#and rotate them some more in my mind palace

[localclownbaby]

even though Ciel relies on Sebastian for almost everything, he is also terrified of losing control over their contract.

Despite the fact that he trusts Sebastian, it seems to him that if he lets go of the leash, something bad will happen.

but after all these years, with shaking fingers he can let go of it even if for a night. he can finally close his eyes, breathe out and let the leash fall.

[traumawhomst]

Ok but adoptive Fae King Dad rotating in my mind like a rotisserie chicken.

(800 words)

At first he thought you were a perfect chance to teach some humans a lesson. Letting a child walk alone in woods where Fae were known to live? Someone was going to learn sooner or later.

He stood dramatically waiting for your attention, ready to launch into a full lecture about how because of your neglectful parents he was going to turn you into some yet undecided woodland creature.

But you surprise him, you’re smart enough to know the potential trouble you’re in but also openly curious about him.

He’s always been a bit vain so when you start asking questions about him, his clothes and his magic, he can’t help himself from giving all the answers you wish.

Before he’s realized it, it’s been an afternoon and you’re politely requesting his help in bringing you home.

All plans of turning you into a bird or a squirrel are forgotten as he walks you to the forest’s edge warning you of the dangers of his domain.

He watches you make your way back to the hovel you call a home and he is already deciding in which wing of his palace you’ll be staying in.

You’re not the first child he’s taken an interest in, you have a few siblings at home you’ve yet to meet. None of which are surprised when their father comes home in a whirlwind already barking orders to his staff about getting rooms ready, clothes made and a ball to formally introduce you to his court as his youngest child.

He’s surprised when you willingly come back to his forest, sure that your parents would forbid it after you’d told them about Him, already four steps deep into a plan on how he was going to lure you back. But now he sees a much simpler path forward.

You started to come to the forest nearly daily and you talk and explore with him for hours at a time. It became a comfortable and solid routine, and you trusted if you came he would be there.

He immediately can tell how starved for attention you are, happily rambling about whatever you wished as you and Him walked together in his forest. The perfect foundation to build his plan on.

One day while you two are relaxing in the forest, you make mention of his more unnatural features, his horns, his wings, his teeth, with a tiny hint of jealousy.

He casually brings up his other children, talking about how they were once human, but now were fully Fae like him. A simple transformation, really. He says pretending not to notice the hunger that grows in your eyes.

He loves to compliment you, about how brave, smart and curious you were. He’d often go on about how proud your family must be of you. How they must’ve showered you in praise. Of course he’s not surprised when you nod and smile along, the smile not reaching your eyes.

He knows that it’s almost time when you bring up his other children, asking about what they were like. Watching you pretend not to care about the answer made him want to forget all his plans and take you home then. But he did not become King through rushed action.

So he talks about them and he’s unable to contain his joy and love when he does. All of them unique and interesting each he loved more than the world its self. He explained how all of his children chose to be with him. All from less than perfect homes, all who saw the life he offered and took it.

Then you and your parents have a fight, you’re spending too much time alone in the forest and now people are gossiping about your family.

Even at your young age, you know that the fact that they care more about people’s gossip than your safety and it escalates to a huge mess. Your parents forbid you from ever going to the forest again and it’s your breaking point.

That night you sneak out running to the forest as quick as possible, and as always he is waiting for you with open arms. He holds you as you cry, everything coming out about how your parents never cared and how you wished to have a parent like him.

Your face is buried in his shirt and so you don’t see the smile that slowly grows over his face. He gently calms you down and says how happy he’d be to have a child like you. And if you wanted, you could become as much of a Fae as he. You even get a family as a bonus.

How could you ever say no?

[the-everqueen]

wip tag game

tagged by @two-hands-toward-the-sun. i have...more wips than i remember at any given time, and i just peck at whichever one when the spirit moves me (usually when i'm procrastinating actual work). currently there's eight active in the rotation, with another handful that are more conceptual/bits and pieces i want to come back to later.

Sandman

Lucienne takes the Corinthian for walkies: this is in response to a Valentines day prompt @two-hands-toward-the-sun sent me, "going on a platonic date and being mistaken for a couple." Dream weaponized his sad wet eyes at Luce to make her take some PTO and also provide some enrichment for his recreated masterpiece. they go to the MOMAT

As though attuned to her thoughts, the Corinthian hangs back at a respectable distance—not out of sight, but perhaps out of mind, if she wished. When Lucienne frowns at him, trying to discern whether this is some kind of trick, he makes a show of fiddling with the audio guide, head turned away as he hooks the piece over his ear.

does your husband know the way the sunlight gleams on your wedding ring: Corinthian/Calliope fic in the period between Orpheus and Calliope & Dream's divorce. once again, a woman takes Coco out for her idea of a good time and proves literally anyone else would be a better owner for the Corinthian than Dream.

He means to retreat. He doesn’t think she’s noticed him, and he wouldn’t impose on her privacy. Calliope was always nice to him. But grief smells like weakness, and a Muse’s grief smells different from that of the humans he stalks in dreams, wearing the faces of their long-departed. His mouths water at the scent, unfamiliar but delectable. For a fleeting moment, he wonders what her eyes might taste like, what he’d see if he took them in his own.

gay coworkers: words are HAPPENING in the next installment!

“Technically—" “C’mon, a memory wipe is hardly better—" “I’m not defending his actions, I’m simply pointing out—" “Stop talking about me like I’m not here,” the Corinthian snaps. Matthew and Lucienne exchange guilty glances. “You could at least wait until you’re back at the palace. Doing it in my house, that’s just fucking rude.”

la guard dog literal: Morpheus recreated the Corinthian as a (sort of, semi-eldritch) dog because surely that will fix his behavioral issues. Daniel still rehomes him with Rose Walker.

Jed twists around in his seat. The Corinthian snuffles obligingly at the hand he offers, gives the fingertips a quick swipe with his tongue. Jed’s face splits into a smile. That smile makes something warm unfurl in the Corinthian’s belly, prompts him to worm closer with a thready whimper. No threat. Which is maybe the biggest lie he’s ever told and he didn’t even speak it in human words, but in the moment he desperately wants Jed to believe it, and not just so he can sink his teeth into that vulnerable neck still soft with baby fat.

what if we made those daddy issues literal: semi-period accurate 1920s fic where the Corinthian is Dream's troublesome ward and Matthew is the tutor Dream hires to bring him in line. is this because i'm obsessed with Assad Zaman's outfits in hotel portofino? yes.

“Dream’s not my father.” “I thought—" “He’s my guardian. Keeper. Master. Whatever.” “He—" “Of course he’s benevolent. Can afford to be, I suppose. So long as I perform well.” “Does he—?” “Not how you’re thinking.” Cori barks a short, humorless laugh. “That wouldn’t be conducive to his long-term plans, would it? Breaking his toy before it can be of any real use.” “That’s—" “Good? Yeah. Sure.” Something shutters in his expression. “After all, what would become of this poor orphan child without some generous benefactor to mold him into a productive member of society? Why, then he might just be a scoundrel or, worse—an inconvenient corpse rotting in the road.” “I—" “Well. No use speculating, right?” He flashes a grin that makes Matt think of a dog baring its teeth. “I’ll see you after lunch.” Matt, dumbfounded, watches him walk away.

Logan/X-men

rehome that animal: sequel to the dog crate fic

Mendez isn’t sure what he expected to find in the Wolverine’s hideout. It certainly wasn’t this. This being his former boss, presumed dead after A-T’s last (as in latest, as in final) attempt to retcon its X-23 project several months ago. Mendez didn’t recognize him at first, but he thinks he’d be forgiven for the slight: the Donald Pierce before him looks a lot different from the Reaver commander who’d swanned around in a leather duster and tinted sunglasses, barking orders. Now he’s mostly naked and washed-out looking like maybe he hasn’t seen much sun. His once carefully groomed beard has been shaved to expose sharp cheekbones and a delicate chin. All his muscle and fat is gone, so the jut of his ribs and spine and pelvis show with every small twitch. There’s a lot of twitching, like his body can’t decide whether to prepare for fight or flight.

horse is a one-trick pony and the trick is Werewolves: if you didn't foresee me turning the Reavers into a (literal) wolf pack...well, that's on you at this point.

The pack leader is keeping an eye on him. Not quite staring: casual flickers of his attention between Donald and whatever is happening on the laptop. Mendez’s eyes shine almost green in the bluish screen light. His face looks sharper. His lip twitches and shows the barest glimpse of fang.

...tagging @evenmyhivemindisempty, @cosmictapestry, @aisalynn, @crimeronan, and @stellerssong. no pressure, i just like seeing what people are working on.

[dozing-marshmallow]

PLAYING MONOPOLY WITH OTHER FRANKIE AND HENRY HOTLINE

For fun, you were going through one of the storage rooms when you came across a familiar box. You approached it and stroked your hand across the top, gasping.

Monopoly? You could hardly recognise it with all the dust on it!

You grabbed it and carried it to the monitor room, where Frankie always was, calling,“Frankie, you have monopoly?”

The rabbit announcer’s head perked up at the sound of your voice and he didn’t reply straightaway. It took him a minute to understand what you said before resuming in character,“Of course! This is an inclusive parkour palace!”

You showed him your hand, the dust climbing on it,“Jeez, how long has it been since you played this game?”

“Uh...” he rotated his whole body to you now, beginning to count on his fingers,“Twenty...twenty-one...twenty-two, twenty-three...”

You cut him off before he forgot what he was counting for,“I haven’t played in so long either. You wanna play a game?”

Frankie gave you a thumbs up,“Ah! I’d love to! Maybe Henry Hotline would like to join us! He loves numbers!”

Frankie opened the box and unfolded the board on one of the tables at the parkour park’s diner. Then, he neatly stacked the Chance and Community Chest cards, placing them in their corresponding rectangles on the board. He reached his hand for the game pieces.

“Cat, cat, I called it, the cat is mine.” you fought, grabbing the feline piece ahead of anyone else.

“Hasty, aren’t we? Don’t worry, contestant! No one will be taking your cat.” Frankie chuckled at your determination before looking at the game pieces left,”Oh look! They have a hat! What a delight! I bet this is to compensate for the lack of rabbits in spite of recognition of other furry creatures of grace like the dog and cat.” Frankie delicately pinched the top hat and set it on the GO block next to your cat piece,”Which piece will you choose to represent you, Henry?”

Henry scans the options, not bothered,“I suppose this shoe.”

“Oh, thank goodness! I thought you would have chosen that waste bin, but it seems your mental state’s gotten better!” Frankie blurted, his words bearing enigmatic concern.

