#baby soren turning to stone GOT me

[dragonfly1302]

Yo, Viren’s fever dream is messed up af…

[dianaladrislovebot]

gone headcanons that have popped into my unhinged little brain, part 5 : colours edition

hey there besties it’s been long enough since the last hcs post so here’s another one (i promise the next one will be actual hcs). yesterday i asked on both instagram and tumblr what colours y’all associate w the characters bc i mentioned to me diana is a very red character so i thought i’d take a general consensus on the other characters and i got some really good answers so i thought i’d share ! i’ve compiled a few of my personal favourites that i feel are the most accurate, thank you to everyone who contributed ! <3

sam temple : light green

i think sam being light green was the colour most people saw him as (probably due to his power) but i did also see some ocean blue’s which i liked, but green is personally my favourite for sam

caine soren : navy blue

literally everyone agreed on either this or indigo which in my mind are the same thing. there was not a single other answer he IS navy blue.

astrid ellison : baby blue / cream

i did see a couple of other answers for this but i think these two sum her up the best in terms of her personality and characterisation

diana ladris : bright red / royal purple

as i said, i’ve always seen diana as a very red coded character but i did see a couple of purples and i raise you: royal purple, as she is named after a princess

drake merwin : blood red

i use to see him kind of green bc of his connection to the gaiaphage while completely neglecting how red he is. i’ve been a fool.

quinn gaither : sand

i didn’t get any answers for him but i’m glad for that bc i wouldn’t be able to see him as anything other than sand. any other answer would have been wrong

edilio escobar : burnt orange

i originally thought of him as a rich chocolate colour but a friend brought dark orange to my attention and now i believe it wholeheartedly. i look at that colour and see edilio.

brianna berenson : bright yellow / orange

brianna’s a very hyper, overbearing, in your face character so her having such an exuberant borderline obnoxious colour seems fitting

dekka talent : dark purple

i was actually stumped on dekka until i had a few people answer this so i thank you bc you’re so correct she is dark purple

lana arwen lazar : rust red

i don’t even have an explanation for this i just feel it in my bones. she is this.

mary terrafino : baby pink / dark pink

i think mary starts off the fayz a very light pink. a very feminine, childish pink. but as the series goes on and her mental state deteriorated, i think she shifts into more of a dark pink to signify her downward spiral

albert hillsborough : money green

come on. i don’t need to explain.

taylor : hot pink / gold

obviously i know people associate her w gold bc she turned gold blah blah blah but as a character she’s very hot pink. i imagine her very girly and gossipy and such before the fayz, very 13 year old girl ish so hot pink sums that up nicely

computer jack : silver

i had a few people answer this and i’ve honestly never thought about it before but you’re so right and you should say it

that’s all the main characters that i have set in stone and i’m pretty happy w them tbh. once again thank you to everyone who participated and gave me ideas bc somehow you were all correct. i love hearing how different people interpret the characters it’s so interesting

[jelzorz]

@thosefiveadoraburrs @raayllum and @beamwrites told me to so okay, here we go, one list of hcs for a dumb tangled au coming right up

Harrow is dead and Viren is high mage and regent until Ez comes of age. He Does Not let the boys out of the castle ever both bc he knows there are people who oppose his leadership and would rally behind cal and ez in a heartbeat. He's still trying to come up with an excuse to keep the throne once Ez turns 18.

Callum and Ezran have been under what's basically house arrest since Harrow died. They still have their Prince lessons. Callum still sucks at swordfighting and Ez still loves jelly tarts but they're not allowed outside of the castle bc Viren sucks.

Callum is super duper still fascinated by magic but kinda dislikes dark magic bc Viren's a dick. He knows Viren wouldn't let him anywhere near even a primal stone so he spends all day watching Claudia practise in the courtyard trying to secretly learn the runes that way.

Anyway one day, Ez finds the egg. They know what it is and that they have to get it back but Viren took for a reason and there's No Way Viren would a) return it and b) let them leave in the first place

Then Rayla breaks into the castle to steal idk the crown or something and the boys, of all people, catch her out. Bait does his big flash and in the confusion, Rayla is knocked out.

ia63

They sneak out. They steal the egg and a primal stone from Viren's office on their way.

Ez loses his mind in town. Callum, at least, got to go out with his mum and dad when they were alive but Harrow and Sarai died when Ez was a baby and he's literally never been to town. Rayla specifically takes them too all The Worst places trying to get them to call it off, but the kids are determined, and they end up in a tavern full of people Viren Does Not Like: rebels who dislike their rule and would stand by Ez. They help them get out.

Viren sends Claudia and Soren after them, as per canon, who follow their trail until they get to the same tavern and the same secret tunnel. There's a fight. Rayla goes out of her way to keep Ez and the egg out of harm's way. Magic is involved. A badly timed fulminis causes the tunnel to collapse and traps the trio in a dead end. The tunnel starts to flood.

Callum learns that Rayla's not the rogue thief she pretends to be by the way she reassures Ezran in spite of the way she's obviously terrified of the water. They find a way out thanks to Cal's magic (maybe?). Hooray! They're alive!

They settle for the night. Ez goes to bed but Rayla stays up to Keep Watch. Callum notices the way she's still shaken up. Insert backstory of why Rayla's afraid of water here. Bonding and learning abt each other. Now they're friends ❤️

The rest of the journey isn't so bad. They find themselves in Xadia and Cal and Ez are both starry-eyed ala the Kingdom Festival scene. Rayla kinda hangs back and Callum reels himself back to talk to her. More bonding ❤️

They go to an elven festival I guess? Insert lantern scene? They let her hold the egg.

Claudia and Soren catch up to them. Claudia uses Cal's feelings for her to try to turn things around. Soren goes after Rayla. Idk what happens but they manage to make it look like Rayla's run off with the egg. Claudia and Soren start making their way back to Katolis with the boys.

Ez catches on first. Something's wrong. What happened to Rayla? She can't have left them on purpose. Callum's too hurt to believe him until something happens (idk what) to change his mind. There's another fight. More magic. The boys get away.

They rescue Rayla somehow wherever she is

I didn't get this far in my head when I was writing ia63. You'll know more when I do!

[beautifulterriblequeen]

Impressions from TTM

Spoilers, spoilers everywhere. Just a big bulleted list of thoughts as I read through the graphic novel. Not a lot of detail included, so it’ll make a lot more sense if you’ve already read it yourself!

looks like Moonshadow elves cross the arms of the dead... when they have a body to bury

it’s nice to see that Rayla imagines Runaan with all his shirts, the way she last saw him

kinda looks like Rayla changed into her jammies right on her bed and dumped her clothes on that little table. maybe she’s afraid of letting the few things she actually possesses out of her sight

listen we get one little panel of Opeli in here and it’s great

Soren’s cape smacking Callum in the face, 10/10

Lujanne’s appearance out of nowhere, along with Allen’s is just adorable, she’s so sparkly. And also she can apparently just turn totally invisible with an illusion spell? Even at a new moon? Probably because of the Nexus I guess

Lujanne’s “Big strong man with big strong feelings.” She and Runaan have exactly the same type and I support them

Allen’s face when Lujanne says it aches to miss Phoe-Phoe

Callum eating off Rayla’s plate and wondering how Lujanne suspected they were a couple, hmmm

Soren and Allen bonding

Rayla warning Lujanne about hand disguises, as if that was something Runaan made very sure she knew

Rayla’s cute chaos grin when Callum’s Aspiro spell goes off is my favorite pic of her in this whole graphic novel

Lujanne’s “Oh.” afterward is my fave pic of her, too, she does not seem to handle reality well!

