#anyway i am going to post the agates when i get them

[lohstandfound]

I just ordered the prettiest agate bookends for one of my bookshelves oh I can't wait

[aranarumei]

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

I'll take any info on the sasamiya ones but I must admit that since I'm subscribed to your profile getting notifications about final fantasy fics was a fun experience.

ask me to give “director’s commentary” on some part of a fic! or send a ⭐️ for me to talk about a bit of my choice?

ohhh…! that’s so many stars. and you’re subscribed to my ao3 profile….! how lovely! anon you’re wonderful. always nice to know I have a—if I dare be so bold—fan. now as that’s quite a lot of stars, so I… went overboard. consider it an expression of my affection for you, anon. going to put the rest of it under the cut:

about ff7: I’ve been playing ff7 veryyyy slowly for the past six months or so! it’s been exciting—I’ve managed to avoid a LOT of spoilers, and am still doing so, because I haven’t finished the game lol! but I had a reallly strong fic idea, centered around cloud & tifa, so I couldn’t resist. the dynamic between those two is so fascinating to me, because with the deaths of zack and aerith, I think they, as the ones “left behind,” have a really good opportunity to like… share in grief, and such. I wanted to write that fic in a way where any romance is kind of ambiguous, and secondary to the pure feeling of like, grief and love and living intertwined.

anyways. since you asked about sasamiya, I’m going to talk about various scattered sasamiya fics! I’ll gloss over the anomalous agate, because though I could talk about it for ages, I also wrote up a general commentary post. I’ll also skip over something there, since I just answered something in relation to that already. I’m really quite surprised (and flattered!) you said any of them, anon… there’s quite a few oddities in there.

I suppose I’ll start with a delinquent and a stargazer. that was a title I only ever came up with once porting a bunch of fics over ao3… and I was so embarrassed to find that backdated fics apparently show up as email notifications for subscribers. I’m sorry.

titling was so hard, but I’m pretty proud of this one, as in the fic it’s questionable who, between sasaki and hirano, the “delinquent” and the “stargazer” are. the section I wanted to talk about, though, is this:

Hirano keeps laughing for a while longer, eyes scrunched in small joy, and then he flops down, flat on his back. His knuckle grazes against Sasaki’s arm before he pulls it back. “I think that’s the first time I’ve seen you smile.” “What?” “Just—” Hirano falls quiet. “I don’t know.”

so, when I was talking about something there, I briefly touched on the idea of sasaki being attentive when it comes to hirano, and that sense of Attention and Observation is something that’s really important to me in the sasahira dynamic. even when they’re not quite friends (first year), they’re deliberately conscious of each other in a way they’re not going to vocalize. so that’s what’s going on here, dialogue-wise—hirano makes a comment that’s indicative of him paying special attention towards sasaki, and specifically what makes him smile. in the description, sasaki’s remarkably attentive towards how hirano laughs, so he’s also cataloguing expressions of joy. they’re doing the same thing! also, sasaki focuses in on that graze of touch because it’s a very slight… crossing of boundary, here. like, you don’t usually casually touch people you’re not friends with. at the very least, sasaki is not going to do that (see: his issues with controlling his strength and stuff—I bet that spills over into being a bit over-conscious of touch)

next, let’s address this bit from help! my classmate’s asking for relationship advice, but I’m aromantic!?:

“Those are common descriptions, sure.” Hirano levels him with a flat look. “You sure lose all your worldly upperclassman charm when Miyano’s not around, huh?” Miyano was different. Miyano was the type of person to have stars in his eyes. Hirano was… also the type of person to have stars in his eyes, even if he went about it differently. It was, strangely enough, Hanzawa’s favorite thing about both of them. “It’s my secret,” Hanzawa says. Thankfully, Miyano hasn’t really asked him for advice of this kind yet.

my secret is that hanzawa’s “it’s my secret” is quoting. something that got stuck in my head. it's not famous or anything so I doubt anyone will recognize it. but it made me laugh, so I kept it in for the same reason I decided to use my wip title as the actual title… because it’s funny! also it killed the stress of having to title the thing.

I tend to headcanon hirano as some form of ace—it’s clear he responds to touch in a different way than kagiura, so it’s an angle i think is fun to explore—so having him connect with an aromantic hanzawa headcanon was neat, here. this bit shows hanzawa’s underlying pessimism regarding love & romance, as contrasted with hirano’s optimism, as he's looking to meet kagiura where he is. both asexuality & aromanticism, to me, have things to say about “unconventional love,” and this was an opportunity to explore that, in a way that tries to fit with canon. right now, hanzawa is feeling uncomfortable about the idea of dating, and romance—these feelings are going to have him blow up at his brother a little later. this conversation is also going to make him reformat his approach for miyano, later. on hirano’s end, he’s clearly trying to puzzle out his feelings, but both he & hanzawa are limited by conventional descriptors of what “love” has to look like. i think hanzawa envies hirano for his feelings, as much as he kind of disdains them—they’re not things that could every apply to him, after all. so that’s what motivates the fic, for me.

I know I write a lot of hanzashiro fic, so it might have been a surprise to see me write hanzawa as aromantic, but it’s like… man, no matter how I think of hanzashiro, it’s always in a way where hanzawa’s got some hang ups about the idea of romance in general. there’s a reason I’ve never written them actually dating—if that happens, it’s not going to be conventional, and I’m far more interested in exploring the tension of things being ambiguously romantic between the two. this is fun because i characterize hanzawa as romance avoidant as well as generally avoidant (see him self-describing himself as picking the path of inaction in this fic) and that interacts well with tashiro, who seems like a regular guy, but has never had a girlfriend, doesn’t seem to care about having one, and is sometimes curious about romance in a way that’s suggests he doesn’t quite “get” it. tashiro’s also got a surprisingly sharp intuition, while hanzawa is perceptive and knowing… hanzashiro, then, to me, is about the tension of seeing, of understanding.

speaking of hanzashiro. I’ve written quite a few fics centered around it, but I’ll settle with talking about the first thing I wrote, two-tone. how about… this long concluding passage:

“Some attention’s fine,” Hanzawa said carefully. “Fame is different. It’s like… being inspected, over and over. Like an object.”  The silence between them stretched a little too long. Hanzawa cleared his throat, planning to leave, but the sound that emerged from his throat wasn’t gentle but rough, long, and dry.  “Hey,” Tashiro said, before Hanzawa had the presence of mind to be embarrassed. “You look parched.” He held out his water bottle, fingers curled around the neck. It swung between them.   Hanzawa stared back at him. He’d been doing it a lot, nowadays, but right now he felt overwhelmed by it, just looking at everything and the hint of a smile on Tashiro’s face, the way the awkward, close feeling in his throat was loosening already, feeling like he was on the edge of many realizations that were all secretly the same one. There was a metaphor here, somewhere, to be pulled from the shape of Tashiro’s knuckles brushing up against his hand—something about hunger. A starving man who’s been drinking an ocean given his first sip of spring water. For now, Hanzawa was content to let that stray thought swirl along with the rest. Maybe years later he’d think about how to write it down. Tashiro grinned as Hanzawa accepted the bottle, took a long, slow gulp. “Feeling better?” he asked. Hanzawa stared up at his half-bleached hair and sunny smile. “Yeah,” he said, voice smooth. “Something like that.”

two-tone is a fairly obvious title—tashiro’s got two-tone hair, and hanzawa’s two-toned in that he’s multifaceted. originally this was meant to be a 2-chapter fic, w/ a tashiro pov sequel, and this… kinda but not fully exists in two-faced.

but—okay. let’s break down this scene. hanzawa is someone who’s really aware of what is “normal” and doesn’t really want to be “abnormal.” this is why he doesn’t want to be famous—he’s already wearing some kind of mask, and that level of constant inspection is going to turn him into someone who’s like… fully dissociated from himself. he’s going to think of himself like an object or a puppet to maneuver, rather than a person. so being inspected scares him, because he’s not good with honesty, and feels like what’s underneath isn’t like… evil, or bad, it’s embarrassing. hanzawa reveals some of his discomfort with this, and immediately wants to escape. but his throat is dry, so any smooth escape is broken up by this harsh, ugly sound—like the ugliness of himself is being shown, here.

next, tashiro offers water. there’s a couple reasons for this. the primary and obvious one is because hanzawa is parched. the second reason is that I was heavily inspired by what I’ll call @dirtbra1n’s river series, which uses the river as a really fascinating metaphor for a lot of hanzawa’s character. I think you can do a lot with the shifting nature of water—how it adapts to take the shape of its container, for example, and I wanted to pay some kind of homage to that, so that’s why we’re using water bottles. I then proceeded to lose my mind when i read that anthology bit where tashiro slides a drink over to hanzawa when he’s accepting the possibility of being captain.

okay, but back to the offering—tashiro’s fingers are curled around the neck. this evokes a sense of—albeit gentle—strangulation. so that pairs well with what hanzawa’s fearing at this moment—honesty, awkwardness, etc. he doesn’t want to be caught. but the bottle’s also swinging… a motion that puts it in limbo, and I imagine it’s got a sort of, hypnotic pendulum vibe. it’s alluring. hanzawa accepts.

accepting doesn’t bring any kind of awful thing. instead tashiro’s nice, easy, in the way that honesty is when you feel safe. hanzawa’s throat loosens even before he drinks any water, because tashiro’s presence is one that makes talking comfortable. hanzawa’s staring at him, and tashiro’s looking back—some attention’s fine. he’s on the edge of many realizations, things about how he’s allowing himself to be vulnerable and the like, but the reason for all that stems from a simple I like him.

then we get to talk about hunger. of course it comes when tashiro’s touching him, just barely. like sasaki and hirano, it’s a mild crossing of boundaries. a starving man drinking an ocean is not just having problems, he’s having “solutions” that are ill-fitted and actively damaging. starving tends to mean you need food, not water… and ocean water tends to make you dehydrated on account of the salt. then, a sip of spring water is a path towards a solution for thirst, but it’s not solving the starvation problem, yet. that’s why this is the barest of touches. it’s like spring—like the green tashiro wears, which, by the way, I said his favorite color was spring green before I knew he wore it a bunch—it’s like hope.

finally, tashiro asks hanzawa if he’s feeling better, and hanzawa responds truthfully. his voice is smooth—because of the water, and because tashiro makes it easier to be honest.

well, that was a lot! the last thing I thought I’d talk about is a dating sim au fic, because… it’s a pretty crazy concept and thus I thought I’d touch on it last. to give a quick summary, @dirtbra1n conceptualized an au where just shirahama & miyano exist in modern day japan, and then get isekai’d into the sasaki to miyano universe (only now it's a dating sim!), where miyano is the player character, and shirahama is Just Some Guy. a lot of the major sasaki to miyano characters have become romance routes, and that's going to bring around a lot of shenanigans where miyano runs from love and then runs towards it, and shirahama is losing his mind for a lot of reasons. the biggest of them being that shirahama’s got an unrequited crush on miyano, a thing that is semi-confirmed by volume 10 but was pretty left field at the time of this concept’s inception. what can i say. @dirtbra1n is some kinda genius. now, they have... a lot of very cool ideas that I'm not quite sure I can explain or conceptualize, but what’s interesting to me is the setup of shirahama as an npc in someone else's game.

I think this pairs interestingly with how unrequited love can kind of… make a person a side character. it’s usually there to introduce love rivals, to fuel plot, or to reach a requital. but I think there’s meaning and value in unrequited love that’s never reciprocated, too…? so there’s this bit in the stranger in the hall:

Ichinose turns his gaze to the floor. “Well,” he says, “since I’m graduating this year and I really doubt we’ll run into each other after that… like recognizes like, or whatever.” Nice, Shirahama thinks, the game never had any love interests that are third years when you’re a first year. Then he feels mortified. “And it’s a…” he trails off. “Um. Yeah,” Ichinose says, picking the dirt out of his fingernails. “It’s not really a—even if he wasn’t… it’s kind of a hopeless effort, you know? But I still…” A tightness abruptly seizes Shirahama’s throat. “Yeah,” he manages to get out. “I know.”

first off: meet ichinose ao. he’s a side character in hirano to kagiura that I’m obsessed with. if only I had the energy to post extensively about why I am. but we know he gets easily anxious to the point of stomach cramps, he’s a high-achieving student, and he’s got what looks to be a pretty hopeless crush on the dorm manager. I think this is fun—it’s pretty futile as far as mutual romance goes, but there’s valuable exploration in pining, in crushes, in learning the ways in which you love. he pairs pretty perfectly with shirahama.

I use the phrase like recognizes like because it’s a common one to signal two people’s similarities, but also because it’s literally liking—their unrequited crushes—that makes them similar. you see them mirror each other with how they talk about ichinose as a third year—he’s like, well I’m outta here so I can be a bit honest, and shirahama also relaxes because he’s going to be out of here and is therefore irrelevant to the miyano romance routes. and in this case, ichinose’s irrelevance means that he’s someone shirahama can talk to without fear.

and through their vague dialogue, this moment of connection allows shirahama, for the first time, to really vocalize the enormity of his secret love. and it allows me to try to express how even love, unrequited, has its own special place. that as it remains hopeless it remains valuable.

…and if you, reader, got through all of this, you have my kudos!

[merginyourface]

@iamthecomet your princess Mountain 2k23 post gave me instant brain rot.... it's 1 am and I can't stop thinking about him. Look below to read more

You didn't need to be told this wasn't their usual routine to see that Swiss wasn't sure what steps to take next. Mountain laid back in his nest, lip worried between his teeth as he tried to track any movement around the silk blindfold wrap over his eyes.

But Swiss wasn't moving. He just stared down at the massive hellcreature held to his nest like a strung up animal as he waited in anticipation for first contact. Mountain looked absolutely stunning like this, naked, restrained, blindfolded. Swiss wanted to dig in but, he didn't know what to do.

He was glad Mountain was blindfolded because then he blushed thinking about the way Mountain had forced him into tight positions just to use him anyway the earth ghoul wanted. There was a sort of hierarchy in their pack and Swiss certainly could feel the effects of it even if Mountain was exuding no force as he sprawled out on the pillow topped floor waiting for the first touch.

Truth be told, he knew exactly all the things he could do. This, as a whole, was certaintly not new experience for Swiss. He had many a ghoul tied to his bed before;  Dew, Rain, Cumulus. That he was comfortable with. He knew how to get them into perfectly where he wanted them and where they wanted to be but...

Swiss watched as Mountain's hips rose as a small puff of air escaped from his lips. A sly smile spread across his lips as he shook off the uneasy feelings. "Thinking about anything interesting?" He asked, holding back a groan of his own as just the sound of his voice caused Mountain's exposed cock to kick again, hips lifting from the bed searching.

Mountain nodded furiously, biting down even harder on his lip. Swiss had to remind himself that a nod wasn't an appropriate answer, "Words, my agate." Swiss let himself fall forward on his knees into the nest, slowly coming closer to Mountain's side. "And remember your manners."

He gasped when he felt the weight join him, ears twitching as he tried to pinpoint Swiss' new location. Swiss ran a finger down one of Mountain's thick, ramlike horns, and the larger ghoul clearly swallowed a noise in his throat before it could surface

"Yes, I am, sir." His voice was rough, the deep gravel shaking slightly, and it sent a shiver down his spine. This was certainly going to be fun.

[ikoni-dweebs]

Guess I'm Here Now

No, my card doesn't have my face on it. Professor Douglas has been on my ass about it for ages. I'll get around to it.

Anyway, I'm Dave, (He/Him) a Behavioral Pokemon Researcher in Ikoni. Behavior research is kind of my permanent hyper fixation so I can get a bit rambly about it. At the same time I have to deal with a LOT of paperwork, so you guys might not hear from me all that much.

Posts from me will be marked #LabRattata

And here's the rest of the gang. (Under a Readmore because this gets a bit long)

Topaz - My starter. She is loyal to a fault and a little too excited to defend me sometimes. I've had her since I was a kid, though I generally don't advise using your family pokepet as your starter. She's great though and took to battling easily.

Ruby - Ruby was one of the earliest pokemon I met on my journey, but one of the last that I caught. It took a long time for me to gain his trust, but he's always been a great companion, even when I was just following him around.

Ametrine - Ami is a complete diva! She wants attention, but on her terms. She also thinks she's a lot bigger than she actually is and likes to pick fights with bigger pokemon. I love her though.

Agate - One of my earlier catches, she was easily the hardest to raise. I definitely have a few scars from her Deino and Zweilous days. She and Ruby are the biggest reasons I got into Pokemon Behavioral studies. She's still got a lot of energy but is a lot more in control of her aggression now. By the way, you haven't LIVED until you've flown on a big Dragon-Type's back!

Spinel and Pegmatite

Spinel and Peggy probably look a little weird to some of you. They, along with a few other pokemon, were actually discovered in an area where a Space/Time Distortion was occurring in Old Sisyphus. It's been determined that the pokemon found in these distortion areas are ancient versions of their modern counterparts, particularly from the ancient Sinnoh, or Hisuian region. I and a few other researchers were given some of these pokemon in order to study them as well as see if they can be acclimated to our modern era. So far.... it's actually going pretty well.

