

Who are the characters?

Astrarium has one of the largest casts of characters we've worked with, with tons of new friends, rivals, and enemies for Ari to meet. Along with Ari, there is a main character for each Realm, with a cast of supporting characters.

Ari (she/her) acts as the main protagonist, helping guide some of the plot and seeing everything through her eyes. On Hydra, our protagonist is Gibbson "Gibbs" Cayde (he/him); on Auriga, Huxley "Huck" Holiday (he/him); on Ursa, Ronan Löx (he/him); on Cygnus, Clyde (he/him); on Orion, Fauna (she/her); on Lepus, Henrietta "Henri" Franklin (possibly she/they, still figuring it out!) ; and on Lyra, Alexei (he/him). Also on Dragons Keep, we have Aris' family, with her adopted mother/Mama, Arabella, her Uncle Killick, and her cousin, Libelle, who is a main character for Dragons Keep.

I hope to get to share more about our supporting cast with you all soon, as they all have some very interesting stories to get to share!

We also are working on art for the main characters as we speak, but we do have Ari's done and that can be found here!

More About The Team?

We're a group of friends who have all known each other since, for the most part, high school! While I'm someone that kind of wants to keep private lives private, I can say that these are the best group of friends to have and we're honestly like our own little family. We've workshopped other projects with each other since, God, like, my senior year of high school? Just about? It's been an insane ride together. We're also just a big bunch of nerds who are all really chill and fun to be around.

How Long is The Story Going To Be?

Astrarium is looking to be the longest project we'll ever do in terms of story timeline, and page count. As the Dragons are masters of time, Ari has the ability to actually mess with it slightly and create what is essentially a "Save point" for herself to go back to after she leaves a Realm. So say she leaves Hydra on a certain day. She can make that save point, go hang out in the other Realms, and come back and it'll be either that exact save point she left at or a few hours later, give or take (though, there are chances of "hiccups" in this, usually occurring when she leaves from Dragons Keep specifically, as it is considered to be outside of the normal flow of time!).

My goal is kind of a fun one of I want it to be one of the longest word count stories out there. I don't really know why I want it to be, other than I think it'd be really cool if I could beat out that Loud House fanfiction in terms of longest works in literature. That's just a nice little goal.

How Can Readers Support the Series?

Honestly, the best thing I can ask for is just getting this around! If anyone takes an interest in this series, reblogs and likes go a long way and are greatly appreciated. We also love, love, love questions!! It's a great feeling to see people want to know more and some questions can really get our thinking caps on to develop more and more! When the site launches, we will again launch the Patreon right alongside it, so if you want to financially support, there'll be reward tiers ranging from $1 a month and upwards! We may look at a Ko-Fi as well and if it looks like people are really interested in it, we may open a merch store and I do want to start releasing some of it as actual books you can have for your shelves!

Financial support is 100000% optional, though, for when that does happen, and like, everyone's situation is different, we just want to make it an option for our audience. But the best feeling in the world to us is seeing people's interest and them sharing it with their friends!

And if anyone has anymore questions, please please please feel free to ask! We're gonna be working on getting to share more updates here soon!! And thank you all for your time!!

#astrarium #astrarium: the adventures between realms #ocs #my characters #my ocs #original story #original works #original writing #writerblr #writing community #writing #fiction #original fiction

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nightshadowhawk · 4 years ago

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rating ninjago seasons with explanations because i was bored (spoilers obvs)

way of the ninja: 6/10 - i remember watching this ages and ages ago, to me they were just filler episodes to me as i’d watched all the way to rebooted at that point, not super interesting but it started everything so extra points for that

rise of the snakes: 5/10 - YES its old i know but the… the GD attack should have caused more chaos… destroyed more stuff… it only moved a couple cars in this season (which entirely changes in SoG with harumi’s flashbacks) which i thought was … weird, even when i was younger lol… but theres development of characters n all i think a lot of it is rad !

legacy of the green ninja: 6/10 - pretty good, i haven’t watched this in a while so i dont remember much but the end battle is Legendary so there’s extra points for that and also extra points for dareth being introduced hee hee

rebooted: 6/10 - the whole overlord and nindroids thing is … pretty cool ?? pixal and cyrus exist now so !!!! that adds points !!! when i was younger i remember watching zanes sacrifice a lot cuz i couldnt get over it, and now i can recite all the words off by heart … lol anyway i think this seasons ok 👍

tournament of elements: 8/10 - very good, i loved seeing the other elemental masters !!!! and chen is actually a very cool villain, especially when i was younger, i loved him then lol … the ending is kinda 😟 bc garmy technically dies but yea its a gud season C:

possession: 10/10 - this season is EVERYTHING???? the intro SLAPS, the whole aesthetic is incredible and not to mention theres a whole bunch of favourite characters content in this season so that adds extra points !!!! the story all flows smoothly and its just Mmmm so gud. i love it dearly, defo a comfort season i’ve watched it so many times

skybound: 7/10 - i can see why some people hate this season as the whole nadakhan marrying nya thing is VERY weird (even my cousin who was 6 at the time when we first watched it could tell that) … but theres extra points for 1. the whole misfortunes keep crew, i love them, and 2. the ninja replacements team, i also care them all so dearly … the lighting in this season is super good, and also the storyline threads together well, i just find it very Appealing how it goes back to how it started

hands of time: 4/10 - idk man its just … boring, i can’t really be interested enough to watch to the end of the season? extra points for acronix being pretty and the scruff moments tho lol…. also whats with more snake people …. cant be ninjago without snakes ig LMAO

day of the departed: 5/10 - i also just see this as a filler… i mean yes it tells how cole turned back from a ghost but otherwise it’s just kinda random but i still liked it

sons of garmadon: 7/10 - pretty good ! harumi is a very cool character tho i do think shes kinda selfish … like a lot of others probably lost family in the GD attack??? kind of confused … but the SoG group as a whole is VERY epic i love the designs for UV and mr E (killows design just throws me off tho… why Real Hands..)

hunted: 10/10 - SO damn good the storyline is EVERYTHING and i love how it switches POVs every so often to keep things on edge. its also pretty dark for a kids show and that makes it better, and the cinematics for this are all just AMAZING…. i care the dragon designs so much, mmmmmmmmmm beloveds :^)

march of the oni: 6/10 - wasted!!!!! potential!!!!! the oni were such a good show of fantastic character design and they were just….. taken out in like 5 seconds despite them literally being the embodiment of destruction? there was literally two seasons before this of the ninja dealing with one (1) embodiment of destruction and then when theres LOADS that make tentacle death clouds and are super OP they just … are defeated????? ok…… also what was the point in coles fall fr it just made me sad for no reason🙁

secrets of forbidden spinjitzu: 6/10 - the fire chapter was … cool ? i guess, wasn’t the most interesting, aspheera is hot tho lol😝(LITERALLY !!!!! Funny joke pls laugh.)also clutch being introduced adds points, love the stupid explorer man. the ice chapter is super dark, i loved seeing the never-realm and how everything worked there, and ?? evil zane ?!??!? sheeeeeesh that was a bold move that was super epic … i liked this part of the season :^0

prime empire: 10/10 - another comfort season YEAHHHHH !!!! the aesthetic !! so good !!! the characters r RAD like scott and okino and seven I LOVE THEM SO DEARLY ….. the soundtrack is RAD as well i listen to it plentifully …… the ending is happysad and i always go a bit cry when unagami and milton walk away together :’^)

master of the mountain: 8/10 - the whole slavery thing is … questionable but the skull sorcerer’s design is super awesome ! and the upply … i care them … :^)))) AND A COLE SEASON !!!! i loved the development for him !!! and the way that vania and cole stayed a friendship the whole time cuz it never implied they were gonna date or whatever which made me happy honestly … i rated it 8/10 as the extra points are from the upply

the island: shit/10 - what the fuck was that. the islanders were cool i liked their designs but seriously i hated the ending so bad like there was no reason for ronin to be the antagonist again … just let clutch steal the amulet and there you have it all set up for the next season whoooo

seabound: 9/10 - again i love the aesthetic, the glowy-ness of everything is so pretty in this, and the design for wojira is amazing … tho this season is super sad, im sure theres reasoning for the ending of it :)))))) the storyline is also very good in this ! it does actually make sense which sometimes doesnt happen ……...

#ninjago #ns15 spoilers

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jesussavedevenme · 3 years ago

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To Be A Knight

This is the beginning of a collection of one shots following Seth's adventures as a Knight of the Dawn

Description: Like most young boys Seth had always dreamed of being a spy. He had spent most of his childhood sneaking around the house with a walky-talky while humming the Mission Impossible theme song. And while he technically still wasn't a spy,he was pretty darn close.

May 20

St.Matthew's Island, Alaska

6:25 pm

"Sorenson, I've got a job for you." came a gruff voice from down the hall. Seth turned and saw his handler, a man by the name of Flynn Hotching, leaning out of the door to his office. Flynn was a tall and strong man with a broad frame. At fifty five he was in excellent shape and the only indications to his age were the flecks of white that were sprinkled throughout his dark hair and neatly trimmed beard. Flynn was a serious man and often gave off an intimidating vibe, but Seth knew that he wasn't that bad once you got to know him.

