#also the bright white light represents a spell being placed

[cyndrastic]

hey idk if anyone caught it in the first part of the mythical fairy au, but on the fairy hunter slide it mentioned that Stan was interested in fairy hunting to get answers to some weird reoccurring nightmares he’s had since he was a kid. Ever wonder what that nightmare was? No? To bad! He’s another comic to add to the mystery of this au!

anyway for clarity while reading this: Stan is blue, other person is green, and the distortion represents how hard it is for Stan to remember the words/voice that said them. The blurry was is cause Stan has little to no recollection of the person he’s dreaming about. The first drawings take place when both are around 10 yrs old and Stan is 17 in the last one (present time for this au since everyone is in high school)

(please click and scroll for better quality)

[dailycharacteroption]

Planar Tour Guide: Positive Energy Plane part 2

(art by Nele-Diel at DeviantArt)

Geography

Creation’s Forge, as it’s other name: the Positive Energy Plane, suggests that it is filled with and generates a continuous supernova of positive energy, the very essence of life itself.

Supposedly, the plane was created in the earliest days by drawing the ambient life energy into a concentrated mass like the formation of a star, while also opening up an equal and opposite counterpole of void and entropy: the Negative Energy Plane, in order to counterbalance the one and start the cycle. Whether this is true or not, the natives of the Void don’t like the denizens of the  Furnace very much, while the latter pity the former for reasons the do not share with most mortals.

In any case, the key feature of the plane is the overwhelming amounts of life energy, which as we mentioned yesterday, prove lethal not just to the undead, but also to inadequately-prepared mortals as well, overloading their bodies and bursting them like fireworks.

Those with such protections (and some eye protection for the incredible brightness) find the plane mostly bereft of solid matter. What solid structures do exist are usually islands of crystallized positive energy, where strange plant-like structures grow and thrive in the burning radiance, creating forests of these strange forms of life. Naturally, such an empty expanse has subjective gravity, with those within able to choose to fall in a direction in order to traverse it.

There are, however, structures and some form of civilization to be found on the plane, primarily with it’s guardians, the jyoti. The largest and most well-known of their cities is Arudrellisiir, a city of crystal in the shape of a lattice ring surrounding one of the many star portals linking to a material plane sun, in this case a particularly bright blue-white star. While the city is breathtakingly beautiful, acting like a great refracting kaleidoscope from the light of the central portal, it is also nearly impossible for mortals to visit due to the xenophobia of the jyoti natives.

Mentioned vaguely in only a few esoteric texts, the Dominion of Ksathras is the home of the seven manasaputra kumaras, who use the realm as a place of trial for the souls who find it, offering enlightenment. Because of this, the exact form and terrain of the realm changes at their whims to better suit those who find it. As most who do are not actively seeking alignment, the trials within can often be harrowing in nature.

Another major location is The Garden, an island situated between three jyoti cities, and actually being minor-positive in nature, making it easier on mortals who venture there. Within the garden are massive crystalline flowers, some bright and gleaming, other wilting. The jyoti claim to have planted this garden before the first mortal soul formed, and each flower there represents a mortal soul that ascended to divinity, the health of said flower reflecting that divinity’s status. (Though would-be god-killers will find that harming the flowers does not in turn affect the deity in question). The jyoti tend the garden dutifully, and harvest seeds, pollen, and nectar for divinatory purposes, though rumor has it that such things might have other uses if one could brave the guardians and get ahold of the stuff.

Many adventurers, outsider, and powerful beings sometimes come to Creation’s Forge to negotiate with the jyoti to store or imprison artifacts or creatures within impregnable vaults, and none are more impressive than the Prismatic Vault, with walls and defenses composed of the same multicolored magical barriers as prismatic wall or prismatic sphere. (It’s possible that those spells and similar ones originated on this plane. The Prismatic Vault has many wonders and horrors stored inside, ranging from hundreds of artifacts from across many worlds, as well as at least two liches of mythic power, two fiendish demigods, ant at least one fallen primal inevitable, with rumors of many more such treasures and prisoners as well, all surrounded by such powerful destructive wards and the lethal nature of the plane beyond.

The final listed notable location is perhaps the most grim, and serves as a reminded of what the jyoti and their allies are willing to do to keep the influences of the gods out of their home. The Titan’s Prison is the last remaining trace of an ancient war where at least one deity (now forgotten) led an army of titans to the Furnace to attempt to conquer it, but were soundly defeated, entrapped inside a crystalline prison. Occassionally, massive humanoid shadows are seen beating at the walls from the inside, while sometimes the bodies of danava titans appear impaled on the burning spindles of crystalline positive energy jutting from the globe, burning slowly in the positive energy before being drawn back inside. Sometimes, manasaputra pay the prison a visit, whispering words of forgiveness, but no creature has ever been released or redeemed from within its depths yet.

As we can see, the Positive Energy Plane is a place of primal, overwhelming energy which can leave the visitor aghast as the wonders within, both in awe, and in horror. It is not a place one travels to lightly, for it is hostile both in it’s raw energies, and the distrustful nature of its primary denizens.

Speaking of which, we’ll be taking a closer look at these inhabitants next time!

[greenpanda-basicfakewitch]

Witch Tools | Candles

Taper, Pillar and Vatic and Tealight. The most well used candles [but if like me the only types of Candles I know is tea lights hence the image to show what is what]

Candles can be used in place of statues for deities or your chosen deity, have a candle colour that represents them or carve their symbol sigil into the candle. 

A flame that splits into two or more flames means that there is a presence of spirits, deities, or another human being involved. 

A flame that burns calmly, eventually and clean means your spell is going as planned, everything is going good and the spell will manifest as expected.

A tall bright and high candle flame: Means there is a lot of energy behind the spell, not much can go wrong, everything is going perfectly. Fast results are more likely.

A small steady low-burning flame means there is little energy behind the spell, a wanted result is still likely, but with a delay. If the size of the flame grows during the spell, that means the amount of energy is increasing.

A small, week flame that flickers and bends, means something bad, it’s just a bad sign could be wrong timing for the spell the outcome isn’t likely if the flame drowns the wax then the spell wont work.

If the flame makes a cracking or popping sound then that means there is a conversation.

A flickering flame means there is a spirit around, or whichever deity you are trying to contact, if any is listening and you will be heard. If the flame pops while flickering then the spirit or deity is trying to communicate with you.

If you try to blow out the flame and it doesn’t go out then this means that you are not yet done. Either the deity or spirit doesn’t want you to extinguish the flame, you missed a step, etc. When you feel the time is right to try to extinguish the candle again, do so.

If the candle flame dances or moves rapidly then it means there is high energy in a spell, but also chaotic energy. A large dancing flame means success, but may bring possible challenges. A small dancing flame means the spell may be interfered with by other forces, meaning there may be other things (or even people) working against you.

If the flame suddenly goes out then the spell is already finished, so leave it be. Usually this means that the spell, or whatever working you were doing, will not manifest, or the wanted outcome is already there.

If the candle won’t light, This spell can’t give you the result you want. The outcome may have already been decided, or isn’t something you can control. Take some quality time (at least a day, up to a couple weeks) to focus on your intention again, then try it again. Meditation and spiritual cleansing may be helpful. Divination may also be able to help you discover what is blocking you.

If the candle produces lots of smoke then it means the element of Air is present in the spell or whatever working you are doing. The element of Air is the element of communication and observation. Observe the smoke closely to gather information about the situation.

If the candle makes white smoke then this is a really good sign. It means your wish will be granted. White smoke generally is a sign of blessing and benevolent spirits. 

If the candle produces black smoke this is then a representation of negative energy. Opposing forces and bad luck are interfering. Prayer or meditation, and cleansing are needed before continuing. 

If the smoke moves towards you then this is a good sign if you are performing a spell that brings something to you. If you are performing a spell that is a curse, hex, etc. then this definitely is a bad sign.

If the smoke moves away from you then this means something is escaping your control… this is a bad sign, unless it is a spell to heal, influence or manipulate others, then this means your spell is going as planned.

If the flame is mainly blue or blue- white then this is a sign of spiritual presence, the color of Angelic and Faery fire. This is a sign that higher spiritual beings have come to assist you with magick.

If the candle forms a crater in the center surrounding the flame, and leaves wax on the sides, then this isn’t a good sign for you. It usually means that your intent is too weak for the spell to manifest, or something has blocked you from reaching the intended target.

If the candle quickly melts into a puddle then is not necessarily a bad sign. It can represent strong, passionate, increasing energy. The hardened wax is good for wax divination. Observe the hardened wax, looking for any shapes or messages or deeper meanings. You can look online or through other resources to find out what these meanings are, or trust your intuition to find the meanings yourself and apply it to whatever situation fits.

If the candle burns with no dripping then this spell has been very successful and properly performed.

If the wax drips on one side only then something is out of balance.  Some say that drips on the left represent an emotional or psychic imbalance, while drips on the right mean your thoughts or beliefs are blocking you. An incomplete outcome is awaiting. .

If burnt wick pieces appear in the wax then this means there is accidental consequences or other things to work on after the spell is finished. Guilt, broken hearts, karma, new challenges, etc. this is usually minor, but still unenjoyable.

If soot collects on the candle container: Black soot is a sign of negative energy or interference. If it appears only at the top of the jar, the challenging force has likely already been dealt with. If it covers the entire surface of the container, then you’re better off re-doing the working, something has interfered with it. White soot is rare, and represents spiritual assistance.

If the candle/ container explodes, breaks, or something else drastic happens, abandon the spell and cleanse yourself and your space. This working has been ended by a higher force or a reason. Do not continue until you’ve acquired more information.

[Source] @awake-by-the-moon

Flame Meanings: Source

Puny flame: Small weak candle flame. A small flame that flickers and bends is not a great sign in candle magick. The timing of the working could be wrong, or you could be asking for an outcome that is unlikely or unfavourable in the long run. If the small flame falters or drowns in the melted wax, that is a sure sign that your petition will not be granted at this time.

Dancing flame: Candle flame moves or dances. An erratic, dancing flame signifies high energy in a spell - but also chaotic energy. A large dancing flame suggests success, but with potential complications. A small one means the spell may be overhwelemed by opposing forces. There may be other wills conciousl or unconsciously working against you. Watch the flame closely to see if its shape or motion reveals anything to you.

Rapidly flickering flame. Sometimes a candle flame will dim and brighten, dim and brighten as if someone is flickering a slight switch. Some folk magick traditions, a flickering candle flame is a certain indicator that spirits are present. If the candle is being used for devotional work. [e.g with gods, angels or higher spirits] it means that the invocation was successful and your prayers are being acknowledged a flickering candle flame is mildly trance inducing. So you can use it as an opportunity to scry the fire additional insights.

The flame suddenly goes out. The working is finished. A stronger opposing force has put an end to it. You should open the circle, ground yourself and leave it be. Usually this means that your petition or spell- whatever it may be- will not manifest. However in some cases it can mean that the objective working has been attained.

Flame will not extinguish. A candle flame that stays stubbornly lit, means “sit down youre not done.” Perhaps ou skipped a step or missed some important message during your candle magick ritual. Some helpful spirit or guide is nudging you to go back for what you forgot. Traditionally spell candles are pinched or snuffed out- never blown.

Candle wont light. The spell cannot help you win the result you seek. The outcome may have been decided or be outside your control, take some time, refocus your intention before trying again [or do divination instead to find out more about what is blocking you] Meditation and spiritual cleansing may be required before you can proceed with the spell.

Lots of smoke: Abundant smoke is not a good or a bad sign. It indicates the element of Air is present in the spell, the element of communication and observation. When a spell candle puts out lots of smoke, you are being called upon to use your eyes and mind to read the situation. Look at the shape, color, timing, and movement of the smoke to gather helpful information about the working.

Candle makes a puff of white smoke. White smoke is widely regarded to be a sign of blessings and benevolent spirits. If a candle breathes out a puff of white smoke, especially at a significant moment, it means that your wish will be granted.

Candle smoke moves towards you. If the smoke from a ritual candle moves towards you, it portends success in attracting what you seek. For spells to draw love, money, or healing, this is a great sign. It means you will shortly achieve what you desire. The exception is for negative workings—curses, hexes, and tricks. If the candle smoke from a hexing candle moves toward you (or fills the room), it hints that you will not be able to escape responsibility for the effects of your magick.

Smoke moves away from you. Smoke that moves dramatically away from you represents energies that are outward bound. In most spells, this is not a good omen. It means that something is escaping your grasp.

Candle crater: When the wax melts and concaves inwards This is most common with large pillars and container candles, but it can also happen with votives and other candle shapes. The melted wax is centered closely around the wick, leaving tall walls of wax on the sides.

Nobody likes it when a candle burns incompletely, and it’s not a good sign in magick, either. It usually means that your will is too weak to cast an effective spell at this time. Or that the spell’s energies have been blocked from reaching their intended target.

Candle melts quickly into a puddle of wax: A candle that is not properly contained or leveled will often develop a hole in the side, causing melted wax to drip out quickly and shortening the life of the candle. “Spending” a candle quickly is not necessarily a bad sign—it can mean that there is passionate, accelerated energy behind your spell.

Wax drips: Something is out of balance. Expect an incomplete result. Some say that drips on the left (in relation to the magick worker) represent an emotional or psychic imbalance, while drips on the right mean your thoughts and beliefs are getting in the way of the spell.

Black pieces appear in melted wax; Candle crud. Sometimes, little bits of burnt wick will break off and sink in the melted wax. ("Candle crud" is the scientific term.) Debris in the wax signifies unintended consequences or work that will need to be done after the spell is complete. Guilt, broken hearts, karmic baggage, new hassles, and so on. Usually it's not super-serious—but not fun, either. Proceed with the working, but be ready to do some clean-up afterwards.

___________________________________________________________

A candle explodes, or a container breaks or some dramatic candle mishap.

A dramatic ending to your candle-burning ritual means the spellwork has been vetoed by a greater power. Cleanse yourself and your ritual space, and abandon the working until you have more information.

Or other logical causes such as glass hitting that breaking point as most glass candles cannot be returned to stores as their policy state that a candle can break/explode once its use is done with. 

The wick can also change how a flame burns like a untrimmed wick for a tall flame, black soot is a result of oils or colourants being exposed to high heat, a candle going out is a sign of an unfriendly spirit. Or a stiff breeze. 

____________________________________________________________

Candle Colour Meaning

 White candle:   Peace, purity, healing, innocence, divination, exorcism.

For purification, healing and regeneration, unity and all kinds of blessings improve your spirituality and connection with the source of all things, for protection, and used generally when not sure which colour. 

Black Candle:   safety, protection, banish negativity, pride, shapeshifting.

To conjure and the aspects of Saturn, to absorb and remove negativity (unblocking, uncrossing, to get rid off bad habits) And unwanted situations to contact the ancestors to honour the dark aspects of the divine and to honour death

Brown Candle:   House blessing, pets, animals, Earth, stability, locating lost items, 

Orange candle, creativity justice, legal matters, joy, ambition, opportunity, celebration.

For creativity, inspiration, attention expression and attraction use as a road opener and for new ventures, to bring good luck and positivity in your life.

Purple candle:   Spiritual power, third eye, government, break habit, drive away evil.

 To empower your psychic abilities and your magical practice, in divination for dream magic and astral projection for attunement and higher realms.

Yellow candle:   sun, intelligent, luxury, memory, masculinity, positive attitude.

For intellect, mental, clarity, communication, to contact spirits and other realms, to summon and honour the element of air, for an extra energy boost.

Pink candle:   love, caring friendship, maturity, affection nurturing, femininity. 

For love, friendship, romance, peace, for both physical and mental health, emotions family relationions, to heal the heart.

Green Candle:   growth, luck, tree, plants, earth, nature, money, success, jealousy.

For healing, fertility, growth, sensation to summon the element of Earth and the aspects of the planet Venus, used in abundance, prosperity, health and money spells.

Blue candle:   Protection, focus, forgiveness, good fortune, water, truth, calm.

For peace, calm, renewal, healing, protection (Physical and psychic) for meditation, use in dream magic, job spells, weather spells, to summon and to honour the element of water and the planet jupiter.

Red candle:   Passion, strength, fire, survival, career, lust, action, independence.

For passion, power, sex, speed, to summon and honour the element of fire, to summon the aspects of mars, for good health and vigour.

Silver Candle: To empower you intuition for the prophetic dreams, for connection with the astral plane & Lunar forces, for manifestation of your dreams, anything associated with the female aspects of the Divine.

Gold candle:

 For success, wealth and Money spells for good health and good luck, for attraction and glow to summon the aspects of the sun, anything associated with the masculine aspects of the divine. 

Candle magic. Choose an intention. Select a candle colour for your intention. Cleanse your candle *Moonlight.  Anoint your candle *Cup in your hand-your energy or rub with oil* Light your candle and stay with it as it burns and visualise attaining your desires.

[theunwellkingdom]

Design Deep-Dive #9: Sagas Week Finale

Sagas might be my favorite card type in all of Magic: the Gathering. They offer some of the most direct blends of narrative storytelling and gameplay mechanics, right down to their unique presentation.

While other card types can represent characters, places, and moments from a fantasy world, sagas depict stories told by people WITHIN that world, through a lens of in-world art (with an unusual vertical aspect ratio!). It's a tricky extra design restriction, but extremely satisfying when pulled off correctly. And when the visual thirds of the art literally line up with the text effects? That's the good stuff, right there.

This week's earlier posts gave a glimpse into the lore on display in each of The Unwell Kingdom's sagas, but now let's take a closer look at the design work that went into each of them...

From the start, I decided to make a cycle of 2-color sagas so they could show up in a wide variety of decks, though I didn't have a strong need for them to be any specific color pairs. You can see this choice in the banded ribbon of the custom saga frame I drew. Since the goal of these cards was to showcase cool stories from our campaign -- specifically, the sorts of stories that characters themselves might tell -- I knew it would be best in this case to let form follow function with top-down designs. Luckily for me, they slotted together quite nicely, with a bonus mono-white addition that popped up along the way!

☀️💀 - The Fall of the Fell King

The most front-loaded of all the sagas, with its tale's climax right at the start! We see the Fell King beheaded through the sanitized lens of a puppet show, perhaps the version of Crestfall history told to children by traveling bard caravans. I also wanted the art to emphasize stark light and shadows, to reinforce the color identity.

Mechanically, this is reflected by a spell with an immediate payoff in the form of targeted creature destruction. Compared to other sagas, this one almost feels like a removal spell with a fun bonus after the fact. That said, becoming the monarch provides some much-needed card draw in a limited format. The card positions you well to keep it, then rewards you by healing the kingdom (your life total) and forcing your new subjects to bow before you unless they can take the crown first!