Spinel - I was given Spinel, who was already a Zoroark at the time, because I'd already trained up Agate and Prof. Douglas figured I would be the best fit for a little ball of hate. I say little but when she isn't disguised she's probably the biggest Zoroark I've ever seen! It took a long time working with her, but she's a lot more chill now. Very mischievous of course, but she isn't seeking revenge on anything that slights her anymore. Her favorite disguise is a shorter version of me. Given she's actually taller than I am, I know she's mocking me, but she knows I can't stay mad at her. Fwiw, I think most trainers would be best raising a Hisuian Zorua if they want to go that route. A lot easier to train from a younger evolution.

Pegmatite - Peggy is the puppiest puppy to ever pup. He loves cuddles, scritches and fetch. I think the Hisuian forme might be even more high-energy than the growlithe we're familiar with today. A very good boy.

Opal - My lab assigned partner specifically trained and meant for safely and humanely catching pokemon for study. She takes her job very seriously, but when she's not on the job she likes to paint. I have easels set up for her and Zunyite for enrichment.

Zunyite - Zunyite is my support pokemon. I have ADHD and he's really good at helping me stay on task and remember to take my meds. Grafaiai aren't common as support pokemon but my little guy is fantastic. He likes to ride around on my shoulder or paint with Opal when he's not actively on the job. Sometimes he'll make me paint with him if I'm having a dissociative episode.

[modernmagdalene]

Saint and Crystal Associations Part 2

Once again, I’m posting this as a potential resource for other Christian witches or Christian mystics (whatever you call yourself). These are my own personal associations, not official associations of any Christian denominations, so if they don’t feel right for you feel free to use different crystals with different saints. Thanks and enjoy.

Saint Francis of Assisi --> Amber

Francis is best associated with Amber. While not technically a crystal it still is used in a lot of crystal magic. Francis is a very complex saint who helps with a lot of different things: voluntary poverty, helping the poor, antiwar, and oneness with nature. Amber is very old and connected deeply to the earth. It helps with grounding, clarity, patience, wisdom, dissolves negativity, eliminates fear, and balances emotions. All things Francis needed to leave his life of privilege behind and follow God. I think it represents much of who Francis is and can help support the same virtues that Francis represents. 

Saint Brigid --> Opal

St. Brigid would be associated with Opal. Brigid is a saint that is very connected to the goddess Brigid. Their stories are extremely intertwined that you can’t really talk about without the other. Both are connected to fire, love, and hope and that’s all things Opal is connected with as well. I also personally tend to associate Opal with the divine feminine and Brigid connection to a goddess makes that work as well.

Saint Julian of Norwich --> Moonstone

Julian of Norwich I said in a comment that I associated with Lapis Lazuli but then relaized I was already using that crystal with St. Perpetua and Felicity. So I did some more research and decided that Moonstone would work really well for Saint Julian of Norwich. Moonstone is obviously associated with Lunar magick and the moon is also regularly associated with femimine energy. Which works wonders with St. Julian who often depicted God as femimine. One of the things that made her contraversal. St. Julian of Norwich had visions and was a prolific writer. Moonstone helps those seeking wisdom and strengthens psychic abilities. St. Julian of Norwich is also a known cat lover so have moonstone carved into the shape of a cat is even better. 

Saint Mary MacKillop --> Obsidian

(Trigger Warning Mentions of sexual abuse in this.)

Mary MacKillop is the first saint of Australia and one of my favorites! Mary MacKillop reported a priest who was abusing children and not longer after a friend of this priest used his connections to get her excommunicated. Her excommunication was eventually lifted. I have always admired her strength and resilience. That’s why I chose obsidian for her. Obsidian shines a light on the negativity and clears it away, helping us to choose the path leading towards light and love. It is also a protective stone as it used to be used for weapons. If you need to fight the devil obsidian is up there with tourmaline as an excellent crystal to clean house.     

Saint Raphael the Archangel --> Ametrine

St. Raphael the Archangel is another favorite of mine. If you use a Protestant Bible you might not have read about him. Raphael is featured in the Book of Tobit which is only in Catholic and Orthodox Bibles. The Book of Tobit is an epic love story between Tobias and Sarah that also features thievery, exile, and fights with demons. Where Michael and Gabriel tend to appear to humans briefly then leave. Raphael, disguised as a human, travels with Tobias throughout the whole book. Raphael is most associated with healing and I connect him to the crystal ametrine. Ametrine is associated with healing, harmony, strength, balancing physical and spiritual life, and aids in contacting spirit guides. This works with Raphael’s connections to healing. Furthermore, Raphael’s role guiding Tobit and being a spiritual being working on earth makes ametrine perfect in helping to connect with him. Use this stone and ask him to help find balance in your practice and assist you with finding spiritual guides.

Saint Rita --> Smoky Quartz

St. Rita is the patron saint of impossible tasks. She is someone I rely on when I really need to overcome an obstacle or problem in my life. She is also prayed to when someone has a deadly illness or serious problem helping with things that seem impossible to deal with is just her jam. Because of this I associate her most with smoky quartz. This crystal is super powerful and is a great grounding and balancing stone. It absorbs negative energy like a sponge (because of this it should be cleansed often-ish use your best judgement). It’s so useful and can even cleanse other crystals. It keeps all the negativity away from you which is something that one really needs when dealing with impossible situations.

Saint Mary Magdalene --> Celestite

Mary Magdalene is one of my favorite witchy women in the Bible. She wasn’t scared away like the other disciples when Christ was crucified, she was the first to preach about the resurrection, and was active in preaching and teaching others about Christ. One of my favorite stories about her comes from the Orthodox tradition where she was preaching to Emperor Tiberius Caesar about Christ and turned an egg red to prove to the emperor that Christ’s story and power was true. I associate Mary Magdalene most with Celestite. Celestite raises spiritual vibrations, promotes spiritual growth, and aides in communication with the spiritual realm. This crystal also boosts self-worth and self-expression, all things Mary Magdalene had in abundance. Mary Magdalene also seems to be the most connected to the spiritual world out of all the apostles (with the exception of maybe John) so this crystal is perfect for her.

Saint Joan of Arc --> Bloodstone 

St. Joan is a warrior and protector. I also consider her a trans and/or genderfluid saint who will naturally protect trans and genderfluid peoples. Because of this I associate her most with bloodstone. Bloodstone promotes justice and strength, it is also good for healing and renewal, but bloodstone is probably best known for boosting spells and banishing spirits. Or as I prefer to use it, boosting protection spells and banishing TERFs.

Saint Francis de Sales --> Kyanite

St. Francis de Sales is one of my favorite saints purely because he is the patron saint of writers and I am someone who greatly enjoys writing. Kyanite is the crystal I use with this saint. It promotes creativity and also dispels negativity aka those negative thoughts that tell you that you can’t write. It’s also supposed to sharpen your focus which can be especially helpful with writing or any creative work, especially if you are easily distracted like me.

Saint Anthony of Padua --> Amazonite

St. Anthony was one of my grandmother’s favorite saints and probably the saint I use the most in day to day life. He is the patron saint of lost items. He was a devout priest and taught students from a book of psalms. He once tried to preach to people who refused to listen to him. He instead decided to preach to the fish who all started to gather near the shore to listen to him. When people saw this they decided they should listen too. So you know when in doubt preach to fish I guess. Anyway, I associate St. Anthony with amazonite. Amazonite helps sharpen the mind, aids communication and promotes good luck all of which are great attributes for learning and teaching, finding lost items (that’s the good luck bit), and aiding communication could help you talk to people or fish, your call. 

Saint Valentine --> Rose Quartz 

St. Valentine did a lot but he is most associated today with marrying couples in the Christian church during the height of Roman persecution. So naturally I associate him with rose quartz, a crystal that promotes love and fertility, dispels loneliness, opens the heart to compassion, and even strengthens faith. The perfect stone for this romantic saint. 

Saint Scholastica --> Citrine 

St. Scholastica was the twin sister of St. Benedict, and was the founder of the women’s benedictine order. As someone who went to a benedictine college I have a fondness for her. If you are a storm witch in particular I think this might be the saint for you. At one point Benedict and his monks visit Scholastica and her nuns. Scholastica didn’t think she would live long enough to see her brother again after this meeting so begged him to stay the night, but Benedict didn’t want to spend the night outside his monastery and told her he couldn’t. So Scholastica prayed and a massive thunderstorm suddenly came making it unsafe for Benedict and his monks to travel. And here is my favorite bit:

“Realizing what had happened, Benedict reproached her: "What have you done, my sister?” Scholastica answered simply, "I asked a favor of you, and you refused to listen to me. So I asked my God, and He, more generous than you, granted my request.” Once again Scholastica’s pleas won the favor she was seeking.” 

With Scholastica I associate the crystal citrine. Citrine is all about manifesting change, protection, creativity, and success all things she needed to live the life she did.

Saint Dymphna --> Blue Lace Agate

St. Dymphna is one of my favorite saints and she is one I utilize often. She is most associated with mental and emotional illnesses. If you are a spoonie witch this is the saint for you. Because of this I associate her most with Blue Lace Agate, which helps people express themselves (helpful when going to therapy or a doctor) and also helps with dealing with any sorts of fears or anxiety. (Reminder: That utilizing this saint and crystal is meant as a prayerful way to ask for help dealing with mental and emotional illness. It is not a replacement for therapy or meds.)

St. Sara-la-Kali --> Jasper

St. Sara-la-Kali is the patroness of the Romani people. She is said to have helped the Three Marys of the Bible arrive safely in Gaul after she had a vision of them arriving. She used her dress as a raft and helped the women get to shore despite the tumultuous waves. She was also extremely generous and often collected alms for the poor. I associate her most with jasper. A crystal native to Romania it aids in peace and wisdom and also is particularly helpful during times of transition by providing stability and protection. It also supports perseverance and acceptance, something we definitely need Sara's help with right now.

[thekisforkeats]

The Way You Say My Name

Info: The Magnus Archives, JonMartin, rated T for swears. Canon-Compliant. Set immediately post-MAG 22. Martin is trans and Jon is amab non-binary.

CWs: Guilt, self-recrimination, worms (mentioned), arguments, shouting, crying, lying (Martin lying about his CV still), transphobia (mentioned), misgendering (mentioned), child abuse (mention of Martin Blackwood's mother) 

Summary: Just after MAG 22, Jon apologizes for his treatment of Martin over the past few months. Or tries to, anyway. It's hard to apologize to someone when you don't understand exactly what it is you've done to upset them.

(Of course, once Jon's apologized and Martin's relaxing, well... that's when Jon will finally notice he actually likes Martin, isn't it? Not that he's going to admit to that, even to himself.)

Shoutout to the Martin Blackwood Lovers Discord Server, without whom I would not have written this up and posted it. ;) Jon’s dialogue was (mostly) written by @marianfuckinghawke.

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“Recording ends.”

Jon reached out and pressed the stop button on the tape recorder. He sighed and looked at his phone. The message from Jane Prentiss was still glowing on the screen. He ran a hand through his short hair, aware he was mussing the grey-streaked black and deciding he didn’t care.

He had listened to Martin’s account of the encounter with Jane Prentiss with trepidation and worry. Now he could feel his face settling into something more drawn with concern. First, concern for his two assistants who were out of the Archive at the moment. Second, concern for Martin. The man had gotten himself into this mess because of Jon’s words. Due diligence. Was he really such a hardass that he had put one of his subordinates in harm’s way? How had he not realized that it might come to this?

Martin sat fidgeting, shifting in his seat, and Jon could feel the other man’s soft brown eyes on him. He had the look of a frightened, cornered animal and it cut Jon to the quick. He had done this. Jon was responsible for the man’s state, and he had to figure out how to make it better.

There was silence for a solid three minutes. Then Martin opened his mouth to say, “So if I’m going to be--”

Jon started speaking at exactly the same time. “So obviously you’re--” He blinked and said, “I’m sorry--”

“No, no, you go,” Martin said, raising his hands and waving them rapidly.

“No. It’s alright… go ahead,” Jon replied at the exact same time, then frowned.

Martin cleared his throat, then seemed to gather his courage. “Well. I was going to say. If I’m going to be staying here, I’ll need… things. Like, uhh, there’s a cot, but I’ll need, like… a toothbrush? I mean, you don’t have a stash of those sitting around, do you?” He chuckled in a self-deprecating manner.

“No, I do not,” Jon replied. “Nor do you have a proper change of clothing… you can hardly wear the same outfit for however long this will take, and you won’t want to sleep in what you’re wearing.” He had a sudden mental image of Martin sleeping naked, and cleared his throat while he shoved it away. Hardly an appropriate thought about a co-worker, even if it wasn’t remotely sexual. “We will have to go out and get such things for you… perhaps after I brief Tim and Sasha on the situation.”

Martin nodded. “There’s a room that might be, umm… did you know one of the rooms that’s filled with boxes is supposed to be the break room?” He gave that self-deprecating laugh again. “‘Course you know that, stupid, what am I saying…” He glanced aside, cheeks flushing. “Umm. Anyway. Umm. It’s bigger than the room you’ve got the cot in? If… if… I’m going to be staying here… I could clean it out… make it livable, maybe, umm, get some snacks and tea and things in, and there’d be more room for extra cots… in case you need somewhere to stay late or… something…” A pause. “Or not! Or just. You know. I’ll just. Have lots of time, so. I can. Clean. The break room.”

Jon did not, in fact, know that they’d had a break room at all. It had been frustrating to have everyone going up to the Admin break room on the ground floor, and he’d said so more than once. No, wait… had someone told him, and had he just told them off about clearing the room out?

He was suddenly horribly aware of how many times he’d griped at Martin for going up there to make tea that he had then gone ahead and drunk. How had he been such a prick to this man?

When Jon had started as Head Archivist, he’d had all sorts of plans for team morale, bonding exercises, and the like. He’d always hated them personally but they were the sort of thing bosses were supposed to do. The trouble was that all of his “how best to run the Archives as a team” ideas had flown right out of his head once he’d gotten down there and found himself at a desk where a woman had maybe died, struggling to record statements, dealing with doggy messes, and that damned persistent feeling of being watched.

Well, now was as good a time as any to start acting the way he should have all along.

“Martin… we will clean the break room. Together. As a group.” He ran his hand through his hair again. He really was going to look a mess. “It is a communal space, it will be a communal job.” He added quickly, “Yes, I know you’ll be here more than the rest of us, but I want us all involved. We need…” He sighed. Time to apologize. “I have been… less supportive of you than I should. And…” He swallowed, aware of the flush rising on his cheeks. “I feel I must apologize. So… I am sorry. But we should do more together, especially given that circumstances have escalated.”

Martin blinked at him for a moment. “You’re… sorry. For… being less… supportive than you should have been.” There was a hard-to-read undercurrent in his tone.

“For being�� rude to you… and for punishing you…” Jon replied. “Unjustly.” He gestured to the recorder. “All of this… happened because of your adherence to my instructions…” He frowned. “So. I’m sorry.”

“Well,” Martin snapped, “at least you’re finally realizing that it was… unjust.” He glared at Jon, who suddenly felt pinned to the spot by eyes that were no longer soft but had gone hard as agates.

Jon blinked at Martin. “Are… are you alright?” He was apologizing! He couldn’t be messing that up this badly, could he?

Martin drew a long breath in through his nose. “Yeah,” he said, in a high-pitched, clipped tone. “Yeah, I’m fine.” He went to stand abruptly, pushing away from the desk, and in that same tone, “Well, you’d better get to… briefing people, then. I’ll just… go see how far my paycheck can stretch in Chelsea.” His tone was dripping with bitterness by the end.

Jon stood up. “Martin!” He was vaguely aware of saying it in the same irritated tone he always used for the man’s name, aware that Martin visibly flinched at the word, and tried to moderate his tone. “What is going on? I am apologizing! Is… am I missing something?” He moved around the desk to try to be sure Martin didn’t just leave without finishing the conversation.

“No,” Martin said, stopping while facing the door, tone still a good two octaves above normal. “No, it’s fine. You’re apologizing, and that’s good.” His whole frame was stiff, though, and his tone practically screamed “lying.”

Jon couldn’t read people all that well, but even he could read the signs Martin was giving off. “While your words are clear, your body language says quite otherwise.” He tried to moderate his tone again, but he couldn’t help sounding mildly irritated. He didn’t like being lied to, especially concerning his own actions, and he wasn’t sure what he had done incorrectly in this situation. “Now will you stop and talk to me?”

Martin turned away from the door, faced Jon, jaw set firmly. “What do you want me to say, Jon? Do you want me to… to forgive you? To say ‘oh, sure, you’re sorry, so that makes up for the last six months where you’ve made me want to quit my job every day?’ Am I supposed to… to… just… oh, well, there’s danger, so now you’ve realized I’m an actual person, now you’re going to stop kicking me around, now you’re going to pitch in to help around here as I’m not already the one spending all his time trying to clean up the mess while Tim and Sasha run out to research things so you don’t have to send anyone to double-check my work? Never mind that I’ve been trapped for two weeks, I could’ve been dead and none of you bothered to check on me!”

