#and like yeah sure we're not that far and we're also close culturally speaking

[steelthroat]

"Hey mom look I talked about this one when I graduated :D!"

Btw there are only two genders:

propaganda posters from WW1/2

Art nouveau/theater posters

See???

[sixminutestoriesblog]

Frau Perchta

Etymologically, her name means 'bright one'. Or, perhaps, instead it means 'hidden or covered'. Both suit her, this winter figure of myth and folklore, haunting the shadows and stories in the twelve days between Christmas and Epiphany.

Recently, there's been an upsurge in interest about beings like Krampus and the Mari Lwyd, figures that had, until recently for many of us, disappeared into Santa's shadow over the generations. So, given the time of year we're in, I thought I'd shine a bit of light on some of these older stories of yesteryear.

Perchta, or Berchta, is a female figure that haunted the Alpine regions of Europe. She has been likened to Frigg or Holda, possibly stemming from the same Ur archetype and, like them, has mutated and grown cloudy from her origins over time as Christianity and changing cultures adapted her. Perchta, according to, yes that Jacob Grimm, was both the guardian of animals and the overseer of domestic spinning.

Yeah, I don't equate the two either, which is what I meant by 'things get cloudy' the further away from whatever her original, unknown idea might have been.

Anyway, Perchta was a winter creature of myth and so, like so many of them, had a dual nature. She could take the form of a beautiful woman, tall, elegantly robed and as white as the snow - or she could take the form of a doubled over, withered hag, with darkly twinkling eyes, dressed in rags, sometimes even going so far as to have an iron nose. And, like her two forms, Perchta could either be generous or viscous, depending on what she found when she visited houses during the traditional time between Christ's birth and the visit of the Magi. Her day was the Feast of Epiphany, hence the shining or brightness associated with both her name and the star of Bethlehem that guided the Magi.

Perchta was, in some forms, a goddess of the household, a visiting deity checking to make sure the people were living up to societal standards. If, when she visited in the night, Perchta found a clean house and all the season's flax or wool already spun into thread and ready for the loom that would go up Epiphany day, she would leave silver behind, in shoes or buckets, as a reward for hard work. If however she found the women of the household with still unspun thread or a messy house, she would earn her nickname 'the Belly-Slitter' by taking her long knife, slicing the offenders' stomachs open and removing all their organs, replacing them with straw, garbage and rocks.

Remember, kids, don't leave dirty dishes in the sink between Christmas and January 6th.

Speaking of kids, like Krampus, Perchta could tell when children had been bad and seemed to have a particular penchant for lying ones. They too would end up stuffed with farmyard detritus.

In the duality of her nature however, Perchta was also said to be the guardian of the souls of children that had died before they'd been baptized, keeping them close to her and comforted.

She also, apparently, took them with her when she led the Wild Hunt, another pastime she was known to have. The crashing sounds of thunder in the mountains and the wild storms heard late at night, especially if they occurred on the Berchtl or Knocking nights, the three Thursdays between Christmas and Epiphany? That was Perchta and her followers, known as the Perchten, riding wild across the sky.

In hag or maiden form, there was one way to spot Perchta for sure. One of her feet was wide-spread and flat, either because it was the foot of a swan (or goose) signifying her ability to shapeshift as well as her role as animal guardian or else because it was a treadle foot, grown so large and flat thanks to all her time spent at the spinning wheel.

If you wanted to appease Perchta, beyond finishing your spinning in a timely manner and keeping your house, and children, clean, you left out a bowl of porridge made with fish, on the Twelfth Night for her and her followers. If she liked your cooking, you had an upcoming year of prosperity ahead of you.

In fact, in certain towns in Austria, you can find Perchta masks in use during winter festivities today. These masks, often made of wood, come in two varieties. The Schönperchten, the 'beautiful Perchten' masks are supposed to call in financial prosperity and the Schiachperchten, the 'ugly Perchten' masks, are to drive away evil spirits.

Santa, and Krampus, may have Christmas day, but the twelve that come after it belong to Perchta.

On a possibly unrelated but still very interesting to me note, there's apparently a video game called Hunt: Showdown that features a Frau Perchta. tw: for video game blood and violence

[autisticjoshrusso]

What are your favorite Josh headcanons?

its the way that im so incapable of shutting the fuck up about this guy but the moment i get asked directly im like UHHHH IDK. so apologies if this is kind of a mess <3 also i rarely think about cute and fluffy things i am always digging deep into trauma and such so uh yeah these are going to be on the heavier side.

The biggest one is obviously that he's autistic, shocking I know. Who would've guessed this would be a dearly held headcanon of tumblr user autisticjoshrusso. It truly makes me so insane and I'm incapable of like... properly summarizing it in its entirety so I am actually working on going through ep by ep breaking down my thoughts about it. So far there's just this one post, but I am slowly but surely working through a series rewatch and doing this along the way. So. Stay tuned? JKDFHKJ

I think he was very obviously Gay even as a child and that it definitely affected his ability to socialize throughout his entire childhood and adolescence. Like he's very much giving "only had female friends who may or may not have treated him like an actual human person and not their accessory GBF". And he still leans into that "persona" sometimes as an adult because it's an easy way to be liked <3 again its the autism but yknow.....

Speaking of childhood, he's giving only child to me. And I think his relationship to his parents is just... non-existent. He didn't deliberately cut contact, it wasn't any sort of dramatic abuse situation, they just... aren't close? It's that thing where they knew he was gay from the start but also never really knew how to handle it, never being fully accepting but not outright hateful, just a very awkward medium that made it difficult to form a lasting bond into adulthood. They text once per holiday and are friends on Facebook.

This one doesn't really have much of a canon basis but rather builds on my other headcanons, and that's that growing up being a Known Gay led him to well... his own kind of Buck 1.0 era, so to speak. Basically being the favorite secret hookup for every deeply closeted sports bro, which was horrific for his mental health but was like... scraps of attention/intimacy that he wouldn't get otherwise, so why not keep doing it? I like this one because not only does it make the whole trying to avoid a meaningless hookup when he rejoined dating apps thing more meaningful and hurt even more than it already does, but also adds a new layer of substance to his beef with Eddie that I think is really interesting.

The timeline of this show is all sorts of fucked so I've just decided that like... he either just turned or will soon be turning 40, and definitely has some feelings about that because when he was younger he did NOT expect he'd live to be that old <3 Not necessarily in an active ideation way, but more of a passive disregard for his life and just general queer pessimism? I hold that Sue saved his life twice, first in the fire and then by giving him a job that gave him an actual sense of purpose and direction for probably the first time ever. Every time he thinks about the fact he might actually end up being a proper Queer Elder he just?? surprised pikachu meme.

I was going to just do five of these but for the sake of not having all of these be sad as fuck, one last bonus one for you is that I think his main special interest(s) is celebrities and films and pop culture and stuff like that <3 like he WILL infodump about the lead actress' entire filmography before you can actually watch the movie.

Thank you for asking I love talking about my favorite special guy <3 Minor characters are my absolute favorite and I love to come up with deeper backstories than what we're given based on over-analyzing all of their behaviors <3

[purplesurveys]

1780

When was the last time someone admitted to having somewhat of an attraction to you? Few months ago when some dude in Malaysia hit on me and also tried to use this cheesy pickup line which was tbh adorable but I just wasn't looking for anything so I turned him down.

If people hit on you semi-often, what race tends to hit on you the most? Eh that never happens to me.

Have you ever had an experience with ghosts or angels? If you have, explain: No and I don't believe in either anyway, so...

How has the summer been treating you thus far? June was fantastic; I went on back-to-back overseas trips and it was incredibly refreshing to have a month where I spent more time off than at work. The rest of it is an autopilot blur because I spent the rest of it working, lol. I can barely remember what happened in July.

What was the last wedding you went to like? Any pictures you’d like to post? I haven't been to a wedding since my aunt and uncle's in 2007. None of my friends are married, and the people I know who have since gotten married I'm not even close with so I've never gotten invited to theirs.

Was yesterday an exhausting and busy day? It actually was my most exhausting day of the week. It left me so tired I don't even know how I managed to drive home lol, I just wanted to close my eyes and pass out the whole ride.

Have you ever choked on food before? Not on food but on liquids and my own spit in the past, yeah.

Do you ever make awkward eye contact with people at restaurants? I wouldn't call those instances awkward. Sometimes I just meet eyes with strangers and that's all there is to it. I just look away as quick as I can so that they don't think I'm staring.

How often do random numbers call your cell phone? I wanna say 2-3 times a month because we're apparently doing a crap job addressing the whole thing about scammers and them having a hold of literally everyone's numbers.

Can you just go with the flow, or do you like control? I like an overall structure, but it's nice to have a bit of freedom within that structure. That said I definitely am not nearly as anal as I used to be and enjoying going with the flow is probably the biggest change I've undertaken in the last three years.

Is your internet connection slow? It is and it has been SO SHITTY the last 2.5 weeks. Our internet service provider is shit shit shit shit SHIT. I've been going to the office for 2.5 weeks now because I can't stand the slow service lmao; they also keep saying they'll bring someone in to fix whatever the fuck problem is happening but they've been saying that for the last couple of weeks and no one ever comes.

Have you ever unblocked someone that you blocked before? Yep.

Do you like to eat fruit salad? No that sounds like the worst punishment ever.

Can you take naps, or does it make you feel horrible? I can, but I don't. My free time is very rare and I always see sleep as a waste of time, even though I know I shouldn't... but idk, I guess I've always been a "I'll sleep when I'm dead" kind of person.

Do you know anyone who can’t swallow pills? I don't think so! I mean I have my moments where the damn pill just won't go down and the water makes me nauseous already LOL, but for the most part it's not a cause for concern with me.

When was your last uneventful day? That would be last Friday and Saturday – I had a fever then and both days were entirely spent on the couch recovering. I didn't want to risk getting up and doing stuff and possibly making my fever even higher.

Does your ex have a reason to hate you? Yes.

What annoys you the most about people? This is speaking only on the side of Filipino culture but I hate the culture of aggressive bargaining and find it embarrassing. Like the seller you're haggling is making a lot less than you are; if she says a top is 700 just pay the damn 700 lol. I'm FOR SURE in the minority here but I just don't like the idea of pressuring people, especially because I know I would hate it if I'm being forced to lower down prices that I set hahaha.

Don’t you hate how cameras are almost everywhere in public now? I don't find it a problem and it actually makes me feel safer.

Has anyone slapped you across the face before? If so, why? Yeah. Fuck if I know. I haven't talked to him in like five years.

How long have you been on the computer today? I want to say a little over 6 hours.

Did you know that a large fry at McDonald’s contains 500 calories? No but tbh I don't care. I know what I'm signing up for whenever I eat fast food, lol.

Do you find it hard to truly trust people? I trust my friends; it's a question mark for everyone else. I want to remain guarded, especially with how unsafe or sketchy the outside can get.

Do you prefer to have more or less in common with your siginificant other? Less is always more fun, as long as it's the little things – like me liking wrestling and my SO not understanding it one bit. It's a mess waiting to unravel if you have nothing in common with the fundamental items, like religion or wanting to have kids.

Why do you think people care so much about looks? Doesn't it just simply boil down to society and media and what we think society and media tell us to do?

What do you do when there’s a question in a survey that you don’t want to answer? I just delete it altogether or give a noncommittal answer.

Do you hate the last guy/girl you had a thing with? I did. I'm just calm now.

Have you ever taken a survey so long it bored you? Yes.

How easy was it to get over the person you last dated? 7 months, to my own surprise.

Do you allow people to ask you questions? Sure.

Would you take a shot of heroin for a million dollars? No.

Why don’t you talk to your ex anymore? I don't need to and I don't want to.

[citrusandsalt]

AHHH I'm SCREAMING, what an incredibly kind and thorough review! I cannot even SAY how thankful I am for you taking the time to give such a detailed and loving recommendation. My heart is so, SO full!

As far as what's on the page (so to speak), I don't have anything to add - you've covered everything!! If anyone is interested in biographical details of the creators (mostly me, Essay, voice of Spar, with broad statements about the GM and my co-lead) or how we have purposefully conceptualized our world and characters, see below:

Waaahhh, Edil's post is such an act of love and my heart is shaped like "!!!" reading it.

Here are some additional details in case you're the kind of person where knowing if the creator shares the identity they're portraying is make or break:

Race: I (Essay, playing agent Merim Felspar) am non-Black mixed race. Jordan (the GM) and Ila (agent Kaolin Vellum) are both white. (I don't want to speak too much to their experience, but both of them have close ties to non-white cultures in a meaningful, lasting way that's not just "oh yeah, they have a brown friend.")

When making a fantasy world that doesn't share our concepts of race/culture, it was important to us that it not be white by default, but we also struggle with bringing culture into a world that doesn't have our conceptions of cultural markers. That said, we'd rather fumble it in awkwardly than leave it out for fear of doing it wrong. If they were ported into the real world, Spar would be Hispanic and Vellum would be Asian-American. These backgrounds rarely come up but are a core part of how Ila and I conceptualize our characters.

As a whole, on the pod, we're mindful of incorporating non-US-ian/non-white names, traditions, festivals, and foods on screen, and characters have a variety of skin tones.

LGBTQ+: All of us strongly identify as queer. Jordan and Ila are trans/nonbinary and I am a cis woman. Spar (my character) is a bi man. (It is not confirmed on screen whether he is cis or trans; headcanon away!). Vellum (Ila's character) is masc (he/they pronouns) and has romantic and sexual attractions toward at least one man ;) Vellum is confirmed on screen as trans. NPCs created by Jordan are by large trans/nonbinary/genderweird.

Amatonormativity: More than one of us identifies as on the ace/aro spectrum. I don't think we have any characters say they're ace/aro on screen, but several of them do identify somewhere on that spectrum.

I and one other host definitely identify as non-monogamous. This hasn't really come up directly in play, but there are specific non-monogamous relationships that we know of and may be shown on screen. At least one of them is in a canon novella Jordan is writing for the Patreon!

ACAB: We are very, very careful about not portraying cops as a source of justice. Police do appear in the series, but they are never the focus, and both as players and as characters, we're conscious that we are NOT police. Neither we as players nor our society in fiction has a perfect vision of non-carceral justice, but we try to imagine other world to be possible.

Disability/Mental Health: I identify as disabled. All three of us struggle with a sampler of mental health issues, pain, and fatigue. Spar's migraines are heavily patterned after my own, and his tinnitus is patterned after a close friend of mine's. If I were armchair diagnosing, I'd say just about every main character has PTSD of some kind but it's a pretty traumatic world :laugh:

My personal pet cause is making sure that the world of the show is accessible. We have different fantasy species sharing the same space, and I always push to make sure we're portraying a world that is safe and comfortable for both pixies and giants to move through. This extends to disability - specifically, in Clovenheart, I want to show a world where meaningful accommodations are not just made but it's never a question that they would be.

Fatness: I am fat! I don't want to use descriptors for my cohosts but it is important to all of us that fat characters are loveable, kind, fun, goofy, mean, hot, smart, scary, etc etc. We're not always good about remembering to note fatness on screen, but it's something I do think about.

Adoption Status: None of us are adopted. Both main characters and multiple side characters are adopted or raised by people who aren't their bio parents. Spar's story deals with his deceased parents, which is adapted from my real-life experience (but not an exact match).

Allegory/Metaphor: We have been careful not to make being altered (the visibly "different" group in our multiracial, queernormative world) be a metaphor or allegory for any one thing. That said, for me, personally, Spar's status as a "passing" "normal" person maps onto my status as "passing" for white. His complicated feelings about being raised by people who don't move through the world the way he does, and his feelings about when to "disclose" his status, and how he does and doesn't feel a part of the community of altered people is closely mapped to my own.

However! That's just me and my play! In NPCs, alteration is played closer to a trans/queer experience (and in one case, is the result of a gender confirmation spell). It also has shades of being disabled and of experiencing xenophobia and also just fantasy strangeness!

If you have any questions about the show or representation, please feel free to reach out! I am always happy to jam about the show and what representation means to me!

(PS - it goes without saying, but just to say: I, Essay, am happy to jam about these things and do not speak for Jordan or Ila! Please respect their privacy and boundaries about what they do and don't want to talk about if you reach out to them.)

Edited to Add: Transcripts!!! We are all tired bitches working full time jobs (+ additional jobs for some of us) but this is top of my list for "when one or more of us has the time" and/or "when the pod makes enough money for us to hire a queer disabled transcriptionist bc y'all, there are so many I would love to give money to." Episodes 1 and 2 have transcripts, which should be linked on the Patreon I think (for free!!)

Do you love detective stories but hate cops?

Do you love gay detective stories and hate capitalism?

Like disabled main characters who's disability actually comes up?

Like characters of color but not in the mood for stories on racism?

Tempted by the thought of romance at ages of 30+?

Does the idea of stories so queer you'll hesitate before calling any character a "man" or a "woman" make you think "Ah, yes pronoun shenanigans, just like my discord used to make"

And you into an abundance of strong, diverse female and nonbinary characters?

Do you fight for women's wrongs?

I know rep-only recommendations can be annoying, but I'm trying to grab your attention to promote some Indie media. Luckily, though, this post isn't rep-only!

To read my full reccomendation and review of Three of Hearts, click below. ♦️♥️♣️♠️

And if you aren't in the mood for a new thing right now, consider reblogging! Maybe even ping a friend who might be into this! You love supporting queer indie creators!

Note: I am not involved with the making of the show or the game space Kings. I just really like this podcast.

The story

♠️♣️♥️♦️Three of Hearts♦️♥️♣️♠️ centers on two paragovernmental agents in a fantasy, post-war, queernormative 1950s.

Roughly 20 years before the opening, a set of heroes purged magic from the world to turn the tide of the war. But scraps of this thaumaturgic energy still remain. S.U.I.T.S (securing unpredictable injurious thaumaturgic situations) is an agency founded to deal with everything left behind.

When two of the longest standing employees at S.U.I.T.S, Agent Vellum and Agent Felspar, are called onto a new case involving stone crops and a missing person, Felspar isn't surprised (Though Vellum, who's injury had him doing desk work most of his career, is). Things devolve quickly when the Agents realize this case comes from Felspar's home town of Cloven heart, an idyllic magical village that prefers to handle justice on it's own.

Answers yield only more questions, as the Agents realize almost everyone in town has something to hide, and Felspar isn't the only one whose past keeps catching up to him:

How much magic is still around? What's Vellum got sloshing around in there that people think is so juicy? What is Diamond, elven pop star and queer icon, doing in such a small town? Just how big is this case, and how can the Agents balance their legal responsibility, with promises they've made to Cloven Heart?

WHEN. WILL. THEY. JUST. KISS?

(if you're skeptical about central romances, I get it! See notes on aro/aceness and platonic relationships in the rep section for more info)

The combination of magic and newfangled war tech — think telegrams and radios — is somehow just as charming as a rotating cast of characters who will each stake their claim on your heart, but betrayal is imminent and mistrust is rife. The story strikes a wonderful balance between slice of life goodness, and edge-of-your-seat high drama, culminating In a show I highly recommend.

But are they just reskinned cops: my answer has got to be no. While they are technically law enforcement, the main two are entering a commune-like space, where that isn't so welcome. It's a situation they treat with caution and respect. The classic cop-plot of "Should I make myself judge, jury, and executioner because The Bad Guy™ deserves punishment" just isn't a problem. The justice system isn't perfect, in our world or the show's, and the story acknowledges that. But in a social, cultural way, they don't act like cops. They DO act like detectives. But the rules they choose to break and the ones they choose to follow will hopefully satisfy my fellow cop-haters who crave a good mystery

The format

♠️♣️♥️♦️Three of Hearts♦️♥️♣️♠️ is an Indie actual play — this is not DnD, hear me out — podcast in the game Space Kings. All the tension of dice rolls, without drawn out combat or clunkiness, it's a breeze of story-forward listening, even if you've never listened to actually play podcasts before!

If you've tried dnd actual plays, and haven't like the flow of them, I would recommend trying this. A few encounters that may feel random (though they're not) get the story kicked off at a fast pace, but it quickly settles into a story with a tight plot, great pacing, and impactful character development.

The use of a playing card deck to see the outcomes of risky actions means that no matter what happens, success or failure, the tension keeps rising. And the hosts do a wonderful job of explaining mechanics in the show, so it never interrupts the listening experience.

Actual-play connessuires who want to primarily see people playing a game might not be satisfied, as bonuses are given liberally, and I would describe the podcast as more story focused than game focused, But the risks are ALWAYS real, sometimes (often) with thrilling, shocking outcomes.

Also concerned AP listeners should know there's some chaos magic involved! I was surprised when it first came up, and doubtful about how it might affect the story, but it ended up weaving into the rest of the plot really well, and I feel neither like it had no affect, nor like it shook up everything the party was building in an unsatisfying way. Personally I would have preferred to go in knowing it was there, but I also don't think it's major enough to belong in the main synopsis. Now you know, though!

The hosts make a real effort to blend stats and story, and I think the pull it off wonderfully without spending too much time on mechanics. If you want to see that though, session 0 and other details are on the Patreon (where you get the same content no matter how much you pay, at a minimum of a dollar a month).

The pod has all the lighthearted fun and banter of a "friends around the table" show, but never once have I had that "oh my god, I'm not a part of your inside joke, shut up and play!" Feeling.

I think it's a delight for AP and non-AP fans alike.