Bait’s tongue will never get old

Lujanne’s whole speech during Phoe-Phoe’s rebirth ritual is so touching and beautiful, my heart

Lujanne putting the newborn Moon Phoenix into Ezran’s hands, like she knows he’ll have the best connection with her

Callum’s tears as he reminds Rayla that Runaan killed Harrow, he’s trying to move on, but it hurts

Rayla’s self-soothing behavior when she has her second nightmare in the book--she must have these most every night :((((

the big symbol on the Moon Temple doors looks like a stylized Moon staff, like it’s a building for mages

Lujanne saying Rayla might not want or need the truth right after Callum mentions Runaan’s name to her, he sassily asks about her husbands and she turns it into a compliment

Callum’s big reaction to the moon opals is adorable. The only other one he’s seen was part of a pair of treasured gifts between long-time spouses, so it kinda looks like he’s all “uhh we just started dating”

also Ethari must’ve made cute metal swirly covers for the pair he and Runaan wore, since these two are undecorated--maybe he got his from Lujanne?

listen Lujanne is a hoot and all but she’s both an ally and an antagonist. Her actions are trustworthy but her advice is generally terrible. It’s an interesting parallel to how Runaan says a lot with his actions too, but he talks a lot less than Lujanne

Rayla yeeting herself into a fight just to ask Soren for a talk is 10/10 Moonshadow assassin goals

but her hood is up when she’s lurking in the trees--she might not have known where she’d find Soren and was anticipating something less fun on the feels-o-meter

Rayla in the mud again. Soren keeps making people fall in the mud

Allen’s grumpy squiggle

Callum, I love you, but you have no respect for moon opals. It’s like they wronged you in a previous life or something

that dancing elf has very long hair and shoulder pauldrons, and they start off dancing with six kneeling, watching, hooded elves around them--Moon Druids wore hoods even before they were assassins. Considering what Lujanne said about why the portal was sometimes opened, maybe those six kneeling elves are waiting under their emotion-hiding hoods to farewell a loved one who’s recently died?

can’t tell for sure but maybe the elf is dancing along the lines in the stone like they mark patterns for ritual dances, which would be the bomb

Soren and Rayla’s conversation is pretty wrenching. Seeing Soren have to struggle with what he did because it’s tangled up with Viren is rough because as a Crownguard it should just have been his duty to defend his king and he’d have nothing to feel weird about

Rayla dissociating herself from the term “assassins” and Soren dissociating from calling Viren “my father” in the same conversation is 10/10 excellent growth

Soren must know what happens to prisoners his dad gets a hold of, even if he doesn’t know the details :(((

“we captured him” and “Viren took him” seem to be talking about the Crownguard and Viren, not the brodigies and Viren

Rayla having a wooden sword at the end of the day bc she played swordfighting with Allen and Soren all day long

the panel where Rayla doesn’t say anything at all after telling Callum that she asked Soren about Runaan actually says so much, you can hear it

every time Lujanne’s white lies idea gets repeated, things get worse

Allen’s reading glasses, there must be one optician in the human village and he caters to soft kindly gentlemen of a certain age

in the moon phase montage, baby Phoe-Phoe is flying next to Ezran after one week at the Nexus. Maybe he’s paying her back by helping her learn to fly after she helped him teach Zym how to fly! Did they bond as tightly as Ezran did with Zym? I support Ezran just bonding with the most powerful flying creatures in all the land.

the irony of Callum using Lujanne’s tactics against her is amazing, but really the white lies thing is a giant ball of chaos in this story and it does not play favorites

Bait on the stone pillar during rebuilding

all the noises the Moonhenge makes are 10/10

Rayla dancing with Callum even though there’s almost no chance she’s ever done that dance before

Lujanne’s pupils going white, that is a cool effect, what’s it mean?

the black moon in the pink sky is so spooky! Is it just me or does the color scheme here kinda vibe like the space outside Aaravos’s library?

the smoky assassin squad, 10/10 creep factor, I love it

the lightning being a literal crack of doom with “CRAK-DOOM” as Katolis Castle appears, “echoes of thunder” indeed, very nice

Lujanne being mad but she can’t decide if it’s at Callum or herself

when she says pulling Rayla out now will leave her soul on one side and her body a husk. After the Insta live stream last night where we learned that soulfang serpents are Moon primal creatures, that’s... super interesting

smoky assassins go tssh in the rain like they’re still hot from being cremated, thanks I hate it

Andromeda finds Rayla first and seems closest/most aggressive so I wonder why she might hate Rayla more than the others

the assassins’ wrist bindings have gone red but they’re still attached and seem to trap the souls where they are. But all they need to be free is to perceive that Rayla completed their task, even though we know otherwise. So... would that work for killing any target? If you’re certain that you did it, does your binding fall off even if you’re wrong? eyes Pip

this must not be the actual afterlife since the spirits kind of mist up toward the moon and vanish, it’s more like a lobby, no one stays here unless they get stuck

portaling around just by shouting at villains, excellent

Rayla literally dropping a sword at the sight of the pod Viren’s in, yeah, it’s that creepy, I agree

Viren’s eyes are so black I think they’re Aaravos’s. I got a whole headcanon on Good Viren and Evil Viren for S4 now, wow

Phoe-Phoe pulling out a feather for Callum, awww my heart! This is why Ezran had to come, to bond with her so together they could save Callum and Rayla, it’s so sweet

so these humans are from the Storm Spire battle, bc that’s the Storm Spire behind Rayla and Callum on p108, with the rune-written arch. Did they die hating Rayla and Callum from the battle? Did they even know Rayla was up there? Or is pod Viren/Aaravos actually making them attack out of hatred for Viren’s death? One of these is definitely creepier and more awesome

Rayla’s confidence that Callum can and will boost her at the right moment with his magic, my heart, I love battle couples

that one panel that mirrors the Ghost Feather key art, hhhhhh

Rayla being the better swimmer, such precious irony, thanks Runaan

them holding hands and swimming upward together on the full-page panel is blessed

Lujanne pulling Rayla out of the lake with both arms gives me feels bc my grandma saved my life once

Lujanne being super soft over Rayllum, she is indeed a hopeless romantic

Rayla says “gone” about her parents and Runaan, and that’s the word Ethari used too, and I’m suddenly wondering if Ethari reached right into that pool and has always known that the lotus is half-submerged and if the sword he’s been making is for himself

I’m so glad Rayla told Callum what she saw of Viren

Rayla deceiving Callum and heading into danger alone because his life is more valuable to her than her own is exactly what Runaan did for her the night of the full moon in Katolis. I’m leaning toward her having thought this over and doing it on purpose bc she believes it’s a sign of deepest love--that Runaan’s actions and Lujanne’s words match up in her head, so she thinks it’s the right thing to do bc the mage and the assassin agree. Alas, Callum doesn’t understand the Moon arcanum yet, so he will have a different opinion. That mage and that assassin do not agree!

