#but i don't remember seeing our name in oblivion?

[babyblueetbaemonster]

Wip Wednesday

Yes, of course. It's Wednesday. That's why I'm posting. Yes.

Tagged by @hannah-heartstrings <3 love you :3

Have a new wip for a change. It's a short one and more lay back. This is the story of why they call you Hero of Kvatch. Around 300 words.

The sun was setting. Sky was red like flames, startling the people of Kvatch. The gate had been closed for a while, but their fear hadn't gone. They all sit at the bottom of the mountain, waiting for the nightmare to end.

“It’s Captain Matius! They’re back!” Ilav pointed up. A small group of people were coming down.

“We lost Count Goldwine. This is indeed a dark day for all of us, but thanks to our hero, the Daedra has been slayed, and we have retaken our city.” Captain Matius presented someone to the crowds. An Altmer in a green robe, face covered under a hood. 

“Does our hero have a name?” Asked Martin. The mer was still looking down. He grabbed his arm, looked up once, and stared at the floor again. Everyone at the camp quieted down, then he finally spoke.

“I don't have a name.” The mer’s voice was shaky, “Just call me anything you like.”

Martin did not expect this answer. Strange, but every man- wait. Every mer's life was their own business. He could respect that.

“How about we call you… Daedra Slayer?” One of the guards suggested, then everyone joined the naming game.

“The Yellow Fury.”

“Oblivion Gatekeep.”

“Hero of Kvatch.”

“Savior of Nirn.” 

“Um... don't you think those titles sound… too grand…?” The mer asked meekly. Everyone quieted down again.

“How about Friend of Kvatch?” Martin gave him a warm smile. A pair of green eyes met Martin’s. He didn’t know what the mer was searching for, but in the end, the mer nodded.

“It’s settled, then. On behalf of all citizens of Kvatch, we thank you, Friend of Kvatch.” The crowd cheered.

The mysterious stranger wanted to keep his secrets, and that’s fine. Martin only hoped he understood their gratitude, and knew he would always be welcome here.

“I still think ‘Hero of Kvatch’ is better.” Said the Imperial Legion Soldier. Martin heard him mumble in the back, declaring he’d keep using that title. Rude, but Martin would respect that.

[mopopshop]

EX

You lie in bed, staring at the ceiling, willing yourself to fall asleep. It's been a long day, and you just want to drift off into oblivion. But your phone buzzes on the nightstand, cutting through the silence. You glance over, your eyes rolling obnoxiously when you see Paige's name on the screen. 

"Hello?" you answer annoyed.

"Hey," Paige's voice comes through, smooth and confident as always. "Couldn't sleep?"

"Do you need something?," you reply, trying to cut the call short.

"Just thinking about you," she says, a hint of a smirk in her tone. "Missed our late-night chats, we haven’t talked in a while”

You roll your eyes, but you can't deny the flutter in your chest. "For a reason. Paige.”

"You can stop pretending like you don’t miss me," she says smugly. "It’s just— how’re you  doing? How’s your new girl? What's her name again? Jenna?"

"It's Jada," you correct her. "And she's great, actually."

"Jada… right," Paige says, dragging out the name as if it's unfamiliar to her. "So, what does she do again? I forget."

"She's a graphic designer," you reply, not exactly knowing why you’re still engaging in this conversation but you answer anyway, feeling defensive. "She's really talented."

"Mm-hmm," Paige hums, clearly uninterested. "You know, I saw her IG. She’s... cute, I guess."

"Paige," you warn, but she continues, undeterred.

"I mean, she seems nice and all, but don't you get bored? She's so... vanilla," Paige taunts. "You and I, we were… shit baby just thinking about it I-“ she chuckles, sighing and seemingly remembering the times you were together. “You telling me you don’t miss that? Us?"

You clench your jaw, trying to keep your cool. "Jada makes me happy, Paige. Can you just accept that?”

Paige laughs softly, and you can practically see her shaking her head. "I mean… sure, if you say so. But let's be real, baby. You can't replace me that easily. No one knows you like I do."

You feel a pang in your chest at her words. There's truth in them, and that's what hurts the most. "Why the fuck can’t you just let me move on?"

"Because," she admits, her voice dropping to a whisper. "I can't let you go. I can't stop thinking about you, no matter how hard I try"

You sigh, feeling the weight of her confession. "You need to stop calling me"

"I know," she says, sounding genuinely remorseful. "But it's so hard, you know? I see you with her, and it kills me. I just... I miss you."

You close your eyes, fighting back the emotions threatening to overwhelm you. "I… I miss you too," you admit softly. "but— we aren’t together anymore, like I said for a reason"

"I know," she repeats, her voice cracking slightly. "But just... humor me for a little bit longer, yeah? Talk to me, like we used to. Please."

You take a deep breath, knowing this conversation is only going to make things more complicated. But you can't help yourself. You still care about her, despite everything.

"Okay," you say quietly. "Last time P, seriously”

"Deal," she agrees, her tone perking up. "So, tell me about your day. Did anything interesting happen?"

You start talking, and for a little while, it feels like old times. But deep down, you know this can't last. Sooner or later, you'll have to make a choice. And this time, it has to be the right one.

———

[sgiandubh]

What do you think of the theme “we’re all adults here” starz is using

Dear Theme Anon,

That is a beautiful question and I think this is your lucky day: with a tropical night ahead (35C/ 95F - nope, that is not a bra size 😱🤣), we simply live at night, like Superman. So, while I am slowly cooking my famed (but tedious) Circassian chicken recipe for tomorrow night's semiformal dinner, it is with great pleasure that I am answering it.

Please excuse the length. I know what I am able to do when I really like a question and yours got me immediately interested. Thank you for that.

Funnily enough, I was just having a very enriching conversation this afternoon, with a very, very good friend, who is way more intelligent than I, so she has no desire to write any blogs on Tumblr. On the very same topic you raised, Anon. With her permission, I am going to sum up the gist of it (et merci encore à toi 😘😘).

Let's look at that pic again:

The Craigh Na Dun Fateful Dance of Love and Death is one of the most moving pivotal moments of the entire series. Tens of thousands of women have shamelessly cried all around the world, while watching this (haven't you? I know I have and did it with no grace whatsoever, but pinky promise: don't tell anyone else, please). And then watched and rewatched and rewatched to oblivion, with or without that Kleenex box and that Ben and Jerry icecream at the ready.

You know, it's exactly like Shakespeare writes in Romeo and Juliet's Prologue ( I hope I still remember it...): ' A pair of star-cross'd lovers take their life'. Love and Death blended together is one of the most powerful narrative tropes that ever existed. So much so, that a guy named Denis de Rougemont even famously noticed that in French, a single letter separates l'Amour (Love) and la Mort (Death), with seminal implications for our Western World mentality, ever since the Middle Ages. For some mysterious reason, we seem to always be caught completely unguarded when exposed to such ultimate injustice.

Tragic magic. This is exactly what also made OL a cult series, irrespective of its (many) unjustified lengths, its (many) moments of uneven acting and its (many, way too many) bullshit pills thrown at an increasingly jaded and bitterly divided fandom. Life imitating Art was just an unexpected blessing and a curse, that much we shippers know, and I am not planning to dwell on it.

But how long can you continue to sell this product almost exclusively to women, all around the world, especially when you are faced with the prospect of a dragging/delayed merger & acquisition (never a good sign) and an increasingly dwindling number of subscribers (never a good sign, either)? I'd think not for too long, really, even if OL still is one of ***'s biggest success stories ever. How long can you pretend to sell a high-end content to 'premium women viewers', when you know very well that you chose to discard that famed 'female gaze', which turned the series' first season into an instant media phenomenon?

Riddle me that: how to sell this product for a profit and expand that fan base while, at the same time, trying not to lose your loyal hardcore viewership?

This is ***'s first answer - I bet this will be followed by some more things, but let's see what it might mean.

On that poster, the focus is still on The Mythical Couple. Selling that good old famed, surreal chemistry - remind those old fans of that moment they felt all those feels (awww....). At the same time, try and create a need out of thin air - 'you need more'. More of what? Sex? Violence? Sexual Violence? Intrigue? Politics? Political intrigue? Ethics? Dilemmas? Ethical dilemmas? All of the above? None of the above? Stupid poster won't tell, but hey: buy me and I'll speak. Buy. Subscribe. We'll think of a way to keep you hooked - at least for the next season and a half. After all, Season Eight is a study in freestyle. After all, we conveniently leaked the info that 'Erself wrote the finale's script (why risk GoT's epic #shitshow?), so all is fine and dandy.

On par with our Mythical Couple, we have that sword. Oversized. Symmetrically featured. Action, with an intelligent twist - that is a finely wrought blade, after all. Uh-oh: that spells a new, more inclusive target. Male audience. 25 to 75, to be more exact , because the only promise the poster makes is a sobering one: 'more than fairy tales'- color me surprised.

After all, 'we're all adults, here'. Key operating words: 'all' (more inclusivity) and 'adults' (not like in X-rated, but more like in 'serious shite').

Well, then. That would require narrative chutzpah and bold choices. That would require a faster paced script, less of those never-ending side stories and borderline neurodiverse focus on irrelevant details (I am still not done with that Fiery Cross and not even ashamed of it, at this point in time) that do plague The Books. And throw rotten tomatoes at me if you wish (I don't care), that would require the end of that horribly robotic directing - we all know what the hell that means.

Will they be able to keep that high-maintenance standard? One thing I am sure of: when you treat your fandom like shite and drag along endless spells of Droughtlander without as little as a bone thrown in for diversion for months in a row, you'd better hone that blade, darlings and go for a kill. Bring it on. Bring that addictive spice back, stat.

It is my humble understanding *** wishes to create an OL universe. Wanna bet the farm that somewhere in their cartons they do entertain the possibility of (at least) a second season of BOMB? S and C cameos could be a breeze to arrange, after all ( we consider this in theory - I happen to think it could be more complicated than that). The story could be duplicated to oblivion - is it way too outlandish to imagine a season devoted to Mandy and Jem's story through several timelines?

[aladaylessecondblog]

Red Mountain Waffle House, pt. 12

Sadara woke...well she wasn't exactly entirely sure where she'd slept, to be honest. It was all fuzzy. Somehow or the other the first thing she was doing on waking was sitting in the stairway outside her apartment. She stood, groaning, walked up the stairs and into the apartment with a barely-tamed hangover headache.

Walking into the apartment she saw Jiub, who was seated in front of the TV watching some sort of game show. He looked up at her--and gave a mad grin.

"Don't say it," Sadara groaned, raising one hand. "Don't...don't say it."

"Say what?" Jiub smirked now. "How about instead of it I say something like 'good morning, slut?'"

"Is it that obvious?"

"You walk like you got fucked to oblivion and back," he laughed, "Who'd you leave with, anyway?"

"Jolene. The big guy. I remember last night in bits and pieces, but by the time we--you don't want the details, I know. The fucked like a...like it was his last chance. A couple of times. Cuddler, too." She gave a soft sigh. That had been wonderful, a part she remembered well. Silence, warmth, skin contact...she hadn't had anything like that in ages.

"The big ones always are."

"Thank goodness the hangover's not that bad. Headache's not bad, memory's a bit fuzzy, but..." Sadara raised her left hand and waved it a bit absently.

"Holy fucking shit." Jiub's voice turned deadpan, "Where did you get that ROCK?"

"Rock?"

He gestured to her hand, and Sadara looked - seeing not the moon-and-star, but an intricately carved ebony ring studded with scarlet rubies all over. Boxy, with a spike at the top...a spike whose tip was the biggest ruby she'd ever seen.

"Well, that explains why I haven't been hearing Nerevar..." Sadara's face sunk into her palms, "Jolene kept insisting on spending money on a bunch of things. Wooing me or whatever. But why he'd give me his ring--I must've swapped with him or something..."

"Check your pockets," Jiub said, "Maybe you'll get some hints? Hope to the nine you didn't buy it from a pawn shop on credit."

"Good idea."