Martin was all but shouting by the end of the diatribe, every line of him stiff and furious, and Jon was suddenly very aware of the fact that Martin was taller and bigger than he was. He cringed away from Martin, took a step back. “I… I…” He turned away to his desk, grabbed his phone. “Here…” he said, handing it to Martin. “Look!” The phone would solve the problem, if Martin could just see… “There… I… just… please…”

The moment Jon had cringed away Martin had hunched his shoulders, deliberately making himself smaller. Now he was taking long, deep breaths, his expression ashamed. He reached out to take the phone from Jon.

The display was still on the screen of Jon’s message history with Martin. Before the last message from Jane Prentiss was a long list of messages from Jon--numerous messages inquiring about Martin’s health, worried and concerned. He had linked articles about foods to eat when feeling ill, then when he’d realized some of those might be hard for Martin to make alone, found new links that had easier recipes.

There were also, Jon knew, greyed-out deleted messages.

Martin, know that your presence is missed here at the Archives. I am wishing you a quick recovery.

I know it’s sudden, but I find myself missing you. Just thought you should know.

And others, so many others, as Jon had tried to figure out how to pierce the wall built by the texts he’d been getting back from what he now knew was Jane Prentiss, asking to be left alone.

As Jon watched Martin reading the messages he nervously bounced in place, one arm folded over his chest to hold the other. He could feel his skin glowing from embarrassment and he wasn’t even sure why. The blush faded, however, as he watched Martin. Watched the anger fade, and realized what lay underneath. The pain that had been underlying that anger, the way it lifted as Martin read through the message history--it was like a revelation. Martin must have walked in here convinced nobody at his place of employment really cared about him, and Jon realized that that was, indeed, what he must usually think, if something as simple as text messages was making something like hope bloom on his face.

It occurred to Jon, suddenly, that nobody had checked on Martin. For two weeks. No friends, no family. Nobody had even noticed the man was gone.

Jon had to fix this. Somehow. And not by wrapping Martin up in a fierce hug like he very much wanted to; that would not be appreciated from the man’s asshole boss. Even if Martin looked like he really, really needed a hug.

By the time Martin handed the phone back to Jon, his breathing was shaky and unsteady. He dropped back into the chair, like his legs suddenly weren’t working. “S-sorry,” he managed in the barest of whispers. “Sorry.”

“That’s… my line,” Jon said. “I am sorry. I should have said more to make it clear… you are a valued member of this team.” He shook his head, wincing at how… canned that line sounded, but pushed on. “I should have said it at least once. And… I never did. I held you at arm’s length and ostracized you. And… I understand how you felt all that time now…” He sighed. “And… yes, it may have taken this incident to make me realize how terrible a person I’ve been to you since… since you started working here.”

Martin stared down at his hands; Jon could see he was crying, but silently, without sniffling or sobbing. “Why?” he finally managed. He looked up at Jon. “Why? What did I… do? I mean… there was the whole ‘dog’ business at the beginning… what, do you hate dogs that much?” There was a kind of desperation in his tone.”

“No… I mean, sure I’m more of a cat person, but… no… I don’t hate dogs.” Jon frowned. “I… I’ve given that a lot of thought these past two weeks and I think I figured it out.” He sighed. “It wasn’t you I was angry with.” He took a breath. “I was angry at Elias. I like to have a sense of who I work with, to get to know them before I get into anything serious.” Oh, no, wait, that sounded… he hadn’t meant it like… work. He’d meant work! No, he was overthinking that; Martin knew he meant work. He stammered for a moment, though. “It’s… part of who I am… as a person.

Jon took a breath, to steady himself. Focus on the apology. “When Elias… placed you here without telling or consulting me about the selection process, it… felt like a betrayal. I felt that agency over my department had been taken out of my hands. And yes… I know he runs the Institute, but he should have at least consulted me about who is in my department.”

He dropped his head and reached to take a box of tissues from the side of the desk, to slide them towards Martin. An olive branch. “I took out that anger and frustration on you. And that was wrong, I know that now.”

“Not like I wanted to be here either,” Martin mumbled, reaching out for a tissue and wiping at his eyes. It didn’t do much to stop the tears. “I mean, I didn’t even want the damn library job, I j-just…” He stumbled, stammering, “It’s… it’s harder to get a position with a degree in parapsychology than you might think.” He sniffled. “B-but… even on top of that… you and Tim and Sasha, you’re all friends already, you requested them. Even if Tim and Sasha and I get along they don’t really know me, and you… well…” He sighed. “When Elias said I was going to work for Jonathan Sims I just about freaked out. You’ve got a… reputation, you know? I just… I knew it’d be… lonely down here, and it really has been.” There was a furrow between his brows now as he looked at Jon.

Jon frowned. He’d known he had a reputation around the Institute, but he hadn’t thought it was that bad. He took a deep breath; this wasn’t about him right now. “Then let us work on fixing that. Starting now. Like I said, we need to be working together more, improve the… office atmosphere. I… have come to admire your dedication to your work. ‘Due diligence,’ as you put it.”

Martin regarded him quietly for a moment. Then he said, “The thing that really bothers me… I don’t… I don’t think you’d understand.”

Jon frowned. Then, finally, softly, “Try me. You might be surprised.”

Martin swallowed. “I… I’m trans,” he blurted. “Like, I was… I had a girl’s name, when I was younger. Figured out I was a guy when I was a teenager, started hormones, and… well…” He took a deep breath. “My mum’s never approved, you know? She’s always been… difficult, she’s… sometimes she’ll… well, I mean, you know how parents will… say your name, right? Like, when you’ve… disappointed them.”

Jon’s frown deepened. He did not, in fact, know how parents said one’s name, but he could remember his grandmother saying Jonathan in tones of deepest disapproval when he’d come back from wandering off. So he nodded; he understood the feeling, at least.

Martin wiped at his eyes again. “The way she said my name… it made me hate my name. My deadname, I mean. But it… helped me realize I was trans, because when I thought about something else I’d want to be called, I came up with ‘Martin.’ And… and I’m kind of glad sometimes, that she… misgenders me, and refuses to call me Martin, because it means she’ll never, ever say it in that… disappointed tone. I have never regretted that choice, not once, until…”

Martin took in a long, shuddering breath, then straightened himself, looking Jon right in the eye. Like he knew what he was going to say wouldn’t go over well, but he had to say it. “The way you say my name, when you snap at me? It’s exactly like my mother says my deadname. And nobody has ever made me regret that choice. Not… ever.” He swallowed. “Until I met you.”

Jon stared at Martin for a long moment, horrified. He was non-binary himself, and yet he’d never changed his name, never even asked people to call him by different pronouns although he might have preferred it; he’d never had the courage to do so. He’d always been terrified of what people might think of him. Yet here was Martin, strong enough to change himself outwardly despite his mother’s disapproval, strong enough to keep coming in every day to deal with a boss who made him regret the name he’d chosen for himself.

In that moment, Jon felt very much like he did not deserve Martin Blackwood. That the Institute did not deserve Martin Blackwood. They would have to do better, somehow.

Finally he managed, “I’m… I didn’t know. I--” He curled his mouth in disgust. How did one respond to that? Do better? That was only a marginally acceptable platitude. “I will endeavor to change my tone.” He didn’t like that any better, but it was the best he could do.

Jon really, really wanted to offer Martin a hug. The man looked like he needed one. Tim would have offered a hug, workplace hugs could be acceptable… but, no, Jon was Martin’s boss, and Martin had just said how much he hated Jon--because if Jon reminded Martin of the mother who deliberately misgendered him, then he had to hate Jon--and who would want a hug from someone they hated?

There was something he could do to help, though. To pay Martin back, as it were. So he, too, straightened, and said, “Well. You were talking about how far your paycheck will stretch in Chelsea, but I think that will be quite unnecessary. Given that you encountered Jane Prentiss while in the line of duty, as it were, I think we can expense your essentials to the Institute without too much trouble.”

Martin’s eyes widened. “W-wait… won’t that… I mean… won’t Mr. Bouchard be… upset about that?”

Jon actually smirked. “Don’t you worry about Elias; I fully intend to take out my irritation about his habits as a supervisor on him instead of you from here on out.” Not directly, of course, but Elias would be irritated by the entire setup, and some petty part of Jon enjoyed that thought.

Martin was staring at Jon now. “I… I wouldn’t want you to… get in trouble…”

Jon waved a hand. “It’s the least I can do.” He stood. “Let’s get to the shops for toiletries before they close and then we can see about getting some clothing delivered. And, ahh, do you have any… prescriptions you’ll need…?” He was thinking about hormones. “I suppose I could send Tim ‘round to your flat, but I wouldn’t want to put him in danger either…”

Martin stood, hesitating. “I’ll… figure all that out. It’s alright. Really.”

Jon came around the desk to grasp Martin by the arms and look up at him, intently. It was the closest thing to a hug he’d let himself get to. “Martin,” he said, as gently as he could manage, with as much respect as he could manage, “you put yourself in danger because of the way your superiors at this Institute have treated you. Let me at least begin to partly repay that debt. Please.”

Martin was blinking down at him. “Uh… umm… aren’t we having… Mr. Bouchard repay the debt…?”

Jon smiled up at Martin as he dropped his arms. "Ahh, but we’re not going to ask Elias to come help clear out the breakroom. Can you imagine him moving boxes?” He could feel the smile edging into a grin. “His arms would break just from trying to pick one up.”

Martin had started to smile, hesitantly. That was what Jon had been going for; he hadn’t realized how much he actually liked Martin’s smile until he hadn’t been around for two weeks. “I-I mean… you’re not the biggest guy yourself… you might have the same problem.”

“Mmm, fair,” Jon replied, “but I am willing to scrub a floor if I must.”

Martin’s smile widened. “Y-yeah, I can’t imagine… Elias… scrubbing a floor.” He giggled, suddenly. “He probably pays people to do that stuff. He… he’d probably have been hopeless stuck in his flat for two weeks.”

Jon laughed at the mental image of Elias Bouchard stuck in a flat, living off canned meals, a laugh so full he actually threw his head back a bit. “Good lord, Elias, having to live off tinned peaches? Can... you... imagine?”

“H-he’d… probably… start shouting for Rosie.” Martin was giggling so hard he could barely get the words out. He put on a bad posh accent and said, “‘Rosie, why do we have all these tinned peaches? I did not approve this budget!’”

They both dissolved into helpless laughter, both reaching out to the other to hold themselves up. There was a moment, as the laughter waned, that their eyes met, and Jon felt something swoop and flutter in his gut. Martin had such a nice smile, and such a pleasant laugh, and it would be wonderful to have both around more often, and it was making him a little dizzy if he was being honest. When was the last time he’d felt that swoop and flutter? Georgie? Briefly, with Tim?

No, no, that was the laughter and the proximity. That was all. They were bonding over dislike of Elias. That was all.

At least he’d managed to clear the air.

Jon straightened, and kept smiling as he turned toward the door. “Come along, then, Martin,” he said, and again deliberately infused the word with as much respect as he could muster. “Let’s get to the shops.”

Martin nodded. “Thanks for this, Jon,” he said, and oh dear there was another swoop at the way Martin said his name. Had he always said it like that? Had Jon just not noticed? “Really. Thank you.”

Jon turned away to school his expression. This would not do. He was not going to let himself feel any more… swoops for a subordinate. It just wouldn’t do. No matter how nice of a smile he had. He did not have a crush on Martin, because he could not have a crush on Martin, and that was that.

Feeling a little better--it was always a relief, sorting out his emotions--Jon headed out to help Martin get settled into the Archives.

[quokkacore]

LIBERALITY: starshine [oh sehun] (m)

part II of all your gods are fake

summary: sehun gives you what he can, but it’s never easy. you have to work for it as well, but effort pays off, and he rewards you so kindly.

pairing: freedomfighter!sehun x reader

genre: smut, angst, fluff, light horror towards the end?

warnings: language, descriptions of war, descriptions of cults, mentions of violence, shibari, thigh riding, handjobs, reader has nipple piercings, sensory deprivation (blindfolds and ties), seizures, knives

song rec: rosalia & ozuna - yo x ti, tu x mi ♡ taemin - never forever

word count: 4.3k

a/n: this was originally posted to my old writing blog on may 9th, 2020. if you would like to be on the taglist, pls send me an ask or a message! <3 

masterlist

He was getting agitated. You could tell this much.  

It was already bad enough that the meeting so far had lasted for over an hour and a half, but now the tension of the situation was finally settling in, as everyone realized that it was finally here.

The last stronghold. Or so they believed. Or so he believed.

The meeting was only for the highest ranking officials of the resistance, people who The Brotherhood knew they could trust—the plan was far too important to risk it falling into the hands of The Sect of Seven at the hands of double agents.

The plan that, if executed correctly, could turn the tides and cause the downfall of the Sect.

You watched, leaning against the wall as Junmyeon, leader of The Brotherhood and face of the resistance towered over the war table, talking about possible strategies to take the last major neutral city and also take control of the country.

The Sect of Seven had existed for years before the war began—its existence spanned across centuries, millenia, even; dating back to the year The Prophecy of Brothers Alike was first proclaimed in the late twelfth century, and remained strong even almost a whole century after The Great Collapse of 2050, when global society had collapsed due to war, famine and climate disasters.

Then the war broke out, some ten years ago, when the first two brothers of the Fated Fourteen first made themselves known, springing the Sect’s violent plans into action.

Since then, the resistance had been built up by The Brotherhood’s efforts, both capturing strategic cities and territories across North America. The Sect was based in the desert, with the Sanctuary based in what was once Los Angeles, their control spanning across what was western Mexico, the american south, and half of the northwest.

The resistance was based higher north, in the Citadel, which used to be Chicago, territories consisting of parts of southern Canada, the rockies, the northern midwest and what remained of the Peninsula of Yucatan. Places like Greenland, the southern east coast and northern canadian territories had either been destroyed during the collapse or had since been reclaimed by extreme climate and nature.

The only major territory that remained uncaptured by either sides, the place where many had fled to avoid getting caught in the crossfire, was the northern west coast, and that was controlled by Washington DC.

The very spot the resistance was now planning to take.

Your eyes floated up towards Sehun, who was standing right next to Junmyeon, who was now listening to Chanyeol and Baekhyun discuss the logistics of a peaceful invasion.

“Overall, I think we still need time to form a solid strategy,” Baekhyun said, “Jongdae needs to get in contact with The Agate Sisters for some more weapons—”

“Which is not very easy, might I add—” Jongdae interjected.

“And even before that…” Junmyeon’s voice was loud, taking command of the situation, “Sehun.”

All eyes in the room fell to the youngest member of The Brotherhood.

Oh Sehun. The Oracle.

Sehun had become known to the world two years after Suho and Junmyeon were proclaimed the first two brothers of the prophecy, the same time as his twin brother. Being so young, his ability of both interpreting and creating prophecies was a sight to behold, both terrifying and morbidly fascinating.

You’d known him since he and his brother were children, before the three of you realized what the future held in store—pain and suffering for Sehun and you, and nothing but pleasure and debauchery for Sehün.

“Do you think you could consult with the spirits for a minor prophecy? Or any other interpretations of the prophecy?”

Sehun shifted in his stance, leaning back and forth. “I need time.” His voice was firm and gravelly as he crossed his arms, immersed in thought. “My most recent auguries have revealed to me that DC is the last stronghold that the prophecy is talking about. But I can’t be a hundred percent sure. Prophecies love to play mind games. We all know that.”  

“Is there anything we have to be wary of when it comes to the prophecy? Double entendres, stuff like that?” Yixing asked, even though everyone in the room had heard the god-forsaken prophecy more than enough times throughout the past few years.

Sehun sighed, but closed his eyes and nodded anyway. A dramatic tension settled over the room, and Sehun began to speak.

“Cometh a day when seven sets of twins, be opposite ends of both virtue and sin—why am I going over this again, we all know this,” He huffed.

“Please just continue,” Baekhyun mumbled.

“Ugh, fine. Bearing eyes of blue and eyes of brown, cometh to tear the last stronghold down—” Sehun rolled his eyes, frustration evident in his expression. “The term stronghold has always been somewhat questionable. The prophecy was first declared in 1176, right? Early Modern English wouldn’t become a thing for another three hundred years, so most of this stems from Middle English. Some interpret stronghold as fort, or base, or holy land…”

Jongdae raised his hand before speaking, eyes flashing in alarm as he interrupted Sehun’s tangent. “Wait, wait, if others have translated it as holy land, then—”

“The Sanctuary.”

Junmyeon’s voice was quiet, but still commanded a heavy presence across the room, as a profound silence spread across the space.

“That means that the final battle could be in Los Angeles, on their turf. That would put us at a major disadvantage. We’re already at a major disadvantage.” The leader’s eyebrows were furrowed, using both hands to lean on the table as he made the connection.

The dread that followed was thick and suffocating, and you took the opportunity to speak up, wishing to rid the room of the anxiety gathering.