Seth stood, ignoring the way his back popped and cracked in protest because of how long he had spent sitting in the rather uncomfortable wooden chair. He had once started a petition to replace them with those really comfortable bean bag chairs. He actually had quite a few supporters. But Flynn, being the man he was, just rolled his eyes and walked away. Seth could feel the stares of his fellow knights burning into the back of his head as he made his way over but opted to ignore it. Seth got missions quite frequently, a fact that many knights were slightly jealous of since it would occasionally get him out of some the more mundane tasks a Knight had to complete. For example, paper work. Which is what he had been doing when he had been called. He quickly made his way over, eager to get away from the evil sea of inevitable paper cuts. He couldn't help but chuckle as he mentally heard Eve calling him a drama queen. Though she wasn't much better.

Flynn barely waited for the door of his to close behind him before he began pouring out the details of whatever job he had lined up.

" There's a dealer that's been causing us some problems. They are preying on creatures such as unicorns and there has been some rumors that they are working with some less than savory characters. I need you to track them down. " Flynn stated firmly. Seth narrowed his eyes, there was no way it was that easy. If it was that simple then they would have brought in a rookie.

"Ok, what's the catch." He replied crossing his arms over his chest.The man heaved a sigh before sliding a file towards him.

" The catch is we don't have any idea who the dealer is. We don't even have a description. However, all of our dealers crimes have a certain flare to them and we have reason to believe that he is human. We have intercepted news of a deal taking place in three days in Belize. "

Seth read the file and whistled at the lack of information. The file was extremely limited which meant that whoever was doing this knew what they were doing. The Knights of the Dawn had excellent connections and kept tabs on every possible threat so for them to be this uninformed- well lets just say it wasn't good. It also meant he was walking into this mission completely blind. He couldn't plan for anything meaning he had to plan for everything. He had no idea what was going to happen once he got there but, if you ask Seth, that was part of the fun.

"Alright I'll do it." Seth replied after a moment of thought. He had to admit he only pretended to think about it, mostly just for the suspense. He had always loved a good mystery and this mission honestly excited him.

"Good, your plane leaves tomorrow at eight am sharp. You will be issued a bag that will be stocked with supplies but I advise you to bring anything you think would be useful" He said gesturing to the satchel over his shoulder, that served as his emergency kit. " I have wired five thousand dollars into your account but if you need more than that you know who to call." Seth nodded, placing the folder in his satchel and walked out of the office, heading to his apartment to prepare for the mission ahead. He pulled his coat tighter around his body as he walked outside and realized that it was later than he had originally thought. The sun was just beginning to dip below the horizon and though Seth loved the pinks and oranges that painted the sky, he could practically feel the temperature dropping. Last time he had checked it was 25 degrees, which is no where near as cold as it could get but it was still very cold. Despite how long he had been in Alaska, he had yet to get used to the bitter cold. And he honestly didn't think he ever would. Seth guessed he should count himself lucky, this was the Knights biggest base and it had been cleverly hidden by distractor spells as well as the natural terrain of the island. Seth shivered as a strong gust of wind blew through the base reminding him of the other reason it stayed hidden from most people. Luckily he lived on the grounds of the base so it was only about a minutes walk.

The Knights of the Dawn had no shortage of money. Seth wasn't sure how they got there hands on so much money and honestly he didn't want to know. It was all warranted though considering how many supplies they had to buy along with the amount of damage control. It was amazing sometimes how much chaos a secret organization could cause. Seth knew he definitely wasn't the favourite over in the legal department because of some of the 'incidents' that had been a result of his missions. Seth was proud to be able to state that these incidents were few and far between but when they did happen he knew they had to be a nightmare to clean up.

Needless to say, with all that money, his apartment was very nice. It had a decent size living room and kitchen which connected go a small dining area. Upstairs there was two bedrooms and a bathroom. Seth's furniture was pretty sparse if he was being honest. He had a couch that had been there when he moved in, his bed, a desk, a small dining table that has also come with the apartment, as well as few chairs scattered here and there. It didn't bother him in the slightest. He honestly wasn't here that often. He slept there when he wasn't out on missions which, once again, was pretty rare. Besides the real fun began downstairs. He walked down the stairs into what appeared to be a musty, unfinished basement. A punching bag hung from one of the exposed beams and a small pile of weights sat not far from it. Seth rarely used those, they were reserved for restless nights when the big communal gym and training area was closed for the night.

Seth strode confidently towards the back wall and slid away a lose board revealing a keypad. It was truly a horrible hiding spot for something that important but there wasn't really anything he could do about it. The neat thing about the keypad though was that it had been enchanted so that he was the only one who could touch it. Meaning that not only did you need the correct code, but he had to be the one to punch it in. He wasn't exactly sure what would happen if someone else touched it but he knew it would do more than just set off an alarm. Stuff like always made Seth feel like a true spy and totally made up for the unsecured hiding space.

Seth punched in the code and heard the distinct sound of stone scraping on stone, briefly reminding him of his few days spent in the Sphinx's prison. When the sound stopped, a small opening was revealed that lead to a room containing his weapons and supplies. From the outside the room appeared to be tiny and cramped but it had also been enchanted to be much bigger on the inside. It wasn't quite as big as the knapsack they had all those years ago but it was nothing to sneeze at. Still, no matter how big it was on the outside, Seth had to crouch down to fit through the opening. The door frame was ridiculously short and the amount of time he had smacked his head against the top was honestly embarrassing. The supplies inside the room was a knights dream. There was everything you could dream of, swords, daggers, armor, bows, you name it. The special thing about this room though, was that most of the items were his. They were things he had gathered prior to becoming a knight. Seth also had several magical talismans and tools that had gotten him out of more than a few sketchy situations. His favorite talisman was a ring that sat on his right forefinger. The ring had been a gift from The Fairy King when Seth had been accepted into the Knights Academy. It was pitch black and didn't look like much at first glance however, when you looked closer you could see three unicorns that were engraved on its surface, each of which served more functional purposes. The first unicorn, when pressed, sent out a distress signal strong enough to reach Bracken even if he was in the fairy realm. The distress signal also went out to anyone who had a connected talisman. At this point the only ones being himself and Kendra who had gotten hers when she officially began dating Bracken in the form of a bracelet. The second unicorn held a few precious drops of unicorn blood. The substance could heal almost anything but it could only be used once. The final unicorn was arguably Seth's favorite. When it was pressed it would release a pearly white dagger which had been extremely helpful in the past. The downside to this tool was that, since it was made of light, he tended to have a harder time controlling it.

Seth looked through his stash, trying to decide which weapons were right for this particular mission. He knew at this point stealth was key but if you leave for a job without a weapon, you're just going to get yourself killed.

When going on stealth missions the best route to take is small weapons that can be easily concealed, such as daggers or blow darts. However, the problem with that was those were easily detected when going through airport security. Ever since becoming a knight Seth had decided that he hated flying. It was loud, chaotic, and absolutely impossible to tell who was a danger to you.

Plus carrying weapons onto the plane was pretty much impossible but, a knight needed to be prepared in every situation. The weapon had to be easily accessible, ready at a moments notice, and the best way to do that is to build a weapon that doesn't look like a weapon. Seth walked over to a small red tool box tucked away in the corner, and pulled out a large nut and and tied a piece of cord to it. He secured the cord and then started to spin it, making sure nothing was going to fall off. And just like that he had a weapon that made a killer whip and could easily crack a mans skull if it came down to that. The best part was that it wouldn't trip any alarms. Sure it might seem a little odd that someone carries a piece of cord tied to a nut but, he wouldn't get arrested for it. Seth tied the lose cord around his neck, creating a necklace that he could hide underneath his shirt until it was needed. When that was finished he turned his attention to his emergency kit and sifted through the various items, taking out anything that would tip off a scanner. Seth gathered the items that he had taken out and moved towards the suitcase that he would be taking with him. He felt around one of the sides and unzipped a pocket so small that you most likely wouldn't see unless you knew it was there. In the pocket he placed the remaining items of his emergency kit. This time he wasn't worried about the items being seen as the pocket had been enchanted to hide the items from sight. Seth then repeated the process with the bottom of the suitcase, peeling back the inside to reveal a similar compartment that had also been enchanted to be bigger. In this pocket he placed two daggers, A blow gun and darts, and his favorite sword. He pulled the sword out of it's sheath and inspected it for any chips or dull edges. The sword was jet black and held the name Shadow Slayer, which was kind of ironic given its nature. The sword held just enough darkness to work well with him but not so much that there was a risk it would corrupt him. He had found the sword while on a mission for the fairy realm not long before joining the Knights. He was pretty sure he wasn't going to use it because lets face it, milk or no milk a sword was still a sword. However, Seth had learned that it payed to be prepared. So with that thought in mind, he placed the sheathed sword in the compartment, closed it up, and began to carry it upstairs to his bedroom. He filled the rest of the suit case with clothes and other essentials and once he was satisfied that he had everything, he closed it up.