She emptied her pockets. There were several receipts - one from the casino, cashing out her winnings, which were (somehow?) in her Venmo account. Another from a restaurant, including two meals and a 'giant' sweetroll. Then there was one from some hotel, and another from some bar she'd never heard of. Then a ticket stub from a theater. Jiub made several comments as each one popped out.

"350 drakes? Nice work...some people have all the luck."

"Dude took you to see Cats, he must've been serious."

"Twenty bucks for a drink? He must've taken you to a tourist trap. Sure you didn't pay for these?"

"I'm sure, I checked." Sadara sighed, "He was a lot of fun, though, wouldn't mind seeing him again. Sweet guy...kinda shy, too, like he hadn't been out in ages."

She pulled one final receipt out. At the top was marked SURAN WEDDING CHAPEL.

"Oh, no..."

At the bottom was pinned a small wrinkly side picture of her and Jolene--him with the bandage on his forehead she still vaguely remembered. Both of them were smiling, and there was a wonderful softness in his eyes, a warmth she could feel even just looking at.

"And we were both wasted," Sadara gave a slight laugh, "I don't even know his name--"

"You don't even know YOUR name, you mean." Jiub gave his own laugh. "You're a married woman now."

"How the hell am I supposed to find him again? I can't just turn up to every party hoping he's there...like I don't have enough problems."

"The Sixth House folks probably won't take kindly to you getting hitched to some random guy but...if we can kill Almalexia, however temporarily...we can handle anyone that decides to make trouble."

"Including Dagoth Ur himself?" she questioned.

"See previous answer." Jiub shrugged. "Give me enough skooma and I could do anything."

"Sooner or later we're both going to have to get sober." Sadara sighed. She had to admit he had a good idea. A ring this expensive, surely someone knew whose it was, or would be the person missing it.

The moment she posted the picture and question, a new thought came.

"Fuck, what if they think I stole it?"

"Just mention the chapel," Jiub said, "Say you got drunk married. That should put anyone with half a brain off."

She shared her own post and added that, and then sat back. "I guess now I wait."

"Guess so." she paused. "How was your night? I never asked."

"Good enough. Came back early, after the ordinators showed up at Greg's. Spent half the night losing to some legendary spammer on Pokemon Showdown, then beat him with some strategy I'd seen a couple times before. Guy was so salty he got himself banned."

Sadara laughed. "You beat him with a troll team, didn't you? ...what was that one you were looking up a while back? The FEAR strategy?"

"Something like that." Jiub smirked. "Nothing better than collapsing some chud's ego with a semi-elaborate plan that makes him think I'm barely trying."

"You'd be dangerous if you had any ambition."

"Ambition is how people get into trouble, and I have enough of that as it is." There was a pause. "Anyway, did you have any plans for lunch?"

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

"You can't wear that in here."

Nibani said it the instant she saw the ring two nights later, when Sadara and Jiub walked through the door of the Waffle House.

"Well I'm sure as hell not leaving it at home, it's not mine, and it looks expensive," Sadara groaned. "I don't want to get into any more trouble if whoever it belongs to turns up wanting it."

"What do you mean, any MORE trouble?"

Jiub walked behind the counter and lit a cigarette. "Our girl here is now a married lady!"

"...and that's trouble? Did you marry a Temple priest?"

"Uh...well..." Sadara shook her head. "No. Not that I know of?"

"What do you MEAN, not that you know of?"

"I was...uh...pretty...well, no, REALLY drunk." Sadara shrugged, and got to work with some remaining dishes in the sink. "I wanted a rowdy night, you know, and I got it, but apparently a roll in the hay isn't ALL I got."

"You kids today--" Nibani sighed.

"We live in a world of shit, I'll take joy where I can find it." Sadara shrugged. "I'll keep the ring in my pocket while I'm here, problem solved."

"Do you remember anything about the fellow?"

"Aside from how big he was?" Sadara thought for a moment, and then realizing it could be taken differently than she intended, added, "Tall, I mean. He was...actually charming, in a sad wet cat kind of way. He seemed like he didn't get out much."

She really did want to see him again. Even if she was a rebound while he was getting over whoever he was bawling about, he'd been pretty nice. A good date, certainly...if a very drunk one.

(The picture had been slid into her wallet. It put a smile on her face when she glanced at it...no one had ever looked at her like that before.)

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

One week of relative silence passed. Dagoth Ur did not show once in that time, and neither did any of the sleepers they'd all become accustomed to seeing. Not so much as a like on Morrowtwitter. She would've been relieved, if that silence wasn't so worrying.

But there were, thankfully, other concerns.

Business was as slow as they'd ever seen it at the Waffle House.

At the end of a couple hours of nothing, the door opened. In walked a haggard looking Dunmer adventurer toting a big bag.

"Gods above, this has been a long journey. Give me some waffles and a large coffee," he said, "And tell me if you see anyone on the road that looks even vaguely like an ordinator."

"Steal something important?" Jiub asked. "It ain't much better up here. The armigers...they'll fuck you up too."

"Yeah, yeah. I went through the Ghostgate, but I don't think they...had gotten the memo yet. How, I don't know. There's a price on my head everywhere else. Don't know why I took this job."

"What job?" Nibani asked. "I don't want to deal with the armigers or the ordinators, it better only be moon sugar you're trafficking through here."

The dunmer laughed. "Yeah, I WISH it was only moon sugar, then maybe I wouldn't have all this shit on my head."

"What is it? I'm not gonna tell anyone, the Temple wants me dead anyway." Jiub, curious, walked on over to bring the waffles himself and so did Sadara, once she got the coffee.

It was ashes...and bones.

"Just bones?" Sadara asked.

"These aren't just any bones!" The dunmer said, "If they were...well, I'd still be in trouble, but not to this degree."

"Spill then. Whose are they?"

"Saint Nerevar's!"

"Now I KNOW you're fucking with us," Jiub said. He turned back to the grill. "If those were Nerevar's bones..."

"Look, if you don't believe me, that's fine. I just don't want to get caught by the ordinators with 'em."

"You don't wanna get caught by Dagoth UR with them," Sadara piped up. "You think the ordinators will be angry with you? That's nothing to--"

"Who the fuck do you think ASKED for these?"

"WHAT!" Nibani rushed forward, and the dunmer moved back in response. "You think to hand Nerevar's bones over to the SHARMAT?"

"I'm getting paid for it, so yes, I am!" the guy practically shouted, and being taller than Nibani, simply held the bag high up over her head. "He's desperate for them, apparently."

"Man's obsessed with Nerevar, always has been from what I hear," Sadara replied. "You might be helping out Morrowind by handing the bones over."

"How would that be helping Morrowind?" Nibani asked. "Delivering Nerevar into the hands of an enemy--"

"Dagoth Ur's not his enemy...at least, I don't think so. Not the way you're thinking. Uhm. You remember that tattoo I got a while back?"

"...yes...?"

"Vivec paid her to do it as a distraction. And it worked from what I saw. Man spent a long time staring at the fucking thing on Morrowtwitter."

If looks could kill, Sadara would have dropped where she stood.

"You got a tattoo. To tempt the Sharmat. What is WRONG with you?"

"I did it for money, alright? Vivec paid me to do it!" Sadara protested. "We needed a new fridge. We--it paid the rent!"

"Of all the foolish--you've put all of us in danger!" Nibani was positively screaming now. "You've gone and gotten yourself into a mess with this drunk marriage of yours. Suppose he shows up thinking you're still available, hmm? Imagine the damage he could do! Do you think of no one but yourself? The safety of Morrowind--the--the lives you endanger--"

"You've never been broke, have you?" Jiub spoke, but wasn't heard.

"Fuck this," Sadara burst out, "And fuck you."

She turned to the dunmer.

"I'll take the damn bones to Dagoth Ur, save you the trouble. The ordinators want me dead anyway. What else can I lose?"

At least HE would be happy to see her, and if she could produce the bones, so much the better. She could explain away the wedding as an accident. She'd heard Nerevar was prone to drunken brawls...so surely he'd understand.

It was nearly morning.

Sadara took the bones, left her apron, and headed out into the blight storm.

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

The walk to Dagoth Ur (the building) was a rather lengthy one, and she had to stop to ask ash zombies she'd normally pass by for directions. They seemed excitable when they saw her, and one even embraced her, making its characteristic gurgles and growls in a rather lighter way than she was used to.

"Yes--yes, thank you, that was a lovely hug, I'm glad you didn't forget how." She'd given it (him? she wasn't sure) a hug in return, and gotten some dried bittergreen petals out of its pocket in return. "Thank you."

The poor thing, she'd thought. How long had it been since they'd gotten a hug?

Her feet were aching and she had the distinct feeling it was a bad decision to offer to bring the bones this far.

But I've come this far...I might as well go the rest of the way.

Even in the blight storm she could see - the building was utterly enormous, palatial even, and she had as she had in the presence of other wealthy homes, the distinct feeling that she did not belong there. There were several sleepers outside, and when she explained what she was there for they let her in, giving her (she assumed for some odd reason of their own) a most hearty congratulations.

Sadara was directed to a side room (parlor, she reminded herself), and sat quietly, looking around the room. Sixth House tapestries, small portraits of House Dagoth members, furniture that looked centuries old...this place, she thought, this place was what would easily be called old money.

This wasn't just a house displaying its riches. This was wealth.

It took almost fifteen minutes for the door to finally open again, and Sadara stood up quickly when a Dunmer entered, flanked by two ash ghouls, one of whom announced him as "Dagoth Gilvoth."

He was relatively tall, and dressed in a fashion that reminded her vaguely of pictures of King Helseth. As if every mark of wealth needed to be shown, so those laying eyes did not doubt--

"So," he said coldly, with an icy gaze to match, "You have brought Lord Nerevar's bones."

"Yes, I--" Sadara started, but was cut off.

"I do not recall you being the one we commissioned to do that. Did you steal them?"

"Of course not. The man--was eager to get rid of them. Said the ordinators were after him...and I--well, I was free." The tone set her on edge, and the look didn't help. "I didn't steal shit."

"Mmhhmm. Vulgarity, as expected of one such as yourself. The bones, if you please."

Sadara quietly handed the bag over to one of the ash ghouls, who turned back and whispered something to Dagoth Gilvoth.

"Good. She didn't hold anything back, at least."

"Who the--I didn't TAKE anything, stop making assumptions!" she couldn't help but burst out.

"Really?" Gilvoth's tone slipped; it turned more snobbish. "Then I suppose you made that ring yourself?"

"The ring? Well--no, I woke up wearing it."

"Try harder with your lies, if you want people to believe them."

"I'm telling the truth. I woke up wearing it...a bit over a week ago. I went to Suran with someone, and...I...ah...married him. I still haven't figured out who he is, no one's got any answers for me. I assume you know who it is?"

"Know who it is!" Gilvoth laughed harshly. "You carry a Dagoth family heirloom and ask if I know who it is!"

"Then tell me," she said, trying to hold back the wave of--something. Dread? No. Or maybe yes. She was anxious, that was for certain. "Tell me whose it is. Tell me who I married. Wait--I have a picture. I assume it's one of you."

She took out the little picture from her wallet, and held it up for inspection.

Gilvoth's face shifted with a myriad of things, things Sadara couldn't quite pin down.

"That is the head of our Great House, Voryn Dagoth. Dagoth Ur."

Sadara paled. "I--I had no idea. If I had known--he was so different, I would never have thought..."

"You would never have married him had you known?"

"I didn't--well before, but--I didn't know there was more to him than the--the cult stuff."

Sadara sat back down. Her face sunk into her hands.

Of course. Of course. It was all so clear now. The sad song. The misery. The way he'd looked at her. The desperate cuddling.

Of COURSE the one time she'd ever had someone look at her like she'd hung the moon was because he thought of her as someone else!

"Cult stuff. We are trying to save Morrowind's very soul, and you call it cult stuff. I can see why--" A shift in tone again, and when she looked up, Gilvoth had looked away before speaking his next sentence. "--in any case, you have done all that is required of you. You may leave."

"I thought--given--won't there have to be some kind of talk about...well..." she raised her left hand to show the ring.