☀️💧 - Leviathan Tournament

The tale of the Leviathan Tournament felt like a natural mechanical fit for some good old Blue/White control. It's a powerful mass bounce spell, especially for a common, so unlike the Fall of the Fell King, this one at least gives opponents a turn of warning! Narratively, this one feels extremely on the nose in the best way -- First, the Leviathan searches far and wide for competitors (Scry), then the crowds are narrowed down to single champions (Bounce), and finally a king is crowned (You become the monarch)!

Eldoris itself proved to be a perfect visual fit here, as the glittering foil seaside kingdom to the sullen cliffs of Crestfall, and with its iconic colors of white, blue, and gold. I decided on a bright, tile mosaic to express this, though it could just as well be read as stained glass.

💀🔥 - Birth of a Dragon

Black in this set is home to a Dragon sub-theme, including the Hoard mechanic. Each color has its own version of a dragon payoff card (more on those in a later Deep-Dive), and this is Red's. While other hoard effects tend to steal cards from opponents and graveyards, Birth of a Dragon treats the mechanic more like Red impulse-draw, exiling cards from the top of your library but making you wait to play them. Once the final step creates a Dragon token, you can start playing those hoarded cards... including other cards that may have been hoarded prior! The Treasure tokens are equally flexible, letting you dip into an opponent's colors to potentially cast their cards.

Visually, I decided to depict this myth through a woodcarving, as a nod to the Whittler being the only character in our campaign to know this secretive bit of lore.

🌳💧 - Giants' Day Festival

The art for the Giant's Day Festival is essentially "Wizard Burning Man", with huge figures and a trippy light show out in the desert. The color identity for this one was obvious. The story of two giants representing the land and the sea, down to visual motifs of a giant tree and falling water? Stop me if you've heard this one before...

It's Blue/Green, so you already know it's time to ramp some mana, but fortunately, there's a bit more nuance here. Mill 5 is pretty significant, especially to do to yourself. On a surface level, that step is just making sure you have a land to bring back the next turn, but Blue in this set has a solid Mill package and can find ways to make use of cards in graveyard. Meanwhile, Green has a couple of rares that actually get stronger as your own deck thins out. And lastly, the saga's final step, Lyros's flood of tears, provides a powerful burst turn of mana reminiscent of High Tide. This gives the player a few turns to set up mana sinks and find X spells, while opponents also prep for the oncoming flood.

🔥🌳 - The Ballad of Nasty Pete

It takes efficient mechanical storytelling to sum up an adopted goblin's life in three steps! Fight, family, prosperity. These are the three pillars at the core of Nasty Pete. This was the first saga I designed for the set, and its simplicity fits the ethos of the goblins of Contraption (and from a Magic standpoint, Red/Green in general). They know exactly what they want, and they'll go get it.

This simplicity extends to the crude paintings scrawled onto Contraption's metal walls, though there's a distinct, almost childlike playfulness to them too. They land somewhere between ancient cave murals and a kindergartner playing with finger paints.

☀️ - The Queensguard Oath

This was a late addition to the sagas cycle, and sticks out like a sore thumb. Where the other sagas are all 3-4 mana value grinders, The Queensguard Oath is a speedy 2-mana tempo play that feels right at home in board-flooding aggro deck! Even from a narrative standpoint, it feels a bit flimsy, evoking a sort of illuminated manuscript recruitment poster.

While I wanted all colors to be represented in these sagas, I knew White would have a unique interest in running as many as possible, with its heavy "enchantments-matter" synergies (including an aura that can search your library directly for a Saga card and cheat it into play!)... By giving white a higher density of playable sagas, this card manages to support both slower enchantment decks and quick aggro!

[introvert-celeste]

TOH Spoilers

Okay okay okay, I've got Thoughts(TM) about Hollow Mind and I'm just gonna list them as briefly as possible here. I might elaborate on a few of them later, though. (I also don't feel like grabbing screencaps so sorry in advance for the wall of text)

-

I believe that Wittebro was the human who once lived in Bonesborough (with his witch wife who may or may not have had the surname Clawthorne) that Gwen mentioned in Keeping Up A-fear-ances. I'm not sure where to place Philip in all that but judging by the progression through the mind paintings it seems that he'd been dabbling in some bad magic even while his brother was still alive.

Belos claims he's a witch hunter. I have several thoughts regarding this:

My theory is that the Wittebane brothers come from a family of witch hunters and that their father was the original founder of Gravesfield. The reason I think this is because we briefly see a third statue in Yesterday's Lie, other than the brothers, of a man in a tricorn hat and tall boots.

It's interesting how Belos continues to fight witchcraft after all this time whereas his brother seems to have taken to it very quickly. I mean, he seemed content enough to settle in the Boiling Isles, marry a witch, and have a child with her.

I have a feeling that Philip didn't intend to kill his brother, but his brother's wife, in order to free him from her witchy wiles or some bullshit. Obviously, it went south, Wittebro defended his wife, and he got stabbed in the process.

I'm almost positive Jacob, the witch-obsessed museum curator from Yesterday's Lie, is distantly related to Belos and for some reason I find that idea hilarious.

I wasn't expecting them to lean quite so heavily into religous zealot territory with Belos but his early stunts to rope witches into his grand scheme is uncomfortably similar to cult recruitment strategies.

"Look at what wild magic has done to your city! Now imagine what it's doing to you. A city can rise from the ashes, but a soul...I can make your magic pure again, as the Titan intended!" UGH UGH UGH DON'T LIKE THAT

Also reminds me of those rich televangelists who prey on people's beliefs for a quick buck UGH

I also wasn't expecting them to go all into the witch genocide route but Belos is straight up planning to kill all of the witches in the Boiling Isles with the Draining Spell.

I want to love the Collector because they've got such an fun design and personality, but the first thing they reminded me of was Jevil from Deltarune and I hate that bastard with a passion (I have yet to defeat him because that fight always gives me a headache 😓)

That being said, they've really got Bill Cipher vibes in a chaotic-trickster-demon-with-malicious-intent kind of way, waiting for a specific event for them to finally be freed and restored to power. They're even similar down to their two-dimensional, abstract designs!

Also, when you think about it, isn't Gravity Falls a portal to a demon realm, of sorts, where weirdness seems to leak through in excess?

I'm very intrigued by the "nine bright hues" comment that we hear from both Belos and the Collector. The colors represent the nine main covens, the nine schools of magic, a rainbow of colors. This reminds me of Steven Universe discussions about White Diamond, how all gems likely originate with her, how white light splits into a multitude of colors when refracted through a prism...Luz means "light," light was the first glyph she learned, it was the one glyph that still eluded Philip...interesting stuff, very interesting.

It was clever of Raine to hide the transportation spell in the flowers because of course Hooty's a sucker for romance, but you know Raine was just trying to flirt with Eda. And maybe also apologize for having a part in this mess in the first place.

Just imagine Eda flipping over the card with the instructions for the spell on it, and it says "P.S. sorry for accidentally traumatizing your kid xoxo"

Also, I really, really hope that Raine and co. stuck around to make sure Eda did the spell correctly. Maybe they intercepted Hunter and took him somewhere safe? One can only hope.

[reignof-fyre]

Name meanings and symbolism in the A Song of Ice and Fire series!

Age of Heroes:

Brandon : The place-name was used first as a surname, and later as a given name. The Old Irish form of the name, Bréanainn, probably derives from the Old Welsh word “breenhin”, meaning “prince” or “chieftain.” Origin: The name Brandon comes from the Old English words “brōm” (gorse-bush) and “dūn” (hill). Gorse, also known as furze, is a sweet scented, yellow flowered, spiny evergreen shrub that flowers all year round. Symbolises love and fertility.

Garth: keeper of the garden. Garth as a boy's name is pronounced garth. It is of Scandinavian origin, and the meaning of Garth is "keeper of the garden".

Lann: The meaning of Lann is 'orchid.' The exotic and graceful orchid represents love, luxury, beauty and strength. In ancient Greece, orchids were associated with virility.

Elenei: The name means "shining light".

Durran: to dare, to have the courage

Grey King: not a name, but the colour grey represents neutrality and balance. Its color meaning likely comes from being the shade between white and black. However, grey does carry some negative connotations, particularly when it comes to depression and loss. Its absence of color makes it dull.

Great House Name meanings

Baratheon: 'Bara' meaning innocence, select; rose and theon meaning God.

Greyjoy: "god's own" or the more literal meaning "dull joy".

Stark: Stark and Starke are German and English surnames; in the German language stark means "strong" or "powerful".

Arryn: form of Aaron meaning “exalted” or “strong.” It has also been interpreted to mean “teacher” or “mountain of strength.”

Targaryen: 'Targa', an old name for shield; 'Aryan' also spelled Ariyan, Arian, Aryann or Aaryan is a given name and surname that is popular in Iran and India...derived from the Sanskrit (ārya) meaning "noble, superior, or high-born"; "ryen" meaning "king"; "tar" meaning "dweller in, or near, a tower or near a tower-like rock or hill; and "yen" meaning peaceful, calm.

Tully: devoted to the will (i.e. of God) or quiet, peaceful

Hoare: English surname derived from Middle English hor(e) meaning grey- or white-haired

Tyrell: Possibly (Old French) "puller", and started as a nickname for a stubborn person, implying a comparison with a horse that uncooperatively pulls on the reins.

Martell: Warrior of Mars. Mars is the planet of desire, action, and energy. It is also the planet that symbolizes war, its name being derived from the Roman god of the same name.

Lannister: Lann "orchid" and ister (suffix) meaning lard, grease; a solid but soft fat from the intestines of certain animals (lmfao)

Velaryon: velar meaning veil and yon meaning a person or thing.

Celtigar: "Celt" prehistoric stone or metal implement with a bevelled cutting edge, probably used as a tool or weapon. "Gar" meaning Spear.

Baelish: "bael" meaning demon and "ish" meaning god.

Frey:  Frey is a surname of German origin, from the Middle High German word "vri," meaning "free." could also be derived from the name of Freya, goddess of love and fertility in Norse mythology, and she is associated with sex, lust, beauty, sorcery, gold, war, and death  

First Name Meanings

Alayne: Rock, precious, sun ray, bright

Arianne: Very Holy

Bronn: dark skinned

Brandon: prince, chieftain

Bryndyn: bold, brave, little raven

Bran: raven

Brynden: hill

Edmure: rich, blessed, enclosed, trapped

Eddard: wealthy guardian

Edric: rich, powerful

Sansa: praise, charm

Arya: noble, melody, air, lioness, honoured

Rickon: little king, impulsive

Robb: famous, bright

Robert: famed, bright, shining

Cersei: bird

Jaime: supplanter, holder of the heel, may god protect

Tyrion: "tyr" meaning battle and "ion" meaning God is good. Also rock

Viserys: "vis" meaning fish and "erys" a variant of Eris, goddess of discord and destruction.

Aerys: variant of "Aeris” which means “air, atmosphere or weather”

Daenerys: "Dae" meaning greatness, and "nerys" meaning lady

Joffrey: Peace of a stranger

Myrcella: dedicated to Mars (god of war)

Tommen: naive, innocent

Tywin: derived from "tyr" meaning battle and "win" meaning victorious or "Wynn" meaning Fair, White, Blessed.

Hoster: occupational name for a maker or seller of hoods

Petyr: Rock, stone

Ramsay: wild garlic; from Ram's island

Roose: a rose

Theon: godly

Jon: God is gracious

Aemon: wealthy protection, prosperity, fortune, riches.

Oberyn: noble and bear-like

Rhaenys: "rhae" meaning flowing and "enys" meaning from the island

Elia: Yahweh is my god

Aegon: swords edge, struggle

Rhaella: "rhae" meaning flowing and "ella" meaning she, her; goddess

Catelyn: "cate" meaning pure: "lyn" meaning soft, lake

Brienne: high, noble, exalted

Sandor: defender, protector of man

Doran: stranger, exile, pilgrim

Samwell: God heard

Margaery: pearl. Pearls symbolise wisdom gained through experience, protection, and calm.

Euron: gold, golden one

Renly: clearing, meadow

Stannis: derived from Stanislav meaning someone who achieves glory or fame

Melisandre: animal strength, labour strength, determination

Missandei: "missa/missy" honeybee, "andi" brave

Lysa: devoted to god

Robin:  "Fame-bright", diminutive

Shireen: Sweet, pleasant, gentle, delicate.

Selyse: high, noble, exalted

Joanna: grace or gift of god 

Meera; prosperous 

Jojen: wise dreamer

Alliser; defender of mankind, protector

Benjen:  Ben meaning; son of my right hand, favourite son, and Jen meaning; fair phantom 

Asha: hope, wish, life

Walder:  The Walder surname comes from a Scandinavian personal name, which came from the Old Norse "Valþiófr," composed of the elements "val" meaning "battle," and "þiofr," or "thief."

Ygritte: derived from word ‘egrets’, which is a species of bird and are symbolic of purity, strength, balance, concentration, longevity, and piety. Because they tend to enjoy solitude, their spirit also represents freedom and independence.

Tormund: Thor’s protection, courageous 

i’m going to do another post for Targaryen names only, and i’ll tag it once complete. hope you enojy the meaning behind our faves names and it shows just how brilliant GRRM is by meticulously choosing the names of  his characters. 

[faeryqueenwitch]

🧚🎉Fairy Festivals🎉🧚

🎉 Fairy festivals take place at crossover points in the seasons. Equinoxes and solstices are determined by the position of the Sun, but the other four festivals are celebrated when the time feels right, so the dates given below are approximate.

🎉 There are other festivals too,such as Christmas Eve,Christmas Day, and New Year’s Day. Any human festival that touches on old traditions,from Ramadan to a Japanese Flower Festival, is a fairy feast. If you celebrate these festivals and make the effort to tune into what concerns the fairies, you will draw closer to their world. If you celebrate a special meal, remember to leave a little outside afterward for the fairies

1.  🌷 Imbolic - 🌷

February 2 in the Northern Hemisphere/July 31 in the Southern Hemisphere

Imbolc means “in the belly,” and this is the time when life stirs in the belly of the earth. Frost sparkles and the pale light lingers each evening,bringing the message that spring is on the horizon. Imbolc is the delicate crossover point from winter’s depths into the New Year. It is a feast of lightness and brightness,but also a time of cleansing,to make way for the new. The Hag, who is Dark Goddess or Dark Fairy, gives way now to the Maiden, who is young and radiant.

Fairies love neatness and good housekeeping,so it is a good idea to have a late-winter sort-out,in preparation for fresh activity. While the fairies are busy coaxing snowdrops and crocuses out of the winter-hard earth,do something creative of your own,such as knitting,painting,or writing poetry. Ask the fairies to lend you a little of their magic by leaving them an offering,such as a piece of wool or a verse written just for them.

This feast is also called candlemas,sacred to St.Bridget,who was the successor to the pagan goddess Bride (pronounced “Breed”). Bride was the keeper of the sacred flame,which represents eternal life. She is the patroness of poetry,smithcraft,child birth, and healing, and is a very powerful fairy indeed. Invite her into your home by lighting as many candles as you like, in your windows and around your house. Ask her to bless your projects for the coming year,and pledge a special act of caring for the natural world in return,to seal your pact as the year waxes.

2. 🌼 Spring Equinox- 🌼

March 21 in the Northern Hemisphere/September 21 in the Southern Hemisphere

The fairies are very busy at the Spring Equinox,looking after all the flowers that are newly blooming.Scandinavian fairies become active now: the Russian cellar fairy,The Domoviyr,casts off its skin and grows a lighter one for summer; and the Russian Rusalki,or river fairies are glimpsed by lakes swollen with melted snow.

A tree planting project is a very fairy-friendly activity at this time. A seasonal blitz on the garden is also called for. While you are hard at work, digging and pulling away at dead winter twigs, it is easy to go into a kind of trance. This, coupled with the spell of the natural world around you,can create the perfect state of mind to catch a glimpse of fairies.You can be sure they are near you,helping you with their energies.Plant some seeds of your choice and, as you put them in the earth, close your eyes and make a special request for fairy help. Visualize the fairies tending your seeds,giving them their love and care. Ask out loud for the fairies to help you,and sing or hum and you plant. Touch the soft soil with your bare hands and make real contact with the earth.

Place water in a pottery or glass jug (plastic or metal is best avoided) and leave it out in the noon sunshine. Ask the fairies to bless it. Imagine them dancing around it and coming up to touch it with their glimmering fingers. Use the water to give your houseplants a special spring blessing.

The Green Man is a powerful nature spirit that has been sensed by many people. He is represented in numerous churches as the Foliate Mask (a face made up of leaves),and one theory about his presence is that the masons who fabricated him had hidden sympathies with the old nature- worship. He is making his appearance now on some new park benches and monuments. However, you can make contact with the real Green Man out alone walking through the woodland. Ancient and wise,he is watching you. Catch a glimpse of him behind tree trunks or in the lacework of budding branches. Hear his footfalls behind you as you walk. He is the very breath of Nature, and his strength is bursting forth in springtime.

3. 💐 Beltane - 💐

April 30 in the Northern Hemisphere/October 31 in the Southern Hemisphere

Of all the festivals, Beltane is the most flagrantly joyful and sensuous as Nature is bursting forth with beauty and excitement. This was the Celtic beginning of summer, and also marked an important transition for the people of Fairy, for it was the time when the Milesian Celts landed on the shores of south-west Ireland. With this, the last of the magical peoples,the Tuatha de Danann, receded from the the world of humans into the Hollow Hills and became the people of the Sidhe.

However, they and the other fairy folk have not gone very far. You will find them dancing in a bluebell wood or skipping in the sunshine,sheltered by a greening hedge. Beltane is the time when good fairies reign supreme and bad fairies retreat. Fairies are very active now and may try to steal butter,or some of the ritual fire that used to be ignited on hilltops and is still lit by modern pagans.

This is the maypole season, but instead you can always dance around a friendly tree. Link hands with friends, and you may find yourselves spontaneously re-creating the kind of things people used to to do when seeing fairies was commonplace:lingering,walking,and talking, in the open air, away from television,computers,and other modern distractions.

There are many tales of beautiful fairies marrying mortals. Such tales usually end in tragedy, for fairy and human can never truly be joined. Better to borrow some of the fairy enchantment by performing a little magic of your own! Rise early on May Day and wash your face in the dew or simply walk in it. As the rhyme says: “The fairy maid who, the first of May Goes to the fields at break of day, And walk in dew from the hawthorn tree, Will ever handsome be.”