He slumped down in his desk chair and pulled out the file he had stashed in his emergency kit, pouring over what little detail it had and attempting to prepare for what was to come.

†††††

May 21

St.Matthews Island, Alaska

5:00am

The next morning Seth was up well before five am preparing for the mission ahead. Thankfully he had always been a morning person so the early hour didn't bother him in the slightest. He grabbed his bags and exited the apartment, heading to the missions office to pick up the final things he would need for this job.

The lady at the desk, He pretty sure her name is Jennifer, smiled at him as he approached the counter. She was a women in her mid thirties and she was one of the nicer people that worked the desk. There were quite a few of the people working here that obviously didn't want to and others who even seemed to resent it. Seth really couldn't blame them though, he had worked here for a few months while he was going through training and it definitely hadn't been the most fun or exciting job out there.

" ID and case number?" She asked as more of a formality than anything else. Seth was such a regular visitor that he was pretty sure they knew who he was. However, since it was required, he slid showed them his badge and rattled the number off anyway. Seth supposed that he coukd see the logic behind the badge. It was a way of identifing someone beyond ther looks. All of them had been enchanted fo return to their owners, generally via their pocket, should they be lost. Seems simple and secure enough. However, in their line of work things were rarely that black and white. Seth is not entirely sure what would happen to the badge if their was a stingbuld or if the enchantment could be removed. Luckily they didn't do much. They were just means of identification and they didn't let you into anything at all. Any area qhich required a certain level of access had several different enchantments placed on it. Ones that were designed to recognize the person requesting access and weed out potential imposters. After the battle of Zzyzx and the whole mess with the Evening Star, the knights had undergone huge security upgrades. Bracken as well as one of his sisters, Iredessa, had set mist of the enchantments. Kendra had also played a major part on strengthening these enchantments a few years ago.

The case numbers were pretty harmless. Not the most secure but all they did was let the people at the desk know what bag of supplies to get. It didn't give access to any crucial or confidential information. The most a fake could get was an issued duffle bag and possibly some.plane tickets.

Jennifer smiled as she stood and disappeared through a secured metal door. When she returned a few minutes later she was carrying a black duffle bag which she passed to him over the counter along with a two way plane ticket.

"Thanks a lot," Seth told her, flashing a bright smile her way. She hummed in response before responding,

"Stay safe out there,"

"I'll try my best," Seth replied with a grin as he headed towards the door and began the short treck to the parking lot where a car would take him to the airport. He knew he must have looked a little funny carrying around a huge duffle bag, suit case and a leather satchel that sat across his shoulder but he wasn't worried. Every Knight here had been in similar situations before. Seth looked around the parking lot, squinting in the bright morning sun, before making his way to the small grey jeep that sat close to the front. Leaning against the side was a tall guy with wind blown red hair and a lean build. Seth smiled when he spotted him. The man's name was Parker and he was one of Seth's closest friends here on the base. They had gone through training together though, Parker was about three years older than him. He was twenty-four while Seth was only twenty-one. Seth, unfortunately, hadn't had a lot of friends at that time. Because of his shadow charmer status, people tended to be wary of him but Parker had never been deterred by his abnormal abilities.

In between his own missions Parker volunteered to drive Knights back and forth to the airport. Due to Seth's frequent missions, the two usually ended up paired together.

"Another one Sorenson? Didn't you just finish that one in Sweeping Pine preserve like a week ago?"

" Yeah, Jealous?" Seth teased, raising his eyebrows. Parker laughed and shot a playful glare at the taller boy. Despite Parker's tall height, he was still at least and inch shorter than Seth. Though to be fair, not many people were taller than Seth. A fact that many people found unsettling.

" Just a little bit dude. What, you trying to show the rest of us up or something?" Parker laughed back, poking Seth in the side as he got into the car. Seth rolled his eyes as he loaded his bags into the car before following Parker's lead. They road in silence for several minutes as Parker navigated his way out of the crowded base and set up the directions to the international airport. It wasn't everyday that a Knight flew internationally for a mission. Generally if they were going to somewhere outside the country they were going to a preserve and would have to be flown there by helicopter or other means. So while it did happen, it didn't happen often.

Seth used the temporary quiet to unzip the bulky duffle bag and look at its contents.

Looking into his bag for a mission and seeing the certain supplies or gadgets still made him a bit giddy. Like most young boys, Seth had always wanted to be a spy. He had spent most of his childhood sneaking around the house with a cheap walky-talky while humming the mission impossible theme song. And while he technically wasn't a spy, he was pretty darn close. One of the common misconceptions about the Knights of the Dawn was that they didn't use any human or modern technology such as computers and other gadgets to do their job. However that was far from true. Sure they tended to avoid it when dealing directly with magical creatures, but they often used these gadgets for things such reconnaissance.

Inside the bag was some of the things you would expect such a binoculars and many more that you wouldn't expect. Seth's favorite part of these bags were the small box near the bottom that generally came with each one. The box contained different potions that you might need for the mission. Seth had always found potions to be fascinating. There had even been a time that he had considered going into the field himself. For this particular mission he had been given a night vision potion which was pretty self explanatory, An eavesdropping potion that enhanced his hearing and allowed him to listen in on a conversation without getting too close, and a form of truth serum that would loosen the lips of of someone you wish to get information from. There was at least three bottles of each along with the normal defense and first aid potions that were added. Such as, the gaseous potion, a potion for pain, a salve for injuries and many more. On top of that Tanu insisted on making sure that Seth was always stocked with his own personal set of potions. Tanu usually supplied him with more gaseous potions, a gummy potion, a giant potion, a new potion that enhanced his focus and his reflexes, as well as plenty of first aid related ones. He seemed to be convinced that Seth would end up seriously injured on every mission. Though sadly, Seth could admit, that the worry wasn't completely unfounded. Other than the potions, the bag contained an enchanted communicator, a few listening devices, a laptop, and a few other useful knick knacks.

" Got anything good in there?" Parker questioned.

" You bet," Seth replied holding up the box of potions that was in his bag even knowing that with his friends eyes on the road and so Parker probably couldn't see them. Parker laughed anyway not needing his eyes to know what Seth was referring to.

" Seth, I swear I have never seen anyone get so excited over potions before."

" What can I say, I'm a simple guy," He replied earning a scoff from Parker.

" Uh huh, says the literal Shadow Charmer who has a mission every other week," The pair laughed once again and fell into an easy back and forth banter. Continuing there shenanigans until they pulled into the airport. It was then, as much as he, loathed to do it he bid Parker farewell , thanked him for the ride, and walked into the crowded airport.

Arriving at the airport was just as hectic as he expected it to be. Of course it was crazy for everyone but, it was even more so when you are constantly looking over your shoulder or waiting to get stopped by airport security. Thankfully he was able to board the plane okay even if his makeshift weapon did raise a few eyebrows.

Something Seth had learned was that a knight should always fly economy. It may not be the most comfortable but few people would start a fight with that many witnesses around. Plus it was easier to blend in. A tee shirt and some jeans and you were all set. Ready to settle in for a long flight.

Seth popped one ear bud in his ear but left the other out in order to let him hear incoming threats. Seth found it impossible to sleep on a plane, no matter how long the journey was, because of the unknown circumstances. It would be difficult to keep an eye on people and to know who was a threat. Unlike Kendra, Seth hated reading. Only a few books had every managed to hold his attention for any.period of time. He was too restless. He would much rather be doing something outside. Moving and exploring. He didn't mind doing art, sketching being his favorite. However, that was difficult to do in a crowded, bunny plane. So Seth resigned himself to a long ride half listening to music and ignoring the guy beside him who vaguely smelled like onions.

††††

May 22

Corazol, Belize

4:45 pm

Seth stretched his stiff legs as he walked from baggage claim to the exit of the airport. He breathed deeply and relished the feeling of the sun on his skin, even though he knew he would quickly become hot. But, after a long eight and a half hour flight, they were welcome changes. He glanced at the clock hung on the wall and noted the time. He knew that Corazol Belize was about two hours ahead of Alaska. Not that it mattered. Seth was pretty much immune to jet lag at this point. Not necessarily because of the constant travel, though that certainly helped, but because of the erratic and uncertain sleep schedule he had become used to while on any mission. His body had become well trained in sleeping whenever it was told. The only thing that interrupted this was nightmares but he rarely got those while on missions because his mind was too focused on other things. Seth would never admit it but that's one of the reasons he takes on as many missions as they will give him.