The episodes: roughly 45- 75 minutes long, with a midtro and some post-end music scenes, so listen through the end music, or check that there isn't extra content by seeing how close the play head is when the end music starts. It's not too long and quite pleasant in my opinion! The midtros always come at a nice moment to step back from the story, and are not too long and not irritating. I enjoyed listening to them! At some point, a midtro starts getting reused, and I was slightly disappointed I wasn't hearing new jokes every episode, but it's a small thing. I skip the repetitive ones with my 30 seconds forward button, and while I haven't timed the Intro, that's worked really well for me. I don't have to fiddle with my play head to make sure I don't skip forward too far. Super convient.

Trigger warnings: the show is pretty lighthearted! Listeners sensitive non-graphic mentions of needles, blood, and/or guns might want to skip on this one, but most episodes don't get heavy. The few that do have pre episodes notes that warn you things get dark, how they get dark, and how to skip the darkest bits. Personally, I listened through them and enjoyed those parts a lot! But if that's not your thing, I agree with the warning that they're very skippable, and I think trigger-sensitive listeners will be pleased. As an indie pod, there are no fan made, super specific lists of triggers. However, my DMs are always open if you have particular concerns, and I'll answer to the best of my ability.

I try to emphasize the balance between lightheartedness and drama, but if you mental health is sensitive to grim & dark media, i think this one is pretty safe. Please always exercise caution! But I'd describe 30♥️s as emotionally restful.

Transcripts: transcripts are in the works, but do not currently exist. Three of Hearts is a non-scripted show, so those are also unavailable

The rep

Don't you hate when someone raves about rep and you go in expecting something good and get like. One dog-boy described as having "chocolate colored skin"? Or when people make a "watch for rep" post and then mention like. Gay and maybe trans people and that's it, even when shows DO have disability and POC rep? Yeah that's not me. Here's the spoiler free rundown, race is at the bottom because I get into more detail with it, not because it isn't important:

MLM characters: Main characters, one confirmed bi the other unknown

Wlw characters: Reoccurring side characters (present or mentioned in every episode I think) Married. Orientation unspecified.

Enby love: LOTS. It's actually hard to really categorize mlm and wlw stuff because almost every character is nonbinary. Anyways— it's VERY queer

Women: I...I don't know exactly which characters are women 😂. But there are many feminine characters, and they're badass as fuck. Some are compassionate, some are cold, some are chaotic, most are a mix! The two main characters are...masculine...(I say with much hesitation) but you will not feel robbed for your woman-ly content.

Polyamory: to my knowledge so far, there are polyam characters, and it is definitely present in the world! But no poly relationships in the forefront. I am about 2/3 through the current episodes, so there may be a present polyamorous relationship later, but also if I confirmed it that would be a spoiler. This may be that "playing it by ear" thing that happens with ttrpgs. I wouldn't listen for the hope of polyamory alone, but I don't tell you it's not there/won't happen.

Non-traditional family structures: All of the families in the story, pretty much, are non-traditional. Adoption is super common. (You want some wlw who just KEEP adopting kids? You got em) Found family is a MASSIVE force in the story. Also, It's a post-war story.........which is to say almost everyone's parents are dead.

Edit: an MC had poly parents, which may not be obvious but is true!

Trans characters: almost all of them. Might think "oh there are only a few!" And you are wrong. You are so wrong.

Neopronoun users: yup! To my knowledge, minor characters. A handful who use at least he/she/they or they/them and may also use neos in a manner im forgetting

Plurality: no system characters yet, but the creators are friendly, I asked ;)

Aro/ace characters: none confirmed yet to my knowledge. Romance is very central, sex is joked about on occasion but it isn't at the forefront of the story at all. There are many, single characters who are thriving.

Platonic relationships: YES. As an aro person who hates so many romance tropes this one gets my stamp of approval. There's no real jealousy drama, exes who communicate and are supportive, and romance doesn't kill friendships. There's a central sibling relationship and non-familial platonic ones that have conflict, drama, resolutions, and a deeply satisfying significance in the story. If you don't like romance at all, this one might not be for you. If you just don't like stories exclusively about romance, I think you'll enjoy this. Genre wise, I'd definitely describe three of hearts as a mystery primarily with a strong romantic subplot, not a romance itself, and that comes through in player and character's additives and priorities.

Age diversity: the youngest characters in the show are older to middling teens, and the oldest are in their 400s. Okay but the oldest in human terms are roughly 60-70. The most common age range, and the ones the central characters are in, is 30-40. The second most common is that 60-70, then some ~40-50 folks here and there, with people in their 20s being probably the rarest (no named ones off the top of my head?) And there are a small number of teens. This is not a story about youth and youthful beauty. Generally, the older a character becomes the most bad ass/spooky powerful they are, and older characters are very involved in the plot.

Mental illness and neurodivergency: to my knowledge so far no characters are in cannon confirmed to have a specific mental illness or ND, though I wouldn't be surprised if it was part of a character or the main characters, and just hadn't come up. Listeners with cluster b or "scary" disorders, or with conditions that may cause them to lash out, will find satisfaction with how compassionately the narrative treats werefolk. To say more encounters spoilers. I would also say that depression, while the word isn't used and it is not central to the story, is present as a narrative force, and also treated wisely and with compassion. Still, as is usually for a good story, all of these bitches need therapy.

Disability: LOTS. There's a lot of "different, not broken" themes that disabled listeners are likely to love, but both of the main characters are disabled! One is a cane user, the other experiences migraines. These have a genuine, pressing, mechanical impact on the story. It's COMES UP. It's a real joy. For a magical world, there is no magical healing! Or there is, but it isn't a perfect solution, which in my opinion is just a magical version of real healing, though yours may differ! Also, there is a minor, reoccurring character who's a wheelchair user, and I think he's really fun.

Disfigurement: Excuse me if I am not prepared with the most sensitive way to speak about this, but I'm doing my best! There is a character with no eyes or nose, who is central and lovely. To my knowledge, there are no amputee characters or characters with limb differences (of the wheelchair user I'm not sure if it's specified whether or not he has legs). There is a character of questionable morality who has significant facial and bodily disfigurement. In as few spoilers as possible: this was not injury or genetic related. The disfigurement is treated with a firm compassion, and does not exist as a "this character is evil" signal. It's a long arc, but I imagine people who relate will be satisfied, though I cannot speak for anyone.

Characters of color: many! The main two are Hispanic and Asian. Terms like "dark skinned" are used for characters, but in the fantasy world race doesn't exactly translate, and I wouldn't call it "important" in this story. Read more about race below:

Fantasy racism: sort of! The word "race" is used to mean "humanoid species" and I know some folks don't like that? None of these fantasy races are oppressed, but specific people (Magic versus non-magic people) have conflict about that aspect of their identity, and policing is a related concern. I would place the allegory more in the space of transness and disability/neurodivergency if pressed to choose, but it doesn't feel like it's trying to tell a story about real-world oppression, primarily. I have more complicated thoughts on exactly what I'm trying to communicate here, but they involved some spoilers. DM me for more info!

Hosts/creator identity: out of three hosts, two are white, one is not! They are very queer, and disability is also...a thing! These are real life people, so I'm not going to get into detail, but check out their twitters plugged in the show for more on how they self-identify.

Okay but are they racist: Real talk! As a black person who thinks I keep my ears sharp, I would say no! Not at all! This is one of those situations where I was like "YOU'RE WHITE?" And shocked about it, (if you listened to TSCOSI, same vibe) which is a very good thing in my books. The hosts are open and sensitive, and I have no complaints, however, this is just one perspective! This isn't coincidental, race is an active consideration in how the story is told — just not a central theme.

Minor but worth mentioning: A minor character has a name with what I believe is the Nahuatl "tl" sound in it, which is not pronounced correctly. It's a really hard sound! But if that really irritates you this might not be the podcast for you.

People who might be interested in this post, as always let me know if you don't want to be pinged (I rarely ever do this) and it won't happen again: @citrusandsalt @fyeahaudiodrama @boombox-fuckboy

[babygirlkiki1016]

Masterlist

Chapter 1: The company

Chapter 2: The Journey Begins

I pulled the rope, fastening my bag to one of the ponies. I didn't speak to anyone the next morning, besides no one was going to try to talk to me anyway. The company would only speak to their kin, and as I passed by heading to the front of the line I was given dirty looks. Except for Kili, he smiled and waved but his brother shoved his arm down, scolding him for even looking my way. I sighed and walked past some more dwarves, and each scowl gave me a funny feeling in my heart. I couldn't understand what it was, but it hurt deeply, like knives to my soul.

"Y/n." Gandalf greeted me with a smile, letting me pass by. "Once we're out of the shire, you will scout ahead and report anything back to us." He leaned down slightly, so I could only hear. "We're also making a bet on if Bilbo is coming, wish to participate?" I looked towards the rest, they all seemed to be having fun. The talk of the Hobbit showing up again brought them entertainment.

"No, we're heading into a dark path Gandalf. If I were to partake in their silly affairs I'd only ruin the fun." He groaned, standing up straight to get on his horse.

"You know, it won't hurt to have a little bit of fun. You'll be riding with Thorin, for now, being in the front will give you the advantage to take in your surroundings." He was right, in the front of the line I would be able to listen to the woods, there was something dark out there. Something will be following us, I don't know what, but whatever it is it's not good.

"Are you sure he's alright with the idea of me riding with him?" He grimaced at the question, I should have figured Thorin wasn't going to accept it.

"He's not happy, just don't antagonize him and you'll be alright." My very presence puts him on edge, speaking of the devil he came up behind me with those blue orbs piercing into mine. He didn't say a word to me, he just climbed onto his pony looking ahead. Hesitantly I go to climb on but his hand stretched out, he was waiting for me to take it.

"Hurry up we don't have all day." He growled, quickly I pulled myself on and sat in front of him. I gasped at his warmth, it felt nice with his chest against my back. "Lead." His gruff voice made me shiver, I kicked the pony lightly and she went off. We made our way down the path, passing multiple Hobbits that were nearby. One was a child, a small girl about half the size of me. She waved with a wide grin, I couldn't help but wave back eagerly. It's been a while since I've seen children, my kind barely has any men around. The cold blast killed most of our soldiers who were men, so not a lot of children are born these days. Let's just hope those reports will save my people, and we can have a fresh start with alliances. "So, does all of your kind have wings like yours?" His question surprised me, he wanted to know more about my kin? Why? Was he planning for war?

"Why do you want to know? Are you planning to kill us all already?"

"I am just curious about your race, I haven't heard much about it. From the tales my grandfather and father told me, most don't have wings unless they're born with it."

"Hm." I knew all about their race, and the fact that he wanted to know more about mine intrigued me. "Some have wings, it depends on if you have a certain gene in your blood."

"How big is your homeland?"

"It was huge, bigger than the city of Erebor. Yet where we live now, is small considering your kind took our home." I snarled, he took a deep breath, probably to calm himself. His hands then gripped my cloak, and he pulled me against his chest roughly.

"I suggest you don't annoy me, for I won't be responsible for what happens to you on this trip." He was threatening me, I bet if we were attacked he'd leave me for dead.

"And I suggest you let go of me, I won't kill you but I think you'll be fine with a few fingers missing." I turned my head to face him, he was extremely close, our noses almost touching. Reluctantly he leaned back slightly, releasing me from his hold.

"I can't wait to reclaim my homeland, then I'll have you out of my sight. I won't have to deal with your kind anymore, your murderers. I don't know what Gandalf was thinking."

"He was thinking, that your weak, too weak to take down a dragon. If you want me to help you, I recommend you be friendly for I can easily leave you behind. I'll find a way into that mountain myself, so watch your words Thorin Oakenshield." He went to protest but was interrupted by shouting, it was Bilbo running from the entrance of the shire. We were in the middle of the woods now, I pull on the reigns to stop from going any further. Bilbo ran towards us, waving the contract in his hand, panting heavily.

"I signed it." He exclaims, panting heavily as he handed the contract to Balin. Balin pulls out a monocle to check the paper. It looked like Bilbo had brought everything from home with him.

"Everything appears to be in order. Welcome, Master Baggins, to the company of Thorin Oakenshield." Balin smiles, and surprisingly it didn't disappear when his eyes met mine. The warm smile made me happy, didn't he hear the rumors people had spread about my kind? Why was he so nice to me?

"Give him a pony," Thorin ordered, nudging me to keep going which I obey.

"No, no, no, no. That-That won’t be necessary. Thank you. I’m sure I can keep up on foot. Yeah, I’ve done my fair share of walking holidays, you know? Even got as far as Frog Morton once." Bilbo refuses, but they didn't listen to his cries. Suddenly two of the dwarves grab hold of his arms, pick him up, and placed him directly on Minty. As we all rode along in the woods, I could hear the dwarves talking to each other.

"Come on, Nori! Pay up!" Oin demanded, the sound of coins clinking together reached my ears.

"The rest of the dwarves took gambles on if Mr. Baggins would show," Thorin explained, however, I already knew this due to Gandalf.

"What about you Thorin? Did you participate?" I said looking at him, he shook his head laughing slightly.

"I don't participate in silly affairs, though if I did I would've guessed he wouldn't have come." I can see how that's true, sometimes people just don't want to leave home. They'd rather stay in their safe comfy beds, and I was one of them. "You seem deep in thought." My cheeks turned red as I realized I had been staring at him the entire time.

"I'm alright." Clearing my throat awkwardly only to hear Bilbo shouting about something else.

"Uh-wait, wait. Stop! Stop! We have to turn around." Thorin groaned and I slowed the pony down, waiting to hear Bilbo's excuse.

"What on earth is the matter?" Gandalf wondered, he was riding a larger horse than the rest of us.

"I forgot my handkerchief." We can't just stop and go back because of some handkerchief, it would only be a waste of time.

"Here! Use this." Bofur rips off a bit of cloth from his robe and throws it to Bilbo, who looks at it with disgust.

"Move on!" Thorin announces, and I continue down the path of our journey. Later that night, we stopped by the entrance of a small cave. I slept close to the edge of the entrance, my wings keeping me warm and hidden from the others. That's when I heard shuffling behind me, it was Thorin setting down his sleeping bag.

"Did you miss me already?" I joked, making him roll his eyes annoyed.

"One of us has to watch you, you might try and kill us in our sleep." I just turned back around, curling back up into a small ball. It was colder outside than I expected, I should've brought warmer clothes. I shivered as a gust of wind blew our way, it took a while for me to fall asleep. The cold wasn't helping me at all, but I finally managed to sleep into unconsciousness. That is until I woke up to howls, not just any normal howls, wargs. I sat up, searching the area, getting ready to strike if I had to. The orcs were far off into the distance but I saw them, I could feel the evilness radiating off of them.

"You think that’s funny? You think a night raid by orcs is a joke?" Thorin yelled making me turn to him, he stood up abruptly, his fur coat missing. That's when I realized it was on me, he had laid his coat on me to keep me warm but why? What was his reason for being kind to me?

"We didn’t mean anything by it," Kili stated, looking down at the ground in shame.

"No, you didn’t. You know nothing of the world." Thorin angrily walks off, I had an urge to go try and cheer him up. He did give me his coat, after all, I could at least do something nice. Slowly I made my way over to him, he hadn't sensed my presence yet.

"Thorin?" I called letting out a small yawn. He didn't face me, instead, he kept his gaze pit on the horizon.

"Go away." He ordered but I refused to listen, my feet made their way next to him. He scowled at me, but said nothing else, he only just crossed his arms. His hand caught my attention, it was bigger than most, his fingers were twice the size of mine. Without thinking I tugged on it, making his eyes avert to me. I placed my hand against him, comparing the sizes. "Y/n?" He mutters, wondering what I was up to.

"Your hands, they're so much bigger than mine. For such tiny men, you certainly have large fingers, it's fascinating." I looked up at him, his eyes widened at my comment. "You know as a child I used to wonder what the tiny men of our world looked like, I tried to learn everything about dwarves that I could. My kingdom's library had multiple books about your culture, I have to admit it was interesting to learn about your courting styles."

"You know of our courting ritual?"

"Of course, I know everything about each race. I was a very strange child at that age, yet one question remained unanswered. Why do dwarves keep their hair long?" He smiled at my curiosity, those deep blue ocean eyes stared at me in adoration. Though those furious eyes returned, and he angrily pulled his hand away.

"You shouldn't be asking questions about courting, it's not as if anyone would marry your kind anyway." He lifted his hand, glaring at it in disgust. "Now I have to wash away the filth you have spread upon me." My heart broke a little as if a piece had shred from the flesh. As he stormed off I wondered what ran through his mind, he was the sweet innocent man a few seconds ago. What made him irritated with me? Thorin went back to the place we had been sleeping, and he grabbed his cloak moving to the other side of the camp. Each dwarf turned their head my way, and only three of them grinned at me.

"I'll keep watch," I spoke as I returned to my make-shift bed. It would be better if I stayed away from the others, at least that's not what Kili thought. Cause a few seconds later he plopped down right next to me. "What are you doing? Won't the others scold you for sitting next to me?"

"Who cares, they can argue all they want. No one should be alone, I'll keep watch with you." My heart swelled at his kindness, why was he being so nice to me? Did he believe me than those foolish rumors the others had heard? He frowned slightly, he was serious now. "Are you ok Y/n?"

"Of course, why wouldn't I be? I've dealt with stubborn dwarves before believe me. Their rudeness hardly bothers me anymore." I lied, staring down at my hands. How could this world think such cruel thoughts about my kind, why did Thror have to lie about us? Kili placed his hand on mine to try and calm me, and lightly he caressed it with his thumb.

"You know not all of us hate you, me, Balin, and my brother Fili we know the truth. I told my brother what you told me, and he sort of believes it. You don't seem like the angry ravaging digonisks we've heard about, and besides the reports in those mountains is evidence that your kin is innocent. Speaking of Balin however, he wanted me to tell you that when you get a chance he wishes to speak with you." I glanced over the white-haired dwarf who gave me a small smile. I wonder what he wants to talk to me about? Maybe his politeness was just a ruse to kill me in secret, what if Kili is doing the same? Ever since I've joined the company I haven't thought of the consequences, I treat them as if they're normal men. I have to be more careful if I am to get to the mountain. "You know you should probably get some sleep, we'll need those wings again."

"No, they're orcs not far, they're watching us. I need to be awake just in case they decide to come our way. I appreciate the gesture, sleep Kili, you and your kin are the most important people here after all." He opened his mouth to protest, but kept quiet and snuggled up in his bed. I kept my eyes on the frontier, watching as the orcs scattered away but I knew they would be back, they always come back.

~♪♠♪~

The harsh wind blasted against me, the building fell apart from the ice that covered the bricks. Shouts were heard from all over, but the only I could focus on was my mother's. My legs hurt bad, but her condition was worse, there was an ice shard in her side. It no longer looked like liquid water, instead, it was nothing but a melting ice block of blood.

"Mommy!" I reached out for her, my hand reaching out to try and save her from the man that stood close. His sword was raised ready to strike, and that's when I saw his face. Thorin Oakenshield, the leader of our company.

"Die filth!" His sword came crashing down hard, and as it decapitated her head I shot up. My chest beating fast, it was just a dream, just a dream. Most dwarves were asleep, the only one awake was Kili who was taking over my shift. I had fallen asleep, how could have been so stupid? He could've hurt me, or worse slaughtered me like the rest of my family. My body trembled as he came close to me, worry showing in his brown eyes.

"Kili stay back!" I warned, he raised his hands as a symbol of peace.

"I won't hurt you, I promise...are you alright?" I was shaking violently, and it wasn't because of the wind that blew our way. "Are you cold? Here." He sheds his cloak going to hand it to me but I shake my head.

"N-Nightmare." That was all I managed to get out, he dropped the piece of clothing on the floor and slowly made his way over showing that he had no weapons. When he was close enough he wrapped his arms around me, making me gasp. I didn't hug back, for I was waiting for any sign that this wasn't a nice gesture. It didn't come, he just pulled me closer, and I have to admit the hug was very helpful. I listened to his breathing, and eventually, it helped my heart stop beating at a rapid speed. He smelled of sweat and pine wood, surprisingly it was a soothing smell.

"Want to talk about it?" He whispered, pulling back to look at me as his thumb rubbed softly against my skin as a way to calm me down.

"No, it was just a silly dream. It's not as if you would care anyhow."

"I do care, and just in case another agonizing fantasy comes across your mind I'll sit right here. So if you do have another nightmare I'll be here to help." He gently pulled me into his side, which I hesitantly accepted, and soon I went senseless, succumbing to the darkness.

For the next few days when I wasn't flying above them to keep watch, I rode with Thorin. The more we rode together, the more he didn't mind it. Soon it was like second nature to him, and every morning when it was time to leave he would hold out his hand to help me on the pony. Although he was extra grumpy today as we continued our journey in the woods while riding in the torrential rain.

"Here, Mr. Gandalf? Can’t you do something about this deluge?" Dori begged, but to no avail, nothing could be done. Well at least for them, considering I was a dragon slayer and immune to fire. One of my abilities was magic, and that magic included creating ablaze. I felt Thorin shiver from behind me, and I felt bad. I never did thank him for letting me use his cloak the other night.

"Thorin take the reigns," I ordered, turning around on the horse, immediately he grabbed the reigns as I let go.

"What on earth do you think your doing woman?" He growled, his eyes piercing into my own. Resting a hand upon his chest, he blushed slightly at the contact I used just a little bit of my charms to summon some heat. "What curse are you putting on me? Get your filthy hands off of me!"