“But think about the implications of fighting the final battle in The Sanctuary. It would have to mean that we’ve managed to push them back sufficiently to the point where we feel confident invading their home base. Which we wouldn’t do unless we knew that we had a high possibility of winning.”

All eyes fell to you, and you crossed your arms, before meeting Sehun’s gaze. The look in his eyes was something akin to gratitude, being able to lift the sudden darkness. You lifted your hand to gesture back at Sehun. “Continue.”

He nodded, gaze stern. “Perhaps lovers lost to a most wicked brother, bringeth vengeance and hellfire upon one another… Loss could mean one of two things. Betrayal or death. But the rest of those two lines imply that the side that does the taking will suffer because of what they’ve done. That means that for now, none of us lay hands on any of the Sanctuary Queens, and those of us who have them, keep our partners close… Beware ye who heed this, for I warn thee now: suffer shall those who carelessly bow.”

“It has to be them,” A girl, Sasha, declared, “They’ve been lying to their followers for years—”

“That could mean anything. You know that.” Sehun’s voice was rough, eyes trained on the map that had been carved into the table.

A silence hung over the room, tension palpable as everyone remembered what the stakes were. These were lives and people’s free wills on the line, indescribable anguish promised by a prophecy written centuries ago to people who didn’t truly know their leaders. The end was near, but the outcome was nowhere near foreseeable.

“I’ll… I’ll try and do some more smoke readings.” It struck you how tired he sounded, watching as he rubbed his eyes with his thumb and index finger, “Maybe I’ll ask the spirit of the Oracle for a specific prophecy on DC. For now, we just have to be cautious. Watch for any suspicious activity here in the citadel and listen to intelligence reports. Jongin, you’ve got your moles at the Sanctuary, right?”

Jongin nodded, gaze dark. “Yeah. I’m meeting with Ren in two weeks. She’s the best of the best. I’ll see what she has for us.”

Junmyeon straightened his posture, everyone quieting when he opened his mouth to speak.

“I think that’s enough worrying about that for today,” He declared, sounding grim, “Before we go, you all know that not a single word is to leave this room. This is highly classified information. Meeting adjourned.”

You watched everyone file out of the room, hoping to speak to Sehun, yet somehow didn’t catch when he left. You got the feeling that that was what he intended.

So you left too, resolving to see him that night.

—

Sehun’s room was easy to find, seeing as how it was right across the hall from yours, in the large apartment building the heads of the resistance had settled into. You knocked on his door, sighing when you didn’t hear any response. You tried one more time, then another time, finally a third time, before letting your head fall frustratedly against the wood of the door.

“Hun, I know you’re in there… please let me in.”

You heard muffled sounds of shuffling from behind the door, pulling your head away to lean it against the doorframe. Waiting, you strained your ears for a noise, hearing the occasional sound.

Eventually, you heard the telltale sound of heavy footsteps being dragged across the floor. You pursed your lips, waiting for the door to open, wondering what you would see when it did.

The door swung open slowly, and you were met with a tall figure, hunched over as he peered down at you. The exhaustion in his gaze was palpable, and you felt your heart clench in sympathy.

Sehun was 25 now. He was made known to the public some nine years ago, and on top of it all, he was the Oracle. Interpretations of any and all prophecies were up to him, a sixteen year old boy who had just discovered he was destined to spend the rest of his life fighting against his own brother, something that tore his family apart.

He was a child.

And now, here he stood, looking too worn, too hopeless for someone so young. His eyes had seen horrors he was much too young to see. Life had eaten away at the glow he’d had when you were both younger. The dark circles underneath his eyes were so pronounced, you’d think he hadn’t slept since he was a baby. His short, dark hair was greasy. You wondered if he’d been taking care of himself properly.

“Do you need anything?” His voice was raspy, quiet. You looked at him, brown eyes met yours. Your heart clenched. Here he was, mentally exhausted, and the first thing he said to you wasn’t a hello, but rather, asking quietly if you needed anything.

“Can I come inside?” You asked sheepishly, and he blinked for a second, before nodding, opening the door more for you to pass. “Go ahead.”

You stepped past him, into the hallway of his small apartment. The smell of incense invaded your nose, and you frowned. He closed the door, and crossed his arms. “What’s going on, Y/N?”

“Are you okay? You looked so tired today, you look tired now.”

“I’m fine—"

“Are you sure?”

“Yes.”

You refused to let him keep it all to himself. “Sehun…”

He leaned against the wall, head bowed, and you mirrored his stance, standing against the wall as well, but you didn’t look away. “Y/N, I can’t deal with that right now. People need me.”

“Sehun, you can’t force yourself like this, you’ve told me that yourself—"

“I have to make this work. I can’t fail like last time, not if DC is what we think it is.”

You sighed, taking a step forward, resting a hand on his arm. He glanced at it briefly, then raised his head to look at you. You said nothing, but guided him to sit down on the couch, and you sat next to him.

“Sehun,” You said, voice quiet, “DC is nothing but puppets right now pretending they’re actually doing anything. We have our puppets, the sect have theirs. You can’t be sure that a place like that is what determines whether we’re doomed or not. You said it yourself, there are so many possibilities that DC isn’t the place we’re thinking about.”

He took a few deep breaths, nodding to your words before rubbing his eyes with his thumb and index finger. He looked strained, and you moved to sit closer to him.

“Everything is so fucked up,” Sehun whispered, and you nodded in agreement. “I feel like everything is out of control. Like I can’t do anything about it. Meanwhile, Sehün—"

“Sehün has people who think he’s a god obeying his every whim, just like the rest of those—those idiots.“ Your voice was quiet, but firm, refusing to allow him to compare himself to his brother, "The only reason they look so polished and seem to have everything under control is they only leave the Sanctuary when they absolutely need to, to save face. They feel like they’re above everyone else.”

You took Sehun’s hand, carefully removing his worn, black glove before cradling it in your smaller hand, as if it were incredibly fragile. His eyes met yours, and you gave him a sad smile.

“The Brotherhood, on the other hand… You only use that title for formality’s sake. Yes, you’re all the leaders, but you see yourselves as equal to the rest of us. All of you are out there with us, on the front lines. You’re tired because you give everything you have to serve this cause, my love. You feel that everything is out of control because… well, it is. Lady Fate is a tricky one, we all know that. But you feel it even more because you’re dealing with it head on, not from some sparkly throne on a golden pedestal.”

Sehun’s eyes glittered with several emotions you couldn’t pinpoint, but you could see fondness in them. He leaned forward, pressing a kiss to the top of your head. “Starshine,” He mumbled into your hair, before resting his chin on the crown of your head, “Where would I be without you.”

You hummed, before allowing your eyes to flutter shut, and the two of you sat in silence for what seemed like hours. You reflected back to when you and Sehun both realized your feelings for one another, after a devastating battle in Salt Lake City where Sehun had given his brother the now infamous scar running down the left side of his face, some six years ago. He’d come so close to dying that day, and you’d realized just how important he was to you.

You’d been joined by the hip since you were children, and when the revelation came that he and Sehün were the brothers of liberality and greed respectively, you didn’t hesitate in taking his side, vowing to follow him until the bitter end.

It all made sense to you when you came to Sehun’s sickbed, seeing him resting and bloodied, that you’d actually been in love with the boy for a long time, perhaps ever since you’d first met him. You wouldn’t ever be able to live without him, and apparently, he felt the same way.

In this moral crisis, you were his anchor, his tether to the corporeal plane when his world was on an ethereal one.

Upon all the doubts that everyone had, as to whether the Fated Fourteen were truly gods or if they were simply men with delusions of grandeur chosen by Lady Fate for her cruel entertainment, he felt that you were what reminded him that he was human, that past gods were never truly capable of love or real emotion.

To be capable of loving you was a humbling experience, one that he treasured dearly, especially in moments like this.

“Do you remember what we did the last time you felt like you had no control?” Your voice was a whisper, full of promise and anticipation, as the hand that wasn’t holding his own came to ghost over his thigh. Sehun’s breath hitched, recalling the experience. Roughness against soft, supple skin, restraint and control, you giving yourself entirely to him before he gave himself entirely to you.

“What exactly are you proposing?” He murmured, and you exhaled as one would when they found something amusing, the ghost of a laugh. “You know what I’m proposing, Sehun. Don’t act as if I haven’t seen you teaching Chanyeol to tie his knots when he’s getting ready to go out on a field mission.”

His hand tugged yours towards him, and you moved as he sat back, resting his back against the couch as he helped you straddle his waist. You faced him, realizing with a giggle that he’d turned slightly pink at your accusation.

“Do me a favor,” He said, and you nodded, letting your free hand rest on his shoulder. “Never talk about Chanyeol when you’re trying to get me into bed again. You are the sexiest thing I’ve ever laid my eyes on… Chanyeol, however, is the most unsexy person I’ve ever had the pleasure of knowing.”

Your head tipped back with laughter, and he joined in with you. Your heart, upon hearing this, skipped a beat. You had a hard time recalling when the last he’d laughed was. “I think Sasha would disagree.”

“Yeah, but Sasha isn’t here now, is she? It’s just you and me.” He leaned forward, trapping your waist with his hands and letting his face come close to yours. You watched his eyes flutter down to watch your lips, inches away from yours. You gulped when his lips parted, his tongue peeking out to lick the pink skin.

“So you want me to tie you up. Take control.”

Your hands wrapped around his neck, and you smiled. “Only if you want to tie me up. I want you to have at least one thing you feel you can control.”

Sehun licked his lips again, sighing in amusement as he considered the idea. “Y’know, a few weeks ago, some of the field officers came in with a bunch of fabric they managed to smuggle out of LA…” His tone was quiet, and his hands began trailing downwards, pulling you against him, voice filling you with anticipation. Comfortable fabric was so difficult to come by these days, given that the Sect had taken what were once lavish city districts.

You gasped slightly when your core came into contact with his lap, feeling he was already starting to get hard, and felt your face heat up.  

“I might’ve bought a silk tie or two off of ‘em,” He told you, eyes burning holes into your skin, “Wanted to see what my starshine would look like in pink.”

Your felt your hands tighten of their own volition against the fabric of his black t-shirt, your mind conjuring the mental image. “Fuck, Sehun. W-where’s the jute?”

He flashed a lopsided grin, and you felt the need to smack the smug look off of his face. How he could go from being so serious to this, was beyond you. You personally didn’t believe that The Brotherhood and The Lords of the Sect were gods, but Sehun’s duality, in situations like this, seemed to be supernatural at times, if you dared say so yourself.

He pressed his lips to yours briefly, before lightly nudging you to get off of his lap. “I’ll go get it, baby. Give me a second.”

He stood, catching his breath briefly, before walking down the hall, towards his closet. The hallway was slightly darker, and you stood, striding over to him as he pulled out the rope. He turned to face you, and he quickly cornered you against the wall.

“Shirt off. Bra, too.”

You grinned. “What are you gonna do this time?”

You could vaguely make out his features, but you knew his face was probably twisted up in smug satisfaction. Regardless, you obeyed silently, your chest rising and falling quickly with anticipation.

“Chest harness, for now,” He quipped, “Is that okay?”

You nodded, not breaking eye contact with him as you undressed yourself. You wanted him to realize that you weren’t backing down.

He seemed to read you perfectly, nodding in response to your answer as he watched you pull off the dark fabric, before reaching behind you to unclasp your bra. Even in the dim light of the corridor, you could see how his eyebrows raised and the way his lips parted slightly, lazy gaze falling down to your breasts. You knew what he was gawking at.

The studs embedded in your nipples were a dark stainless steel, glittering, alluring. You’d gotten them on a whim at nineteen from some clandestine tattoo artist on the way back from a field operation. He’d always had a bit of a fascination with them, the way they seemed to twinkle at him underneath the light.

"You gonna stare at me all night or will I have to tie myself up?”

Your playful jab snapped him out of his reverie, and he straightened his posture a few seconds later. “Go stand in front of the bed.” His voice was soft, but still commanding.

You stalked into the dark bedroom, standing in front of where you made the bed out to be. He followed you, before standing behind you. “Are you going to tie my hands up, too?"

"Not yet, starshine,” He declared quietly, into your left ear. You could tell he was untangling the jute, and you pursed your lips in anticipation. “You want to know what I’m about to do to you?”

“You know I do,” You whispered, a confession just for him, before lifting your arms and your hair for him to work.

“Too bad,” He sighed, ”Because I’m not telling you.”

You huffed, but didnt protest.

His arms began to wrap the rope below your ribcage, tightening the jute to the point where you could feel it digging into your skin, but enough to complicate your breathing. Taut, but not torturous. You closed your eyes, sighing quietly as he looped the jute higher up this time, just between your breasts and your collarbones, wrapping back to where he began, in the middle of your back.

The sensation of the rough fibers against your skin was by no means comfortable. It was scratchy and some stray fibers tickled at your chest. But its presence against your skin, the implications of its position and what was to come, was most definitely comforting. Intimacy with Sehun now was rare, you rarely even slept next to each other. But you knew that it wasn’t because of a strain in your relationship.

Sehun had always needed peace of mind and silence when it came to auguries and prophecy readings. Now, with the war coming so close to what seemed to be the end, he needed it more than ever, and the moments you shared with him came to a pause. You didn’t complain—the cause came before your emotions, now and always. But inside you were crying out for him; in concern, in longing, in yearning.

So maybe that’s why when he paused his ministrations and chuckled, tracing a finger down his spine, you whimpered quietly, thighs rubbing together in anticipation. “You have goosebumps,” He said, lips brushing against the shell of your ear.

“It’s been a while,” You answered, and he hummed in response, pressing a soft kiss to your nape. You sighed at the sensation.

“Drop your arms, and turn around to look at me,” Sehun whispered a few seconds later, and with some help from him to maneuver through the rope he was still trying to tie around you, you were able to complete his request.

“You’re so fucking gorgeous.” His voice was throaty, eyes scanning your body as you did the same, eyes landing on the growing bulge in his pants.

“Sehun, please just hurry.”

He shook his head, crooked smile still gracing his face. His hands worked quickly, looping the jute underneath the lowest rope, between your breasts.

“It’s not too tight, is it?” He asked, and you shook your head.

“It’s fine. Not too tight, not too loose.”

He nodded, eyebrows furrowing in concentration. “Okay. Let me know if it becomes too much at any point.”

“I know, Hun.”

Sehun’s dark eyes lifted their gaze from where his hands were working to meet your own, not saying anything. By now, the smile had faded, replaced by a stern look of concentration.

Be still, my heart, you thought, he is so beautiful.

“What?” You whispered, and he blinked.

His response was soft, gentle. “I would fucking die for you.”

You felt your face grow warm, and you lowered your gaze. “Sehun,” You murmured, “I—”

“Sh, sh,” He answered, continuing to tie the rope, “Listen to me, starshine. You’re it for me. There’s never been anyone else. A-and if anything happens, Lady Fate forbid it… There’ll never be anyone else.”

He finished his words as he tied off the final knot, and silently, you stood there, eyes shut as you pressed your forehead to his. For how long, you weren’t sure. Seconds, minutes, eons… Maybe no time had passed at all. You didn’t really care. Moments like these were never long enough, they always ended too soon. Sehun was your elixir of life, your lifeline, and in these moments, you felt immortal, invincible, powerful.

To be able to bring such a man like him to his knees, to be so ready to put himself on the line for you; you were sure it would be your ruin.

You surged forward, wrapping your arms around Sehun’s neck, and he caught you as you pressed your lips to his in a blazing kiss. His arms wrapped around your waist, pulling you impossibly closer. You whined into the kiss, the dark cotton of his t-shirt pressing against your sensitive nipples and their piercings.

“Sehun,” You moaned into the kiss, reaching down to tug at the hem of his shirt. “N-not fair, take it off.”

He hummed, pulling away to comply with your protests, revealing toned skin and the broad shoulders you so adored.

“Is it fair now?” He asked, grabbing your upper arms to pull you closer and press kisses to your collarbones and along your sternum. “I should tie your hands now, maybe then you’ll learn you’re not allowed to touch without my permission.”

“Shut up,” You said, ignoring his declaration as he pushed you onto the bed. You peered up at his broad form, towering over you in the darkness, almost trembling in anticipation, waiting for him to put his hands on you, to make a move.

A few moments later, he finally did, reaching down to pull your pants off, as well as your underwear. He pressed soft kisses to your stomach as he did. When both garments were finally tossed aside, he lifted himself up onto the bed, lips trailing up across your skin. His eyes met yours as he gazed up at you, through you, before pressing his lips to one of your breasts, your sensitive nipples hardening at the contact of his warm mouth against the cool steel embedded in it.

Your head tipped back, eyes fluttering shut, unable to keep eye contact with your lover. One of your hands came up to comb through his dark hair, whimpering as he alternated between your nipples.

“Sehun, mmph, baby…” You murmured, coming back to look at him when he let go and came back to kiss at your jawline.