Seth's hotel was not far from the airport so he opted to walk there. He had done some research the night before and found a hotel that he rented under the name of Roger Alpine. The Knights would usually rent one for you but Seth preferred to do it himself. To say the hotel he chose was run down would be putting it nicely. The paint was peeling horribly from the siding and it was definitely not on the nicest side of town. The rooms were separated from the outside by a door with A flimsy looking lock, something Seth would secure once he had settled in. The room held a musty scent mixed with the smell of cigarette smoke. There was a bed in the center of the room, covered in some unsettling stains, a side table and lamp beside it, and a desk under the window. The window itself had a pair of thin ratty curtains and crooked blinds. There wasn't much Seth could do about the window, except string up a blanket, which he did. Opening his suitcase and removing his clothes, he opened the hidden compartment. From inside he took out the pieces of his emergency kit that he had stashed. He also opened up the duffle bag he had and pulled out a few other various knick knacks that he thought he might find useful. He then empty the remaining items into the compartment at the bottom of his suitcase. Leaving the duffle bag empty. This was.common practice for Seth in a place like this. He didn't want to leave his unused supplies in a relatively unprotected duffle bag while he was away. Unfortunately this was something Seth had learned the hard way.

In the end Seth was left with: the box of potions, a rope, a small bottle which held a thin dust that immediately soaked into the skin upon contact allowing the victim to be tracked, dark sunglasses (which did indeed have a camera and microphone installed) , a slingshot, some marbles( which as Seth had found were great for distractions), binoculars, and a pair of ear buds. All of these things were packed neatly into his emergency kit, ready for use. He still had his makeshift weapon secured around his neck and two knife secured in a holster and strapped to each of his legs. He had glanced mournfully at his sword but knew that it would only draw in wanted attention. Besides today wasn't about getting into a fight. Today was about exploring Corazol and getting a lay of the land. Still it played to be prepared, hence the knives. Finally, satisfied that he was ready, Seth left the dingy hotel room and began to wander along the streets. Searching for anything that might lead him in the right direction.

Corazol was a quaint little sea side town. You could smell the salt in the air, carried by the cool breeze. Corazol was small in population but it also had its fair amount of tourists. Especially right now with summer just around the corner. The busy streets were lined with street vendors all vying for his attention but Seth was more interest in searching his surroundings. The smells coming from said street vendors were heavenly and caused his stomach to crumble loudly reminding him that not only had he not eaten breakfast this morning, but that he had been walking for over an hour. Technically he could have rented a car, he definitely had the funds for it, and most Knights probably would. However Seth, was not most Knights. He didn't like rental cars for many reasons, one because it was easier to see a car and a license plate then just someone walking in a crowd. Two, every rental car was required to have trackers and such in them to prevent theft which was fine in most cases but problematic for him. That wasn't necessarily a huge risk but it was still one Seth wasn't willing to take. Maybe he had grown paranoid, but he was still alive so there's that. Finally he didn't like rental cars because, in his line of work, it was likely to get beaten up or destroyed. Plus having a car would cause him to miss out on the unique sights, sounds, and smells. That is yet another thing Seth loved about his job. It allowed him to travel the world and to see as well as, experience things he would never get to otherwise.

He had to admit this was a good place to go if you were going to hunt for artifacts and magical creatures and then illegally sell them . The Cerror Ruins were only a few miles away and Seth knew that it was a prime spot for missing person's cases, especially when people wandered off alone. He hoped beyond hope that he wouldn't have to venture there during this trip but, that's definitely where he would go if he was an illegal dealer trying to avoid the Knights as well as any other prying eyes and ears. Plus it wasn't exactly a place you would expect anything big to happen. And besides the Cerror Ruins, their wasn't really anything magical about the place. It honestly seemed kind of ordinary. It was perfect because it tended to be overlooked.

After another thirty minutes had past, the rumbling in Seth's stomach became too overwhelming to ignore and he resolved find a place to eat. He stumbled upon a small hole in the wall restaurant that seemed to be pretty popular amongst the locals. Meaning it was the perfect place for Seth to gather some information.

Even though he worked directly with magical creatures, you'd be surprised how many times he had to interact with regular people. The knowledge gathered from these people was often shaky at best and should definitely be taken with a grain of salt. However, this information often helped him form some semblance of an idea. In his experience Seth had learned that regular people noticed a lot more than even they realize. In addition most people never pass up a chance for a good gossip. And since they didn't know how valuable their information was, they were a lot less stingy with it. The only problem you run into is when they begin to ask questions and wonder why you're asking and who you are. When that happens you become the subject of gossip and word will eventually get back to you enemy. That's why Seth hated small towns. The information might be easier to come by, but it was also easier to get caught. And getting caught meant revealing your mission too soon.

In his line of work , timing was everything. Move in too soon and you risk blowing you cover as well as the entire mission. However, if you don't move in quick enough you'll miss your chance to get your guy. That perfect timing came only when you knew you enemy better than they knew themselves. It came from careful observation and lots of Intel.

Gathering Intel was arguably one of the most boring and tedious parts of Seth's job. It involved a lot of waiting, listening, learning, more waiting, and every once and awhile, a well calculated risk. Luckily, for Seth, his shade walking gave him an edge in this particular area. The ability allowed him to get closer to his enemies so he could overhear plans and put together one of his own. However no ability came without its share of risks. He had gotten a lot better at learning to shroud himself in the shadow to help cover his movements when shade walking but it wasn't an exact science. Not adding enough shadow would reveal his position should he happen to move too quickly however, adding too much shadow could be just as revealing.

Seth's favorite way of gathering Intel was doing exactly what he was doing now. Finding a place to eat while he sat back and listened. Small places like the diner he had just entered were prime spots for gossip. Additionally, they gave him an opening to talk with the locals in a relatively unsuspicious way. People tended to loosen up and talk more freely when both parties were eating. Plus it gave Seth a reason to try all the local dishes. Most of which were pretty good. The smell of home cooked food hit his nose the minute he walked through the door making his mouth water so much it was a wonder he didn't start drooling. He was met at the entrance by a plump, kind looking lady, who appeared to be somewhere in her mid fifties judging by the gray streaking through her black hair. The hair was pulled tightly into a bun at the back of her head, accentuating her full rosy cheeks. He apron stated that he name was Rosa which somehow seemed to fit her perfectly, even thought Seth didn't know her. She gave off a very motherly vibe that instantly made Seth feel at home. With a smile she led Seth to a table and asked him for his drink order. To which he replied with a simple black coffee. Coffee was something Seth had quickly become addicted when he became a Knight. It often helped him through the multiple all nighters he pulled while on a mission. Some minutes later she returned with his coffee, this time ready for his order of food.

" What would you recommend. I'm from out of town so I'm counting on you to hook me up with the good stuff," He said with a wink. Rosa laughed heartily and replied with a thick accent,

" Well only for you I will tell you my personal favorite," She rattled off the name of a dish which sounded completely foreign to Seth but he wasn't going to admit that.

" Ok then, you've talked me into it,.I'll get that," He replied and as Rosa turned to leave he continued, " And could you do me a favor and just wave your little magic wand and take all the fat and calories out for me," Once again Rosa replied with a full bellied laugh.

"You are a funny man. But for you I will have to add extra. Maybe then some of it will stick. You look like you need it," She teased in return before turning a leaving Seth alone once more. He leaned back in his chair, and pulled out his phone. Absent mindedly scrolling through something or another and trying to hide the fact that he was listening to the conversations around him. The diner was loud, making it difficult to discern the voice of only one person. Seth was tempted to use the potion he had that would hone his eyesight and hearing but didn't want to waste it seeing as he only had one. It would be unfortunate to use all of it now at the beginning of the mission when he could need it more later on.

His thoughts were interrupted by Rose who had come with his food. Seth was shocked at how quick the service was seeing as it was rush hour and the small diner was packed to the gills. With the meal she also brought his check. Seth glanced at the check, surprised at the low prices considering the quality of the food.

" Well would you look at that! you must have given me the senior citizen discount!" He paused for the laugh that he had come to expect and then followed up with, "So what are some cool things to do and see while I'm here, anything particularly interesting?"

" Oh well the Cerror Ruins are always a prime spot for tourism but you must be careful to stay on the trails. Too many people wander off and go missing. One of my favorite things is to see the sights at night. The water takes on this stunning color and you can see the star as clear as day. But if you choose that route you best stay away from Devils Tavern. Its on the North end of Corazol, close to the beaches. That place is nothing but trouble, and full of shady characters, especially recently," Rosa said. Rosa was obviously the type of person who talked openly once you got them going. The last part of her sentence caught Seth's attention.

" Really, shady people in this town? Surely not everyone seems so nice,"

" You are young. You haven't seen the darkness of man. People are not always as they seem child," She replied with a sad smile. Seth internally rolled his eyes. If only she knew. " But yes, a week or so ago , this man arrived and came into the diner to eat. He seemed normal enough even if he was a bit rude. However, later that night I saw him outside the Devils Tavern, its on my route home you see, and he was talking in hushed tones with another man. They were standing in the shadows real creepy like. I wasn't really able to hear what they were saying but they didn't sound to happy and they looked like they were planning something, " Rosa finished with a grim look on her face. A look that didn't last long as it was replaced with her usual bright smile.