"It's not a curse, it's a spell to keep you warm you ass. Now hold still or I just might burn you." He growled and lifted his head to try and see in front of him, I wasn't that tall. After a few seconds of straining his neck to see, he eventually rested his chin on the top of my head lightly. "I'm not your headrest you know."

"Well, I can't see around your thick skull."

"It's not that big! I'm shorter than you!"

"Shorter, but your head is certainly wider. Are you sure you have a brain in there?" I burned him slightly, making him wince.

"Keep talking 'Oh great one' and see where it gets you. Your lucky I'm even giving you warmth, I could just keep it all to myself." I returned the heat to normal and leaned my head on his chest. His breathing went rigid for a second, then slowed down but his heartbeat sped up.

"...What other powers do you have?" He asked, moving closer to my hand to get warmer. I slipped it down to his side, making him jump. "Watch it."

"Other than fire, I have a vast amount of strength. I could rip a tree out of the ground, second I can fly at fast speeds while spreading my wings. Soldiers with wings are called our airborne army, they attack from above and can kill dragons a lot easier. Last but not least, only the royal line can take on the form of a dragon. At least we used to, The Power of The Black Dragon was lost long ago. It is passed down from generation to generation, but the Queen with the ability died along with it." My mother, just a year before my coronation to take on my birthright was gravely injured from the frozen blast caused by men. She passed away, I never got to tell her that I loved her. The last thing I ever said to her was 'I'm scared'. Though I will never forget her last words, 'don't take revenge.'

"How many more are there?"

"Once there were millions of us, and now because of people like you, there is only 1,000. I hope your happy, cause soon we'll be extinct."

"No, cause soon you'll get those reports. And you'll show the world the mistake we caused." He whispered, his comment made my heart swoon. Had he said what I thought he had confessed?

"Thank you." It was all I could say, I felt him smile as he wrapped his arms tightly around me. He was trying to keep me warm like I was doing to him, perhaps he's not like the monster from my dreams.

@fili-is-my-lover @kirenia15 @lunariasilver @depressedchilipepper

[imagines-by-a-typical-fangirl]

Unexpected Places (Pt. 05 of 11)

Pairing: Ivar the Boneless X Reader/Bjorn X Reader

Word count: 2.5 K

Summary: As a princess, you've lived in a golden cage all your life, always a piece on someone else's game. But everything changed when the Norsemen came crushing down on Wessex, like waves in a violent storm. Their king spared your life and decided to take you with him to his kingdom, in what felt more like a rescue than a kidnapping. There, you were not only confronted with a completely different culture and lifestyle, but also with two of his sons. The oldest one has his eyes set on you, but it's the youngest one, Ivar, who gets who claimed your attention since the first sight. And he seems to have an unnamed interest in you. Of course you hoped whatever that was would pass, but when unexpected feelings start to flow a different way, things begin to change.

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{Vikings Masterlist}

×

The Crippled And The Blind

The loud voices, laughter, and yells are echoing through the house. Ragnar is with a group of wanderers that just stopped by. He seems to be getting along with them since they're all very friendly and brought good things to trade. You have no intention of interrupting the conversation, so you stay on the inside. You make your way to the hanging table, sitting on it as usual. You're still softly swinging when you hear Ivar's unmistakable footsteps, and a small smile comes to your lips. You do try to push it back, but when he comes to your sight, it's still there, in full display.

“Won't you join the party?” He asks, coming to stand next to you by the table, his free hand holding on the chains.

“No. If I show up out there, Ragnar will introduce me as an England princess and I wouldn't want to steal all the attention he's been getting.” You answer in a sassy tone, shrugging your shoulders. “What about you? I bet they'd love to meet Ivar the Boneless.”

His smile only gets bigger, and a chuckle leaves his lips. Things with Ivar have been... Different. In the last weeks, you've been chatting a lot, more and more every day. But you're keeping a distance. The stories about Ivar reached your ears quickly, and you know he's dangerous. Still, it's getting hard to see that side of him when he's been treating you so... Kindly. It got people talking too. Hvitserk said Ivar is surprising him, acting like that. But you try not to overthink, and just take one day after the other and see how it happens. So far, you're enjoying your talking.

“Let the old man have it.” He mutters, pushing the wood and making you swing again. “I was planning on taking a walk on the beach.” Speaking slow, he smirks at you. “Wanna join me?”

Biting your lower lip, you nod, jumping to the ground. “Why not?”

You both go through one of the doors on the back, and you realize Ivar can keep a fast pace despite the clutch. The cold wind makes you brace yourself by the time you reach the sand, and you lightly rub your arms.

“Should've brought a warm cloak.” He mutters, glancing at you.

“I'm alright.” Pulling a strand of hair away from your face, you stop by a small boat. “What's the reason for this?”

“Reason?”

“Yeah.” Leaning your back against the boat, you shrug your shoulders. “You never invited me for anything like this.”

“Maybe it was because I never thought you'd accept.” Sighing, he sits on the sand, resting the clutch on his legs.

“And why would you think that?” Looking down at him, you cross your arms. “I thought we were somehow friends by now.” You're still unsure of where exactly you are with Ivar. With Hvitserk, it was almost instantly, and you've been good friends since day one. Ubbe took longer, but you have a nice relationship with him as well, even though you're not as close as you are with Hvitserk. But Ivar... It's different, you're still not quite sure why. “Or have I misread things?”

“I like to think we are friends, princess.” When you finally look at him, those blue eyes are already set on you.

With your cheeks burning, your heart starts beating faster, drumming on your ears. “We are.” You assure him, taking a deep breath and settling down beside him, looking at the ocean. The waves are strong today, loudly crashing on the sand.

“Good.” He bumps his shoulder against yours. “Not many women want to... Hang around with me.”

His statement makes you pinch your eyebrows together. “Why?” You can't imagine a reason for any girl not want to... What? Be around Ivar? Or maybe have some attention from him. Of course you can only speak for yourself, but the Vikings must be mesmerized by his strength. By the stories they tell about him. And on top of that, you're not blind. Ivar is handsome, very handsome. Any woman would love to get his eyes set on her.

“Isn't it obvious?” Ivar gestures at his legs and only then this ‘obvious’ come to your mind.

“Oh.” Staring at the metal clothed legs, you shake your head lightly. It never really got to you. It's not that you haven't noticed, but it never played an important part in your judgment of him.

“Bad news, princess. I'm a crippled.” He sing songs, his voice a lot darker.

Furrowing your eyebrows, you push your legs up, hugging your knees. “I know you're a crippled. But being honest, I don't see the problem.” It isn't hard to guess this affects him. Mostly being a Viking. You know he wishes he could rush through the battlefield, fighting, riding a strong horse. But he can't. It probably kills him inside.

“Then I'm the crippled and you're the blind.” He suddenly snaps, and when you look at him, he's shaking his head no. “Don't be stupid. Every woman here wants an Ubbe. Or a Bjorn. Standing tall and strong, well experienced by the many wars they–”

“You're tall.” Cutting him off, you elbow him. “And I know you can fight. People aren't terrified of you for no reason. So drop it, you're not less of a Viking just because you can't walk as other people can.”

He chuckles, and when his eyes meet yours, you suddenly notice the proximity. You're not that close, but you were never this close... “Are you joking?”

“No.” You honestly answer, smiling. “I get that people look at you and see the legs first. But I didn't. I...” Will you really tell him this? You've been lying and hiding so many things from people while on Wessex, and here, you want to do the exact opposite. You want to speak the truth, whatever the truth is because nobody will curse you for it. And maybe, it'll make Ivar feel better. “Actually, the first thing I noticed were your eyes.”

“Really?” Furrowing his eyebrows, you can tell he's not very convinced.

“Really.” You simply say.

“You're pretty stupid then.” Ivar bursts out, but, as much as you feel a little offended at first, you're quick to get the mocking tone behind it. “You see a crippled and the thing that gets your attention is the eye color.”

“I'll ignore the insult.” Nodding to yourself, you bite back a laugh, looking at the ocean again. “But if that's your opinion, I'll accept it.”

“You're both.”

“Both?”

“Both pretty and stupid.”

“I...” It takes a few seconds to process what he just said. You're still staring at the horizon, not brave enough to face those eyes, strong and bright, burning through your skin. Your cheeks are burning again, so you look down at your hands, hoping the hair that falls will hide your blushing face. “It goes both ways.” Taking a deep breath, you stand up, dusting off the sand from your dress. “You're as stupid as you're handsome.” Sustaining his stare for a while, watching as his face light up and a smile comes to his lips, you turn your back at him, walking away. You hear a giggle, but decide to ignore it.

“I didn't know you could be sassy.” Ivar raises his voice to make himself heard through the growing distance you're putting in between the two of you.

“You don't know me, dear.” Turning around and walking backward, you smile. “What? Do you think chatting during the meals is enough? You have no idea who I am.”

“Who knows? Maybe we can change that.”

“Maybe.” Shrugging your shoulders, you give your back at him and leave the beach.

The next hours you spend with Aslaug, as she complains about the wanderers. They're nothing like this other man who came by years ago, she says. They're too loud for her taste, too rude. And, since it's a Viking complaining about those things, she might be right. But, despite all that, she still attends to the feast Ragnar insisted on giving. You already know that people here don't really need a reason to cook insane amounts of food and invite everyone over to eat and dance and party until the sun is about to rise again. So you join them.

The celebration has been going on for quite a while now, a few hours went by since you showed up. You already ate, so now, drinking from a horn, you stand beside Helga next to the table where her husband happily tells some people his stories. “He keeps staring,” Helga mutters as you take another sip from your drink.

“Who?”

“Bjorn.”

“Oh.” Trying to be discreet, you take a look where he's seated, slightly nodding at him when your eyes meet. “Since the horse incident, we haven't been speaking much.”

“Aslaug told me an interesting story,” Helga smirks, and you furrow your eyebrows at her. “Hvitserk and Ivar. She said you have a... Curious relationship with both of them and she has no idea who you like.”

“Hvitserk is just a friend.” You speak fast, almost choking on your drink. “We've been friends since I got here basically, but that's it.”

She raises an eyebrow, her eyes moving from you to Ivar. That's when you notice you know exactly where he is. “You explained your relationship with one of them... What about the other?”

That makes you restless because you feel like giving the same answer you gave about Hvitserk isn't completely true. But how exactly can you explain it? “Ivar and I are... Friends... Not as close as Hvitserk, Uhm... We're actually just starting to–”

“I haven't noticed this one yet.” A raspy, strong voice says, and your attention is taken by the three men who came to stand behind you.

“She's a pretty one.” The taller, with dirty blonde hair, says. Stepping back, you stand next to Helga.

“More than pretty.” The third one, with a heavy accent, adds. “Are you a servant?”

“No, I–”

“Of course she isn't. Look at her dress.” The first one, with a braided beard, cuts you off before you can say anything, coming closer and forcing you and Helga to give a step back. His eyes are evil as they travel through your body, up and down. “Her jewels...” His hand comes to touch your necklace, and the other, the blond, moves to your side, pulling the skirt of your dress.

“She's under Aslaug's protection,” Helga speaks up, pulling you to the side a little. But by the way the man smiles, it doesn't seem like they care.

“Is she?” The blond asks, but it doesn't sound like he wants an answer.

You're about to say something, anything when another figure comes from behind you. Your heart starts pounding, but you're relieved when you recognize Bjorn. He stands between you, Helga, and those men. “My friends, why don't you join me for a drink?” He says, a hand behind his back gesturing for you to leave.

Helga takes your hand and pulls you away, back to the table where you were seated before. “Don't go anywhere alone tonight.” She whispers in your ear right before walking away.

“What was that?” You're quick to feel the change in the atmosphere, and, looking around, you notice everyone you know is gone, and Ubbe is the only one on the table. “Where is–”

“C'mon.” He quickly says and gets up, and you follow him inside. Everyone is here, and they stop talking when they lay eyes on you.

“Is there a problem?” You're quick to find Ivar, and, the moment you lock eyes with him, you can see how fast his expression changes. From anger to relief. Things turned upside down quickly, and you have no idea what happened.

“The problem is that they are wanderers. They don't fear or respect our rules.” The Queen says, eyeing Ragnar with anger. “I want them gone tomorrow.”

“They will be gone.” He assures, arms crossed.

Still trying to follow, you run a hand through your hair. “Did they do something?”

“No, but they'll try.” It's Bjorn who answers, coming to join you.

Alright, nobody here wants to be clear about it, so what's the point? “I'll go back to the feast so you can solve whatever problem–”

“Those three men were eyeing you all evening.” Bjorn interrupts. “They came to me asking who you were and where you're sleeping. Then they approached you like that. Do you really need me to explain in detail what exactly they'll try to do to you?”

This makes you stop breathing. “I'll keep the door locked then.” You mutter in a low voice, looking down and moving to the hanging table to get something to drink.

“No, you can't be there tonight. Nor alone.” Aslaug speaks as you find the two jars on the table are empty.

“She can stay with me tonight.” Bjorn is quick to offer, and your eyes go wide.

“Can't I stay with Ivar?” The words come out so damn fast it takes your slow brain a while to process what just happened. It was almost involuntary, as if there was something else inside you, like a force of nature, pushing those words out. “O-or Hvitserk?” You add after seconds of silence, a little lower, feeling as your cheeks burn.

Bjorn laughs, exchanging glances with Ragnar. “Ivar can't protect you.” He sounds disgusted, mocking, a hand gesturing at where his younger brother is.

You shouldn't have said that. You're sure Aslaug would arrange for you to move to another room, or maybe even sharing her chambers tonight. But no, you had to make things weird.

“Nobody will hurt her.” When you hear Ivar's reply, your attention turns to him. His eyes are on his brother, who stands a few feet away from you. You've never seen Ivar so angry, not even when you first got here, when he hated you for being a Christian living among them. But now... It's different, it's... Fury.

“Alright. Enough, both of you.” Aslaug stands up, a putting her cup down. “(Y/N), you stay with Ivar or Hvitserk tonight. Ragnar, go tell those disgusting men I want them gone by the morning.” Without saying anything, Ragnar leaves.

Not sure what to do next, you stand by the table, a hand holding the chains. It feels like everyone is expecting something, you're not sure what. You keep staring at Aslaug, who looks like is trying to tell you something you just can't understand.

“I think it's obvious you'll stay with Ivar so I'll just go,” Hvitserk mumbles as he walks by you, giving you a look that makes you want to throw a shield at him. Is he even allowed to have fun at a moment like this? Another obvious thing is that he'll never let it go, until the end of times, Hvitserk will tease you about this night.

“Well...” Ivar says, as he takes his clutch and gets up to his feet. “I think that's it.” You can tell he's ignoring Bjorn because that one can't stop staring. Ivar is playing with his brother, but, when he's near you, it doesn't look like he's playing anymore. Maybe he just got reminded of the reason why this is happening in the first place, and so did you. It's your safety that's at risk here. “C'mon then.” He says in a lower voice, and you nod, starting to follow him.

×

@multific @revolution-starter @crackhead1-800 @youbloodymadgenius @clown-boyyy @kitten0394 @castielsangelx-blog @goldlion07 @midnightmystic @readsalot73 @xvxcarolinexvx @momowhoo @fangfoxy @msrawog @walkingonshunshine @alytavzla @anotherfan07 @heavenly1927

[crossdressingdeath]

Uhhh but like.. wands and broomsticks that fly is very normal magic? Idk I might be missing something here but that's like the stuff from stories in (I'd say like maybe the majority?) of Europe, together with potions? It fits very well into European's magic myths? Aksjdj but I may have misunderstood you here idk. But yeah, I always found it weird that the UK had it's own school while the rest of Europe shared two schools?? But then again, I'm pretty sure it was said the students are French and uh Bulgarian? I think? So what's up with the rest of the continent? Hell, what's with Asia? Imagine if they had only one school! That would be hell! Tbh it would make a lot more sense if like... every country has their own school? Like a) not every eleven year old kid is able to speak perfect English (aka the language they most likely would converse in, but this goes for any second language probably) and is probably unable to follow the lessons because of that. b) it's just.... too many students for two schools? like we're talking about how many countries? 40-something if you exclude the UK? with lots of different cultures and lots of students probably? I think Germany, or Spain, alone would need their own school, with some Austrian or Swiss students because these are smaller countries and they share a language. (Well, half-half in Switzerland and both countries have their specific dialects etc. but they would still be able to communicate without much struggle). You would probably need multiple schools in the US, too!

There are probably some families that teach their kids magic on their own, but as far as I remember that stuff was never actually established so this is just a wild guess. But most of Europe to do this? Unlikely.

I was more thinking about the one or two word Latin incantations than the wands and broomsticks and potions, although wands and broomsticks are part of a specific image of magic and as far as I’m aware have very little in common with actual historical practices. But definitely the Latin is a bigger issue; if nothing else, why are modern spells written in Latin and not... I don’t know, the actual language the inventor speaks? Also apparently some of the spells are actually based in ancient Greek, so clearly it’s not tied to one language; why would it be majority Latin? What about people who can’t pronounce Latin words? Not everyone can pronounce certain sounds! Also if they’re using classical Latin they pronounce spells wrong in the movie, can’t speak to ecclesiastical but if magic is as old as it’s supposed to be I’d say it would probably be classical anyway ...Also I’m now wondering why the fuck there isn’t a Latin class at Hogwarts, you’d think that would be useful.

The thing with the number of schools is... talking about North America, Toronto alone has over a hundred high schools? One city has more high schools than the wizarding world has schools in total across all of Europe. I know Canada’s big, but it’s not that big. If wizards are that rare then intermarrying with muggles or no they should be so extinct by now! Even with one school per country and keeping in mind that most European countries have much smaller populations than Canada, that would still be an insanely small population. Also there’s travel time to keep in mind; yes, some students will live farther from the school than others and that’s inevitable, but... well. Let’s start with Hogwarts, because it’s the smallest area: Belfast to London? Assuming Ireland doesn’t have its own route to Hogwarts? Nine and a half hours by car. By train, twelve hours. That is a long time for a bunch of kids to travel to get to another train, a lot of it in the wrong direction! Hell, according to the internet London to Fort William (in the Scottish Highlands, although I don’t know how close it would be to Hogwarts’s location) is thirteen hours! And that’s the smallest area we know of that a magical school covers! Let’s talk Ilvermorney, in Massachusets; I hope they use floo powder or something, because to get there from Alaska that is a 73 hour drive. Even flying it’s still eight and a half hours at a minimum! And I feel really bad for the Hawaiian students, because a flight to Massachusetts from there is over eleven hours! These travel times are insane and I strongly suspect JKR didn’t bother looking at a map before placing these schools. Also if the various schools do use floo powder or portkeys or something (which I can only assume they do because holy shit) why the fuck doesn’t Hogwarts? Again, unless the Hogwarts Express is insanely fast that’s still half a day, plus however long it takes people to get to London! Why doesn’t the train at least set off from a more central location or have multiple stops this is so stupid-

Basically yeah, the placement and numbers of the schools makes no sense and I hate it, also I have just spent far too much time looking up travel times.

[milasartblog]

An unexpected visit (part 4)

Gabriel sweated a lot from nervousity. It was one of the situations where he couldn’t lie because Lilith can see and feel it. Still, he made his attempt to avoid such topic.

Gabriel: I-I mean, in a cultural way. Yeah, I began to get closer to a human culture, just like Michael did.

He made an awkward proud face, but as soon as he looked at Lilith, he got nervous more. He could feel a demonic tease and curiousity at the same time. Her smirk gave it out.

Gabriel:...What? I say the tru-

Lilith: You know that angels are bad at lying, don’t you?~

Gabriel: T-That was not a lie!

Lilith: Oh, really?~ Then why are you being so nervous?~

Gabriel: I-It’s just the atmosphere here in Hell. Nothing more.

Lilith giggled at her brother’s attempt to hide the fact that he also got interested in mortals. And yet, it made her feel nervous a bit too, as she is also close with her beloved Jeff, but tried to stay cool. Meanwhile, Gabriel looked at her as sighed.

Gabriel: Nothing can be hidden from you, isn’t it?

Lilith: You know me well~ So, who is that human?

Gabriel: Wait, what?? H-How did you guess it?? 

Lilith: Hehe, with such changes in our lives, it’s not hard to guess so~ Plus, your reaction gave it out, as I thought and was sure that you’re not one of those who would be even slightly interested in mortals.

Gabriel: Well, who knows, maybe it’s just a beautiful and kind angel.

Lilith: True, but as far as I remember, you were not so interested in such stuff like relationship. You cared more about your duties.

Gabriel: Umm, as any angel would do?

Lilith: Hehe, not nowadays, I suppose~

Gabriel: Hey! They’re still loyal and do their job!

He made an irritated face as Lilith giggled softly. Gabriel looked at Lilith, trying to find any trick behind such questions, but he could only feel a genuine curiousity from her, maybe even...a little hope? It made him a bit concern, and yet he sighed, knowing that it was useless to deny.

Gabriel: Well...okay, yeah, true, I’m friends with one human. 

Lilith: I knew it~

Gabriel: Don’t tease me! I’m still confused on how it happened!

Lilith: Maybe they were so beautiful? Well educated? Good in character?~

Gabriel: I don’t know! Maybe all of it! Or...maybe something more. 

Lilith: That’s okay to feel like this~ Not all answers come at once, especially when it’s about feelings towards someone~

Gabriel: But it’s a human. We were not supposed to get that close to a human! We ALL were not supposed to be that close to them! 

Lilith: And?

Gabriel: It will ruin the balance of the whole universe, the balance between our realms. It will be consumed by chaos!