Rayla’s cloak has that Moon Temple symbol on its back. Is it Lujanne’s cloak? Any Moonshadow who sees it will probably know where she got it and who helped her. That could be fun!

[mcsmseason3]

MCSM Origins Book I: Enter Lapilisia Lazul - Part 2

Summary:

Lapis and Emerl arrive in the Nether to find Magnus and Ellegaard, two members of the Order of the Stone, fighting some ghasts. After aiding in their defeat, Lapis receives an offer that chnages everything.

Previous Chapter: Here

Next Chapter: Here 

Lapis held tightly to the edges of the minecart as she prepared herself mentally for whatever chaos was awaiting her and Emerl. Lapis was sure that if she had a heart, it’d be beating out of her chest. As the carts got closer, Lapis and Emerl heard the cries of the ghasts, explosions and yelling.

“Magnus, watch where you’re exploding those things!”

“Hey, it’s not my fault you keep getting in the way!”

Lapis heard Emerl sigh as she muttered, “Those two, I swear…” Emerl then turned back to face Lapis, “Get ready! It’s showtime!”

The carts turned a corner and grinded to a stop as Emerl noticed a large crater where the tracks should be. Floating above were three ghasts – one with two arrows in it. Another arrow just barely grazed the ghast as Lapis turned to see where it had come from. Bow and arrow in hand, Lapis saw a woman with brown hair and pale skin, wearing brown, black and gold armour with redstone embedded in the chest armour, along with brown pants and dark red boots.

“Fire in the hole!!!”

Lapis jumped in surprise as a TNT block went flying into one of the ghasts, destroying it. Standing behind what looked like a hastily-put-together TNT cannon was a bald man with a black bandanna tied around his head with holes for his eyes. He wore green armour with a leather belt and four yellow buttons on his chest, along with brown and gold gloves and boots.

“Ha! What were you saying, Ellie?” Magnus yelled with a cocky smirk. Emerl saw one of the ghasts launch a fireball at Magnus. “Magnus, heads up!” Emerl yelled out as she dived between Magnus and the fireball, blocking it with her shield. “Nice timing, Emerl.” Ellegaard nodded to the emerald Gem as she aimed her bow at the ghasts, “These ghasts ambushed us while we were building the rails.”

“Where’s Ivor, Soren and Gabriel?” Emerl yelled out as she reflected another fireball with her shield. “Up ahead finishin’ the rails!” Magnus replied as he loaded another stack of TNT into the cannon, “They told us to distract while they finish it off.” Magnus noticed Lapis as she climbed – albeit clumsily – out of the minecarts, “Who’s the noob?”

“That’s Lapis. I found her while patrolling the forest.” Emerl replied before turning to Lapis, “Alright, Lapis. Show me what you got!”

“R-right!” Lapis stuttered as she summoned her weapon. It was a long whip with small blue crystals encrusted in the whip. The handle was also blue with golden markings. Lapis held onto the handle with both hands as she wound back and flung the whip forward like a fishing rod. It wrapped itself around one of the ghast’s tentacles. Lapis ran over to where Emerl, Magnus and Ellegaard was and began pulling the whip towards her, reeling in the ghast, “I got it! Go ham on it before it destroys us!”

“Not bad, kid!” Magnus smirked as he launched another TNT at the trapped ghast, destroying it. “One more left!” Emerl called out. “Look out!” Ellegaard yelled as the last ghast fired a fireball at the group. “I got it! Stand back!” Lapis flung her whip at the fireball, causing it to wrap around it. She spun it around like in hammer-toss, until she finally released it – falling onto the ground in the process – and the fireball went hurtling back towards the ghast, killing it. Lapis breathed heavily as she got to her feet, staring at where the ghast once was. “Ok…that was pretty freakin’ awesome!” Magnus laughed as he gave Lapis a hearty slap on the back, causing her to stumble a bit, “What was your name again, kid?”

“Lapilisia Lazul.” Lapis replied with a smile, “But you can call me Lapis.”

“Pleasure to meet you, Lapis.” Ellegaard gave a small smile as she walked up to her, “My name is Ellegaard, and the reckless nutcase here is Magnus.”

“Well, at least I’m not an egghead know-it-all!” Magnus argued.

“Oh, is that the best argument you could think of? Maybe if you emptied all that gunpowder out of your head, you could actually make a logical thought.”

“Well your head is so full of redstone, I sometimes wonder if you’re actually human and not some redstone creation!”

Lapis glanced back and forth between Magnus and Ellegaard as they argued before turning to Emerl, “Are they-”

“Always like this? Yep.” Emerl finished with a sigh before interrupting the two bickering humans, “If you two aren’t busy acting like children, the rails got damaged during the fight and need to be fixed before the others get back.”

“Oh, of course.” Ellegaard nodded as she walked away from Magnus who just glared at her, “This ain’t over, Ellie!”

“It never is…” Emerl muttered under her breath as she went to help Ellegaard with the rails. “So you’re like Emmie, eh?” Magnus asked, motioning to her gemstone, “My guess is a Lapis?”

“Nope. Azurite.” Lapis grinned. “Oh. I thought since your name is Lapis, it’d be a…” Magnus seemed genuinely surprised but was cut off by Lapis giggling, “I’m just kidding. I’m a Lapis Lazuli.”

“Yeah, I knew that! I was just…playing along! Yeah!” Magnus grinned smugly, “Anyways, I’m Magnus – greatest griefer in the world and king of Boomtown. Ellie over there is our redstone nerd and ruler of Nerdtopia.”

“Redstonia!” Ellegaard called over her shoulder. Magnus just stuck his tongue out at her, earning a chuckle from Lapis. “I can hear your insufferable bickering from down the rails!” A voice called out as three minecarts clattered down the rails just as Ellegaard and Emerl finished the repairs. The first to climb out, who Lapis assumed was the one who called out, was a man with long, slick black hair, an unkept beard, and pale skin that looked like it hadn’t seen the sun in years. He wore a long olive coat with black shoes and a leather belt with a lapis stone on it.

“At least you managed to get rid of the ghasts. I would’ve been able to take them on, but we needed to finish the rails first.” A man with dark skin, dark brown eyes and a dark moustache said as he climbed out of the cart. He wore dark blue armour with diamonds embedded in it.

Another man with ginger hair with a moustache and beard with tanned leather armour, grey gloves and pants climbed out behind him, “Well, we got the rails to the ice spikes portal finished, that’s the important part.”

“Glad to hear that the rail is the important part and not the fact that we nearly got roasted by ghasts.” Magnus rolled his eyes as he folded his arms. “You know Soren didn’t mean it like that, Magnus.” Emerl sighed. Ivor glanced at Lapis, “And who’s this?”