"You will return the ring, and you will leave. There will be no need for a talk of any kind, and certainly not with one like you. Now that we have Nerevar's bones, the mer himself may be revived."

That stony gaze turned back at her.

"Surely you understand it has always been Lord Nerevar that he wants? That that is the only reason he ever turned even a glance in your direction? You who have to show skin to keep his attention for any length of time? You, who carefully avoid accepting any overtures from our sleepers? You, who bring only scandal to House Dagoth?"

Sadara could not find words. She had been looked down on for being broke before, or being practical, but never to this degree. She expected to feel upset, maybe a stab of pain as she had before. But all she felt right now was anger.

"You don't even have the decency to pretend you care for him."

"I could have." The answer surprised them both. If she'd known there was more to Dagoth Ur than this cult he was running, she thought she'd have been a little more open to his...

"Hand over the ring and leave, before I have you removed," Gilvoth demanded.

She stood, pulled off the ring, and handed it to the other ash ghoul. Then backed away, and scuttled around to the door while facing Gilvoth.

"What in the blue blazes are you doing?" he questioned.

"You will remember my face," Sadara said, matching the chill of Gilvoth's tone, clenching her fist as she spoke. "Not my back. My face."

The words were not quite hers, and all but busted out of her. They seemed to surprise Gilvoth, but she didn't stay to hear anything he said.

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

u ok?

not really. Is the manager still pissed?

Like you wouldn't believe. idk what to tell you but I think you might've fucked yourself out of the job.

great. just great. I won't be home today anyway.

trip go that well?

I didn't get paid if that's what you were wondering. turns out it was dagoth ur I married. fml.

Spending the day?

no, they don't want me there. getting a room somewhere. i'll be by in the next few days. or not. I don't know. I need to fight something.

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

I know you don't want to hear from me, but I thought I'd leave you a message anyway, before you start your new life with Nerevar at your side.

If I had known there was more to you than the religion you started, I'd have been more open to you to begin with. In Suran I saw a side of you I wanted to see more of. You were...I liked you. I liked the way you made me feel. I liked especially the smile I saw on your face when I looked at you.

I had a great time. I just wish it was me you wanted to be doing it with.

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

New post from LordNerevar -

Reunited and it feels so good ♥

[sasha199]

Gale/ Rolan Drama Part 14

Read all of me on A03

Mayhem and Madness

Rating: E

Pairings: Rolan & Fem Human Tav, Astarion & Shadowheart & Fem Half-elf Tav

This post is mostly fluff and angst but others are explicit.

Y’all…this game hits different when your Tav is a stand in for yourself.

My sister and I are playing a multiplayer as ourselves, as sisters. I (Sasha) am romancing both Gale and Rolan. Sister (Marlie) is pulling both Astarion and Shadowheart.

"It was out of nowhere, I don't understand." I'm pulling on my Gloves of Power as we sit in the yard of Last Light. "I mean, it didn't even really make sense."

"Sounds to me like you were shit talking his ex-girlfriend and he got upset."

"Sure, but that doesn't mean I was wrong. Does it?" It's been a while since I've worn these gloves, they fit more snuggly than I remember.

"Not the point. Nobody likes being reminded of how awful their partners were, even if it is justified. Shall I list YOUR exes and all their flaws?"

"There's just the one."

"No there's two. But the one was bad enough."

"The second was a re-bound from the first, that doesn't count."

"It does…" Marlie glances at Astarion as he approaches, swaggering up from Dammon's smithy, "especially if you said those three little words to her?"

I think back, flexing my wrists, trying to stretch the leather. "I plead the fifth."

"A fifth of what?" Astarion drawls, "Tea is best served warm, darling."

"The phrase is 'spill the tea,' friend. You're thinking of revenge."

"Always," he smiles sarcastically, "my favorite chilled dish."

"If we're done exchanging incorrect idioms…" Marlie frowns at me, "What's happening here? Are you wearing those gloves or not?"

I stop fidgeting, "Yes, yes. Let's go inside I want to see Lia."

"Planning to shoot her full of thorns?"

"I'd like to shoot somebody, not Lia though."

"Oh." Astarion's eyebrows wiggle appreciatively as we make our way into the foyer of the Inn. I see Shadowheart seated at a table near the bar. "Has our little pacifist gone feral? I do love to see it. We'll make a villain of you yet."

"You're wasting your breath, Astarion." Shadowheart smirks, pushing the chair next to her aside for Marlie. "Sasha is as incorruptible as these pathetic Selunites."

"Say it a little louder." I hiss, as a couple of the nearby Harpers glance over at us.

"I would if I thought it would do any good, but they're depressingly dedicated." Shadowheart tosses her braid, she makes a face like she smells something rotting.

I look around for Lia, she's not at the bar. Jaheira is at her usual post, deep in discussion with Isobel.

So that's what's gotten Shart's braid in a twist. She’s taken to becoming extra finnicky any time the Selunite cleric is present. I’m starting to think her devotion to Shar is all an act with how kind and considerate she's been, particularly towards Marlie.

I'd tried to approach her religion with an open mind upon the reveal that she worshipped the Lady of Loss. How could I not after she'd gone to such lengths to hide her affiliation from me? My background in religion was far from extensive, the Faerun pantheon is huge, but the more I learned about Thorm and what he had done to this land in Shar's name the more I hated it. These Dark Justiciars that she was so adamant about learning from and joining seemed downright horrible to me. Plus, the whole concept of loss, of giving up oneself for the relief of oblivion, touched a nerve that brought me right back to stark white walls and meaningless medical jargon.

My senses are suddenly consumed by a sterile chemical smell and I breath in the goblet of wine Astarion set in front of me to drown it out.

"You sniff your drinks now? I'm glad to see you've learned caution, but I did not spike that particular bottle." Jaheira has come over to us, the druid places a hand on her hip, a crooked smile flashes across her face. She always looks like she's on the verge of laughing, perhaps a habit she picked up after so many dangerous adventures.

"This time." Shadowheart’s words are biting and her eyes throw daggers at Isobel who stands just behind Jaheira, "I'd not let you poison my allies twice."

"What can we do for you Jaheira?" I ask politely, I've grown to respect the Harper, if not exactly like her. I haven't quite found it in me to forgive her either. She gave me quite the fright when she wrapped Marlie in vines and threatened to kill her, to kill us all, until Mol intervened.

Mol. The memory of that one-eyed little girl, the thought of her out there lost in this blasted darkness sets my stomach churning. I realize Jaheira has been speaking, and I drag my mind back to the conversation, force myself to focus on her words.

"We'll let you know." Marlie is saying to her, "When we have answers so will you."

"All our faith goes with you." Isobel says. The cleric always sounds composed, so perfectly unruffled. The only time I’ve seen her surprised was during the attack with Marcus.

Shadowheart snorts. Loudly.

"Thank you," I say hurriedly rising from the table, "we won't let you down." That feels like the right thing to say. I follow Jaheira for a few steps as she and Isobel walk away, "Have you seen Lia?"

"She's upstairs," Isobel's voice is cool but not unfriendly, "she requested a quiet place to think. I offered her my room."

"Thank you," I say quickly, " And we do mean it, we’ll share all the information we find."

Isobel catches my sleeve before I can depart, "Please, be cautious. I did not exaggerate about the dangers. There is urgency, yes, but Ketheric Thorm is not a merciful man. Do not run afoul of him, do what you must to maintain your cover."

I look at the cleric a moment, not sure how to respond. I place my gloved hand on top of the one clutching my sleeve. There's a desperation in her grasp, something her eyes aren't giving away, but I can feel it regardless. "I won't let anything happen to my sister. Or to any of you. I’ll do my best, I promise."

She nods. There is no relief in her tight eyes, words weight as much as wind, but she does release me.

Isobel's room is the only one on the second floor, to give the cleric privacy for her Moonmaiden rituals. I can never find the stair case to get up there so I circle the inn a couple of times. I see Bex and Danis talking, the tiefling children playing a hopscotch game, and two Harpers having an intimate discussion in an office-type area. I enjoy seeing quiet moments between the people who dwell at Last Light, it reminds me of why we do what we do.

Lia is out on the balcony, near the shrine that Isobel has set up for Selune. The moonlight is especially beautiful here, almost completely piercing the darkness. It's the closest I've come to seeing daylight in so long. She turns as my footsteps echo on the hollow wooden planks, pushing her hair behind her left ear. She's polished her horns. I feel a smile stretch across my face as our eyes meet. Every time I see her I feel such relief, to know that she is safe is a weight lifted from my heart. She rushes toward me, enveloping me in a crushing hug. I hold her and rock her, letting the strength of her embrace walk me back a step or two. I'm careful to tilt my head away from her horns.

"I've come to say good-bye," I say as we break apart. "We're going for him."

Her orange irises flick back and forth between my eyes, as if she's searching for something. "You can't mean that."

"I do." I walk with her to the edge of the balcony, taking in the shadowy view. "I'm tired of strategizing, tired of waiting for more news that makes this all seem insurmountable. Its time we let the whole of Moonrise know exactly what they're dealing with. I'm ready." I don't know who's steady and sure voice this is, but it sounds a lot like mine.

"Well," Lia tosses her dark hair out of her face, it swings back to cover her right eye, "then I hope you know that I love you. That I'm grateful you stood by me in the grove. That you didn't abandon me, or Cal. That you haven't given up on us…despite Rolan's best efforts."

It's then that I hear a throat clear loudly. I turn to see Rolan and Cal seated at the makeshift bar behind us.

"We'll be rooting for you." Cal walks over to envelop me in an awkward side hug, "For you all to come back in one piece."

I smile up at him, "Marlie would love to see you," I say snuggling my head playfully on his shoulder. "One last chance to talk shit about older siblings?"

He laughs and excuses himself, Lia kisses my cheek before following him.

I move to go as well, and Rolan clears his throat again.

I purse my lips, pausing mid-step to turn to him. He's not looking at me, instead he's examining the bar in front of him, one hand scratching idly at the splintery surface.

"Yes?"

"Are you not going to bid me farewell?"

"Farewell."

His eyes flash up, brows furrowed in emotion before he schools his features. "Such cheek." His hair is twisted back over his ears, hiding them. Disappointing. "You could die."

"Of course."

"I'd never see you again."

I blink at him. "Such is the finality of death, yes."

His face falls a bit at that response, I try to ignore the guilt blooming in my belly. Of course he knows that, damn it I'm the worst. "If that does happen, Isobel will need you, Rolan. I hope I can count on you to persevere."

He walks over to me, fiddling with a bracer on his left wrist. "It seems that's all I do these days. Persevere. Endure. Wait." After a moment, his mouth quirks into an odd contemplative smirk, "Perhaps, if death were to be your fate, I could come after you."

I'm confused, "Like you'd follow me?"

"Only to drag you back into the land of the living, mind. I have heard the Fugue Plane is an awful place for mortal souls this time of year."

I glance around, "Worse than this?"

"Avernus was worse." His tone is serious at those words, but his voice takes on a more jovial cadence as he continues. "I'm sure even I could handle the dreary assembly lines and bureaucracies of the plane of 'in-betweens'. Might be interesting to watch you play the damsel for once. Though I'm sure you would be terrible at it."

I want to laugh, I really do. But what he's saying touches me, even if it is just a joke. It's a nice thought that someone would care, would think about me and make an effort to rescue me for a change if all of this went to the hells in a handbasket.  

"Rolan..."

His expression is expectant, when his eyes meet mine...I'm suddenly overwhelmed. I'm afraid my words won't be enough, and I can feel my face reflecting that.

"I wish-" I attempt to swallow the lump in my throat, "- I could do more for you."

I wish I could be more for you.

"For you all. I'm trying…" I take a breath, or two. It might actually be a frog in my throat. "I just want you to know that if I fail…if we fail…please, know I tried."

He smiles. It starts from the corner of his mouth, slow and warm. And like a rouge in the dark, it sneaks up over his whole face. Before I know it, I've crossed the space between us. He reaches for me, cups my chin with a clawed hand. Heat is radiating from him in waves. His face is so close I can count the freckles that dance across his nose. I get to twelve before I lose track of them.