He grabbed his head tightly as Lilith looked at him. She knew about the consequences of such relationship, and yet she believed in the opposite. And now it was an opportunity to prove him the opposite, even tho it was scary to do it.

Lilith: I understand how it’s important to you and to all of us. Believe me or not, but even we care about the balance and the consequences of breaking it. However, we would not be a demons if we didn’t take risks, taking all responsibility on ourselves at the same time. What I’m trying to say is....you’re not the only one.

Gabriel: Wait, what do you mean?

He looked at Lilith as could feel her tremble, coming from her hand, like she was hesitatin to say something. Or was it fear?

Lilith: I...I’m also in a relationship with a human.

These words paralyzed Gabriel completely. A great lump of words stuck in the throat as the mind tried to procceed what she said. Lilith looked at shocked Gabriel.

Lilith: It’s true, brother. I’m with human.

Gabriel:....For h-how long?

Lilith: Over two years.

Gabriel: TWO YEA-??!

His mouth got wider as got frozen. He grabbed his head even more.

Gabriel: Oh my dear Lord....We're so doomed. We're all so doomed! How could we let it out like this?? The balance is now ruined completely....

He looked down, still holding his head. For a couple of minutes there was silence in the room. Then, Lilith began to speak.

Lilith: Well, nothing so crucial happened over the past two years?

Gabriel: That doesn't mean that it won't happen later. Oh God...what do we do, what do we do?

Lilith: Hey, everything is fine, brother. Nobody is hurt and things are going well.

Gabriel: That's not the only case. Do you even realise that human is not immortal unlike us? It means that it will be hard for us to live together with them. We even have no right to give immortality to them! While they will live, knowing that we won't get old, we will not die, we will not get sick or other stuff! They will be jealous of us, beg to give them the immortality and other stuff. If we don't do it, they will go against us, which is also something we can't allow. And the worst thing is...we can't forget them.

Lilith looked at Gabriel sadly, realising that she can't tell him about Jeff's case, and yet such feelings were familiar to her too.

Lilith: Gabriel...

Gabriel: Even if we erase their memories about us, who knows when they will remember again. Ignoring them is not an option for us, as angel can't just ignore such cases like this.

Lilith: Gabriel.

Gabriel: I'm not even talking about the relationship between us and mortals. It's painful...for both of us. We can only watch how they get older and older, weaker and weaker, till one day they-

Lilith: Gabriel, listen to me!

She grabbed his shoulders tightly, looking into his panicked and slightly wet from tears eyes. Her look was way more serious than before, which made Gabriel snap out for a moment and get scared. Couple of silent minutes have passed till both of them slightly calmed down before speaking to each other.

Lilith: I know all of this stuff. I understand all of these risks, and I understand what you're feeling now. I...I have experienced it myself. I was also like you, but...at that moment, I knew that my feelings towards my mortal are real, despite being a demon. For the first time tho I went under cover, and yet it didn't take much time for them to realise who I was. But guess what?

Gabriel: W...What?

Lilith: They didn't run away, they didn't have bad intentions. They had the same feelings I had for them, which made me incredibly happy. I was worried that they will not accept my nature, but they did. And these two years have prooved to me and to my beloved that despite their mortality and our immortality, we can still be happy and love each other, dealing with so many difficulties and barriers on our way.

Gabriel:....Really?

She nodded slightly, trying to smile.

Lilith: And I can assure you that nothing chaotic happened in the world. Well, besides some demonic stuff we usually do~

Gabriel was speechless again, but also in a thought. He felt that what Lilith said was true. He knew that to her dearest people and siblings she can be honest, at least partially as she is a demon now. And yet, Gabriel still couldn't believe that he was not the only one dealing with mortal relationship, not to mention for such long time. Moreover, judging by her words their relationship is going....well? Even too well? Different thoughts occupied him. The minutes of silence felt like hours. Who will break the ice?

--------------------------

And that's another part for the story^^ Things are getting interested and tense XD Will Gabriel still keep being stubborn about his view on changes?

Lilith belongs to @wildstarfan and @captainthane

Gabriel belongs to @wildstarfan and @milasartblog (both me)

Okaria et Feria belongs to @wildstarfan and @captainthane

[protag-rantaro]

"Confusion and Familiarity" Prologue [PART 3]

Written by the fabulous Mod Tai!

Where should I go next? Hmmm...

He looked around and noticed a big door at the end of the hall. Of course, he immediately walked towards the big door, but the moment he reached out- something held him back.

What is this? A deja vu?

Strange, I feel like I have been here before, but that's impossible, right? 

He overcame his own thoughts and tried opening the door, but it was locked.

Seems like I was wrong after all or…? 

He closed his eyes and stopped walking.

That's really not the time now. I should just move on. Next station are the stairs leading to the basement.

Rantaro headed down the stairs with caution and in the basement he found… a game room? and a new person! 

"Sheesh, what a strange place. Didn't expected a game room when we're trapped in here- hmm, but it seems pretty cool. Compared to prison anyway..." he turned around with a sigh. 

"Hm, I'm Ryoma Hoshi, the men called the Ultimate Tennis pro… no longer exists. I'm nothing more than an empty shell" he stared Rantaro directly into the eyes and he backed up a little. 

"Hey, Ryoma? Are you alright? Is there something you want to talk about?" Rantaro asked and reached out his hand, but Ryoma turned around uninterested. 

"No, it's nothing. It's not like me to talk so much… anyway, I'm warning you, little one- it's dangerous to just walk up to a killer like me" and with that he left and Rantaro was completely confused.

I guess, I should try to find out more about him when I get the chance. He seems very interesting like most I already met.

Now, let's see if I can remember the way to the library, because earlier nobody seemed to be in there, but maybe now someone is…?

Rantaro entered the library and looked around curiously. The library was really packed up with a lot of books and that made Rantaro a little happy. 

He enjoys reading a lot and since they probably won't be able to escape that easily he will have enough time to read a few books in here. While looking around he noticed a girl with long brown hair sitting on the ground.

"Hey, are you alright?" no answer.

"I'm Rantaro Amami and you?" the girl turned around and quietly watched him, before standing up from the ground.

"Maki Harukawa, Ultimate Child Caregiver..." Rantaro waited for her to continue, but nothing came.

Huh? That's all?

Maki seemed to have waited as well since she took a long pause before continuing.

"... surprised? I don't look like someone who would like kids, right? Because I don't. They just come on their own. I'm not good at taking care of them and I'm not friendly either..." she played with her ponytail a little before looking back at Rantaro. 

"But Kids are intuitive! If they like you so much to come on their own... they can probably tell that you're actually a good person, Maki!" Rantaro encouraged her and Maki blushed lightly at that comment.

"It's just…! I grew up in an orphanage and got saddled with helping out a lot, that's all!" she tried explaining and Rantaro kept on smiling, while listening. 

"Don't worry! I'm sure we will get out of here pretty fast!" a blonde girl walked around the corner together with Shuichi, who Rantaro parted ways with earlier.

"What makes you think that a group capable of this would just simply let us walk out of here?" Maki asked, not believing any word the blonde girl said.

"If they won't end this then we will! I know we can do it if we work together!" she placed a hand on her chest and smiled brightly.

Wow, she is hella optimistic and-

His thoughts got interrupted by the brown haired child caregiver.

"You're a naive fool if you think you can end all of this so easily" Maki pointed out and Rantaro nodded silently. She was indeed right about that.

Maki turned around to get the book she had read earlier and walked to another corner of the library.

"Oh, I forgot to introduce myself! I'm Kaede Akamatsu, the Ultimate Pianist!" she smiled gently and they shook hands.

"Rantaro Amami and I know being optimistic can be really helpful, but do you really feel like this is going to end so easily? I mean, I asked the others and all of them can only remember their names and talents and I… I can only remember my name, not even my talent. It's like we all have amnesia or something like that" Rantaro explained and shared his observations with them, but Shuichi cut him off.

"... but that's not normal if everyone here has amnesia-" The detective was getting quieter and quieter by the second and Rantaro put his hands to his hips. 

"Maybe, we're all in a pretty abnormal situation then or something simple like brainwashing or group hypnosis...well, it doesn't matter now, does it?" Kaede took a step back in surprise and stared at him, waiting for him to continue talking.

"Well, I just hope we can get along since we won't go anywhere any time soon... sounds suspicious, but I promise I'm not a bad guy or anything" Rantaro ended his sentence, shrugged and left Shuichi and Kaede behind in the library. He still has to meet a lot of other people.

He stopped at a small gate and it seems like someone was already waiting there for him. They stood up from the bench they were sitting on and walked up to him.

"You wonder "who is this?" Yes, I will make that clear first. My name is Korekiyo Shinguji... I am called the Ultimate Anthropologist. However, please call me Kiyo and for anthropology, would you like a simple explanation?" Kiyo asked politely and Rantaro nodded clearly interested in what Kiyo has to share.

"Anthropology studies costumes, legends, folk tales, songs and much more. For example… certain aspects of birthdays or new year celebrations. It's a study that examines the thought behind culture, faith and costumes… and I believe that human beings are truly beautiful. Every aspect of humanity, even the ugly parts are beautiful- to me, at least" Rantaro listened carefully to Kiyo's little speech. 

He was truly interesting, maybe a little bit weird, but still interesting.

"What beauty will I be able to witness in our current situation, I wonder? Kehehee, people are wonderful!" 

"Wow, you sure are something else, Kiyo! But that's good, I'm sure it will never be boring with you- by the way my name is Rantaro Amami, nice to meet you" they both shook hands and chatted for a little bit, before Rantaro decided to finally step through the door he was curious about the whole time.

He opened it and was immediately greeted by a bright light, a gentle breeze and he slowly opened his eyes to see…

"A cage?" Rantaro said out loud. 

To be honest, not surprising.

I mean, I already knew it's not going to be easy to get out of here…, but giving up is not something I ever want to do.

Rantaro walked around and noticed two people in the back of the field. He quickly rushed over there to introduce himself.

"This cage is nothing compared to the universe!" One of them yelled and the taller one looked down in confusion. 

"Oh, ups! I haven't introduced myself yet. I'm Kaito Momota, Luminary of the stars! Even crying children adore the Ultimate Astronaut! How about it? Pretty cool, right? I mean I wasn't in space yet, but I'm the first teenager to ever pass the exam!" The purple haired male posed proud and the taller one clapped.

"Wow, really? Don't you need a college degree to even take the exam?" Rantaro interrupted their conversation and Kaito jumped in front of him with a huge grin.

"Actually yes, I had a friend who got me in there, but I got caught in the end and was like in pretty deep shit, y'know? But they decided they liked me and let me in anyway! Cuz I aced the exam, too" Kaito explained and he was a little speechless by Kaito's confession.

"That was pretty damn reckless, but it's really impressive as well!" Rantaro admitted, but he was so impressed that he almost forgot how this could have ended as well.

"Well, sometimes you have to be reckless to reach your dreams and make them reality! Everyone told me it was impossible, but I never gave up and aced the exam. Limits don't exist unless you set them yourself!" Kaito seemed to be an optimistic person as well… just like Kaede earlier. 

Hmm, that can be a good thing, but it can also turn out very bad… I may have to keep an eye on them if things go the way I think they are, but they are very friendly and nice so far.

"Gonta thinks that sounded very cool!" The other one smiled and  clapped a few more times in his hands. 

Third person? Rantaro looked up confused, but simply accepted it. I'm sure there is a reason for it and I don't know about it yet.

"Hehe, Thanks dude! Now introduce yourself as well!" Kaito showed a thumbs up and 'Gonta' nodded firmly.

"Uhm, Gonta's name is Gonta Gokuhara. Gonta's talent is Ultimate Entomologist. Kid Gonta bigger than other kids. Other kids scared of Gonta...so kid Gonta play alone often. That how Gonta came to like bugs, but then Gonta really focus he end up lost in forest" he explained and both Kaito and Rantaro stared at him.

"But they found you and everything was alright, right?" Kaito asked with wide open eyes. 

"Yeah, but took 10 years though" 

"10 YEARS?" for a second Rantaro had to steady Kaito so that he wouldn't fall backwards right out of his slippers. 

Why the hell is he wearing slippers anyway?

"Don't worry! New family took care of Gonta!" Gonta continued to explain his situation and the other two sighed in relief. 

"I hope they are nice people" Rantaro smiled, but Gonta looked confused.

"Not people, wolves! Cuz of forest family Gonta learned to speak bug and animal and as thanks Gonta wanna show new family what great gentlemen Gonta is" he stated happily and smiled proud.

"W-WOLVES?" and again Rantaro had to catch Kaito so that he wouldn't fall. He sighed defeated.

"That's all you heard? Seriously?" Rantaro turned his head to look Gonta in the eyes. 

"I think your forest family would be very proud of you so just be yourself! By the way you two- I'm Rantaro Amami, nice to meet you!" he pushed Kaito back on his feet, they chatted a bit, but after some time Rantaro had to leave these two behind.

Who is still missing? We're 16 students and-

Rantaro didn't know how, but somehow he found a little waterfall and a girl was curiously watching him.

"Yaahoo!! My name is Angie Yonaga and I'm the Ultimate Artist!" She quickly introduced herself with a very positive attitude.

More optimistic people? Oh well, that's going to be hard to keep track over. At least, they are all really nice, I guess.

"I'm Rantaro Amami, you're pretty cheerful, aren't you?" he asked, not sure how to respond to her positivity.

"Nyahaha!! There's no reason to carry bad thoughts with ya! You gotta live everyday like it's big, cheery and fun… so says Atua!" 

"Wow, it's amazing how positive you are- wait… Atua?" Rantaro tilted his head in confusion and Angie laughed again.

"The god of my island, Atua, is always with me, speaking to me with his divine voice… Atua also makes the art, I only offer my body as his vessel! Do you want to offer something to Atua? Boy's blood is also an acceptable offer!" Angie spoke slowly but clearly and Rantaro laughed loudly. 

That's a nice joke-

please tell me it's a joke…

please?

And then he ran for his life.

Some time passed until Rantaro found the rooms for each person. 

Finally, I'm so exhausted, I need a break… 

The moment he wanted to open the door with his picture above it someone stopped him. 

"I'm sorry, but I haven't introduced myself yet- I'm Kirumi Tojo, the Ultimate Maid. Please let me know if you need any kind of help or service!"

"Nice to meet you, Kirumi! I'm Rantaro Amami! I hope we get along well and you don't have to talk so formal, it's not necessary!" He assured her, but Kirumi didn't seemed to care much. 

"Do you have any plan what to do from now on?" she asked and Rantaro stopped in bis tracks.

"That's a tough question… it's more like what can we do… I guess we have to wait and see what happens, do you have an idea, Kirumi?" he thought hard, but nothing came to his mind. 

"As a maid my only desire is to fulfill the desires for others so please think about what you desire for yourself. No matter tge situation, no matter what happens… I am here to serve everyone" Kirumi gently put her hands together and smiled lightly and Rantaro smiled back at her.

Okay, I get big mom vibes from her… hm, we will see how this will turn out later.

Ding Dong- Bing Bong!

[addictofsupernatural]

The Southsider (pt. 1)

Sweet Pea x reader

Chapter Summary: After Southside High is shut down, the serpents have to attend Riverdale High. There Sweet Pea meets one of Jughead's friends, y/n, who is always smiling and cracking jokes. But there is more to her than others think.

A/n: let me know if I should just make this a 2 parter or a series. (Also comments are helpful to know if you guys like it)

Word Count: 1952

Chapter 2

You and Kevin walked up to the table where Veronica had set up everything for the Southside transfer students. You and Kevin looked at each other, already reading each other's minds. This looked so lame.

They then walked through the door, everybody stopping what they're doing to watch them. You took a step forward, but Kevin stopped you. "What are you doing?"

"I'm going to say hi to Jughead?" You furrowed your brows.

"Are you crazy?! There are Serpents over there!"

"Just a bit, Kev." You moved his hand, proceeding.

"Y/n you do not want to step on a snake's boundaries!"

You turned back to look at Kevin and start visibly stomping. "Y/n!"

You giggled and turned around, looking at Jughead and the other Serpents. You then outstretched your arms. "Welcome back Jug."

He hugged back. "Thanks Y/n."

"New jacket?" You teased.

"Yup." He answered seriously. You laughed. Sweet Pea was listening to this and smirked. At least not everyone would be perfect and boring here.

Veronica stood from her seat and smiled. She then was explaining everything about the school that can help them out.

"This is so cringe." You whispered to Kevin.

"I thought I was the only one."

"I love Ronnie and all, but maybe we shouldn't have let the most known rich girl introduce Riverdale High." You two both looked at each other, and started to quietly laugh.

Sweet Pea saw you smile and was intrigued for some reason. You seemed like a fun person, and didn't seem to care that they were Serpents from that jacket joke.

He was snapped out of his thoughts from everybody turning their heads to see Cheryl and Reggie with some River Vixens coming down the stairs. "I'm sorry, but I will not tolerate these people to attend our school. These halls are clean and are not troublesome, and we don't need our school GPA to go down because of some... underachievers."

You rolled your eyes. Here we go again.

Archie steps up. "Stop it guys. Can't we just start over? Clean slate?"

Reggie interjects. "Uh, you don't speak for the bulldogs, Andrews. And need I remind you that these Southside scum came and showed up at your house looking for a fight?"

Sweet Pea had enough. "Happy to finish what we started."

"Okay I am over the toxic masculinity in this room."

Reggie still looks like he's ready to start a fight. "Watch yourself."

This was when you had enough and stepped up. "Reggie, calm down. I know puppies are really territorial and nobody cares if you piss all over the football field to mark your territory, but you need to chill out with the Serpents because literally they just walked through a door."

Sweet Pea was surprised by this outburst. You didn't even know them, and yet you were defending them. He just wanted to hear more out of you.

The group glared at you, as if it were a challenged. You then turned to Kevin shaking your head. "Stray dogs, am I right?"

They then all angrily walked away. "Oh. My God. Y/n! Your mouth is going to get you into serious trouble one day." Kevin exclaimed. You looked at him and gave him a cheeky grin in return. All of that was so incredibly attractive to Sweet Pea.

Later on the Serpents headed to the school library so Jughead can introduce his old friends to them. "This is Veronica." Veronica stood up and introduced herself again and made a comment on how amazing the different culture Riverdale will now have.

"You guys know Archie." Archie simply waved. "This is Betty." She excitedly smiled at them. Just then, you came in and sat down next to Kevin. Suddenly Sweet Pea just got more interested in Jughead's friends. "That's Kevin."

Fangs took notice in him. "You dated Juaquin, right."

"Uh, yeah." Kevin nervously said.

"He talked about you a lot."

Kevin was in his own thoughts until he turned to see you grinning at him. "Y/n shut up." He mumbled.

"And that's Y/n."

You looked around, locking eyes with Sweet Pea for a second. You blushed and looked away. You wondered why that guy was staring at you so intensely. "Hey guys." You said, a little quieter than you meant.

Fangs looked closely at you. "Do I know you from somewhere?"

You were starting to get a little nervous. You didn't think anyone would still remember you. "I work at Pop's."

"Nah, from somewhere else."

"I don't think so." You smiled. You and Jughead gave each other a look. The memories are too painful for you to bring out. And besides, if students got wind of your past, they would find ways to torment you about it.

After school you headed to Pop's. You went to the back and put on your red pants and yellow Pop's shirt. You went to the front to see FP starting his shift as well. "Hey FP."

"Hey Y/n." He smiled. Jughead and FP was the only one who knew about your past, not including your dad. But he was far away from you now, so you didn't have to worry about him. FP was like a father figure to you. "How was Jughead's first day back?"

"He seems more angsty that usual." You said, wiping off the counter. "Most at Riverdale High don't want the serpents there."

He sighed, hearing a ding from where Pops was cooking. He grabbed the food and served it to some people at a booth. "That boy's pride is going to get him into some trouble."

Meanwhile, Jughead, Tony and Fangs were all intrigued from hearing Sweet Pea ask about you. "What's up with that y/n girl?"

"What about her?"

"What's she like?" Everyone teasingly looked at him and started laughing. "Shut up." He growled. "I just thought it was cool how she stood up for the Serpents. And she seems pretty funny too."

Jughead nodded. "She's not afraid to speak her mind. She'll say whatever she wants if she thinks it's necessary. If she's not defending you, she's making you laugh. She's also the nicest person you'll ever meet. I used to take Jellybean to her house when my parents were arguing. She's like a sister to me."

Sweet Pea nodded, smiling to himself as he thought of you. If you knew Jellybean, then that would mean you've been on the Southside. If you and Jughead were friends, that means that you didn't have a problem with the Southside.

"What's got you thinking?" Toni asked. "You debating whether to date a Northsider or not?"

"No." He glared at her. "I just think we should thank her for standing up to us."

"Okay." Jughead said. "Let's go then. I'm hungry anyway." Everyone was confused, until Jughead clarified, "She said she works at Pop's, remember?"

When they got there they found you and FP talking to each other while working. You said something, causing FP to laugh and shake his head.

They sat down at a booth, Sweet Pea looking nervous. They made him sit on the outside so that he could be closer to her when she comes. "Maybe your fingers will touch." Fangs teased.

FP saw them sit down, about to head towards them when Jughead made eye contact with him and shook his head. He stopped, confused, when Jughead nodded his head towards you. He was still confused, until Jughead then nodded his head towards Sweet Pea, who was tapping his foot and had his head lowered. FP then understood, and nodded his head no. He was a little protective of you. Jughead mouthed the word please.