Welsh legend tells how the hero Pwll saw the Lady Rhiannon riding past him at Beltane and, after pursuing her, he eventually won her. Rhiannon is one aspect of the Fairy Queen,riding on her white horse between the worlds. As you sit quietly outside,on a bank in the late spring dusk,listen for the sounds of her horse’s hooves,and open your eyes to the shimmer of her sea-blue cloak. When Rhiannon touches your heart, she will fill it with love and inspiration.

4. 🌹 Midsummer -  🌹

June 22 in the Northern Hemisphere/December 22 in the Southern Hemisphere

This is one of the most magical times of the year, when fairies are very active and visible, playing pranks and even, it is said, stealing away the young and beautiful to join them in the Hollow Hills. The sun is now at the height of its strength and this is an important crossover point,such as the fairies love. For at the Midsummer Solstice the sun stands still, before beginning to recede as we move into the waning half of the year.

Flowers are colorful and luxuriant, and one radiant day seems to merge into another, as late dusk meets early dawn. At no time is the natural world more inviting. Take part in it by going on quests -long walks to sacred spots,evening camping out with the minimum of equipment,to draw close to the mystery that is all around, and to the Fair Folk in particular.

The rose is possibly the most sensuous bloom of all, and at midsummer it is often at its most gorgeous. Roses in the garden are especially likely to attract fairies. Distil water from rose petals and add it to your bath, asking the fairies to lend you some of their enchantment and to help you attract love. Brew tea from rosebuds and drink it,to increase your psychic powers.Plant a rose bush with a friend, to affirm the loving bound between you and invite the fairies into your life.

St.John’s wort is a herb known to break any negative fairy enchantment and drive away depression. Pluck some on Midsummer’s Day and carry it, to keep cheerful.

Look out for water nymphs by streams, or for undines for water elementals on the seashore- or for even the Lady of the Lake herself,rising from the luminous depths.In olden times, these beings were said to have no souls. It is closer to the truth to say that they do not have human morals. Conventions often conceal or feelings, but the beauty of the water fairies opens us to our unconscious tides; see them and let yourself be transformed.

5. 🌾Lammas- 🌾

July 31 in the Northern Hemisphere/February 2 in the Southern Hemisphere

Lammas is “Loaf Mass,” a christian version of a much older festival known as Lughnasadh, or the “Feast of Lugh.” Lugh was a Celtic god,lord of the Tuatha de Danann, and his name means “bright one.” Lughnasadh is a major fairy festival, and many fairies become active during this period,such as the Russian Polevik, who kicks sleepy harvesters awake. It is also a time when fairies move about in preparation for winter,and processions of them may be seen as a line of twinkling lights moving between the hills in the countryside.

At Lammas, the fields are golden with corn and splashed with red poppies. It is hazy,lazy time of holidays and abundance,but there is an underlying theme of death,for the Corn Spirit must be sacrificed in order to reap the harvest. If you walk out into a field of ripe wheat, you may sense the anger of the nature spirits as what is to be taken from the earth,even thought that is a part of the natural cycle of life.Gather up some ears of wheat and tie them into a bunch with red thread,to make a charm for the coming winter to hang over your hearth. At the same time,pledge an act of caring for the earth,such as clearing a derelict site in your neighborhood or garden, or planting and tending a herb, as payment for what you-and all of us- take from it.

At home, bake your own bread, using the rising of the dough as a spell to ensure that everything prospers in your life. While you are kneading the bread dough, say to yourself “As this dough swells, so may my fortunes increase.” Ask for your own personal Brownie, or house fairy, to come and help your bread rise- and remember to leave some breadcrumbs outside afterward,for the fairies.

Some say that Lugh is lord of the waning year, and his dance- through the waving,whispering corn- is a dance of death. If so, it is a reminder that all things come in cycles,and that everything is united in love and beauty. Stand at the edge of a sun-kissed wheat field and see the shimmer and sway that betrays the presence of Lugh. Take a few moments to feel respect for the earth in your heart, and understand the meaning of the Wheel of Life.

6. 🍁 Autumn Equinox (Mabon) - 🍁

September 21 in the Northern Hemisphere/March 21 in the Southern Hemisphere

At the Autumn Equinox, Nature stands poised between light and dark,but darkness is gaining. The veil between this world and the Otherworld is at its thinnest, and all manner of spirit visitations are more frequent now.

The hedgerows are beaded with berries,and mist lingers in the hollows. Sometimes the wind whistles in from nowhere and tosses baring branches. On other says, the mellow sun caresses the fields with slanting fingers. It is a time for reflection, but also for industry. In days gone by, preserves would be made for winter store and the help of the Good Folk would be sought by country people.

Absorb the atmosphere of the season by going blackberrying. In Celtic countries, there may be a taboo on eating blackberries, because these belong especially to fairies. However, as long as you gather them with respect and do not denude the bramble bushes, they will hardly object. Better still,leave out some of your homemade blackberry pie or wine for them,so that they will bless you. When this month ends, leave the blackberries alone and move on. Also look out for a bramble bush that forms an arch-so much the better if it faces east/west, for that mirrors the passage of the sun. Crawl through this three times on a sunny day to be healed of physical ills, especially rheumatism and skin troubles.

At this mysterious time, pay honor to Queen Mab. Her special gift is to bring dreams and visions to birth within us. She is really one of many manifestations of the Goddess, in her autumnal guise of wise-woman and Lady of Magic, and she is linked with ancient ideas of sovereignty- for the king drew his power from the land, and Mab presided.

Preferably at the Full Moon closest to the equinox,place good-quality wine in a stemmed glass or chalice,and take it into the garden or a secluded place.Raise the glass to the Moon,say, “Mab, I honor you”and pour some of the wine onto the earth. Drink a little and say, “Mab, I drink with you,” Then return home,light a bright-green candle beside your bed,gaze at the flame and say, “Mab,give me wisdom,” Place some jasmine or rose oil on your pillow,extinguish the candle-and drift into Fairyland. This is a little ritual that you can repeat during any Full Moon if you wish.

7. 🎃 Samhain - 🎃

October 31 in the Northern Hemisphere/April 30 in the Southern Hemisphere

Samhain means “summer’s end” and is pronounced “sa-wen.” This ancient Celtic festival at the official start of the winter was later Christianized as Halloween- a time when the dead were remembered. There was always a sinister aspect to Samhain,because certain sacrifices had to be made in order to survive the coming cold weather. Animals had to be slaughtered,and some say that human sacrifice took place to propitiate the spirits. Sacrifice,however, is a corruption of nature worship,for life is hard enough as it is and all we have to do is show respect.

Barrow mounds,shrouded in mist,are particularly eerie places at Samhain. Draw close,if you dare,and sit quietly.Do you hear the strange,far-off noise of fairy music,or the sound of knocking? Maybe the mound will open for you and unearthly light will stream over the barren fields.After Samhain,the earth is given over to the powers of darkness and decay.No crops or berries may be harvested after this time,because the Phooka, a malevolent Irish Fairy,blights them. The true meaning here,of course,is that death and decay have a place in the natural order,requiring due honor and respect lest they get out of hand.

Traditionally, this is the start of the story telling season. While the wind whistles around the eaves or the mist comes down outside,gather family or friends around your hearth- preferably with a real fire burning in it. If you do not have an open hearth,substitute a collection of large,burning candles. Sit round and speak of times gone by and people who have passed over to the other side.Ask the Beloved Dead to be present, if you wish(but note that this is not a seance,and the Beloved Dead are invited,not summoned). Laugh,share funny stories,feast,and drink.

Cerridwen is the Underworld Goddess and the Fairy Hag most associated with this time. In her magic cauldron,she stirs a brew that confers inspiration and transformation. Simmer up a hearty soup of root vegetables or pumpkin, to share with friends,then light a black candle and ask Cerridwen to guide you through the darkness into the light. You will  be both safe and wise.

8.  ❄️ Yule - ❄️

December 22 in the Northern Hemisphere/June 22 in the Southern Hemisphere

Yule is the Midwinter Solstice, when the sun again appears to stand still,as it did at midsummer,but the season is poised for the return of light. Celebrations of Christ’s birth were moved to coincide with the much more ancient solstice.

As you deck your Christmas tree,remember that the evergreen is a powerful symbol of the enduring life in Nature. Of course,is has a fairy on top of it,confirming that it is a festival of the Fair Folk,who also rejoice in the sun’s rebirth. Decorating your tree is an important magical act,for the decorations are fairy charms. Each member of the family should hang at least one special charm of their own,to enable a wish to come true.

Jack Frost is an active fairy in the cold weather,painting windows with intricate lacework. In Russia he is called Father Frost,the soul of winter,covering the trees in ice. Do not shrink from the frost fairy-go out and wonder at his works and he will reward you with hope and joy,just as in Russia Father Frost brings presents for the children on New Year’s Day.

By far the best-known and most powerful fairy at Yule is Father Christmas himself. Today we know him by his robes of red and white, but in the past he also wore green and other colors. As we have seen,red is the color both of life and death, and many fairies wear red caps. The hearty red of Father Christmas is a sign that he is an Otherworld being-very much alive,but not of this earth. He is recognized all over the world, as Kris Kringle in Germany and Pere Noel in France. In Brazil he is Papa Noel,and in China Dun Che Loa. He is the essence of Yuletide mystery,joy and renewal,and like many traditional fairies, he comes in and out via the hearth.

When all is quiet on Christmas Eve, get ready to welcome Father Christmas- light a candle and look at the stars. Pledge a gift for a friend and one for the world, and ask for a special gift to answer your heart’s desire. Write your wish on a piece of paper and “post” it up the chimney if you have an open fire. If not, burn it in the candle flame. Can you hear those sleigh bells?

(Art By: IrenHorrors On Deviantart -Link)

[archesa]

oc ask game time!! have 🎨✨⚡ for whoever you'd most like to answer for! :D @kerra-and-company

Thanks a lot for the ask (and sorry for taking so long to answer 😅 I kept getting caught in doing events or stuff on Æthnen and forgetting to take good screenshots to illustrate the answers 🤣)

🎨 Is your OC artistic? Can they draw or paint or do they prefer another medium? Are they a writer or musician or do they do something else? Give us a quick run down of what they can get creative with!

Anwen plays the harp quite well — she and her brother had a more extensive artistic education than would be deemed appropriate by the highest society, but both did thrive in the arts, Faren in theater, Anwen in music. It has never become anything more than a hobby, but in good company, on private occasions, you might hear Anwen humming and plucking a few strings from her harp at home, or a lyre on the field.

Her Weaver self even uses the Orchestral staff, a gift of her brother, to channel her powers and cast her spells.

And both share a certain liking for the sound of the flute.

✨ If your OC were a deity of some kind, what would they represent? What do they look like? How are they worshipped and what offerings would they expect? What are their places of worship like? Their followers? Their teachings?

Galaëd would be some summetset deity, associated with the setting of the sun and the dawning days of autumn. He'd be considered a trickster god — a playful, mostly harmless one — and celebrated in midsummer to early winter festivals, bright with colours, warm with shimmering lights, honouring the starlight and fireflies in his wake.

He'd most likely retake his mortal shape to participate in the celebration, or don that of a white stag to observe mortals from afar, leaving boons and blessings to those who amused or touched him.

He'd be worshiped by all sorts of tricksters – artists and children but also by warriors, who'd rely on his ruse to always keep their adversary on their toes.

⚡ What are your OC’s phobias? Is there any reasoning behind these? How do they calm themselves down after getting scared? What are they like when they’re afraid? Is there any chance of them overcoming their fears?

Anwen has a crippling fear of being resurrected and used to harm those she loves. This came from her first contact with Zaithan's magic — the Seraph lieutenant, Kellach, and his descent into madness as Zaithan's corruption devoured him — and from the dark fate of Apatia.

The journey through Maguuma, with the threat of being killed and used by Mordremoth was particularly straining but she held on and swallowed her fear — only addressing it with her brother — because the Pact needed a Commander and most importantly her friends needed saving.

But when they reached Elona, and both Balthazar and Joko seemed to make a personal stake of defeating and humiliating her, she asked Trahearne to find a way to prevent anyone could defile her corpse if she was struck down in battle. He designed the spell, and they found a tattoo artist in Amnoon who inked the assemble of protokrytian runes and ancient orrian protection sigils Trahearne had drawn on her ribcage, at the tip of her heart.

Her resurrection erased the tattoo. Her scars were core memories, images of herself she revisited in the Domain of the Lost, but the rune was one her soul needed to forget, lest not even Grenth would be allowed to bring her back.

Following the death of Joko, the absorption of his magic by Aurene, and her daughter's miraculous resurrection, she choses not to have the provisory design Trahearne retraced on her skin tattooed. If there's a single chance, as Aurene's Champion, that she be blessed with some of the Lich's power to cheat death, she will not let fear hinder her return. She has made a promise to Trahearne and she intends to fulfill it.

[mysticalmusicwhispers]

lovers’ dreams

Summary: “A day fit for a spring dream.” And then he kisses Roshan, and they become lost in each other.

Characters: India (Aditya), China, Iran/Persia (Roshan, genderfluid). Human names used. Indran, Churan, and Indchu for ships!

Notes: 100% distilled surrealism! This was supposed to be a writing exercise that ran away from me rip. There are many footnotes that explain Many things. Enjoy!

also on AO3! (there are bonus thoughts and explanations there for anyone who’s interested or slightly confused 😅. everything necessary for you to understand the story is here too but I ramble about my thoughts going into the piece on AO3 lol)

———

The willow’s drooping branches hide Yao’s face like a beaded curtain, a bride’s sheer red veil. The spring breeze snakes through the tree, and the sound of wedding suona—sorna rings through the silence. A flutter of phoenix wings brushes past their ear, a whisper on the wind. Roshan walks languidly until they are in front of Yao; it takes a minute—it takes a month. Yao’s face is sharp and his eyes glint, like the jade in his belt. But the kiss is soft when they take his lips in theirs, and it tastes of the rose’s tender petals. The clean sweetness of flowers is warm against Roshan’s face and the fragrance of tea drifts into their nostrils. 

Yao pulls away, and Roshan opens their eyes to polished jade thorns sprouting up from the earth around them—crisp green, sharp-tipped; elegant, dangerous. So these are the fruits of our love. It is fitting. They lean to kiss Yao again, and this time, a laugh peals through the air when they part. It is not Roshan’s, and it isn’t Yao’s. But it is clear as spring water and tinkles like a bell, a joyous sound, and it makes Yao smile—a smile that is gentle, calculating; sweet, dangerous. A copper coin hides in the corner of his lips. “A day fit for a spring dream.” And then he kisses Roshan, and they become lost in each other.

When Roshan opens their eyes again, Yao is gone. They are standing in nothingness, a shell of a dream. A liminal plane. A wedding song echoes in the empty space, loud and cheerful, although there are no musicians to be seen playing the dohol, the sorna. Then sprung from the air, a mirror of fate, Aayeneh-ye Bakh, with its customary candelabras flanking it, and with their dots of golden light—miniature suns, sparkling stars. Its face shimmers, clear and gleaming: a pond on a full moon night—and in it, Yao stands, his reflection bright, splendid robes shimmering like gold scales and fine silk. Roshan reaches out a hand, and pulls him into a kiss.

“Welcome back, my dear.”

———

It is sunset, and a chill brushes past Yao’s shoulders and winds through his hair. The sky burns red, and fork tongued flames lick at the sun. A world bathed in fire, on the cusp of night. A lotus pond sits before him, and a figure is at its edge—Aditya, adorned in gold, the perfect figure of a prince. He, a dream of glittering palaces and beady emeralds, bright against the glow of the setting sun, sharp against the bloody sky. He holds a lotus blossom out, and Yao takes it. It is pure, tender in his calloused hands. A drop of blood drips from a petal. He lets it float into the water, and Aditya watches with him as the peach pink petals drop before their eyes—the lotus head balloons, then falls with the weight of seeds; it withers, a shell of its fruit. Divine beauty is short lived—seasons turn with the winds of change.  

Aditya loops an arm around him, bare skin on bare skin, the warmth of the sun hanging around them like a curtain. Their lips meet. The kiss is long, and lingers even after Yao pulls away; it is slightly bitter, but how could it not be? Aditya’s eyes are like black tea, and Yao tastes acrid lily bulbs. The sky has faded into burnt orange, the aftermath of a blaze. Autumn leaves fall from ginkgo trees, golden yellow, bright with memories of the past. Aditya closes his eyes, and Yao watches him sink into a dream.

The scene shifts before his eyes. The lotus pond morphs into a giant chessboard, and they are on opposite sides. Aditya plays white. Cream colored pawns meet chocolate brown knights, and they watch as kings rise and fall, as steady as the spinning of the world. Chariots race and elephants trumpet; the cavalry fight with long swords and bows, and the peasants use polearms, raised fists. Yao meets Aditya’s eyes, warm but gleaming with an ambition that has never gone away. He nods to his neighbor to the west, to his rival, lover, partner, equal. Aditya smiles.

“So we meet again.”

———

It is afternoon, and the sun is warm on his face. Roshan sits on a bench in the courtyard, holding a cup of coffee in one hand, a pomegranate in the other. Aditya nestles into their side, and they give him a feather light cheek kiss, gift him a wisp of air. They hold out the pomegranate, offers it, and Aditya takes a bite. Roshan takes the other half. They watch as the fruit regrows, seeds become jewels, glittering rubies in folds of red fabric. Roshan holds one up to the light with a critical eye. They spread tawny wings, amber eagle eyes alight with the pride of the past present future. A lion and the sun. The wings disappear—a trick of the light, reality fallen away. Then they hold up the cup of coffee.

“For you.” Aditya smiles, and offers a cup of black tea in return.

We have shared many things, and fought over equally many. How will it be in the future? He takes a sip, and falls through the cup.

A cemetery of swords surrounds them, a memory of things gone by. Afternoon sunlight filters through the trees, winds into Roshan’s hair. Idly peaceful. Flowers sprout through the earth; wither; climb up the rusted metal once again. A vine of roses twists around the hilt of a ceremonial spear, supple and full against cool, glinting steel. The leaves flicker, green yellow dead green again. Its blossom is still fresh red, like passion, like their love, pooling around them like a million memories, a still night in the river of time. Aditya looks at Roshan, different yet the same, a reflection of what they once were. Familiar, always, despite the changing tides and shifting dreams.