Henry scoffed, setting the shoe piece as far away from the hat piece as possible. The game seemed ready to start, except:

 “Who should be banker?”

“I don’t mind, but not Frankie.” you answered, sitting down on a chair.

“Why not?” Frankie asked, smiling head tilted to the side.

“You’ll steal some of it for yourself.”

You said it with a certainty that broke him for a second,“The money? Oh, of course not! You think I’d purposely rig the game in my favour? Come on, lucky contestant! You have no evidence that would illustrate I am capable of such trickery! Are you perhaps projecting as a financially depri-?“

You rapidly decided,“Henry will be banker.”

“I don’t care for this game, so it’s natural.” Henry sighed, picking up the game pamphlet to check the starting amount of cash each player needed.

“I don’t need any whining, so check that you each have the correct amount.” both you and Frankie could affirm,“Right? Well... Who’s going first?”

“I think it’s only right our lucky contestant goes first!” Frankie nicely suggested.

“Really? Okay then, if you say so.” you accepted, grabbing the dice, shaking them in your palm before letting them fall on the board. A 2 and a 3. You moved the cat piece (Henry gave you the 200) and landed on READING RAILROAD. You smiled. The train stations were always great blocks to land on early in the game, lucky contestant indeed,“I’ll buy it.”

After you paid your 200 dollars and got your card, the main mascot insisted,“Henry, you go next. A good leader always watches from the back.” brushing his own ego while he was at it.

Henry snarled and snatched the dice from the board, shaking his hand with more aggression. A die rolled to the floor, reading a 3 and the one on the board read a 1.

The shoe landed on INCOME TAX: PAY $200.

“Oh.” you snickered with Frankie at how Henry impatiently shoved the 200 dollars he gained from passing GO back in the box.

“Waste of time.”

“My turn!” Frankie exclaimed, picking the dice up and shaking them with the same gentleness as you, getting a 5 and a 2.

“Chance!” he declared, pinching the card that laid on top of the orange stack,”A get out of jail free card! If only these gems existed in real life, I might need one one of these days.”

A curious grin spreads on your face. You were always curious about how, if the police did properly investigate this place, who would they hold accountable? Animatronics? Though that’s not what left your mouth,“They do! They’re politically known as bailing.”

Frankie appreciated your wit,“You are right about that, contestant! Or a lawyer or bribing or-“

“Roll the dice, contestant.” Henry interrupted, his exterior hard to the lighthearted fun.

“Right, right.” you nodded, taking the dice into your palm again.

Your plan was simple. Own all the train stations, get lucky with Community Chest and Chance cards and own the dark blue or green set, whichever was first. Unfortunately, you never made it on any of those blocks whether it be because you went to jail, stepped on another block, or picked up a card that instructed you to go backwards.

“Damn it bro, I haven’t done a full lap once!” you groaned, forced to obey the Chance card in your hand reading Advance to St Charles Place.

Frankie and you were caring enough to keep your plans a secret. Somehow, you and Henry formed an alliance: since, as stated earlier, Henry couldn’t care less for the game or Frankie, whatever property he bought, he’d sell to you. Case and point, Henry landed on pale blue VERMONT AVENUE, bought it and turned to you, not even elaborating.

“How much was it?”

“A hundred dollars.”

Feeling in no position to decline, you gave over the amount and VERMONT AVENUE was yours.

Frankie didn’t say much the first time, but the second time, he instantly picked up, having interest written all over his grinning teeth,“Is this your strategy? Very well! I’m curious to see how far it’ll carry you both.”

Best part was, even if he wasn’t, it didn’t violate the rules since the game only classified an alliance to be if you were sharing properties. It was slightly worrying, since Frankie clearly knew what he was doing: he knew which property he wanted, owned both of the facilities, PENNSIYLVINA RAILROAD, the entire red and orange sets and was starting to put houses on them. Not to mention, all the money you were saving was going away to Henry.

By this time, you owned two thirds of the pink set, a full pale blue set, two train stations and one yellow. Ironically, Henry started caring more about the game as he did not want the rabbit to win. Though, his hopes had been shattered when you landed on Frankie’s ILLINOIS AVENUE and your 160 dollars couldn’t afford the 875 dollars fee.

The grey rabbit patted your head,“Sorry contestant, but those are the rules! You should have picked a different strategy or a partner.”

Strangely, Frankie didn’t goat his victory in the same way that Henry was raging up on his feet to the loss on your behalf,“You have to be joking! All my hard work, sacrifices, trading and this is how you waste it? What is wrong with you?”

“I’m sorrrrrry, I couldn’t control what the dice would say,” you sighed, accepting your fate as you collected your cards. It was Henry’s fault anyway.

“I don’t know why I bothered! Now I have to face him alone, I won’t accept failure like this.” Henry huffed, sitting back down.

“Don’t hate the player Henry, hate the game!” Frankie cheerfully defended, taking all you had in your possession, turning to Mr Hotline,“Now that all you owned went to our contestant who went bankrupt and passed to me, I’d say you’re as good as toast. But I’m not one to assume so quickly. A last minute miracle can still turn our tables around!”

“I may not have as much as property, but I have enough to keep me from going bankrupt should I land on any of yours.” Henry pointed out with an enthralling perspective, snatching the dice from the board; he landed on a Community Chest block and earned two hundred dollars as a bank error.

“I’m going to get some water, okay?” you informed to the two, standing up.

“Not a problem, contestant!” Frankie replied, rolling the dice,“We’ll probably be done by then.”

It’s been three hours and they were still playing. Henry had managed to secure the other two blocks of the yellow set, dark blue and green sets in his possession. He also traded the only train station that wasn’t in Frankie’s possession for the ATLANTIC AVENUE, alas securing the entire yellow set too.

You were so surprised,“Jeez. I thought you didn’t care for the game, He-“

“Shut up, I can’t think with your grating voice!” Henry snapped, deciding on whether to take a risk and put another building.

You silently walked to Frankie’s side, trying to calculate how much money he had left. He gently patted your shoulder, trusting you wouldn’t blurt it out, despite it not really affecting the game.

You smirked at him,”It’s not looking good.”

“One hotel on BOARDWALK and another house on PACIFIC AVENUE.” Henry called, the mini building pieces made a clicking noise when he placed them on the blocks, gesturing,“It’s your turn, Frankie.”

The top hat was on WATER WORKS. That whole half of the board was now a danger zone. He rolled 2 1s, landing on GO TO JAIL.

Believing he was saved, Frankie’s arm reached to pick the top hat piece, but Henry picked it up quicker, his sitting position providing the shortcut.

“Not so fast, Frankie.” Henry interjected, wiggling it around mockingly,“You have that get out of jail card, you’re staying right here.”

“Yes, but I have to go there first, then I can present it.” laughter erupted from your lips at Frankie’s attempt to flee back to his half of the board.

“That’s not what you were doing whenever you landed on this block.” Henry sneered, sharply placing the top hat back on the block,“And given that you rolled doubles, it is still your turn.”

He waved his hands in front of his chest, tension travelling through his arms,“I’m good, Henry. I’m feeling like a Good Samaritan, you can take it.”

“The rules don’t care what you’re feeling, Frankie. Roll the dice.” Henry demanded, leaning back, arm stretched out of the top of his chair.

You have never seen Henry so assertive. It seemed the enduring session had revived a competitive spark that was believed to be lost long ago in that insanity he was mangled into.

Frankie sighed defeatedly and examined the board. He would just need a 3, 5, 6, 8 or 10 to survive.

The dice declared their answer. A 3 and a 4. 7. PARK PALACE.

“Haha!” The winner guffawed, slamming his fist on the table,“Take that, you prick!”

Frankie was frozen. His smiling jaw just open.

“Frankie?” you weren’t tall enough to wave your hand in his face, so you tugged on his bow tie,“Helloooo?” with no use, you glanced at Henry, who was collecting all of Frankie’s assets,“Henry, I think Frankie’s broken!”

“Good!” Henry replied, still blinded by the bliss of his triumph,“Right where they belong.”

As soon as Henry finished admiring his newly added properties, Frankie twitched as though to indicate he broke out of that state. His first action was to chuckle,“I admit, it was amusing pretending I was mortified! Well played, Henry! See, are you happy we got you to play now?”

Henry’s usual self returned at Frankie’s reanimated demeanour,“Too bad it doesn’t mean anything.” he answered coldly, putting the cards back in the box.

“That’s the good thing about it! This game is the only time where I would be okay with going bankrupt! Since it is, uh, as you put it, not real.” Frankie chimed in, re-folding the board.

Henry paused, standing by while you and Frankie tidied the game away,“...Do neither of you find it weird that we were playing a board game together like we’re some friends?”

“What’s with the simile? We are friends, Henry!” Frankie claimed, wrapping his arm around Henry’s neck, to the latter’s disgust,“As a matter of fact, you are my best friend in the whole wide world! A best friend means someone-“

“I know what it means, Frankie.” Henry snarked, waving his hand in dismissal.

“First you lost to me, now you lost to Henry! What’s happened, Frankie?” the question left through your smirking face.

“Nothing!” Frankie replied as animatedly as ever, the get out of jail card in his other hand,“I’ll win next time.”

[mobius-m-mobius]

HI i just saw ur lokius fairytale post aaand like kinda rotating that cinderella scenario around my head any chance you have any other thoughts to add onto it ?

Hey anon, really glad the fairytale asks stuck with you because we've been having so much fun with them! Honestly I'd not had a chance to think of more until getting this but after having a little time there's a scenario I'm kind of loving which may or may not have spiraled from the og Cinderella concept so apologies in advance 😅

(also putting this under a cut because y'all know me and whew did this get longer than even I'd expected 😂💖)

Cue Ravonna sending Mobius on a reconnaissance mission to get details on Odin being up to something which seems to differ from the usual flow of that timeline, the details are vague enough for him to wonder where she's going with this but they both know the chance for him to get close enough to Asgard is too tempting to pass up and there's an upcoming ball with enough invitations that one more shouldn't be a problem. So he tries his best to at least blend into the background long enough to slip away and search for info but the fact that he's pretty much the only person at the party not boisterously jumping through hoops for Odin's attention or favor draws Loki's attention him like a lightning rod, lol, which doesn't escape mutual notice and since the only other option would be Loki making a scene to draw attention to whoever this mysterious(ly hot) stranger is no one seems to know, Mobius can't help pointing out he's not exactly someone that would be sent in as a physical threat so maybe if he's allowed a few minutes to explain he could make it in Loki's best interest 👀👀

Loki's skeptical but intrigued, and it's not like he was enjoying the night beforehand anyway so he follows expecting some obvious lie of an excuse as to what Mobius is doing there but instead Mobius quite bluntly tells him he's there for dirt on Odin that could be mutually beneficial for them both.