Seth stored the information away for later, and smiled brightly in return. Acting as if the information had no effect on him at all. Something that had always made Seth a good agent was his poker face. He had a good control over which emotions showed on his face. This was a vast contrast to Kendra who tended to be easily read, like an open book. One with pictures and big letters. A fact that Seth ,and surprisingly Bracken, had teased her relentlessly for.

" Well I won't keep you, thanks for chatting with me . And I will be sure to check out those suggestions," He said, putting an end to the conversation. Seth then dug into his food, nearly moaning at the taste. It was incredibly good. Probably one of the best meals he's had while on a mission. While he ate, he began to sift through the information that he had been given. As always he had to wonder how much of it was true, seeing as people had a tendency to exaggerate. He also couldn't bring himself to believe that Rosa stumbled upon the Devil's Tavern, a place she claimed to despise, on her way home. From what he had seen of Corazol most of the housing was away from that part of the beaches. He wasn't going to completely discredit it but as Rosa had said, people aren't always who they seemed. However, no how much truth there was in the statement, one thing remained true. Tonight he was heading to the Devil's Tavern.

†††††

May 22

Corazol, Belize

10:00pm

Seth walked through the darkened streets. Careful to remain close enough to the street lights so as not to unintentionally shade walk. He had gotten a lot better at controlling it but it still happened from time to time. And he couldn't afford giving himself away like that. Just in case there were eyes watching him that he could not see. He had done a pretty good job of keeping on the down low. After lunch he had wandered around the streets a bit more and then headed to the beaches. Particularly the part of the beach close to the Devil's Tavern. The Devil's Tavern had been relatively quiet during the day. The sign had stated that they were opened but it had seemed oddly empty. That was a stark contrast to what he was seeing now.

The tavern now seemed to be packed to the gills with people. And even more of them were standing outside. Even from where he was standing a few feet away he could hear the loud music that played he could see the bright, colorful lights shiny through the windows. As Seth drew closer he saw a problem. Standing at the door was a big burly man wearing dark sunglasses and a tight short sleeved T-shirt that accented his bulging muscles. He was shorter than Seth, most people were, but he made up for it in width. Seth was considered to have pretty wide shoulders and his years of training had hardened his muscles into steel cords. However, none of this reassured him as he stared at a man that looked like he could snap him in half like a twig. He wasn't scared of the man per say. But, he was definitely cautious.

As Seth approached the man he seemed to be doing his own analysis and his stance showed that he didn't feel even the slightest bit intimidated. Which was fair and actually worked to Seth's advantage He had done his best to tone down the darkness of his aura that seemed to put people on edge. Plus the leather jacket he had opted to wear hit the bulk of his muscles, which weren't overly pronounced to begin with, as well as a few... other tools. Aside from the daggers strapped to his legs and the makeshift weapon around his neck, he had three throwing knives cleverly hidden in the folds of his jacket. Unfortunately, much to Seth's displeasure, he had once again leave his sword behind. As weird as it may sound he felt like the sword gave him a better sense of security than the multiple knives strapped to his body. He was dangerous with both weapons and that was disregarding the fact that he was a shadow charmer. So even without the sword, he was hardly helpless. Still, he always felt oddly bare without it. A look settled on the bouncers face. A look that Seth had often seen on bullies when he was a kid. In the end that was all this guy was. A bully. And obviously he saw Seth as his next victim. However, despite all the scenarios Seth was mentally planning for, all the man did was sneer. Seth did his best to pretend he was scared as he entered the building

The air smelled heavily of alcohol and the music, which had been loud before, now seemed to shake the floor. He immediately began to weave his way through the sweaty bodies packing the room searching for signs of anything that was amiss. You would think that a place with this much chaos would make it harder to find anything let alone one person but for Seth it made it easier. If there was one thing that the file full of its limited information had taught Seth was that this guy was far from careless. He wouldn't risk anything that might loosen his tongue. The rest of the people in this place shared no such caution. So find the guy who can walk a straight line and that was probably who Seth was looking for.

He hadn't been searching for more than five minutes when something caught his eyes. His eyes darted to what had caught his attention and and, confirming his previous suspicions to be true, he found Rosa.

†††††

So there is part one!!!! Most of this collection will be one shots but seeing as this z alone is over seven thousand words I figured I needed to split them up. I will hopefully be able to post the next part very soon. It needs a few touch ups and changes but.other than that its.practically done. This took SOOO much research its not even funny. I'm pretty sure trip advisor things I'm moving to Belize. Anyway I really hope you all like it, it is probably one of my favorite fics to date so let me know what you think. I apologize for any mistakes you may find. Let me know what adventures you want Seth to have in this book or any other requests you have!!!!!

#fablehaven #dragonwatch #fhdw #seth sorenson #Knights of the dawn #i loved writing this one

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slightlyrebelliouswriter23 · 5 years ago

Text

We’re All Mad Here | Jurdan College AU

Summary: Ire is a thin blanket around us, an opaline veil that makes everything shimmer and sharpen with pristine clarity. I have never felt more alive as I do when I look at him, and feel nothing but hatred.

Rating: T

Content Warnings: Mild cursing. Minor mentions of anxiety, panic, murder.

Part I | Part II | AO3

Part III- Rival

He is hanging my shirt to dry on a shelf, high up where I can’t reach, weighting it down with two cans of coffee beans.

I stare at his back. The black fabric of his shirt pulls into ripples and waves as he moves. The sleeves are still rolled up past his elbows, exposing pale forearms and the creeping blue veins there.

In the front of the coffee shop, customers continue their prattling, spoons continue pinging against ceramic mugs. The espresso machine drones on. All of it sounds muffled from beyond the kitchen door.

In here, though, there is only the refrigerator’s low thrum and my raging heart loud in my ears.

Greenbriar. My mind reels. This man, my classmate—a Greenbriar progeny.

Namesakes of the city’s most prestigious university and beneficiaries of a mega-corporation called The Mab Group, the six children of Eldred Greenbriar are not quite heirs to all of Insmire, but they may as well be for how much power their name holds.

If the heir in front of me is in one of my mandatory lectures, he must also be in the same year as me. Which can only mean one thing.

I look up at him with renewed hatred.

He appraises me, taking up a casual stance leaning against the island countertop right across from where I sit. He crosses his arms and seems entirely unaffected by my serrated gaze. Which only makes me grit my teeth harder.

“You seem awfully quiet, Jude,” he says, voice made of velvet. “Have you pieced it together? Have you figured out who I am?”

I have to fight to keep my breath from going ragged, my hands from shaking. I grip the edge of the counter with a vengeance. It’s my only tether to sanity.

He brushes one knuckle across my whitened ones. They are nearly as white as his, now. “I’ll take that as a yes,” he says. The laugh that skitters from his lips is hushed and dry, like a centipede’s legs scraping as it scuttles through seared grass.

Out of every pompous prick in the Greenbriar line, the one who stands before me is by far the worst. And not just because he spilled coffee all over my only nice blouse—though that has certainly been added to the growing list of all the reasons why I hate him.

I have only ever seen his name on paper. A list tacked to a bulletin board outside the Politics and International Relations department. Three names, one from each year. His name instead of my own. For a year, that list has haunted me.

Cardan Greenbriar is known for his debauchery, not his intellect. He’s the kind of entitled that makes me want to paint the wall with his brains. And then my own. This, a kind approximation of his person, I’m sure.

Perhaps that’s why it hurt so much when he won Top Scholar last year. Perhaps that’s why I never learned his face—knowledge of it would only derail me from my goal.

“I have to say,” Cardan continues, “I’m disappointed it took you so long to deign to work it out.”

“Starved for attention, are we?” I hiss through my teeth.

Something I can’t quite decipher snaps across his face; but then it’s back to that cool veneer, and I wonder if I imagined it. One corner of his mouth tugs up.

“Figures,” I say, tearing my eyes away from his and towards the ceiling. Mostly to distract myself from that corner. “Your whole family seems to think the world revolves around them. I’m surprised you haven’t keeled over with the weight of my offence.”

“On the contrary. I find your not knowing me… refreshing.” He starts unrolling his shirt sleeves.

It is an exceedingly nice shirt for a day off. Come to think of it, all of his clothes are exceedingly nice. Gilded filigree triangles make the tips of his collar look dipped in gold. Between them, right where his top button should be, clings a black onyx brooch in the shape of a beetle.

I narrow my eyes. This is obviously a rouse of some sort. I think about how kind he acted before. His seemingly innocuous request to help get the stain out of my shirt. His sudden change in demeanour. There’s something missing, but I can’t figure out what. I don’t like it—this waiting for the other shoe to drop.

“What do you want with me?” I ask.

“The same thing you want with me, Jude,” he says, black tourmaline eyes unflinching. He buttons his cuffs. “I want to ruin you.”

I clench my jaw as his words soak in. My nostrils flare. My heartbeat is so wild in my chest I think I might die. Or be sick.