“Uh, hi! I’m Lapis! And I guess you’re Ivor?” Lapis smiled. “How’d you guess that?” Ivor asked narrowing his eyes at the Gem. “Emerl said Ivor was a person who looked super grumpy but was actually really nice.”

“W-WHAT?!” Ivor seemed taken aback, his face turning red, as Emerl turned away quickly to hide her face from Ivor. Magnus burst into laughter as Gabriel, Soren and Ellegaard chuckled a little. “Oh…oh geez! That face…haha!!” Magnus wheezed while pointing at Ivor, “Lapis, that was awesome!”

“I mean…she’s not wrong, Ivor.” Soren shrugged. Ivor just shot him a glare before sighing, “Let’s just head back before more of those ghast show up.”

Lapis went to follow the rest of the Order back to the carts when her gem and eyes suddenly began to glow. Lapis saw herself push Magnus out of the way as a fireball hit her in the shoulder, causing her to poof. Lapis snapped out of her vision and sighed, “Poofed twice in one day? It’s better than that time I was poofed five times in that tournament back home…” Lapis climbed into one of the minecarts as she and the Order zoomed back to where the main portal was.

 ————————————————————

 “So you survived the creeper explosion, but was poofed by hitting the ground?”

“Yep. Pretty silly, huh?”

Emerl and Lapis were explaining how they met as they approached the portal. “Don’t beat yourself up.” Ellegaard replied, “Emerl once got poofed by a baby pigman on our first trip to the Nether after beating a large army of them.”

“The lil’ brat snuck up on me! How was I supposed to see him?!” Emerl called from the back of the carts, earning a laugh from the rest of the group. “I have to say, however,” Ellegaard continued, “Your skills were pretty impressive back there.”

“Aw, ‘twas nothin’” Lapis blushed a light shade of blue – which made her gold freckles stand out – as she scratched the back of her neck sheepishly. “Whoa! Cool markings, kid.” Magnus pointed out, looking at Lapis over his shoulder. “Oh, you mean my freckles?” Lapis asked, motioning to the small golden dots on her cheek, “Some lapis Gems have gold markings or specks on their gems that carry over to their physical form. And I’m one of them. It’s pretty rare back home, so I’m pretty proud of my babies!”

Magnus laughed as Lapis poked both of her cheeks and stuck out her tongue. “So where are you off to next?” Gabriel asked. “Dunno.” Lapis shrugged, “I’ve been kinda wandering aimlessly ever since I got here.”

“Well, if you like,” Soren began, “From what Emerl, Magnus and Ellegaard are saying, you seem like a capable fighter, and I’m sure Emerl wouldn’t mind the extra pair of hands. You could stay with the Order if you want.”

“Really?” Lapis exclaimed, “Th-that’s alright with-?”

Lapis was cut off by a familiar cry from behind as the carts arrived at the steps to the portal. “Uh oh. We have company!” Emerl called out, seeing a ghast giving chase to them. “Quick! To the portal!” Gabriel yelled as everyone clambered out of the carts and dashed up the steps. As the Order began to jump through the portal, Lapis remembered her vision and quickly ran at Magnus, “Magnus, watch out!” She pushed Magnus out of the way as the fireball slammed into her shoulder and poofed her, sending her gem clattering onto the ground. “Lapis!” Magnus exclaimed as he quickly grabbed her gem and dashed into the portal after the rest of the Order.

 Upon reaching the other side, Emerl glanced around to make sure everyone got through, “Wait. Where’s Lapis?”

“I have her.” Magnus replied, holding up Lapis’s gem, “She got poofed saving me from that ghast. It was kinda weird though. It was like she knew it was gonna happen.”

“That’s because Lapis is a Shard like me. Except her power is the ability to see future events before they happen.” Emerl explained. As she said this, Lapis’s gem began to glow brightly. “Um, Magnus? You might wanna put the gem-” Emerl was cut off as Lapis reformed and landed right on top of Magnus.

“ACK!”

“OOF!”

“…down.” Emerl finished with a sigh. Lapis rubbed her forehead before noticing she was on top of Magnus and quickly got off him with a small blush on her face before helping him up, “Er, sorry! Are you okay?”

“Yep, I’m good!” Magnus replied, dusting himself off, “I’ve had worse.”

“He’s not joking about that, by the way.” Ellegaard added, “He nearly dies every Tuesday.”

“I think that’s kinda exaggerating a bit.” Magnus rolled his eyes. “It’s not.” The rest of the Order replied in near unison.

“Anyway, since we were rudely interrupted by that ghast before,” Soren began, “What’s your decision, Lapis.”

“I think the proof’s in the pumpkin pie.” Emerl chuckled as she motioned to Lapis’s robes. They were the same as before, but now bore the same symbol Emerl had on her cloak, except hers was blue and gold. Lapis smiled proudly and nodded. “Alright!” Magnus laughed as he wrapped an arm around the gem and gave her a noogie, “Welcome to the Order, kid!” Lapis laughed before being eventually released from Magnus’s noogie hold. She could feel excitement bubble up within her. This was the beginning of a brand-new adventure…

 …but not in the way she was expecting.

 To Be Continued...

[boasamishipper]

written for day 5 of @writersmonth for the prompt ‘sound’. set a couple of years after my fic ‘out along the edges,’ which is now available to read on ao3.

—

There’s still blood on his hands.

Forty minutes in the bathroom, scrubbing his hands fervently under the stream of near-boiling water coming out of the faucet, and the palms of his hands are still stained with blood. Not his, of course. It would have been so much better, so much easier if it had been his blood. But it’s not, and he’d failed, and now he has to deal with the consequences.

He’s pacing around his room like the walls can’t hold him, and yet he feels like he’s not even there at all. Like he’s far away, on another planet, in another galaxy. Deaf to the pained groans in the infirmary across the ship, to Talos’s tear-thick words as he talks softly to an unhearing Soren, gently holding his wife’s bandaged hand. He hears it all, and yet he hears nothing. Just a high buzzing in his ears.

There’s not enough air in here. There’s not enough anything. Stars — God, goddamn it, he can’t do this. He needs to — he needs to—

Before Maverick can talk himself out of it, he presses the call button on his communicator. He’d just come back from Earth the week before and knows that it’s too early to be calling anyone, but he’s desperate to hear a familiar voice. A voice that belongs to someone he hasn’t failed.

“Kazansky.”

He chokes on a sob. “Ice,” he manages. “Ice, I-I need—”

“Mav?” He can hear Ice’s voice transition from exhausted and sleep-slurred to wide awake and concerned in real time. “Mav, what’s wrong? What do you need?”

“Just need — just need to hear your voice.” I need to distract myself from my failure, and you always bring me back to Earth. “Please.”

Ice doesn’t ask why, just starts talking. Maverick’s breathing too hard to really hear him at first, but his terror fades the longer he listens to Ice talk about the pain of transfer paperwork and the brass at Fallon, and how it’s been snowing for the last few weeks and that makes him long for California’s dry heat and humidity more than he’d ever thought possible, and how Chewie ate one of the catnip toys Fury got her for Christmas and then got stoned for three hours. Listening to Ice talk, Maverick feels like he can finally relax.