Is he going to kiss me? I hope he doesn't and yet…rose water. I breathe deep, hating myself for it.

"You will not fail. It's the damnedest thing...your dependability."

"Maddening."

"Some would say that, yes," he's looking at my mouth.

I nod, his nail grazes my chin. I frown hard to keep my bottom lip from trembling. He closes his eyes and I tense slightly, braced to pull away if he tries to kiss me. But when his soft lips close over my right eye, I find myself…melting. It feels soothing, like a hot compress…I hear a sound and realize it's coming from me, from somewhere deep in my throat.

I take in breath to say something, but as his lips move to kiss my left eye, my words falter…the pounding of my heart drums out all thought.

"Come back…" I feel captured by that gaze, as if a bottomless pool of molten gold has swallowed me whole. "I'll…be here."

"Good," I say, finally finding my voice. It sounds an octave too high. "And, I'll have you know, I'd make an excellent damsel...I can faint and everything."

He huffs a laugh and lets me go.

I walk slowly off the balcony, my knees wobbling. I feel silly, why did I say that?

I don't look back, but as I blink I can still feel the gentle pressure of his lips on my eyelids.

[pryings]

TOA Anniversary Munday

thank you neffi for this template!!!

Celebrating TOA and the people who contribute to make our group what it is.

Repost, don't reblog. Only fill in what you feel comfortable sharing!

Happy anniversary, TOA! Here's to many more years spent together.

Name: ruaidhrí (said pretty much like the english name rory and if you want to spell it that way that's fine too, ik irish names throw people off)

Pronouns: he/him

Birthday (no year): 25th of october!

Where are you from? What is your time zone? i live in colorado and my timezone is MST

How long is your roleplay experience? i don't know exactly how many years since i sometimes have years where h don't rp but i've been rping on and off since i was 11-12.

How were you introduced to roleplaying as a whole? oh gosh, so ff.net used to have (maybe still has, i literally have not been on that site in ages) these like... forums? and i joined one for elder scrolls rp a little after oblivion came out. i was far and away the youngest one there but everyone was so nice in helping me turn my character into a proper oc with like... backstory, a real personality, etc. after that, i spent a lot of time using it to try and grow my creative writing skills.

How were you introduced to TOA? honestly i just stumbled across it randomly! i had just replayed a few fe games and was looking through some tags and thought it might be fun to try fire emblem rp (i'd done some on indie tumblr back in the day, as well as in an mfrp a little bit, but never fire emblem exclusive rp) so i sent arden to check it out and, well, here we still are.

Do you have any pets? simon (mini poodle), john hancock (tabby cat), and tim & geeb (fluffy black cats)

What is your favorite time of year and why? (Season, holiday, general period) early spring! i also like late fall for its temperature, but i dislike snow/sleet/wet socks so spring is preferable because it's not very snowy here!

What is your IRL occupation? blessedly unemployed (health issues have prevented me from working aha)... i used to work IT though!

Some interests and things you like/enjoy? i like birdwatching, reading academic articles about ancient civilizations, and making espresso drinks

What non-Fire Emblem games do you play? currently enjoying bg3 + doing a dragon age replay (in preparation for veilguard). outside current, i really like most single-player rpg type games (esp. with customizable character), stealth games (dishonored favorite), and Identity V is the first asymmetrical horror mobile game developed by NetEase for

Favorite Pokemon type & Pokemon: my favorite pokemon ever is alakazam (and its whole line) i've loved alakazam foreverrrrr! favorite type is steel, though! apart from my psychic baby most of my other favs tend to be steel types

Tell us some funfacts and trivia about yourself! oh gosh i'm so bad at fun facts...

- i can put both my feet behind my head but i can't touch my toes - my favorite non-ancient empire to read about is austria-hungary - my cat tim was rescued from Outside

How did you get into Fire Emblem? friend's cool older brother was playing a bunch of the games in a seemingly random order. when i'd hang out at that friend's house sometimes we'd sit and watch. i asked him to lend me some and he did!

What Fire Emblem games have you played? i have now played all of them! (last year when i answered this i hadn't technically played them all, but i'd seen playthroughs and watched let's plays of all of them at the very least)

First & Favorite Fire Emblem games: a bad translation of fe4 was first, por is still my favorite—but tbh there's not really one i dislike

List your 5 favorite Fire Emblem characters across the series! - KNOLL (promoted to number one he's my special guy) - reyson - canas - ashnard - pandreo

Who was the first character ever to make you go “ooh I like this one in particular” and why? Can be any context and reason! QUAN—i have such a distinct memory of seeing him come in but i don't remember my initial thought, only that he would have my heart forever

Any Fire Emblem crushes? 😳 vander. duessel. hardin.

If you’ve played (or are familiar with) the following games, who was your first S support? Who would you S support nowadays? - Awakening: first was sumia! i don't have a set nowadays because i've done a different one on each playthrough - Fates: first was xander, would probably still do xander if i were to replay - Three Houses: first was seteth, if i replay i'll go for hanneman - Engage: first was pandreo! next time i plan to do ivy though

Favorite Fire Emblem class? i like shapeshifter classes! beasts, dragons, laguz, etc. i just think they're fun to play with

If you were a Fire Emblem character, what would be your class and stats? Would you be playable? oh gosh, i'd be an infantry axe unit probably. middling starting stats but high growths if you really work at making me good (there would be heated debates over whether the necessary time investment would be worth it)

If you were a Three Houses character, what would be your affiliation? black eagles!

If you were an Officers Academy student, what would be your boons, banes and potential budding talent? axe boon, heavy armor bane, budding talent in faith magic (could be classed into an fe:a style war cleric and it would be my suggested goal)

If you were an Engage character, which nation would you originate from? i want to say brodia!

How do you pronounce TOA? 🤔 toh-ah

Current TOA muses: just knoll <3

Past TOA muses? robin, niles, almedha, reyson, hardin, iago, perceval, lachesis (i think that's all?)

Who was your first TOA muse? If you no longer have them, can you see yourself picking them up again? my first muse was m!robin and thankfully i am spared any temptation on picking him up as he is currently being written.

Do you believe you have a type of character you gravitate towards writing? (If you filled this out last year, has this changed in any way?) i'm kind of all over the place, aren't i? i like characters where i can poke at hidden depths but ones who aren't too closely guarded. i like characters who are shy, withdrawn, standoffish, guarded, etc. in some way but who open up when spoken to. i don't think this has changed since last year, i've been writing for a long time and kind of know my comfort zone.

Do you have characters or types of characters you don’t think you can handle writing, but wish you could? boisterous/loud and over the top characters always challenge me, but i've never really managed to make them work, which is a shame because i tend to enjoy lively characters!

What kind of scenes, situations etc do you believe you enjoy writing the most? (If you filled this out last year, has this changed in any way?) -i love writing threads where setting/scenery is a focus, where i get to sort of use the landscape as a bit more than set-dressing - i enjoy throwing my muse at characters who mistrust him for whatever reason, and like to explore the kind of slow, mutual understanding that comes from two people getting to know one another - i really just like putting him in situations in general, forcing him to socialize—he's a very withdrawn character so any excuse to have him meet new people is very enjoyable

Do you have any scenario in mind for your muse(s) that gets you thinking “man I hope I get to write this one day”? nothing specific! i have kind of an arc for him but it's loosely-defined right now

Favorite TOA-related memories? HAPPYLAND WAS SO MUCH FUN. sincerely i loved the interactions he had there <3

Present or past tense? i default to present, but adapt to what my partner prefers on this!

Normal size text, small text, no preference? small text, bolded dialogue. just easier for my eyes to take it in that way.

Got any potential muse delusions to share? 😉 oh gosh. i recently had to go down to just one muse because my health is not so good, but i will admit i already have a few delusions. if i can get myself back to a spot where i feel like i can write a second, someone may return.

[moodcrab]

Fixing Skyrim's Main Quest

Part One, Setting

Obviously it's set in Skyrim, but let's tweak it a bit.

Time

First of all, if there's one thing we can all agree on from Skyrim and Fallout 4 it's that Bethesda doesn't know how long 200 years is.

It's a very long time.

For reference, two hundred years back from the time of writing this Mad King George was king of England, it wasn't even the Victorian Era yet. The American Civil War was decades away from starting. The entire industrial AND technological revolutions as well as BOTH World Wars and the collapse of the British AND Ottoman Empires happened in that time, with plenty of room to spare.

It's a VERY long time!

Placing a two hundred year gap between Oblivion and Skyrim was a bad decision considering how very little actually happened. Tamriel should be drastically different, like they should have cars by now.

The major events that did happen, the Rise of the Medes, the Rise of the Thalmor, The Red Year, The Infernal City, The Void Nights, The Great War and White Gold Concordat could easily happen within one lifetime, so we're going to say the events of Skyrim take place in 4E64.

From a writing point of view, this small change makes it a lot easier to keep track of things that were a bit of a mess in vanilla, like the life of Ulfric, or the backstory of Gaius, Karliah and Mercer, which were all over the place if you were actually paying attention. It also means you can talk to people who actually remember these things happening, who were children during the Oblivion Crisis. You could even change Esbern's name to one of the younger Blades members you meet in Oblivion seeing as Esbern has the role of lore depository.

Religion and Culture

The next setting change is to remember this is Skyrim, not Cyrodiil. The Nords don't worship the Nine/Eight. In fact, the only reason the Nine/Eight exists as a pantheon at all because of the Nords stubbornness around the worship of foreign gods.

The Temple of Kynareth is now The Temple of Kyn, and Gildergleam Sanctuary is the home of Kyn's Holy Order. The College of Winterhold is no longer Hogwarts but the Chantry of Jhunal (a 'college' is a place of study, research and academia, not just a school). You might meet The Vigilant of Stuhn on the road, who don't live in a hut but a temple. Instead of a priest of Arkay in the Halls of the Dead we have priests of Orkey. Tsun, a god we actually meet in vanilla but has no shrines or altars, will replace Zenithar. And, most interesting to our story, a cult of both Alduin and Herma Mora - our two villains - gods to be placated rather than worshipped.

This said, the Imperial Cult will definitely have a strong presence in Skyrim and Talos, being an Ysmir, is particularly venerated (as is Ysgramor and Wulfharth). Yes, over the centuries the Imperial Cult and will obviously have spread into Skyrim, we can lean into this with the Civil War, putting a much bigger emphasis on the more "Imperialised" Holds siding with the Empire and the old school Atmoran Holds siding with the Stormcloaks. It never made much sense to me that the "true Nords" were more upset than the Imperials over the whole Talos situation, this change makes it so that while both sides are pissed off, one reacts with frustrating diplomacy and patience while the over reacts with stubborn honour and impulse, a more cultural divide rather than a pro/anti Talos one.

The Imperial position would be to play along with the Thalmor in the open, but to secretly fund and organise cults to other men-turned-gods and Imperial/Nordic hero gods such as Pelinal, Wulfharth, Ysgramor, Reman, Alessia and Martin, as well as the concept of Ysmir (which would actually include Tiber Septim and The Last Dragonborn). They would not openly support nor allow any arrests or persecutions of these cults by Justiciars. The Stormcloak position will remain "Fuck that bitch this is Skyrim."

Geography

This might sound crazy, but Skyrim was too hot.

No I'm kidding, I'm not so in love with the lore that I think a game of endless snow would be anything but boring. But there are some things that were cut out of the land that left Skyrim wanting. For instance there are hardly any settlements. Amber Guard, Granitehall, Nimalten City, Reich Corigate, Lainalten, Oakwood, Pargran Village, Laintar Dale, Dunpar Wall, Dragon Wood, and North Keep are all Skyrim cities that are missing from the game. Like not even abandoned ruins, they're just not there.

I totally understand there are size limitations but this is meant to be a country. It has five town sized cities and three village sized cities. And some villages. And they mostly look like Riverwood. Seriously, what exactly is the difference between Karthwasten, Falkreath, Shor's Stone, Winterhold and Riverwood, all towns from different Holds? It's like if shopping malls were made of wood.

