#but the only recent threads are about latest chapters out

[meliohy]

I miss internet forums

[xlillyle]

Why in my humble opinion the episode brings the Mersault arc to a satisfying end regarding Fyodor, Dazai, Chuuya and the message it has

So, there's a lot of energy buzzing around in the fandom with the latest episode and I felt like some things have not been pointed out enough, therefore I'm gonna share my thoughts on the parts of Mersault. This is a thread that focuses on the conclusion of the Mersault arc as presented in the most recent episode of the anime in season 5 and I will elaborate on what I think the message of the Mersault arc is, what Fyodor's role in this arc is, I will comment on why I think he was defeated and why it fits the message and I will also go into more detail of how Chuuya and Dazai play into all of this and what I think happened in Mersault.

I'd like to start with these panels from the manga, chapter 77:

Together with this one from chapter 105:

I think these panels convey the core message of the Mersault arc very well and its goal: Everyone is just human, no matter how smart. And humans are capable of amazing things and even moreso if they come together. This is the greatest difference between Fyodor and Dazai who have been countless of times painted and stated as each other's equals - yes, they are intellectually of a level most can only dream of, only rivaled by Ranpo, but unlike Fyodor, Dazai has learnt to trust humans and understands their bonds to each other.

Fyodor doesn't.

It's a message that is heavily implied and then outright stated by Dazai in the last episode:

The reason why Fyodor fails is that he doesn't trust in people and because he doesn't understand humans in that regard - he thinks that he is above this concept, thinks he can manipulate them and that they're just pawns. It's shown in the way he talks about Sigma, it's shown in the fact that he chose to use Chuuya who is Dazai's partner against Dazai to dangle him in front of Dazai and it's shown when he mocks Dazai for not being "able" to use a "gravity manipulator" and drops the famous line of them having a "shallow bond".

Fyodor is arrogant and very confident in his own abilities, including the one to control those around him. That's what makes him slacking though, he can't comprehend that a plan that relies on a bond and trust would be able to deceive and defeat him and the closer he gets to his goal, the less he cares. That's why he allows Dazai this last speech in 109 too, he doesn't think anything can defeat him. Dazai is at his wit's end, Fyodor is the winner. There's no way that Dazai has a backup plan, Fyodor is a genius and he already thought of everything that could possibly be, so there's no way, right?

Mersault always was about showing what humans are capable of and what they can achieve and that trusting in your allies, in your bonds with the people you love, makes you more capable and achieve higher goals. And it's exactly what happened.

Dazai states that he doesn't have control over all things, that he had a lot of uncertain cards. But he trusted in his allies and it pays off. He wins not because he has it all figured out from the start and a backup plan for the backup plan of the backup plan, he did his part of the plan and adjusted to the scene and left the rest in full trust with his allies.

This pilot stabbing Fyodor worked because Dazai trusted in the agency and Ranpo and them taking over control the vampires in time. And the rest of the Mersault story before all this?

That brings me to my next point, actually. We learn in the episode that it was all a SKK scheme:

Now, some people were unsatisfied that a plan that simple couldn't fool Fyodor, but I think that is exactly the point of it. Chuuya is a great actor (in Stormbringer he fools with grief and shock Albatross in thinking he saved the in two halves separated Doc for example) and the simplicity of this plan is what makes it so good against Fyodor - why would he assume that the great Dazai, his intellectual equal, another genius, would go through with such a plan?

And it's even better because it isn't actually Dazai's! Now, I have seen a lot of people talking about this and I admit that I assumed the opposite originally as well, that this was all Dazai's scheme, but thanks to a moot I took a closer look on the storytelling and I realized something:

Dazai describes here the moment he realized that Chuuya is on his side in my opinion. This wasn't a "Dazai orchestrated the whole thing and sent Chuuya a text to haul his ass over to Mersault" because it doesn't fit with the storyline. Especially the speech in chapter 101 stands out here - a lot of people are making jokes about how weird and gay of a plan the speech is, but I actually think, based on the situation and the voice acting from Mamoru Miyano, that this goodbye speech is a genuine one.

The speech in 101 seems very genuine down to the point of his fake goodbye in the end, meanwhile the tone of a similar speech in 109 has completely shifted.

And what happened between 101 and 109? Exactly. The elevator.