This part he keeps to himself ofc, but by now he's figured out whatever's going on clearly has to do with/is centered around Loki's future and after so many years of researching Lokis he's secretly harbored a crush and honestly does want the best for them if possible so it's very easy to at least tell the truth about why he's trying to sneak around in the first place. Loki doesn't completely believe him, but he's infinitely more interesting than anyone in recent memory and Loki's desperate to learn about him so he haughtily declares Mobius no real threat, and will guide him through the palace personally to seek out this all important info, with the threat of imprisonment if the night ends empty handed.

Mobius cheerfully agrees with the knowledge he'll be long gone through a time door before things come to that, and the night is kind of playing out like a fantasy he didn't even realize he had so because he knows it won't last he lets himself be a little playful with Loki, praising his magic and asking questions he hadn't been able to answer from his files, like which flower first comes to mind when he looks out at the gardens?? Loki of course bristles at first but soon realizes how much comfort there is in the way Mobius speaks to and about him, and how his words bask brighter and warmer than any sun 🥺

However, because of this he can also tell Mobius knows far more about him than he previously let on, and can't figure out why he seems so delighted by all the qualities everyone else has been so bothered by his entire life so as they search through Odin's private study he starts needling for details to match, eventually getting nothing but things that completely baffle him like how Mobius obviously has horrible taste in food and that he seems wiser beyond his years than any Midguardian he's ever seen yet somehow seems to have nothing of personal value in his life except something called a jet ski?? And he's taken aback how, when pressed, Mobius isn't even upset about it but just a bit sadly resigned. They share a moment of bonding over their prior loneliness and start to grow even closer, leaning in just before a crash sounds from the hallway and the sounds of drunken guards calling for there whereabouts of Prince Loki echo, forcing them to break apart as Loki panics about how to explain Mobius' presence and bringing Mobius back to reality about how far he let the night spiral by indulging so it's all he can do but stumble out an apology for everything as Loki tries to find a way for them to sneak away before turning back just in time to see the gleam of a time door disappearing in the middle of the room 😔

Now the whole "glass slipper" element is a harder one since it's not like even if Mobius left behind something TVA related Loki would be able to trace it back to him so this is where I headcanon he dropped a folded magazine photo of a fav jet ski he liked to carry around as a reminder of why he works so hard, that he had taken out to show Loki was he was talking about earlier and Loki uses to trace back to Don, alerting the TVA due to the obvious branch it cases, and then you can only how everything Mobius knows implodes from there which would probably take me a year to detail but is very fun to picture and yes because I love him this would also result in Don meeting the Loki of his timeline because he deserves love too 😂😂

[lakesbian]

ok listen. this is crucial. this is what ward aisha is to me in my mind palace.

aisha for the largest part of worm is Thirteen. alec is 15. they're both incredibly dysfunctional traumatized kids who like each other a whole lot living thru some crazy shit. and the one time aisha really has fun is when she gets to play at being on top of the world with alec, living out the rich-with-no-dumb-adults-but-brian-telling-us-what-to-do teenage dream w her best friend. she's Thirteen. her sole vision for the future is that the undersiders will keep winning and she and her Cool Hot Funny Best Friend Who Is The Only Person Who's Ever Gotten Her are going to be cool and tough and richer than god and paint each others nails in their cool shared supervillain base while the world fears, but more importantly, knows the names of Imp and Regent. her big brother has had unimaginably awful things happen to him and she can't fix it even an ounce, she's fucked up and has spent her life feeling invisible and she knows it, her best friend is fucked up too and she knows it, but she still gets to have this: the success as a villain, her legacy, the legacy as someone memorable with her best friend and her team that's so nearly within her grasp. despite it all, she's just a kid, and when she's texting alec a news article about herself or idly dreaming about installing a pool in her base, she barely even remembers the blood it's taken to get there. for a moment of her life she thinks this will never end and she'll finally get to be Seen, seen by her best friend, seen for everything great they're going to do together.

and then--she's 13--she watches her best friend kill himself in front of her, for her, and she's never going to get to tell him another secret, or make another dick joke with him, or be imp and regent on top of the world together. and her brother is even more unreachable than ever and one of the people she respects most in the whole world is gone and she's alone again, unseen, dealing w/ all this blood and no more prize at the end of the rope.

when we see her at the end of worm, she's fixated on the idea of establishing a Cool Villainous Legacy as the Badass Supervillain Imp, impressive enough to become what she and regent could've been together, but, like.

all she's actually doing is taking care of a bunch of traumatized children and going around stopping people from being terrible to each other. she wishes she were a villain. she's a charmingly edgy vigilante at worst. she spends 30 minutes straight making fish puns, stopping said traumatized children from getting into trouble, and preventing a dude from torturing ppl and hoarding resources. and then she pats herself on the back for another Successfully Villainous Act. and also while she's doing all this she's intentionally memorializing and safekeeping the legacies of taylor & alec (not brian because wildbow is a clown idiot buffon fuck but in my mind palace she's doing it for brian as well). all ppl she loved and lost, and she's desperately trying to prevent them from fading into the same obscurity as her.

so like. To Me. To Me. the reason she's still talking to herself about building her own legacy, about her own legacy being that as a Cool Villain--is because she's not ready to face that that dream from her childhood has long been dead in the water, that she's now a lonely person whose life is about tromping around in snow-proof cargo pants and making enough breakfast for all these fuckin' kids and yelling at people to be decent to each other. everyone who would've seen her has been left long behind in one tragedy or another, and on some level, she's not fully accepting that this is her life now: being the one who's left. the one whose legacy is just to carry the legacies of her friends who died too young around in her heart.

so To Me. ward aisha is abt like. i will have to rotate this in my mind further to determine more, this is the first draft of Thoughts, but to me ward aisha should 100% be about her coming to terms with the fact that she's grown up and having 2 memorialize the her that her 13yo self wanted to grow into as much as she has 2 memorialize her other lost loved ones. like scene queen kid aisha growing into an adult during a post-apocalypse where there are no longer hot topics to rob blind but she can still have silly fun hair dye for the her 7 years ago that really loved neon purple. not to fucking mention the thing where her brother comes back and they both have 2 reckon w how much she's grown and the fact that she was aspiring to be like a mini-him but if he was genuinely in touch with the emotions of the kids he's taking care of.

like what if you were an older brother and you died and then you came back and your immature little sister was almost as old as you now and bigger and taller and good at taking care of people Emotionally in the way that you never could 4 her. what then. wouldn't that be fucked up or what. aisha and brian my best friend aisha and brian

[karliahs]

okay i have a couple of fic concepts for royal that I don't know if I'm ever actually going to write so I'm getting them out here

i feel like you could do a lot of interesting stuff with actualization and ren's parents. one concept is the gang are prepping for infiltration and ren's phone keeps buzzing but he never answers it and is all tense and cagey when asked about it.

everyone else is curious but respects his privacy. akechi steals his phone, sees it's his parents calling and starts needling him about it. bc of who he is as a person

tense convo ensues. one of the other PTs guesses that ren doesn't want to answer bc it might be one of maruki's wishes. ren is like yeah. if it wasn't one of maruki's wishes they wouldn't be calling at all. big oof.

and that in itself is kind of a self-contained idea, or could be continued with ren eventually either answering or listening to a voicemail of them offering forgiveness and love he knows isn't real

BUT I also imagine him eventually picking up just to tell them to stop calling at least. and then everyone watches as his face goes totally still. they weren't calling to apologise, it's ren's mother calling bc his dad is sick and doesn't have a lot of time left so they want him to come home

and ren gets maddddd. won't talk to anyone until he tracks down maruki, who allows himself to be tracked down for what he thinks might be a successful round of Convince Ren to Accept This Reality

ren is furious. maruki insists he had nothing to do with this, this was always going to happen. but of course. he would certainly be happy to use actualization to return ren's father to good health. or even bring him back if it came to that. expressing what seems like genuine sorrow for ren and this "needless tragedy" but also shamelessly using his family as a bargaining chip to blackmail this child

so, maruki asks, will ren accept this reality? I don't think ren says anything at all, just calls a persona and launches his most powerful attack at maruki, who's vanished before it can hit

and after they leave the palace the gang is like...we need to talk about this. ren says there's nothing to talk about, nothing has changed.

rest of the gang is like. I mean we're not telling you to accept his deal but something has changed. we should at least talk about the fact that he's threatening us more directly now, do we believe him that he had nothing to do with ren's father getting sick? (reluctantly yeah, that doesn't seem to fit within their understanding of maruki's powerset)

someone asks if maruki could even use actualization to cure a disease. (theoretically yeah, if ren's father wants to see himself as healthy than maruki could grant that wish.)

ren says again that it doesn't matter. how would they ever be able to know for sure that maruki actualized that by actually removing the physical disease - he could just make it that nobody noticed the symptoms anymore. and if he dies, maruki can just spring up another one

ren says he's not going to let maruki get away with turning real people in his life into puppets created to please him (the idea of being a puppet who only exists to please other people hits v close to home for this boy). he appreciates what the PTs are trying to do but he could never accept that and it makes him furious that maruki would even try

and akechi is just sitting there like i feel nothing about any of these statements. nobody look at anything my face is doing against my will

there's a lot I'd need to figure out to actually write this (whose pov is it even in for instance) and I want to tackle some more WIPs first. but I am just rotating it in my mind. partly just as another venue for exploring like...let ren get mad at maruki. let him have a feeling. maruki used him and I don't think we ever really get to dig into that

I have another WIP trying to explore similar concepts but it involves writing a lot of akechi and I'm weirdly nervous about it lol. he's so many people's primary blorbo you know. not sure I'll do it justice. tbh the more I think about the above idea the more I like it in akechi pov, which would be a big challenge for me but an interesting one maybe. hmmm

[steponmeinejghafa]

After Hours

Summary: After a long day of being the queens of ravka, you and Zoya desperately need to unwind, which you help each other with.

Warnings: None <3

wife!Zoya Nazyalensky X wife!reader

Note: While you are the queen of ravka with your wife, you additionally go to a school near the palace to teach when you're not handling any royal duties. (I'm frankly obsessed with the teacher wife aesthetic, ngl-)

-----

The room was far too quiet without you beside her, Zoya had to admit. While she stood and mapped out intricate strategies with the Second Army, she missed your quiet but bubbly presence gently adding in details to or pointing out flaws in her strategies. She hated paperwork without you joking and laughing with her.