“Hey.” Ice’s voice goes soft. “That enough of my voice for you?”

Maverick tries for a laugh, but it falters halfway through. “You know I can never get enough of your voice.”

“Mav, what happened?”

Damn. Here he thought he’d been so smart to set the call to audio-only, and yet Ice had seen right through him even when there had been nothing to see. He sits down at the foot of his bed, running a hand through his hair. “We went to Aakon to find more Skrull,” he whispers. “But the Kree found us, and we had to run, and I could only get thirty of the Skrull to safety. Thirty out of two hundred.” He can still see them reaching out for him, still see them falling to the ground, their bodies riddled with blaster bolts. Men, women, and children. Dead because of him. “I couldn’t save them, Ice.”

“Oh, Mav,” Ice breathes. “Baby. God, I’m so sorry.”

At the word ‘baby,’ all of the tears that Maverick had tried so hard to suppress come pouring out of him, his body wracked with guilt and sobs. “I should have been faster,” he cries. “I should have known the Kree would find us eventually, I just — I didn’t think. And Soren got hurt trying to help me, and now she’s in the infirmary and Gynara doesn’t know if she’ll make it; goddamn it, I should have—”

“No. No, Mav, you did everything right. And you saved as many of them as you could—”

“It wasn’t enough!” It’s only the feeling of energy crackling at his fingertips that forces him to calm down. If he doesn’t control himself, he could blow up the entire ship — and then the blood of even more Skrull would be on his hands. “It wasn’t enough, Ice. I could have…I could have saved more. And I didn’t. I got scared. I panicked.”

He can hear Ice breathing on the other end of the communicator, on the other side of space. Maverick closes his eyes, tries to picture him. Probably in bed, illuminated by the warm light of the lamp, the sheets around him a mess, his hair tousled. Still beautiful. Always beautiful. “Everyone gets scared sometimes, Mav,” Ice finally says. “It’s what makes us human.”

It’s strange, but out of everything Ice has said so far, that sentence actually makes him feel better. He is human. He’s not Kree; he’s human. He doesn’t have to strive for unachievable perfection, and he’s allowed to be scared. And yet… “I still failed them.”

“Then next time, strive to do better. Learn from your mistakes.” Ice’s voice goes soft again. “You did your best, Mav. Sometimes that’s all you can do.”

Maverick breathes out. “Yeah,” he says quietly. He lays down flat on the bed, staring up at the ceiling and wishing it were a different one. “I know.”

“I love you.”

His throat goes tight. “I love you too,” he whispers, and he turns onto his side, swiping tears from his eyes. “Sorry for waking you, I know it’s early.”

“It’s okay,” Ice says, but he would have said the same no matter what time Maverick woke him up at. “Only went to bed about an hour ago. I finally got sent the files for the next batch of students; Jesus, the pickings are getting slim…”

Maverick closes his eyes, and he listens to Ice talk about the new students, about how he thinks their callsigns are terrible, how he already has a feeling which pilot is going to be Top Gun and which ones are going to test his patience more than the others; the sound of his voice spreading warmth throughout Maverick’s entire body, all the way down to his soul.

He would do better next time. He’d learn from his mistakes. And as long as he had Ice to hold onto, to be his light in the darkness, he could handle anything.

[thelovers-thedreamers-and-me]

tonight’s fuck squad was a very special session, in which we did not play pathfinder because maddela’s player had a class scheduled because she wants to develop her artistic skills PERSONALLY WANTS TO SEE ME WEEP. so tonight, i broke out pandemonium and the DILF Patrol played their first adventure!

“No snack mat? What, we eat our snacks off the table? Like animals?”

Rhonia’s player proceeded to drop her icing from her booze cupcake right on her character sheet, presumably in protest.

The DILF PAtrol consists of 4 DILFs and one MILF played by the beard as a guest

Yoni: “I am Peel Hat-trick Narris.” “I wouldn’t let her call herself Heel. Didn’t want the foot fetish jokes.” (Peel is a local musical theatre actor and a magician.)

Rhonia was playing Jordan Malik, a 25-year-old DILF that has a podcast, carries his baby everywhere, and who I kinda headcanoned as looking like Sergei.

The Beard played Stacy’s Mom (Rachel Wayne) who was also heavily into wine mom culture and I guess an antivaxxer?

As a side note I googled Stacy’s Mom to play it for his intro and the first result on Amazon was a porn called Stacy’s Mom 2 and, like, can you not? That music video was creepy enough as is.

Saida played Dirk, a doomsday prepper DILF.

Sergei’s character wasn’t named Dads Mikkelson because she is a coward. His name was Soren and he was a european actor who smoked and wore tracksuits.

Saida: “Someone had Fritos here. I can clock that from a mile away.” “That’s your paranormal talent.” “No, that’s making the Fritos disappear.”

Saida: “I put a bagel on a garbage bag while I was stoned and called it a New Brunswick plate.”

we eventually get down to actually playing, and the DILF patrol’s mission this week is to track down the Leydeckier Slab, a massive slab of ice mined from an arctic cave with weird prehistoric markings carved into it. it went missing from a local convention centre from the owner, joseph leydeckier

Dirk: “How armed do you think I should be?” “not?” “Very. Got it.”

Rachel: “I use mind reading to tell if his name is an anagram!” “He’s not thinking about whether his name is an anagram because that’s not how any of this works.”

Leydeckier is apparently an anagram for celery dike and I’m dying

Leydeckier is being interviewed by reporters about the slab’s theft. Our patrol finds out that he’s not too bummed because it was mostly a publicity thing for him and his company, Hydrix, which sells Pure Chill water

i did not make the Pure Chill water=chillwater connection because i’m a dumbass

he does not know dr phil

they investigate the scene, and find out that the night guard apparently spontaneously combusted. Soren uses his communing with spirits powers to talk to the ghost to find out how he died- apparently someone in a bathrobe set him on fire. He then has to go out for a smoke because he’s scared of ghosts.

Peel: “I hope they can’t MAKE people spontaneously combust. I can’t afford that in this line of work.”

they discover a vial that reads “Manufactured by Jacqueline Farrell”

and listen guys i was gonna make this a standalone unrelated to the fuck squad universe

but i made this story by rolling on the random tables in the book

and the first result i got for minor phenomena was a store that sells some magic items but mostly junk

that’s just feral jake my dudes

jacqueline confirms that a weird twitchy dude in a bathrobe bought that from her- it’s supposed to be a weird substance that, when you pour it on a crystal and shine a laser pointer through it, makes people “spontaneously” combust. she assumed it was some bullshit though

rachel buys a hunk of moonstone and horoscopes from her

by then it’s evening, so jordan goes home to take care of his baby and everyone else goes bar hopping because they’re all negligent parents, goddammit guys, being dads is in the name

jordan gets an e-mail to his podcast account from someone named Garth asking to meet up, because he’s a Venusian who has some info on the slab but he doesn’t want to talk online because men in black might be watching. he agrees to meet up at a local bar called the shed, and tells the rest of the patrol who meets him there

Also there’s apparently a cult who is convinced that, if the slab thaws, the end of the world is nigh.

rachel rolls to see how her high chemical tolerance handles the alcohol but she rolls a 1 so she is white girl wasted.

garth tells them a bit about the slab, then offers to discuss it somewhere a bit more private. rachel tries to read his mind, only to find she can’t- turns out he’s a martian, not a venusian. he panics and attempts to shoot her with a stun gun, and gets tackled to the ground and tied up.