I want to tell him the feeling is absolutely mutual. I want to breathe fire and be livid and berate him for the crime of his family’s existence. I want to tell him to go fuck himself. But I know what will get under his skin most.

“I want nothing to do with you,” I say, sticking out my chin, defiant.

Cardan’s mouth splits into a hideous smile that must usually be reserved for the pillow and languorous mornings in bed. Though, I suppose for him, such mornings probably lie within the same realm of pleasure as tormenting enemies in the kitchens of what is apparently his coffee shop.

“Fortunately,” he says, pushing off the counter, “You won’t have anything to do with me much longer. I have a meeting.” He holds out a hand. I blink at him. “Jacket please.”

“Like hell,” I seethe, clutching at the lapels.

“Fine.” He drops his hand. “An interview without a statement piece wasn’t exactly what I had in mind for today. Though, I suppose it shouldn’t matter.” He straightens his collar, his black beetle brooch. “Dain will hire me regardless.”

Something sinks in my stomach like a stone. Dain.

Dain Greenbriar. CEO of the Silhouette Gazette, taking time out of his very busy schedule to interview today, and only today, for one coveted position amongst his team of interns. Dain Greenbriar, his brother and my would-be boss had I not been so foolishly diverted.

But I have been a fool. One look at Cardan tells me this. The spill, the innocent act, the plea to help me. It was all a ruse. Strung up and sutured by none other than the youngest Greenbriar, himself—and I, a much too eager victim.

He’s smirking and my face heats. Something roils right under my skin, white-hot. Just waiting to be unleashed.

So I unleash it.

I lunge. Across the countertop. I am diving, scrabbling, reaching.

Right for the knife block. Metal sings as I rip one free. A sound almost as glorious as the way it feels to angle a blade right at Cardan’s throat.

He braces his hands on the countertop behind him but does not lift a finger to defend himself.

I only see red, and the way he regards me cooly. A smirk juts the cliffs of his cheekbones. The steel I hold to his skin reflects his face so that I see it twofold. Even my own weapon taunts me.

He looks down his nose at me, despite being held at the peril of my blade. I know then what it is to loathe with my entire being.

“That internship is mine,” I tell him, my breath a jagged thing in my lungs.

“Looks unlikely, sunshine,” he says, and I want to scream. “What with you missing your interview and all.”

“Because of you, you snivelling little coward.” I press the knife’s edge flush against his throat. His eyes shutter. It’s the only surrender I get to savour before I am fixed with his stare once more.

“Ouch,” he mocks. “Not nice words.” Though he is smirking, his gaze glitters dangerously, as if he might murder me outright. Even though I’m the one with the knife.

“You took Top Scholar from me last year,” my voice quakes. Bile rises in my throat at the admission of it—my one and only failure. Until today, at least.

“Took?” His brows rise high and arrogant on his forehead. “I think I won that title from you, fair and square. Upset that someone bested you for once?”

“Please,” I scoff, indignant. “You’re a nefarious moneybags prick. Your family probably paid someone off.”

His laugh is surprised and derisive at once. “Nefarious moneybags prick,” he muses, giving me a full grin. “Now that, I have not heard before. Kind of a mouthful, though. Got any nicknames?”

I only lean in closer, pressing the knife harder. One slip of my hand and— “Give me your interview slot.”

“I will do no such thing.”

“You’re quite confident for someone held at knifepoint,” I say through gritted teeth. “Give me your slot.”

“What are you going to do? Murder me about it?”

“You really want to test that theory?”

He considers me for a moment from under hooded lids. His eyelashes are stupidly long. It’s disgusting. “Even if you had the balls to do it, which I don’t doubt you do,” he says. “You wouldn’t. Wanna know why?”

“Why?” I say with ample venom.

“Because it would cost you everything,” he tells me. “How my father would froth at the mouth for the opportunity to put you in shackles.”

Ire is a thin blanket around us, an opaline veil that makes everything shimmer and sharpen with pristine clarity. I have never felt more alive as I do when I look at him, and feel nothing but hatred.

“It’ll be your word against mine,” I say, “And you’ll be dead.”

Cardan rolls his eyes. “Even if you had a valid excuse for murder, which you don’t,” he points out, “And even though my family does not give a rat’s festering ass about me, they would not hesitate for a moment to rip you apart in court. To see the Duarte name trampled down into the dirt where it belongs.”

I know what Cardan says is true. I would revel in dragging the Greenbriars down to the deepest trenches of hell, even if it took me with them. Just as surely as they would relish in my demise. It has always been this way. For as long as I can remember.

I am sure he reads this all on my face as I think it because his smile is a sharp gash of white.

“You may have held the title of Top Scholar once, but I bested you last year,” he says. My mind sieges against the notion. “And though I fully intend on doing so again this year, if you murder me for it, you won’t even be in the running for the title come tomorrow morning. No, the only title you will ever hold for the rest of your small, pathetic life will be Inmate.”

I almost concede a flinch. Small. Pathetic.

I know what he’s doing. He’s trying to get under my skin, and credit where credit’s due: It almost works. But my fickle temperament, his not knowing what I will do next; these are my only chances at gaining control again.

I cannot show my hand.

So as my instincts scream against it, I tilt my chin up to look at him. “And how are you so very sure, Greenbriar,” I spit, “That Inmate is not a worthy enough title for me?”

“Because, Jude,” he says my name like it is his favourite flavour of sin, and I despise the way my heart flies into my throat at the sound, “It’s not. I am observant, if nothing else. I happen to know that being locked behind bars is a far cry from what you crave most.”

“As if you’d be privy to what I crave,” I say, though my stomach turns itself in knots, my grip loosening on the knife. Because he’s right. He’s so very right, I am nauseous at the thought of it.

Cardan shrugs. “Believe me, or not. I have my ways of knowing,” he says. Then, with the newfound space I have given him, he leans down close to my ear. “I reckon, however, that I am far too insignificant a name on what is presumably a very extensive blacklist for you to be kept from your higher ambitions by murdering me on a whim of passion.”

He makes a lazy trail with his index finger from my left elbow up my arm. My cheeks blaze, but the skin still pebbles there. I hate him, I hate him, I hate him.

“There are so many more valuable prizes for you plunder,” he croons, breath fanning across my face. He leans back a bit to look me in the eye. “Aren’t there, dear Jude?”

It is the secret of myself unravelled before me. I cannot bear how vulnerable it makes me feel. I stagger back, breathless, and blink.

My knife is in his hand. How did it get there? How had he taken it without my noticing? He’s moving away from me now.

“As lovely as this little meeting has been,” Cardan says, sheathing the knife back in its stand, “I think I’ll be going now.”

He brushes himself off, grabs his to-go cup from the counter, and I’m standing there like an idiot with my mouth hanging open. He pauses in front of me before he goes. I’m not sure what it means when he frowns, but I hope he feels every poisoned dagger I sink into his skull.

Then, Cardan does the very last thing I expect.

Every inch of me goes still as he takes a strand of my hair between his fingers and tucks it carefully behind my ear.

“It really was quite the show,” he murmurs. As if we are lovers tangled in sumptuous silk sheets. Instead of what we really are.

Rivals. Luring each other into cages of our own making.

Just like that, he’s gone, and I am left alone with my threadbare self.

♛ ♛ ♛ ♛ ♛

It takes me all of twenty seconds to react. I count them going by on the ticking hand of my cracked watch as I try to cobble together a plan, try to breathe. I feel like the walls are closing in on me, all my demons crawling to the surface. But I’ll be damned if I let them win. If I let him win.

Then, I am chugging my cappuccino. It’s lukewarm. The syrup has pooled at the bottom and I get it all in one gulp. Sickly sweet and absolutely revolting, but I need the fuel.

When I’m done, little rivulets of coffee stream down my cheeks. I wipe them off with the sleeve of Cardan’s black jacket, grab my bag from the floor, and start running. I leave my shirt hanging to dry on the shelf. Buttoned, the jacket covers me enough and I cannot waste time. Not now.

I careen through the metal doors, apologizing to a grumbling Liliver as I sprint out from behind the counter, and wonder just how much Cardan’s glorified bathrobe would go for on eBay. He did say it was designer…

Finally, I’m outside again. It’s stopped hailing, and the air is blessedly cool. It helps me sort through my muddled thoughts.

I see Cardan’s wretched curls bobbing up ahead. He stops for the red man on the pedestrian signal. Idiot.

My breath swirls around me. I look both ways and dive between a reasonably spaced motorcycle and a bus onto the median in the middle of the road. Then between a bus and a less reasonably spaced car, who has to put on their breaks. The driver lays on the horn and I flick him off over my shoulder.

I’m already on the opposite side of the road, flying through the heavy glass doors of the Silhouette skyscraper. I don’t look back to see Cardan’s face, though I can imagine some pretty satisfying expressions on my own.

It’s enough to help me form the next steps of my plan.