FP frustratedly breathed out through his nose. He then turned to you. "Hey, I'm gonna go clean up those booths. Could you serve them?"

"Sure." You grabbed menus and went to the table. "What's up Jug?"

"Not much. But Sweet Pea has something he wants to tell you." He smiled. Toni snorts.

"What is it?" You smiled, looking at him.

"Uh, I just wanted to say thank you for sticking up for us, at school. It was pretty cool and funny." He looked stiff.

"No problem. Reggie's talks a big game to make himself seem cooler. And don't worry about Cheryl. I'm pretty sure it's all that red lipstick that's controlling her mouth." The other three laughed, while Sweet Pea gave you a side smile. "So, drinks?"

They ordered their milkshakes. You went to the back and made them, bringing them to their table. "Hope you like them. I made them myself."

"What?!" Jughead was shocked. "That's a family recipe. Everytime I asked Pop he always denied it, saying that it was one of the most biggest secrets of his."

You playfully shrugged. "I guess I just have that effect on people. Right FP?"

FP walked by to give some food to another booth, a smile on his face when saying, "Jughead, listen to your sister."

You giggled at Jughead's face reaction. You held up your pen and notepad. "So what would you guys like to eat?"

You took their orders and served them their food. After that you went on your break and sat with them. You talked and joked with them. Everything was good, until your stomach started to grumble really loud. You mentally slapped yourself. You forgot to go food shopping, and haven't eaten anything all day.

Sweet Pea slid his plate across the table to you. "Eat."

"Oh, no it's okay-"

"No it's not. You're hungry right? Eat."

You never really cared for people's looks. A person could be good looking, but an asshole at the same time. But Sweet Pea being kind enough to give his food to you made him a lot more attractive to you.

"It's okay y/n, I get it. I'm starving too." Jughead said next to you.

"Really Jug? What plate number is that? I think I just watched you eat a whole ass cow's worth of burgers." You said, munching on some fries.

After you finished the fries you went back to work. Sweet Pea had asked the three to stay and wait for your shift to be done, so that's what they did.

After you finished your shift Jughead said, "We're going to the Whyte Wyrm. We'll see you around."

"Have fun!" Sweet Pea just couldn't muster up the balls to ask you out. As he was walking for the door, he felt a hand lightly grab his arm. He turned around to see you, looking smaller compared to him this close. "Thanks for the fries. If you want I could pay you-"

"Nah, it's fine. You were hungry. You should take better care of yourself so you don't get that hungry." Sweet Pea just wanted to punch himself for saying that. He figured he must have sounded like he was nagging or something.

You blushed and smiled. "Will do. But I still feel bad. Is there anything I could do for you?"

He mustered up all the courage he had and smirked. "You could come to the Whyte Wrym with me."

"Right now?"

"Yeah."

"Okay." Sweet Pea felt extremely proud from the quick response.

You two walked outside to his motorcycle. "You're a safe driver right?" You felt a little nervous.

"Only the best." He laughed a bit. "It's okay. All you gotta do is hold onto me."

"Okay." You said quietly. He got on and nodded for you to climb on too. You got on and wrapped your arms around Sweet Pea.

He revved up the bike, and you instantly tightened your grip. You felt his body shake with laughter. "Ha ha." You said over the motor. As you guys took off, you put your head to rest on Sweet Pea's back. You liked the feeling of the wind hitting you.

It would be nice to see the Southside again. It's been about four years since you moved out of the Southside. Nobody has to know that you lived there, or more importantly why you moved. It was too painful, and you knew that if you let your secret out, the people of the Northside won't look at you the same way again.

[fountainpenguin]

Hey, now that we're touching on the subject in your writing, want to tell us more about Sunnie and the gang? You know, personalities and who is playing host to which spirit? That kind of thing?

Yeah, I touched on them in THIS post, but admittedly that was very superficial information, and some of the information is slightly outdated too.

To be fair, I thought I’d have more time to introduce you to each spirit and host one at a time, since they weren’t supposed to appear in my works yet. “This Is Halloween” was originally going to be about the mirror caves throughout Anti-Pixie Isle for ~foreshadowing~ reasons that you’ll see later, but then this happened instead. Sorry for the info-dump. But not very.

Okay, so let’s talk about the zodiac spirits again. Luckily for me, I can just steal some of this stuff out of the Anti-Fairy worldbuilding dump I’m posting on the 7th since there’s no fanfic update that day, and link back to this post. 

Be aware that this post is massive. But when you’re ready to learn, here you go.

NATURE SPIRITS AND ZODIACS

What is the point of you creating nature spirits for your fanfics?

Giving Anti-Fairies culture that doesn’t totally revolve around evil. Don’t get me wrong- this is definitely a ‘fic about Anti-Cosmo’s rise to power. It’s an “innocence to corruption” type of story. 

However, I see canon Anti-Cosmo as a guy striking out mostly because his people are majorly discriminated against by the Fairies. I needed reasons for him to believe his people deserved to not be discriminated against, and reasons for the Anti-Fairies not to think, “Well gee, maybe if we stopped attacking people, they would accept us!” So, the way Anti-Fairies appear in my works is, many of them are good, cultured people who just happen to feel the urge to make mischief and deal with bad luck. 

They’re bearers of bad news, but you shouldn’t kill the messenger, so to speak. Many of them are offended at being called evil. We’ll watch Anti-Cosmo get past the point of caring and embrace the evil title. That was one of the harder things for me in writing Frayed Knots, but I think I did okay.

Anti-Fairies are creatures of bad luck, so I started by giving them a zodiac and major beliefs in astrology, fate, destiny, horoscopes, and I built out from there. This was also my way of explaining things that appear in canon, like the Darkness, or the temple to the chicken seen in “Chicken Poofs”. Additionally, many Fairies believe the stars are Fairy warriors. Anti-Fairies believe they’re stars. H.P. belongs to a religion that believes fairy dogs can die. In the show, Sparky stated that they can’t, so the Zodii believe they can’t. Different stuff like that so I can encompass as many bits of canon in the show as possible.

Finally, it was nice to create an entire culture so starkly different from H.P.’s, who grew up in Fairy World in my fanfic Origin of the Pixies. Considering the mixed feelings between Fairies and Anti-Fairies, it seemed appropriate to give them drastically different cultures and beliefs. Additionally, many fans love the Anti-Fairies and wanted to hear more about them in the show, so I wanted to have fun with this. I also wanted to keep my readers engaged since Frayed Knots is my second fanfic and has to cover some of the same worldbuilding stuff we already saw in Origin. I wanted to keep some unexplored territory.

AND, I wanted Anti-Cosmo and Anti-Wanda to be kept busy a lot of the time, which is why we don’t see them with Foop in the later seasons. I didn’t want them to be purely working on evil plans, since it seems their son would have wanted to get in on that action. Instead, I gave them a culture that has super strong traditions and beliefs, and made Foop the oddball who still has loyalty to his culture and reacts badly when he sees Fairies mock it and the Anti-Fairies, but he still thinks most of it is dumb and doesn’t want to get in too deep, so therefore pulls away from his parents and does his own thing.

I knew I’d be writing an extensive ‘fic that would probably take me years to finish, so I needed to have fun.

Don’t worry- while Knots does include a lot of nature spirit stuff, the zodiac still just Anti-Fairy culture and isn’t what I would call “the main plot”. This is still an FOP fanfic that tries to stay close to canon without veering the story into tons of OCs. Anti-Cosmo will be doing a lot of things in this story that have nothing to do with the nature spirits. We don’t even meet Sunnie until the war over godchildren is over. Then we get a big burst of nature spirit stuff before it fades out and we pick up the other plotlines again.

What are the levels of nature spirits?

Wise Ancients - Major deities; for all intents and purposes, they’re gods. I prefer using the terms “nature spirits” and “Ancients”, but they’re basically gods.

Ex: Mother Nature (Space), Father Time (Time), Tarrow (Reality), The Hocus Poconos (Unreality), The Grim Reaper (Death), The Cycling Hen (Life), Prince Morn (Light), Princess Eve (Dark)…

Those are all the Wise Ancients I’ve thought up at this time. More might come later. They’re the overarching set, and the other spirits are their children. 

The way I see it, space and time existed and mixed together. From this union, Reality was created. Reality gathered the sentience to take on solid, sentient form, and taught Space and Time how to take shape like him (Mother Nature and Father Time; Tarrow’s name obviously comes from tarot since he’s also viewed as the influencer of luck). Others followed suit.

Spirit Bears - Also considered Ancients, although they are always spirits of the land. They’re a subset of the Ancients who can only kiff-tie (I’m using that term to suggest reproduction in this sense) with other spirit bears. They’re basically personifications of different lands rather than aspects of nature. In Origin, we see H.P. doing paperwork and political things to get Pixie World recognized as an official World. In Knots, we see Anti-Cosmo dealing with the birth of the new spirit bear cub who represents Pixie World. Same timeline of events, but they play on different fields.

Ex: Fairy World (Tír Ildáthach), Anti-Fairy World (Hy-Brasil), Pixie World (Sprigganhame), Anti-Pixie World (Solis Infinitum), and what I suppose we would call Fairy Refract World (Avalon). 

Things like Patio World and Mattress World are small towns that don’t have bears. I’m not sure about Hairy World and Scary World yet, but I’m leaning towards those just being nicknames for different planes of existence, so they don’t get bears either.

I drew a comic that I plan to color and upload about H.P.’s interpretation of the spirit bears vs. Anti-Cosmo’s. I also drew H.P. holding Sprigganhame in one of my Inktobers.

Demigods - The children of the Ancients. The term “demigod” is meant to be all-encompassing, so it always refers to the children of the Ancients, exception being people like Tarrow who are considered major deities and therefore Ancients. As far as you’re concerned, I have listed the Ancients above, and their children are the demigods.

Ex: Dayfry (Love; Friday), Saturn (Fire; Saturday), Sunnie (Water; Sunday), Munn (Sky; Monday), Twis (Soil; Tuesday), Winni (Breath; Wednesday), Thurmondo (Leaves; Thursday)

They’re major spirits. Imagine it like, Tarrow is Zeus, and the demigods seen here are the other major gods on Olympus. 

There are other demigods (Ex: spirits that symbolize good harvests, good fortune, friendship, patience, travel, wood, stone, certain types of animals) who have similar powers to our gang, but while they might have small shrines, they don’t have official Temples. I mean, maybe some do, but that sounds complicated for my worldbuilding, so let’s not get into that.

Proper ways to address them would be as “the Seven” or “the zodiac spirits”. “Deity” is another acceptable term, as is “nature spirits”, though nature spirits refers to nature spirits as a whole, and zodiac spirits refers only to the Seven.

Minor Spirits - The children of the demigods. Some of them might have the same masteries as actual demigods, but if they aren’t born of the Ancients, they aren’t called demigods. Powers get watered down through the generations.

Ex: Multiple spirits of mist, clouds, lightning, mud, oxygen, etc. 

Anything you get when two aspects of nature combine. Periodic table level and stuff. Also known as lesser spirits. There are hundreds if not thousands of them, but they’re not as important . Like I said, they tend to be combinations.

I feel like it’s also worth pointing out that Fergus Mór mac Eirc’s Wikipedia page lists his mother as “the mist”. Literally the mist. Thus, I decided that H.P.’s namesake here (H.P.’s name is Fergus in my headcanon) is the grandson of Sunnie. This gets increasingly interesting when you do further research and find out that Fergus the Great died in a “freak storm”. Apparently, Sunnie had a temper tantrum and he got caught in it. H.P. is terrified of Sunnie as a result. Considering that I dropped Anti-Cosmo in the Water Year at random when I originally decided he was born in the Year of the Black Lake, this is very interesting to me.

Additionally, when minor spirits have kids, you go even smaller. This is where you get guardians of individual rivers, mountains, or particular forest groves.

Nature spirits are “everywhere and everything”, but they all have a single manifested form that embodies their sentience, heart, and that they use to communicate. If they want to talk to you with words, they have to haul their manifested form all the way to where you are, which is often inconvenient if they’re light-years away. Even they can only travel so fast. Otherwise, the most they can do is mess around with their aspect of nature (their “mastery”). For example, by making streams bubble or leaves fall or wind blow.

So, all those signs you think you see in nature in answer to your pleas? Pure laziness. They usually only get up when they have really important messages to deliver, or they’re on the run. If you pray to them, they might be interested enough to respond, but they’re not going to get up to do it and tell you directly. They just shake branches and stuff to signal that they’re paying attention. Super simple stuff that is easily waved off as coincidence by those who don’t believe.

It’s a whole network of spirits, but don’t try to keep them all straight. Focus on the main seven.

Who are the zodiac spirits?

Seven nature spirits who are the grandsons of Mother Nature and Father Time. They each represent a different element on the Fairy zodiac, and are named after the days of the week, which was my way of excusing why the days of the week were called such in the cloudlands long ago. I cared.

Each of the zodiac spirits is a son of a deity called Tarrow the Luck-Twister (also called “the cosmic jellyfish”). He’s basically the deity of fate, and since Anti-Fairies are obsessed with luck, you can see why they like him. 

However, each of the zodiac spirits has a different other parent (whom they tend to draw their element from), so they’re all technically half-brothers. Since nature spirits can produce children with either sex, some have a mother and some have two dads. Sunnie is an exception who was created asexually; he’s the water spirit and was formed from Tarrow’s tears after he got dumped by the Hocus Poconos.

I mean, the zodiac spirits are basically major region Legendary Pokémon, and then the minor spirits are each region’s lesser Legendaries. The Ancients would be Mew, Arceus, Rayquaza, etc. They’re above the main region Legendaries.

How does sex/gender work with the nature spirits?

Any nature spirit can deliver an “energy manifestation” (“child”) after they pair. The less dominant spirit will be the one to do so (*Dramatic music* The Fairy zodiac is organized according to age/dominance of the zodiac spirits). The “parent” who is “pregnant” with the spirit can decide the spirit’s sex, because some animals like insect queens can do that but I didn’t get to use that on the actual Fairies, so I gave it to the nature spirits instead because I don’t know.

My favorite dumb joke is that Tarrow is the ultimate dominant spirit against every spirit except for one, The Hocus Poconos, and this is actually the reason why he’s head over heels for her, because she’s the one that’s different. He only had one kid with her - Dayfry - who is his obvious favorite. The other kids were borne by their other parents. Nature spirit pregnancy only lasts for like thirty seconds after the spirits separate, I feel like I should point out.

Nature spirits have “true forms” and “projected forms”, as I will explain later in this post. While their true form would be their biological sex, the gender of their projected form may be different. Everyone interprets the spirits differently, remember? So if you interpret a biologically male water spirit as female, then the projected form you see would be a female water spirit. The nature spirit still interprets himself as male, and while he is aware of your interpretation, it doesn’t change the way he himself sees himself, which is his true form.

What are the Zodiac Temples?

Buildings in the cloudlands that are open places of worship for anyone who wishes to come, regardless of race. Anti-Fairies are by far the most frequent visitors. Aliens aren’t common since this is the Fairy zodiac here.

Each Temple has a public area that’s all decorated. That’s where most people visit. You can also visit one of a few more private side rooms so that you can meditate in peace and place your offerings in the provided dish.

The most important room in the Temple is the echo chamber, and only camarilla members and anyone of their zodiac who have been given explicit permission can visit there to meditate. 

The Temples were created during the Sealing War, when the zodiac spirits were considered too powerful and imprisoned. Their manifested forms are inside the echo chambers of their Temples, bound with magical golden chains. As such, while they can still communicate by creating aspects of nature, they can’t go anywhere except inside their Temples.

Sometimes when you’re in their Temples, they’ll appear to speak with you, but only when they want to and their advice should always be taken with a grain of salt- they generally have their own agendas in mind, and even when trying to help, they struggle to comprehend mortal affairs.

As a general rule:

Dayfry (Love) - Knows his name carries a lot of weight and doesn’t like to throw that weight around. So, he rarely reveals himself. However, if you appear to be desperate and crying, you can probably bring him out; he hates seeing anyone miserable.

Saturn (Fire) - You can win him over with impressive offerings and displays. He’s a sucker for flattery, but probably won’t show up if there’s nothing in it for him.

Sunnie (Water) - Sometimes appears if you seek his advice and he finds you interesting, which usually means intellectual. If he doesn’t think you’re worth his time, then you aren’t and there’s nothing you can do about it.

Munn (Sky) - Will reveal himself to almost any Sky year who asks, as long as he’s impressed. He rarely gives out advice, good or otherwise. Mostly he just listens to people while he eats the offerings they brought, and cracks jokes.

Twis (Soil) - Reveals himself next to never, even to his own camarilla representatives. Mostly, he only approaches a Soil High Count or Countess. No one beneath them has enough power to interest him. He’s a stubborn butt.

Winni (Breath) - Doesn’t always appear, but when he does, he’s nosy and likes to tell you what to do. Likely to get offended when you reject his advice, even when it’s terrible.

Thurmondo (Leaves) - Might appear if you push him hard enough, though he’s pretty nervous and spacy and doesn’t like offering suggestions. Not too helpful.

A nature spirit who gets “killed” while out and about will wake up again in their echo chamber. Like the shaman’s reincarnation site in Populous: The Beginning, though I don’t think many of you know that computer game. I was raised on it. No Temple means no reincarnation, so any Temple lost will send the camarilla into an immediate frenzy to rebuild it.

On the subject of Populous, your mana charges faster when you have a higher population. I borrowed that idea for the zodiac spirits too. More people born in their year on the zodiac boosts their power. People of their zodiac actively practicing in their name (namely, visiting a Temple) boosts their power further- no matter what race those visitors are, or which Temple they’re in.

So yeah, if you’ve ever wondered why they refuse to strike their own people, it’s because it hurts them. They have more fun knocking each other’s forces down and cutting each other’s powers supply than they do actually paying attention to the political and moral skirmishes going on. You probably shouldn’t ask them to help you out in times of war. They’d just as easily wipe out your allies who were born under different zodiacs. They play for their own team.

What do the zodiac spirits do?

Act as impartial votes on matters that concern multiple races, mostly (like the Bake-Off and the Olympics). We saw Mother Nature in “Balance of Flour”, but her children and grandchildren sometimes take the role of judge instead. They’re all in agreement that Nana’s brownies are delicious, much to Anti-Fairy irritation.

Mostly they chill at their Temples, snack on their offerings, and badger people to make monuments of them. It’s more complicated than this, but this is all you need to know for now. Just realize that the nature spirits have their own agendas and don’t like sacrificing their wants for mortals, and you’re good.

Yes, they are very powerful and they could snap their fingers and grant you a miracle as long as it falls within their zodiac influence, but that would be bad storytelling. Their powers are what got them into their high positions. They’re considered deities for a reason. But nowadays, their powers are limited due to being bound to their Temples. Mostly they just talk to you and give advice instead of solving all your problems.

What do the zodiac spirits NOT do?

Don’t worry - No major quests in the name of the spirits, no cryptic prophecies, and no manipulating anybody’s life without their knowledge. No major cosmic games that we’ll see Anti-Cosmo get dragged into.

The spirits definitely have their own agendas and sometimes use mortals as means to achieve an end, but the “cosmic game” they’re playing right now is ~mostly~ a competition about who can get the most worshipers and monuments. Like I said, it’s more complicated than this and there are rules that I as the author need to know to keep them in check. We can go into that one day if you want, but let’s get deeper into Knots first. These are the basics. All you really need to know is that Sunnie is a sore loser and he rage-quit a long time ago, so he doesn’t join the current play until he gets his hands on Anti-Cosmo.

But the “cosmic game” isn’t some major world-shattering thing. It just gives the spirits something to do to play with each other. Everyone’s gotta have something to work towards, especially when imprisoned.

The spirits are minor gods who are easily bored and need the camarilla to play card games with them and read bedtime stories more than anything else. Anything that keeps them entertained. A bored or angry spirit is the kind of spirit who will mess around with nature to the point that it’s annoying (Ex: Sunnie might dry up a river, whereas Saturn may make a volcano erupt).

What are true forms, projected forms, and manifested forms?

Manifested form - The single being that basically holds the brain and heart of the element or aspect of nature in question. Ex: Death is a huge thing. The Grim Reaper is Death’s manifested form. This is his soul, his brain, his mouthpiece, etc.

True form - The form a nature spirit was born into. The spirit sees himself in this form. For example, Sunnie’s true form is as a creature made of black crystal, with lynx-like ears. He has turquoise eyes and wears a turquoise cloak. He has really long white hair. That’s how he sees himself. That’s the way Anti-Cosmo sees him when they kiff-tie. It’s taboo to discuss or make monuments in the shape of a nature spirit’s true form. Immortals, however, can’t see projected forms, and only see true forms.

Projected form - The way a mortal interprets a nature spirit. This would be Sunnie’s water genie form. The Darkness projects the black and red vortex we saw in “Wishology”. Tarrow projects his jellyfish. Their true forms show very obvious weak points on their bodies, typically their chests. I mean really, really obvious. Flashing and glowing kind of obvious. Projected forms don’t show those weak points. Anti-Cosmo interprets Sunnie as a water genie, but Sunnie can’t see what Anti-Cosmo interprets him as; that’s his projected form. Sunnie only sees himself in his true form.

What does it mean to host / take a nature spirit’s favor?

A favor (spelled “favour” in Knots) is a piece of jewelry in a zodiac color. It can be any small token or piece of clothing. The spirits generally have a form they prefer (listed by spirit below), though shapes and sizes may differ, especially based on the personal preference of the one carrying it. The spirits are not technically the favors, though sometimes it’s believed that they are.