So, what I'm thinking is this: Dazai saw that Fyodor had Chuuya under control and he knows his partner, he can't quite believe that Chuuya would get himself captured, it's gotta be a plan, right? Soukoku isn't actually the brains-and-brawn duo even though everyone thinks that, but Dazai knows how capable and smart Chuuya is. He hid Arahabaki from him and figured out Rimbaud after all.

But still, there is this bit of doubt nurtured by fear - he trusts Chuuya, but what if this isn't his Chuuya? So his goodbye speech is both:

An attempt to snap Chuuya out of it, an attempt to communicate with him, the hope that carries him because this is his partner, right? Stupid Chuuya that always fights and always clings to life and knows to appreciate it a lot more than Dazai.

But also a genuine goodbye, just... in case. Because he could never forgive himself if he doesn't say goodbye to Chuuya, JUST IN CASE. He trusts and believes in Chuuya, but he can't not say goodbye to him, just in case that Fyodor really got Chuuya.

And then the elevator scene happens and Dazai realizes: He only has one way of surviving, but he will not drag Sigma into this, not if he can help it. And he made a promise to him, after all. So, Dazai pushes Sigma out, makes sure that Sigma is alive like he promised. Then he keeps falling.

The only one that can save him now is Chuuya and Dazai decides to trust him. If this is his Chuuya, Chuuya will save him. Because that is what they do: Soukoku come to each other's call, they trust each other with their life and in return get that life saved by the other.

And if this isn't his Chuuya? Well, then Dazai died for the sake of the agency and he probably thinks that this is a good way to die, too.

But he doesn't die. He gets saved by Chuuya of course, how could he have ever considered something else? Chuuya came to his help and he has a plan. So, now all Dazai has to do is play along, just like in old times.

I wanna talk about this specific part of 109 too - I saw people arguing that the fact that Chuuya has been acting all the time made the scenes less impactful for the plot or their bond, but I actually would argue the opposite. Like I just laid out, in my opinion he only learnt just before this that Chuuya is on his side. That means, they don't have an actual plan that they discussed before, but they're good, they're Soukoku - we have seen in Dead Apple during the Dragonhead's Conflict and in the Dragon fight 6 years later what they are capable of without much communication.

But this is not only a way to show off their flawless communication and synchronization again, it also shows us something that we always knew but that is now plainly laid out: Dazai trusts Chuuya with his life. He trusts Chuuya to shoot, but not kill him.

Truly, you could say:

"The core characterization of Dazai and Chuuya's partnership is based on pure trust where both of them are capable of leaving each other's life on the other's hand without a second thought or doubt." - from the Dead Apple guide book

Chuuya acting from the very beginning as vampire and Dazai finding out along with a leap of faith and them proving once again the close bond they share is exactly the way this arc was supposed to go and the fact that it was predictable in that sense doesn't make it bad writing. In contrary. Asagiri set up and delivered the message of the arc extremely well, the arc had a clear red string following through all of it.

And this is why, in my opinion, this arc was actually written very well and why Fyodor's defeat is actually a good break for his character arc (because I don't believe he is dead, but this here is already way too long and many others have pointed plenty why he probably isn't dead) and why I really like the message of the Mersault arc.

[stackslip]

im doing my Thing so i cant spend long talking about this. my two takeaways from the most recent man chainsaw man chapter and the latest arc as a whole:

this falls in line with many of the plot and thematic threads fujimoto has previously introduced. nayuta was not a person to barem, or anyone really. she was a devil, she was makima's shade, she was the bringer of the apocalypse, she was chainsaw man's weakness. she was only a person to denji, and to us, who saw her be so much more than that. and like, this fits not only parallels to part 1 (denji being violated and then losing the one person who matters to him, food as love/sustenance being turned to ashes) and the themes of children being pawns and having no agency, but it fits the parallels with fujimoto's own clear inspiration works (particularly evangelion and devilman crybaby), and his work in fire punch. so this isnt out of nowhere and this fits, all things considered

i fucking hate it and nayuta deserved so much better than ending up being sacrificed as to trigger denji's despair. and it doesnt matter how well it fits thematically, it compounds upon my frustration with asa's own writing and lack of narrative agency or depth. i just straight up am mad at this. i really am.