The other thing about the vanilla settlements I didn't like was Bethesda seems to be stuck in Fallout style post apocalyptic design. Solitude has been there for thousands of years but no one has ever thought to shift these boulders from out of the middle of the street? There are ruins in better shape than Windhelm and Markarth? You can sum it up with Whiterun's Western Watchtower, which looks exactly the same after a dragon destroys it. Surely the ravages of civil war and the dragon crisis would have a bigger impact if things weren't already destroyed.

In fact, let's address the Imperial Fort situation. At the start of the game only 3 forts were occupied by actual soldiers, two of which were destroyed in the early game (Helgan and the Western Watchtower). Literally ALL other forts are in ruins and occupied by bandits or other undesirables. Consider that Skyrim is a country that recently took part in the Great War, but is currently dealing with a Civil War. Forts are not easy to build, and are insanely useful for medieval warfare. It truly beggars belief that practically none of them are maintained and fortified until the Player Character decides to get involved. To strain credulity further, many of the war camps you encounter in the wilds are literally in the shadows of major fortifications that have been left to rot. There is even a side quest to reclaim a Nord's fort from bandits, which is also a ruin. Is the implication that the man lives in a ruin? Or is it that in the short time the bandits have been there they've done a century or two of damage? Why would they do that?

Skyrim has a lot of dungeons, and a lot of quests that are basically "clear dungeon", we can't sacrifice some of this boring content for some more towns or forts, with characters, and things to do?

[crysdrawsthings]

“To The Block!” Poll, TES Edition - 8

And on this fine day we are saying our heartfelt goodbye to Countess Alessia Caro who have not passed the vibe check. A small chop for our little breton contraption here, but a great win for all of Leyawiin. The whole Cyrodiil, perhaps.

And it means, that we are in the semi-finals of our fun little event. Three people enter the arena, but only two of them will have a chance to compete for the pardon! Welcome our contestants!

Cr-r-rassius Curio-o-o! A creep, a pest, a pervert and an author of the bestselling tales, concerning a particular argonian maid! Man, who deserves a thousand restraining orders!

Gr-r-randmaster Delpi-i-ine! She is paranoid, she is shady, she haven't changed her name when going undercover, she is the last remnant of an order long gone - and she also wants your dragon grandpa dead!

Man-n-nimarco-o-o-o-o, The King of Worms! A calamity, a divinity, a silly worm and a world-ending threat! Beloved, beloathed, but you must admit, he has a certain sense of style. Except for the Oblivion thing, but we don't talk about it.

Remember: you must vote for those who you want to see on the block!

[undiscovered-horizon]

"Que sera, sera" - Morpheus x Wisdom!Reader

[TW: grief/loss of a child]

Pillars of Eternity Universe: [Pillars of Eternity] [The Just and the Wicked] || [Sandman-inspired playlist]

SUMMARY: Following his invitation, Morpheus and Wisdom visit Time on the Seas of Oblivion. What seemed like a social call, turns out to be a call for help.

WORDCOUNT: ~ 3.5k

[Been gone for a while but look, guys, I just started a new term and I'm 'plotting' another novel.] I recommend listening to "To the Moon and Beyond" by Gavin Luke while reading

How have you been while I was gone? Oh, I'm pleased to hear that! Shangri-La was lovely, thank you. The tree where the Spear of Ages resided for centuries is still growing strong. The swing my parents hung on one of the branches is still there. It's a wonderful thing that our world keeps changing and Shangri-La refuses to.

I'm still weary from my travel, so I'll tell you a shorter story today if you don't mind. I don't have as much vigour as I used to have in my younger years, I'm sorry, dear student. But despite the tale not being as long as the previous ones, I promise it is just as thrilling. It's about Dream and Wisdom, after all!

Before we start, have you ever heard people say they're running out of time? Ha! It always amuses me just the same. As if an ocean could run out of water! Hear me, little student, and remember this: water slips through your fingers because you're not holding it properly. Learn to handle time, become friends with it and not try to be its master. Befriending Time would be easier for people if they met that lovely old fellow...

Morpheus only heard stories about the Seas of Oblivion. He's never actually seen them, mainly because until now he had been unable to. Those uncharted waters lay beyond realms he was able to reach. Even dreams, as it appeared, were confined to a certain space but more importantly - they were bound to the grains of sand inside the hourglass and so was he. Morpheus may have been Endless but he wasn't Timeless like you.

"Seas of Oblivion are treacherous waters, dearest,” you warned him. “Underneath those sapphire waves lay memories of countless souls. The more vividly they are remembered by the living, the more vivid they appear: they might look alive, they might sound alive, they might even act like they're alive. But they are only an echo of somebody’s love."

With a blink of an eye, quite literally, Morpheus had found himself standing on a trawler, on the open sea. Cold water and salt spraying his face. A faint yet distinct aroma of algae and sludge filled his nostrils. The waters around him were about as black as the sky and if it wasn’t for the breathtaking aurora borealis, it would be quite impossible to tell where the horizon lay. There were neither stars nor moon nor planets above him - only stripes of beautiful colours so strange he wasn’t sure he could ever name them. The longer Morpheus stared at the lights the more he began noticing just how impossible they were in the way colours glided into different shades; the blues were purple after a while but when he focused a little more, he became sure that the lights were actually green. Or maybe yellow? They weren’t any colour he knew all the while shining in every shade he could possibly imagine.

His eyes, or maybe Morpheus himself, grew tired of the troubling aurora borealis and turned to examine the infamous waters. It’s hard to say whether he thought about it at the moment but in that cycle of life, he was to be the only Endless to ever see them. The impenetrable black waters were strangely shimmery as though there were silver particles drifting along the waves. Sometimes, he thought that the glimmering oddments took on meaningful shapes, only to scatter once more the moment he blinked. If he could only look at it a little longer, a little closer…

"Don't stare too long at the water.” Your words pulled him out of that strange headspace that lured him into leaning dangerously far out the side. “ It's hard to say what will stare back."

Understanding the seriousness of your warning, Morpheus looked up, away from the murky ocean but then his stare lay on something equally suspicious and thought-provoking: a black, slimy rock protruding from the indigo waters. As far as an eye could see, there was nothing resembling land. At first, the formation looked completely inconspicuous and perhaps that’s exactly why Dream’s gaze lingered on this black lump of slime - it was a little too unobtrusive.

Then, a yellow, fishy eye appeared on the surface of what Morpheus had assumed was a rock. A black rhomboid pupil stared at the Lord of Dreams with animalistic blankness as though the sea monster had the privilege of never entertaining even a single thought. Considering the distance between the yellow ocular and the boat, the eyeball itself must have been around Dream’s height in diameter. Morpheus felt a delicate shiver travelling down his spine: if that was only the eye, how big was its owner?

“Good day to you too, Charon,” you called out to the monstrum.

The beast let out a whale-like whine, then a low grumble before slowly submerging. Its yellow eye continued to stalk the floating boat.

“That is Charon?” Morpheus asked with a sense of wonder in his voice.

“Human legends do not do him justice, I agree. As they repeated the story of Time, Charon and Seas of Oblivion, the tale must have twisted and people now speak of Charon sailing Styx and a terrifying Leviathan lurking below the waves. Time should be down in the cabin.”

You turned the knob and the lock clicked. Although quiet, the Seas of Oblivion were exceptionally peaceful, so the sound of doors opening was well-audible. The two of you were about to go down the narrow steps leading to Time’s cabin when suddenly:

"Father?” 

That voice… If Morpheus had a heart, it would stop beating at that very moment.

Sitting on the side of the ship, you saw a boy, barely old enough to be called a young man, with curly brown hair and an eagle nose. The tunic he was wearing was torn in many places with seaweed sticking to the material as well as his curls. He was absolutely drenched, black water dripping onto the deck of the trawler.

“Is that you?" the boy asked in a wavering, hopeful voice.

You put your hand on his shoulder and Morpheus winced slightly, suddenly and unexpectedly all the more aware of the reality surrounding him. "He's not real,” you whispered in a soft voice. “Not in the way you'd want him to be. I'm sorry."

Morpheus heard himself quietly gasp as Charon’s black, slimy tentacle wrapped around the physique of his late son, pulling the spectre under the tide. The Seas of Oblivion were quiet once more.

“I’m sorry,” you repeated while tightly holding his arm. 

He didn’t answer. In the colourful light of the aurora borealis above you, his teary, bloodshot eyes glistened in a way that was both heartbreaking and poetically captivating. The thought of picking a fight with your siblings passed through your mind - you could undo this even if you shouldn't - but you discarded this idea about as swiftly as it had appeared. Impulse was unwise. Morpheus squeezed your hand and directed his steps down the stairs leading to the only cabin on the trawler. His silence was deafening.

Entering the inside of the trawler, guests were welcomed with a broken, old radio playing the chorus of one song on a loop. From the depths of the cabin, a hoarse, pleasant voice quietly sang along:

Que sera, sera Whatever will be, will be The future's not ours to see Que sera, sera What will be, will be

“Oh, there you are!” Time exclaimed in a raspy voice the moment Morpheus and you entered the small connecting room with a table and four barrels-turned-chairs.

The old man looked like the stereotypical sea dog: pearly white hair, a hat, calloused hands, wellies and a raincoat, even if it didn't rain in this part of the universe. As it so appeared, you had interrupted him while Time was sharpening an oyster knife. His steel eyes were barely visible as he smiled wide at you and chicken feet decorated his bright, wrinkly features.

“It’s so nice to see another face! Put the kettle on, will you? And grab something to eat out of the cupboard, dear.”

Morpheus sat across the table from Time as you walked farther into the cabin. Waiting for the turquoise kettle to whistle you looked for the aforementioned food. The inside of the cupboard was exactly what you had expected: oranges, sardines and jerky. Unchanged cuisine of Seas of Oblivion since, quite literally, the beginning of time. An amused sigh left your lips as you grabbed a few of each. Little did you know, Time had a good reason to ask you to complete this little quest for tea:

“Can you keep a secret, Lord of Dreams and Nightmares?” Time quietly asked when you were out of earshot.

“I know countless of them.”

“Good because Wisdom would hate for me to tell you this but seeing your pain hurts my old heart. Hear me, Dream of the Endless, just a sip out of the Seas of Oblivion can make you forget all that sorrow you carry. It will not change the past and its consequences but make the very fibre of your existence forget about it. You do not have to suffer.”

Morpheus stared at him for a moment, clearly pondering the extraordinary claim. He was seriously entertaining that thought. “Thank you, I…” he hung his voice for a moment, “Maybe one day.”

Just as he gave Time his answer, you entered the connecting room with the kettle in one hand and a less-than-impressive choice of food in the other. The oranges, jerky and sardines were piled up on your hand in a suspiciously physics-defying way but it would be a ridiculous lie to say that either of the men was even a little bit surprised. Their worlds were a lot stranger than the convenient ignoring of gravity.

Without asking him to, Morpheus got up from his seat only to take some of the things out of your hand and put them on the table. Watching the boiling water pour into the mug, you began the conversation: “How are you doing, Time? I hear that humid air is bad for joints.”

The man only laughed. “So is old age, dear Wisdom. I am doing just fine. The Seas are calm, the echos rarely make themselves known… It’s peaceful out here. Some days I think I don’t want my sail to end.”

"Why's that?" Morpheus asked him. To him, such reality sounded like a pipe dream and he tried his best to chase those bleak thoughts away.

"I grew to like this stubborn boy.” Time vaguely pointed at the small, circular window to your right. Out there, among black waves of the Seas of Oblivion, you noticed Charon’s tentacles peaking above the impenetrable waters every now and then. “Maybe he looks imposing and isn't exactly pretty but he's got a heart of gold, I tell you that. And to think that when I come alongside he will be unmade.” Time sighed and shook his head. Yes, that day must arrive no matter how unwelcome - the day he finishes his journey and another cycle must begin. “Speaking of Charon, he’s been strange lately as if he had fallen ill, all fussy and crabby... Or maybe he’s going to be?” Out of frustration, Time took off his cap and scratched his balding head. “You have to forgive me, old age makes me a little confused about timelines. On bad days, like today I suppose, it’s hard for me to tell future and past apart.”