I survey the lobby. It’s all glass and dark wood and marble. A crystal chandelier hangs from the ceiling. It smells like coffee and expensive cologne. Moneybag pricks, indeed.

There’s a sign to the right for the lifts; and right next to it, the door to the stairs.

The Gazette’s main offices are on the fifteenth floor. Which is actually probably the fourteenth floor, when you factor in people’s weird aversion toward the number thirteen. The stairs would be faster, anyway. Especially if there were multiple stops on the lift. Or many.

I think I could climb thirteen stairs. I don’t think Cardan could.

Moving as quickly as I can without drawing too much attention, I slip into the stair-well. I climb one floor, slip out into the hall, press the lift call button, slip back into the stair-well, and climb to the next level.

I do this thirteen more times, pressing the lift call buttons on every floor. I get some weird stares, some alarmed looks from people passing by. But mostly, I ignore them. My vision is tunnel-like.

I cannot let Cardan beat me. Everything I’ve been working toward for the past thirteen years is riding on this internship. If I can get just two minutes alone with Dain, maybe I can convince him to let me reschedule my interview. Maybe I can fix this.

By the fourth floor, my thighs start to burn. My feet slap against the concrete steps. The sound echoes off the stair-well walls.

Small, pathetic.

To see the Duarte name trampled down into the dirt where it belongs.

I want to ruin you.

It really was quite the show.

It’s that last one that sets me sprinting. By the tenth floor, I am heaving breaths. My lungs feel like they’re full of hot lead. The only things keeping me going are my goal and Cardan’s extremely punchable face like a beacon in my mind’s eye. I hate him I hate him I hate him. It drives me.

Finally, I slam my shoulder into the door with a sign next to it that reads, FLOOR 15, in bright red.

I spill out into a warmly lit hall. It’s lined with framed newspapers, chic black and white photographs of the city, and one large gilded mirror. There’s a potted organza sitting on a copper accent table just opposite the lifts, but not much else.

The set of glass double-doors to my right reads, “THE SILHOUETTE GAZETTE”, just above the handles, in bold black lettering. The same doors my mother walked through to get her internship here when she was my age. The same doors she walked through every day for so many years after.

No time, no time, no time. Cardan is hot on my tail. I can’t be sentimental, now.

I’m a little frazzled, but only a tad sweaty. I glance at the mirror. No, that’s utter bullshit. I look like I’ve walked through a sprinkler.

I take a moment to straighten my pencil skirt. Smooth the hair away from my face, dab the sheen on my forehead and nose and chin and everywhere else with the back of my hand. No time.

I roll the sleeves of the ridiculous jacket so they don’t swallow my hands. The red lining is vibrant against stark black. I throw my shoulders back, and before I begin to doubt myself, stride toward the doors.

My boots click against the dark granite tiles, but when I step over the threshold, it’s all grey carpet and phones ringing, the shuffling of hurried feet and stacks of paper.

The familiar smell of freshly pressed ink greets me. The man behind the reception desk straight ahead does not.

The receptionist is burly and bald, save for a tuft of black hair right on the top of his head, pulled back into a small bun. Blue ink creeps from underneath the collar and sleeves of his crisp white button-down. Tattoos. Lots of them. He wears a floral printed tie and doesn’t glance up from the computer when I approach.

I clear my throat. “Ex—cuse me,” I say. “I’m… here for an interview? With Dain Greenbriar. About an… internship?”

“Are you sure about that?” the man asks in a gruff voice, still typing away.

My brows cinch. “Yes. I scheduled it weeks ago.”

“It’s just…” he looks up at me then, “You don’t sound so sure. Besides, he’s in a meeting right now.”

My jaw clenches. “No. Actually. He’s not,” I say as politely as I can, then throw a glance over my shoulder to make sure Cardan isn’t on his way to dropkick a wrecking ball right through my life. Again. “I’m his 8:20. I know I’m incredibly late, but I got into an accident on the way here.” It isn’t technically a lie, but it slides from my tongue just as smoothly.

The receptionist gives me a disapproving look. “He doesn’t like to be kept waiting.”

“I really only need five minutes of his time,” I say, breathless. “Could you please. Please. Just page him. Everything in my life depends on it.”

He raises one brow, regarding me dubiously. “Uh-huh. That’s what they all say.”

“Look,” I say, starting to panic, “I don’t have much time to explain before the world’s largest middle finger to the very foundation of this establishment walks through those doors and ruins everything. But if you do this for me, and I get this internship, I will bring you coffee every morning for two months.”

He’s silent for so long, I think he’s going to reject my offer. But then he says, “Make it three. Regardless of whether you get the internship.”

“Deal,” I blurt before I can stop myself. Before I can think about the strangeness of his contention. I certainly don’t have time to haggle.

The receptionist sighs, lifting the phone to his ear. Punches a few numbers. Listens. “Wait over there,” he mouths at me and points to a cluster of sleek leather chairs in the corner of the entryway that look about as comfortable as your standard park bench.

I thank him silently and head over, plopping down on the nearest one. I was right. It feels like I’m six again and sitting on the lap of my sister, Vivienne, whose legs are notoriously spindly.

The receptionist is muttering words I cannot hear into the phone’s receiver. I presume it’s Dain, but for all I know, he could be talking to Glinda in accounting, or whoever. Laughing about the silly little girl who just fell through the doors, looking for all the world like she’d been down the rabbit hole and had to claw her way back up to get here. He wouldn’t be far off, if I’m honest.

Or worse, maybe he’s calling security.

I shove those thoughts from my mind and lean back in the chair. My right leg starts to jiggle like it always does when I’m nervous. I lean forward again, bracing my elbows on my knees. I need to focus.

There’s a sudden movement in my periphery. A tall man in a navy blue suit enters the reception area. His golden crown of curls and swaggering demeanour clue me in enough. Dain Greenbriar.

The last time I saw the second eldest, and arguably the most decent of the Greenbriar progenies, was thirteen years ago. In a rescue chopper. Above a boating accident. He was in the pilot’s seat flying the chopper, while Madoc was tending to my sisters and I. But I still remember his confident air, that dash of white smile when he told us everything was going to be okay. Even though it wasn’t.

He hasn’t changed much.

“Miss Duarte,” Dain says, stopping near the reception desk. I wonder briefly if it’s a power play. Make me come to him. It’s fair enough, if that’s his ploy. It’s what I would do.

I’m surprised I’m not more phased by the memory of him. I expect to feel an inexplicable sense of dread. I expect it to be difficult to see him now, in the flesh, but it’s not. I feel nothing. Maybe that’s the difficulty. Or maybe this is just the tip of the iceberg.

I rise to my feet and make swift but assertive strides.

The thumping of the chopper was so loud that day, I don’t think anyone said much. So I’m not sure I’ve officially met him. Though, I could be remembering it wrong.

I stick out my hand anyway. “Mr Greenbriar,” I say. “I apologise for my delay. I was in an accident and couldn’t get here sooner. Thank you for meeting with me.”

He looks me over none too swiftly. He’s either decided that my appearance is evidence enough of my story, or that I’m attractive enough to forgive the faux-pas, because he takes my hand in his, giving it a firm shake that I return in kind.

“As much of a pleasure as it is to see you again, Miss Duarte—”

“Please. Call me Jude,” I say, then clamp my mouth shut. Stupid, stupid, stupid. Who the hell do I think I am, cutting off the man who’s about to hire me?

Dain’s smile is small and savours highly of pity. A sinking feeling starts in my gut. “Jude,” he continues, apologetic, “I wish we could be meeting again under better circumstances, but I’m afraid I have an appointment very soon and quite the busy schedule today.”

“I only need a few minutes of your time, Mr Greenbriar.”

“You understand, Jude, that we take our internships here at The Silhouette very seriously.”

“Yes, of course. I am one-hundred percent serious.”

“Unfortunately,” he says, “Interviews at the Silhouette require more than a few minutes to be conducted.”

“I’m sure I can give you a shortened version. When is your next appointment?” I ask, and he pauses, then looses a hesitating laugh. I realise too late that he’s not laughing at my gusto. He’s laughing at something over my shoulder.

“Now, apparently,” Dain tells me.

I whirl around and see a most loathly figure walking through the doors.

♛ ♛ ♛ ♛ ♛

More like this: Crashing | Fine Line | King

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AN: We love a petty Jude. Just hitting all those lift buttons on her way up. Also some of y’all guessed it but Jude definitely went for those knives huh. Anyways, thanks so much for reading! If you liked this chapter please do let me know, via comment/reblog/keyboard smash! It truly does help me recharge my writing energy, and I appreciate every single one.

If you’d like to be added to the tag list for all future updates of We’re All Mad Here, let me know via comment/ask/message!! Thanks again for reading! Back to the forest now. -em 🖤💫

Title Inspo: Rival by Ruelle

Tag List: @the-mithridatism-of-jude-duarte @velarhysismine @knifewifejude @danieldesario @annihliation @wickedqueenoffantasy @not-tess @clockworkgraystairs @jurdanhell @afexiss @snap-crackle-and-pop @rowaelin-percabeth @runnybabbit9 @cardaans @hoegreenbrair

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writing-the-end · 4 years ago

Text

LoL Chapter 27- Hermits

Masterpost

A Wizard Hermits tale (AU, designs, ideas belongs to @theguardiansofredland)

Its not often the hermits get a chance to all be together. And while they know battles lie ahead of them, they take this moment to enjoy being a family again.