[nuri148]

My Take on Levi's Age

I originally wrote this as a rb addition to another post. I've been meaning to make it a stand alone post since then, and with all the talk about Levi's age since the publication of bad boy, here it is, finally.

If you ask me, Levi could not have been more that 4-5 years old at the time Kenny found him around 829.

Why?

He's severely malnourished, probably spent several days cloistered in the room with Kuchel with nothing to eat. So my guess is that, though he was old enough to speak and understand Kuchel was dead (even if he could not quite grasp the bigger concept of Death), he was too young to go out and procure himself and his mum some food, be it by stealing or begging. And for that, he's need to be very young.

I lived in Greater Buenos Aires more than half of my life (the infamous "conurbano"), and I've seen lots of very small kids, 4-5 years old, begging like pros for either change or food. It's unfortunately very common in impoverished areas. And I wasn't even in the bad ones. So, in that aspect, the Underground wouldn't be different from our villas or Brazil's favelas.

Kuchel was a prostitute. She wouldn't want Levi to witness her at work. It is fair to think that as soon as he was old enough to cross the street she'd let him roam and go play with other kids while mummy's busy. There, he'd quickly learn how to come by a piece of moldy bread to stave hunger.

So in order to just sit starving by his mother instead of going out looking for help, Levi must have been young enough that his mum could still keep him under wraps; too young to know his way about the Underground's streets, too much of a rookie in terms of using his charm or his cunning to get a bit of food.

Uri Reiss inherited the Founding Titan in 829. BUT, nowhere does it say that Kenny's encounter with Uri happens right after the latter became a titan. So Kenny might have joined Uri up to a couple of years after 829 (not many, as Rod Reiss still looks young in that flashback).

So Kenny finds Levi between 829 and 831; And Levi is 4-5 then, meaning he was born, at earliest, in 823 (considering his b-day is only one week before the year's end, that'd make him 5 in for most of 829) and latest in 825 (same if Kenny found him in 831). That makes him 10-12 years older than Eren and company. , ~20 when he joins the SC, ~26 during seasons 1-3, ~30 after the time skip, and ~33 in the epilogue.

"But Yams said he was thirty-somethiiiing!"

TLDR: I wouldn't consider canon some spur-of-the-moment answer given by Yams in a panel where he's probably tired, nervous, and doesn't have his timeline handy.

Allow me to speak here as a writer: the whims of your imagination often don't align with the logic of what needs to go on the page. So it is perfectly possible to imagine your character in a way that is inconsistent with your timeline. You see them with short hair and summer clothes fixing lunch in their sunny kitchen in a scene and, when they move to the dining room you see them with hair 4 inches longer and serving supper as a snowstorm rages outside. When you write it, you're going to have to pick up one, and go back to your notes often for continuity after, bc your brain keeps forever placing the kitchen in sunny summer and the living room in a winter night. Oh, and they're both simultaneously on the ground and the second floor. Escher pictures make more sense.

The story of AoT spans many years, so we don't know which year Levi is the default Levi in Yams' brain. It could even be the Levi from the time skip, or from a future after the last chapter that only exists in his imagination. Also, Yams has bungled up numbers before so, personally, I don't trust him much in that department.

In any case, Math is a hard science, so if Kenny found Levi with 4-5 years in 829, he can't be 30+ in 850. 5+21=26. No matter what Yams says.

Additional notes:

The original post. With additions. I recommend reading the quoted twitter thread.

Another, recent twitter thread on Levi's age

A lengthy post by an actual psychologist providing scientific foundation for Levi's age when Kenny finds him.

I saw yet another post on Levi's age recently, but I can't find the link rn and I have to make lunch. if/when I find it, I'll add it (and others I may come across)

[kustas]

I'd love to hear your hashtag wha critical thoughts about recent developments if you feel like sharing them :)

I'll preface this with saying that for this answer I will not be making a distinction between my personal tastes and what is "objectively worst". The TLDR is I have felt like WHA's been dipping in quality since book 8 approximately.