“Up, starshine,” He ordered, leaving no room for protest, arms wrapping around your waist and hauling you up to sit on his lap. As you squirmed to get comfortable in his grip, one of his hands reached for his nightstand’s drawer, and he pulled out two pastel pink silk ties. Your heart leaped towards your throat in excitement when you registered what these were, hips subconsciously searching for friction against his.

“Sit still,” He huffed as he closed the drawer, before straightening his posture, dwarfing you even sitting beneath you.

Wordlessly, he brought the tie up to your eyes, covering them before tying it at the back of your head with one tie, quickly doing the same to your hands with the other, tying them tightly in front of you.

“Fuck, you’re so pretty,” He mumbled, hands raking from your hair to down your back.

His hands came to grasp at your thighs, propping them so they rested only atop one of his. You felt your core clench at what he was alluding to, inhaling sharply.

“Move your hips, baby,” He said, and you couldn’t bring it in you to deny him.

Another thing you couldn’t do was speak, you found, as you prayed you could maintain your balance and began to slowly rock your hips against the rough fabric of his dark pants and his toned thigh, your bare pussy rubbing listlessly against the coarse fabric. You didn’t mind however, perfectly content to let him speak, murmuring strange hybrids of dirty and sweet things in your ear.

The hot pleasure between your legs seemed to double at the restriction in your ribs and not being able to see or anticipate where his hands or mouth were. You buried your head into the crook of Sehun’s neck, peppering wet, opened kisses against his collarbones, your nails digging into your palms with a vengeance in hopes of anchoring yourself to something.

The movements of your hips soon became capricious, rhythmless, your whimpers becoming louder and louder as he switched between flexing his thigh and bouncing it like a restless child. In the darkness of the silk tie, you could feel the callousness of his fingertips as they dug into your hips, a guided meditation through your pleasure.

The room reeked of incense and sex, you realized as you attempted to delay your slowly building release by focusing on different things. Smells, sounds, and finally, Sehun.

This was the Sehun you loved most, the one you cherished most in your heart. The Sehun that was so willing to give, give, and give, but not to the point of recklessness, unlike the Sehun you had seen so often lately in the war room. This Sehun was yours, and yours only. And if the growing wet spot against his rough pants was any indication, then your body loved this Sehun as well.

“S-Sehun.”

“Hmm?”

“P-please let me touch you.”

“Alright, since you asked so nicely.”

You clumsily began to search for his hard bulge, and he grabbed your tied hands and guided them to something hard and hot. You jumped slightly in surprise, not realizing he had taken himself out of his pants while you were humping away at his thigh like a bitch in heat.

He laughed at your squirming, and you slowed the rhythm of your hips in annoyance, but not completely—your hips had stopped folding to you, subconsciously rutting, twitching gently against the rough, now ruined fabric, perpetually searching for release.

“S-shut up,” You panted, and he laughed again, pressing another kiss to your jawline.

“You shut up. I still have to make you come.”

His hands resumed their leisurely movement on your hips, your focus snapping back to the impending edge, thoughts blurring into incoherency as the pleasure against your core. Mindlessly, you let go of Sehun’s member to bring your hands up to your mouth, attempting to spit crudely in order to improvise lube.

Instead, your heart jumped into your throat in arousal when Sehun grabbed your free hand and did the same, keening at his actions, eyebrows furrowing. And, despite feeling a slight annoyance at the chafing of your thighs, a feral instinct took over, and your hips sped up against his thighs.

“You look perfect like this,” He told you, guiding your hand back to where he needed you most, and you began to pump him slowly. His hands moved to wrap around your waist, large hands splaying possessively across your back.

“Gods, I wish you could see how lovely you look, starshine,” He mumbled, seemingly in a daze, “All mine.”

You nodded. “Y-yours, Hunnie. Only yours.”

He pressed a kiss to your collarbone, his breath picking up as your hands did the same, pace speeding up. He groaned against your skin as you pressed your thumb into the slit of his cock. Your movements were harsh, jerking against him as you felt yourself losing yourself in his touch.

“S-Sehun, I’m gonna…”

“I’ve got you,” He whispered, his voice your only anchor, “Let go, Y/N, it’s okay.”

Finally, finally, you crested, head tipping back, mouth falling open in a silent scream, body stiffening in his arms as you were possessed by pleasure. In the dark, colors danced around you, sounds could be touched, Sehun’s hands on your body tasted exquisite.

You didn’t even realize that your display had tipped Sehun over the edge, spilling himself onto your hands while he gripped your shoulders like his life depended on it.

When you came down from your orgasm, your chest heaving, you reached up to pull the blindfold off of your face, struggling slightly as you were still restrained by the silk tie. You blinked a few times, eyes adjusting to the light of Sehun’s room, and found that he had fallen back onto the bed in the height of his orgasm.

His eyes had fluttered closed, panting furiously. He seemed loose, almost boneless, and you stifled a laugh at how much more relaxed he seemed now.

“I take it you had fun?” You asked, poking his stomach teasingly. After a moment of silence, of what you assumed to be Sehun trying to catch his breath, you furrowed your eyebrows.

“Hunnie, come on, get up. Can you untie me, please, baby?”

No response. If anything, Sehun’s pants seemed to be getting even heavier.

“Sehun?”

His eyes fluttered open, and your blood ran cold.

His eyes had rolled up into his head, mouth opening and closing as if he were trying to say something but he’d lost his voice. Around you, the temperature seemed to drop.Out of nowhere, the scent of incense returned, stronger than ever, and beneath you, Sehun tensed, muscles contracting as he began to seize.

You froze, momentarily unsure of what was happening. Here lay your lover, convulsing under you, and you were restrained to a point where it would be difficult to help him. Panic creeped into your stomach, eyes searching for something, anything, that would get you out of the grasp of the silk tie. You brought your wrists up to your teeth, frantically hoping to loosen the knot. Sehun was still convulsing. Your eyes drifted around the room, glancing at his stiff hands, gnarled into unrecognizable gestures. Your clothes were on the floor, but you had left your knife in your room.

Knife. Sehun’s knife.

You lunged for the nightstand, knowing that was where he kept his switchblade in case of an emergency, tumbling to the floor as your legs gave out, still wobbly from both panic and your previous orgasm. You managed to open the drawer, clumsily fumbling for the blade, before pulling it out, holding it between your teeth and bringing your wrists up to your mouth, beginning to saw away at the lovely, pale fabric, suddenly not caring about its softness or its illusion of luxury.

All you needed was to know that Sehun was okay.

Your eyes squeezed shut at the thought that he might be dying, and when the final strands of silk finally gave way, you practically spat out the knife, grabbing onto the nightstand for balance, turning to look at Sehun on your weak legs.

He wasn’t on the bed anymore. Your eyebrows furrowed, head spinning as you tried to figure out what was going on.

“Beware the master of tongues.”

You shrieked, eyes snapping up from where the deep, almost demonic voice had come from, and almost fainted then and there.

Because somehow, Sehun was floating above you, suspended in midair, eyes open wide but not a sliver of brown could be seen. In its place shone a bright silver, the holiest of metals for the unholiest sight.

“Beware the master of tongues,” The voice spoke again, speaking through Sehun, who was stiff as a board, face contorted into a sneer, and you realized with a chill that this wasn’t Sehun, but rather the Oracle.

“Beware the master of tongues,” He said once more, as his sneer morphed into a cruel grin, “But beware more the wrath of the faceless one.”

[luna-tormenta]

Get To Know My Spirit Family

Dara, the Toddler Faerie

Dara picked this picture of Frankenstein because he LOVES Frankenstein. They have a similar experience, appearance, and Dara connects with Frankenstein very deeply, as you will see below.

Appearance:

Dara is a little bigger than Ella, about the size of 4-5 year old. He is dark skinned with bright, sky blue eyes. He has stitches/scars from stiches (like Frankenstein's) on multiple areas of his body. The main ones you can see are around his wrists, the lower area of his neck, and multiple places throughout his arms and legs. His hair is a deep brown/black, and is super curly. He likes to wear it like a 70's disco afro. His left leg is different than the rest of his body, as it is the color blue.

How We Became Family:

Dara is different from how the rest of my spirit family and I became companions. You see, my Dara, was apart of an experiment. This experiment took different parts of Faeries, Seelie and Unseelie, to create him. He has no biological parents, because he is many parts of different Fae toddlers who were taken from their parents. The person who created him was a Spirit Hoarder. They held spirits against their wills and performed many different, sad, and demeaning acts on them.

One night in February 2019, a friend was calling and texting me. Telling me her spirits and her had raided this "experimental spirit facility" and set free the spirits. Some had decided to stay with her and she needed a home for two babies.

One was an newborn infant, the other was my Dara. The newborn went to a person with more experience than I, and since I had actual experience with children, Dara was brought over to me by one of her Deities, Lucifer.

The instant Dara was brought home for the first time, he climbed onto my lap and wouldnt let go. He was just small enough to latch onto my arm and stay there comfortably. I fell in love instantly.

Since then, I call him my son and he has come to say; "Everything happens for a reason, if I wasnt there I would never had have a family like I do. I have a caring mommy, loving daddy, and a little sister!!!"

The Fae's Sacred Names

Faeries names hold power and it's a very, very, very well kept secret. A lot of us only get nicknames from the Fae because of how much power their true name has over them. I consider it very lucky and awesome to be trusted with their full name.

Because of Dara's upbringing, he only was nicknamed "Dara". I was so grateful to have the opportunity to grace him with his Fae Name. Of course, I won't be mentioning it in this post, but I wanted to cover it! It was like he was my TRUE son then. I was and am so blessed to have two children.

Magic and Spellwork:

Dara has the abilities of Sleep and Dream Magic. We both can sense so much more than that, but because he is so young, we are waiting to reveal those magical blessings. I believe he will have a little bit of everything because of the different Fae incorporated into making him.

"I think so too, mommy!" He shouts as I type this lmao.

When asked what he has learned so far, and what he wants to learn, he shouted; "I'm a Death Witch just like Mommy and I want to use the Stars like Dawn! And Twirl like Moona!! And mommy, can I learn everything?! Oh!! What about what Hanky and Aaron do?! And and and....*takes deep breath* CAN I LEARN FROM JAY TOO?!" I love him 😍

Dara's Favorites:

Favorite Way to Communicate: Pendulum, its the only way he knows right now! Well, and a bit of telepathy

Favorite Food: "My favorite food is strawberries with honies!!"

Favorite Toy: "Ellie's vacuum cleaner! I can clean like Bo!! And the rocks my sister and I collect together!"

Favorite Drink: Milk with Honey and "Appey juice!"

Favorite Thing to Do: "Color and Watch Coco and Paint and play with sissy Ellie and Watch Moona Twirl and Dawn takes me to the lake! Ooo, I like watching Aaron run and Hanky let's me touch his tentacles too! Mommy this is hard *sighs*"

Favorite Color: "Blue! Like my leg!"

Favorite Crystal: "moss stone? The one you put in the plants!!" He means Moss Agate!

Favorite Herb: Thyme, Lavender, Rosemary, and Juniper Berries

Offerings:

Rocks

Toys

Milk with Honey

Rain Water

Sun Oil

Rusty Nails

Why rusty nails, baby? "Because of Frankenstein!! Duh mommy!"

Last Words:

"Please dont make faewies like me!"

"Mommy, can I tell them about my favorite movie?" Of course you can, honey. "*claps his hands* so it's Coco and his family doesnt like music but he has a guitar anyways and finds out that his great great grampa is a huge person and then he goes to the dead realm because he stole the persons guitar and his dead family dont like that so he meets this dead guy who takes him to the big person but it turns out the big person isnt his grampa but the dead guy is! And he gets to see Coco again!"

"I love our kitty!! Meow!"

"Mommy says she grows plants but its actually Daddy who saves them! Its so cool!"

"Can I go play now?" Yes, of course. What do you say to everyone? *starts running away* "tank youuuu!"

Thank you to all who read! If anyone has any questions, please send them in!

Many blessings and love upon you all!✨

-Lúthiena🌻🌙 and Dara👶🏽💫

[benisasoftboi]

Unorganised thoughts on Trails in the Sky: Second Chapter:

Unorganised thoughts on the first game are here

No longer spoiler-free, sorry

So tl;dr I loved this game and I love these characters and this world and I’m so excited to play through the whole rest of the series. What an underrated gem

I liked that everyone’s status portraits were updated, FC’s were a little rough. Except Olivier’s - his original art is miles better, good lord. The updated one is so generic :(

Speaking of updates, here’s some on how I feel about the major characters:

Estelle: Estelle deserves the world. I love her and her development, she’s just so great. What I especially love is that I cannot think of any other JRPG hero I’ve seen who reacts to the villain’s grand monologue like she does. Most of the time it’s like, huge declarations of justice, and how evil will never win, but Estelle’s reaction to Weissmann ranting about the inherent evil of man was just, like, ‘nah, actually that’s stupid, I love my friends and we’re all nice people. You just suck dude’. And that works so well, and it was really refreshing, honestly. I just...  love her. I really love her.

Joshua: This poor traumatised boy who also deserves the world, my god. His backstory was so much darker than I was expecting (if I understood right, there were some implications that sexual assaults occurred in the Hamel massacre!? And that it nearly happened to his sister!? Which made me have to sit back for a moment because I did not think this game was gonna go there and it threw me for a loop). I like how his whole arc is about learning to not define himself by his trauma, I haven’t really seen that in a game before. I also love him.

I think Estelle and Joshua cute together and I support their romance, but if the game could stop reminding me post-get together that they used to be pseudo-siblings that would be great thank you

Agate: I did the Agate route mostly because I prefer using him in combat, and goddamn if I thought I liked him before. I think his arc is one of the best in the game, and I love him, and are you seeing a pattern? His friendship with Tita is also so sweet. I want to be friends with Agate

Schera: Might have had more to say if I’d done her route. I appreciated getting her backstory, and I thought her relationship with Luciola was well done, if not incredibly fascinating. As it stands, I like her just fine, even if I’m not as passionate about her as I am some of the others

Olivier: I still love this guy. I had his twist spoiled, but let’s face, it wasn’t the hardest to guess anyway. His rivalry with Bleublanc was funny, as are most of his interactions with other characters. He’s good comic relief in general, and I love using him in combat - on that note, though, I’m very angry with him for leaving in chapter 8, because he was the character I had invested the most into arts-wise, so I had to go fix up Schera just for that chapter (and then swapped to Zin as we lost ZFGs, for obvious reasons). I will say that he seems to have become a little more... creepy feels like a strong word, but I don’t think he was so forwardly suggestive in FC. It felt to me like he sort of went from Yusuke Kitagawa to Yosuke Hanamura, in a sense. But all the same, I still like him

He should have stayed in his prince look at the end though, it suits him better

Side note, I really love Mueller, and I love his and Olivier’s interactions, and I want more Mueller, why does he have to be a minor character :(

Kloe: So I wasn’t super into Kloe in FC, but I actually really loved her this time around - I thought her arc about deciding whether or not to accept the crown was well done, and the little conversation she and Estelle can have on the stage at the academy is one of my favourite scenes in both games. Also GOOD LORD do I love her outfit change at the end, she’s so pretty I want to cry

Tita: Most of what I like about Tita is her friendship with Agate, and also how smart she is. I’d probably have more to say about her if I ever used her beyond when the plot forces me to (I don’t like using glass cannon characters in games), as the unfortunate nature of SC is that you don’t get much dialogue if you’re benched. But yeah, I still like her as a character

Zin: I don’t dislike Zin, but I still find him kind of dull compared to the others. He’s fine, he’s there, he’s got a backstory with Walter and Kilika and that’s neat. Honestly the main thing I remember about all that is Zin revealing that their master had terminal cancer because I kind of just... didn’t think cancer existed in this universe, I guess. It threw me

Kevin: Firstly, I find it really, really funny that such an important and mysterious character who looks the way he does is named ‘Kevin’. But yeah, I like Kevin, I’m excited to learn more about him in 3rd. I liked his relationship with Estelle (It’s nice to see a guy who’s capable of backing off without being an ass about it. Shame there’s such a low bar). I am, though, honestly very creeped out by the mere concept of the Gralsritters, ngl  

Bleublanc and Campanella were easily my favourite Enforcers. Bleublanc especially gets points for keeping himself relevant for the entire game

Renne is a character who I think I’m probably meant to feel more  sympathy for than I actually do, to be honest. You can’t make me like someone just by making them a cute little girl, Falcom, I’m sorry. Maybe I’ll feel differently after playing 3rd, I know she’s in it

I thought Loewe was well handled and I love that scene where he and Joshua hug at the end

I love the Ravens. I love that they got actual art. They’re amazing. I would play an entire spin-off game about the Ravens

And the Capuas! Can they all team up? Please?