Case in point, she missed you terribly whenever you left the palace.

Her day was, frankly, extremely stressful. There was way too much court to hold, far too many issues to discuss, one too many papers to sign, and definitely a lot more policies to make and handle than her threshold allowed.

However, Zoya knew that if she told you how stressful things were, you'd immediately feel guilty for leaving on such a busy day. She absolutely did not want that to happen, and additionally knew you would murder her if she told you that she was taking more load upon herself than she could manage.

Meanwhile, your day was going the exact opposite how your wife's was. Where she was stressing out far too much, you were enjoying yourself with the younger grade's children. While she filled out mind-numbingly boring papers, you were assisting adorable youngsters with their spelling and speaking.

Despite having an absolutely wonderful day, you desperately wished to go home to your wife. However lovely the children were, you did wish to have her by your side as the one who balanced you out perfectly.

Naturally for the both of you, as the day slowly came to an end, as the schoolbells rang out through the corridors to dismiss everyone, and as the courtiers and dukes cleared out of the throne room, a sense of relief was clearly felt.

You hugged the students and said your goodbyes, waiting till the last child had hurried out of the gates, before you hoisted yourself up into the carriage, strictly but politely telling the guards to not help you with your bag.

Sadly, where your day had ended, Zoya's was still going on. She stood near a massive map of Ravka, where tiny red pins signified where which guards were stationed, her brows furrowed while she tried hard to decide which troop needs to circle where the next week when the duty rotation would occur.

You walked in soundlessly like your good friend Inej, startling your wife as you slid your arms around her waist, pressing soft, affectionate kisses to her neck in greeting.

"Why hello there," she chuckled, a smile breaking through her frown, causing her face to light up. She leaned into your embrace, sighing contentedly at the feeling of your lips on her skin. Innocent as it was, the gesture felt familiar and comforting.

"Good evening, my love," you giggled, resting your chin on her shoulder to look at what she was doing. "Far too many strategies, I see. Playing the part of General tonight?"

"No," she sighed. "I'm just thinking about the guards stationed in the main marketplace."

"How come? I thought rotation was to occur as usual next week," you replied, your brows furrowing as hers did a few moments ago as you stood beside her, arms crossed.

She shook her head, and pointed at a place on the map. "Brekker tipped me off about some illegal trade of parem around there, and we need to double on security plus increase the intensity as well as frequency of checks on the pharmacies and traders. We cannot have that-that stuff circulating on the market again."

"I have an idea," you replied. "How about we take a few soldiers from Tsibeya here," you took out one of the three red pins on that side, "and place them with the guards at the market here." You placed it between two blue pins on the map.

"That's...a good idea, thank you darling," she chuckled softly. "Tsibeya has been pretty quiet these last few months. Atleast, that's what the scouts report." She quickly wrote down a letter, and asked a guard to deliver it to the Commanding Officer of the Tsibeya troops.

"Lovely," you grinned, taking her arm. "Now that the boring part of our job is over, let's go down to dinner and then go to sleep."

"But I've got to finish-" She began, but you immediately interrupted her.

"I am taking no arguments here, Nazyalensky."

Sighing ruefully at her obvious defeat, she gave in and agreed. Delighted, you pulled her to the dining hall, where the servants immediately served both of you a lavish dinner.

The table was wide enough, that two people could sit at the head of it, however discouraged it was. You often slit your chair next to her before guests came in, solely to annoy the nobles and to stay by her side. So, while you both ate, it wasn't easy to stare at you, but she did.

Her gaze was fixed on your lips every time you sipped some wine from your glass, so she instantly leaned over to wipe some of it off your bottom lip when it remained after a particularly long drag of it. She constantly felt her breath catch in her throat when you ate something with your hand and licked your fingers clean.

"I can hear you staring, love," You chuckled softly as dessert came in. Truth be told, you, too, were stealing small glances in her direction as she licked her fingers clean after finishing her rice and gravy. She did have a habit of eating with her hand sometimes, when the portions got too small to eat with a spoon or fork.

"I can hear you as well," she chuckled, nudging your shoulder with hers. "Can't get enough of me, can you, my darling?"

"Zoya," you said mock-forcefully as a blush reddened your cheeks. "We have been married for two years. You cannot flirt with me like a teenager would!"

"I have the same energy I did as a teenager, you know that personally," replied your wife with a smirk. "I think that gives me leeway to flirt like one."

"Go fuck yourself," you mumbled, ears red as you devoured your piece of cake with ravenous fervour, as if you could eat your gay panic away.

She leaned over and whispered in your ear, "Do it yourself, you coward."

Inhaling deeply, you buried your head in your hand, kicking her under the table and gently hitting her shoulder with the other hand as you whined, "You know I am a hopeless bottom, Zoya-"

All she did was laugh a bit and let the matter go.

After dinner, you both went to your room to change and go to bed. Your room was connected to the study, which was strewn with maps, books, and documents. They littered every surface, from the large circular table, to the shelves, to the floor.

She went to the bathroom to take a quick soak in the tub, while you respected her private time and sat on the large sofa.

“Y/n, my love,” she called out to you from the bathroom, “Can you come in here and help me, please?”

You smiled and called back, “Of course, my dear,” and hurried into the bathroom to where she stood before the full-length mirror, struggling with her corset.

“Unlace me,” she demanded playfully. “That’s an order.”

��Saints, you could’ve been more subtle about the fact that you want my hands all over you,” you chuckled, earning a gentle elbow to the ribs.

“How dare you!” She protested as you began working away at the laces.

“Why do you always insist on having such complicated knots done for your corset, Zoya?” You grumbled, pulling at a particularly trying knot which refused to come undone.

She was about to reply when a knock on the bedroom door interrupted her.

“Who is it?” You called out.

“Erik, your Majesty,” a voice replied, muffled through the door.

Zoya pushed past you and opened the door, glaring daggers at the poor guard. He looked genuinely terrified as she asked him, “This better be urgent Erik, or I will not be very forgiving about this interruption.”

You placed a hand on the small of her back, moving next to her. The guard relaxed upon meeting your less-deathly gaze, and you asked, “What’s the matter?”

“Um, the Zemeni minister of agriculture has requested your presence, Queen Zoya,” he replied nervously.

Zoya frowned and snapped, “Tell him I can schedule a meeting tomorrow!”

“That’s- that’s the problem, your Highness,” he stammered, sweat beading on his forehead. “He’s sitting in the parlor right now…”

You felt her hands clench into fists in pure frustration, and immediately took charge. You slowly pried one fist of hers open and slipped your hand in hers. “May I converse with him?”

“I’m afraid he has asked for only her Highness, your Majesty,” he shook his head.

“Ah,” you said, “Well then, Zoya, do go on down. I’ll be here waiting. Thank you Erik.” He bowed in acknowledgment, bade you both a good night and hurried away.

“A queen’s work is never done,” you chuckled, unlacing your fingers from hers as you pulled her towards you by the waist, pressing a soft, loving kiss to her lips. Zoya felt warmth blossom on her cheeks, as your eyes wandered her face.

“I’ll be back before you know it,” she replied, taking your head in her hands and pressing a kiss to your forehead. You allowed a deep red blush to coat your cheeks after she left, and as she turned, she missed the way your gaze skirted quite shamelessly down her entire body, without an ounce of innocence in it.

You decided to go into the study and check for any unsigned documents, and just to be busy while she was gone. You found a mountain of paperwork she or you had forgotten to sign, and luckily, none of them were overdue.

While you worked, a long and heated discussion took place between your wife and the agriculture minister. It slowly made her more and more agitated, and the familiarly unpleasant sensation of stress built up in her body as she struggled to keep her voice level.

“I need those finances, your Highness,” the minister finally said. “There cannot be a lack of money and funding towards the agriculture sector of Novyi Zem.”

“I’ll fix up a meeting between us, the finance minister, as well as chief of the Merchant Council. We can discuss this matter as a group, just to ensure there is no conflict or confusion amongst us on this. Fundings are particularly trying between two ministers, I have noticed,” she sighed. “Will that be all?”

“Here is a list of grievances we have been facing,” he handed her a paper with an official stamp. “Do look into them. It is imperative that they get resolved.”

Lovely, Zoya thought. Another thing to add on my plate.

Zoya nodded. “Do you have a place to stay for the night?”

“Yes,” he replied. “Don’t worry about that. I have my lodging all set. I leave for Novyi Zem tomorrow afternoon.”

“Thank you for coming to me with your concerns,” she stood up, prompting him to do the same. “Goodnight, my good sir.”

He bowed deeply. “Goodnight, your highness.”

The second he left, Zoya stormed up the stairs to the pair of yours’ room, already too wound-up to manage anything.

You stood over a map of Ravka which had pins on it identical to the ones in the throne room. You were leaning on your palms which were rested atop the table, trying to work out another, more efficient way, to help Zoya with her problem.

You were far too engrossed in that work to hear her enter, so when she wrapped her arms around you, kissing your neck, you let out a startled yelp.

“Saints, Zoya, you frightened the life out of me!” You gasped, leaning into her.

She hummed and mumbled against your skin, “Who’s playing the part of General now?”

“Shut up,” you chuckled. “I’m only helping!”

She turned you around and rested her palms on the table’s edge, trapping you between it and her. She leaned closer and smiled, “Well, I need your help in something else.”

You blushed and replied, “What will that be, my queen?”

She suddenly pulled you into a hug, inhaling your sent. You let loose a small gasp of surprise. It wasn’t often that she showed such large amounts of affection. It usually extended to soft kisses and short hugs.

“Someone seems a little shocked,” she laughed, as you hesitantly wrapped your arms around her waist, hugging her back.

“Forgive me if I’m surprised that my minimalistically affectionate wife suddenly decides to tackle me in a hug,” you scoffed, running your hands through her hair. “How about I run you a warm bath, and ask for some warm chamomile tea?”

She pulled away and hummed, “That sounds like an extremely appealing offer…I will most certainly take you up on it.”

“I know you inside and out, Zoya Nazyalensky,” you chuckled. You took her by the arm and led her to the bathroom, helping her take her corset off after hearing her complain about the long hours she’d had to endure the pain of it.

You quickly ran her a bath and left her to soak in it, fetching her a nice cup of tea as promised. While she bathed, you entered the bathroom and handed the tea to her.

“Be careful, my love,” you said, kissing her forehead. “The tea’s still a bit hot.”