———

Notes

this part might actually be longer than the fic itself rip 😔 reminder that there’s extra rambling on ao3 lol

Suona/sorna: suona (唢呐) is a traditional wind instrument often played at wedding and funeral processions in northern China! (also used in Southeast China + Taiwan) It’s very loud and has a super brassy sound, but personally I think it sounds alright! The instrument came from Central Asia and is also used at weddings in Iran (where it’s spelled sorna/sarna), where it’s played with a dohol, a large cylindrical drum.

Phoenixes: wedding imagery in China, where a dragon symbolizes the groom and the phoenix the bride. There’s also an analogue to the phoenix in Persian mythology, a simurgh, which is a benevolent creature that is said to purify the land, roosts in the Tree of Knowledge, and apparently has seen the world be destroyed 3 times. Can symbolize healing, divinity, wisdom, and life. (the simurgh symbolism doesn't have much relevance to the fic but I thought it was incredibly interesting to read about lol)

Spring dream: very loosely referencing the Chinese phrase 一场春梦 (yi chang chun meng), which literally translates to an episode of a spring dream. It means the feeling that past predictions or events were actually totally wrong and fruitless, like you expected something (probably really good), but then woke up to reality not being up to your expectations? I can’t translate 😔

Mirror of Fate: In traditional Iranian weddings, a large, elaborate table with flowers and food and different spices is set up (sofreh aghd). A mirror of fate and 2 candelabras are also placed in the center of the table. The mirror represents how fate brought the bride and groom together, and the candelabras represent light and fire. The mirror is there so that when the groom looks into it, the first thing he should see is his betrothed's reflection.

Lotus blossoms: in China and India and many other parts of Asia, lotuses represent purity (they grow from dark mud but the flowers are pure white/pink), the divine, elegance, spiritual promise, the good part of humanity. so, a lotus with a drop of blood in Yao’s hands would be interesting.

Lily bulbs: this is purely self projection but lily bulbs (baihe) are used in Chinese medicine and I despise them. They're not super bitter but they taste starchy, bland, and off. Also lilies and lotuses are pretty similar and I thought that would be interesting :>

Chess: idk if I need a note for this but chess originated as an Indian game called Chaturanga and spread over to China and Iran, among many other places in Asia.

Tea and Coffee: nothing really special about this besides that Iranians Really Like tea. Decided to make India drink coffee instead for contrast; realistically he’d also be drinking tea lol

Eagle eyes: the Iranian/Persian symbol of the Faravahar, from Zoroastrianism has wings that are supposed to be eagle wings (I think? correct me if it’s just unspecified). You’ve probably seen it; it depicts a man with spread wings, half kneeling in a side view. Nowadays it’s also a symbol of Iranian culture, history, and national pride, besides being representative of Zoroastrianism.

Rose: national flower of Iran, and obv I don’t need to explain the other rose connotations. Also I’ve fully adopted the hc that Roshan and all their stuff smells like roses so that’s there too.

Lion and the sun: getting lazy with the explanations, but the short version is that it was a very important Iranian national symbol for many reasons, moreso tied to the state than culture (imo); it was also on the national flag up till the 1979 Islamic Revolution. Although I’m still debating how much Roshan is associated with the state, I also think sun and lion imagery fits them (glory, golden days, pride and courage). It’s super interesting, go search it up if you wanna read more!

This whole fic was somewhat inspired by this one, and the indchu bit was also somewhat inspired by this fanart.

If you made it down here, you have all my gratitude. Feedback is welcome and appreciated! Thanks for reading <3

[witchofapollo]

What is an Altar?

Altars are a hub of your magickal energy. A lot of witches perform spells there, seeing it as a source of valuable energy. It is also a place of worship if you have patron deities. For worshippers, this is where you would communicate and give offerings to said deities. This is also a wonderful space to charge and store your magickal tools. Altars are not a witchcraft-specific object, either- most christian churches have Altars dedicated to Jesus Christ as well!

What can be considered an Altar?

Anything that you use for any of the above can be considered an Altar. I use a bookcase as an altar but it can be anything from a table to an entire room to something as small as a suitcase or even an altoid can- something used commonly among closeted witches as it is not easily found or recognized by loved ones who might be so pleased with the concept of Witchcraft.

How do I decorate my Altar?

You can decorate it in any way you like! An altar, like the Craft in itself, is an extremely personal concept. However, here are various common ways I have seen some being decorated:

To honor their ancestors

To celebrate the seasons

To celebrate holidays such as Ostara or Yule

To honor their deities

Minimalist, having only their supplies and tools with it

Here are some ideas for each one one of these examples on the above list:

To Honor Your Ancestors 

Give Offerings of their favorite foods 

Decorate it in their favorite colors

 Have pictures of them on it 

Leave letters addressed to them on the Altar, sending your love and appreciation to them wherever they may be in the afterlife.

To Celebrate the Seasons 

Spring- decorate in bright colors such as yellow and pinks; regularly have flowers (real or fake) on or near it; dedicate your Altar to your patron fertility/life/nature deity 

Summer- decorate in bold colors such as reds and greens; leave plants such as cacti or produce plants like tomato plants on or near it; leave offerings of fresh (preferably local and in-season) plants on it; dedicate your Altar to your patron god of passion/sun/hard-work 

Fall- decorate in muted and comforting colors such as browns and oranges; leave offerings of wheat/cinnamon/squash; leave a small letter addressed to your late loved ones in this time of thinned veil; dedicated your Altar to your patron god of harvest. 

Winter- decorate in colors such as whites or blues or even black; leave sprigs of evergreen tree needles or cones near or on it; dedicate it to your patron god of death or life cycles

To Celebrate the Holidays 

Samhain- In this time of the thinnest veil, you would want to decorate your altar in a way similar to the way you would in honor of your ancestors. See above for ideas regarding that. 

Yule- Leave an (artificial) burning yule log on it, have sun imagery to celebrate the return of the sun 

Imbolc- Leave a burning candle (or an artificial candle on) on your altar all day; decorate with a bundle of wheat, a pomegranate, or other symbolism of fertility 

Ostara- Decorate with jasper or incense for jasmine or any other floral scent; leave offerings of food; if possible, move it in front of the sun

Beltane- Decorate with phallic decorations; leave items on it that bring great joy to your life, leave a candle of an earthy smell burning 

Litha- Decorate with imagery of the moon to welcome the growing darkness; leave it in dark colors for the same reason; similar to Imbolc, display symbols of fertility 

Lammas- Decorate in Fall-themed colors; Leave an offering of (preferably home-made) bread 

Mabon- Decorate your Altar in items and symbols of things that you are grateful for; leave a letter of thanks to your deity; cover in colors of transition such as orange-red, grays, blue-green, etc.

To Honor your Deities 

Cover your altar in their patron colors

 Display symbolism of their domain (for ex. A bowl of salt-water if they are over the Sea)

If their worship permits, display a portrait or artistic rendition of them! Feel free to do this yourself, no matter how you gauge your artistic abilities. I’ve even seen people represent gods with dressed-up dolls or barbies 

Light an incense in a smell that reminds you of them

The Minimalist Approach 

Typically these kinds of altars hold simply the tools of the trade and representations of the elements (none of this is mandatory ever and you should follow your gut with what is necessary for you): 

Incense to represent air 

Candles or light to represent fire 

A bowl of water to represent… well… water 

A bowl of salt to represent Earth 

Athame 

Candles 

Crystals

Wand

Hey Guys! I made some more printable reference sheets for y’all! You can download them along with my other reference sheets and printables here. Feel free to request printables and reference sheets as I am always looking for ideas to create more!! Also! Feel free to share Altar tips and decorating ideas on this post ^_^

[thebountyfucker]

Kyuzo/Phatrong Headcanon Masterpost

I created a post similar to this on my main blog @kyuzan-queen years ago and wanted to give it a refresh!

Included in this post:

Kyuzan biology (does include NSFW elements) Culture: Clothing, Music/Art, Religion, Familial culture, Politics, and life of Phatrong

Kyuzoni biology:

The Kyuzo are an omnivorous (carnivorous-leaning) reptilian species. They sport a mouthful of sharp fangs and a long tongue. While they are reptilian, they are warm blooded and do not lay eggs. Because of Phatrong's inconsistent weather, Kyuzo evolved to be able to maintain and regulate their own body temperatures. Their bodies can accept a shift in temperature of about 20 degrees Fahrenheit before it starts to affect them. They, like cold-blooded reptiles, do enjoy sunning/basking. It's good for their mental health and other bodily processes!

Kyuzos also evolved to carry pregnancies and give live births, also because of the weather. The process of Kyuzan pregnancy is awkward and painful, though, and mortality rates for mothers are quite high.

Kyuzo skin is rough, but not scaly like Trandoshans. Skin colors can range anywhere from green, to yellow, to blue and in between. However, those who are purely yellow or blue have a common pigmentation disorder. Their health is not negatively affected because of this, although people might treat them differently depending on where they live.

All Phatrongi Kyuzo are born with honeycomb eyes, that can be any color. Their eyes tend to glow in the dark, and they can see in the dark better than most humanoids.

Other than having slightly wider hips, cis females are very similar to cis males. Cis females do not have breasts or any noticeable secondary sex traits. While cis males tend to be a bit taller and wider framed, its not uncommon for cis females to have those traits, and vice versa. Intersex Kyuzo are common. Gender is very fluid among the Kyuzo, as parents tend to raise their children without a defined gender; when the child is of age, they get to decided what their gender is. Thus, being trans or nonbinary is prevalent.

The Kyuzo can be up to 7′6″ tall, with most falling in the 6′ to 6′6″ range. They tend to have larger frames than humans but are considerably more agile.

The weakest part of the Kyuzo is their lungs; if there is too much moisture in the air, they can easily contract pneumonia. Too little oxygen in the air and they’ll suffocate. Thus the reason they wear masks off planet.  

Kyuzo, beyond that, are an incredibly hearty species that can live upward of three hundred years. After reaching sexual maturity at around young adulthood, their aging slows down. Whatever kills them before old age is usually attributed to their lungs or more physical means. They can contract other diseases, but they are usually nonfatal. Usually.

They have an amazing amount of stamina and can run at speeds that are hard for most humanoids to attain. They, unfortunately, have high pain tolerances and a hard time receiving fatigue messages to the brain, and this generally spells out problems. Kyuzos have been known to run themselves to death - literally. It’s not uncommon for families to find the bodies of missing members hundreds of miles away from where they were last seen. They have to make a very conscious effort to stop, or they won’t.

Kyuzo are much stronger than other humanoids, and can jump higher. Most outsiders confuse them as force sensitives for this reason. Kyuzos can be Force-sensitive, but it's rare to find Kyuzo Jedi.

Kyuzan cocks are long, with a tapered head. Most cocks have ridges or nodes on the top that would expand when inside a Kyuzan pussy. These nodes would help to anchor the cock inside. However, when fucking a near-human, these nodes/ridges tend to only work as extra sensation against the g-spot and a-spot.

Culture:

Clothing:

Most feminine presenting Kyuzo wear headwraps/headdresses. Other than displaying wealth and covering cold heads, there isn’t much of a reason that they wear the headdresses. It’s not required, but most feminine presenting people wear them because they grew up seeing other feminine presenting people wearing them. If one is wealthy, their headdresses will tend to be large and elaborate; it’s not uncommon for one to wear a headdress that is pounds upon pounds of metals, jewels, and cloth. Poorer feminine presenting people generally just wear cloth, or nothing at all.

Kyuzoni clothing is colorful and flowy; people wear very similar clothing, no matter what gender they are. Dresses and skirts are very common, and people will generally go topless. While most colors are okay to use, there are certain colors that are not used in everyday clothing, such as purple, light blue, gold, and white; the Kyuzo place sacred meaning in some colors, so they are only supposed to be used for special events.

Phatrong’s army/police force wear loose, non-restricting clothing with a leather-like armor covering their chests. Their family’s crest is painted upon the armor, in case that the warrior is killed in action. Their clothing is trimmed in gold, which represents bravery and wisdom.

Light blue cloth, specifically headwraps or shirts, signify that a wedding is approaching. Purple is a wedding color, as it signifies prosperity and commitment; wedding clothes are trimmed with silver. White is only used for funerals or births, as it signifies both death and the innocence of new life.

Music/Art:

Music on Phatrong generally revolves around stringed instruments and percussion instruments; they don’t generally listen to music for leisure. Music is only played at festivals, and generally tells the stories of ancient heroes and gods. The Kyuzo also create dances to these story-songs, to make things more dramatic.

Art varies around Phatrong. By the oceans, it’s mostly glass-work like beads and giant stained glass windows. Those Kyuzo that live by the rivers create pottery. Richer families will paint large murals that will cover the walls of their homes. These murals tell tales of their gods, but more often than not they are used almost like photographs that capture small moments in the lives of the family. Jewelry making is also common.

Religion:

The Kyuzo believe in a polytheistic system; the most prominent goddess is Vohaoya (Vo-ha-oy-ah), the mother of the gods and creator of worlds. She represents women, fertility, life, and nature; she is described as having a mostly Kyuzoni appearance, with three eyes and four arms. Often, she is shown in art or statues sitting cross-legged, cradling Phatrong in her lap; her arms are either pointing toward the sky, or she is making gestures with her hands. Her bottom arms are often portrayed as laying flat against her legs with palms upturned - this relays openness. Her left top arm is often resting on the planet, which portrays her protective nature. And her right top arm is often pointed upward, her pointer finger curling in toward her palm while the rest of her fingers are outstretched; this is a symbol of love for the Kyuzo. Her statues are mostly made out of gold, but are painted with the likeness of galaxies; some people swear that the stars shift in the right light.

Other more minor deities include Ixpi, the goddess of peace, and her brother Echting, the god of war. Because the Kyuzo like to believe that they are a peaceful race, Echting is often described as a villain. Ixpi is described as a small, rainbow-colored being that floats rather than walks; besides being the goddess of peace, she is also a patron of happiness, sunrise, and the LGBT community on Phatrong. Echting is also the god of destruction, mayhem, and storms; he is often described as a fiery being too bright to look at. He is surrounded by lightning and is easily angered.

There are temples, wherein these gods can be worshipped. The temples are all large and ornate, made usually of marble or wood. The temples for Vohaoya and Ixpi are run exclusively by priestesses, and though men can worship there, men cannot serve the goddesses. Men can work at the temples of Echting, but not many do, given the god's bad reputation.

Legend has it that Vohaoya created the Warriors of old to protect the gods from those that wished to harm them. They were created from the rich soil, and they were considered divine beings. In the modern era of Phatrong, it is still considered one of the highest honors to be a Warrior.

Life on Phatrong:

The Kyuzo tend to live in large villages or the few small cities around the planet; those who are born into the more obscure villages often never leave the villages.

Villages are generally comprised of thousands of people, all of which are extended family members. Separate families can have more than twenty-five members, all living in one house. Villagers take turns tending to the communal farm, which produces most of their food and fibers for clothing; to supplement the farm, they also forage, hunt, and fish.

Village born Kyuzo are very secluded, only working with neighboring villages to marry off their children. Because of their seclusion, they are the more suspicious and less educated than their city counterparts. Knowledge is passed down through the generations as those born in the villages don’t have access to teachers. At most, they know Kyuzoni and basic math: they are instead taught more practical skills, like sewing, cooking, cleaning, and animal husbandry.

There are two ‘real’ cities on Phatrong, Shutalo and Shouji; Shutalo (Shoo-tah-loh) is the capital city, to the north. Shouji (Show-zhee) is a large industrial city in the southern hemisphere. Any outside trade is limited to these two areas.

Kyuzo that live in the city tend to have smaller families, with about six members at the most. The Kyuzo in the cities have actual jobs, but they don’t make money; they are given items of use instead. (Think of bartering, almost. If they work at a textile store, they are given cloth, which can then be traded for food, etc.) Villages that have produced too much food or are in need of other items will sell food to the city folk.

City Kyuzo have better access to education, although it’s still not the best in the galaxy. Most city Kyuzo learn things like writing, higher levels of math, and an objective look on the planet’s history. Kyuzo that wish to learn beyond that must travel off planet.

It’s extremely difficult for Kyuzos to speak Basic, just because Kyuzoni and Basic are so different. It can take years and years just to get the verbal language down, and that doesn’t count how long it takes for them to learn to read Aurebesh. If the Kyuzo do manage to figure out how to speak Basic, they have thick accents that are often hard to understand, thus making them vulnerable to mockery.

Politics:

Politics on Phatrong are strange as the government actually doesn’t do much. The senate, located in Shutalo, is a group of Kyuzo (and a few Kataline) from various villages and cities that are there to set basic laws so that they can have a seat in the Council of Neutral Systems. Really, the various villages will set their own rules, and as long as it doesn’t interfere with the senate, they’re generally alright with it. (A law would include: Murder is punishable by death. But their definition of murder is loose and up to interpretation.)

Kyuzo children (generally young men but it’s not limited to males) learn to fight from the moment they can understand. The Kyuzo, although a generally ‘peaceful’ race, train their children to become a quasi-army/police force. The most promising fighters are then shipped off to various academies around Phatrong to train with masters to hone their skills. Many children, as a result of poor quality of life at the academies and dangerous fighting practices, end up dying. It is rare that the academies are punished. The children that make it then must complete a three-year stint as an active warrior; those who passed but are not necessarily promising are sent to protect sacred temples. Those who show a certain level of finesse can continue to climb the ranks until they are high-ranking military officials. They act more like a police force than a military, but they have the training just in case.

Marriage and Family Life:

Kyuzo children are often promised to each other at birth; throughout their childhoods, they get to meet and connect with their betrothed. They generally marry at eighteen, with a week-long festival preceding it. Certain wives -ones that are ordained from birth by priestesses- are considered sacred embodiments of the Goddess Vohaoya, and are limited to bearing five children; superstition says that having too many children will thin out the wife’s existence. Daughters are vitally important to carry on their mother’s bloodline.

Because Kyuzo value large family, a husband will take a wetzandi as well; a wetzandi, or birth maid, is a younger woman who births the rest of a man’s children. A wetzandi is someone who is generally caught bedding out of wedlock, or has committed some other small crime against the goddesses. Unfortunately, they are not valued by most, and are treated as little more than breeding stock.