Especially Josette, I came to really like her

A thing I’ve kind of realised about this game and its characters is that it’s a really good example of how tropes and cliches are not inherently bad - everyone in this game is based on some kind of mostly-unsubverted cliche, but they are incredibly well-executed cliches. You can have the most original characters in the world, but if they’re not written well, then what’s the point? I think a lot of writers conflate ‘unique’ and ‘surprising’ and (ugh) ‘subverting expectations’ with ‘good’. This game doesn’t make that mistake, and I appreciate that

Don’t get me wrong, unique and surprising and expectation subverting is also not inherently bad - just that it’s all in the execution

I like that Richard came back! And reformed! To be honest, though, (maybe this is controversial? idk), I thought he was a better antagonist than anyone in Ouroboros. His motivations made a lot more sense than those of most of the Enforcers 

Honestly (excluding Renne and Campanella because those haven’t been fully revealed to me yet) Bleublanc was really the only one with a motivation I liked - I can respect a villain who does crimes just for the sake of being an asshole

Oh yeah, there’s also Anelace and her team - they’re all great. I would like to know more about Grant, he doesn’t get to do much

The side quest in chapter 8 at the academy where we get Kurt and Anelace is one of the best quests in the game

Oh, and that reminds me, Gilbert! I love Gilbert, he’s so lame. Fighting him is hilarious

I was very happy to see minor NPC Clive on the Arseille at the end. It’s what he deserves

I love that this game got me invested in the lives of the random NPCs 

Screw that Abyss Worm bounty hunt, and also that fight with Renne on Ambryl Tower

I don’t know whose idea it was to fill this game, in this setting, with GIANT ROBOTS but it grew on me and I kind of love it now

I’ve decided Ruan is my favourite region, but Rolent is my favourite city

The Liber Ark is such a cool setting, I’m sad we only saw a tiny part of it for one chapter

I knew they weren’t going to kill off Joshua and Estelle, but I still cannot describe the rush of relief I felt when the dragon saved them at the end. I care about these kids, damnit!

There’s that one section in Grancel where everyone’s talking about Crossbell and then it never comes up again - set up the next arc of games a little less subtly, why don’t you?

(And then Cassius being like ‘the adventures will continue! But with other people!”) 

I read all of The Doll Knight and I genuinely enjoyed it

This game has maybe the best end credits I’ve ever seen

...think that’s all my thoughts expunged! Now to play 3rd :D

[andromeda-sapphire]

Witchy Then Vs. Now

I was SO inspired by the post by @hermeticimp​ regarding comparing the witchy things of our childhood to the witchy things we do now. I had to write a blog post about it!

Herbal Magic:

Then: I remember when I was a kid, maybe around age 5 or 7, I used to make rose water with my brother in the summertime. But not quite the way I would now! My mom had a few rose bushes in the front yard, and we would pick a bunch of roses and put them in a big bucket of water. Then, we’d roll up our pants and jump in the bucket (or for me, just jump in, as I was usually wearing dresses at that age) and start smashing the roses up with our bare feet! We called the rose water “magic perfume” and I remember wanting to keep some stored in a bottle but my mom always dumped it out when we were finished because playtime was over and it was dinnertime.

Now: I typically don’t even make rose water very often now, as I don’t usually have access to fresh rose petals. I love to use beauty products with rose water in them though, like Thayer’s brand alcohol-free witch hazel. Nowadays I usually use dried rose petals for spell bottles and for smoking herbal blends. My herbal witchcraft nowadays is mostly making tea blends, smoke blends, and of course as ingredients for spells. I’ve also made healing salves and oils with herbs over the years.

Crystal Magic:

Then: Inspired by my mother’s geological rock collection (she was a science teacher when I was a kid), I began collecting rocks when I was a young child, probably as young as 7. I have a lot of crystals that came from my mom’s collection, and as a kid, I remember taking out her rock collection boxes from the garage and placing them all over the living room so I could open them all up and look at the cool rocks inside. I remember reading about crystal healing in a book on home remedies that my mom gave me. I bookmarked so many pages in that book, most of them in the crystal healing section. I had one special crystal that I had found near my elementary school as a kid (but lost over time.. sad!) and I was convinced it was a magic crystal. I carried it with me all the time, I slept with it under my pillow, and I never completely knew what it was (maybe some kind of quartz?) but I felt that it enhanced my dreams and made them much more vivid.

Now: My crystal collection has multiplied... Significantly... (oops) I am definitely a crystal collector, and now I go out and find some of my own crystals as well. In fact, the huge chunk of serpentine in the image above is one that I found, and it’s roughly the size of my face! I love my crystals, and I make crystal grids as a part of my rituals and practice. Crystals are somehow always involved in my practice actually. I make wire wrap jewelry now with crystals also (check out Buffalo Wraps on Instagram) inspired by the healing properties of the crystals.

Astrology:

Then: When I was about 10, my grandma gave me this book. It was her original copy of Linda Goodman’s Sun Signs. It even has my grandmother’s signature on the inside cover. I was visiting my grandparents in New Zealand at the time, and didn’t have any other books with me for the trip that I can remember, so I spent my evenings in bed reading the section on How to Recognize a Libra. (I’m a Libra Sun, and that was all I knew about astrology at the time) As I finished the chapter on Libra, I was convinced there had to be something real to this tradition of the cosmos. So after returning to the USA, I began researching astrology in my free time, reading as many books and online resources as possible about the topic. I gave my friends and family birth chart readings, and was constantly examining my friends’ behaviors as a scientist examines their test subject.

Now: Well, now I’m trying to become a professional astrologer! It’s been my goal since my third year in University to become an astrologer, and I’ve been taking webinar courses since then from well-known astrologers and (again) reading as many books and online resources as possible. I now have shelves and shelves (almost a whole large tote full actually) of astrology books of all kinds that I’ve collected and read over the years, and it all started with my grandma’s little copy of Linda Goodman’s Sun Signs. Instead of only giving free birth chart readings to friends and family, now I offer paid readings of all types as well! I’ve learned so much over the last almost 15 years of studying this beautiful tradition! Astrology is also a huge part of my magic as well. I never cast a spell without first planning it for a specific planetary hour and day that aligns with the desired planetary energies. I’m constantly watching transits and studying how they affect us down here on Earth as well.

Astronomy:

Then: As a kid, maybe 3rd grade through middle school, I was super into outer space. I remember having those little glow in the dark stars all over my ceiling. My dad gave me a telescope for Christmas one year, and I remember him helping me to set it up a few times at night outside on the porch. I was always staring at the stars as a kid, looking at the moon and the constellations. I had (still have actually) a great little guide book on all of the constellations in the sky and the mythology behind them, and all kinds of cool info.

Now: Unfortunately, that telescope got very dusty over the years. It’s sitting in storage now, and I’m dying to bring it out and set it up again, but I need the space for it first! I still observe the sky and watch the stars and moon, but aside from my astrology practice and cosmic witchery, I don’t focus too much on space. I still watch documentaries on space and the planets etc. however! My magic actually heavily relies on my knowledge of both astronomy AND astrology.

Mythology/Fairy Tales:

Then: As a kid, I loved reading fiction and fantasy! I loved drawing dragons and unicorns, and reading about magical princesses and fairies. I wanted to live in a world of mythology so badly. I remember one of my favorite books at the time was Dealing With Dragons by Patricia C. Wrede. I think that book really got me excited about dragons and magic. I also have believed from a very young age, not sure where it originated from, that I am a witch, and have magic within me! I know one influence on that belief was a graphic novel series I used to read all the time growing up called W.I.T.C.H. - I related to one of the characters in that series, Irma, who had water magic abilities. I always felt a deep connection to water for some reason, and as a kid I believed I could control it to an extent. Later in elementary school, I remember learning about Greek mythology briefly, but didn’t get to learn much about it until later.

Now: I went through a bit of a phase a while ago where I thought I had to connect to a deity, or a pantheon. And I feel like I did have a few encounters with deities, but nothing that truly made me feel comfortable worshiping a deity. Don’t get me wrong, I love Greek mythology and religion, and I’ve actually taken a class at University on Greek mythology. Though I’m no expert, I feel pretty well-versed in my myths. They have a few good mythology documentary shows on Netflix that I enjoy as well. I guess because I come from a semi-Christian background though, I have a distaste for worshiping a “god” or “god-like” figure... So I don’t really worship any deities at the moment, but I do recognize the possibility of them existing, and I recognize them as archetypal figures. Same goes for other mythological beings, I don’t really work with them, but I recognize the potential for their existence in another plane.

Divination:

Then: When I was a kid, I had a little pendulum that I made out of blue lace agate and a chain. I used that for divination purposes, just asking yes or no questions. I didn’t know much else about divination though, aside from astrology, so I didn’t know what other directions there were for me to explore.

Now: I use a few different types of divination, and surprisingly, I rarely use my crystal pendulums! Besides astrology, my go-to divination method nowadays is tarot. I’ve learned to read tarot cards over the last few years after one of my college roommates gave me a rune reading and introduced me to tarot and other forms of divination. Now I have several tarot decks, oracle decks, and pendulums all stored in a beautiful box I call my “divination box.”

Anyway, that’s my Witchy Then Vs. Now! I really would like to see this pick up on Witchblr cuz it’s a fun challenge to make you reflect a little on how you’ve changed, or stayed the same!

Check out my Ko-Fi below to leave me a tip!

ko-fi.com/andromeda_sapphire

[tanus-lab]

Pic is from Diablo. So....I didn’t think Senpai would actually ever notice me? But, like I guess it works out? I...feel like stating another of my dumb theories, and yes the picture is related. This will probably be my last Glitchtale sorta thing for awhile? I want to post about other stuff (which means anything I post will probably get less attention but...this account is just for fun anyway.) *lecough* *also spoilers* The Clear Difference between LOVE fueled Determination and regular Determination in Glitchtale. Or as it can better be summed up: Determination is stronger if the user is willing to kill.

From Betty’s very birth onwards we can see that Fear has a definitive weakness to determination, this isn’t surprising in and of itself. Determination itself is the power to fight through opposition, and through fear itself, to claim victory. Every user of Determination has shown this capability, from Frisk (who it could arguably be said that was so determined he didn’t fear the side effects of passing his hate onto Chara) to Sans (who while fueled by Frisk’s determination no longer shows any worry about fighting Chara, or even Gaster, despite being at a full disadvantage beforehand), to Undyne (who gleefully stomped Betty’s face into the ground for about 5 minutes of pure ecstasy to watch despite her literally representing fear itself.) But Determination has a clear weakness in that if it can be broken it’s user will as a direct result lose all willingness to continue (as happened with Copper, when Amber was murdered) But this weakness needs to be exploited cleverly, and Betty has shown that despite how clever she was garnering trust and attacking the city....she never seems to be able to pull off the same breaking that Agate did. The two times she attempted to make use of that (tricking Undyne into killing Alphys, and killing Asriel) it backfired spectacularly and got her nothing but a couple of fresh dents to her face and ego. I DO think that if it had been Chara from the start and not Frisk that Chara would have lost his determination (he’s much closer to Asriel afterall) but I digress.

Now let’s look at the situations where Betty has been at a disadvantage, Gaster (at first anyway, but he clearly stated that either he’d leave the room or nobody would, clearly willing to kill Betty) Undyne (who had just been tricked into killing the love of her life and almost DID kill Betty) and Frisk (who literally said ‘I will kill you.’) In each of these moments the protagonists have shown a willingness to kill that fuels them, and in Undyne and Frisk’s case it was purely fueling their determination, Undyne transforms out of grief and determination to survive, (really killing Alphys was like trying to put out a fire by pouring gasoline onto it?) and Betty said Frisk’s determination felt different the instant he became ready to kill her. Hell you could even connect this too Sans back when he was powered by Frisk’s soul, he was willing to kill Chara and reset, and he was willing to use lethal force to stop Gaster.  Compare this to Frisk getting himself stomped by Betty when he was far from willing to kill her, only able to survive much less land a hit. Or Copper being at a disadvantage against Agate, he wasn’t willing to kill his sister despite how dangerous she had become. This personally shows a clear difference between Determination that’s fueled by a willingness to kill, and Determination that isn’t. Now yes you could say that Determination otherwise is stronger in some ways, allowing Frisk to break through space itself and save Sans, and giving Asriel the power to defeat the hate-fueled and hate-possessed Chara nonviolently. 

This, long, circuitous journey I’ve led you on also leads to a point that is purely hypothetical, impossible to prove, and makes sense probably only to me....In theory, with the power of the multiverse at my fingertips, who would be the best person that could be brought in to deal with Betty? This is where the pic related comes in, it’d be Imperious, Archangel of Valor of the Diablo universe (the guy in the picture) Now, putting out of mind the fact that him appearing miiiiight be a death sentence for the characters as a whole (since well, he has an unrestrained ire of humanity), Imperious is the perfect opponent for Betty. First, he is a competent warrior unto himself, the most powerful of the angels of the High Heavens and the leader of the Angiris Council (after Malthael vanished and then became the Angel of Death, I’m going to bet nobody expected diablo spoilers). Secondly, he’s had thousands of years of experience fighting Diablo, the literal embodiment of fear, and only ever lost too him after Diablo gave up on trying to subvert Imperious and instead used Baal’s power of destruction to simply overpower him. And third, as discussed in the past goddamn hour it’s taken me to write this thing, Imperious is almost TOO willing to kill, and Valor is quite synonymous with Determination. 

So....Yeah. I’m not trying to prove some uber haxor thing with X character is stronger than X character, This is a purely hypothetical theory that I felt like typing because it’s almost 5 am as I’m writing this and I probably should have gone to bed like an hour ago? But...alas days off are such sweet things to enjoy.

I guess I’m done? I reaaaaaaally hope this doesn’t piss anyone off but I spent the last hour hour and a half or so typing this and I’m gonna post it. And like, if people just don’t read the last few paragraphs I’m good!

[joygaytrash]

Anything but Ordinary - Chapter One

Word Count: 1440

Notes: Ay, look, I finally finished the first chapter of my Sanders Gems AU. Anyways, here’s the refs of the characters in this chapter. Alsooo, I’m tagging @woorenergy because they wanted to read this(I think, I can’t find the original post where I said I had this au in mind for a while), but, never the less, I hope y’all enjoy and if y’all have any questions, feel free to ask.

It was a raining Friday night. Logan was in the living room, flipping through the channels on the television when the power went out. He let out an audible groan, pushing himself off the couch. "Moooom! The power's out!" Logan called, walking into the kitchen.

His mother poked her head above the counter, setting a wrench down the marble surface before brushing hair out of her face. "You mind going out in the and turning on the back up generator, Lo? This pipe's being a pain in the ass," Ellie asked while she opened a drawer and pulled two flashlights out then tossed one to Logan. He nodded as he caught the flashlight, walking to the back door.

Logan grabbed his raincoat and threw it on then put his shoes on quickly before opening the door and walked out, turning the flashlight on. He walked to the back of the house, grumbling about the crappy weather of Florida. When he got to the fuse box, Logan opened it up and flipped a switch and waited a moment. A quiet hum came from the fuse box as the power turned on, the lights flickering back on inside.

"Bingo," Logan mumbled, closing the door of the fuse box.

Snap!

Logan's head turned towards the forest behind him, shining the flashlight at the endless darkness of the trees, his heart pounding through his chest. "Hello?" Logan called out, not daring to take a step towards the woods.

Silence. That's all he was met with, that and the sounds of the rain hitting whatever surface it could get.

"Maybe it's just an animal," Logan mumbled to himself, beginning to walk back to the door.

Snap!

Logan whipped his head around in the direction of the forest only to get greeted by a blue person(or alien, Logan didn't know). He jumped backed out of fear, holding out his flashlight as some sort of protection. "Oh my goodness! I didn't mean to scare you, I'm sorry!" The blue alien said.

"Who are you?!" Logan asked, still holding the flashlight at them. Another alien came up to the blue one, standing behind them. They were red and a bit shorter than the blue one, wearing something similar to a prince's outfit.

"Well, Logan, this is Moonstone. Cat's Eye Moonstone to be exact and I am Red Agate and we are part of a rebellious gem group from space," Red Agate explained. Logan looked at the two gems in front of him, confusion washing over his face. He then glanced at the gem that homed on his left wrist before looking back at Red Agate and Moonstone. And that's when he had finally pieced it all together in his head.

Logan lowered his flashlight to his side, his confusion being replaced with seriousness. "You guys are trying to find my dad," Logan stated.

"We're looking for you actually, Logan," A third gem corrected, coming up next to Red Agate and Moonstone with a fourth gem next to them. The third one was yellow and the same height as Moonstone. The fourth one was purple and the shortest one of them all.

"I'm Cat's Eye Yellow Apatite, this is Charoite, and you are wanted back where we're from," Apatite added.

"Why? What do they have against me?" Logan asked, confused once again.

"We can explain everything once we get inside because I'm 110% sure you can still catch a cold," Charoite suggested. Logan nodded in agreement, leading the four gems to the back door.

After explaining everything to his mom, Logan sat in the living room with the gems surrounding him. "So, why am I wanted wherever you guys came from?" Logan questioned.

"The rulers back home think that you are your father in some disguise. Rumors say that your father had shattered one of the rulers thousands of years ago and his been on the run ever since," Red Agate answered.

"But, how do they know I exist?"

"One of his old crew mates ratted him out. Your father is an open gem, Logan. He has a habit of telling anyone anything he can," Red Agate explained.