She took a long sip and sighed contentedly, before looking up at you quizzically. “Aren’t you going to join me?” She gestured at the tub where she’d reclined.

You shook your head, blushing. “No, I’ve still got some work to finish. But don’t you worry about me, my darling. You need to unwind.”

“So do you!” She protested. “Let someone take care of you for once, Y/n.”

You dismissed her statement with a gentle wave of your hand, and gave her a quick kiss before leaving her to her own devices. It was true, you needed to unwind, but you hated being looked after. It often made you feel uncomfortable, for you thought it would burden the other person far too much.

Heading back into the study, your eyes landed on a mountain of letters which sat on a small table near the end of the room, all of them unopened. Deciding to kill some time, you wore your reading glasses, and sat down there, opening them to get through their contents.

Zoya’s voice startled you, as she said, “I thought your work was finished, dear.”

You shook your head and stood up, “I was just trying to kill some time.”

“Well, you’re killing three things,” she counted off her fingers. “One is your back because your posture while you sit is pathetic, two is your sanity, and three is your ability to take a break.”

“You’re one to talk,” you scoffed as she dragged you to your dressing table to brush out you hair.

“Shut up and let me take care of you, idiot,” she replied, leaning down and pressing a kiss to your head.

You sighed and put your hands up in defeat, looking at her through the mirror. She brushed your hair gently, slowly getting out any knots instead of aggressively ripping them out of your skull, like most people would do. A soft sigh escaped your lips, and she immediately looked up at you smugly.

“Someone’s feeling relaxed, I see,” she smirked, putting the brush away and dividing your hair into sections so she could braid it.

“Oh shush, you,” you blushed, putting a hand back and hitting her on the hip gently. “How dare you bully me this way.”

She deftly braided your hair and laughed, “Oh my goodness, Y/n Nazyalensky has finally allowed someone to take care of her! This is a true miracle!”

You facepalmed and shook your head as much as she would allow.

She tied your hair up properly, and rested her hands on your shoulders, leaning down to press another kiss to your head. You looked up, feeling lighter as you smiled at her. It was almost as if you’d gotten so used to being stressed that you didn’t even know you had it in you. Like how, after a point, you don’t realise a noise was there until it’s gone.

“Come to bed,” she said softly, her hands gently massaging your tense shoulders. “You’ll feel better.”

You hummed softly, and let her take you by the hand and lead you towards the bed. Sleep pulled you towards the covers almost magnetically, and you collapsed into your wife’s arms the second you felt the soft sheets caress your skin.

Turning around to face her, you wrapped your arms around her waist, pulling her closer and burying your face in her chest as she rested her chin atop your head, her arms enclosing you in her loving embrace while the soft caress of her hands in your hair lulled you to sleep slowly.

“I love you,” you mumbled into her skin. Her scent of cinnamon and honey was familiar to you, as even when you both were young teenagers in love, almost every evening was spent this way, with her trapping you in her arms so you couldn’t escape or attempt to get back to work.

“I love you to, she replied, pressing a long kiss to your head again. You looked up at her and leaned up quickly to kiss her, smiling against her lips before nestling back into her embrace.

And thus you both fell asleep, your duties forgotten temporarily in the sweetness of the moment.

———

Lmk if you want more Zoya ones!

[cat-appreciator]

Tonight’s late-night worldbuilding churn is me returning to the magical girl idea I’ve been rotating in my mind on and off for the past couple of months, because I realised that the powers I’d given to the protagonist actually work better on the antagonist, and now I need to reshuffle everybody. Again.

I’ve been internally categorising magical girl powers using pairs of keywords; for instance, my brainy magical girl has the keywords “multiply” and “control”, and can summon and telekinetically control dozens of flying knives simultaneously - but a different magical girl with the same keywords might have the ability to generate chains and restrain people (waggles eyebrows), or control a swarm a la Skitter.

So the five-(wo)man band is:

- Malika, keywords flow and still. She can pause time a la Akemi Homura, and is the Mom Friend. Later on in the story her powers will be vital in suspending the Earth in the moment before its destruction.

- Severin, keywords multiply and control. She can summon and control many knives (a la Hawks from BnHA, sorta?), and is the Smart Friend. She’s also the girlfriend of the protagonist. Takes over as leader after Malika is occupied keeping the Earth in stasis.

- Dominique, keywords manifest and force (or possibly multiply and force?). Has a morningstar which shoots explosive spikes. Does spikes, chains, and explosions more generally. The Punk Friend and rival to Severin.

- Annelise, keywords perception and bridge. She can link the team together into a gestalt consciousness. She’s also the protagonist, or at least protagonist-coded: she’s the Nice Friend. Girlfriend of Severin.

- Bob? (I haven’t settled on a name yet, so we’ll go with Bob for now for the sake of brevity), keywords dichotomy and bridge. She does Laplace’s Demon-style thermodynamic juggling, electricity (thanks to manipulating positive and negative charges), and antimatter. She’s also the Fallen Magical Girl, having used her bridge keyword to bridge her consciousness with that of the Big Bad and summon it to Earth.

Annelise’s perception bridge is much better suited to becoming the Avatar of Evil (and mind control!) than Bob’s dichotomy bridge, and with thermodynamics, lightning, and the ability to generate goddamn antimatter at her disposal Bob is unlikely to need the power granted by becoming the Avatar of Evil, so it would make sense to swap them around … except then thermodynamics/lightning/antimatter don’t really fit Annelise, who really belongs with some sort of support ability.

My initial idea was that the gestalt consciousness only worked while Malika was there to keep all five of them working together, and without her it splintered into some sort of codependent Annelise-and-Severin thing. Which I liked, but the Fall of Bob happens before Malika is taken out of action to constrain Bob, so something else must happen to start Bob on that downward spiral. Possibly Bob had a girlfriend on the team filling the make-Bob-and-her-gestalt-palatable-to-other-humans role, who died, thus necessitating Annelise’s transfer to the team and kicking off Bob’s descent into villainy.

Thus I need:

- A new power for Annelise

- Someone else with the keyword magnify in order to, well, magnify Malika’s powers in order to hold back the destruction of Earth (this magical girl will also be taken out of action with Malika)

- A name and power for Bob’s dead girlfriend

- Someone else with the keyword bridge in order to make survival in the time-stopped frozen Earth possible (as the Earth is frozen in time, the only places where time is still passing is inside the pocket dimensions/mind palaces/soulscapes of the magical girls. Instead of a Battle In The Centre Of The Mind we’re going camping there, so I need someone who can connect them together. Annelise’s perception bridge would have been ideal, but in a pinch anyone with bridge will do).

An earlier version of Annelise had the keywords perception and flaw, she could give herself temporary localised omniscience but rapidly got overwhelmed by it. Being able to spot weak points made her a sniper but also a surgeon. I could go back to that version.

This is getting long, so I might make a new post jamming together the different keyword combinations to see what I can make of them.

[xoxo-ren-xoxo]

Introduction to Kingdoms AU - a Hermitcraft / Life Series Fantasy AU

This idea has been rotating in my brain for several days now and I thought I should actually explain some bits about the lore and such! All posts about this AU are tagged #kingdoms au on my blog :)

More under the cut:

The Setting

A mid-high fantasy world with limited technology

Magic users (Mages) are commonplace and there are specialised universities for different kinds of magic. You can learn magic or be born knowing how to use it (Sorcerer)

Hybrids, demons, and humans co-exist

There are three main kingdoms which trade with each other but have shaky alliances

Kingdoms and Characters

The Ocean Kingdom

An underwater kingdom run by a king and queen, taking up much of the local ocean space

Home to mostly Mermaids and Sirens (fish and sealife hybrids)

The king and queen's son is Scott (a lionfish hybrid)

The king and queen enjoy tradition and keep their palace beautiful while the citizens deal with poor infrastructure that the king and queen don't want to change

The king and queen are very stuck-up and don't trust the other kingdoms despite trading with them

Mermaids and Sirens can shift into having legs rather than tails, and can breathe both in and out of water, but may be uncomfortable out of water for too long

Other residents: Lizzie (Axolotl hybrid), Joel (human, built an underwater breathing suit)

The Red Kingdom

A more traditional kingdom with a walled city and a castle in the centre

The only kingdom with guarded borders

Landscape is agricultural, surrounded by snowy mountains

Home to the best universities for technological magic, a type of magic which relies on mechanics to work and results in lots of new inventions

Controlled by Ren, the Red King, who is the first hybrid (Weredog) to become king there

Ren has a royal council to advise and help him run the kingdom, made up of great minds he scouts from universities and such

Ren is paranoid about losing the throne and therefore places a lot of focus on guarding the kingdom and catching criminals

He cares about his citizens, giving basic necessities to everyone at his own cost

Most inter-kingdom meetings are held here as it lies between Roost and The Ocean Kingdom

Other residents: Martyn (coral siren, royal council defence specialist), Doc (goat hybrid & demon, technological mage, former university professor, and royal council technology specialist), BigB (human, mind mage, royal council negotiator / kingdom ambassador)

Roost

A kingdom located in the canopies of a large forest, with wooden houses and rope bridges

Home to many Avian and Insectoid hybrids, but also some humans

Used to be ruled by a monarchy, but there was a Civil War which resulted in a democratic system being put in place

The elected government is treated the same as everyone else, and currently runs Roost as a commune, with everyone helping to gather resources and build the society up

The citizens have no need for money, but money from trades is shared just in case a citizen wants to travel

Exports a lot of fruit, nuts, wood products, clothes and woven products

Pearl (lunar moth hybrid, astrologist and animage) is a member of the government, and has a dog familiar, Tilly, who she talks to using her magic

Pearl's brother-figure, Grian (Scarlet Macaw hybrid) went missing five years ago, and she hasn't really gotten over it

Her other brother-figure, Jimmy (Canary hybrid) helps deliver exports to other kingdoms, as he used to be a traveller and is flightless, meaning he enjoys the journey- and also enjoys catching up with Scott at the Ocean Kingdom

Pearl only wears red since Grian's disappearance and is very quick to anger, holding a grudge against the other kingdoms for not helping her search efforts

Thieves Haven

A darker forest located in No Man's Land, home to demons, thieves, and the black market

Residents speak a secret code language and have a duty not to hurt each other unless necessary

Residents include: Cleo (gorgon demon, mercenary), Bdubs (human, life and soul mage), Etho (demon, mercenary), Tango (demon), Impulse (demon, thief), Skizz (human, thief)

No Man's Land

The space between kingdoms, dotted with trade routes, taverns, and guard stops

Some settlements and lone houses can be found here

Residents include: Scar (Sorcerer, necromancer, mythologised outlaw), Mumbo (human, former professor of technological magic, also an alchemist, now an outlaw of the Red Kingdom)

I'll make another post about types of magic and link it here! I hope this gives a good overview of the AU and it's world and I would love any questions about it so I can ramble more lol!