[sanstropfremir]

the hotly anticipated kingdom episode 7 review is here!!

this episode was a lot less spectacle-y than the last one (the last episode with stages, i mean), and i think that was a good choice for all the groups on the whole to tone it down on the run up to the finale, because at the rate everyone was headed there would be no room to go any higher. i'm very glad that there was actually a collab stage and not just a song swap, especially because it gives a chance for the boys to work together and make friends when they otherwise arent going to be able to interact much. love love love to see them making friends and having fun doing these stages!

i'm not really sure why mnet didnt put the vocal stage this episode, because what on earth else are they going to put in the next episode with it??? i know it's a content stretch but still, it seems like a weird choice to me. anyways, there’s four stages for me to talk about this time and i'm going to try to not ramble out of control, but we’ll see. i did enjoy watching all of these, but we’ve all got favourites and i'm going to rank by which group i liked better out of the two for each stage, and then i put a few conclusions at the end. strap in folks this is another long one.

rap stages

skz + btob + atz

i was actually really surprised at how much i liked this stage. i would not classify myself as a rap fan and believe it or not i actually do not place a lot of importance on lyrics when enjoying music. although i have very high lyric retention and comprehension, i focus more on the sound than the literal words, so a fair amount of rap is swing-and-a-miss in my personal listening. plus when you add a language barrier on top of that, a lot of the nuance and technical skill of it just flies over my head. so i really dont have much to say about the sonic elements this time around, sorry. also.....i know i joked that nobody from the kingdom staff is reading my reviews.....but is someone from the kingdom staff reading my reviews????? i specifically mentioned that i think skz should do an art themed stage and then we got one????? i know i manifested the punk ateez stage but did i manifest this also??? am i just that powerful???

costume

obviously these are pretty basic rap/hiphop stage looks, but the white was a really good choice for visibility’s sake, and also thematically: it reflects the colours in the lighting really well.

i am DYING to know who the designer of minhyuks jacket is. if somebody knows please tell me i love it so much. it looks like some of the recent belted jackets that dior was putting out, but the drawing on the front armscythe piece reminds me of the superm/kim junggi collab for tiger inside. say whatever you want about superm, but you cannot deny that that is not some of the coolest merch on the kpop scene.

loved the traditional korean elements that came through in addition to the western references: the screens, hongjoong’s fan, minhyuk’s big fuckoff brush, the masks, and the sleeves on the dancers at minhyuk’s bit. those are a costume feature from a style of korean traditional masked dance called bongsan talchum. the masks themselves are versions of hahoetal masks, which are used in a very specific archetypal ritual dance in andong. i think these are imae masks, who is the servant/fool archetype that mocks the nobleman and the scholar. i suspect that was a deliberate choice, but i can only speculate.

another point about the masks which is not relevant but maybe a fun fact for people who don’t know. i actually thought at first that they were western theatre half masks, which are a very old style of mask that, like with hahoetal masks, represent a number of archetypes/stock characters. maskwork is a very common training practice in theatre schools, because it teaches body language and control, because half your face is covered and you cannot speak in your own voice (sometimes you cannot speak at all, this is one of the rules of full mask). the tradition of usings masks to portray emotion goes all the way back to the ancient greek chorus, but more commonly people in the west sometimes know it from the italian commedia dell’arte, of which you will have definitely seen some of the character archetypes before. i just find it neat that the same types of art pop up in different places seemingly independently of each other. humans are cool.

set

not much to say here, it's pretty bare with just some propwork. thought the screen use was fun and they used it smartly in a couple of transitions. 

thought changbin’s bit of ‘interrupting’ the artists was cute and fun. there’s obviously a picasso reference there, and the four technicolour paintings are a reference to andy warhol’s pop art silkscreen portraits, most famously of marilyn monroe, but he also did many other celebrities in the 70s and 80s.

lighting

i LOVED this lighting. super bright and fun, lots of use of colour, obviously. the projections were there to enhance the visuals and weren’t distracting in any way. i thought the transition to black and white/ink with minhyuk was smart and had good contrast, it gave a strong rhythm to build back up to for the climax.

sound

bang chan’s ‘spelling colour with a u’ bit had me SCREAMING with laughter. we spell colour with a u normally bang chan, the americans are the ones that are wrong. 

staging

i don’t really have a whole lot to say here, it was pretty straightforward and fun. like i’ve said in previous reviews, i wish they were more conscious of the steadicam direction and would stop showing extended bits of the production crew. at least everyone was wearing full blacks this time.

fun use of the upward angle combined with the groundwork/leg choreo during hongjoong’s verse, that was a highlight for me.

sf9 + tbz + ikon

nothing against this stage, the other one just hit harder for me. bobby is the best rapper on the show and he really carried this stage with his charisma. he’s a fun performer to watch and he knows how to command a space. i'm sure there’s technical notes that people have about the raps themselves, but i'm here looking at visuals as a priority, which i'm sure you’ve all grasped at this point.

costume

these were clearly extensions of these idol’s personal styles, with is a perfectly fine choice, especially for a rap stage where the emphasis is more on authorship. LOVED bobby’s 11yro girl at recess look.

amusing that both rap stages involved paint in some way? loved the backup dancers shooting supersoakers filled with paint at them, but i wish i knew the reason for it? i'm glad i saw this stage first because i would have been underwhelmed by the paint throwing if i had seen this after rainbow bonanza.

set

almost no set at all here, just a few props. i'm not judging as harshly on lack of set this round because these stages are meant to be more about skill than anything else. 

lighting

i loved the projections, i thought they were unobtrusive and i admit, i LOVE outer space themed anything.

i liked that they did more concert lighting and had no projections in the first half to put more focus on the performers, it really highlighted the fact that this stage was about them, and not about anything extraneous.

sound

it was indeed a song.

staging

i do wish there had been a bit more control of the space, because it did look very empty at some parts and they could have staved that off by keeping tighter camera shots. this stage is so fucking big, holy shit.

they really brought their onstage chemistry and they looked like they were having a blast, which FINALLY!! 

i actually really liked hwiyoung’s opening, i think there was a lot of potential there for some sharp contrast work that i wish had been played through a little more, especially with the cool white light overtop the black costumes. it actually reminded me a bit of the intro in the music video from a rapper i do actually listen to, bewhy’s gottasadae.

glad to see some more use of camera effects with the black and white, but why did they do it over the paint throwing? it just made the trajectory of the paint invisible because there was no colour contrast.

performance stages

sf9 + tbz + ikon

ok obviously im gonna have a lot more to say about the performance stages, nobody is surprised there. this one was the better constructed of the two and my personal pick for better stage, but i actually liked watching the both of them equally.

costume

king shit, literally. we love contemporary hanbok in this house. there was good colour and style distinction between the three of them without clashing. 

costume change was fun and neatly blocked, it's pretty common to see backup dancers and chorus hiding quickchanges but i liked how this was a more unusual formation.

taeyang rocking the organza skirt and the big purple eyeshadow, thank you for keeping it cunty as always.

i really liked juyeon’s underlayer look. finally we get a good tbz costume look thats thematically relevant!

set

like all the stages this round, pretty minimal. the setting was almost entirely established through the costumes and the projections, which is some really good designwork. it's pretty much just the litters (the lifted chairs they entered on), and some smaller props. they managed to not make the stage feel empty because there was a lot of projection visuals to compensate, which is difficult to do without being overbearing, but i think they mostly pulled it off.

i originally thought it was gonna be weird to try and mesh the traditional korean architectural aesthetic with the weird mnet deco, but i ended up not noticing it as much as i thought i would.

lighting

like i just said, projections very well done and do a fantastic job of conveying setting without being overly distracting. like with the atz/skz/btob rap stage there’s a really broad range of colour use here that they offset by brightening and properly fill lighting the faces so you can actually see what’s happening.

the use of the strobing lasers and more concert style lighting fit really well with the change in the music from traditional instrument sounds to electronica and the more hiphop/isolated movements.

sound

i liked it well enough! i think it had a good arc that we can see echoed through the rest of the piece, like previously stated in the lighting and movement style. 

staging

like i mentioned with the quickchange, there was some really interesting formations using the backup dancers here, especially as a lead toward/away from the camera

having the three of them enter on litters; again, literal king shit, love to see it.

this has a pretty clear narrative that doesnt really need an external explanation, which is good. i have to assume that the burning of the paper with 妃 (concubine) is intended to be a gesture of ‘burning’ the love out of their hearts, but that was the only thing i'm still confused on. this may very well turn out to be a reference to a specific story that i just have no idea what it is, but we’ll see once the subs are out!

i loved juyeons solo bit with the alcohol drinking and the table flip, that was the choreographic highlight for me. i just really wish he would use the other muscles in his face more often. we know youre pretty, you dont have to blue steel your way through all your performances!! take a page out of donghyuk’s book and make some ugly faces, it's good for you!!

i though taeyang’s swordwork was fine, but since i do actually have a decade of sword training i'm very judgemental. it's not bad, he obviously has practiced with the weapon and he knows how to control it, but he doesn’t have the same understanding as someone who has trained with a sword as a weapon and not just as a prop. if we hadn’t seen another stage with swordwork in it i probably wouldn’t have brought this up (that's a lie, i still would have brought it up, i have a third dan), but you can really see the difference between how minhyuk moves with his sword and how taeyang moves. a lot of this has to do with the proper weighting of the blade, which i mention briefly in my second episode review in btob’s section (and also this ask here, where i talk about properly weighted weapons in relation to the gun choreo in sf9’s and ateez’s previous stages); minhyuk is likely using a ‘real’ sword (it’s blunted but still made using proper methods and materials), and taeyang is using a cheaper-made replica (unless you’re doing full contact striking a LOT there’s no way a properly made blade breaks like that. also you would never tape it together hello??? respect the blade). if you know what you’re looking for, you can tell from the movements themselves when someone has training. minhyuk did a load of real training for a film where he was a swordsman, and you can tell; the sword is an extension of his arm, all the movements lead with the tip of the blade first, because that’s your first, your fastest, and your most dangerous point. you do 90% of your cutting with the first eight inches of blade, but it takes a lot of specific training to get your hands and arms to a place where that kind of movement is possible. taeyang’s movements are driven from his hands, which is unsurprising, because that’s where he’s used to his extensions stopping. the tip follows rather than leads. wow this got insanely sidetracked i hope you liked this crash course on swordwork.

this is pretty much what i expected to see from this unit. these three groups all have standout soloists, so i wasn’t surprised to see these three boys as the picks. juyeon and taeyang especially, theyre both from groups that are more likely to do experimental stages and choreography that highlights them as soloists and skilled dancers.

skz + btob + atz

this was a letdown from ateez’s last two stages, because they knocked those out of the park, but it's only fair that they have a bit of a fall. that being said, i did really enjoy watching this for its sheer ridiculousness; i’m forgiving the wolf concept this time because well, it’s wolf. you can't cover wolf and not do a wolf concept, that’s against the law. also, like i’ve said before, i'm all for dark concepts IF you give them thematic weight. is it on the nose? yes. is it thematically relevant? also yes. is it dumb? also also yes, but that’s never stopped a single kpop group in the history of ever.

costume

friendship restored with ateez stylists, rivalry started with skz stylists. the fur shoulder fluffs??? stupid and i love them. perfect in every way. however i keep seeing the same fucking costumes on the skz boys and i will come directly for the stylists at jype if they dont get their shit together. be! more! creative!!!

i really really wish they had gone more 2013 kpop with it, we need more of that ugly ridiculous styling. peniel was actually pretty close, with the overly long tunic and those yellow lenses. very vixx on and on (yes i know they were vampires from outer space, let me live)

i actually thought the wolf gloves were fun? the small bits of uv paint actually worked instead of looking out of place, and i'm glad they put them on wooyoung because the uglier an outfit, the better he pulls it off. 

set

same dice, just the long table and the camo net at the beginning, which i thought was unnecessary. the table was useful for levels though, so happy to see they utilized that.

lighting

there is so much happening all the time. lots of lasers. it's definitely aiming for camp territory, and i dont actually hate it as much as i did on my first watch. it actually wasn’t as dark as i thought either, because its mostly lit with blue and amber. but it doesn’t really have that great of an arc and its not really that good on the whole.

the projections are a bit much for me, but that’s only when i'm actually looking at them. true to form, i didn’t even notice the excess of red slashes until like my fourth rewatch because i was too busy watching the performers.

sound

rookie exo my beloved. the original wolf goes so hard for absolutely no reason, so i’m not knocking this stage for being ridiculous. in fact it should have been more ridiculous. i think they did a fine job updating the song for a.....less 2013 sound. 

i like that they didn’t bother to live sing the stage even though they recorded vocals for it, it gave them all a chance to actually focus on just the dance.

that being said, i am kind of missing all the adlibs from the original. but even though there’s some strong vocalists in this unit, they aren’t made of the same stuff as baekhyun, luhan, chen, AND d.o.

i literally just realized that peniel had already debuted when this song came out AND is technically exo’s senior because btob debuted like two weeks before exo officially did.....oh no

staging

choreographically this feels a lot more like the skz stages that we’ve seen rather than the ateez ones, so i'm curious as to who the choreographer was. 

the tricking was definitely more ridiculous in this one, but i can't really say any of it was there for no reason because it all had elements of fighting in it. the scale of the tricks was quite large though and not very well blended with the rest of the choreo, which ending up making them look awkward. i thought it was a nice detail that they shone a green toplight on the dancers that made up the cliff wooyoung climbed up so that it looked like there was grass on it. cute.

the blocking is lacking a lot of fluidity, and i think that’s partially the scale of the tricking and also the editing, because this editing is TERRIBLE. there’s so much cutting, why is there so much cutting!! haven’t we already learned that longtakes are the best for this???

there’s a lot of stuff here that had good potential but could have been pushed a little farther. i feel like i say this for every mediocre stage, but what can i say, i'm good at constructive criticism. 

they should have given more showcase to the tree and the scratching arms; it's the most iconic move!! i also wish they had kept some kind of iteration of the different unit ‘leaping’ in over the exiting one, i always thought that part of the original choreo was really fun and did a lot for establishing them as wolves. 

i LOVED peniel entering with all those backup dancers in chains, thats some fucking iconic shit. very ‘im the alpha wolf,’ which is valid because he’s like at LEAST five years older than everyone else on the stage. i wish that instead of being the backup dancers it was the actual members, because THAT would have been an image. theyre all wearing harnesses and collars anyways, just clip em in! he’d be like one of those dogwalkers!

me last week: specifically talking about how krump is an uncommon style in kpop and it's very hard to get right kingdom, throwing the manifesting dodgeball at me for the third time: here would you like a KRUMP SOLO?

if you didnt believe me before that krump is hard to get right, i sure hope you do now. peniel did fine, but you can see how easily you can veer off into looking ridiculous.

some conclusions

i mentioned this really briefly in an ask i got earlier today, but i do think it's important to establish that the two performance units are doing two different types of performances. i can understand why people are underwhelmed by the atz/skz/btob stage and wanted it to be less of a traditional kpop dance stage and more like the experimental stages we’ve been seeing for the last few weeks. and i agree! i think they could have done more with it. but i also think that this kind of stage was a good choice for this particular subunit. unlike with the sf9/tbz/ikon unit, there are not really any standout technical soloists in ateez or skz. ateez has, in my opinion, the highest ratio of dancers with actual stage presence of any of the 4th gen groups ive seen. they’re at a solid 75% for any given performance, and occasionally they can bump that higher depending on the stage. that high of a stat is rare. it's extremely rare for a group to have all its members have good stage presence (i can think of like, maybe two or three?), and to get over 50% is pretty damn impressive. but ateez’s strength isn’t in how good they individually are as dancers, but it's in how well they work together. there’s a reason why they put FIVE of them in the performance unit. one of the first things i said about ateez to hanya is ‘i love wooyoung but he doesn’t stand out when he's not centre.’ which is for good reason!! he’s not supposed to! they all willingly give up centre and take it back when they need to, because they have that charisma. there’s a very cohesive push and pull to watching ateez that speaks to their strengths as performers. dancing in a group where you are all meant to be equal is a very different skill than just being a talented soloist. you have to understand what to prioritize in a different way. taemin dances differently with shinee that he does in his solo career, especially since they’ve been back. he understands when to step back; more often than not i find key to be the standout dancer in shinee choreo.

this is a very long winded way of saying that wolf was a good choice for them even though the stage didn’t turn out as well as it could have. also the fact that they made a cohesive performance at all, with a week of rehearsal and while working with essentially strangers is a feat and speaks to all of their skill at their job. performing in a group is a huge part of kpop, and they did call this the performance stage, and not the dance stage.

i'm not entirely sure on what the breakdown is on why each of the subunits were formed. i know the team sizes are extremely uneven, with sf9/tbz/ikon clocking in at 26 people and atz/skz/btob clocking in at 17 (i'm not counting changsub because he's not there and probably has a scheduling conflict), which is like, a whole extra group of difference. but atz/skz/btob utilizing their whole groups for each of the units (5/3/1 for performance, 1/3/1 for rap, and 1/1/1 for vocal, for 7/7/3 total), verses sf9/tbz/ikon only bringing out six people for these two stages and then six for the vocal stage is......weird? that's over half of their group number that’s not performing. i do think the groups brought out their standout performers and made smart choices with the stages but the balance still strikes me as odd. i do wish tbz had actually done some group choreo because they are very strong group performers and it would have been fun to watch.

ateez really played the long game here, good job boys. teaming up with the group who gets the highest fan votes AND the group with the strongest technical skills? i see you.

i think this is probably too wild of an assumption and is only based on circumstantial evidence but.....i think hongjoong might actually have a lot more creative sway than i previously thought. all the stages he’s been a part of have been very well designed, and i know he provided suggestions for the two ateez stages prior to this... i’m probably thinking too much. 

ok you know what i know there were some other points in my brain somewhere but this is already 4000 words so i’m going to stop. if i remember anything else its probably gonna end up in the answer to some of the asks i’m inevitably going to get because i think my opinions on these ones are a little bit more controversial, whoops!

not entirely sure if ill do an extensive review for next week’s stage, because i'm not really a ballad fan and i dont really do vocal reviews, but i could do a quick one. i guess it also depends on what else they put in the episode. we’ll see!!

[itsivyberry]

tri-wizard champion {5}

The Maze

Draco Malfoy x Hufflepuff!Reader

a/n: my Christmas gift to you because 2020 has sucked ass and I want to finish this series before it’s over❤️ enjoy also READ THE MF TRIGGER WARNINGS THEY ARE REALLT IMPORTANT THIS TIME

word count: 4590

warnings: major character death, lots of blood, anxiousness, mentions of vomiting, sad sad stuff dude, also literally loss of a limb (there’s a warning before it begins, please don’t read if you can’t stomach it)

summary: the truth about the Y/L/N’s is to be revealed soon when Y/N is facing the dangers within the maze of the third task.

tag list: @drawlfoy @fanficflaneuse @ccelinewritess @accio-rogers @babyhoneystvles @nekee-lilac02 @dracofeltonmalfoy

masterlist

{ 1 } { 2 } { 3 } { 3.5 } { 4 } { 5 } { 6 }

gif credit: @harrysweasleys

The final task approached rapidly.