It’s very important to note that the spirits ONLY take members of the Unseelie Court as their hosts. Namely Anti-Fairies. This is because Anti-Fairies turn to smoke if they’re “killed”, and automatically regenerate within a few seconds or minutes. This means that if another member of the Unseelie Court, like another Anti-Fairy, turns to smoke near them, their particles might get mixed together when they reform. The same is true for the nature spirits, who turn to steam. Their particles combine as they regenerate. That’s kiff-tying.

So this is all… sort of a cross between “Miraculous Ladybug” and “Steven Universe”, apparently. But also Populous: The Beginning. Listen, I already had to drop my original plan of Anti-Cosmo’s accidental influence over bad luck when I discovered “Milo Murphy’s Law”. I refuse to drop the nature spirit stuff too.

As of now, 4 of 7 favors are held by the camarilla. Twis is extremely picky about who he gives his to, and Dayfry’s favor was lost a long time ago and hasn’t yet been found. Which spirits have active hosts depends on the camarilla at the time. When a new High Count / High Countess takes power, their old camarilla shifts out and a new one is called.

If you’re carrying a zodiac spirit’s favor but you’re not on the camarilla, you have to return to the Temple and return the favor to the spirit. That spirit then chooses if he wants to take a new host or take a break for awhile instead. Sometimes the break-ups can be difficult and a spirit will refuse to accept the new camarilla member, and instead throw a fit until the High Count or Countess reluctantly reinstates the old. Sometimes the extinction burst can’t be endured /shot

If a spirit has a host, they can split their awareness between their manifested form, their Temple, and as many hosts as they have, viewing all locations simultaneously. A spirit with no host is limited to viewing only their immediate surroundings and their Temple.

Rogue spirits can take hosts too, but rogue spirits usually avoid the cloudlands because that’s the territory of the main spirits and they don’t want to infringe. They hang out on Earth or other planets in the universe where their parents or older cousins won’t boss them around. Rogue nature spirits can only manifest their favors as simple beads on a simple string. You may have noticed none of the zodiac spirits has a necklace design. Those are considered “simple” and are for rogues. The zodiac spirits are too haughty for that nonsense.

There could be a few Anti-Fairies who’ve met rogue spirits and have agreed to carry their favors, but that’s something they’d likely want to keep to themselves. I don’t imagine rogue spirits are looked on very favorably. But it probably depends. A small town might worship a particular rogue who sticks around their area and always selects hosts in that town. Who knows.

The seven zodiac spirits mutually agreed to only have one host at a time for quote-unquote “cosmic game” purposes to cut down on power-playing. Thus, as a rule, they default to one of the two camarilla members for their zodiac. Because it’s Anti-Fairy culture to hold the camarilla position and retire with dignity if replaced, that creates a regular turnover rate and prevents the spirits from being stuck with someone who refuses to give their favor back and dies alone with it somewhere.

I mean, there’s no rule saying they HAVE to pick from the camarilla. But that generally gives them the most influence over politics, and it would certainly cause a stir among the Anti-Fairies if a random commoner was running around representing them and attracting attention.

What does it mean to be bound to a Temple?

First, I want to point out that the chains binding the zodiac spirits are gold. On the mural in the Blue Castle, the chains are painted on with inrita, the chemical that drains Fairykind magic. Touching the chains in the mural makes an Anti-Fairy’s skin tingle, and their fingertips will go numb for about two minutes. Inrita has no effect on the nature spirits, but inrita is painted on the mural to remind the Anti-Fairies that gold has a similar, painful effect on the nature spirits that inrita has on them. That probably won’t ever come up in Knots. We’ll see.

Being bound to the Temple means the zodiac spirits have a manifestation of themselves chained within their Temple. However, this is a bit difficult to explain, so I’ll do my best. Technically, the zodiac spirits still exist on Plane 23. Plane 23 isn’t physically “higher up” than the other planes. It overlaps every plane. Passing into Plane 23 puts you on the spirit level, and the spirits can wander around and see people, even if they can’t directly interact by touching them or anything. They’re like ghosts.

The zodiac spirits are bound to the Plane 23 version of their Temple. Therefore, you won’t see them every time you visit the echo chamber, although they can see you. They can choose if they want to create a manifestation of themselves within their echo chamber, which is pretty draining, but they can do that and will if they want to talk to you. It’ll knock them out for a week afterwards, though, so they can’t do it with everyone.

Okay, so then we get this:

Sunnie’s manifestation there is what Sunnie can use to communicate with Anti-Cosmo directly, using his mouth and words. That’s the aspect of Sunnie that Anti-Cosmo kiff-ties with. What this means is, this Sunnie turns to steam and Anti-Cosmo turns to smoke through a special ceremony where Anti-Cosmo agrees to carry and care for Sunnie’s favor, and then, well… knives are involved.

You’ll just have to watch things unfold in Knots to see how that goes down: All you really need to know is, Anti-Cosmo is basically Sunnie’s yoo-doo doll when they’re kiff-tied. Sunnie can feel everything Anti-Cosmo feels, as well as see the world through his eyes and hear through his ears. Sunnie used to be able to see the universe without a host, but he can’t do that while he’s bound. When Sunnie broke his tie with Anti-Cosmo in “This Is Halloween”, we saw Sunnie’s manifestation again. That’s the little Sunnie. The Prince of Water is still at the Water Temple, and has the ability to vaporize his manifestation at any time. However, if he did that, he wouldn’t have any other manifestation, and would completely cut off his awareness of what was going on in the Castle.

The Prince of Water can continue creating manifestations to talk to other people in the echo chamber even while kiff-tied with a host. As I believe I mentioned, the zodiac spirits can create lots of manifestations of themselves. However, it’ll knock them out for a week, and the manifestation will disappear if it isn’t tied to a mortal host. And, for “cosmic game” reasons, the zodiac spirits all agreed that they’re each allowed only one host.

Technically, because Sunnie quit, he’s not bound to that rule. He can have as many hosts as he wants as long as he’s not playing, but he would have to rescind all but one to enter the current play. However, that would be out of character for him and then he wouldn’t be Sunnie. When Anti-Cosmo meets Sunnie, Sunnie explains that he hasn’t had a host for… I think it was nine hundred thousand years. He’s a sulker.

Okay, are you following? This is where it gets trickier. The Princely forms of the nature spirits can still interact with one another despite being bound. Imagine that Plane 23 is an empty white void, except the zodiac spirits can see all the Temples. If they weren’t bound, they could see everything. So, the Prince of Water can basically go as far away from his Temple as he wants, floating in an empty white void, until he meets another spirit. Probably the Prince of Soil. 

They can hang out, talk, picnic on food from their offering dishes, kiff-tie, whatever they want. They’re just in a white void that occasionally has floating Temples. The golden chains stretch forever. Like I said, if they weren’t bound, they could see all of Plane 23. But while they’re chained, it’s a void for them.

That’s what it means to be bound. The kids are grounded from playing outside unless they’re supervised by a host, but they can still play with each other inside and hang out in their rooms. So obviously, Winni and Thurmondo are together like, all the time.

Don’t really know how much we’ll get into this in Knots. We’ll see hints of Anti-Cosmo floating in the white void when he kiff-ties with Sunnie the first time.

OKAY! That was the encompassing overview that I was going to share in the worldbuilding post next week, but it’s fine, you can have it now.

Now, let’s look at each zodiac spirit in more detail. Their powers were mentioned in a previous post. Now we’ll look at them more as people and demigods.

TARROW: The Cosmic Jellyfish

Deity of creation, fate, and destiny. Not technically represented on the camarilla. His color is red, and the First General wears a magical red cloak with a jellyfish clasp. The First General does not host Tarrow or carry his favor, but only strives to act impartially and make the final call if the camarilla get locked in a debate. He is meant to act impartially.

The cloak is mostly only worn when appearing before the public, especially during ceremonial events. Anti-Buster, the First General before Anti-Cosmo whom we see in Knots, adores it and wears it almost everywhere, except when he’s sleeping. He thinks it makes him look dramatic and you will see him constantly swishing and flicking it during this story.

DAYFRY: The Hummingbird, Leader, and Peacemaker

Love Years: 1989, 1996, 2003, 2010, 2017; Fairy New Year starts March 15th)

Mastery: Love, balance, loyalty, duty, politeness, gentleness, sacrifice, honor

Parentage: Reality (Tarrow) x Unreality (The Hocus Poconos)

Preferred Favor: Amethyst ring, usually worn on left middle finger

Modern Medium: None (Would probably be Anti-Kanin (Caden))

Overview: Dayfry is the King Solomon archetype- the wise leader of the zodiac spirits… or at least that’s what he tries to be. In reality, he’s a social creature who loves getting his family together to play games and enjoy the holidays. He tries to balance them all out by rushing around and soothing everyone, and keeping them from strangling one another.

All the zodiac spirits gave their names to the day of the week they were imprisoned in their Temple. Coincidentally, they were all imprisoned on different days, in the order of their birth. Wow! Amazing mythology coincidence! Dayfry, of course, gave his name to Friday. Friday is the first day of the week in the Fairy calendar. The work day starts Friday afternoon, and it goes until Wednesday afternoon. People get Thursday off, since the Big Wand gets recharged on Friday morning as we learned in “The Big Fairy Share Scare”, so obviously it must be running at its dregs on Thursday, and people don’t want to use magic or go out and about too much. Friday is a late start day every week. Nice. Additionally, Friday the 13th obviously occurs on Friday. Thus, Dayfry is a very respected deity  in Anti-Fairy culture.

Because of this, Dayfry doesn’t get out much. He may be social with his brothers, but he’s shy around mortals because he’s a huge celebrity. Also, he doesn’t like kiff-tying much. I’m sure he’s done it with a host before, but it’s just not interesting to him. We’ll only see him once in Knots, briefly, when he arrives to visit at the new Water Temple with all his brothers before it gets consecrated with Anti-Cosmo’s blood.

As previously mentioned, Dayfry is the only child Tarrow had with the Hocus Poconos, and is his dad’s obvious favorite. He’s present in spirit at a lot of ceremonial events, but he likes to stay out of the limelight. Like I said, shy celebrity archetype.

Note that Munn is the spirit of kindness and caring for others, whereas Dayfry is more the spirit of acting professional even when you have to work with someone you don’t like. Dayfry is the spirit of swallowing your pride “for the greater good”, of loving the people and prizing the community as a whole above yourself. Additionally, Dayfry is more the spirit of thoughtfulness and wisdom whereas Sunnie is education, logic, and hard facts.

Everyone is always shocked to hear that Dayfry is single and possibly aromantic asexual. But, well. Spirit of youth and virginity, I guess. I figured that a spirit of Love should either be completely asexual or completely pansexual, and since we’ve already got Tarrow running around… yeah, I went with asexual. Also, he’s purple. That’s obvious. He’s the spirit of balance, after all, so it just makes sense that if all his brothers are paired up, he just hangs out by himself as the odd one out. Not that he really minds. You could say that he gave his gift of love to mortals.

Temple: High South (Navy) Region - Plane 4 - Crowfeld, Anti-Fairy World

The Love Temple isn’t far inside the border of Anti-Fairy World, as it’s one of the places that non-Zodii Fairies frequently visit too. It’s actually the church-like building where Cosmo and Wanda were married as we saw in “School’s Out: The Musical”. I mean, come on, guys. It’s purple and people get married there. That was obvious.

Dayfry’s Temple is mostly your stereotypical place of worship. It’s a reverent, quiet area that allows peace and self-reflection and whatnot. It’s shaped like a circle and his echo chamber is in the very middle of it.

Bonds:

Dayfry is on decent terms with all his brothers. They mutually respect him. As the spirit of Balance, he has healthy purple bonds with all of them. However, he has no interest in kiff-tying. He just kind of does his own thing.

SATURN: The Lizard, Warrior, and Team Dad

Fire Years: 1990, 1997, 2004, 2011, 2018

Mastery: Fire, energy, comfort, emotional strength, passion, family, justice

Parentage: Reality (Tarrow) x Light (Prince Morn)

Preferred Favor: Ruby bracelet 

Modern Medium: Anti-Julian (Electro) (Note- I pronounce his name with the ‘H’ sound. I… I don’t know. He’s just always been that way for me.)

Overview: Saturn is the energetic, passionate warrior always willing to take up arms and fight to defend his loved ones. If you mess with his family, you mess with him. He’s even willing to deliver the first blow if he suspects you might mess with his family, though he’s not quite as paranoid about everything as Sunnie is.

Saturn is short-tempered, but as the embodiment of Energy, he’s also super productive. This guy gets things done, and fast. Quality may be questionable sometimes. You can perhaps see why he doesn’t get along well with Twis, who prefers to take things slow and do them right. In mythology, Saturn is the guy who cuts corners, and always has to be humbled by going back and doing them over again more carefully. Though when he doesn’t want to, sometimes he gets frustrated enough to set things on fire. Obviously, when volcanoes erupt, Anti-Fairies panic that someone has horribly offended Saturn.

Saturn is also said to have created the first genies, on level with the creation of Adam and Eve. These genies are called Asja and Galeras, and were mentioned in THIS post awhile back. As a genie breeder, Anti-Cosmo obviously has an interest in Saturn, and visits his Temple when facing major decisions regarding his genies.

So, Saturn is the warrior who cares deeply for his family. That’s probably his main personality trait: His passion. He stands up for what he loves and acts as a brave captain leading the armies of the nature spirits in battle in mythology. He’s easily irritated and revenge-seeking, definitely not someone you want to upset. He tends to devise sick and twisted tortures for those who offend him. He’s not exactly sly and subtle- he’s just the unstoppable, terrifying force, and if you engage him in battle, you will almost certainly lose.

However, he’s not so hot-headed that he’ll forgo logic to fight you. His military training always takes priority. Saturn isn’t the rash enemy who charges you when he’s taunted. He’s the brilliant battle captain who will organize his troops, calculate your weak points, and destroy you. He relies heavily on his faithful strategist, Sunnie, to help him organize his forces, although Sunnie usually tries to calculate plans that result in the least amount of people getting hurt, whereas Saturn is the guy who does care about casualties, but considers them a necessary evil to be sacrificed to win the war if need be.

Previously, I pointed out that the Fairykind don’t have important beliefs about solar or lunar eclipses, because they can’t see those events from the cloudlands. Though, they do have the Fairy-Clipse. Anyway, it seems appropriate to state this again seeing as Saturn is the child of the sun / light / day god and Munn the child of the moon / dark / night goddess. There aren’t any myths about Saturn, Munn, or their parents in regards to solar or lunar eclipses.

Temple: Far West (Maroon) Region - Plane 6 - Shadeblink, Anti-Fairy World

The Fire Temple is shaped like a chocolate chip. It’s all black, smooth, and shiny, with colorful windows where different flames burn behind the glass. There’s a transparent column in the center of the Temple where waves of fire flicker from the bottom and head up towards the top, and burst out occasionally like a colorful volcano. The echo chamber is at the base of this column (not transparent).

This Temple will most likely appear in Knots, probably more than once, but I haven’t gotten to that point yet.

Bonds: (Ordered from “best(?)” relationship to worst. Note that the Anti-Fairies took note of the bonds that the nature spirits share, and believe that similar relationships extend to those born in their year. For example, Saturn and Munn have a close bond, a “yellow” bond, so therefore they believe that Fire and Sky years are naturally compatible.)

Yellow - See Munn’s yellow section

Blue -See Sunnie’s blue section

Pink -See Winni’s pink section

Purple - See Thurmondo’s purple section

Green -See Twis’ yellow section

SUNNIE: The Turtle, Scholar, and Strategist

Water Years: 1991, 1998, 2005, 2012, 2019

Mastery: Water (+ ice), focus, tact, introspection, education, logic, tranquility

Parentage: Born of the tears of a god

Preferred Favor: Turquoise brooch, clasp, or badge 

Modern Medium: Anti-Cosmo (Julius)

Overview: Sunnie is basically a self-serving conspiracy nut who takes advantage of Anti-Cosmo for his own gain, but only when he wants to. He doesn’t like going out of way for things like that. That’s wasted energy, and isn’t practical. It took he and Anti-Cosmo a while to warm up to each other, but they’re usually a good team who work well in sync, especially when studying and making plans. It’s just… they have opposite attitudes about a lot of things. Sunnie will always prioritize survival, especially of himself, whereas Anti-Cosmo prioritizes things like protecting or helping others, even if it puts him at risk. 

Sunnie doesn’t really get the concept of honor, and will frequently take the coward’s way out by running off when things get tough. He doesn’t like to get involved, and when he does, it’s out of necessity. He can be very blunt and calculating, not afraid of stepping on people’s feelings in order to relay accurate information. However, he has low self-esteem and gets panicky and flustered in the face of criticism. He’s easily offended when holes in his plans are pointed out. He’s a scholar and a strategist. Book-smart, but not people-smart.

As previously mentioned, Sunnie is a strategist who puts his all into thinking, and so he’s also a very sore loser. While he doesn’t yell, he pouts and sulks a lot, and will often vent to Twis as Twis plows his fields. Captive audience, right? Sunnie is a complainer, but as a strategist, he does like to try and fix things. But only after complaining and sulking and having his feelings soothed. He likes having his back stroked and patted while he sprawls across your lap.

Sunnie is the scholar who loves to learn. He’s the guy you’d make offerings to when you have major exams coming up. He also has some stereotypical cat-like behaviors, such as sitting on your keyboard when he wants attention and knocking things off desks and cabinets just because he can. You can scold him, but he’ll give you that, “Try me” look and try to stare you down.

In addition to the liquid form of water, Sunnie is also the demigod of snow and ice. Technically he can also be the demigod of boiling water and steam, and he is, so long as we’re talking about steam from water. Fairies turn to dust and Anti-Fairies turn to smoke, but the nature spirits turn to steam. Sunnie has nothing to do with that.

Despite his sacred animal being the turtle, Sunnie is a very agile creature, and this gift extends to those who carry his favor. He’s quick on his toes and capable of rebounding off walls and ceilings with ease in a fight. One of the highlights of Anti-Wanda’s life is the time she convinced Anti-Cosmo to dress up as one of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and take advantage of Sunnie’s agility field bonus. He denies this ever happened.

Temple: Central Star (Purple) Region - Plane 3 - Inkblot City, Pixie World

After H.P. knocked the old Water Temple down because of reasons, Sunnie’s bonds broke and he escaped. Anti-Cosmo chased him down and ordered H.P. to build Sunnie a new Temple. As such, the modern Water Temple was rebuilt in Pixie World, coincidentally also fulfilling the requirement of the law that in order to be legally called a city in the cloudlands, a place must have a Temple on the premises. Funny how things work out sometimes.

The modern Temple is square and very fancy. H.P. spared no expense, much to Anti-Cosmo’s horror at the over-the-top tackiness of the place. It makes its first (fully-built) appearance in “Sunnie Rise”.

The echo chamber is in the “undercloud” area, in the basement.

Bonds:

Yellow - See Twis’ yellow bond section

Blue - Saturn is Energy, Sunnie is Focus. Together, as Stone, they act as though hyped up on coffee and energy drinks.It’s worth pointing out that when I say, “as Stone”, we’re not talking about Gem-like fusion here. No. The Prince of Stone has two forms- either Saturn wearing Sunnie’s favor, or Sunnie wearing Saturn’s favor. It’s usually the first way around, Saturn being more dominant by nature. It’s the same title, even though the two are different.

The personality, mannerisms, agenda, and speech pattern of the more dominant spirit will remain intact, with just a bit of influence from the lesser spirit creeping in (for example, Sunnie’s agility bonus, or Saturn’s battle training); it’s not quite as harmonious a union as Gem fusion. It’s just one spirit borrowing the other one’s powers for a boost. The other spirit is essentially along for the ride, with no ability to control the body- they merely observe the outside world from a passive standpoint while the dominant spirit draws from their energy.

Basically, imagine Saturn wearing Sunnie’s brooch, his personality intact, but hyped up on energy drinks and with the grace of a dancer. The personality is the same, but the physical condition here (energy drink influence) and level of ability (agility) are different. The Prince of Stone will work ceaselessly on whatever task you set him too, usually without getting too distracted. 

And of course, when they come apart (the more dominant spirit takes off the less dominant one’s favor), the less dominant spirit will be “pregnant” for about thirty seconds before giving birth to - you guessed it - a spirit of Stone with a personality and interests similar to whatever was just going on with its “parents”. The title of prince is reserved purely for when two demigods wear each other’s favors, though, and isn’t passed on to the energy manifestation. The “child” is simply called a minor spirit of Stone.

Pink - See Thurmondo’s pink section

Purple - See Munn’s purple section

Green - See Winni’s green section

MUNN: The Albatross, Prankster, and Traveler

Sky Years: 1992, 1999, 2006, 2013, 2020

Mastery: Sky, acceptance, compassion, hope, faith, cheer, speed, safe travel

Parentage: Reality (Tarrow) x Dark (Princess Eve)

Preferred Favor: Sapphire piercings (usually earrings), but for those uncomfortable with piercings, his favor can even manifest as headphones 

Modern Medium: Anti-Wanda (Venus) 

Overview: Munn has a cheery disposition, quick to joke and look at the bright side, though he does have his nervous moments. However, he would rarely be described as “sad”. He gets disappointed at times, but he usually shakes those feelings off without dwelling on them much. He’s just a naturally happy guy, even in very stressful situations.