One of WHA's strong points is its ongoing theme of accessibility, via its premise of how magic is purposefully restricted from people, and via its characters, mostly the kids, who showcase various life issues and allow the story to talk about how to solve them. Disability is an important one and was at the center of book 8, which is one of my favorites. You get to see Tartah and Coco work together for a goal (=making their friend a better mobility aid), and by doing so they brainstorm the why and then how which allows for complex notions to be carried out and explained to the reader. Cute story with touching implications that flows well. This quote in particular sums up so well what WHA is "about"

After this we transition rather brutally to the latest ongoing arc of the Silver Eve. This arc has been ongoing for years now, and three volumes, making it the longest so far, I'll come back to that, putting a star on it [*]. It delves further into aspects of accessibility the series had talked about before - access to magic, access to healthcare, and poverty. This is where this blog's namesake gets relevant. Custas is a kid who was already poor, who got badly wounded ending up disabled, and who because of that was stuck in a situation with no good endings: he can't make money in his state and needs money to get out of his state. On top of this gets added magic, and comes back the question at the center of WHA: Is it wrong to restrict the use of magic, and how?

After the arc is kickstarted by Custas getting his share of spilled beans of magical secrets revealed, enter immediatly strong players via ch.48's introduction of the Wise Ones and the king himself. The political aspect of how the world works was not mentioned before. Great chapter, interesting stuff all around, personally answered much of my questions. Immediatly after this chapter the focus in 49 fully switches to the Knights and their job, and the rest of the chapter is dedicated to a story of a sexual assault survivor and how she made it. It's a surprising topic to see pop up and it's handled with the respect it deserves. Chapter 50 goes back to Coco and her troubles. This concludes book 9 and...it makes for a Lot of stuff to deal with. Put a Second star on that. [**]

Addressing those stars before we move on:

[*] This arc is taking forever. WHA's arcs in earlier volumes only took a few chapters. This arc has taken three books thus far and I doubt we have reach its climax yet. I personally don't like it and it raises an issue the series did not have before: Will the payoff be worth it? Where it is worrying for the future of the series is that manga serialized regularly tend to up the stakes progressively until the end and it might...not work out.

[**] Too many things at once unresolved. This has already had consequences with the progressive vanishing of something WHA was once excellent at: sneakily introducing elements that get used a few arcs later in important ways. The manga has been, for a while now, accumulating unfinished plot threads via not answering the questions it opens and instead adding more and more characters. Jumping from a group of characters to another was not an issue beforehand because unlike this arc's, chapters took place at different times and/or in totally different places. The Silver Eve is both set in time AND place, making it hard to follow because all sideplot happen at once.

Book 10 continues to accumulate ongoing unresolved plots with: the royal family being shady, Agott's struggles irt. her mother, Dagda running around confused and tracked by the Knights, Custas and Ininia jumping Tartah and Coco, and Galga's accident + relationship.

Book 11 does the same adding Agott's crush on Coco, the actual festival, Jujy's inner troubles...Funnily enough, this page is a good summary of the ongoing mess.

Instead of solving all of this stuff we instead get stakes ramped up to 100 with the introduction of what I can only describe as a kaiju attack. As much as I love the horror and drama element, given what was already going on, this does NOT strike me as a good decision.

Now, we go back to the three latest chapters. These follow the same subplot: Custas' faction change and Coco's attempts to save him. This subplot has, to me, a whole lot of issues. Way earlier on in the story, even before Dagda's ambush, I had issues with how Custas was portrayed in relation to his anger, being drawn weirdly spooky for...a frustrated poor kid? Others have also pointed out it wasn't great to have one of your only dark skinned characters be a slum kid. Obviously given my handle on here, I am still a huge fan of the character. After chapter 45 (included), I already found it a bit tasteless to have so much horrors piled on him. WHA is a rather unsubtle series at time which I really, really dislike. Sure, makes it hard to miss the point, but when you're dealing with sensitive topics it can fall into touchy territory fast...

In the latest chapters, Coco appears to save Custas, the "how" part of her plan still being a mystery. Meanwhile, a timelooped and very confused Dagda looks for him, accompanied by Lulucy, who knows them both and is unaware of their ties with forbidden magic. She ends up telling him to abandon the faction he sided with by literally ripping off the brim of his hat with her magic. Meanwhile, Lulucy starts attacking him on sight. I have so, so so many issues with all of this.

Coco's story is about knowing the system in place sucks. Custas' story is about being screwed over by the same system. The story explicitly points those two out as mirrors: Custas is what would have happened to Coco without the right support. Coco's unique POV on the pointed hat witches shows us many prior times they are not the good guys. Hell, Custas himself talks about how the pointed hat's magical gatekeeping prevented him from living a better life.