[themultifandomdisaster]

📓!!! <33

Cheren hii !!!

Okay I'll tell you about the hypmic heist AU

The basic plot is - the fling posse trio go to chuuoku's palace for a heist

They all have different motivations. They all want something the government took from them. They all will take it back and flee.

I'm starting the story from the point where they become a group so I'll get to write their relationship develop from a place where they barely know each other to point they love and trust each other completely. That is going to be fun.

I'm thinking of writing more about the trio and their adventure. But it will have a little sidedish of gendice served along the main dish :)

Some scenes I have been rotating in my mind like food the microwave are -

- Ramuda's final confrontation with otome

-a scene where gentaro nearly drowns

- a scene where dice kills somebody out of love (awww)

Yeah, I think that's about it

[ourflagmeansgayrights]

found this in my drafts and i can’t remember what my point was here or if i was gonna add anything else to this. but i agree with everything i wrote so i’m just releasing it into the wild as-is

tangentially related to the first paragraph of this post only: the fact that there are little hints of a traumatic backstory for jack that make it possible to read him somewhat sympathetically (somewhat. he’s still a huge asshole lol) while there isn’t any canonical evidence of anything sympathetic abt izzy in s1 unless u personally rlly relate to being a mean manager or to handling getting friendzoned very badly is actually one of the main reasons why i am always wildly surprised when ppl say jack and izzy are equally shitty characters (don’t even get me started on when ppl think jack is somehow worse. insane take). other reasons are basically variations of “we see other characters enjoy jack’s presence at some point, something that literally nobody in s1 does with izzy.” like the big one is ed obviously, ed clearly likes jack and likes having fun with jack (at least in small doses lol) which is something we never see with izzy, in fact every time it looks like ed is having too much fun in izzy’s presence izzy tries very hard to make that stop. but also the crew think jack’s cool at first, which is a sentiment we never see literally any of them have about izzy. like jack is a piece of shit but he at least has the ability to be fun, something that s1 izzy is physically incapable of and is in fact something that i think the show is aware of. ofmd is very Pro Fun and supports getting silly, obviously the narrative also shows us that jack’s brand of fun runs sour when there isn’t respect for each other and no room to be vulnerable. but the characters in ofmd talk abt torturing ppl and getting tortured themselves as fun activities they enjoy doing and the show is not like “this is a bad thing” so i seriously doubt the show was trying to say “jumping off tall heights is a bad thing” or “blowing up random inanimate object is a bad thing” or “drinking and partying is a bad thing,” imo the show was saying “when the environment does not allow for people to pass on these activities without shame and mockery, that’s a bad thing.” and also “be careful with the things people care about. like their birds. take risks with your own life or with the lives of british ppl ur holding hostage if u want but for the love of god don’t put ppl’s birds at risk.”

but back to the sympathy thing. like we get absolutely nothing abt izzy’s backstory aside from “worked for ed for years,” and then little characterization details like “regularly pulls fang’s beard, which fang hates” and “seems to be really exhausted and easily frustrated by ed,” and then his two motivations throughout the season are the textual “wants stede to be dead so ed will retire and then izzy gets to be the guy in charge (until the end of e9 when he realizes he’s not good enough to be in charge so he needs ed to keep being scary blackbeard so he gets to keep that proximity to power)” and the more subtextual “has the hots for ed,” and the first one is not sympathetic bc “guy who who craves power and is a dick about it” is a pretty universally hated type of guy, and the second one is not sympathetic bc if izzy did All That in s1 bc he’s in unrequited “love” for ed then that’s some fatal attraction incel bullshit TeeBeeEych. all of this makes izzy a great character and an insane little freak to rotate in my mind palace on occasion but it does not make me sympathetic to him in the slightest. and then the only other ways to read izzy sympathetically in s1 are to 1. make up a bunch of bullshit (example: izzy and ed are actually literally married and are in their divorce era and ed is leaving izzy for a new man, which actually just reads like more fatal attraction shit to me but anyway) or to 2. take izzy at his word that he’s the only one keeping this operation together and everyone else needs to stop goofing off and being silly and take this shit seriously (which is actively reading against the text bc ofmd as a show is vehemently opposed to the idea that ppl need to stop being silly and take work seriously, which is a stance i don’t actually 100% agree with irl but like i’m not gonna get mad at a tv show for not having the same exact life philosophies as me)

(also i’m not just saying izzy is unsympathetic in s1 bc i personally dislike him, i truly believe the writers thought so too and i say this bc of how they went about redeeming izzy in s2. bc by mid s2 the narrative is pretty clear that izzy is A Fully Changed Man now and the rest of what he does in the season is just a bunch of stuff to directly contrast with the shitty stuff he did last season. zero character development actually happens past like episode 4 or 5. and we never actually got an arc abt why izzy suddenly grew as a person bc they didn’t have the time or they didn’t care enough abt izzy to make the time for it. what we got instead was putting izzy in the narrative torment nexus. instead of getting an actual redemption arc abt learning that what he did was wrong, and instead of building on literally any of the character traits or backstory details izzy might’ve had in s1, the writers just put izzy through physical hell to make us feel bad for him now bc there was nothing from s1 they could spin sympathetically. it’s honestly kinda weak writing and i remember thinking this when game of thrones did the same thing to that one guy theon or whoever. however unlike game of thrones i think it’s funny that ofmd speedran an izzy redemption arc. the did it bc he was just not important enough to prioritize that much screentime to and i respect it)

calico jack sympathy is a very rich vein for emotional ed whump btw. not saying anyone needs to sympathize with jack at all bc he DOES suck and personally idc enough abt jack to sympathize with him for his own sake, but there is actually textual support for a sympathetic cj read. canonically he has the same traumatic pirate background as ed and the two of them went through a rlly rough time together. we have direct support from the show that jack’s rejection of anything “soft” or “weak” comes from hornigold—the very first mention of hornigold in the entire show is when jack sees the breakfast table set for ed and stede and starts teasing ed for it with “just the two of you? hornigold would shit himself.” plus ed tells stede “jack’s always been emotional” and “he can come on a bit strong but he’s insecure” which strongly implies that ed has seen a side of jack that we don’t get to see in the one episode where he shows up. it’s a side that very well might be completely gone now that jack’s a grown adult man but to me it runs counter to the text to claim that ed’s assessment of jack is completely wrong and this vulnerable side of jack never existed in the first place.

so anyway one possible angle here for sympathizing with jack as a vessel for whumping poor ed’s heart is the tragedy of two kids going through something awful together and not being able to count on each other during the whole experience. being trapped in a physically and emotionally abusive environment together and empathizing when the captain singles one of them out bc they know firsthand what it feels like to be on the receiving end of hornigold’s ire, but at the same time they’re not able to ask each other for support bc what if they use that vulnerability, that plea for comfort, as a weapon against you? what if you try to offer them support and comfort and they push you away? what if, when you DO rely on each other for support, your captain sees that bond and uses it to torture you both even further?

and what do you do if you both comfort each other, you both take care of each other, and then one of you fucking dies? because that’s how it goes—most of the pirates ed knows are dead, a pirate’s life is short but nice, the only retirement they get is death, you’re not likely to avoid near-death experiences in their line of work, heading towards a raid with the one hope being that a certain death ain’t slow. and it’s not just raids, either: your captain might have you keelhauled for a minor offense, might starve you for a week if you laugh at him during a speech, might feed you a live crab for nicking some rations, or maybe a disagreement with another crew member could turn into bloodshed. maybe someone will push you overboard for shits and giggles. what do you if you’ve found comfort with a crewmate, and then that crewmate dies? how do you cope? you’re probably better off not letting yourself care for anyone, rejecting people’s pleas for support or intimacy or friendship, because it’ll hurt less when they inevitably end up dying horrifically just like everyone else you’ve ever cared about.

and then the other big ed whump angle here is watching someone you experienced horrific trauma with not only fail to process the trauma in a healthy way but also become a worse person as a result of it. like ed knowing firsthand just how awful everything jack experienced was and remembering exactly what it looked like every time hornigold beat the spirit out of jack when he was ultimately just a vulnerable kid. ed hearing jack say some toxic macho bullshit and knowing exactly where jack learned that and how much it hurt for 20-something-year-old jack to absorb that lesson—and more than that, ed remembering when he used to believe that exact sort of toxic shit. and ed feeling like he can’t hold it against jack if he doesn’t grow bc he sees so many similarities between him and jack, and the only reason he was able to heal and become a better person is bc he met stede—and it’s not like stede was the only person in the whole world ed could’ve connected with, he had an entire ship full of kindhearted doofuses ready to offer him emotional support and he betrayed all of them because the recent back-to-back backstabbing compounded on a lifetime of trauma and made it impossible for ed to trust them. how can ed blame jack for rejecting opportunities to heal when ed did the same thing? when he can remember watching firsthand as years of abuse caused jack to gradually close himself off, the worst part of it being that it was like watching his own reflection as he also hardened under the pressure of just trying to survive another fucking day? how can ed judge jack, when jack is who he might’ve been if he’d never met stede?

[noratilney]

For the OC Questions: 1, 2, 3, 14 & 18 for Veronika Lantsov, Abby, and Jasika, please! :-D

Thank you!

VERONIKA

What was the first element of your OC that you remember considering (name, appearance, backstory, etc.)?

I wanted her to be a Lantsov and a tidemaker. The backstory started as a way to explain why she had been absent during the story prior and then grew to add in some connections.

Did you design them with any other characters/OCs from their universe in mind?

Yes! I wanted her to look believably related to Nikolai so I looked at blonde fcs. This was before his casting was announced so I was working only with the book description. I had saved Hunter Schafer as a fc I wanted to use and I ended up picking her for Veronika.

How did you choose their name? 

Ravka draws on a lot of Russian names and terminology but doesn’t exactly stick strictly to it. A friend of a friend is named Veronika and she’s Polish-American so I thought it was in keeping with an Eastern European flavor. Also it works to give two different sounding nicknames, “Vera” and “Nika” which suited my purposes since Veronika has to conceal her identity.

If you had to narrow it down to 2 things that you MUST keep in mind while working with your OC, what would those things be? 

Veronika very much resents her Grandmother Yulia for keeping her locked up and away from people but she’s also a lot more sheltered than she realizes.