News about the sudden death of Barty Crouch spread throughout the student body quickly.

Y/N was growing anxious, more than she ever was for any other task. The spots from the grindylows had faded to a lighter color, similar to the two gashes on her back.

But now here she was, waking through a doorway to face the entire Hogwarts student body along with families and the Beauxbatons and Durmstrang students clad in a black and yellow outfit to represent Hufflepuff.

The three Hogwarts champions stood by their entrance to the maze. Cheers could be heard from every angle at which they stood, a lively march being played by the band.

Many students had homemade banners with the champions’ last names written all over. Y/N smiled at the sight of Draco holding a large banner with a silly drawing of her and Y/L/N written in big, bold, sparkly letters. She gave him a funny face and a thumbs up, and he blew a kiss right back mouthing “good luck.”

“Sonorus!” Dumbledore casted the amplifying charm, and the sounds of cheers and music died out. Students clambered to sit down, eager to hear about the task.

“Earlier today, Professor Moody placed the Triwizard Cup deep within the maze. Only he knows it’s exact position. Now, as Mr. Diggory...” cheers erupted at the sound of Cedric’s name, and Amos held his son’s hand high in recognition, “...Miss Y/L/N and Mr. Potter...” cheers grew louder and students stood, yelling for Harry and Y/N, including Ron, Hermione, and Draco, “...are tied for first position, they will be the first to enter the maze, followed by Mr. Krum...” more cheers, “...and Miss Delacour.”

“The first person to touch the cup will be the winner. I’ve instructed the staff to patrol the perimeter. Should, at any point, a contestant wish to withdrawal from the task, he or she need only send up red sparks with their wands. Contestants! Gather around. Quickly!”

Y/N rushed up, following Cedric to where Dumbledore stood. Her heart was pounding.

The five champions huddled up, and Dumbledore placed his arms around Y/N’s and Krum’s shoulders.

“In the maze, you’ll find no dragons or creatures of the deep. Instead you’ll face something even more challenging. You see, people change in the maze. Oh, find the cup if you can. But be very wary. You could just lose yourselves along the way.” The ominous undertone to his voice gave Y/N goosebumps.

Draco watched intently, trying to listen to what Dumbledore was saying to the five teens, but had no luck. His heart was pounding just as hard as Y/N’s was.

“Champions, prepare yourselves!” Dumbledore instructed, and the crowd cheered again.

Without thinking, Y/N turned around and bolted to the stands, stopping right in front of where Draco was.

“Wish me luck!” She said, jumping up to wrap her around a around his neck and pulled him close. He sat up to lean over the railing blocking the two of them, hugging her so tightly. “Awes” and “oohs” circled around the two of them.

“Good luck.” Draco whispered in Y/N’s ear, pulling back just enough to press his lips on hers in a rushed and anxious kiss.

She pulled away quickly, touching her feet to the ground and smiling warmly at him, before rushing back to her designated entrance to the maze, unknowing of what she should find inside.

Y/N looked into it, her heart hammering. It was too foggy to see any clearer than maybe 6 feet in front of her, and the hedges were impossibly tall.

Her thoughts began to bite at her. What if I don’t make it through in time? What if something in there kills me? What if I get lost and nobody can see the red sparks?

She wished she had the support of a representative like the other champions did. Y/N looked over to see Amos giving Cedric a tight hug, whispering something in his ear.

Just as quickly as he had hugged his son, he made his way over to the young girl and gave her a big hug too. “You’ll do amazing, Y/N. I wish both you and Cedric the best of luck.” He said into her ear.

“Thank you, Amos.” She smiled at him, allowing him to step back over to his son.

Cedric smiled at her, but it was wobbly. He could tell she was just as nervous as he was, and tried his best to comfort her with the distance between them.

“On the count of three. One-“ Dumbledore’s voice was cut off by the canon exploding early. Y/N couldn’t breathe as she watched Harry take the first step into the maze. Cedric followed right after, and the lively music from before flooded through the small arena.

The second Y/N stepped at least two feet into the maze, the entrance sealed off. It was deafening, how silent it had suddenly become.

Draco watched closely, as his girlfriend was suddenly separated from the eyes of the spectators. He knew her parents were watching somewhere in the crowd, feeling just as nervous as he was.

The only thing Y/N could hear was her own staggered breathing and the snaps of twigs beneath her feet. The passage was narrow, and she kept her want tightly in her hand.

The maze seemed to change every passing second, passages forming quickly. She was running now, trying to make sure she wouldn’t get crushed.

The first scream caught Y/N’s attention. It was loud, and bone chilling, and echoed throughout the entire maze. She was so sure the other champions must’ve heard it.

She was frozen. The scream must’ve come from Fleur, she had decided, and was silently praying the girl wasn’t hurt.

It was when an explosion over head, red sparks from only a passage over, had broken Y/N from her trance.

From outside the maze, everyone was silent at the first sight of surrender. Draco was repeating a mantra in his head.

Don’t be Y/N. Don’t be Y/N. Don’t be Y/N. Don’t be Y/N. Don’t be Y/N. Don’t be Y/N. Don’t be Y/N.

A glimmer caught her eye. She had barely moved from the entrance, not nearly putting in as much effort as she thought she would.

Y/N walked slowly towards it, whipping around and keeping her eyes open for any threat. A twig cracked behind her, and she screamed when something tackled her to the ground.

Draco heard the second scream. He knew it was Y/N after Fleur was removed from the maze. It took all of his control not to jump from the stands and force his way into the maze to find her himself.

“Y/N? Oh, Merlin I’m so sorry!” Cedric pulled himself off of her. “I thought you were Krum! He’s gone insane!” He helped her up.

Y/N’s eyes were blown wide and her breath was short. “You- you scared me! Don’t do that!”

Cedric must’ve seen the glimmer too, a glowing object in the distance.

“Together?” He asked her, not taking his eyes off the prize.

“Together.” She spokes quietly, taking the first step towards the cup.

Indistinct shouting not very far from the two Hufflepuffs made both of them jump. Krum, who’s eyes seemed to be incredibly cloudy from what Y/N remembered they actually looked like, was shooting hexes at Harry.

Harry’s defenses were down. “Get down!” Cedric yelled, jumping in front of Y/N and dodging the hex that had missed Harry. Y/N shrunk into the hedge to the left of her, covering her face with her hands.

“Get down!” Cedric yelled once more, Krum yelling another indistinguishable hex at Harry who was now on the ground.

“Expelliarmus!” Y/N gained the courage to jump up, hitting Krum square in the chest. He was thrown further away from the three of them, and seemingly unconscious.

Cedric ran over to him, kicking his wand from his hand. Y/N and Harry both realized he was about to cast another spell on him, Godric knows which one.

“No! Stop!” Harry yelled, holding him back. “He’s bewitched, Cedric!”

“Get off me!” He shoved Harry harshly.

“He’s bewitched!” Harry repeated.

“Cedric! Stop! Listen to him!” Y/N yelled, holding him back as well. Cedric shoved her to the ground so hard, her wrist snapped in half from the angle at which she hit the hard dirt. She cried out and it echoed, using her elbow to sit up and her feet to push away from the two boys. She had already caught a look at the ungodly angle her hand was suddenly bent at, and it made her want to vomit.

Cedric realized what he had done at the sound of his best friend’s scream. He was about to hold his wand up to send sparks for both Y/N and Krum, but Y/N jumped up before he could.

“Stop! We’ve already made it too far.” Her voice trembled. She was shaking violently, keeping distance between her and the two boys.

It was silent for a moment, the deafening sound taking over between the three teenagers just as when they first entered the maze.

“Together?” Cedric asked quietly, repeating what he said earlier, and looking at both of them.

“Together.” Harry and Y/N said at the same time.

Just as Y/N took a step towards them, a violent gust of wind hit her back and loud cracking echoed.

“Go!” Cedric yelled, grabbing Y/N’s good hand and running towards the cup. Harry ran after them, as quick as he could.

They made it to the center of the maze, and there stood the magnificent Triwizard Cup.

“Go on! Take it!” Cedric yelled.

“Together!” Harry yelled back, looking at Y/N who still had tears streaming down her face.

“One, two, three!” The three students jumped forward in the nick of time, grabbing ahold of the cup. A bright white light filled Y/N’s vision, and she was suddenly dizzy.

The three of them dropped onto the ground. She could sense their location had changed before she opened her eyes.

Harry and Cedric were on the ground near each other, gasping for breath. Y/N was thrown on the ground along with the cup, just a few feet away from them. The shock was beginning to wear off, and the pain was almost unbearable in her wrist.

“Come on, Y/N. Get up.” Cedric spoke quietly, the stillness of their new location scaring him. “You okay?” He asked both of them.

“Yeah.” Harry stood, looking around. Y/N allowed Cedric to help her stand, and she could finally see where they were. He held her broken wrist loosely in his hand, putting a protective arm around her shoulder.

A graveyard. The cup was a portkey. The sky was dark and cloudy, fog covering the rolling hills. Y’all tombstones towered over the three of them.

“Where are we?” She whispered.

“I’ve been here before.” Harry spoke suddenly.

“It’s a portkey. Harry, the cup is a portkey.” Cedric smiled mischievously down at the glowing cup.

“I’ve been here before.” Harry repeated. “In a dream.”

“Cedric! We have to get back to the cup. Now!” Harry’s voice was filled with fear and realization.

“Harry, what’s wrong?” Y/N asked, her eyes filling with tears again, thinking the worst that could possibly happen. Were they set up?

“What are you talking about?” Cedric pulled Y/N closer, trying to keep her safe from whatever Harry had realized.

A door creaked open loudly in front of them. It made Y/N jump, and the first tear rolled down her cheek.

Harry began shouting when a figure walked from the doorway. A scruffy man turned as he collapsed on the ground, and a fire was lit from under a large cauldron in front of the doorway. Cedric released Y/N from his hold, rushing over to Harry.

“Harry! What is it?” He spoke, his voice cracking from fear.

“Get back to the cup!” Harry yelled out of pain again, sounding rather irritated.

Cedric put distance between him and Harry as the figure stepped out from the doorway. Y/N immediately recognized him as Peter Pettigrew, a good friend of her parents before he betrayed them all for Voldemort. Her eyes were wide when she realized what he was holding in his arms.

“Who are you? What do you want?” Cedric spoke, holding his wand up as a threat.

“Cedric, back down now!” Y/N yelled pulling his shoulder back. He shrugged her off.

“Kill the spare. Keep the girl alive.” A raspy voice spoke.

“Avada Kedavra!”

“No! Cedric!” Harry yelled, attempting to stand but was too late.

A bright green light temporarily blinded her. She watched the unforgivable curse hit Cedric and throw him over her head and behind her. The second his corpse hit the ground, a loud sob escaped her mouth.

Peter rushed over to Harry, using his wand to force him to stand. He backed him up into a statue that locked him in place.

“Do it! Now!” The raspy voice spoke again.

Peter hesitated for a moment. He walked over to the cauldron, keeping a hold of the blanket in his hands but dropped whatever was holding it into the boiling substance.

“Bone of the father unwillingly given.” A disgusting bone was levitated from the ground, caught on fire and into the cauldron.

Y/N’s breathing was too short when the realization of a dead body behind her set in.

“Flesh of the servant...” he turned suddenly, rushing to Y/N and forcing her towards the cauldron.

“Stop! What are you doing to me!” She yelled, trying to release herself from his grip, but it was too strong.

“Willingly sacrificed.” A large knife was pulled from his sleeve. He forced her broken wrist above the steaming substance as she thrashed against him.

********THIS PART IS GROSS PLEASE PLEASE DONT READ IF YOU CANNOT HANDLE REALLY GORY STUFF!!!!!!!!!!! ‼️‼️‼️‼️

With no hesitation, he dug the sharp knife into her wrist, cutting through the bone and severing her hand into the liquid below. She screamed, louder than she ever thought she could. Blood spurt from her hand, staining the grass by her feet. Peter threw her on the ground, away from him and Harry.

She made quick work, ripping part of her shirt to wrap around her wrist, trying not to pass out from the loss of blood and the sight of her bone. Y/N had been taught what to do in this situation, just not to herself. She could barely even register what was happening as her fight or flight took over.

“And blood of the enemy...” he used the same knife to cut part of Harry’s sleeve. “Forcibly taken.” Peter dug the knife into his wrist, blood rushing down Harry’s arm and dripping from his elbow. He cried in pain, and it made Y/N wince.

Peter tapped the hilt of the knife over the cauldron, letting a few dropped of Harry’s blood sizzle into the liquid.

“The Dark Lord shall rise... again.” He spoke, breathing loudly.

Harry’s screams broke Y/N from her daze due to the blood loss. The entire cauldron caught on fire, melting away to reveal none other than the slimey, naked, disgusting body of Lord Voldemort.

Black smoke surrounded him before his pale feet touched the ground, forming into a cloak of some sort.

Y/N could hear him inhale deeply, running his hands along the pale, veiny skin on his head. She could tell this was the first time in a while he had taken his human form.

Peter stepped forward, his face full of awe and adoration.

Voldemort walked forward to Peter, looking down and laughing quietly but maniacally and the form he had taken.

“My wand, Wormtail.” Voldemort spoke harshly toward his follower, holding out his hand. Peter brandished the wand, bowing deeply and holding it out to Voldemort.

“Y/N, hey, look at me! You’re going to be okay. We are going to make it out of this. Stay close to the portkey.” Harry whispered, turning his head to see Y/N in her awful state. She looked petrified, seemingly wishing this was some sort of nightmare.

They watched as Voldemort took the wand from Peter, inhaling deeply.

“Hold out your arm.” He commanded Peter.

“Master...” Peter started to cry. “Thank you, master.” He began to hold out one of his arms.

“The other arm, Wormtail.” Voldemort spat. Peter’s eyes went wide as he held his other arm, allowing Voldemort to take a grip on it.

He shoved the tip of his wand onto the bare skin of Peter’s wrist, and the dull ink that once was there grew darker, revealing the Dark Mark in its true form.

Thunder rumbled throughout the graveyard. Y/N jumped, trying to stay as quiet as she could.

Voldemort looked up into the clouds. Y/N followed his gaze, and right before her eyes a dark skull formed. The skull opened its mouth, and a thick trail of smoke bellowed out of it, heading right towards where they were. The smoke broke off into different paths, becoming darker.

The second the smoke touched the ground, a person appeared. There were too many for her to count. Dressed in dark cloaks, skull masks and pointing hats, she couldn’t identify any of them.

“Welcome, my friends. Thirteen years, it’s been, and yet... here you stand before me as though it were only yesterday. I confess myself... disappointed.” Voldemort spat again, his voice echoing through the graveyard.

“Not one of you tried to find me. Crabbe!” Voldemort yelled, rushing up to one of the figures and ripping the skull mask off. Dark smoke followed.

With just a flick of his hand, Voldemort was now revealing the figures.

“Macnair! Goyle!” Y/N recognized the names. Crabbe and Goyle, two of Draco’s closest minions. She was silently praying there wasn’t a Malfoy among them.

“Not even you, Lucius.” Voldemort walked up to the last standing figure, ripping of the mask. A crow flew away violently from behind them.

Y/N was trying to stop the bleed of her wrist, but it soaked through the fabric she had wrapped on it. She was fighting off the black spots of her vision.

“My lord,” Lucius was brought to his knees. “Had I detected any sign, a whisper of your whereabouts-“

“There were signs, my slippery friend. And more than whispers.” Voldemort interrupted him.

“I assure you, my Lord, I have never renounced the old ways.” Lucius removed the hat from his head, revealing a familiar platinum blonde. Y/N let out an involuntary sob as she realized, but soon quieted down.

“The face I have been obliged to present each day since your... absence... that is my true mask.” Lucius continued as the other Deatheaters around them stood.

“I returned.” Peter spoke shakily, raising a hand for recognition. He gasped and doubled over when Voldemort rushed over to him, the cloak bellowing behind him.

“Out of fear, not loyalty. Still, you have proved yourself useful these past few months, Wormtail.” Voldemort’s voice softened just the slightest bit.

Y/N didn’t have time to realize when he was walking over to where she sat on the ground, over by Cedric’s body.

“Oh...” he spoke, pushing his face around with his foot. Y/N winced as he tutted loudly. “Such a handsome boy.”

“Don’t touch him!” Harry yelled, shrinking back when Y/N flinched and Voldemort glared at him.

“And who might this be, Wormtail? I see you used her for the spell.” Voldemort sneered, looking down at Y/N.

“Y/N Y/L/N, my Lord.” Wormtail spoke up. From behind Voldemort, Y/N saw Lucius whip around with an unrecognizable look on his face.

“Y/L/N?” Voldemort repeated, and Peter nodded. “Stand, girl, now.” He demanded.

Y/N stood slowly and shakily, keeping her composure in front of the Dark Lord himself.

Voldemort’s hand whipped out to grab her wrist, taking a look at the damage that was done. She inhaled sharply, letting out another sob from the grip he had.

“Well done. You have served me well, Y/N.” Voldemort said, dropping his grip and letting her arm fall limp. She kept a hard face despite the tears running down her cheeks.

Her eyes flickered to Harry. He had an expression that said “back down.” Voldemort followed her line of sight to look at the boy he hated so very much.

“Harry. Oh, I’d almost forgotten you were here. Standing on the bones of my father. I’d introduce you, but word has it you’re almost as famous as me these days.” Voldemort paused, maintaining eye contact for a second more.

He turned suddenly to his followers. “The boy who lived. How lies have fed your legend, Harry. Shall I reveal what really happened that night 13 years ago?”

“Shall I divulge how I truly lost my powers? Yes, shall I?” Hs muttered to himself, walking away from Harry.

“It was love. You see, when dear, sweet Lily Potter gave her life for her only son, she provided the ultimate protection. I could not touch him. It was old magic. Something I should have foreseen. But no matter, no matter. Things have changed.” Voldemort ended his monologue, rushing up to Harry and raising a hand as if to strike him.

“I can touch you... now.” He brought his pointer finger to touch Harry’s scar.

The screams that filled Y/N’s ears were agonizing. She shrunk into herself, wincing away from the noises. When Voldemort screamed along with Harry, ripping his hand away from his face, the screams stopped.

“Astonishing what a few drops of your blood with do, eh, Harry? Pick up your wand, Potter!” Voldemort released the statues grip on Harry, letting him drop to the ground.