To me, the point was supposed to be: the system in place doesn't work, which results in people in need not getting help. We loop back to the accessibility I started off mentioning. Yes, before the current system, bad things happened - but the current system is still allowing other bad things to happen now. So...why is Coco pushing Custas to join the pointed hats and abandon the faction he sided with? If a character who was upholding the status quo was doing so it would make sense (like Beldaruit) but Coco as a main character exists partially to point out why the pointed hats are not good. She demonstrates it to the reader via what happens to her AND knows it as a character. It comes off as inconsistent and frankly makes little sense.

Speaking of inconsistencies...why does Lulucy not recognize Custas, a child she's known for a while? Why does the young prince, introduced as a suspicious character on behalf of his family's unknown goals, become a helpful selfless little guy? Why are the Knights, originally introduced as an antagonistic faction because they are a milita enforcing the status quo, suddenly portrayed as fighting for good as a bunch of remarkable individuals?

Ah yes, the cops. I'm going to address something really fast about them. It makes me frankly uncomfortable the author chose their faction to evoke the two very sensitive topics of sexual assault and homophobia. I think the way those topics themselves were handled without greater context was surprisingly good, and it's touching in the first place to see an author who not only cares, but uses her series, destined partially for younger readers, to explain why she cares. However, Witch Hat is a very black and white series: the bad guys are bad and ugly and you should dislike them, the good guys are good and you should like them. There are some exceptions but who have been losing steam as of late. While originally introduced as a group of individuals who act in problematic ways for their day job, the Knights have slowly lost that bad guy flavor to become a fun band of colleagues/friends. They are law enforcers who enforce unjust laws, but it seems that the author's not on board with people hating them because this is the second time she gave a Knight a tragic backstory that makes them more sympathetic to the reader. First of: I do not see what's to redeem about them if the story's about changing an unjust system, so I don't get the necessity to make them nicer. Secondly: at least in my country (which has legal gay marriage and notably less sexist than Japan) law enforcement is renowned to not help sexual assault victims or gay people. The Knights Moralis are fantasy cops and cops, in real life, tend to abandon people who need their help regarding those two issues - if not worsen them, and count a majority of sexists/homophobes among their ranks. Making your unsubtly cop stand-in faction have both characters with those issues comes off as at least a poor decision if not bad taste.

(big words from the guys introduced in the story by arresting a bunch of children who were on a rescue mission for a misunderstanding they would not have cared about. Die idgaf)

Some more surface level things:

The art. The first books of WHA are noticeably more complex in their style featuring more reaslistic proportions for the characters. Latest arc has seen art lose some of the decorative "classic" flair in the linework and characters looking simpler and stylized to look way...Younger? In a way I do not like. Yes, it's expected for manga series to see their style evolve. I also want to make this clear: I consider the pace imposed on manga artists to be inhumane and if Shirahama had decided to draw her manga as stick figures to work less I'd be down for it.

The dialog. While WHA is very in your face (you may call it preachy) the dialog in the latest chapters especially Coco's feels off. A 12yo wouldn't give off speeches about the world in the heat of battle. When it's a calm scene between two characters discussing a deep thing, sure. When it's an epic public adult figure (see: Dean), sure. I'd prefer having the kids talk like kids.

Goddamn the story has become less nuanced and subtle over the time. Scenes like Qifrey getting confronted by Tartah post mindwiping his grandpa owned. The story's current "morally grey" moments just don't do it for me anymore. No, I don't want the witch politicians of the faction you established as a mistake beforehand to continue. I don't care if the fantasy cops are offended by a grieving husband pointing out they suck. I kinda wish he'd thrown hands actually

So...yeah, that's about it. While WHA's plot beats has always been impossible for me to predict, I don't know if I can trust where the story is going anymore. The fans eating it up confuse me and I might even get hate for posting this. Truth is, while some aspects have always been more or less present in the series since the start, I've felt like the really good bits that balanced it out have been going extinct. I don't know why and it's none of my business to. Some friends have pointed out we might be reaching a point where the author ran out of pre-written story and is now improvising. What's a bit concerning to me is I've also noticed she's way less active on social media, where she used to post regular bonus material for the series, this has stopped and I hope it's not because she lost her interest for the series or way worst, is overworked. Given the conditions for mangaka it wouldn't be impossible and like previously stated, I am of the opinion that no comic book series is worth putting their author's life, health and free time down. It's more important than me disliking the comic.