Munn plays the antagonistic role in much of Anti-Fairy mythology, as he’s viewed as a prankster who often taunts other spirits and creatures and gets into trouble. As the spirit of compassion, he’s a bit backwards in Anti-Fairy society. Anti-Fairies are often kind towards each other because they’re a social species who gather in colonies, but Munn takes things too far by suggesting they make friends even with people who have wronged them, like the Fairies. Gross.

As I mentioned, his prankster nature tends to get him into trouble. He’s a spirit of scouting, stealth, and the arts of escape, and loves to learn people’s secrets. He’s not the blabbermouth that Winni is, though they have been known to team up on occasion to gather information (and do things like set up the Wind Wand on the blue moon in the Vegon system while embodying the Prince of Wind).

Munn may play the antagonistic role in much of Anti-Fairy myth, but he’s still a very nice guy. He just gets excited and puts silly plans into action that usually result in stealing someone’s sacred item and realizing as he runs off with it that yeah, he probably shouldn’t have done that. His brothers generally catch and scold him, and he gets punished for his offenses, but no one’s ever upset enough with him that they would go as far as destroying his Temple and then hunting him down and killing him. They’re still family, after all.

Still, Munn’s adventures aren’t limited to the zodiac spirits, and he appears in mythology as the guy who pulls crazy stunts such as taunting Death and opening the gates of the spirit world into the living realm. Munn is the guy who would stumble across an ancient scroll about how to resurrect the dead and then follow it because, “That would be hilarious if this actually worked”. But, being Munn, he’ll probably mix at least one of the ingredients up, and end up with more than he bargained for.

Sometimes he tries to solve problems on his own, though most of the time when he knows he’s in trouble, he’ll flee to Saturn for protection, to which Saturn’s deadpan response when his half-brother comes skidding in is, “What stupid thing did you do this time?” But, those two are very close. Most people don’t like to mess with Saturn, and will let Munn off with a warning. Most of Munn’s punishments involve Munn helping to clean up the mess he made and return anything he may have stolen, and grovel his apologies. Saturn lets them do that. He just doesn’t like people hurting his family and will step in if they’re punishments entail lots of violence, is all.

Munn is also the demigod of fast, safe, and enjoyable travel, and the guy you would want to make an offering to, perhaps along with a copy of your planned route, if you’re seeking his blessing before a journey. His field bonus is Speed. Anti-Wanda, you see, was a brilliant choice for the Anti-Fairy to sprint during the Fairy World Games. Munn’s speed bonus extends much more to flying than it does to the ground, but Anti-Wanda is still a fast little gal.

Temple: Far East (Pink) Region - Plane 7 - Comet Falls, Fairy World

The Sky Temple is hardly the place you think of first when you think “temple”. Munn cares less about being worshiped directly than he does making people happy and enjoying himself. His place tends to be a wild party all the time, and a lot of sketchy things go on here. Comet Falls is a party town as it is- it’s the place where they had the clock tower that we saw in “School’s Out: The Musical”, when all the godparents were thrilled about the change of the season for their godkids. Anti-Wanda has been able to navigate it without getting into too much trouble, though.

The echo chamber is in the upper, dome-shaped part of the building. The Sky Temple is not scheduled to make any appearances at this time, though I have a loose Prompt about Anti-Wanda planned that will probably end up there.

Bonds:

Yellow - Saturn is Energy, Munn is Acceptance. Together, as Lightning, they are the embodiment of fun and new discovery in a relationship, and their bond is viewed as one of pleasure, exploration, playfulness, excitement, and perhaps a bit of lust. Together they’re seen as spirits who represent the honeymoon phase of a relationship.

Blue -See Winni’s blue section

Pink -See Twis’ pink section

Purple - Sunnie is Focus. As Cloud, they embody everything between playful teasing and deadpan sarcasm. You basically get Sunnie with speed powers and punk piercings, never missing a beat as he roasts you. It’s worth noting that Anti-Wanda carries Munn’s favor and Anti-Cosmo carries Sunnie’s, so these two could take on their Prince of Cloud state every time their hosts decide to be intimate. 

In case you haven’t figured it out by now, this is the joke from that one Inktober piece I drew about Foop saying he just got “the talk about where clouds come from” as he stares accusingly at his parents. It’s also a very funny joke about the giant cloud that accompanied Foop’s birth.

Green - See Thurmondo’s green section

TWIS: The Donkey, Farmer, and Merchant

Soil Years: 1993, 2000, 2007, 2014, 2021

Mastery: Soil, dedication, work, ambition, planning, harvest, physical strength

Parentage: Reality (Tarrow) x Some random gravity spirit Tarrow took an interest in, but whom Twis never really knew seeing as he was abandoned after

Preferred Favor: Thick brown belt with a citrine buckle

Modern Medium: None

Overview: Twis is the “solid as a rock” archetype in Anti-Fairy myth, stubborn and proud. He’ll usually be polite, if a bit gruff, unless you offend him, in which case he’ll probably leave and not come back. He holds long grudges, even if he doesn’t act on them quite as much as Saturn. For the most part, Sunnie is the only one who can sway his mind when he’s being an especially irritable grump. 

He’s a dedicated worker who doesn’t cut corners and will get the job done and get it done well, but at his own pace. Don’t rush him. He hates to be rushed. He doesn’t like criticism, or people in general, and is reluctant to reveal himself to anyone of less authority than a High Count or High Countess born in the Soil year. With exception of relying on the sunlight and water to grow crops, he prefers to work alone and will be extremely frustrated if you try to help but you don’t measure up to his standards. He doesn’t see working with young kids as a way of teaching or bonding with them, and instead will send them off anywhere to get them out of his way. He takes pride in his work and doesn’t like it when his stuff is messed with.

Twis is the spirit of harvest too. He works in tandem with Sunnie to grow crops. He’s also a spirit of bartering, as Anti-Fairies believe that all land has life which is represented by a spirit bear. Twis, then, is the helpful spirit who carries messages to the spirit bears if someone is too embarrassed to pray to them directly. He’s the spirit who gives you strength to stand in front of a crowd, even if Winni is the spirit of communication and memory who helps you find your words and speak clearly.

Twis recognizes what people want and is always willing to put forth the effort to ensure all parties are happy. He’s the merchant spirit who is there when you strike up deals in the marketplace. He’s the careful planner who is there when you are struggling with funds and trying to stick to your budget. He’s a spirit of making deals and keeping loyal to your promises above all else. If you remember, H.P. was born in a Soil year. I think that’s fitting for the Head Pixie.

However, while Twis may be a spirit of work, budgets, and planning, he’s not so much a spirit of charity. He’s very much the ant in “The Ant and the Grasshopper”, a believer that you reap what you sow. He doesn’t enjoy straying from his plans or making sacrifices for someone he can’t prove has put forth their best effort. Of course, he doesn’t like watching these people work either, because he has things to do, nor does he like them working with him. It’s a complicated feeling. The guy just doesn’t like social interaction much, and only Sunnie seems really able to get through to him. Even that’s because Sunnie is helpful and practical, and emotionally distant.

You would think he would be a brony or something, having an affiliation with equines and all, but ain’t nobody got time for that when they live in a paradise with temperate climates year-round. There’s so much to plant and harvest! Also did I mention that he will completely work himself to exhaustion, because he will.

Temple: Lower East (Teal) Region - Plane 5 - Mudhale

The Soil Temple is built straight into a mountain, and it’s the entrance to many cave systems throughout Anti-Fairy World. It collapsed during the early years of the War of the Sunset Divide. H.P. was actually born in the year it collapsed, which is appropriately named the Year of the Fallen Mountain.

After the war, the Temple was restored to its former state. It’s in the same location and is more stable and less likely to collapse now. The echo chamber is deep in the back, among caverns of glowing mushrooms and interesting fauna. Twis doesn’t like visitors and wanted his chamber out of the way.

H.P. and Anti-Cosmo visit the Soil Temple in “Dust to Dirt”.

Bonds:

Yellow - Sunnie is Focus and Twis is Devotion. Together, as Mud, they are the embodiment of loyalty in a relationship, and their bond is viewed as one of tenderness, sweetness, warmth, and pure affection. Together they’re seen as spirits who represent companionate love (the post-honeymoon phase of a long-term relationship).

Blue - See Thurmondo’s blue section

Pink - Munn is Acceptance. As Sand, they embody peace and friendship.

Purple - See Winni’s purple section

Green - Saturn is Energy. As Ash, they embody instability and resistance. Saturn is a creature of passion, and Twis isn’t much for emotions. Saturn likes to rush, Twis likes to take things slow. Twis sees Saturn as sloppy, and Saturn sees Twis as slow. They wouldn’t kiff-tie willingly unless there was a huge emergency. They just don’t get along.

WINNI: The Leopard, Teacher, and Healer

Breath Years: 1994, 2001, 2008, 2015, 2022

Mastery: Breath, communication, health, teaching, sewing, rest, self-care

(Note: Anti-Fairies don’t believe in medicine, because it doesn’t work on them like it works on Fairies. They believe in either praying for miracles or in herbal remedies to soothe pain even if they don’t cure sickness. So instead of being the “spirit of medicine”, they consider Winni the spirit of “remedies”.)

Parentage: Reality (Tarrow) x Life (The Cycling Hen)

Preferred Favor: Beryl button or pin (Anti-Bryndin wears the button on his scarf, Foop / Hiccup would wear it on a vest or coat were they to take Winni’s favor) 

Modern Medium: None (Anti-Bryndin hosts him in Knots)

Overview: Winni is the neat-freak homemaker of the family, who cleans his echo chamber obsessively. Between his nosiness, big mouth, his obsession with cleanliness, and living in a very frequented Temple, he’s the most likely to manifest himself, but you’ll probably get a tongue bath or preening in the process. For someone who so despises dirt, it’s a little surprising that he gets along much better with Twis than he does with Sunnie. Then again, it’s mostly Sunnie that finds Winni annoying rather than the other way around. Winni is still somewhat young for a spirit, and looks up to his elder half-brothers greatly.

Even so, Winni embodies the bossy mentor archetype. What he wants done, he wants done his way, and soon. He’s a bit of a jack-of-all trades, which means that many things come easily to him, which means he struggles to understand why other people can’t seem to measure up to his standards. Though he easily gets frustrated, he tries his best to shrug things off, put on a happy smile, and once again go over his instructions in careful detail. He doesn’t mind repeating himself, but he does get upset if you don’t want to listen to him.

As the spirit of medicine and herbal remedies, Winni obviously knows what he’s doing there. However, he has his set mindset about what helps what, and isn’t good at keeping up with the allergies of individuals, or even noticing if he’s just given them a deadly poison that wouldn’t kill a nature spirit. He means well.

Winni is basically the demigod of teamwork. Sunnie much prefers to work alone. Thus, the two of them are opposites, and because Anti-Cosmo plays on Sunnie’s team, Winni is a bit of an antagonist in Knots. Doesn’t help that he’s the spirit of Communication, and he’s a people-reader and a bit of a manipulator. He’s also horribly impatient, nosy as I mentioned, and a massive blabbermouth. In his free time, he enjoys all types of knitting, weaving, sewing, and embroidery. Most of the zodiac spirits prefer offerings of food, but Winni enjoys offerings of newspapers that keep him updated on the goings-on of the outside world, and he becomes super flattered if you make cross-stitches or sew plushies for him.

His inability to keep his mouth shut most of the time may have something to do with the fact that he screams every morning like a rooster, despite the fact that the rooster is Thurmondo’s sacred animal and Winni’s is the leopard. Maybe his mom and the little Leaves spirit rubbed off on him. The way I see it, Winni’s true form is actually heavily based off a rooster because of his mom, but because he spends so much time with Thurmondo, the rooster became associated with Thurmondo instead of him.

Temple: Lower West (Green) Region - Plane 3 - Godscress, Fairy World

The Breath Temple is also known by the name Temple of Healing. It’s a place of rest and strengthening, and rapidly speeds up the healing rate of all inside it- especially for magical creatures like the Fairykind. It contains a magical fountain, because in addition to being Populous trash, I am also confirmed Age of Mythology trash and I had to reference the Healing Spring.

Winni’s echo chamber is in the middle of the giant fountain. It’s like a volcano, but with healing water.

Bonds:

Yellow - See Thurmondo’s yellow section

Blue - Munn is Acceptance. As Wind, they embody politeness and structure.

Pink - Saturn is Energy. As Lava, they embody laughter and joy.

Purple - Twis is Devotion. As Roots, they embody oaths and fierce loyalty.

Green - Sunnie is Focus. As Blood, they embody sorrow and anxiety.

THURMONDO: The Rooster, Inventor, and Caretaker

Leaves Years: 1995, 2002, 2009, 2016, 2023

Parentage: Reality (Tarrow) x Death (The Grim Reaper) 

Mastery: Leaves, curiosity, courage, initiative, understanding, mercy, humility

Preferred Favor: Jade circlet or tiara, usually of overlapping metal leaves

Modern Medium: Anti-Kyler (Rufus)

Overview: Thurmondo is absentminded, tending to get lost in his own thoughts as he thinks up new inventions, or wanders off after an interesting falling leaf. He’s the type who doesn’t mind being alone to work, though he does love people, and talking to them, as he finds them fascinating and loves to hear stories. He’s generally low-maintenance, though he’s nitpicky about special ceremonies and insulted when they aren’t done to his specifications.

Namely, Thurmondo knows his place as the youngest and submissive. He and those born in his zodiac are often followers rather than leaders. A stickler for tradition, Thurmondo becomes upset when, for example, someone born in his year attempts to lead someone of another zodiac through a ceremonial dance. Traditions like that. He’s paranoid about getting in the way and a bit superstitious that if doesn’t play his part, order and structure will collapse.

He has a shy nature, though if pushed far enough, he will make an effort to stand up for himself. Of course, the results of that effort depend on the reaction of whomever he’s standing up to. Thurmondo has a brave heart, but also a humble one, which can lead him to second-guess himself. This prevents him from rushing into battle like hot-headed Saturn, but the more Thurmondo starts to second-guess himself, the more nervous he becomes. 

He used to be bolder in his younger years, but Winni’s really done a number on him; now, Thurmondo is viewed as more of an awkward and cowardly spirit than the clever inventor he once was. He still picks at his projects, but he doesn’t spend as much time on his research as he’d like to. His 24/7 relationship with Winni keeps his mind pretty busy. He’s easily distracted and can’t split his attention between separate tasks like Sunnie can.

Thurmondo may not be the one you would seek out for advice most of the time, but he would be the one you pray to when you don’t think you can go on any longer, especially when in unpleasant circumstances like abusive relationships (not even romantic ones necessarily). Thurmondo is the spirit of pulling through, the one who wants you to succeed and escape even if he can’t.

I wrote a potential Prompt about him and Winni, but because of the nature of abuse and coercion, I’m still deciding if I ever want to share it. If I do, it will be towards the end of the project, where only those with the determination to make it through the rest are likely to find it.

He’s basically given birth zillions of time and has oodles of children. The little guys never seem to last long, though. They often get… eaten.

Temple: High North (Blue) Region - Plane 4 - Near the FGP, Fairy World

The Leaves Temple is a quiet museum at its back, and the area at the front is full of puzzles, games, toys, and stuff to experiment and play with. Lots of fun for kids. the echo chamber is on the top floor.

Thurmondo’s Temple first appears in the distance during “Cotton Candy Oatmeal”, and is later visited in “Letters and Numbers”.

Bonds:

Yellow - Winni is Communication and Thurmondo is Curiosity. Thurmondo is also the spirit of change, especially the seasons. His spring form is one of innocence and discovery, of tentativeness and losing virginity. His summer form is one full of passion and delight. His autumn form is one of uncertainty, shame, passive-aggression, and reluctance. Finally, his winter form is one of fear and struggle, the relationship between him and Winni a drastic power imbalance of lust and abuse. Every winter, Thurmondo swears he’ll keep his memories and remember what Winni is like in winter and avoid falling back into his trap, but he loses his memories on March 14th every year, and with the new year, Winni patiently teaches him that he’s a nature spirit all over again.

Together, as Oxygen, they are the embodiment of uncertainty and hope in a relationship, and their bond is viewed as one of development, learning, realization, adaptation, and teamwork. It’s worth pointing out that from Winni’s perspective, the pair are literally creating oxygen when they’re together, so when Thurmondo resists him, Thurmondo is literally strangling people who need oxygen to breathe. Additionally, as a spirit with the ability to heal at an extremely rapid rate himself, Winni has some difficulty comprehending physical pain in others. Due to the oxygen thing, he’ll freak out when Thurmondo isn’t around, and is willing to use his powers of Communication for dirty manipulative tricks to make Thurmondo feel selfish and worthless when he wants to take a break.

Winni’s winter form has a better understanding that what he’s doing is wrong and might even feel guilty for it if you press him, though he’ll still shrug it off because he thinks he’s just doing his duty. In his autumn form, he is completely 100% convinced that he’s doing the right thing and that the people need them. In his spring form, like Thurmondo, he can also be viewed as a spirit of losing virginity, though he’s the “rite of passage” and “coming into adulthood” type of losing virginity as opposed to Thurmondo’s “wanting to give it to someone you love” or “the time just feels right”, because of course he is.

Together they’re seen as spirits who represent staying together out of necessity for the benefit of their children. Abusive relationships aren’t good from a human point of view, but for Anti-Fairies, who end up in relationships with those their counterparts do, it’s comforting to know that Thurmondo is sticking it out. When they remember the abuse Thurmondo takes from Winni every winter, suddenly the faults in their own partner don’t seem so bad.

Blue - Twis is Devotion. The weirdest thing is, Thurmondo’s field bonus is Copycat. Despite being the automatically submissive spirit, he actually can influence the mindset of those he kiff-ties with. As the Prince of Mulch, Twis’ Devotion combined with Thurmondo’s Curiosity would give you Twis’ body and personality, but instead of being devoted to farming, Twis would suddenly find himself super interested in Thurmondo’s inventions and research projects. Good luck dragging him away from those.

Pink - Sunnie is Focus. Again, Thurmondo has the power to influence the spirit in control, though whether he knows he’s doing it or not is up to debate. The Prince of Dew will lose Thurmondo’s spaciness, and is instead a brilliant mastermind who will rapidly learn anything and everything about whatever you give him to study.

Purple - Saturn is Energy. The Prince of Nitrogen is fast and furious, easily distracted, and prone to running off after anything that catches his attention and tackling it into submission. He’s super touchy-feely and will poke your face.

Green - Munn is Acceptance, but he’s also the spirit of compassion. Munn is a spirit of consent and joy, and when he and Thurmondo aren’t kiff-tied, he views his youngest half-brother in his hormonal summer form. However, when they are together, the Prince of Fungus gets slammed with all of Thurmondo’s burdens and self-doubts, and becomes overwhelmed with grief and shame. Munn doesn’t know how to deal with Thurmondo’s emotions, so the Prince of Fungus shuts down, withdrawing into himself and being mostly unresponsive, apart from the occasional snarky comment. He’s not too helpful and has a scathing outlook on the world at all times.

It’s super rare for Thurmondo to kiff-tie with other nature spirits, though, considering the hold Winni has on him. I can’t imagine any situation in my works when it would come up. Thurmondo’s fate is pretty set, and this post is simply here for you to think about the different possibilities that could result. But you shouldn’t really expect to see them in practice.

Here’s an overview zodiac kiff-tie chart. The background color of each box shows the color of the bond. The color of the text is the default dominant spirit.

There you go! That basically covers everything you could possibly need to know about the zodiac spirits! Whom you won’t be seeing until like Act 3, but okay, you do your thing and I’ll do mine.

[aestheticdumpp]

introduced and presented.

Each dignified event was as important as the last, but the week in which leaders and figureheads from all over the world gathered together was the most simultaneously exciting and nerve wracking. Royalty from each and every country came together for official meetings regarding alliances and trades and to boast prosperity.

However, Princess Holly of Fitzroy didn't care much for the business side of things; she'd never had much interest in the numbers and the specifics of it all, and moreover, it wasn't a lady's place to be involved. Or, at least, that was what the people of Fitzroy believed. Their princess was not entirely sure this was true, but she had no urge to combat it. It was not an issue she knew how to tackle.

And besides, it wasn't ladylike to do so.

They had been situated in a guest room, waiting to be presented to a grand ballroom filled with their noble peers. This year, the Week was in Dominica. She'd once met the Queen of Dominica, an elderly woman who referred to herself as the nation's grandmother, and had found her quite dear and charming, but knew no more of the country beyond that – except that she found it far too warm.

When the staff had told them that it was their cue to present themselves, Holly checked herself once over in the mirror – the headdress of baby's breath, small pink roses, and brilliant golden leaves sat in her long, curled red hair, pinned in places as if it fell naturally so; her dress, modest with its high neck, long sleeves, and full skirt, was a soft white colour, with small golden and pink detailing to match. She was pale, very much so, and had a minimal amount of makeup on, just enough to make her eyes bigger and bluer.

The very picture of Fitzroy tradition.

They entered the room and Holly surveyed the people as best she could without appearing as if she was doing so. She spotted the royal family from Rouge, their Grand Duchess sitting front and centre, and felt herself grow intimidated. Their culture was vastly different to her own; the women wore dresses that nearly bore their bodies, they all spoke loudly and out of turn, and would often shoehorn a parade or festival out of every celebration. It startled her. Not to mention, their Grand Duchess – Madison? – had been known to be both gentle and ruthless. She didn't know what to think.