“It’s alright,” you reassured him as you sat down next to Morpheus, across from your host. “Recently, one of the Palaces of Justice died. Perhaps that had made Charon unwell.”

"Oh, fiddlesticks! I didn't know they can die. Well, a time comes for everyone, I suppose." Time snickered at his own pun. “Truthfully, Charon is the reason I asked you to come.”

You furrowed your eyebrows. “Had something happened to him?”

“I think he’s just… lonely. He needs a friend. Endless seas and just one, poor, little Charon. I’d hate for him to grow bitter, he’s lovely if a bit tough on the outside.”

A quiet, repetitive cracking resounded in the room - it was Papsukkal, one of your crows, snacking on shelled peanuts spilling out of a massive bag placed in the corner near the stairs. Perhaps magical but he was a crow nonetheless and that meant peanuts had power over him. Used to the ever-present voice of Doris Day, you stopped even noticing the repetitive music coming from the scratchy-sounding radio.

"Why haven't you asked Aether?" you coaxed. It was no secret that your sister would be a better choice to ask such a favour.

The old man shook his head in a defeated manner. He let out a tired sigh before answering. "Wherever she goes, Abyss follows. I'm afraid she wouldn't quite understand this loneliness."

You raised your eyebrows at the bold implication. "Should I?"

Time’s steel eyes stared at you with a mildness that befits only people of ancient age. His calloused hand scratched his pearly white beard. "Only you can answer that,” he stated with a certain disinterest in his voice as though you had just asked him a question he could never even begin formulating a response to.

"I know the secret of Aether's power,” you said after a moment of silence. “I can imitate it but not recreate. Whatever ‘friend’ I make for Charon will appear alive and perfectly normal but will remain soulless. Such a creature will lack autonomy and awareness, doing only what it is told. Nothing more and nothing less. It will neither feel nor think,” you warned him.

“Please,” Time said in a quiet, mild tone. A sad smile appeared on his face. His wrinkly, calloused hand reached out to hold yours. “Charon deserves a better friend than I can be, someone to venture into the waters with him, to share his burden.”

“So it shall be,” you nodded quietly. “Come Papsukkal,” you called the bird.

Visibly reluctant to end his peanut feast, the crow flew to sit on your fingers. Morpheus and Time followed you outside of the cabin, both silently anticipating the miracle of creation they were about to witness. Although Dream had more occasions to see the scope of your power, he was just as smitten with the current possibility. Even more: he was a creator himself and yet your craft was so different from his. The major contrast was that his power was finite while yours was anything but, opening an entire uncharted realm of possibilities.

“Goodbye, dear friend,” you whispered to the bird. Its flaming eyes stared at you curiously.

Without much effort, your free hand barely tapped against the crow’s chest. Suddenly, the bird let out a deafening caw and it split into two separate entities: a black, completely ordinary crow still sitting on your hand and the strangest green ghost of a bird that appeared to be a flame brought into life. The crow-shaped spectre took flight, circling above your head.

"From the water I raise you and to water you shall return,” you said in a firm tone. Your voice wasn’t exceptionally loud and yet the black water began foaming restlessly. The trawler began shaking more than it should. “A monster of endless seas, protector of the damned. Guide the spirits of these waters, wash away the sorrows of their earthly lives. Do not fear the changing tides but learn to float along them. May the rivers of time flow in you, Silver Whale of the Oblivion Seas."

The green crow of fire let out a bright, booming caw before diving into the black water. For a moment, everything was silent, terrifyingly static. Then, a loud whine - a strangely white blue whale with green, burning eyes leapt above the impenetrable waves of Seas of Oblivion, only to fall back under the tide with a great splash.

“What a big boy!” Time exclaimed between chuckles. “Thank you, Wisdom. This is… I don’t know how to put it into words.”

“Then don’t. I know your gratitude, Time. Now we can only hope Charon and…”

“Barry,” Time stated. “He looks like a Barry.”

“Very well.” You couldn’t help a small smile entering your face. An entity so vital to the existence of this universe and he chose the simplest name one could think of. His exceptionality, like with everyone, lay not in his intrinsic nature but in his actions and choices. “Now we can only hope Charon and Barry get along as well as we want them to.”

In the distance, you could see Barry floating on his back and a thick, slimy tentacle curiously poking the whale’s exposed stomach. Once again, Time let out a raspy laugh.

“We should be returning to Dreaming,” you said as your hand gently grabbed Morpheus’s elbow. “It was a great pleasure, Time.”

“The pleasure’s all mine, dear Wisdom. Come by anytime you want.” You almost missed the quick, meaningful glance he gave Morpheus. “Thank you, again. Charon seems happy or at least happier than he was.”

The trawler, old sea dog and black, endless water faded into the marble walls Morpheus knew so well. Suddenly, it felt strange not to smell seaweed and sludge but the general dryness of his palace was incomparably better than the overwhelming wetness of the boat. Additionally, there were no ghosts haunting Dreaming.

Suddenly, someone barged into the room you had been in. Lucienne had her arms full of books and papers. Her lips were pushed together, no doubt an effect of the amount of work she had to take care of in a record time. Bless her heart for having such strength.

“Before you leave, my lord Morpheus,” she spoke fast and somehow impatiently but it was hardly her own fault, “the Order of the Burning Rose requested an audience as soon as possible. The patriarch sounded… upset, to put it lightly.”

“Thank you, Lucienne. I will take care of it,” he answered in a strangely absent voice. In rushed footsteps, she disappeared into the long halls of the palace and Morpheus looked at you with a curious glint in his eyes. “How long have we been gone?” he asked.

You shrugged your shoulders slightly. “I can’t be exactly sure but I’d say around five minutes? Maybe seven?”

He had a strange, and probably not at all conscious, habit of tilting his head upwards when he felt thrilled or fascinated. Morpheus could, of course, make a comment about how remarkable you were but it seemed pointless - who in their right mind makes a note of the wetness of water? Or the darkness of the night? “Now, if you’ll excuse me, lady Wisdom, I have a kingdom to reign.”

“Do what you must, my king.”

And with those words, he had to return to his regal duties. You, too, went back to what you did most of the time - sitting underneath the hazel tree, listening to the whispers of countless realms that were, are and yet will happen; the chattering of cycles of life.

It was hard for you to say how much time had passed when you heard a bizarre and utterly unexpected sound: a whale’s singing. You opened your eyes only to see a large fin disappearing in the sky as though its owner dived farther into the firmament like it was water.

Sparing no time, you searched for Morpheus and possible answers to his sudden change of heart. Finding him wasn’t exactly difficult - he stood on the staircase leading up to the castle’s entrance. Wrapped in his ridiculously long coat, he simply admired his new creation, no matter how narcissistic that might have seemed.

“I see you’ve been busy.”

Morpheus looked at you but only for a moment. Something about the humpback whale swimming across the firmament was a little too captivating. “For the first time, I looked at my own sky and realized it was empty despite all of these stars.”

“It’s beautiful.”

As though the whale had heard your compliment, it sang happily eliciting a laugh from you. Your eyes followed the graceful, slow movements of the mammal, while Morpheus’s gaze was stuck on you. It appeared that there were things more captivating than whales in a starry sky.

I’m afraid my tale ends here, dear student. There is still some time until nightfall. You’re welcome to linger at my home but I’m tired and, if you’ll excuse me, I’d like to get some rest. There should be some oranges in the kitchen if you’re hungry. Oh, and before I go, because I might forget this and it’s quite important, there are two things I need you to remember: if you dream of a humpback whale, don’t be afraid of the challenges ahead, you will succeed. The second thing is when you visit me next time, remind me to tell you the story about the patriarch and the Burning Rose. I’ll see you soon, dear student.

[holy--milk]

tagged by @thatswhatsushesaid (thanks! <3)

1. why did you choose your url?

it was ages ago, i honestly don't remember at this point... i just think it's neat?

2. any sideblogs? if you have them name them and why you have them.

none that you could connect to me.

3. how long have you been on tumblr?

definitely since high school, possibly since middle school? it was still kinda popular back then.

4. do you have a queue tag?

i don't do queues, i reblog 100 posts at once then disappear for a week.

5. why did you start your blog in the first place?

this particular one? to get all nice and cozy with the MXTX fandom, of course.

6. why did you choose your icon/pfp?

i found a collection of reaction pics in a ZZJ fan group and was like "haha this one's funny". don't ask me to explain it tho.

7. why did you choose your header?

see above.

8. what’s your post with the most notes?

this one. i still think it's kinda funny.

9. how many mutuals do you have?

at least two.

10. how many followers do you have?

at least two.

11. how many people do you follow?

definitely more than two.

12. have you ever made a shitpost?

all my posts are shitpost.

13. how often do you use tumblr each day?

whenever i get bored at my office job (not to be confused with my other work-from-home job), which is. a lot.

14. did you have a fight/argument with another blog once?

why would i? my fandoms are famously chill and peaceful.

15. how do you feel about ‘you need to reblog this’ posts?

i don't get those on my dash.

16. do you like tag games?

yes 👉👈

17. do you like ask games?

yep 👉👈

18. which of your mutuals do you think is tumblr famous?

every single one of them.

19. do you have a crush on a mutual?

i wish, but alas. it's physically impossible for me to get crushes.

20. what is the last song you listened to?

no regrets by oblivion dust, which is coincidentally THE shen jiu song to me <3

21. what are you currently watching?

"sell your haunted house" (daebakbudongsan), a korean drama about an exorcist/real estate broker who does exorcism on haunted houses and then sells them for a commission. as one does.

idk, i was sitting down to relax with a bottle of beer and some ribs and it popped up in the list of shows i've bookmarked? and i was like, why not.

22. sweet/savoury/spicy?

sweet and spicy. or as i call it. swicy.

23. what is your current relationship status?

there's a girl i've been trying to go on an irl date with for. like two months now. don't get me wrong, she wants to go on a date with me too, it's just that we're both working women who can barely find the time to meet up in our schedules. and when we do, something goes wrong :(

24. what is your current obsession?

qijiu. but JGY and his two men will forever have their place in my silly little heart <3

25. what are nine albums/songs you've been listening to lately?

i use like. 4 separate apps to listen to music, and that's just on my phone. and none of them track my listening history lmao. but i can try and pull nine random things (in no particular order) from my likes:

electra heart (the album) by marina (and the diamonds). what can i say? it slaps.

黑白#K (the album) by liu haikuan. but tbh i haven't really been following him for a while. i think he's had a few singles since then? idk.

les filles désir by vendredi sur mer. wait i should actually listen to her more often. she has some absolute bangers.

opera (and some other songs) by super junior. i'm revisiting my k-pop phase, okay???

фейерверк by электрофрез. because of that one TGCF animatic.

turbulence (the album) by monoral. idk, a lot of their songs actually fit qijiu rather well? which is my main criterion when choosing music to listen to anyway.

eyes closed by the narrative. you guys, this song has been through at least three different ships from three different fandoms at this point.

the CQL soundtrack. what can i say? [1] for all that CQL is a bit messy and has funny CGI, at least it has a splendind soundtrack.

the LOTR soundtrack. i mean. do i even have to say anything? that's a classic.

tagging: @crithir @miaoqing @jin-zixun and whoever wants to participate.

[frozen-fountain]

It's ten years today since I made a pilgrimage down to Brighton to see Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds live in concert. My purpose today isn't to get into the circumstances that preceded this or the specific reasons why being there meant so very much to me; maybe some day I'll do that under this name as well. For now, suffice to say it was the best show I've been to, and one I doubt will ever be surpassed. I think the Bad Seeds were on stage for the better part of three hours, with two encores and everyone clearly having a great time, reflected just as strongly in the audience. I really hope I get to go again eventually, though it'll be a more sombre affair now. And that's fine. I've always looked on his music as a big congregation that plumbs the depths of human existence without ever denying or shutting out the light, and it's this that's struck such a resonant chord with me across the years and made him one of the most key pillars in my musical journey.