[discussion of the ice ball flat earth theory] “okay i am from space and I can tell you that is not true” peel: this conspiracy goes all the way to the top!”

Dirk got up and took a photo of the star chart because her husband doesn’t believe that my game is run like a kindergarten class.

In interrogation, Garth revealed that he had a partner he was here to abduct humans with, but he got disintegrated by some guy with a bathrobe and a crystal behind an abandoned gas station called Spaulding’s.

“He chose the name Craigory, a perfectly normal human name!” Peel: “As peel hatrick narris I believe this.”

Jordan: “Suckin’ on those spuds!”

they leave the martian tied up in the bar bathroom and go home.

Jordan googles to find out more about the cult and finds that they call themselves the Brethren of Lumi and that they believe they’ve translated the marks on the slab.

At about 4 AM, however, the power goes out.

I intended this next bit to be a quick little “oh no!” but they made it into a whole thing where Dirk drives Rachel’s Hummer around town and picks everyone up and gets them to get their bugout bags and it was a whole Thing but anyway they all end up at Spaulding’s

Peel walks through the wall in the back to sneak in, while Dirk kicks in the window to see what’s going on. Three cultists in bathrobes are desperately pouring purchased ice into an old ice cream freezer to try and stop the stolen slab from thawing.

It does not work, and the creature who was imprisoned in the ice, a weird lizard made of ice, revives and attacks, killing one of the cultists.

Jordan attempts to channel his past life, Mary Read, but fails so hard he’s just convinced he is her with none of her skills or talents for ten minutes. He takes one of Dirk’s guns and shoots at the lizard.

Rachel tries to make a molotov cocktail but does poorly.

Peel gets stuck in the wall trying to get out of the bathroom.

Dirk shoots the lizard a bunch of times with his harpoon gun.

Meanwhile, Soren manages to find the crystal and solution they used to burn the guard and uses it on the creature. It melts, and the day is saved by the DILF patrol

[luthienliveblogslately-blog]

Milestone write-up!

Since the story seems to be closing one story-arc and moving on to another, I feel this is a good place to take stock, summarize what we know and make some more or less educated guesses at what might happen in future. It got a bit away from me (”a bit” lol), so here’s a read more for your convenience. 

Players on the board

Last we left off, shit had decidedly hit the fan. We got painful confirmation that the elves successfully assassinated King Harrow, but they in turn had a painful price to pay. From what we can tell, Runaan is the only survivor, and he has been captured by Soren and Claudia. Claudia thinks he might come in “useful”, whatever that may mean. Might be they’ll interrogate him for information about Xadia, might be that Claudia has some more nefarious, magical things planned. She might ask him about Rayla and the egg, but it’s not like he can tell her anything that she doesn’t already know, aka Rayla and the boys have the egg and they plan to return it and use it to restore peace. Maybe, if they keep talking for long enough, he might actually get her to see that the egg really is just a yet to hatch baby dragon and therefore a sentient being in need of protection, and not just a powerful magical weapon to be used by whoever sees fit. If Runaan manages to escape or communicate with other elves, our heroes will have some real problems. He clearly sees Rayla as a traitor and seeks to punish her for the perceived crimes she committed, and there’s still that pesky magical bounty on Ezrans’s head… 

It’s hard to say what Claudia and Soren will do next. I think it depends very much on if Viren is sticking around the castle or not, and what his plans are. As to what his plans might be… god knows. Just how much does he want the egg back? Is he willing to go after it himself, or will he maybe send Soren? How much does Soren know about all this anyway? Five bucks says he had no idea about anything tbh. You know what still hasn’t been opened yet btw? The fucking letter. It’s still in Viren’s study. If it really has a contingency plan like “Callum becomes prince regent until Ezran is old enough to rule” I get the feeling Viren might pull some GoT-style shenanigans and try to put himself on the throne. At this point there isn’t really anything I wouldn’t put past him. In any case though the kingdom might be thrown into serious chaos for a while. After all: the King is Dead, long live the…. wait, who now? The crown prince is missing? The step-prince is missing, too? Well, guess it’s time for some good old-fashioned power grabbing! 

And then there’s our three four protagonists. We don’t know where the kingdom of Katolis is exactly, but in any case they have a long journey ahead. They will have to stick to the woods for most of it and avoid towns I think. Rayla can’t be seen by humans, the egg can’t be seen either, and Viren might try and put a bounty on all of them anyway, so the boys might not be save either. I trust Rayla will be able to get the foods from the woods though, so that should be alright. And then eventually they’ll reach the Breach and have to make their away across it and around however many standing armies manning the border from both sides. Yikes. Though we have no idea how far they’ll go in three remaining episodes. There are after all at least 5 more potential seasons in store for us, so there’s a good chance they won’t even remotely come close to the Breach in this one.  What I’m really worried about is Rayla keeping the truth about Harrow from the boys.  While it breaks my heart just thinking about them having to mourn their dad, I’m worried about Callum lashing out at Rayla in his grief. We already had a scene when he found out about the assassination plot and subsequently flipped out at Ez out of fear, and Ez hadn’t even really done anything. How much worse will that reaction be if she’s been lying to them for several days, even if it was just to spare them the pain? It might damage his trust in her, Callum might even try and make them split up and continue without her. Sounds like a really bad idea, but people do stupid things when they’re angry and sad. 

Other unresolved plot points

WHAT DOES THE FUCKING LETTER SAY

What’s up with the Mirror? For that matter, why is the mirror fishy enough to be covered up but not fishy enough to be hidden in the Lair of Dead Things? 

What’s with the picture Harrow looked at last time we saw him alive? It’s gotta be something, right? Why would they make the camera zoom in on it lying face down on the bed otherwise? Just have Harrow put it away and then forget it exists, don’t give it an extra shot!

Pip! Is he still alive? D: 

Callum still has the Storm Stone, but he might have to get his hands on a book or find himself a teacher to learn some new spells probably? 

WHAT DO THE BLACK EYES DO? DO THEY EVEN DO ANYTHING OR ARE THEY JUST FOR CREEPY EFFECT? 

Viren’s staff! Just cool historical artifact or actually relevant to the plot? 

Shameless Tin-hatting aka Foreshadowing Fucking Everywhere aka Miscellaneous Shit I Noticed While re-watching ep 1-3

Callum’s drawing of a Dragon roasting a Marshmallow Monster -> this show’s version of the Cookie Cat jingle? Possibly depicting Viren’s inevitable demise? 

Not foreshadowing, but I realized when the Narrator says “on the eve of last Winter’s Turn” in the opening what is meant with “last” is just most recent, as in “last month” or “last Christmas”. So it probably was some solstice type date after all. Makes sense with it now being spring. 