Nearby, the royal family of Virginia were settling into their spot – they had entered just before her own family. Holly spotted Thomas, the Prince, and smiled at him subtly. He caught it, slipped her a playful wink, and as she felt her face flush, she saw him chuckle to himself. He'd been her longest friend and she loved him very much, and she was thrilled to see him again.

Holly wasn't given much more of a chance to survey the room when she and the nobility of Fitzroy had reached the royal Dominican family. The elderly queen sat in her throne, a thing of such ornate design, and smiled at them warmly. Holly's father, the King, greeted the woman with practised tradition, before she introduced the two men beside her.

The first was the smallest. His name was Sonny, and he was to be Duke as soon as his brother took over.

But oh, gosh, his brother.

His name was Usnavi, and his shoulder length dark hair was pulled back into a ponytail. He stood a head taller than her, and met her with the richest, most enchanting eyes she'd ever seen.

He had noticed her too; or at least, she corrected herself modestly, they'd happened to make eye contact. That was a start. For her, anyway. When he had greeted her, Holly had to remind herself to stay calm – they were in front of so many people! She couldn't be rude.

"Hola. I am Usnavi."

His voice wasn't deep and rich like Thomas', nor was it as crisp and proper like her dear friend George's, but it was almost musical to her.

"Hello." She stuttered nervously, taking his extended hand. "I'm Holly."

He'd taken her wrist to his lips, bending low to reach it, before smiling back up at her as he righted himself.

"So I've heard. I hope you enjoy our little performance later. Thomas says you love music."

She smiled brightly, letting out a polite giggle. "Oh, yes. So telling of one's culture, and yet so relatable for all kinds of people."

Usnavi squeezed her hand as both Holly's father and the Duke, her friend George, eyed them up. She had grown stiffer under their gaze, nervous. He gave her a charming, warm grin, before dropping her hand.

"We will speak later, I hope."

"U-uh. Certainly."

Several moments went by and soon enough, dignitaries were mingling, disappearing to other rooms, to balconies and to gardens, heading into a dining hall where a banquet had been arranged, and suddenly the room was quite empty. All that remained were the Grand Duchess – Holly was so sure her name was Madison –of Rouge, the Dominican princes, Thomas, herself and George, with a handful of squires and handmaidens, and some people from countries Holly had never been to.

George kept an arm around her until he was invited to dine with a few men. He turned to her, and she merely smiled at him, insisting he enjoy himself.

"But, darling-"

"George, you have all week to talk business and be respectable. Enjoy the frivolities."

The men disappeared quickly and as soon as George had turned a corner, she caught Thomas' eye.

Her dearest, oldest friend was approaching her rather quickly, excited to reunite after nearly three months of being separated. He lifted her off her feet in greeting and the redhead could help but laugh.

"Thomas! I'm so excited to see you! It's been far too long."

He grinned at her, taking a hold of her hands. "You're right. Come on, you've gotta meet some people."

Thomas offered her his arm and she took it, grateful he would indulge her in a little more Fitzroy tradition. He must have known how nervous she was. As they crossed the hall, he spoke quietly to her and she giggled, making small remarks back that caused him to laugh heartily.

Across the room, the eldest Prince of Dominica was talking to the Grand Duchess; they'd met on various occasions throughout their lives, and were able to call themselves friends. Perhaps not ones that were incredibly close, but ones who enjoyed each other's company very much.

The Grand Duchess turned to her friend, watching as the two least likely old friends embraced and laughed and walked closely.

"That's... odd. Prince Thomas is meant to be really... smooth. Relaxed. The Fitzroy girl, or so I've heard, is quite uptight."

"The whole culture is."

"Yeah, but you know what I mean. It's weird."

Usnavi grinned. "You're weird."

Madison rolled her eyes but smiled all the same as her friend lightheartedly teased her. They watched as the younger Prince, Sonny, clapped Thomas on the back and spoke to his redheaded friend amicably. Usnavi was watching her react to her brother, and Madison smirked.

"What, is Vanessa not enough for you?"

He huffed. "I don't like the whole arranged thing, you know. Abuela is trying to set it up. It's not... formally arranged. It just feels forced."

"She may as well be a concubine, Usnavi, all she wants is the money."

He eyed her carefully. "Don't I know it."

"Ayo, Usnavi!" Sonny called as he approached the two. He stopped in his tracks, gave a mockingly deep bow to Madison, who laughed in response, before straightening up.

"You gotta speak to the Fitzroy girl. Man, she's so easy to fluster. It's hilarious."

Usnavi raised an eyebrow, chuckling. "Are you bullying visiting royalty?"

"Only a little. But I'm cute and charming, so it's okay."

He darted off to take part in the banquet, and Usnavi turned to Madison. She looked up at him.

"Have you ever met her?"

"Before today? No."

Madison hummed, shrugging. "She's meant to be nice, underneath all that tradition."

"Let's go meet her, then. I have to say hello to Thomas, anyway."

After dragging the Duchess to her feet – Thomas was somebody, she believed, was enjoyed best in small, infrequent doses – the two approached the other pair.

Thomas and Usnavi shook hands, beaming at each other and falling into conversation very easily. It was something neither girl cared much for – Holly because it was not her business, and Madison because she didn't care.

She grew bored quickly, sighing. Best she take control of the conversation. "I'm Madison. I'm the Grand Duchess of Rouge. I was introduced before the two of you, so I thought I'd better introduce myself."

Thomas surveyed her quickly, carefully, not not subtly. He didn't care to be subtle, and this much was obvious from his magenta suit robes.

"Thomas. I'm the Prince of Virginia. Big place, large population. Known best for crops, mainly. We're–"

"Darling." His friend spoke up, taking his arm in a tighter grip to get his attention. "I'm sure the Grand Duchess doesn't care much for geographical logistics. She's just saying hello."

"Oh." He eyed her again, deciding the redhead was right. "Well, hello."

Usnavi smiled, containing a chuckle at his friend's expense. "You're Holly, right? Princess of Fitzroy?"

Holly looked up at him, a little startled, and nodded. "Uh, yes, your highness."

"You needn't use formalities with me."

"Oh trust me." Thomas interjected, "She needs to. It's best to just let her."

His tone was joking, prodding lightly at his friend, but there was a layer of something defensive over his friend, and Madison squinted, unsure how a man so obviously arrogant as Thomas could also be gentle and protective.

It sounded odd, but she didn't question it.

Holly blushed under the attention that was now focused on her, but she deflected it masterfully, asking Madison about her travel to Dominica.

They stood there and chatted for almost forty minutes before George had returned to fetch Holly. He introduced himself, barely, before whisking her out of the room, hand planted firmly on her lower back.

"Are they together?" Madison asked Thomas, assuming he'd be the man to know.

She assumed correctly. "Sort of. He's interested in marrying her for title and money, but her parents aren't very sure of him yet. He's a Baron, so there's some nobility in him, but the obstacle is that he's a major asshole."

Usnavi said nothing during the whole exchange, watching the retreating Fitzroy representatives.

"You alright, Usnavi?"

"Hm? Oh. Yeah. Let's go to the banquet."

Despite their slowly clashing personalities, Madison looked at Thomas for confirmation that Usnavi was indeed acting weird. One look at the Virginian assured her that he agreed, but they followed their friend anyway.

[phdna]

How do you reconcile wanting more male-male friendships that are openly affectionate and also wanting more representation? Because I love Steve and Bucky as friends, but I think representation matters and I never know if I should or shouldn't ship them... (And would your answer for this depends on whether we're talking about MCU or comics?)

I don’t have much time now so I’ll be ultra quick in my answer. I hope that’s fine. It’s just that this question has been in my inbox for a while now and I think it’ll be rude if I don’t answer it now. I wish I had more time!

So, first of all, I’m really not the best person to ask about this! You see, you really ought to be asking people who are directly affected by representation, in this case, people who identify as LGBT+. I usually write down my sexuality as quoisexual/quoiromantic, though for the past months I’ve been wondering if I’m not grey ace/aro. But either way, this is not a major part of my life and so I wouldn’t call myself LGBT+ and by default am not a good person to talk about this kind of thing.

However, while I encourage you to find other people to ask this to (more than one, btw, because naturally, no person can speak for an entire group), I’ll still answer this ask, so as long as you remember this is a personal opinion you should take with several grains of salt.

I’m a huge fan of close platonic relationships, regardless of what genders are involved. BROTPs are one of my favorite things in the world. I love to see women being there for each other (still mourning the end of Peggy and Angie), I love to see men and women loving each other without being love interests (Steve and Nat and Steve and Wanda are personal favorites), and I love to see men openly caring about each other with no “No Homo” tags attached (Steve and Sam and Steve and Bucky are a given, but can we also talk about Tony and Rhodey, please?). All these things are rare. Female characters are sorely lacking in the MCU (and in the world in general), and usually the ones that do exist hate each other or simply don’t interact. Everybody also knows that if a man and a woman get along in any meaningful way, they’re secretly soulmates, or are at least up to some casual making out, right? - well, Hollywood is pretty sure that’s how it goes, anyway. But male-male friendships are weird in the sense that there’s plenty of them to pick - but far too few are actually… well, loving. Loyal, sure. Interesting, definitely. But affectionate? Openly emotional? Nah.

Now, some of this comes down to the general rule that men aren’t allowed to have feelings. (Which is complete BS and one of the reasons why men also need feminism.) I think fiction has to acknowledge this to some extent. For the past several decades, men have been taught to not express emotions except for violent or sexual ones, and well… it’s hard to imagine a bunch of guys in modern day America not being emotionally repressed to some extent. So that’s a factor that comes into play when writing a script. That being said, using that as an excuse to have muscly icebergs of testosterone parading around as human beings is simply lazy writing. I don’t really expect the Avengers to go all “LET ME HUG YOU AND TELL YOU HOW MUCH I LOVE YOU”  to each other, or even to want to do that, but if you have to tell me “Oh they actually care about each other” for me to see it, then this is being done wrong. One of these days I’ll make a post about it, but an easy example is Steve and Tony. In Avengers and AoU, we’re supposed to believe they actually care about each other underneath all the fighting. And yeah, I think they care a bit, as teammates. But in CACW, you can actually see it without having Teaming Up Moments or “But I Actually Respect You!” Speeches. There’s actually friendly body language, there’s them seeing right through each other’s BS, there’s worrying about each other without particularly noticing it. And that’s an antagonistic dynamic!! You can do much more with people who DO get along. But that’s only if you acknowledge that men are human beings and human beings have hearts, and that hearts =/= hormones.

But not writing male emotion well isn’t the only thing that keep us from having genuinely affectionate male-male friendships. There’s the whole No Homo culture. I don’t think I have to elaborate here, but just to clarify - if men are affectionate towards each other, they must be secretly gay.

…so what?

I mean, if a guy wears a baseball cap, somebody might think he’s into baseball. Do you think your average guy would stop wearing baseball caps ever or have to say “Dude, I’m not a baseball fan, I’m wearing this baseball cap for a completely unrelated yet true reason” as a default disclaimer? That sounds bizarre. And it IS bizarre. Because there’s nothing wrong with being mistaken by a baseball fan. Which leads us to… well, the entire No Homo culture happens because society teaches that being guy is a bad thing.

So part (only part!!!) of the reason I would love for Steve and Bucky to be canon in the MCU is because I want more male-male friendships! If being gay stops being seen as wrong, there’ll be nothing wrong with seeming gay. So even if a random BROTP some years from now explodes as a ship, there’ll be no reason to change their dynamics, much like they don’t often change male-female dynamics just because people are shipping them when the Official Ship is a different one.

Personally, Steve and Bucky are my BROTP. That’s how I see them, that’s how I headcanon them. Politically? I’ll take any chance to yell at Marvel that making them an official OTP is something I want. Because I DO want it. My headcanons are far less important than the effect that Captain America being bi would have on so many people who need to see this happening. But at the same time, I can also yell at Marvel to keep writing men having positive, emotional relationships with each other. It’s one of those situations you can have your cake and eat it too. In general, I want to see more friendships; in particular, I want the symbolism of Captain “Always Right” America and Bucky “Baddass In Human Form” Barnes being LGBT+. Mostly, because I’m not LGBT+, I’m an ally, and being an ally means I fight together with them. And if their current (is it current? I haven’t been much online lately) fight is that, then my voice will be heard in support of them. That’s pretty much it.

Now, this is all an oversimplification. Society isn’t made of neat bullet points. It’s more of a web. So if you start wondering why men aren’t allowed to have loving friendships with each other in the way women usually are, you’ll end up uncovering lots of theories about feminism and gender and other stuff like them. Look them up! Educate yourself! Because this is really complicated and there’s no cookie-cutter answer, I believe. So maybe you’ll end up realizing (and please, please, please, talk to all minorities involved as you do that!) that you feel more strongly about the emotional repression of men than about LGBT+ issues. It’s possible and it’s not for me to say it that’s right or wrong. (Again, talk to the people directly affected by these things!)

All this being said, I strongly believe shipping shouldn’t be about what you feel you should be doing, but about what you enjoy. I think it IS a moral duty to do SOMETHING to make the world a more equal place for all, but it doesn’t necessarily have to be how you consume entertainment. You have to be critical and you have to take a stand when the media crosses the line, yes, but there are other forms of activism to explore as well, and it’s an impossible standard to be in social justice mode 24/7. Do what makes you happy, just make sure you aren’t being a passive bystander when it comes to other people’s rights.

But just to say it one more time: this is only my opinion and I’m probably wrong about at least something.

As for whether my answer would depend…………….. I don’t know. I feel a little conflicted about shipping Steve and Bucky in the comics because there are definitely father-son overtones to their dynamics even though modern comics have them having only a small (4 years, give or take) age gap now. I feel like making them canon might do more harm than good, because it could be very, very easily twisted to make them sound like an abusive relationship of some sort. Even in universe, it could be problematic: Bucky sees Steve as his commander, and Steve still sees Bucky as a child, and I’m not sure I can imagine what would need to happen for them to actually get together without either of them or both feeling uncomfortable, possibly enough to make this a slightly dubcon-y situation. But then again, a talented writer could probably make it work by playing down the creepy elements and playing up the fact that they DO see each other as equals and would never do anything to hurt each other on any level (which is also true.) So my answer is basically: I don’t know.

So yeah, that’s my far from perfect reply to your ask. Sorry for the delay - and for the length!

[milasartblog]

Flower event

Human world is full of different events: some are about music, some are about food, and here is one very charming - flower event. And today was that special day in human world: August Summer Flower Event. On such event people decorate parks and squares, where the event is holding, with different majestic flowers. In such way some people prepare the city to the upcoming autumn. And some people gather around to look at flowers and just have a great time. And not only humans.

Michael: I'm actually surprised that you went with me, Gabi.

Gabriel: Well, I just wanted to be with my brother. Is it strange?

Michael: Not really, just you are usually not interested in human culture, and here you are with me on such amazing event. Just look how many flowers are here.

He looked around with amazement, while Gabriel wasn't that surprised.

Gabriel: Well, we also have many flowers in Heaven.

Michael: But here is the special occasion. I heard that in this city people say goodbye to summer and welcome the autumn. I know that there are other ways people use for it, but this one got my attention.

Gabriel: I still find it a bit weird.

Michael: If you say so. Oh, I also heard that flower shop owners also participate in this event-

And at this moment Gabriel couldn't hear his brother. Just one mention of flower shop owner and his mind is focused on one girl - Iris. He quickly began to look around for her while Michael kept explaining what flower shop owners do in such event. When he finished talking, he noticed Gabriel's weird action.

Michael: Ummm, Gabriel? Are you okay?

Gabriel jumped a bit from surprise, nervously smiling.

Gabriel: Y-Yeah? Did something happen?

Michael: I noticed that you spaced out a bit, and also looked around in chaos. Were you looking for someone? Or something?

Gabriel: Me? Pff, what could archangel like me look for something or someone in human world?

Michael: Well, that's okay if you were looking for something. I just thought that something got your attention.

Gabriel: Nah, I'm fine for now.

But of course it was lie, he was nervous and felt awkward for doing this in front of Michael. Really, what could archangel possibly look for in human world? And yet, Gabriel kept looking for one human with whom he planned to talk to, but couldn't find a time for it. He so wanted to do this step. Michael didn't want to ask more questions to Gabriel, so he just believed his brother. And suddenly, Gabriel could see a familiar figure not so far from him and Michael. His body immediately covered in nervous. He wanted to walk to her immediately, but also he couldn't let his brother know about it yet. Gabriel tried to see if there is anything he could use for his advantage. Fortunately, organizers of the event announced about an open-air art gallery, where artists of this city present their best works of still lifes for the season.

Michael: Oh, look, the open-air art gallery will be open soon. Want to take a look?

Gabriel: Umm, I will pass it.

Michael: Huh? I thought you like art galleries.

Gabriel: Yeah, but you know that I'm not into flowers paintings.

Michael: Oh, right, I forgot about it. Well, I will go and take a look. Let's meet here in an hour, okay?

Gabriel: Yeah, sounds great to me.

With Gabriel's awkward smile and waving gesture, brothers went to their directions. Gabriel sighed with relief as finally he could use this moment to talk to Iris. When he walked to the place where Iris was, he tried to cool down and act naturally.

Gabriel: Hello, Iris.

Iris: Oh, Mr Gabriel. I didn't expect that you will be here.

Gabriel: Just Gabriel is okay. And well, I heard that there will be such event, so I decided to pay a visit. I didn't know you will be here too.

Iris: Well, this is an opportunity for us, flower shop owners, to promote ourselves. Plus, it's so beautiful here.

Gabriel: Yeah, I can see why.

They smiled as Gabriel kept trying to stay calm. Iris is just an ordinary human, why such feeling is jumping inside him, the thought came across his mind.

Iris: So, how is the event for you?

Gabriel: Me? Oh, well, I h-haven't been in such events like this, so it's surprisingly amazing.

Iris: I can understand such feeling. Such events are only one I enjoy to walk and spend time.

Gabriel: Really?

Iris: Yep. It feels like you're with nature, while nature tries to be in peace with our city. Isn't it wonderful?

She looked at him with smile, which made Gabriel blush immediately. He couldn't understand what was happening, his cheeks were burning. How could someone be sincerely pretty? If not his objective, he could still stay with his thoughts.

Gabriel: Umm, Ms Iris?

Iris: Yeah?

He looked down awkwardly, hesitating to say it. And yet, he would not be an arckangel if he was that afraid to speak.

Gabriel: I...I have something to ask you. Just don't get me wrong, okay?

Iris: ? Why do you say so?

Gabriel: The thing is....Do you mind if....we stay in touch? I kinda like you.

Iris got surprised for a moment. It was unexpected ask for her, moreover, it's been years since someone asked something like this. But hesitation took over her.

Iris: I....I don't know.

Gabriel: You don't know? Why?

Iris: It's.....I'm not sure about it. I...have never had any friends before. I mean, real friends.

Gabriel: Really?

She nodded. Gabriel was stunned and didn't know what to do in such situation: ask her about the reason, try to comfort her or just change the subject. Questions were definitely not suitable, as it could make her feel like she is on interrogation, so he decided to comfort her.

Gabriel: Well, I can be your first friend.

Iris: Really?

Gabriel: Of course. Plus, I kinda like you and would like to know you more.

He gave a comforting and kind smile, which made Iris think for a moment. Her hesitation slowly was fading away, but to feel more confident, she said to Gabriel.

Iris: Can we meet at church that is not far from central park?

Gabriel: Huh? Well, yeah, why so?

Iris: I...I just feel more comfortable to talk about myself there.

Gabriel: Oh...well, we can do it. After this event?

Iris: Sounds good to me.

Gabriel: Good. So, does it mean that we're friends?

Iris: I think so. Well, at least friendly. Oh, I'm sorry, but I have to go now. Need to pick up things before coming back to my shop.

Gabriel: Need any help?

Iris: Oh no, I will handle it myself.

Gabriel: Are you sure? If I help you, we can still go to the church and talk there, and no need to wait till the event is over.

Iris thought for a moment and then nodded in agreement.

Iris: Okay, you can help me.

Gabriel: Sweet. But first I need to check something. I will be back soon.

And quickly he ran to the place where he and Michael were supposed to meet each other.

Michael: Oh, Gabi, I thought that I lost you for a-

Gabriel: I'm fine, Michael, don't worry. Also, brother, I think you have to go back to Heaven without me.

Michael: Why?

Gabriel: I...I got a feeling that there is a soul that needs our guidance, so I want to make sure that everything is good.

Michael: Want me to go with you?

Gabriel: No!....I mean, I want to do it myself. You know, to not scare a human.

Michael: Oh, okay. Call me if things are going not well, okay?

Gabriel: Okay. When I come back, tell me what you saw in the gallery.

Michael: Will do. Take care, Gabi!

Gabriel: You too!

And brothers went to their directions. It didn't take that long for Gabriel to help Iris to get things back to the shop, but time was still wasted as today city was so crowded and because angels shouldn't show their wings and powers, Gabriel had to walk on foot. Finally after couple of hours of walking back to flower shop, Iris unpacked her things for shop and then closed it for today.

Iris: Well, now to the church?

Gabriel: Yes.

And they walked to the church, where Iris can speak calmly and peacefully.

-----------------

And that's another story of our universe^^ Heat still kills motivation to write, but we will survive X) Hope you will enjoy it^^

Gabriel, Michael and Iris belong to @wildstarfan and @milasartblog (both me)

Okaria et Feria belongs to @wildstarfan and @captainthane