Logan leaned against the back of the couch, processing all the information that was being given to him. "But there's also a different rumor where your dad was supposedly Blue Diamond, the ruler he apparently shattered," Charoite said, a slight chuckle coming from Red Agate.

"Blue Diamond?"

"Back home, there's four, while, three diamonds that rule over everything; Magenta Diamond, Orange Diamond, Red Diamond, and last but not least, Blue Diamond," Apatite explained, leaning on Moonstone.

"Oh," was all Logan said before his mother walked in.

"So, Logan, you have a plan for where your gem friends are sleeping for the night?" Ellie asked, earning a quiet curse from Logan. He then leaned his head back onto Ellie's legs with a cheeky smile on his face, "Mooooom?"

"Yes Logan?"

"Can they stay here for the night?"

His mom rested her arms on Logan's head, thinking about his question for a bit. "Of course they can stay for the night but you get to figure out where they're sleeping," Ellie replied.

"Deal," Logan replied, hopping off the couch. The group watch him disappear up the stairs, the sounds of his footsteps following behind him. A few minutes later, Logan came barreling down the stairs with a confident smile on his face.

"Figure something out, Lo?"

"I sure did, Mom. Now, if you all will follow me upstairs,"

Logan led his mom and the four gems up the stairs and towards his room, a proud look on his face. He opened the door, revealing a clean and neatly organized room(and usually, Logan's room is messing) with four sleeping bags, blankets, and pillows piled on the floor.

"Ta da," Logan stated.

"Wow, you actually cleaned your room and I didn't have to tell you to," Ellie said, making Logan groan. Ellie laughed a bit, ruffling her son's hair, making him groan once again.

"Don't get so grumpy. It's true though. Now, you show them how to use the sleeping bags while I go get ready for bed, " Ellie suggested. Logan nodded in agreement, smiling a little when his mom kissed his cheek. Ellie then walked towards her room, disappearing behind her bedroom door.

Logan then turned towards the four gems next to him, clearing his throat a bit, "Now, let's get you guys all settled in for the night." Moonstone, Apatite, Red Agate, and Charoite all agreed then Logan led them in his room.

After 20 minutes have passed and the four gems finally figured out how the hell sleeping bags(and sleeping, Logan nearly threw his lamp out the window when Charoite brought up 10 minutes into the sleeping bag lesson that gems don't really need to sleep like humans do) work.

Logan came back into his room after changing into his pjs in the bathroom. He wasn't gonna change in front of any of them yet, he thought that would be weird. As he walked in, Red Agate and Moonstone were already asleep, snoring up a storm. Apatite was also asleep, using Moonstone as a pillow. The only one who wasn't asleep was Charoite, he was looking out the window and watching the rain fall.

"How does this happen, Logan?" Charoite asked, looking behind him at the teen. Logan raised his eyebrow, walking over to Charoite and took a seat next to him, looking out the window.

"How does what happen? Do you mean the rain?" Logan questioned. Charoite nodded, looking back outside. Logan sat quiet for a moment before answering Charoite's question, "Well, the air takes water from the ocean and lakes and makes it into water vapor which makes the clouds. When the clouds start to get too heavy, it releases the water vapor as water drops."

"There's nothing like that on Homeworld," Charoite replied, "Then again, I wasn't on Homeworld long."

"Oh," That's all Logan could say before an uncomfortable silence washed over them. It wasn't long till Charoite said he was going to sleep, shuffling back over to his sleeping back and crawling in. Logan just nodded, still looking out the window.

Logan's thoughts were cut short when he heard snores coming from Charoite. He sighed and stood up, making his way to his bed. He took off his glasses and placed them on his nightstand before getting under the covers.

The teen wasn't sure when he fell asleep. But Logan remembers looking out the window at the rain, in bed, thinking one thing to himself.

What the hell am I going to do now?

[andrewmoocow]

Clod on the Run chapter 1: Mrs. Blue Di (originally posted on May 5, 2017)

“So you have some kind of history with these rocks?”

A group of five individuals were being escorted through a hallway by two hulking purple females. The first of these was a human man dressed like he's a space cowboy. This was Peter Quill aka Star-Lord. Along with him was a green-skinned woman named Gamora, the most dangerous woman in the galaxy, another male who's body was covered in tattoos called Drax the Destroyer, the raccoon-like mercenary Rocket and his giant tree accomplice Groot. Together, they formed the Guardians of the Galaxy. Their spaceship the Milano had crash-landed on a space station when they were found by the guards.

“Well you see,” Rocket said sweating. “The Collector wanted me to find a couple of Rose Quartz gems for his museum so I took some from this spaceport which these people call a human zoo.”

Drax, not understanding some things as always, was confused. “Didn't Peter say that zoos are where humans look at animals, not BE animals?” he asked. “No no no Drax, yeh got it all along.” The furry bounty hunter corrected. “This zoo is where humans are kept to 'preserve the legacy of Earth' or some krutacking garbage like that.”

As the five were led to a door guarded by a blue woman wearing white boots and her hair in buns, Groot looked over his buddy. “I am Groot?” he asked. “What, I'm not sweating in fear guys!” Rocket claimed, trying to lie about the situation. “It's just that these Gems were after my furry little head and want nothing more than the extermination of all organic life forms!” The furball got more sweaty as he fell to the floor. “Groot's right Rocket, you seem pretty afraid of them.” Gamora said, kneeling down to Rocket's eye level. “I am Groot.” the tree agreed.

“Hey guys, is it me or does Smurfette here look like that lady from The Music Man?” Star-Lord asked pointing to the guard. “Let me see, what was her name again?” he started wondering to himself, pacing around in a circle. The guard started getting tired of the man's talking. “Oh I know now, Marian the Librarian!” he finally realized but just then, he was grabbed by the two purple giants. “I've had enough of this one. Amethysts, take him to the human zoo!” the blue Gem finally said. “Yes Holly Blue Agate!” the Amethysts replied saluting her.

“Hold it right there Holly!” Rocket stated, getting up and dusting himself off. “The human's with us.” The Amethysts put Peter down as Holly Blue Agate glared at Rocket. “Oh goody, you again.” she grumbled. “Right this way now.” As she took over leading the Guardians, she turned towards the Amethysts and said “Now get back to your post.”

The Guardians were led into a large pink room by Holly Blue Agate filled with Rose Quartz gems in bubbles. At the center of the room was a large blue figure with white hair and a blue cloak examining the bubbles. By the giant's side was a petite lass with a pointy nose and blue hair covering her eye. “Who's the titan there?” Drax asked pointing to the giant woman “That's Blue Diamond, pretty much the only one of these weirdos that I can respect because she doesn't want me dead.” Rocket answered. “And the little one is her Pearl.” he added.

“My Diamond, we have visitors.” Holly Blue Agate addressed her superior. “Including that mangy cur.” Rocket was angered by her snide comment and pointed a blaster at her. “YOU TAKE THAT BACK!” Just as he was about to shoot, Blue Diamond stopped him. “Please put your weapon down Rocket.” she quietly ordered. The raccoon could only groan as he put it away.

“So, you must be Blue Diamond.” Peter said trying to look tough. “Yes, and you are human?” she asked. “My name,” the human replied. “Is Star-Lord.” Complete silence filled the room before Blue Pearl broke it. “Who?”

Star-Lord got exasperated about how there are still people who don't know his name. “Star-Lord man! Legendary outlaw, leader of a lovable group of misfits?” He face-palmed as another figure entered the room. She looked a lot like Blue Diamond, except she was yellow, had more angular eyes and hair points. Like her fellow diamond, she also had a Pearl.

“I see that dreadful Rocket and his guardians have come to visit.” The yellow one said with a bit of a sarcastic tone in her voice. “Aw come on, I'm the leader here!” Star-Lord shouted. “And it seems the human zoo forgot one.” her Pearl added with a smug grin. “That one is Yellow Diamond, pretty much the second in command of the Great Diamond Authority.” Rocket said to Gamora pointing to Yellow Diamond.

“So if there are three Diamonds leading the Gems and the symbol has four, what happened to the fourth one?” The green warrior asked. “It's a long story, but let's say she's the reason all these bubbles are here.”

“So anyway,” Yellow Diamond began as she set her Pearl down. “We've heard that you've been offering your services for good prices lately.” Rocket's ears began to perk up. “Why yes we have!” he said excitedly. If there's anything Rocket loved as much as Groot, weapons and flying, it was money. “So what'll it be?” Peter asked. “Search and rescue, protect something precious to your people?” Rocket started to rub his hands greedily as Groot put on a worried expression.

“How about capture?” Yellow Diamond said. “Who would you want us to capture?” Drax asked. “Pearl,” Yellow Diamond ordered. “Bring up the wanted list.”

“Yes my Diamond.” Yellow Pearl immediately obliged as she brought up a hologram of various wanted criminals and started scrolling through them. Among them were a human-like Gem about Drax's height with thick pink hair & a white dress with a star-shaped hole exposing her gem, a smaller Gem with green skin, triangular hair & a green gem on her forehead and an angry Rocket with his middle finger censored.

“Ah, that's the one.” Yellow Pearl finally said. She picked out the second poster and handed it to Rocket. “Peridot Facet-2F5L Cut 5XG.” he read aloud. “Why do you want us to capture this one” Drax asked looking over the critter's shoulder. “It is too small and innocent to be a threat.”

“Why it's simple really.” Yellow Diamond said, getting angrier as she spoke. “She flat out betrayed me, refused to give me information on the Cluster AND CALLED ME A CLOD!!!” All the Guardians quivered in fear of the yellow giant until her blue comrade was able to calm her down.”Temper Yellow, temper.” she said as she put her hands on her sister's shoulders. Yellow was able to calm down before turning to the Guardians. “So how many units are we talkin' here?” Rocket asked handing the hologram back to Yellow Pearl. “1,969, 2,008?”

“How about 5,000?” Yellow Diamond said. Rocket was immediately awestruck by the price. “It's a deal!” he exclaimed. “C'mon gang, we gotta midget to catch!” As he marched towards the door, he noticed someone was missing. “Hey anyone seen Quill?” The other Guardians pointed towards their leader dancing to music on his Walkman with Blue Pearl watching.

“So what did you say this music was called?” The Gem asked. “It's called I Want You Back by the Jackson 5.” Peter answered. “Want a listen?” Just then, Rocket started tugging his leg like a little child. “C'mon Pete, we got a midget to catch. The raccoon said. “Well looks like we gotta go.” Peter said to Blue Pearl as he turned towards the two Diamonds. “Thanks for having us over girls!”

“Likewise human.” Yellow Diamond groaned. “And by the way, you'll find your vessel repaired.” Holly Blue Agate began to lead the Guardians back to the port when Star-Lord turned towards Blue Pearl and said “Call me.”

“Alright gang. Riches beyond our wildest dreams here we come!” Rocket shouted as they boarded the Milano. As estatic as he was, the rest of the team were a bit unsure. “I don't know Rocket.” Gamora said. “You told us about how the Diamonds can make enemies rather quickly and it clearly shows when Yellow Diamond got angry talking about that Peridot.” Groot agreed with her. “I am Groot.”

“So what if we might die if we fail? At least we're still going on another crazy adventure!” Rocket exclaimed. “Okay, I've been looking through the information Holly Blue Agate gave us and it said our target is currently on Earth.” Star-Lord stated. “A new job where we go back to my old stomping grounds? Neat!”

“Since when was stomping on the ground involved?” Drax asked. “It's a way of saying familiar territory Drax.” the human corrected. “Now then, Earth here we come!” And so, the Guardians blasted off towards Earth where their reward would be waiting.

[denmarkduringthefall-blog]

Long Study Tour With DIS

 An important part of the DIS program is that students really take advantage of studying in a different country; they want us to “use Europe as our classroom”. To fulfill this goal, DIS takes students on two trips throughout the semester. For my first trip, I spent three days in western Denmark. You can read about that trip if you click here. This post is about my week-long study trip through Germany and Switzerland. If you are extra curious about any of the sites I visited, you can click their name, I have linked most of them to their respective websites. 

Sunday, Oct 29: Zurich

I overslept but managed to make it through the airport about half an hour before my flight boarded. Due to some issues with our plane, we ended up taking off almost two hours late anyway. When we finally landed in Zurich, we were too late to go to our first scheduled tour. Instead, we took a bus to our hotel. I always enjoy that first ride from the airport through a city, and this trip was no exception. Autumn is in full swing here and the orange and red trees looked lovely against Zurich’s old architecture. After dropping our stuff off at the hotel (probably the nicest place I’ll stay during all of my time in Europe) we went to the Swiss National Museum, which was designed to fit in with the medieval buildings in Zurich but was actually built in the late nineties.  Some of the exhibits were interesting, but they were all about Swiss history so, to be honest, I tired of them pretty quickly. The museum got a really cool modern extension in 2016. I really liked it. It was all concrete, set at odd angles and every once in a while there would be a perfectly circular window, reminiscent of a porthole, framing something nice outside of the museum. Here: the river, there: a stately old building. Again, I was wowed by all of the autumn leaves outside the windows, they made for some fantastic contrast against the dark, gray interior of the museum.

After that, I went for a stroll along the canal with some friends from my architecture studio. We walked through the city center, full of old architecture and narrow winding streets, until we stumbled upon Lindenhofplatz which is a park set up on a hill. It offers a really nice view of Zurich.

At that point we were getting pretty cold, so we managed to find a pub where we hung out and had a beer while we waited to meet the rest of our group for dinner at a traditional German restaurant.

Monday, Oct 30: Zurich

We had a breakfast buffet at our hotel where I drank probably five cups of coffee (and was still sleepy) then headed out at 7:30 for the Letzigrund Stadium. On our way there we stopped by MFO-Park. The park is a large plaza with almost no vegetation on ground level. No grass? Kinda strange for a park. Instead of a grassy area, the designers (Burkhardt+Partner and a landscape architect called Raderschallpartner) made a metal frame which looks a lot like the skeleton of a building. Then they added a bunch of different species of vines which will (eventually, hopefully) grow to cover the whole structure. There are also little "plazas" on the various different levels of the structure with wooden benches. There's even one on the top of the building, about four stories up. From this one, you can look across the top of the park/structure out and at the surrounding city. It was a really cool and unique design. I don't think I have seen anything like it on such a large scale.

Letizigrund is a new, multi-use soccer stadium in district 4 of Zurich. Apparently, district 4 used to be very industrial and was cut off from the rest of the city by the many many sets of train tracks. Now, like so many warehouse districts, it is becoming the hip area full of art galleries, concert venues, and new bars. The stadium was kinda cool but I think I may have been a little too tired to really appreciate it at the time. Our tour guide was a funny guy, he did not hesitate to tell us about some of the problems with the stadium.

Next, we went to Toni-Areal which was a milk factory before it was refurbished and transformed into a university for the arts. I loved the building. Designers retained much of the industrial feeling but added tons of big windows and garden terraces.

After the art school, we walked to the ImViadukt which is an elevated train track, that is still in use today but has been adapted for a few more uses besides travel at this point. One of the two tracks has been changed into an elevated walkway, and all of the spaces underneath the track have been walled up to create storefronts for shops and restaurants. Its pretty neat, and a great re-use (double use?) of a space most people might not think to utilize. I got lunch under the train tracks. There was a small market hall and I found a Japanese restaurant. I got a really tasty veggie steamed bun and some miso soup which was great to warm me up! We were really lucky to get lots of clear, sunny weather during this trip, but it was still October in Germany so it was pretty chilly anytime we went outside. 

After lunch, my little group walked along the top of the train tracks for a  bit. We went to the Freitag Flagship store which was cool. It was built by stacking shipping containers on top of each other, there is an observation deck at the top.

We wandered around that area a little more, then managed to figure out how to take the train back into the city center ( there are SO MANY different train lines in Zurich). 

We spent another couple hours walking around the old part of the city, along the edge of the canal, sketching a little and freezing our butts off. We went into Das Grossmünster, a large cathedral which had really cool "stained glass" windows made of thinly sliced agate. 

Eventually, we made our way to meet our group for dinner. We ate at a vegetarian buffet, which was super tasty. (Even the non-vegetarians enjoyed it). After dinner, we went to some thermal baths. This spa had a rooftop pool, which was fantastic. We got to look out at all of the city lights while relaxing in warm mountain spring water.

On our last night in Switzerland, our tour leaders asked us to make a drawing that illustrates our current understanding of Switzerland. The drawing above is sort of a response to that prompt in an abstract style. It includes the hills, train tracks, the canal, old buildings, and winding streets of Zurich. 

Tuesday, October 31: Ronchap, France and Weil am Rhein, Switzerland

We left our hotel by chartered bus bright and early Tuesday morning. Our first stop was the Chappelle du Ronchomp which is very famous among architects. Designed by Le Corbusier, the chapel is super site-specific and really beautiful. Le Corbusier was enchanted by the natural beauty of the mountainous landscape and wanted to work with it, rather than distract from it. He worked with light in some really fantastic ways, using lots of stained glass and soft building materials like wood and white-washed sprayed concrete. 