Relatedly, her whole objective is to leave, to escape but the what happens after is not really something she’d worked out which is also why she ends up entangled in the messiness happening in the Little Palace.

What is the most recent thing you’ve discovered about your OC?

Well, it turns out that Veronika’s tidemaker powers didn’t just spring out in her from nowhere… ;)

ABBY

What was the first element of your OC that you remember considering (name, appearance, backstory, etc.)?

Definitely backstory first.

Did you design them with any other characters/OCs from their universe in mind?

No, actually. I’m not sure how plausible she and any of her family members are at appearing related but I also don’t care.

I did choose to make her Caroline’s cousin almost immediately after committing to making her a Tyler Lockwood oc though.

Also I wanted her to share Trevino's Latino but passes for white background so that I could incorporate that element into Tyler's character biography and have Abby and Tyler interrogate what that identity means for each of them.

So wait, maybe yes then?

How did you choose their name? 

I've always been fond of the name Abby given one of my childhood best friends was named Abby and as a minor character appreciator, I’ve liked Abby Stevenson from the Babysitter's Club.

If you had to narrow it down to 2 things that you MUST keep in mind while working with your OC, what would those things be? 

Oh, fuck is this girl stubborn, oh my god. Like I love it and she shares that with me but also like please stop making your own life harder.

It ties in with the first thing but she also has a very pessimistic outlook on life and is always expecting the shoe to drop. Hence her resistance to romance or making long-term goals.

What is the most recent thing you’ve discovered about your OC?

For the longest time, she cannot for the life of her remember Klaus’ name and calls him by a rotating list of C and K names (although not to his face, lmao).

JASIKA

What was the first element of your OC that you remember considering (name, appearance, backstory, etc.)?

I started playing with the idea of making a Marcel oc after I got deep into Angelica, my Rebekah oc.

Did you design them with any other characters/OCs from their universe in mind?

Sort of? It depends on what you mean by that.

I knew I wanted Jasika to have some things in common with Marcel, particularly some things that he and Rebekah didn’t.

So I chose to have Jasika be a Black woman and I also made her a half-sister to Hayley.

How did you choose their name? 

This one is very simple. I borrowed it from the voice actress Jasika Nicole.

Ballard was chosen from scanning a list of surnames until I found one I liked.

If you had to narrow it down to 2 things that you MUST keep in mind while working with your OC, what would those things be?

Jasika is very twisted up inside over her whole family history. She’s hated Andrea Labonair and her mother for stealing her dad and being the Crescent Pack’s golden child for years even before she actually met Hayley.

For the record, this is not something Jasika's internalized from her mom. As I started writing this, I remembered how in Magic for Marigold, Marigold develops this intense hatred of her dead father's first wife, Clementine, who she despises for being held up against her mother. Marigold's mother Lorraine isn't bothered by it because she says when she shared her life with Marigold’s dad, they had a mature and loving partnership as opposed to the overly romanticized youthful relationship between him and Clementine. I think subconsciously that influenced this dynamic.

Anyway, it’s a little different here so I wouldn’t say Jasika’s mom has no bitterness or resentment over how Mr. Labonair handled his relationships but she’s also moved on with her life.

Jasika on the other hand is still seething about it and putting a face to her enemy has not changed that.

Marcel is clearly the more emotionally mature of the two of them when it comes to their respective familial mistreatment. He’s actually moved on to some degree.

What is the most recent thing you’ve discovered about your OC?

She went through a goth phase in her teens and still maintains a love of wearing black.

[peony-pearl]

Fire Fam ideas that make me happy but idk if I’ll ever write them so they just rotate in my brain

- Ursa and Ozai chose to get married. They have an... odd relationship, obviously; but while they often don’t seem too happy around each other, there’s no denying that there’s some kind of bizarre spark. They don’t tell anyone, but there are nights when Ursa gets to shine and be dominating. She’s happily sworn to secrecy.

- When Azula was only a couple years old, a group of Earthbenders successfully breached the palace while she was outside playing. Before Ozai or Ursa could do anything, little Zuko found power in a fight or flight response and he fended them off. Ozai carried his son inside as he asked if he did a good job, to which Ozai replied ‘you did, I’m very proud of you’ - Ozai kissed his forehead then promptly set him on the floor to scoop Azula up out of Ursa’s arms, not paying attention to Zuko for the rest of the day.

- Ozai never cared for the plays at Ember Island, and neither did Lu Ten, but the kids usually ended up seeing them twice for two reasons: once so Ursa could see them while Lu Ten stayed behind (either hanging out with uncle Ozai or other men his age), and then while Ursa stayed behind to have some alone time with her husband. Azula always ends up climbing into someone’s lap, not even looking at them or paying attention to their frustration because she wants a better view, she’ll sit there staring while the person who’s lap she’s occupying has to crane around to see what’s happening. This is also a good reason for the adults to see the play twice so hopefully during one of the shows they’ll actually get to see the whole thing. (Lu Ten doesn’t care if she does it, it’ll just allow him an excuse to take a nap)

- Lu Ten can kind of have a crabby demeanor. He doesn’t hate anyone, but he was raised very, very militarian, and despite his and his father’s princely titles, Lu Ten feels more bound by structure and discipline than most. When duties are on his plate, he takes him very seriously, whether in the Fire Nation or on the battlefield, so when pulled away, even by family, he can become very irritable. However, catch him on downtime, and he’s the funniest and most loyal man you’ve ever met.

- Iroh was engaged to a noblewoman, but war efforts made it hard for them to have a proper courtship. He had a favored little girlfriend at a tea shop, who he romanced without telling her who he was, and she became pregnant - when she told him, he was ecstatic. He told Azulon, who was irate, but he hid that he was relieved that Iroh was FINALLY going to have an heir. The courtship with the noblewoman was called off, and Azulon only allowed the woman to stay at the palace until Lu Ten was born. When Lu Ten no longer needed her for nursing, she was then escorted to a colony in the Earth Kingdom. This broke Iroh’s heart and he did everything he could to be a good father to Lu Ten.

- Because of Iroh’s refusal to marry after the issue with Lu Ten’s mother (And Azulon’s expectations on him during the war), Azulon often hounded Ozai and Ursa to have more children. They did end up expecting a third child, which was born during Iroh’s time in Ba Sing Se, but the baby had many handicaps, and didn’t survive long. This put a bigger wedge between Ozai and Azulon’s relationship.

- Iroh noticed Ozai’s treatment of the kids was getting harsher and harsher; he was at war often, so he brought it to Azulon’s attention. Azulon, however, was not too interested. He strictly told Iroh his mind belonged on the battlefield, and training Lu Ten, his actual son. When Iroh tried to press on, Azulon berated him for the first time, and the middle-aged Iroh may as well have turned into a child again, being chastised by his crumbling, beloved father.

- When Iroh returned from his spirit journey, both Zuko and Azula welcomed him with fairly open arms. Zuko saw a chance to have an older family member to finally bond with, while Azula, now much more clever and powerful, saw her old mentor, even if he had become old and overweight in just a few years, she paid no heed to it. Because of them, Iroh had a much more decent homecoming than he’d expected, even if Ozai turned Lu Ten’s old room into storage.

- When Zuko was burned and Iroh decided to accompany him, Azula cornered Iroh, livid. She shouts at him that ‘Zuko should go alone to learn his lesson’. But there’s panic in her voice. She tells him that when Zuko messes up, it’s always on her to keep upholding Ozai’s perfect expectations and it’s not fair that Iroh is choosing Zuko, who keeps messing up, over staying in the Fire Nation to help the family (I.E. help her; but she won’t admit that). Iroh listens to her, but tells her the decision has been made. She pushes him, telling him to leave, ‘just like everyone else’, and she storms off, not seeing him or Zuko when they leave.

[devoraqs]

To Know the Cosmos

Summary: Alexander comes to Nadia with an idea. (Set post-Asra Upright, alternate title: Alexander and Nadia nerd out about physics and stuff)

Characters: Nadia Satrinava, Alexander MacRionnag

Word Count: 1633 (+art)

---

It was an airy summer morning, the kind that one only found in early December, that greeted Alexander and Nadia as they stepped out into the Palace gardens. Lughnasa and Chandra had winged their way ahead, the owl’s graceful arcs in the sky circling the magpie’s brisk fitting. Nadia and Alexander smiled as they watched the two birds, and Alexander took Nadia’s arm as they began to walk. 

They strolled in comfortable silence first, enjoying the warm breeze that carried wafts of the first summer blooms. Nadia hummed a bit every so often, and Alexander would join in, or Alexander would offer a quip or pun that would leave them both chuckling. Conversation eventually followed, ‘I trust your honeymoon was pleasant,” Nadia said, “you look well rested,”

“It was wonderful,” Alexander smiled, “Zadithi evenings are unmatched. Asra and Faust have never been happier. He sends his apologies, by the way, he wanted to join us but there was work to do at the shop.”

“Understandable,” Nadia nodded, “I should like to see him, though, perhaps I may pay you a visit before long?”

“Absolutely, we’d love to have you,” he said, though the small talk had made him think, “Actually, Nadia, might I propose something?”

Nadia tilted her head in interest, “Go on.”

“I studied in Zadith, as did Aisha and Salim. Their education is some of the best in the world. I had wondered if we might do something for Vesuvians too. Not just the university, I mean. More. Something accessible to every person and child. A library, or lecture hall, or… something else.”

“Else?” Nadia asked keenly, “What did you have in mind?”

“This would require your help. Not just funding, mind, but you.”

“I?”

“Aye,”

They both laughed at the unintentional wordplay, before Alexander continued, “You’re one of the best engineers I know, and certainly the most capable of what I’m thinking of. In Zadith there is a large hall, a rotunda really, that is full of glass replicas of planets and stars. An astrolabe, almost, but vast. One that you can walk amongst. Most of it to scale, too. And the best thing, Nadi, they move. There’s a clockwork operation system in place that simulates the orbit and rotation of the Earth and the planets. One could follow Venus as she circles the sun, or see how Jupiter dances with Ganymede and Io. It’s incredible, unlike anything I’ve ever seen before. And what’s more, everyone may see it. Everyone may learn. I want this for Vesuvia, a public amenity and source of entertainment and learning in one!”

Nadia’s eyes were wide, and glimmering with excitement, “A wonderful idea!” She exclaimed, “A planetarium!”