One of my most vivid memories of the night doesn't even concern what was happening on stage. The whole time, I was fascinated by the two ageing punks sitting in front of us. I love ageing punks; I was raised by one, and they're my favourite people at shows because of their sheer enthusiasm for the music and utter disregard for what's generally considered age-appropriate dress and behaviour. Deeply inspiring stuff. But I remember one of them lifting both fists in a cheer when this song (from 1986) started playing – and he did the same for Higgs Boson Blues, a track from the contemporaneous album. And I was struck by what a gift it must have been to watch this wonderful group evolve and shift over the years, to meet new songs at different stages in life, and to remain no less excited for their new creations even decades later.

It was many things, but to me, it was a thick, bold line under what I'd spent the previous year working to convince myself of as I left my youth behind me, and that this band's congregational music helped so much in drilling through my obstinate, oblivion-seeking skull: there are and always will be things worth sticking around for.

I don't know anything about this man besides what the back of his head looks like and his enthusiasm for Bad Seeds old and new. He never even turned around to look at me in turn. I highly doubt we'll ever meet again, and if we do, I'll have no way of knowing it. But I still smile every now and then when I listen to Sad Waters, or simply when my mind wanders back to the show from time to time. When I need to remember the future is unwritten and the world has a capacity for many things, and one is endless surprise. Regular readers of whatever it is I'm doing here will know my young life was not the happiest, and I expended a lot of time and energy wrestling with the desire to end it. As I write this I'm closing in on the eight-year anniversary of the last time I seriously contemplated suicide – which is something I couldn't have even dreamed about saying back in 2013. It's these experiences, these moments of connection between strangers through the shared appreciation of another stranger's artistic expression, that go along way to making this so, and I'll never forget it.

This last decade has intensified a cultural shift that was gathering steam around the time of the concert. And one of many reasons I feel conversation can be so divisive and contentious is that we're rapidly becoming more aware to how badly we can hurt one another through simply existing as we are. Whether it's the descendants of colonisers reckoning with the ways we continue to benefit from that bloody history, or men being pushed to evaluate the allowances they are granted to take up space persistently denied women, or any of us learning the benefits of initiating awkward conversations about boundaries in our interpersonal lives, what is bit by bit rising to the surface of our awareness is how easy it is to become a bad story in someone's life just by being people. It's a very difficult thing to come to terms with no matter who you are.

And I wanted to write this memory down and share it because, at least to me, it's a reminder that we can help one another, too, and often without trying or knowing. You don't know what you might have done for a stranger you had no idea was watching. A simple, unguarded gesture that I doubt this man thought about for so much of a second has stayed with me, cheered me, and reminded me of several crucial lessons when I most needed them. If I've learned anything in the years since it's that, simply by being you and being open with your joys, I can guarantee you're someone's good story, too. Even if you'll never know about it.

In the meantime, if you're so inclined... maybe tell me a story about a time a stranger helped you in a similar way?

[blackhakumen]

Mini Fanfic #1141: Jitters & Fright (Epithet Erased)

4:23 p.m. at Sweet Jazz's Halloween Store........

Slylvie: (Walking in the Store Alongside his Friends) So, how do you girls feel about your big play for tomorrow night?

Phoenicia: (Happily Clasps her Hands Together as Her Eyes Begins to Sparkle) Oh I'm absolutely excited!~ It's been one of my list of dreams to play a leading acting role~

Molly: (Smiles Sheepishly) I'm a bit on the nervous side personally. But I'm happy to be a part of something at least.

Trixie: Happy for ya too, Molls. (Crosses Their Arms While Pouting) Me, on the other hand, would rather do a mountain of homework than taking the main stage........

Sylvie: (Turns to Trixie) Getting nervous??

Trixie: Nah. I wouldn't say I'm completely nervous per say. Just don't want millions of eyes staring at me all night....

Phoenicia: But it's the audience's job is to watch the actors perform until the end of the runtime.

Trixie: (Rolls Their Eyes) Fully aware of how the audience function, Feenie. (Starts Shivering a Bit) Doesn't make me squeamish any less.....

?????: Oh no!~ Little Miss Roughhouse getting cold feet?~

The gang turns to see two of the Neo Trio's classmates, Stink & Stonk, standing in front of them, with mischievous, boyish grins on both of their faces.

Stonk: Cuz if so, we're more than gladly to take the role of Bubblegum Renegade off your hands now.

Stink: Yeah!- Wait. (Turns to Stonk) "We"?

Stonk: Yeah. You know, as in....You and I and-

Stink: I know what I mean, you dope!! We can't both be the Bubblegum Renegade!

Stonk: Right, right. (Grabs his Chin) So I'm guessing that'll make me Bubblegum Renegade then?

Stink: Um NO, dude! You're not gonna be Bubblegum Renegade! I am!

Stonk: (Glares at his Friend) And why not? My acting skills gotten a lot better, you know!?

Stink: So does mines. Only the difference here is that FAR more cooler than you in comparison.

Stonk: ('Scoffs') Yeah right! Name one cool thing you ever did.

Stink: I....uh.....uhhh.....I-I come up with the raddest pranks imaginable!

Stonk: We BOTH come up with the rad prank ideas, genius! In fact, I seemed to remember doing most of the heavy lifting and dirty work compared to you.

Stink: ('Scoffs') Oh please! I equally did just as much work as you did if not wayyy more!

Stonk: Nuh-uh!

Stink: Yeah-huh!

Stonk: Nuh-uh!

Stink: Yeah-huh!

The boys continue to argue with one another as the others reluctantly watches.

Sylvie: .....Do I even wanna who those two are right now?

Molly: ('Sigh') That's just Stink and Stonk.

Trixie: (Already Has an Annoyed Look on Their Face) The two biggest lame brains in our class with their stupid pranks they're trying to pull.

Phoenicia: And dance choreography are a sight to behold.

Molly: Feenie, I don't think Dabbing's that good of a dance move to be frank with you.

Sylvie: I don't even think it should consider a dance move at all considering how basic the concept of it is.

Trixie: (Starts Groaning at What is in Front of Them Right Now) Speaking of which....

Trixie points to Stink amd Stonk repeatly dabbing at one another.

Molly: (Raises an Eyebrow in Confusion) Are they.... seriously having a dab off right now?

Trixie: (Facepalms Themselves into Oblivion) And here I thought they could never get anymore dumber......(Turns to Sylvie While Pointing Their Hands Out at the Dabbing Simpletons) You see what we have to deal with everyday, Sylvie!?

Sylvie: Somehow, I can weirdly re-

'BOOHAAAAA'

Sylvie: LATEHETE!!! (Gets Startled and Screamed in Horror as He Makes Himself Fall Backwards on the Floor)

Molly: Sylvie! (Quickly Rushes Over to Sylvie Side Along with the Rest of the Trio)

Jock: (Revealing Himself From the Monster Like Mask He Was Wearing With a Smirk on his Face) Oops! Didn't quite see you there Sylvesta-NERD! (Let's Out a Loud, Boastful Laugh as his Fellow Jockmates Joins amd Gives Him Multiple Hi-Fives)

Sylvie: (Growls in Annoyance as He Rubs his Head and Angrily Shakes his Fist at a Pact of Jocks in Front of Him) Don't you people have anywhere else to be right now!!!?

Jock: ('Scoffs') Of course we have somewhere to be, Einstein. We just wanna make sure if you got yourself a good scared.

Sylvie: Gee, thanks, Randall. I hate it!

Randell: Yeah, we don't care. Blame your psychologicist job for making you look more dorky than you already are.

Sylvie: At least I'm doing something more productive in my life than wasting my time messing with my neighbor all day!!

Randell: So you're a big shot now, big whoop! You're still a four-eyed nerdatron at the end of the day and still an easy target to boot. Now, if you'll excuse us, we have a football game to win. (Finally Takes his Leave)

Other Jocks: (Starts Following Their Leader While Taunting Sylvie in the Process) Later, nerd!/Enjoy the floor nap!/ Don't let the door scare ya on the way out, Sylvesta-LOSER!!

Phoenicia: (Growls as She Angrily Picks up a Bag of Marshmallow From the Counter) His name is Dr. Sylvester Ashling, you UNCULTURED SWAN!!! (Throws the Bag at the Jocks as Hard as She Could......Which Didn't Go as Far as She Hoped Unfortunately)

Molly: (Helps Sylvie Back Up on his Feet) You okay, Sylvie?

Sylvie: ('Sigh') Besides my pride and patience, I'll be fine for now. (Turns to Phoenicia With a Small Smile on his Face) I appericate you trying to get those jerks back for me, Feenie, even if you REALLY didn't have to-ACK! (Gets Pulled into Tight, Loving Hug by Phoenicia Herself)

Phoenicia: There's no need to thank me at all, dear!~ I'd do anything for those I love and cherish, you included!~

Sylvie: (Winces a Bit) I see. Glad to be part of the equation....

Trixie: Say the word, Sylvie. (Starts Pounding Their Fist onto the Palm of Their Hands) And we'll get 'em back when they least expected!

?????: Least expected, huh?~

The gang turns to see Stink & Stonk staring at them with their signature mischievous grins.

Molly: Oh. You guys are finished with your dabbing contest already?

Stink: Yep! Came down with a draw for now!

Stonk: It was epic.

Trixie: (Rolls Their Eyes) Suuuure it was.....

Stink/Stonk: (Glares at Trixie) IT WAS SO!- (Clears Their Throats Before Calming Themselves Down)

Stink: Anywho, after we concluded our epic dabbing challenge, we couldn't help but overheard your little bully dilemma you got there, four eyes.

Sylvie: It's Sylvie. ('Sighs Heavily') But yeah.....You don't know the half of it......

Stonk: Which is why we want in on your vengeance journey.

Trixie: Wait. You....actually want to help us out on this?

Stonk: Heck yeah! We don't just do pranks for funs, we also do them to get back at those who bully and/or prank us first.

Stink: Buuuuuuuuut before we start helping you guys out, we're gonna want something back in return~

Sylvie: (Sighs Once More as Takes his Wallet Out of his Pants Pocket) Alright. How much do you want? I need to save rest of the money pay my rent this month, so I implore you not to ask for too-

Stonk: (Starts Pushing his Hands Back and Forth in the Air) Woah woah woah there, pal. We don't want any of your money!

Stink: We want something more valuable than that.

Sylvie: (Raises an Eyebrow) Which is.......

Stonk: (Uses his Thumb to Rub Up and Down on the Knuckles) Oh it's nothing too grand~

Stink: We just want to have ourselves play the role of the......

Stink/Stonk: Bubblegum Renegade-

Neo Trio: No!

Trixie: It's never going to happen!

Molly: Each of our roles have already been finalized days. Let it go already!

Stink: (Crosses his Arm While Pouting) Alright, alright, fine! We're gonna!

Stonk: (Shrugs at Stink) Can't say we tried, man.

Stink: ('Sighs in Defeat') Yeah.....Okay. How about uhh....uhhh.....(Points at Sylvie) You buy us bugs of candy!

Stonk: Ten bags tops!

Sylvie: (Eyes Widened in Complete Shock) Ten!? Why not just one?

Stink: I dunno. It's the only offer we could think of right now.

Stonk: Either way, we're not gonna reach an negotiation empty handed.

Sylvie: How about I buy you two chocolate bars instead?

Stink: (Snaps his Finger ar Sylvie) Buy us each large size and you got yourself a deal!

Stonk: (Pulls his Hand Out) And we shake on it too!

Sylvie: (About to Shake Stonk's Hand) Fine by- ('Buzz') ME! (Felt Suddenly Shock on the Palm of his Hand Before Quickly Backing it Away)

Stonk: (Let's Out an Awkward Chuckle) Sorry. Forget I have a buzzer attached to my hand. (Pulls Out Another Hand) Here you go. Buzzer free this time.

Sylvie let's out a groan before reluctantly shaking Stonk's other hand, reach the agreement completely.