People keep pointing out how shit Bait is at hiding. I’m afraid at some point they’ll have to hide from something REALLY BAD and Bait will get them found. :/ Really, Bait being called Bait just seems super unfortunate in general. 

You know how Rayla says “My Heart for Xadia” during the ritual? Yeah, I’m getting the feeling Rayla will be instrumental in getting Ezran out of the magical contract, possibly in a super heroic way by just doing what her heart tells her to and saving the day, or possibly just… by dying in his stead. Oh god I feel like I jinxed her. :( 

You know how Callum was like “You’re so lucky, you get to learn magic!” and Claudia was like “You get to learn sword fighting!” and then Callum was like “I’d switch places in a second!”? Well, he’s doing magic now, so…. the little disaster bi that is myself is praying for Claudia in armor with a big-ass sword being a BAMF. ´

Anybody else who really wants to know what is under that OTHER, BIGGER tarp in the Lair of Dead Things? Because I really wanna know. I bet Ezran knows already. 

Harrow said about the letter that “[Callum will] understand in time.” What makes me think there’s more in there than just his last will, possibly it’s also his last confession. What terrible shit has he done over the years of his reign, how much of it did Viren have his fingers in and how much of it can Viren use against him post-mortem? And how will the boys react when they get confronted with their dad’s uglier side, possibly via what the elves or even some direct victims have to say about him? 

I’d really like to have a look at that book Callum is carrying everywhere. I figure it’s his sketch book and not relevant to anything, but it might still be fun to get to see some pages anyway. 

Stuff that I got spoilered on because there’s too many tags to block :( 

I saw some pics of the Dragon Prince after hatching! D: I’m sorry, it feels like I robbed myself of an awesome surprise and you of a genuine reaction. :( I didn’t look very closely, I just saw that he was adorable and had roughly the same color scheme as his dad. Which leads me to some more tin hatting: What with Thunder being called that and also breathing lightning, I’d like to propose that the Storm Stone still has a big role to play after all, other than just providing Callum with a magical source he can carry around. 

I saw General Amaya of the Standing Battalion being name dropped in a text post. I scrolled too fast to see any context, but considering who she is I guess we’ll get her as an upcoming character in some capacity.

I know that the elf making the MAGIC TREES amulets gets another ending slide at some point, and that people are theorizing he and Runaan are a Thing.  I’m not a super big fan of Runaan at this moment in time so I couldn’t give less of a shit about his love life tbh, and as much as I like to ship things I usually need a bit more than literally two pictures to get me going, so. I dunno, don’t expect much from me on that front until more material comes out in later seasons I guess. Like… if there isn’t enough for people to make emotional gif sets out of, can you even really call it a ship?

Netflix tried to push Chapter 4 on me when I went to re-watch the others. I got it shut down quickly enough, but I still saw the title. I think it was… Bloodthirsty? Bloodlust? Either way I think either Runaan is gonna have a REALLY bad time very soonish or our protagonists will have to run REALLY fast from people trying to catch them.  Maybe both. 

[mcsmseason3]

MCSM Origins Book I: Enter Lapilisia Lazul - Part 1

Summary:

Lapilisia Lazul, or Lapis for short, is a Gemonyk from Krystalyx in search of adventure beyond her own world. Her travels lead her to Emerl, another Gem from Krystalyx and a knight of the Order of the Stone. Little does she know that her life is about to change completely.

Next Chapter: Here

Many years ago, before the defeat of the Ender Dragon…

 It was a sunny afternoon. The forest was silent aside from the occasional trickling of a stream or the odd animal or bird passing by. A cliff stuck out from the tree line, looking out over the woods which seemed to stretch out for blocks and blocks. The sound of footsteps on grass interrupted the silence as a woman seeming to be in her mid-20’s wearing sky blue robes and a blue cape hiked up the cliff. She had brown hair with blue highlights, pale skin, and golden freckles. What stood out most was a round lapis lazuli stone with a golden casing around the edges that seemed to be embedded in her chest.

  Lapilisia Lazul, otherwise known as Lapis, looked out at the forest with bright eyes. “Wow…” she gasped in awe as she admired the view, “This is even prettier than the forests in Verde.” Lapis sat down on the cliff edge, her legs dangling off the edge as she felt a light breeze blew past her. Lapis had been travelling for the past few months, travelling by ship from her home in the Azurialis Archipelago to the Kingdom of Verde before crossing the Farlands that separated Krystalyx and Minecraftia. There were quite a few similarities between the two worlds…the biggest difference, of course, being the lack of magic in Minecraftia compared to Krystalyx. That and the lack of humanoids that are made of light and have gemstones embedded in their bodies. The people of her home were sad to see her go – she was the Blue Shard after all, she was pretty much their national hero-to-be – but knew that the journey would be good for her.

 Lapis’s thoughts were interrupted by the sound of hissing coming from behind her. She looked behind her, only to be greeted by a creeper trudging towards her. “Uh oh!” Lapis went to get to her feet, but the creeper was quicker on the draw. It exploded, causing Lapis to fall backwards off the cliff. “Please just poof, please don’t shatter, please just poof, please don’t shatter!” Lapis prayed as she squeezed her eyes shut and fell to the ground below.

 *POOF!*

*TINK, TI-TINK!*

 Lapis’s form disappeared upon impact with the ground as her gem clattered onto the earth, thankfully unharmed.

“Who goes there?!”

A voice rang out followed by the sound of footsteps running through the forest, “I heard an explosion! Is someone hurt?” A woman – roughly in her late 30’s – rushed through the trees into the small clearing near the cliff. She had short, side-swept, black hair with bright green tips and bangs. She wore a green shirt with long flowing sleeves and exposed an emerald stone on her chest, black trousers and green boots. There was a bright green sash around her waist and black and green gloves. Covering her outfit was black cape with an odd green symbol on it. She had pale skin and bright green eyes with pupils shaped similar to her gem.

  Emerl Verdyk glanced around the clearing, an emerald sword with a golden hilt in hand, with a confused look on her face, “Hello? Anyone here?” Emerl looked up and the cliff top and noticed a small crater taken out of it. “Tch…creepers. Such a pain…” she sighed. Emerl turned to leave before a small glint of the sun hitting something caught her eye. She dismissed her sword and walked over to the object and picked it up. “A lapis lazuli?” Emerl muttered, confused as to why loose lapis was just lying around, “No wait…this is a Gemonyk. What are you doing all the way in Minecraftia, friend?” Almost on cue, the gemstone began to glow and levitate into the air. Emerl took a few steps back as the light being emitted from the gem shifted into a humanoid form before scattering to revel Lapis – good as new. “Whoa!” Lapis exclaimed as she landed on her feet, stumbling a bit before examining herself, “Okay, gem’s intact…outfit still looks awesome…still have hair, that’s a plus…can’t see my face so gonna have to hope my freckles are still there. I love my babies! Alright, overall: looking good!” Lapis breathed a sigh of relief. Noticing a presence behind her, Lapis turned around to see Emerl standing there with a small smile. Lapis noticed the emerald stone on her chest and her eyes lit up, “OHMYGOSHOHMYGOSHOHMYGOSH!!! You- you’re a Gem! You’re like me!”