After the chapel, our bus took us to Vitra Campus. Vitra is a high-end furniture and lighting design company, Vitra campus includes their production halls, two design museums, and a showroom. Here is a link to the presentation that I made about it.  In 1981, there was a fire on the campus that destroyed practically every building on the campus. After that, Vitra decided to hire up-and-coming architects to design interesting buildings on their campus. They ended up with a Frank Gehry, a Zaha Hadid and lots of other works from now world-renowned architects.

The campus was awesome, especially the showroom  "Vitrahaus" and the enormous (like 4 stories tall) corkscrew slide. We had a lot of fun working our way through the showroom, testing out each of the different chair designs. It was also fun to be in Vitrahaus because the campus sits in this special spot right on the borders of Germany, Switzerland, and France. This means that you can see all three countries from the floor-to-ceiling windows of Vitrahaus. 

After Vitra, we headed to our hotel in Freiberg, Germany. This was a college town so my friends and I decided that we would try to go out for Halloween.

We found an Irish pub and spent most of the night there. We had bought wigs and other disguises the night before. I'm glad that I found some friends who appreciate Halloween as much as I do, even if most Europeans don’t. 

Wednesday, Nov 1: Basel

 Our first stop on Wednesday was the Beyeler Foundation, which had some fantastic art. I saw one performance art piece which I really liked. Maybe “saw” isn’t really the right word, because it took place in a very dark room. I think “experienced” is probably a more appropriate verb. Below I’m going to try (and probably fail) to recreate the experience for you from some notes I made in my journal afterwards. 

“After working your way through a small exhibition of dark, inky drawings, you turn a corner, then another, only to be confronted by a dark hallway. “Am I supposed to be here?” you think--but there are no signs that indicate you shouldn’t be. You work your way along the dark hallway, one hand on the wall to make sure you don’t lose your way. It just keeps getting darker, but you can hear music coming from the end of the hall so you push on. In time the wall you have been following falls away and you are forced to turn the corner. The room you enter is also very dark but its lit by a few barely-glowing lightbulbs, You can sense that there are other people in the room, but until your eyes adjust you can’t actually see any of them. Eventually, you realize that these people are performers. Each of them is making sounds which individually wouldn’t qualify as singing, but collectively form an acapella piece with no words. You walk into the center of the room and the music is coming from all around you, slowly building. Its beautiful, and when they finally fall silent you aren’t sure if you want to break the magic by applauding. You decide not to. You float out of the room and back down the hallway into the now overy-bright white museum.”

The piece was choreographed by a German artist called Tino Sehgal, who specializes in “constructed situations” (which feels like a pretty accurate label for the pice I saw). I was not the only member of my tour group who really liked this piece. If you ever get a chance to see one of his pieces, I absolutely recommend that you go for it. 

Afte the Beyeler Foundation, we took a train to the Kunstmuseum Basel, which houses the largest art collection in Switzerland. It recently got a modern addition, which is why we were there. The addition was cool, full of soft concrete and crisscrossing staircases. 

After the Kunstmuseum (Kunst means “art”) We headed back to Freiburg for one last site visit. We went to the Vauban neighborhood. I really liked Vauban because it is a neighborhood which was designed with environmental and social sustainability as top priorities. Vauban is full of greenery and is very walkable. There are almost as many parks as there are apartment buildings. All of the buildings produce some form of renewable energy and have some kind of rainwater-catchment system. On one edge of the neighborhood, an area which had been set aside for extra parking spaces has been turned into a huge community-run farm. It was seriously awesome to see a project like this succeeding. These are the kinds of areas I hope to see springing up in many more locations. 

Thursday, November 2: Cologne

The next morning we took a train from Freiburg to Cologne, Germany. We stayed right next to the central station and the Cologne Cathedral. Cologne had the most modern feel of all of the European cities I have visited so far (because most of the old buildings were bombed in WWII). After dropping our stuff off at our hostel, we walked over to the Kolumba Museum, which was designed by Peter Zumthor to fit into the ruins of a gothic church. There is a really cool area (open to the public) in which you can walk over some of these ruins on an elevated walkway. It was hard to get a good picture of this, but Zumthor played with natural light and the indoor-outdoor boundary by leaving some of the bricks out in the construction of the new walls. 

This museum was small, but I was okay with that. It had a nice mix of contemporary works and historical roman-catholic art. 

After the museum, we visited the Cologne Cathedral, which was nothing short of astounding (especially considering that the enormous building was built before cranes were a thing). It’s HUGE but still very intricate. It was built in the gothic style and though it was originally made out of light colored stone, it is now almost black with soot and pollution from the industrial era (we all agreed that it looks better black, anyway).

Thursday evening, my friends and I strolled along the Rhine River, which was especially lovely at sunset. We stumbled upon a fair where we ate kettle corn and played silly games. Good clean fun. 

Friday, November 3: Essen

We squeezed in two last site visits before our flight back to Copenhagen. The first of these was Brother Klaus Filed Chapel which was built as a sacred space for the farmers who live in Mechernich-Wachendorf, Germany. It is a small and simple structure which you can only reach by walking through some farm fields. Zumthor, the designer, paid a lot of attention to the materials he used. He had local farmers help him with the construction. 112 tree trunks from the surrounding countryside were set up in a teepee formation before having 24 layers of concrete poured over them. The trees were then set ablaze and slow-burned for almost two weeks. This fired the concrete and left a charred space inside the structure which is textured like tree bark. Some light comes through glass orbs embedded in the walls, but most of it comes from a large opening in the top of the chapel. This opening references the story of Brother Klaus (a 15th-century mystic who is special to German farmers) who, so his story goes, saw a starburst while in the womb.  I really liked this chapel. It was nice to see what a uniquely beautiful structure can be created using simple, local materials. 

Above: Photos of the field chapel

Below: A serial vision (drawing exercise) of views approaching the chapel

After the chapel, we went to the Ruhr Museum and the Red Dot Design Museum in Essen. The buildings used to be a coal washing plant, but now they have been repurposed. The Ruhr Museum is dedicated to the natural and cultural history of the area and the Red Dot Design Museum showcases products which have won the prestigious Red Dot design award. I really liked the Red Dot Museum. As a big fan of clever design, it was fun to take a look at the various objects, but I also thought that curators did a really good job in redesigning the space to display these products. The building is a World Heritage Site, so designers could not remove most of the machinery in the building. Instead of letting this space go to waste, designers built elevated walkways which wind through the machinery. They use the machinery itself as a place to display the Red Dot products. I thought that this was cool because instead of trying to hide or ignore the machinery, it encourages visitors to investigate the site as well as the exhibition. 

[spectrumscribe]

Can you tell me more about your tmnt crystal gems au? Like gem placement, headcanons, just whatever you feel like sharing! I really loved the fusion posts and I've been thinking about the AU a lot I lowkey (highkey) want to draw some fan art whenever you get around to telling us about the designs a bit! You're super talented keep up the awesome work!!

Hello! It took a while to get back to this bc I hadn’t quiteworked out the gems for everyone. I have now, though! Because you reminded meto, lmao. also if anyone wants to get technical about the meanings or whateverof the gems I picked please don’t, I’m a lowly fic writer and did minimalresearch and don’t care to get super deep about things, thanks.

Alright, so I wrote that one ficlet a while back about Donnieand April, and they were the only two I had for sure down with what gems theywere. (I’ll recap them tho, in case folks missed it.)

Donnie = Purple Pearl.(because of reasons.) Gem placement is his forehead.

April = Yellow(or was it gold?) Tourmaline. Gem placement is her hip.

Raph = Pyrope.Gem placement is the back of his right hand.

Leo = Blue Iolite.Gem placement is between his shoulder blades.

Mikey = Jasper.(like, similar to canon Jasper, but smol like Amethyst ended up.) Gem placementis his chest, also like Amethyst.

Casey =(tentatively, may change if I feel like it) Onyx. Gem placement is his leftpalm.

Splinter = Fireagate. Gem placement is the same as Mikey’s.

They essentially move from planet to planet once the whole crew is together and have interstellar travel once again, staying outside the range of the crumbling empire’s reach, but mostly hang out on one specific planet that’s got very little sentient life on it. Very relaxing for a collection of people who really need to calm down sometimes. except Casey who is raring to go any time all the time and needs to be stopped

And here’s some descriptions and stuff, because hell yes I’d love fanart pls and thank you:

Donnie: He is thelankiest fuckin Pearl you will ever meet, tall as hell and kind of maybeashamed of that. Like, garnet type tall or something. Red eyes, which stand outweirdly against his color scheme. He’s this pastel purple nightmare, and has along gauzy see-through skirt type deal with shorts underneath; you know, pearltype chic. Long hair, usually in a braid that goes to his midback. Coloring….Uh, probably pale purple for the shorts and shirt, lavender purple for theskirt, and dark purple for his shoes. They are ballet shoes. He will break yournose with said shoes if you antagonize him.

April: On theshort side, not overly big but pretty thick regardless. She was designed for war after all, not forcourt regality. Standard pants plus sleeveless shirt dealio. Something close toJasper’s in SU canon, but more yellow/orange color scheme. Her hair is likeTMNT canon, and her eyes are blue. (which has ~significance~ for reasons.)

Raph: short,stocky, power house build. Taller than Mikey by a small margin. Light reds anddark reds are his color scheme, with black boots. Hair is short and dark andspiky on top, p close to being a mohawk. Green eyes, bc it’s my AU I can dowhat I want. (his reason for being ‘wrong’ or whatever shall be revealedlater.)

Leo: a slimmerbuild than Raph, more appealing to the upper castes to look at and be around. (It’sall about appearances with court gems)He’s designed for both combat andaesthetic, would’ve been a high class guard, maybe even captain of said guard.(except the whole desolation of the empire happened and that didn’t work out) Darkblue and darker blue for his hair and skin, and purpley toned light blue forhis clothing; plus black shoes.  Navy blueeyes obvs speaking, and I imagine his hair to be very short. Close croppeddealio. (similarly to Raph, his reason for ‘wrongness’ will be revealed later)

Mikey: evenshorter than Raph, and the same type of power house build. Basically has thesame color scheme and Jasper in SU canon, though his hair is less flowy andmore curly. Kind of coily? If that makes sense. Blue eyes obvs, but other thanthat he resembles canon Jasper/Amethyst strongly. (y’all can probably guess hisbackstory already)

Splinter: tol. Holyfuck so tol. He was a general of sorts in the empire, and a very high rankingone at that. Body type is like his canon ratdad self, and his robe dealtranslates into this AU too. Honestly he just looks a lot like Hamato Yoshi didas a human. Same sort of dark red color scheme too. (bleh, boring, on to thenext one who is not)

Casey: skinnymotherfucker, about the same height as Donnie, and the most ‘metal’ gem to haveever come into existence. His clothing is a mess of whites and greys and black,mostly because he ended up coming out of the ground… kind of wrong? His gem hasa shard of foreign material in it, so while he’s still perfectly good in afight, he’s not entirely a gem and thus didn’t stick to the physical design hewas supposed to. He also popped out of the ground without a lick of knowledgeabout the empire, or gems, or even who the hell he was, so he never took thename Onyx. He’s always just been Casey, and he was raised up with verydifferent ideals than what other gems got.

Anyways. Bandanna boy looks like this scruffy skinny thing, andtends to change his outfit every time he regenerates. (which is often. because he’sCasey and he is always getting intotrouble.) dark grey skin, and black hair, etc. Canon him, but worse, because he can regenerate himselfand his weapons as many times as hewants. Cue endless chaos.

 —-

Uh, as for headcanons, I guess I’ll give an assortment ofrandom things I have in my head about this AU:

-Donnie doesn’t like sleeping. He says it feels weird and isuncomfortable with being unaware of his surroundings.

-Casey and Mikey are the only ones who eat food regularly. Everyoneelse either partakes on few occasions, or outright refuses because it’s gross.

-Leo has a vintage collection of sci-fi comics and books,and adores them, despite having… actually lived a sci-fi adventure… literallyhis whole life…

-how each of the boys, and then April, took their new nameshad to do with the books and bizarre timekeeping policies that came from adistant planet that Splinter found at one point and became taken with.

-Raph keeps pets, but not often, since he outlives them alland it feels like they die too quickly to make the pain worth it.

-when they found him, Mikey hadn’t ever met another gem. It was…an experience. For everyone involved.

-the first time Donnie met Leo and Raph, he kicked Raph hardenough he fell down a cliff. Then Leo too. That was also an experience foreveryone involved.

-gardening is a hobby everyone eventually gets involved in.Since the planet they spend the most time on is mostly uninhabited, they cancreate enormous gardens and come back in a few years to see how things haveprogressed. The perks of living extremely long lives, am I right?

-fusion is an iffy subject at first, because everyone isstill shaking off the old social ideals of the empire, but eventually itbecomes a very regular occurrence. The first ones to fuse are Leo and Mikey,because of a dire situation. I haven’t decided their fusion gem quite yet, but I’llget to it.

-no one is sure why Casey’s weapon is a hockey stick, or… all that clear on what that really is… but thatdoesn’t stop Casey from using it in battle. And during their down time. Andpretty much constantly.

-Donnie gets reunited with an old, dear friend at somepoint. It’s an important reunion, since this person helped him find theconfidence to own himself, and belong to no one.

-April’s past is something she keeps hidden for a longwhile, until they find a ship that has information in its mainframe about her,and what she was designed to do…

-sleeping piles happen multiple times, okay? Even if somemembers of the pile don’t actually sleep during it.

 —-

That’s about it for now. I should get back to this AU, sincea lot of it is really wholesome and full of friendship things, and a lot moreof it is about insecurities and hidden pasts and self-image issues. All things Iadore. :3c

[harinezumiko]

Character Babble

So for the Very Indulgent Jaspearl AU I’m having to design OCs, because this is what happens if you let me write anything that strays from canon in any way. OCs everywhere.

Notes on Ames so far, in part so I don’t spam @anditwasjustathought on Skype:

>Late Era One amethyst from the Home Galaxy who got shafted by her agate and never saw military service during the war, takes private security gigs instead

>Aggressively friendly and laid back, reminds Pearl of Amethyst to the point of tears.

>She’s the friend that takes you for drinks, starts the bar fight, gets almost everyone in the bar in on the fight, gets arrested, makes friends with everyone in jail, comes out with several drinking buddies, and probably stuck you with her tab. But she’ll pay you back once her creds replenish after the nasty hit they took from, y’know, posting bail.

>Ames is pretty bright, but despite getting frequently arrested, she tends to expect other Gems to follow the rules better than she does. Jasper mysteriously brings home a pearl after going to Earth, and the pearl is weird, and the circumstances are weird, and “that’s a war criminal from the Earth War” is the first theory she eliminates, because why would Jasper break that many laws. 

>She’s a people-pleaser. All the time. Ames is always “on.” It exhausts Jasper. She’s great added security, and a great contender in the Arena, but for the love of anything, Ames, it’s been 72 hours, go home.

>In that vein Ames is down for all the casual sex with as many Gems as are willing and has a bit of a reputation for it. Arena Pearls sometimes proposition her, because it’s just a known thing, and word’s gotten around. This would be much better if her friends weren’t getting into serious relationships and making her kind of envious. Lots of sex with lots of pretty Gems is great, but it’d be nice if they stayed?

>She’s got a kind of unusual hangup about having sex with Gems from the same batch, though. She was from a small strain at her Kindergarten, and her sisters weren’t into that kind of thing, and it’d be... kind of weird, bouncing between Gems from the same quarry without everyone being kosher with it. It’s extra weird with pearls, she kind of de facto eliminates the rest of a batch if she’s slept with one.

>She does have a thing going with one of Yellow Diamond’s pearls, Gold, even though it’s casual. Ames always feels like her place isn’t classy enough for her. She’s a quartz, so her apartment’s a little messy even when she cleans it. 

>Ames is very sad when Pearl makes it very clear that she will never be an option, serious or casual, because she can’t unsee Amethyst. Ames gets it in theory, but man, she’s not even related to that amethyst, Pearl eliminated an entire type of quartz by default??

>Ames eventually meets Amethyst and it becomes abundantly clear that Amethyst is her mini-me, and suddenly Pearl’s rejection stings far less. 

>By the time she finds out Pearl’s identity (WHAT DO YOU MEAN THE FIRST THEORY WAS RIGHT) she’s already decided she likes her, so the whole unrepentant war criminal thing is... something she’s got to live with, right? But mixed fusion is still weird, damn, you rebels live in total anarchy on Earth, that’s too rich for her blood.

>She does the ponytail knot thing that Amethyst does. Pearl screams internally for months.

>She gets away with a lot of flirting that she should probably get written up for, but her charisma stat is really high. Ames, you’re not supposed to be forward with pearls you don’t know!

>Ames is someone who will go to bat for a total stranger and pose as her girlfriend and get in a fight if she sees someone getting harassed. She steps in on fights often. Sometimes she ends up stuck escorting pearls to make reports after their owners mistreat them. The nosiness has gotten her fired a few times for missing work, but she would rather spend the day making sure a pretty Gem isn’t in trouble than standing around looking imposing, anyway.