“I said, pick it up! Get up! Get up! You’ve been taught how to duel, I presume, yes? First, we bow to each other. Come on, now, Harry. The niceties must be observed. Dumbledore wouldn’t want you to forget your manners, would he? I said, bow.” He was speaking so quickly, almost going crazy at the thought of fighting Harry once and for all. With a wave of his wand, Harry was forced into a bow.

“That’s better. And now!” Voldemort growled, running towards Harry and throwing him onto the ground. Y/N watched, using her feet to shove her back farther from the scene. When she hit something, she turned around quickly to see Cedric.

“No, no, no, no.” She kept repeating, grabbing his face in her hands. It was as though she finally realized what had happened. She had lost her best friend. Sobs were heard from where she sat on the ground. Her tears dripped down her chin and onto Cedric’s cold face as the dual behind her continued. She winced at every hex that was sent to either of them.

“I’m so sorry, Ced. Please. Please.” She begged him, grasping at his shirt, still sobbing violently.

Y/N never took her eyes off of Cedric, even when Voldemort and Harry cast such strong spells that they collided, created a blinding light from behind her. It was went Harry’s Expelliarmus spell finally hit the tip of Voldemort’s wand when she turned around to see an abonormallt large spark erupt.

It took the form of Cedric, alive and smiling at the two of them. Another old man, presumably a muggle, took place on the other side of them. Two more sparks formed to be a woman and a man. The man was speaking quickly to Harry.

“Harry! When the connection is broken you must get to the portkey! We can linger for a moment to give you some time, but only a moment. Do you understand?” Harry nodded.

“Harry, Y/N,” Cedric spoke from above. Y/N’s tears began to start again at the sound of his voice. “Take my body back, will you? Take my body back to my father.”

“Let go.” The woman’s voice was heard. “Sweetheart, you’re ready. Let go. Let go!” All four spirits rushed forward when the connection was broken.

Harry ran quickly over to Y/N and Cedric.

“Hold onto him! Accio!” Harry pointed his wand at the portkey, grabbing Y/N’s hand as she wrapped her arm around Cedric’s. The portkey took them right back to the arena.

The three of them landed hard on the ground. Cedric’s body was sprawled, and cheering erupted. The lively music started once more, nobody noticing what had happened. Harry was crying now.

“Harry, let go of him. Let go of him!” Y/N sat up, pulling Harry off of Cedric’s body.

He knocked her off, the exhaustion finally hitting her as she collapsed on the ground. Fleur rushed forward, and Y/N had never been so glad to see her.

She screamed loudly, looking around and covering her mouth with her hands in terror.

“Harry!” Dumbledore yelled, rushing from his spot in the stands. Hagrid hesitated to continue clapping when he realized what was happening. The music finally died down with the sounds of a trumpet flailing.

“For God’s same, Dumbledore, what’s happened?” The minister rushed to the ground by Harry and Cedric. Two Beauxbatons girls were helping Y/N up, her head lolling as she finally began to lose consciousness.

“Help! We need help here!” One of the girls called, her accent thick. Draco rushed up so quick, breathing heavy. “I’ll take her.” He spoke to the girls.

Y/N looked up quick at his voice. “Don’t touch me! Don’t let him take me! Get away from me!” She screamed, thrashing away from his hands.

He seemed so hurt and confused, putting his hands up in surrender. Y/N could tell he looked scared, more than she was at the mere sight of him.

Madame Promfrey was quick to rush up to Y/N, Taking her from the girls and putting her on a stretcher. “She’s coming with me alone.” She spoke harshly to every student surrounded it Y/N. Gasps were heard as the stretcher was levitated and everyone could see the damage.

“That’s my boy!” The faint cry of Amos filled Y/N’s ears. She used all her strength to lull her head to the side, watching her best friend’s dad collapse next to his son’s corpse. Her face scrunched up as hot tears escaped her eyes, dripping from the bridge of her nose onto the fabric of the stretcher.

Y/N eventually succumbed to the darkness, not caring who could see how hurt she was. Every student saw the blood soaking her shirt, how dirty she was, and her missing hand. It was an awful sight, and some people had to turn away so they wouldn’t lose their dinner.

Pomfrey was quick to take her to the Hospital Wing, fixing her up and cleaning her off so she could rest comfortably.

~.•*✰

Students would linger in over the next few days, checking up on Y/N to see how she was doing. She was always the same every time; asleep, but alive.

There wasn’t much Pomfrey could do about her hand. Tragic, it really was. Y/N would have never been considered as a follower to Voldemort, much less a loyal servant to him.

Dumbledore helped shield her from the press and the students that were begging to know what had happened in the maze. He made sure Y/N wouldn’t wake up to threats or feel incredibly unsafe somewhere she called home.

Professors were now worried about how to tell the students about the death of the golden boy, and how to not let it slip that Voldemort is back, alive, and rapidly gaining power.

But that was an issue for when Y/N woke up, and the truth about her family would finally be revealed.

~•.*✰

a/n: wow! Sorry about this one! I decided to leave on a cliff hanger, lol my bad. I’m done using the movie as a reference so the last chapter is coming straight from the noggin onto my cellular device. Merry Christmas tho, hope y’all got everything you wanted! Happy holidays and happy Hanukkah, Kwanza, or whatever you celebrate during this time! Love you all so much

[twisted-tales-of-all]

Cheating a Demon

Human!Reader x Yandere!Demon!Bobby ;; Kinktober Masterlist sub!gender-ambiguous!reader x Yandere!idol

Anon Request

Summary: A possessive demon finally captures the angel he set his sights on. Will he get to keep them, or will he find that they hate him for his actions?

Word Count: 1640

Contains: Non-consensual actions, biting, toys (vibrator&butt-plug), bondage, orgasm denial, punishment, oral, voyeurism, Daddy kink, deception

A/N: I do not support Yandere tendencies in real beings! This is all fictional and does not represent the idol portrayed. Also, be weary of the Non-Consensual Actions being portrayed here. If you are in any relationship which sexual actions such as those described in this fic are not discussed and approved upon beforehand, please seek help.

You wake up confused, naked, and restrained. With your ankles chained to the floor and your wings forced closed, you try to figure out your surroundings. After finding nothing identifiable, you lean over in the chair with your head in your hands, fruitlessly searching your mind for the events that led to this moment.

You begin to drift off out of boredom, but a door suddenly opens, sparking you awake. Before you see anyone, you sense the demonic aura, so you're already on guard. When Bobby walks into your view, your shock disarms you. He was the reason you stopped frequenting your favorite cafe, yet here he is, staring down at your chained form with satisfaction in his eyes.

"I found you, my sweet angel. It took me a while after you stopped coming to my work, but I found you. You're mine now."

"What do you want, Bobby?"

He clicks his tongue as he reaches for your head. You swat his hand away, angering him.

"Don't make Daddy tie up your hands, angel. I won't hurt you, so don't fight me."

As he tries again, met with the same result, his demonic features show. His eyes glow a deep yellow, and scales appear on his temples. Quickly, he grabs your chin and moves his face inches from yours.

"Fine. If you're going to be this way, just remember that you caused this. I only want to love you, but you can't act right."

He roughly releases you, flinging your head to the side as if slapped, then he strides over to a chest. You watch as he digs through it, ultimately finding an egg-shaped vibrator and a butt plug. He also grabs some rope and a blindfold off the hooks on the wall before returning to you.

"Good night. See you soon."

He snaps his fingers, putting you under a spell that makes you fall back into a deep slumber.

When you open your eyes, the blindfold covers your view. As you try moving your arms to remove it, you find them tied behind the chair. You struggle against the ropes before becoming aware of the toys on your bottom half. After feeling the butt plug, you freeze instantly as a chill runs up your spine. You have no clue what rests against your most sensitive spot; you only feel the cold metal and the strap on your thighs keeping it in place.

"Are you awake, angel?"

Hearing his voice sparks your fight or flight response, so you struggle against the restraints, but you hiss and stop moving as the plug begins to vibrate.

"There you go. Calm down. It's only Daddy. I have to punish you for disobeying you earlier. I didn't want to, but you rejected my touch. This'll help you learn."

Suddenly, you feel his hand pet the top of your head. You flinch away, so he sighs. You hear the click of a button before your body receives a shock as the vibrator pressed against your genitals begins to move. With both toys vibrating, you can't help but whine. As much as you try to fight it, your body instinctually reacts to the sensations.

"That's right. Submit to the feelings. I'm nice, so I'll make you feel good as long as you listen to me."

Through gritted teeth, you beg, "Stop this, Bobby."

Of course, he doesn't listen. He simply walks behind you and runs his hands down your arms. You feel his breath against your neck as the vibrator increases speed.

"To you, I am Daddy. This is punishment, so, as much as it hurts me to do this to you, I can't stop before you learn the rules." You know by the tone in his voice that he believes every word he says, even if it makes no sense to you.

As you bite your lip to avoid giving him the satisfaction of hearing your sounds, he gets agitated again. He bites down on your shoulder, drawing blood. The sharp stinging forces a scream out of you, and you hear him scoff at the reaction. With the throbbing pain added to the overwhelming sensations on your lower half, you can't hold your noises back any longer. Soon, your body begins to twitch as you approach your high. Bobby notices and shuts off the vibrations in both toys.

"Fuck." You curse as you try to catch your breath.

"Naughty, angel. I don't think heavenly beings are supposed to curse. And I know that mine isn't allowed to cum during their punishment."

Even though you can't see him, you spit in the direction of his voice. You hear him tsk at you before feeling the searing pain in your thigh as his teeth tear at your skin again. You feel the tears gather at the corners of your eyes as he licks over the wound. At this point, you feel powerless and begin losing hope of any escape. You internally apologize to your siblings as you give up. However, you feel the chains on your wings loosen and fall to the ground.

You open them wide, gathering the power within you. Even through the blindfold, the bright shine of your wings seeps through. Bobby curses under his breath as he's blinded.

Suddenly, as if by a miracle, the roles are reversed. You find yourself standing in front of the restrained demon. In your hands, you find two remotes, which you assume connect to the same toys he had on you before. Bobby isn't blindfolded, so he looks up at you with a devilish smirk.

"What will you do to me, angel? Are you going to get me back? I don't regret it. Matching bite marks will be cute."

"Me? Nothing. I'm not doing anything to you." As you speak, a knowing smirk appears, "But my friend doesn't seem to like you very much. We'll see what they do."

You walk out of the room to find your twin standing there. They jokingly bow, and you thank them for helping you out of that chaos.

"Alright, so what's the plan here? Am I supposed to torture him or something?"

"No, we're confusing him. Here's a fake arrow. You go in, ask him if he loves you, then tell him you'll be his tonight if he leaves you alone after. You'll show him the arrow, and we hope he takes the bait. Even if he doesn't take the bait, we can convince him that it's now or never. All we need is his blood on the arrow so I can make a barrier around us."

"Alright, quit talking. Your fallen half got this." With that statement, your twin mimics your form and walks into the room as you trail in behind them under a cloaking spell.

"Aw, what's wrong, angel? No friend?"

As you watch the arrow twirl in their hand, they convincingly mimic you, "Oh, I talked to him. He gave me this. You love me, right?" They wait for Bobby's nod before continuing, "Well, I can love you for tonight, but you have to leave me alone after."

You both watch the wheels turn in his head as he wonders how you could be trapping him. The moment he decides that an angel can't outsmart a demon without losing their status registers clearly on his face.

"What do I need to do? I want you to love me, even if it's just one night."

Without explanation, they slash Bobby's cheek with the arrow and hold it under the cut, letting the blood soak the metal. Then, your twin fakes stabbing themselves in the chest with the stained arrow. As it dissolves in the air, you find it hidden under your cloak. The acting makes it hard to stop yourself from laughing, but you watch as Bobby gets unchained and taken to the bed.

"Daddy, I want to feel good. Will you please help me?" They beg as they lay down.

"Of course, my angel. That's my job." Bobby places himself between their legs and begins performing oral as if worshipping them. The moans fill the room until they scream about finishing. "Cum, my angel. Cum for Daddy."

Finishing into his mouth, your twin curses. Bobby licks his lips before commenting on how sinful "you" are for him. Knowing your reaction, your twin turns away out of embarrassment, despite enjoying the scene themselves. Bobby comes up to suckle on their neck before pushing himself inside. A scream turns into a moan, and you decide to stop watching. You head back into the hall as Bobby is too preoccupied to notice the door.

After half an hour, your twin emerges from the room alone, slapping their hands together for a job well done. Finally free, they release their wings, the dark feathers contrasting yours.

"That was super fun. I didn't even have to deal with his cum. The poor demon got denied despite being the dominant one. Claiming to be in pain always works if they claim to love you." They end their statement with snaps and finger guns, so you can't help but roll your eyes.

"Is he asleep?"

"Yup! Using his own spell against him there."

"Well, I'm glad you had fun. We'll never see him again."

"Aw, but Daddy's so nice to me." The statement reeks of sarcasm, and you question how the two of you are meant to be relocated in any way.

You hold out the arrow, so your twin pricks their finger with the point, adding their blood. You follow suit before plucking one of your feathers and chanting the spell. The feather and arrow float into the air as a white light engulfs them. As the light disappears and takes the objects with it, you both know the barrier has been cast. Bobby will never find either of you again.

[fiction-in-my-blood]

Unexpected, To Say The Least (ObeyMe Fic)

Okaaayyyy so... this turned out differently than I wanted it to, but these types of things happen when you leave a wip in your drafts for months (╬▔皿▔)╯ but it’s still good. This is a part 1, so stay tuned.... depending on how long it takes me haha.. ha. 

~~~~~~

Scribbling in a notebook, a red night light from the window right next her defining the flyaway strands of hair on the top of her head, Aviyah was blissfully unaware of the stares from her classmates. Resting her chin on her closed fist, one leg crossed over the other, black boots bobbing up and down to the tune she had stuck in her head. She was so calm, so much calmer than she had been in weeks.

Aviyah, a human in a world of demons and angels, had arrived in Devildom two months ago. At first, she was unnerved by the close attention she gained from all the demons, angels and the other human she met. Lord Diavolo, who had also taken a liking to her, ensured that it was just because she was a different species to them. She was weak, a helpless being compared to the Avatars of sin she was living with and angels of heaven she had some classes with. Demons fed off souls, and it was an angel’s job to protect those bright balls of light in each human, so it was only right that they kept a close eye on her. Especially when the future king himself had ordered the seven strongest brothers in all of Devildom to keep her safe for the duration of the exchange programme.

But it wasn’t that. Aviyah was sure of it. She had gained unworldly attention for her entire life. Boys seemed to bow at her feet, begging her to let them serve her each and every whim. Girls clung to her, wanting to be friends with such a kind-hearted, beautiful, smart person- and also wanting to meet her every demand. Aviyah, having been raised by good-willed parents, didn’t take advantage of this strange power she seemed to hold over everyone she met, although she did accept the odd gift from colleagues and classmates on that one special day a year, mainly because she didn’t want to be rude. She hardly asked for anything in public because it would cause quite a stir, everyone in the room darting around to take care of the task she had so graciously offered them. All she wanted was an item from the top shelf, but now she had twenty boxes of cereal that she really didn’t need. 

She expected, being in a world of magic, spells, and potions that could kill or force someone to love you, that she would be safe from all the unneeded, and frankly unwanted, attention. Yet, lo and behold, the first day she arrived here, in a much colder climate than she was used to, both the Avatar of Greed and the Avatar of Envy threw their coats at her, only for her to get consumed by the jacket of the largest man she had ever seen, the Avatar of Gluttony. And she hadn’t even made a pact with them yet!

“I’m telling you, there’s something up with her.” A muttering came from the other side of the otherwise bustling classroom. It was just before their lesson would start, everyone was getting themselves ready to learn about different species of man, except for one group of, shockingly, demons and angels.

“Mammon, won’t you admit your true feelings?” The dark-toned angel smiled softly at the second-born brother. Truly, he felt an unfamiliar feeling in the pit of his stomach too, something he couldn’t even begin to describe, but would never admit it himself. He was sure it was something sinful, something against his very being, and would only confess when the time came. 

“What feelings! I-I ain’t got no feelings.” A horrendously red blush appeared immediately on Mammon’s entire face, noticed by all those involved in this small huddle over a desk.

“You don’t even deserve her. You already get to spend so much time with her! It’s so unfair!” The purple-haired otaku tried to bite his lip, he really did, but the jealousy for his brother grew too high, bubbling over into the trait he most represented. Envy.

“That was only because Lucifer made me! I didn’t even wanna babysit that human!” Mammon barked back, not meaning the words but needing a distracted from the embarrassment he could still feel colouring his cheeks. The two butted heads often, but this time it was literal, immediately starting to throw punches to defend the one they held so dear. Several people tried to get between them, the male human even getting his own strike to the jaw, and all hell brought loose in- well- hell.

“Guys! Stop!” A higher-toned, feminine cry, although thick with command and low with anger, echoed over the room, every single one of the occupants freezing in an instance, even those that weren’t involved in this little scuffle- or under the young girl’s pact.

Crouching beside her male counterpart, who had been thrown to the ground by the force of being hit, was Aviyah, the one they had been fighting over. With one hand on Solomon’s back and the other holding his hand to keep him upright, she glared at the two that had been previously brawling in what was meant to be a safe place. 

Aviyah rarely used her unknown power to command people. Or was it the pact? She couldn’t tell any more, but at least it worked. 

“Are you alright, Solomon?” Disappointment turning to anxiousness etched in her expression, Aviyah let go of the sorcerer’s hand and back- once she could tell he could hold himself up-, only to move her’s close to his face, cocking her head to get a better look at the cut bleeding through his white-haired fringe. Being in such close proximity to the woman, and earning so much of her undivided attention, brought many hateful gazes to the man, but he didn’t care. He was thriving off it, in fact. 

“What? Are you worried about me?” No better was the time to tease her, to see that eye roll she did so well and hear that exasperated sigh as she dropped her hands, all previous nurturing gone from her posture as she stood up. 

“You just got punched in the face by a demon and still have the wherewithal to joke?” She muttered, wondering to herself if he was the one with supernatural abilities. Well, he did, he could use magic, but she wondered if he had his own special ability since birth. Could that have been the reason they were the two, out of the entire human race, to be chosen for this life-altering program?

Once she got to her feet, she turned to see Mammon and Leviathan, both with their heads lowered in shame. They had angered their... Goddess? Master? Friend? They didn’t know what to call her, having been the first two to make pacts with her, but there was this force, this unspoken voice that drew them to her and made them bow at her feet. Or want to, anyway.

Before Aviyah could even start to berate them for losing control like that, they had even transformed into the demon-forms, a stern voice cut through the entire scene. Students pinned themselves to the wall, trying to get as far from the fighting as possible, so they seemed to surround them like hawks, eagerly watching, waiting for the two to be punished by such a soft-spoken, angelic figure. 

Now in the doorway, however, was a man. With black hair as dark as the most inner depths of Devildom, red eyes as angry as the fire that sprouted from them, and an expression that has killed in the past, the man glared at the two, not even wanting to look in the direction of the girl in case she too saw his wrath.

“You two. With me. Now.” The words were curt and entirely ineloquent, nothing like that eldest would usually speak, showing how deeply enraged he was. The two quickly scurried after him, for once keeping their mouths shut.