“Precisely,” Alexander replied, “And what’s more, I believe that the metalwork of the frames and gears could be alchemically enhanced. There is a method of making an alloy of magic and metal which gives it dexterity and strength, Aisha and Salim developed it. It requires a particularly inert metal, perhaps copper or silver, maybe a steel, and the magic is infused into it. Then, not only could the planets move, we could make it so that it is as accurate as we know the actual spheres to be. It would mean sophisticated gears and some complex designs to get it to work right, and to hang in perfect balance and order like the celestial bodies they’re in the image of but-“

“But it is certainly within our capabilities!” Nadia finished, then flushed slightly at her interjection, “Forgive my outburst, dear Alexander,”

“Not at all,”

“Oh, but the scale and intricacy of the project… it is certainly more complex than the automatons I have made before.”

Alexander bumped her shoulder lightly, affectionately, “Nadi, I would have not posited this at all if I didn’t believe that you would achieve it. My mother and father in law have already expressed interest in helping, and then… You’ve a brilliant eye for these things. Consider the clocks you crafted, the one in the ballroom and the one atop the steeple. Smoothly running and always accurate, aye?”

Nadia cocked her head,  “Indeed. What do you… aha! I see! To make the model rotate and move in real time with constancy and reliability, it requires the same kind of machinery but on a planetary scale. For the planets, and the moons I would imagine. Perchance even we could hang the constellations in the periphery, fill the sky with stars. And the alchemical alloy will aid in this?”

“That’s the idea. I really think it could work.”

Nadia hummed, her eyes tracing some of the clouds in the horizon as she thought, “In my mind’s eye I can see the kind of structures that would support this. A ring and pulley system, a pendulum and counterweights… Like an astrolabe, you say? But one powered by clockwork… this will be quite an undertaking for us all. A feat of science in and of itself to construct… Oh! But of course, why not show the process as well? If this is to be a centre of learning, I should like for there be as much on offer for the people to learn as possible. A masterpiece of alchemy and engineering is one thing, but explaining how such a piece came into being is another altogether.”

Alexander nodded vehemently, “A museum! A museum dedicated to the scientific and magical arts! I shall say, this may be a first for Vesuvia,”

“And one long overdue,” Nadia said resolutely, “I care for these people, and they are still recovering from Lucio’s disaster of a reign. I am doing what I can to improve their welfare,”

“And you are doing splendidly,” Alexander interjected gently,

“Thank you,” Nadia’s lip twitched into a bashful smile for a moment, “though it is one thing to survive, another to live. I want to help them live. Maybe a museum and a planetarium made of science and magic in harmony would be a start.”

“It would be a start,” Alexander agreed.

“Funding… this will be a large expense, one that may seem frivolous while residents in the formerly flooded district are still struggling. Perhaps I might call upon the courtiers and nobility to donate,” a wry, dry smile played on her face, “they can never refuse a party, maybe a fundraising gala is in order. And then, the kudos and bragging rights when they inevitably must have a dedication laid to them in thanks for their generosity. A means to an end, it would mean something useful coming from them at least.”

Nadia and Alexander came to a stop before one of the ponds that dotted the grounds. The sun was reflected clearly in it, a bright disc gleaming in the still water. 

“We can make the model sun actually shine,” Nadia mused, “I have read one of your papers, the one that theorised that light emitting spells are one and the same as the light from stars,”

“The Treatise on Celestiomagical Fusion,” Alexander said, “one of the first I wrote after my doctorate, I actually remember researching and writing that now. Astrolocational charge made me realise that there is magic in the cosmos, more than we previously thought. And I and other astronomers believe that all of the universe is made of the same stuff. I refuse to believe that the earth is that unique on the material level, and that means magical charge too. 

“So why, when we on earth make light from magic, would not the stars function with a similar practice? And we can recreate that. The sun at the centre of the solar system would be the smaller cousin of the true star, but tangible.”

“I have more theories too, ones that I can’t really put into words just yet, I’d need to research more. Who knows, there might be more breakthroughs to be had. One day… Nadia do you think that one day, as we understand more about how physical matter and magical matter interact, that we could one day leave the Earth? Journey to the moon? Visit the planets in person in place of seeing their earthly rendering?”

“Perhaps. I certainly like to think we could, one day. We travel to the Realms of the Arcana,” Nadia replied, “and in doing so we leave Earth, but we step out of time itself. Further than the moon, yet closer. I wonder how they fit.”

Alexander frowned, “As do I. They are beings made of dust and stardust, like we are. They exist on a physical plane, even if it is seemingly a different one to the rock of the earth. If there’s one thing about the Arcana that I’m sure of, though, it is that we will never be sure of what they are and why they are. No amount of experiments or philosophy will give us answers. The Fool, for example. By the gods-!”

He rolled his eyes and Nadia laughed, “I see you and your patron do not often see eye to eye,”

“It’s not that,” Alexander grumbled, “it’s just that I can never get a straight answer out of them. They’re worse than the Magician. Sometimes Scout has to help, and even then I don’t think he knows what that deer...bird... person is on about. I ask a question, I get a riddle in response. And I say ‘I’m a scientist, not a philosopher! I like having answers to things!’ and then they laugh at me. Even the most strange objects observable in my telescope are more logical… Strike me, I swear we do get along! It’s just… oh, you know.”

“I do. Come, dear Alexander, let us finish out walk, then we can send for your parents in law and hopefully start drawing up plans. I’ve a good feeling about this.”

“Aye, me too.”

[breelandwalker]

THE FINAL UPDATE:

Y'all know that feeling when you get onto a rollercoaster and you think you're ready and you're all braced for shit, and then you just get thrown around and windwhipped to hell and back and you scream your head off, and then suddenly the ride is over and you're sitting at the depot like tf just happened.

That's kind of how the last stretch of missions went.

With as few spoilers as possible, highlights include:

closure and reconciliation for Wyll and his dad (YES. ULDER. YOUR SON IS A GODDAMN HERO. SHOW SOME RESPECT.)

meeting Voss' dragon pal

finally beating the shit out of Gortash (good GODS if ever a man needed his entire ass kicked up and down the entirety of the Sword Coast TWICE)

sobbing my entire heart out over the ensuing conversation with Karlach (my sweet bestie, the narrative did you so dirty, you deserve the fucking world 😭)

classic puzzle-solving dungeon crawl under Wyrm's Rock with a rotating crew bc different things need different skillsets and maybe i wanted to pretend the whole gang was there don't judge me (but we are judging the SHIT out of Astarion for apparently being a REAL asshole in his previous career, you sure your last name is Ancunin and not Turpin? no more gavel for you)

DRAGON DRAGON DRAGO-....oh. that's gonna complicate things.

WAIT NEVERMIND

....i'm sorry, the Emperor is WHOMST??????

welp.

props to Wyll for coming into his own and also Blade of Avernus sounds way more badass than Blade of Frontiers (also I see you and Karlach vibing back there, don't think we didn't notice 😏)

So then there was nothing left to do but one last supply run, one last round of hugs and kisses in camp, and then off to fight the big brain. (For those wanting to know, my final fight team was Karlach, Astarion, and Shadowheart.) We got thrashed for a bit, then it was into the prism to regroup. We did choose to free Orpheus, which didn't go over well with Tall, Dark, and Squidly.

From there, we portaled back to the Gate for one last rally, walked into the High Hall like Aragorn returning to Edoras, and....wow, I had no idea we had so many allies. Like I knew we'd helped a lot of people but DAMN. The entire room was full!

AND MY BABY OWLBEAR WAS ALL GROWN UP AND ARMORED! Omg my sweet floofy boy, all ready to rip and tear. Mama's so proud! Also SO much tiefling solidarity. All my peeps from Arabella to Zevlor turned up and I know it's game canon but my girl couldn't help having a moment of I Think I Have Done A Good For My People Here.

Then it was all a blur of stairs and fighting and dodging artillery and calling on allies and okay can we BREATHE for five seconds? Angelic Reprieve, Hero's Feast, and....here we fuckin go.

The last fight is BRUTAL. Even in Explorer, it pulls no punches and it took me a few tries. But in the end, WE WON. The big brain went squish, the floating mind palace fell into the river, and we all washed up like half-drowned rats to find a whole lot of dead mindflayers and a city that is once more safe...for now.

The Aftermath: (Spoilers for endgame)

Orpheus asked for an honorable death and bequeathed his dragons and his mission to Lae'zel, who promptly took off for the Astral Sea to liberate her people. Cue my tiefling waving goodbye like, you're still an insufferable cunt, but I respect you.

Gale decided to be a bit of a dick about the crown and sort of just...walked away to become a god. (And then was even MORE of a dick at the reunion party later.) So much for that. Guess my tiefling made the right choice after all.

With the tadpoles out of commission, Astarion became allergic to the sun again and had to SCAMPER away from the docks before he burned up. We'll catch up with him later.

Karlach's engine finally gave out and as she was starting to burn, Wyll stepped in and offered to escort her back to Avernus to save her life, promising he'd keep her safe from Zariel. Then we got a nice little cutscene of the two of them preparing to kick INFERNAL amounts of ass together. (I SHIP IT SO HARD. LARIEN YOU COWARDS, THAT WOULD HAVE BEEN AN AMAZING DLC.)

Once everything calmed down and the remaining party members retreated to the Elfsong for some heavy drink and a good night's sleep, we got our romantic epilogue. And of COURSE, my tiefling is staying with her bitchy feral tomcat of a vampire, who is SO much happier now, and they'll be setting out on a quest to find him a way to walk in the sun again. And is it a coincidence that the Til Death Do Us Part ring is on her finger? No it is not. 🥰

Six months later, we catch up with everyone at the reunion party, learn some fun new developments (AGAIN, MISSED OPPORTUNITIES FOR DLC), read some grateful letters from the people we helped, and rest on our laurels for the time being.

Bit of a shame we have to wait until the party to find out how things went for Halsin, but as predicted, Papa Bear (DADDY HALSIN gfdi devs you did that on purpose) has built a refuge in Reithwin for anyone who needs a place to go and is raising several dozen orphaned children as a single dad. And yes, he will be seeing his tiefling honey there very soon to help with storytime. Among other things. 😏

So that's the end! We saved the world, we saved everyone we could possibly save, the whole party made it out alive and they lived happily ever after. What a glow-up it's been. My tiefling started out with nothing, just a broke homeless druid from the Gate, and wound up becoming a hero, saving the realm, making some amazing friends, elevating her people, and finding love not once, but twice.

Fabulous game, 100/10, will play again and again and again. Feel free to drop questions in my inbox if you have them.

Until next time!

Tfw you're nearing the end of Act II in your BG3 run and you realize you've fallen into the exact trap you said you were going to avoid FROM THE BEGINNING.

The devs knew exactly what they were doing, didn't they.