______________________________________

Etho appears beside TFC, causing the mineral mage to sputter out the coffee he was sipping. “I caught sight of xB a few islands down!”

The hermits murmur with excitement and follow Etho to the shoreline. Sure enough, xB is hauling Hypno and Beef onto the warm sand. Hypno thumps his hand against his head, an attempt to escape his clogged ears which only fails for him. “Can’t we take a sky turtle next time?”

“But it’s more fun to swim!” xB chuckles, and with a flick of his finned ears and his grey tail he runs to hug the hermits. “It’s so good to be back, guys! I can’t remember the last time all of us were on the island together.”

“You guys said something about taking back Lairyon?” Beef raises an eyebrow, looking over at Doc. “This isn’t your rebellious phase coming back, is it?”

“We’ll explain everything on the way. TFC has a lot to tell.” Etho wraps his arms around Hypno and xB, before disappearing into their shared shadow.

The kipling laughs, shaking his head and looking around the island. “Some things never change. I see you haven’t fixed the hole in False’s forge either.”

The hermits laugh, the entire group filled with life as they return to the guild hall. Joe and Cleo regale the missing hermits with the story of their victory at the Chimaera’s Championship. Their battles and challenges in the arena, facing off against the best guilds and winning the cup. They also tell Hypno, xB, and Beef about the heist, the discovery.

“Why am I not surprised?” Hypno hums, tapping his fingers against the wood of the table that he sits down at. TFC pats the boys on the head, grabbing at Beef’s face and tapping his finger on a scar he sees. Beef shrinks away, concerned for a second, but the guildmaster only chuckles in response.

“I can’t wait to hear that story. It’s good to have you guys back.” TFC pats him on the back. “Treat you to a pint of beer next time we go to town.”

“Let’s hear about this big job you’ve got planned for us first.” xB raises an eyebrow. In response, TFC rolls out his map.

The paper has changed since they first decided to go after Dolios and his creepy crystals. If there’s one thing an outlaw guild knows how to do, it’s to find new jobs through the grapevine. “Dolios has these tales silenced. I’ve heard of at least six other guilds being attacked or wiped out by unknown magic. Unfortunately, we’re too late to help them.” Team ZIT glance at one another, but focus on the here and now. “But there are places we can make a difference, as well as get information and better ourselves as a group.”

TFC motions to the Evernight forest. “An old friend of mine said there has been stories of familiars and companion animals going missing. No trace of where they went, except for a few patches of charred grass.”

“Charred, or drained?” Mumbo muses. To anyone, that sounds like the signs of a dragon ravaging Foresta, but after Mumbo’s duel with a draconic mage he knows dragons aren’t that dastardly. Nothing is as dastardly as Dolios.

TFC grins, the newest member and the guildmaster sharing a knowing glint. “There’s also Shellor- which, I believe one of our hermits here knows quite intimately.” Etho gives a two fingered salute, rocking on the back legs of his chair until they fall out from under him, dumping him on the floor. Doc, Beef, and BDubs laugh at him. “There’s a few spies who’ve seen things Dolios has done, but the hard part will be earning their trust.”

“Hmm, yeah. I don’t think I really left Shellor on a good note.” Etho grimaces.

“That’ll be you, Keralis, and Grian’s problem. Meanwhile, we also need some help in the magical beings department. And if there’s one group that has mysterious, arcane magic on lock, it’s-”

“The fae!” Stress slams down her hands, a bright smile on her face. Iskall jolts upright and nearly hits the table again on the way down. “But where will we go? The fjords? The mountains? Heartbreak Trench?”

“The flowerfruit fields. While you’re there, you and BDubs can gather ingredients that we’ve been running low on.” TFC glances at the map, running a finger over the lime green patch on the map. “We do have two confirmed crystal sightings, as well as Gildara. Edenswell seems to be falling ill to dark magic, and there’s reasonable belief that Dolios isn’t getting these massive rocks from nowhere- he’s using gems from the mines.”

Heads peek over one another in an attempt to see the map. The charcoal diamonds and swirls. Gildara still sits untouched, and every hermit looks at one another. Do any of them want to return to the beginning of this all? Even to put an end to the dark magic plaguing the land, the memories of what they saw, what they experienced, still remain.

Except for those that weren’t there. “I don’t think I’d mind checking out this hokey little town you guys keep talking about.” Beef grins, glancing over at Hypno and Wels. “We’ll have that place brimming with flaxen fields and green gardens all over again.”

TFC grins, dipping his head in thanks to the returning hermits. He leans back, looking at the filled guild hall. “It’s been so long since we’ve all been together. If only it were on good terms.”

“It feels good to return home.” xB ruffles his hair with a scaled hand, looking around for a second, then returning to speaking. “Even if it’s just for a short time, we should enjoy everyone being together again.”

“What I’m hearing is we need to have our signature hermit celebrations.” Tango’s face splits into a devious smile. All around him, other hermits get a similar smirk on their face. Before TFC can agree to the idea, the hermits are gone. Cleo rushes to her wrecked pirate ship, hefting kegs of ale with the aid of Stress. Wels commandeers False’s forge to begin baking his favorite sweets, while Mumbo, Grian, and Iskall work together to fix the pennants, lanterns, and flags that decorate the guild hall in a myriad of colors.

Tango snaps his fingers, and a small flame dances at his fingertips, jumping from his nails to the wicks of the lanterns. He ducks out of the way just in time to avoid being smacked in the face by a massive fish, tossed from the sea by xB and grabbed by Grian midair. The whirlpool mage disappears back underwater, back to hunting in the realm he was born in.

The sun begins to inch towards the western horizon, turning the sky ablaze in a mosaic of pinks, oranges, yellows, and reds. A blue flag flutters against the ancient oak tree, catching on a branch. BDubs reaches out from his seat near the food platters, hardly even glancing away from the fresh baked goods, and with a flick of his wrist the branch bends away and the flag flies free again.

False appears beside Wels, grabbing a brownie from the hot pan and sticking her tongue out at him as she passes. When Wels objects she’s quick to retort. “You used my forge. It’s rental payment, paladin.”

Beef sets out plates, which are promptly ignored once Impulse and Zedaph have finished cooking the tuna xB caught. Music swells from a music box the creation of Ren, with the help of Mumbo, the upbeat songs written and composed with Joe and requests from the other hermits for their favorite tunes.

The music thrums against the low roar of talking, the sound only broken by the common lilt of laughter. Hermits tell their stories, whether they be heard for the thousandth time or a new tale to tell. Beef causes Hypno to flush as he recounts the prank he pulled on the dream mage. Hypno turns bright red, quiet voice cracking over the tale. “I smelled like centaur shit for a week! It was awful, I’ll tell you that.”

A raucous laugh erupts from that table, overshadowing the story of Mumbo’s duel to xB. “I swear on my life, I thought she was gonna swallow me whole. Or burn me like coal.” Mumbo shakes his head. “I don’t think I ever want to go up against a draconic mage ever again in my life.”

“I’m surprised a kipling, a draconic mage, and a desert wizard were one team. That’s a strange group. I don’t think I’ve even met each of the others.” xB takes a bite of his fish, marinated in fresh fruits that Cub plucked from nearby islands. “But I’m sure that kipling gave you guys a run for your money. That magic she had… it’s rare beyond imagination. In kipling legend, it means a legendary hero is about to arise.”

“He definitely kicked Ren’s ass. I don’t think I ever saw so much water moved at once.” Mumbo shakes his head, and stuffs a red jelly tart into his mouth.

Keralis stands, tossing his woven hat from the brown curls of his hair, and inviting himself onto the open floor. “I love this song! Come on, my wonderful friends, let’s dance!”

The setting sun casts a golden glow, bouncing off verdant leaves, twisting along the waves of the Ashioll sea. Laughter and music dance in the gilded light, playing in the curls of Zedaph’s hair as he joins Keralis. The two bumble around, drunk from Cleo’s ale but enjoying themselves immensely.

Only one hermit wasn’t taking part in the festivities. Atop the canopy that protects the guild hall below, Xisuma watches as the stars appear in the sky. For a few moments in the day, the void and the sun share the space above. And he always thinks of the one person he knows he should forget by now. But he would’ve loved this, even if he’s constantly worrying about being caught doing something wrong.

“Hey X, you gonna mope up there all day or join us?” Jevin grins below, one hand placed on his hip and the other waving Xisuma down. “Just because you’re a void mage doesn’t mean you have to a-void everything!”

Xisuma rolls his eyes, but smiles beneath his mask. “After that terrible pun, how can I say no?”

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