~~~~~~

Biting her lip, Aviyah couldn’t take her eyes off that door, now empty after Lucifer had guided his younger brothers away. 

“It was me, wasn’t it?” She spoke loud enough for the people closest to her to hear, but a whisper full of regret did not go unnoticed. 

“What do you mean, Avi?” Simeon stepped up to try and ease the look of worry that they all saw on her face, but she stepped away, afraid for anyone to even touch her. What if he, Simeon, the nicest, most modest person she had ever met, went into a jealous rage too?

“They were fighting over me, weren’t they?”  Aviyah’s voice cracked as she clutched her fists at her sides, avoiding looking at anyone directly, scared it’ll put them under the curse she seemed to have. She didn’t want this. She didn’t want to pull families apart. She just wanted to have no one know who she was. 

“Avi,” Simeon uttered again, but it was too late. Aviyah had already made up her mind, collecting all her resolve in one solid sniff and running out of the room, hoping she could catch the brothers before something too bad happened. 

~~~~~~

“What do you think you’re doing, having a fight like that in the middle of class? Do you think it will make you seem strong? Seem manly? Because it won’t! It only makes you seem needy.” Lucifer’s booming voice shook the paintings on the walls, giving Aviyah some clue as to where he had taken the two. She followed the shouts of pain and anger, running as more and more tears grew in her eyes. She didn’t want to do what she was about to do, but she needed to. She didn’t want anyone else to get hurt. To get jealous. Not when it was all the people she actually cared about.

Finally, in an empty classroom where the shouts seemed the loudest, Aviyah found the door still open ajar, standing just out of sight so she could listen in, waiting for the right moment before anything too serious happened. If that hadn’t happened already, that is. 

“You made a fool out of me! The student council! Not only that, but you made Aviyah look so defeated! I won’t let you argue like this anymore!” Lucifer raged on with a temper that rivalled Satan’s. “I may just have to claim her myself.” 

The comment, although almost a whisper, shot everyone in hearing distance into full-blown madness, both Levi and Mammon charging at him, demanding how he thought he had the right to even suggest the idea. Before they could make contact with each other, Aviyah cried out, desperately begging them to just wait.

All attention on her now, as usual, the men’s eyes went wide. She was crying, tears streaming down her cheeks at the sight of the brothers, who were always so comfortable with each other, usually so familiar, fighting like this? Over her? It broke her like it broke their relationship. 

“I can’t do this anymore. I want to go home! I’m not happy and I never was! Please! Let me go home!” She lied, straight through her teeth. She had never been happier than living here, in Devildom, with all their brothers. She enjoyed her time listening to them bicker playfully, not like they were now. She enjoyed watching Levi play his games. She enjoyed eating with Beelzebub. She enjoyed reading books with Satan. Being dressed up by Asmo. Listening to Mammon’s wild get-rich-quick-schemes. Napping with Belphie. Even with Simeon and Solomon, who she didn’t get to see as often as the others. Luke was fun to cook with- even though he seemed a little apprehensive of her. She enjoyed all her time here but right now, in times like these, when it felt like everything was her fault.

“Avi, what’re you saying?” Mammon’s voice broke, between all the yelling and the way his heart broke at her tone and words, and his brows knitted together tightly. Levi froze up, not knowing what to say in response to her sudden outcry, and Lucifer felt like he could steal her away right here and now. Never before had he felt so out of control.

“I’m sorry, It’s all my fault. I need to leave, go home. I need to get out of your lives because- because I’ll ruin them.” She hiccupped, choking on the tears that clogged her throat, and she tried to hide how sad she was by holding her face in her hands. Her knees shook, her body- just as frail as they had always suspected. It took so much energy for her to say these words and not completely breakdown.

“N-No, it’s not your fault. W-We shouldn’t have be-been fighting.” Levi made a move to step closer, to wrap his arm around her, to help her feel better, but both Mammon and Lucifer shot him a glare so deadly it made the room cold. 

“This is exactly what I’m talking about.” Aviyah continued to stutter through her words, her tears interrupting her usually melodic, smooth voice, as she felt the indignation in their eyes. 

“This always happens. It was a mistake to choose me. I... I’m going to go to Diavolo now and tell him this was wrong.” She tried to steel herself, to seem strong enough to walk through these halls alone and leave Devildom for good, but it was no use. They could all see how distraught she was.

“Always happens?” Lucifer muttered, confusion written all over his features. 

“There’s something inside me, there always has been. It makes people so hateful for one another and I can’t do that to you all. You’re a family, I won’t tear it apart. I-I need to...” Aviyah led off, not knowing what else to say. Memories of her past, all the friendships she had unknowingly, unwittingly, torn apart because of what? Because she was desirable? Because she was pretty and smart and kind? No amount of adoration was worth this. None of it.

The room was silent, deathly so, no one knew what to say. Have Levi and Mammon just ruined their chances to know such a wonderful person? And not just a person, but a human. Someone they were never meant to befriend. Someone that should fear them and hate them for who they were, for what they represented. But no, she showed them care and love and compassion, what they believed only a human could give. 

So, with no one left to tell her no, to not go and stay with them because they needed her so badly it hurt, she started to turn back to the door.

“Wait, Aviyah. Just... Just wait.” Shockingly at a lost for words, Lucifer turned to his desk, where his D.D.D laid, and picked it up. Aviyah started to refuse him, to say this was the right thing to do, this was the only way they could live calm, happy lives, but he continued to use the communication device, calling together a meeting that would change everything.

~~~~~~

“Tell them what you told me,” Lucifer instructed in Lord Diavolo’s conference room, having called a meeting of the student council together. Everyone looked at him with suspicious gazes, having no real information on why they were here, Levi and Mammon stressing out like they were about to take the most important, most difficult tests in their lives.

“Lucifer, this isn’t going to cha-.”

“Just say it.” The words were demanding, but the tone was soft, very shocking for Lucifer- until it was for Aviyah. He always seemed to have a soft spot for her. Like Mammon. Although for different reasons. 

Aviyah lowered her head, eyes still damp from her earlier confession, thinking about what she was about to say. After a brief but deep sigh, she lifted her gaze again, but only as far as the edge of the table she sat at.

“Since before I can remember, everyone I’ve met has... wanted me.” She bit her lip, not knowing how else to say it. It always felt like someone was trying to win her over, to win her as a price to show everyone else that they were the one she chose.

“No matter who it is, they say they love me or they’d do anything for me. And no matter how much I tell them to stop, they just get more outrageous. They give me elaborate gifts or take me places I wouldn’t normally go. They shower me in a love that I never asked for until they can’t anymore.” Aviyah’s voice cracked again, tears rolling down her cheeks again as she remembered the people that bankrupted themselves to win her over and the others that have lost their health, their friends, the ones who loved them, all to impress her in one way or another. 

“No matter how many times I say I don’t need it, they’ll keep doing it. It’s not until I say I don’t want them or the things they give me that they stop. I thought it’d be different when I came here, but when you guys started fighting...” Aviyah finally worked up the courage to look up, gesturing in the direction of Levi and Mammon, who blushed when she made eye contact with the both of them. 

“This is why we’re here? Because those two were acting childishly again?” Satan sighed to himself, upset that his reading time had been cut short. He wouldn’t even address the panicked feeling that arose in him when he heard the solemness of Aviyah’s tone.

“You’re almost as seductive as me, Avi! Aren’t you lucky to have so much in common with me? Someday you too might be able to bring down a country with your looks.” Asmo leaned into her, ignoring how saddened she seemed by the statment. The next move she made shocked everyone.

“I don’t want to do that! I want it to stop! I hate it and I hate myself for it!” She yelled after pushing Asmodeus so strongly off her he fell right out of his seat. Every time she brushed him off she had never actually been physical. Who was she, a human, to push off a demon? Better yet, how did she have the strength?

“Hey, did you see that?” A whispering demon mentioned to his brother, noticing the flicker of light that sparked in her eyes in her yelling. Even though her words broke their hearts, it was hard not to bring it up.

The outcry caused the prince, stern-faced compared to his usual jovial smirk, to peer at her closer. “I see. Lucifer, do you think she’s..?”

“Yes, I do. It would explain everyone’s... erratic behaviours around her.” Lucifer, not wanting the entire picture drawn out for her and his brothers, interrupted the prince. The information would be hard to hear, for Aviyah most of all, and an off-handed comment was not how he wanted to break the news to her.

“But where are her features? She’s an open-book, we would have seen something by now.” Satan, catching on, eyed her as suspiciously as he had Lucifer in the past, watching the tears roll down her cheeks as she tries to calm herself down. She never yelled like that and felt awful for what she did, but was too scared to even speak to anyone else, let alone touch or apologise to Asmo for her supposed violence. 

“Would someone tell us what’s going on? I-I mean, Levi might be confused, is all.” Not wanting to seem idiotic for asking, Mammon jumped up before shying away again, not being able to cope with the girl’s silent crying.

“Avi, it’s okay. You didn’t hurt me.” Asmo, along with Beel, tried to be some sort of caring figure in the room of inquisitive stares. 

When Beel tried to put a hand on her shoulder, she jumped away. “P-Please! Do-Don’t. I... I don’t want to hurt you.” 

“It’s possible she hasn’t been... awoken yet.” Diavolo couldn’t help but chuckle at the idea. It would be just like the innocent human, if that’s what she truly was, to not have the necessary experiences she needed in life to prove their theory correct. Lucifer couldn’t help but blush.

“Awoken?” Aviyah’s voice, now somewhat tamed but hoarse from her crying, looked up at the prince. Had he an idea? Could he cure her? Could he take away this curse, gift, whatever it was? Could he end all this?

“Well, depending on your immediate ancestry, it’s possible your power needs to be... unlocked, in a way. It’s clear you’re no mere human. You even seduced dear Barbatos, and he never even blushes at my comments.” Diavolo laughed again, gesturing with his gaze to the corner of the room where his butler was clearly fitting the urge to comfort the girl. She quickly looked right back at the prince the moment she noticed this. 

“If I’m not human, then what am I?” 

“Well, my best guess would be a succubus, but seeing as you have more human features, you could be a cambion, a hybrid. We’d have to ask your mother.” Diavolo, as usual, was much too nonchalant with the subject of Aviyah’s supposed species, a topic that would and will change her life forever.

Silence filled the air for one.

Two.

Three.

“WHAT?” Four. They made it to four seconds of silence before Mammon stood up again, shrieking, along with the female in question. Succubi and the topic of hybrids had yet to be discussed in her classes, ironically that was today’s class, but she had a clue what they were from just hearsay.

“You think I’m a demon? But I grew up in the human world! I have human par- well the people that raised me were human... But I never felt the urge to have anything in excess or trick anyone into stealing their money- sorry Mammon- but how could I be a demon?” The tears were gone, replaced with a look of pure confusion that turned to utter disbelief with a hint of ‘what if’. What if he was right?

“The people that raised you? Don’t tell me you were...”

“Adopted. I have two dads who found me on their doorstep. I have no clue who my biological parents are.” The uneasy feeling that meant Diavolo could be right started to rise as Aviyah admitted a part of her past she had never told anyone. It seemed like everything was out in the air now.

“Perfect.”

“This is a problem. Succubi and Incubi have a duty to bring all demons back to Devildom in case they go rogue in the human world. This parent of yours will have some answering to do.” Lucifer, recovered from his bashfulness in an effort to act like the vice-president he was, got furious about someone disrespecting the laws Diavolo had put in place to protect the humans he seemed to so dearly care for. “Dumping you on some couples doorstep will require some serious consequences.”

The whole room shuddered at the idea of what punishments Lucifer was thinking up at this moment, but luckily someone thought to turn the conversation away from that.

“You say she needs to be awoken? I know one way of doing that, but I don’t know… prepared for that she will be.” Satan smirked a side-eyed look Aviyah’s way as she tried to process all this information. She was a demon, or half of one anyway. To think, all those crazy white mom’s at her elementary school were right. 

“I’d be more than happy to volunteer in any way I can.” Asmo started to cosy up to Aviyah once again, making it very clear what the one way of awakening a demon seemed to be.

“No! No, that’s fine, Asmo! B-Besides, I’m not a virgin, so we’ll have to find some other way to awaken this power if you think that’s what I have.” Beetred and edging off her chair to make some distance between the flirt and herself, she almost didn’t hear the snickering from some of the other demons in the room. 

“Oh, deary me.” Asmo tittered to himself, Satan covering his mouth to try and suppress the chuckle that threatened to leave his lips. He didn’t want to make the girl more embarrassed. Mammon joined in, although much louder, just to not feel left out, and Levi blushed furiously, but he knew exactly what everyone else seemed so excited about. As usual, Beel was too distracted by the food laid out by Barbatos to care what was going on now that Aviyah was no longer crying. 

“Aviyah, I’m afraid to say it’s not the act of sex that awakens a demon… It’s the, uh.” Lucifer tried to inform her, he really did, but the stutter that threatened his usually composed manner halted him from doing so. 

“You didn’t cum, did you, Avi?” Diavolo’s brows frowned sincerely, but the wavering of his lips told her he too was trying not to laugh. Aviyah’s cheeks blossomed darker, the embarrassment from her first time flashing through her mind once again and her face screwed up in embarrassment. For her, this situation couldn’t possibly get any worse. 

“Your Highness, if you wouldn’t tease her so much, there is another way to awaken her demon form.” Barbatos, unexpectedly, intervened, shocking everyone in the room but Aviyah. He had always had a sweet spot for the huma- well, hybrid. 

“Yes, yes, Barbatos, you are right. My most sincere apologies, Avi. Lucifer, we’ll come to the House of Lamentation tonight. Prepare the Grimoire.” And with that, Diavolo stood to leave.

“And why not now? Wouldn’t it be best to do this sooner than later so she can learn to control it better?” Satan scowled, earning his own from Lucifer for being so upfront. The prince only chuckled.

“I need to do some… investigating first. You, Satan, of all people, should know what is needed for the ritual.” Satan’s brows frowned suspiciously at the prince as he made his final departure. 

“What does he mean, Satan?” Aviyah leaned into the demon’s side in order to get a clear answer for the first time today and Satan’s gaze finally left the door. 

“He needs your progenitor. He’s going to find your mother or father.”

[arasokanbina]

Right so here's some thoughts.

So we see it's Yeosang at the end with the broken cromer. He's gasping maybe in pain or shock like he was drowning then in the light he reaches his hand up and another hand appears. Could this be the man in white since its so bright? Did Yeosang break the dream cycle first? Or is he inside the cromer, in a place where time is stopped. Will he be able to time travel with the help of the mysterious white suit guy? 🤔

Yeosang was also heavily featured in this comeback (thank you KQ for blessing us with the Prince!) and he's seen with a butterfly. This could hint at the butterfly effect, adding to him potentially being able to change the events of the Ateez timeline.

Butterfly effect emphasises Deja Vu. Also I noticed the "la lalala la" melody is like a lullaby adding to the sleep trance almost like an incantation of the members. Along with the wavey dance led by Yunho, it's hypnotic. Like a pendulum, which ties into time as well.

Towards the end of the MV we see Jongho form into pixels. Other members are also in scenes with the blue scanning light, could this be from the robot? The pixelation could be a hologram representing a false reality or memory to the members whilst they are in the trance because we see Hongjoong met his Hala self which looks to be confined in a tube chamber till released. This could also be Hala Hongjoong taking over the dream or reality depending on the circumstances. The chamber also looks cold like cyro sleep, and misty or foggy which can represent the remembering and forgetting from the members.

But how would we feel if we met ourselves. It would feel like Deja Vu right, because you've always known yourself or have you? The same you would also think the same. Unless of course at it seems that Hala versions have more knowledge of what's happening. So there is a difference in them and other them.

Say my name. If you called it would I know? Am I really myself? A dream or awake? Does this difference matter? What truly matters?

Could this also be a Matrix type of world, red pill or blue pill. It adds to the dystopian enviroment be it rebellion or controlled as you see the robot scanning and then the members by a car graveyard.

We also see the members almost forming up to attack or confront something. They're in an underground car park, is this when they enter the facility? Do they open a timeline here when Hongjoong sees himself? Does Yeosang only get out here? Was the robot scanning being security and some got found out before meeting themselves? We also see them dancing in a clean futuristc place, the opposite of the rebel zones. Perhaps inside the underground secret zone.

The dance here lead by Yeosang also looks a bit controlled like puppets. As they are reaching the chambers is it harder to control themselves? Or maybe their mind is returning to their bodies awakening, this could also be why we see a pixelated Jongho, or I think more that the program is breaking and trying to reset and get control back. Trying to restart a new illusion, thus repeating other previous attempts - Deja Vu.

Going along with the Matrix themes as well, we as Atiny have been given two choices three times between comebacks. A or B. Red or Blue. But we still get both just more of the winning choice. We too are seeing the timeline effects play out, we just see more things one way and less things the way that didn't win. So does it really matter? (I'm speaking purely on theory terms not sales and hype terms lol) I guess like finding treasure on a map, placing the pieces of the map together helps us get a bigger picture. A to Z on the map.

I think what matters is that we are gathering information to find answers and like here, questions. Once we have the map, will we know where to go? Will they know where to go, or will finding all the pieces just be like picking the song. It doesn't matter because we are already here, or there is more than one place to go. So much adventure, in the beyond, past and now.

Also it's interesting because usually in dreams you go deeper but it seems they are going deeper in reality or trying to or will end up going deeper once they fully awaken all their timelines memories. Hmm 🤔.

It's also fun how they are tying in the music which is reality with the story which is the fantasy or illusion. But dreams, fantasy and the imaginary are so close to what influences our lives, that they can also be just a real.

Note: A lot of this is from memory so I could be adding or getting things confused. I'll aim to have a look over to see if I got somethings of my thoughts muddled. Etc, it's a lot of thoughts to go through haha. And as usual sorry for grammar and spelling, I need to get it all out first and later I try to edit or add more ramblings.