@aprilbrowines

@epitheterasedunofficial

[oh-three]

Loki S2E4:

Oooh, maybe Victor Timely is the guy who pruned Loki in episode one. Or, maybe it was his episode four self. Either way, something tells me we're about to find out.

Whoa, Miss Minutes keeps surprising me.

Also. More of Hunter Renslayer, ooh.

"See you soon" is literally this man's catchphrase.

WHOA, THAT'S A BETRAYAL. Not that I didn't expect it, but wow. Gotta say, Miss Minutes is right, though. Clearly, he didn't really do much.

Alright, let's see what Victor's gonna fuck up.

Who left this man alone after he went through the TimeDoor??

Okay, can't blame him for the crisis though. Not after last episode.

"Your words changed me" is the single most powerful phrase ever. I don't even remember this lady's name, but I like her.

O.B. and Victor complimenting each other and O.B. slowly realizing who he's talking to is the funniest thing ever. He's fanboying over him the way Casey was fanboying over him.

Also, the fact that Sylvie stuck around is pretty neat.

MOBIUS 😂

My man really does not want to go out in the suit again, and Loki's his scapegoat. They are such a married couple.

SYLVIE, STOP ADDING FUEL TO HIS REPRESSED EMOTIONS. LEAVE HIM ALONE.

Brad, what the fuck.

Hah, get called out. You're out of friends.

D-90 and B-15 just stepped into the wolves' den 👀

Not Brad grabbing his collar the same way he grabbed the straps of his uniform in episode one.

Lmao, D-90 getting told to go help Mobius- and just Mobius- watch Victor. Alone time with him oughta be awkward.

Loki defending Mobius 😭❤

"What if you are wrong to believe that this place can be any better? What if I was wrong to spare him? It would be easier to burn this place down and start from scratch." Yes, but as Loki tried to tell you, it's harder to take the difficult path- and, oftentimes, the difficult path is the right one. Nothing that's right is ever easy.

^^^^ "Trying to fix what's broken is hard."

Ahhh, I see you coming around.

Sylvie does have a point, though- it'll be dangerous letting Timely go after this.

"We are gods." drops mic

Wait, you guys didn't try the pie.

Dammit, Renslayer.

OH NO. SHE'S GOING TO KILL THEM ALL.

HOLY SHIT.

That was so horrifying wtf.

At least Brad seems to be having regrets already.

Whatever you do, DON'T LOSE HIM, D-90.

Just. This scene with D-90 and Victor. It's funny and sweet, and I love it-

WAIT, NO. BRAD, WHY.

COME BACK, D.

There's something very significant about D-90 getting pruned exactly one season after pruning Mobius, and I don't know how I feel about it.

Everything is going wrong.

And now they're gonna think Timely kill D-90. Nice.

Well, at least B-15's smart enough to know it was Renslayer.

I can't decide if Victor's a great actor or a terrible one. 😂

"There's still time." Hello, past Loki, you have no idea what our poor present folks are going through right now.

I still want to know why that phone's ringing.

Ah, so Loki literally did prune himself. This moment is like watching Harry save himself in Prisoner of Azkaban.

The look on Sylvie's face Lmao 🤣

ANSWER THE PHONE.

Bet it's Renslayer. Oh. Nvm.

CASEY, WHAT ARE YOU DOING.

Miss Minutes glitching into oblivion is the most satisfying thing ever.

Okay, now that Brad's exposed, someone please prune him. He's expendable.

Oooh, the systems being offline means that magic works in the TVA. 👀

THEY ENCHANTED HIM. 😂

RAVONNA'S BEEN PRUNED.

IT ACTUALLY WORKED, AYYYY.

Okay, is Victor doing this out of the goodness of his heart or does he actually have some sinister plot? Is he about to die?

THIS IS THE SAME MUSIC THAT PLAYED BEFORE THEY FOUGHT ALIOTH LAST SEASON.

I am having a fucking blast with this.

WHOA.

FUCKING RIP.

THAT IS NOT WHAT I WAS EXPECTING.

Thank god it wasn't Mobius or Loki.

SHIT, IT EXPODED.

AND THERE'S THE MUSIC THAT PLAYED AFTER MOBIUS GOT PRUNED.

I HATE CLIFFHANGERS. 😭

[nientedenada]

Rune from the thieves guild for the character asks :)

First impression: Oh, another quest in Riften about finding out who someone's parents are?

Impression now: There is no quest, not even the trace of a scrapped one, and the devs in interviews don't even remember what the hook is about. That note in the cistern seems even more appropriate now, all these years on.

Rune, I've used every source at my disposal and I still can't find a trace of your parents. Whoever they are, they've completely erased themselves from history. This is quite a feat considering the quality of my sources. If I come up with anything else, I'll be certain to contact you. Athel Newberry

Congratulations, Rune's parents, you've erased yourself from our world too! Anyway, he is one of the nicest most wholesome people in the guild.

Favorite moment:

Rune: "So I'm finally seeing you with a smile on your face." Sapphire: "It's this place. It feels like home. It's just nice to finally have something going right in my life."

Idea for a story: I forget who first suggested to me. Rune's parents might have some connection to Nocturnal. But it does sound a lot like the Grey Fox's curse in Oblivion. I don't have a strong idea for a story, but something with Nocturnal.

Unpopular opinion: I can actually see why they dropped the Rune quest. Having both him and Brand-Shei in the same city seems redundant. But they forgot about the hooks in the dialogue tree They have one line that seems like it was meant to replace the original idea where he says ""Have no idea what my birth name really is, and I frankly don't care." which completely contradicts his explanation in the dialogue tree that he's spent nearly all his money trying to find out.

Favorite relationship: Rune's relationship to Brynjolf is really touching. He tried pickpocketing Brynjolf as a poor teenager, and Brynjolf took him into the Thieves' guild.

Favorite headcanon: He's Nocturnal's kid.

[bokettochild]

I WANNA SEE YOUR STYFFED ANIMALS 👀👀

Alright!

This is Squirrelly! She's my puppet I got for my fifth birthday! Much loved by my little siblings as a distraction, but unfortunately with a chewed nose as a result 😭

She's a clever, curious and playful individual but highly distractible LOL

This is Sofia (Silky Sofie). I got her from my dad when he returned from deployment overseas in one of his many south east deployments with the Air Force. As a kid, i made her out as the tired but trying older sister, trying to hold a home together for her younger siblings but also kinda lonely and looking for love. I laugh now that I've basically grown into being that character as an adult.

Fun fact! Her ears are different sizes!

This is Elizabeth! Named after Elizabeth Bennett (because I grew up on Austin) she's the younger sister of Sofie. She's a no nonsense individual, very practical and blunt, but with a good heart. She has no interest in romance and is more keen on academics and making her way in the world as a business lady.

I don't remember when and where I got her, but it was probably Toys-R-Us

This is Mary. Mary is the youngest of the cat sisters and an uter and total Karen. She's a bully and a stnker and knows she's cute enough to get away with it. She was so much fun to play with as a kid because the jerk characters are always so much fun as the "good kid".

Mary was given to me by my younger sister because she was "ugly" and so my sister didn't want her.

This is Violet! (A name I have always loved and is now a joke to me LOL) My parents got her for me at Build-A-Bear before my dad went away for a deployment right before Christmas when I was seven. There used to be a record in her paw I could play to hear my dad's voice telling me how much he loved me and that my smile "lights up the room". I played it to oblivion though and so it's dead now :(

This is Katy, another Build-A-Bear hat I got for Christmas when I was...eleven? I think? She is usually our evil queen and villain, but has also played the henchman on occasion. She's kind of awkward to hold and move, so she got mostly stuck playing side roles or in-frequent ones.

This is Faith Bear. My little sister, Faith, died of Trisomy 18 when I was 13, and the nurses gave me and my siblings each a comfort bear when we left the hospital. Faith was only a few hours old and the bears were a huge comfort. I've never played with this one, as she's more of a memory bear, but she's very dear to me.

This is Theodore, Teddy for short. He used to belong to my aunt (who is four years younger than me) but my grandfather gave him to me after his wife took custody of my aunt. Theodore is a comfort bear and hasn't been played with, since I got him as an adult. His ears are amazing for fidgeting with and he's just firm enough to simulate a small child when I need a baby fix.

Lastly, this one is Cocoa, or Charles, depending on the game. The last remaining pup of a group my sisters and I got at Toys-R-Us, I'm the only one to keep mine this long. Cocoa is sweet, playful and easily excitable, but when taking on a male role, Charles was stuffy, stiff and snobbish :)

Anyways, those are my medium size stuffies, I have....so many more that are small though :)

[thefallofophanim]

For a long time, I stayed within the Field of Oblivion, the Land of the Forgotten, where the incessant whispers of ancestors and lost civilizations cradled my unmoving frame. On that day, I heard the tales of rain and mist, listened to the poems of mute lips, stories of Men, Angels, Gods and all the rest; I tasted the bitter, liberating flavor of sin and piety, which were now one and the same. Everything was light, everything was intense, and in that instant I caught a glimpse of the knowledge that had fascinated me all these years, the knowledge for which I had dedicated my lifetime. What I saw, no book in any Monastery Library could have taught me; no sacred text could have recounted the birth of stars and dust, and the death of every one of my fellow humans, in just a few seconds. No illuminated letter could have illustrated my arrival in the pavilion of New Souls and the drowsy solitude that awaited me and every Scribe before my turn came to hold ink and paper between my fingers. One day, I thought, one day, I'll find the words to describe these celestial visions; it's through language that the ineffable, freed from its spell, will become divine, and perhaps then Humanity will be able to wake up and thank the day of Tomorrow.

I saw the universe, fluid, ever-changing, I felt the cord of light pass through me and connect me to every piece of broken glass, every flower, and to Aliosha, who had regained His original form, but whose soul I knew intimately could not move away from my heart.

Then the clouds calmed and I felt cold, pure water beneath my feet. I lose my role as storyteller and revert to the quiet scribe, if these two roles can be differentiated in the first place. The fog can take on the appearance of whatever it wants; the fog of ancient times knows all the secrets of the Land of the Forgotten. The water is clear, limpid, and I catch myself contemplating my shimmering reflection, and it's then that I realize I'm no longer alone with the Guide of my dreams who answers to the name of my lost friend.

Silken memories have brought me more than light and more than knowledge. Mist and clouds swirl in the empty air, wandering and sublime, and at every glance, I catch a feather, a strand of hair, and the beauty of long-lost faces. Heavenly chants and crossed fingers have me gasping for air, as I finally understand what the Choir of Angels is named after. Although, the illusory formation of children preaching on the days of Mass was nothing but a shameful scribble, a tasteless imitation of the scene displayed before my eyes. All around me, winged travelers whistled in the wind. Has my time come? So soon? The idea is at once sweet, liberating and sad: I don't wish to die today. Tomorrow, perhaps, I'll want to, but I can't bring myself to leave the sphere of Silk and the living when I've just received Enlightenment. God, I think, please allow me one more day; then I will join your side if so is your desire.

But this ethereal procession doesn't seem so funereal, and a feeling of gratitude washes over me. Today is not the day of the End of the World. I never thought I'd see any angels other than Aliosha - Aliosha was a miracle I thought would be enough. One of them (or all of them, perhaps, I can't remember) spoke.

"Oh, You, Child of God, offer salvation to your fellow children of God, and know our names. Hear our prayers, hear our regrets, and know our names."

"What are your names?" I answer. "Who shall I hear the prayer of, who shall I hear the regrets of? Please do tell me, for I, Lysander, will fulfill your request."

"Our names were forgotten, we ourselves can't recall them any longer. We are all and none. Once you leave this Realm, Lysander, carry with you the envy of the Ophanim. Let us burden your chest, and our savior you will become.

Let our tongues and our songs guide your hand and the ink that feeds the ones of your kind. Let our stories change Humanity. And once the time has come, let us fall."

I listen. The ill shivers that shake my body come neither from the cold water on my skin, nor from the sighs in my ears. In my mind gleams a new brilliance.