Emerl nodded before extending her hand, “Emerl Verdyk; former knight of the Kingdom of Verde, current knight of the Order of the Stone. At your service.”

“Lapilisia Lazul, but you can call me Lapis!” Lapis grinned shaking Emerl’s hand before her eyes going wide, “Wait a sec! Emerl Verdyk? THE Emerl Verdyk?”

“That’s me.”

“No way!” Lapis’s jaw nearly hit the floor, “You’re the Green Shard that went rogue and disappeared! You’re in Minecraftia?”

“Yep. When you’re trained from the moment you emerge from the earth to be a ‘great warrior-hero of legend’, you tend to get sick of it after over 30 years.” Emerl shrugged, before looking around, “Correct me if I’m wrong, but I’m guessing you were poofed by that creeper explosion just there, right? Come. I’ll bring you to the Order’s temple where we’ll be safe from any more day-time monsters. You can tell me about how you ended up here on the way.”

“Alrighty! Lead the way!” Lapis smiled cheerfully as she followed Emerl through the trees.

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

 “So you’re a Shard too, then?” Emerl asked as they emerged from the forest. “Yep!” Lapis replied with a smile, “But I don’t have a handle on my powers yet. They tend to come and go as they please.”

“The Blue Shard’s power is Future Vision, right? You can see glimpses into the future?”

“Yup. It’s a pretty cool power, in my opinion! But not so cool when you get a bad vision, especially since the events are kinda set in stone.”

“How do you know that?”

“I’ve tried to change the events myself. But it seems that every time I try, I somehow end up ensuring they happen. Ugh…even just thinking about it makes my head hurt.” Lapis then laughed nervously, “Kinda wish I was given a heads up about that creeper though. My visions tend to have lousy timing sometimes.”

“You’ll learn to control it eventually.” Emerl gave a reassuring smile as she summoned a green and gold shield, “You’d be surprised how many times I’ve summoned this thing by accident. Hit my mentor in the head one time!”

“Oh no!” Lapis giggled. “Yeah, got an extra hour of training for a month after that.” Emerl chuckled as she dismissed the shield, “But it was pretty funny.” Emerl looked up as she spotted the temple peeking over the hilltops, “Ah! Almost at the temple now!”

“By the way,” Lapis began, “Who are the Order of the Stone? You’ve mentioned them a bit now.”

“Where do I begin?” Emerl chuckled, “They’re a group of heroes that travel to the far corners of the world in search of adventure. They’ve been from the Nether to the bottom of the sea!”

“Cool!” Lapis’s eyes brightened in awe, “You guys must have to travel a lot.”

“Yeah, but we have a rail system in the Nether that helps us get to places.” Emerl replied, “Their actually down there working on it while I patrol the are around the temple. Looks like it was a good thing I did, eh?” Emerl gave Lapis a playful nudge, earning a giggle from the Gem.

 The two Gems entered the temple. Lapis gazed in awe at the beautiful structure. “Watch your step!” Emerl warned as she stepped over a pressure plate, “There are anti-monster traps set up here to protect the place.” Lapis looked at the walls and saw small dispensers embedded in them. “Aww! They look like lil’ faces!” Lapis cooed. “They’re not so cute when you take an arrow to the foot. Trust me.” Emerl chuckled, remembering the time Magnus stepped on one of the plates by accident and Emerl nearly got poofed as a result. “So what are the rest of the Order like?” Lapis asked as they walked through the Library, “Well, the Leader and Founder of the Order is Soren.” Emerl began, “He’s a master builder, a genius, but also a bit of a goofball…and prone to burst into song for reasons I’ll never understand. There’s Gabriel the Warrior, who is the strongest out of us. He’s a little full of himself, but he means well. Magnus is the Order’s rogue and a walking disaster zone. Seriously, his room is so full of TNT and I’ve no idea how he hasn’t blown a hole in the temple yet. Ellegaard is another genius of the Order. She knows pretty much everything about redstone and what it can be used for. The stuff she’s able to come up with is incredible. However, she and Magnus tend to butt heads a lot. If you ever hear shouting echoing around the temple, it’s more-than-likely them. Last is Ivor, the Brewer. He’s an expert in potions and enchantments. He looks grumpy but he’s actually quite eccentric when it comes to adventures. Whenever we leave on a trip, he always yells at the top of his voice ‘ADVENTURE!!!’”

Lapis laughed as Emerl mimicked Ivor’s shout, her voice echoing off the walls as they walked up the staircase. “What about you?” Lapis asked. “Well, I’m not really a member of the Order per se. I’m more like…” Emerl searched for the word in her mind, “…a bodyguard! Like, you know how the Shards had the Royal Guard back in the dark days? I’m like that!”

“That’s kinda funny considering you’re a Shard!”

“I guess it is!”

As the two walked up the stairs into the map room, Lapis’s eyes were drawn to a small trinket standing upon a pedestal. “What’s that?” Lapis asked. “That’s the Order’s Amulet.” Emerl replied, “The Order uses it to track the other members when they’re on the surface. Hmm…” Emerl glanced between the Amulet and the map, “Odd…they should be on the surface by now. What’s taking them so long?” Emerl turned to Lapis, “Hey. Ever been to the Nether?”

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

 “Whoa!” Lapis gazed up at the obsidian framing the purple portal, “This thing leads to the Nether?”

“You got it.” Emerl nodded, “Just a heads up: the heat in there is pretty intense, so water powers might not work.”

“Don’t you worry.” Lapis grinned, “I don’t need my powers to kick butt!”

“Keep that enthusiasm going!” Emerl smirked, “Off we go!” Emerl jumped into the portal, Lapis following suit. Lapis’s jaw nearly hit the floor at the view around her. Red rocks, fire and lava as far as the eye could see. The two gems stood upon a dark coloured platform with stairs leading downwards to several minecart railways. “Keep up.” Emerl called behind her as she made her way down the steps, “If I remember correctly, they took…this one.” Emerl hopped into a minecart and Lapis hopped into one behind her. “Hang on tight!” Emerl grinned as the carts took off down the railway. “Whoa! Whoohoo!” Lapis laughed as the carts sped through the Nether, “This is amazing!”

“It’s fun, right?” Emerl chuckled, “So a few Nether-Need-to-Knows. Number 1: don’t attack the pigmen. They won’t hurt you if you don’t hurt them. Number 2: Keep a distance from blazes and magma cubes – or lava accordions as I like to call ‘em. Number 3: Soul sand is the sandy brown stuff. That’ll slow you down if you step in it so be careful. And number 4: beware of-”

Emerl was cut off by a distant wail followed by shouting which was coming from up ahead. “…ghasts." Emerl finished with a sigh as she summoned her sword in one hand and held tightly onto the minecart with the other, “I should’ve known. You ready for a fight, kiddo?”

“Bring it on!” Lapis cheered.

This was gonna be fun!

 To Be Continued…