And regarding Custas - him joining the atelier to study with Qifrey would not be a good ending, no matter what the fandom says. It won't be cute found family. Custas has a family who's unique member wouldn't be able to follow him as a witch. That ending would separate a very traumatized child from the only adult he has in his life that gives him unconditional love and support. Custas needs to not be seen as a criminal so the rest of his life won't be over, and also a whole bunch of cash.

I'm not excited for the anime.

[laxmiree]

[CN] MLQC Season 2 Chapter 51 Translation (Part 1)

⚠️  SPOILER ALERT  ⚠️ This post contains a VERY HEAVY SPOILER for the chapter that has not been released in EN yet! Feel free to notify me if there are any mistakes in the translation~

Pushing open the door in front of him, he immediately saw the girl he had been searching for. 

She's all alone, confined within a glass container secured by layers of locks and cables.

The blinking red lights from the instruments cast an eerie crimson color on her. In that instant, he even felt like she might not be breathing anymore.

It's as if the last thread holding onto something in his mind had snapped.

Previous Lucien’s chapter -> [Here]

[Background Info]

VERY recommended to read [R&S Threshold] first for more pain

Anyway so- recently this phenomenon called space rift suddenly appeared in every corner of Loveland City. Many organizations including NW and STF have been keeping an eye on it. Lucien's chapter in this batch will be focusing on the 'the rifts'

Note that I won't delve deep into the "Odyssey" plot because it'll be the focus of Kiro's chapter. So, I will only write important plot points when the story touches that plot.

[Chapter 51-1]

There's a gaming company called Infinite that recently launched a new game called "Odyssey" and this game has managed to maintain its high level of popularity for several consecutive days. Things that's been happening like space "rifts", or discussions about the conference can't even dampen the enthusiasm about the game.

MC receives an unexpected collaboration invitation from Infinite. As she reviews the proposal, they discover that Infinite plans to use their latest virtual reality device, the Golden Apple3, for the game's promotion.

She remembers that she had experienced the previous version of that virtual reality device, Golden Apple 2 (1st Lucien's company story). In the end, her company quickly agrees to the collaboration because it's such a significant contract.

When MC returns home, it's already close to 10 p.m. And something strange happens after she steps out of the elevator.

It is almost ten o'clock when I return home from work. Just as I step out of the elevator, a sudden sense of deja vu runs through my body.

I hesitate and stop my steps for a moment, but that feeling has already disappeared without a trace.

I notice several packages piled up at my doorstep. As far as I remember, I haven't ordered anything recently.

I puzzledly try to pick up one of them, but my fingertip goes straight through the box!

MC: …!

I blink in disbelief, and the cardboard box lies perfectly intact at my doorstep as if what happened just now was just my imagination.

Am I so tired that my vision is playing tricks on me...?

I cautiously reach out and wave my hand, but the cardboard box in front of me remains untouchable as if it were a mere projection.

MC: (confused) ...What is going on?

The delivery boxes clearly have my name and address on them, but the shipping dates for all of these packages are... ten days later?

Feeling puzzled, a shadow falls beside me. I turn around, and a familiar person is standing behind me, seemingly out of nowhere.

MC: Lucien?

The strands of his bangs obscure the light, casting his already emotionless eyes into deeper shadows. The bandages wrapped around his wrist are soaked with oozing blood, the vivid dark red strikingly catches my eye.

MC: What happened to you!!

My heart tightens, and I hurriedly rush toward him, but my body "passes through" him just like it did with the delivery boxes.

In the next moment, Lucien disappears, leaving only a tightly closed door standing in front of me.

I touch the door in bewilderment; it feels cold and solid.

When I lower my head, the pile of packages at the doorstep has completely vanished without a trace just like Lucien.

MC: What on earth is happening…

??: MC?

I turn around in surprise and see Lucien walking out of the elevator with a smile on his face.

MC: Lucien-?!

I quickly walk over and, to his surprised expression, I push back his bangs.

His smooth forehead shows no signs of injury, and his deep eyes carry a slight hint of confusion, but he cooperates with my actions.

After confirming that there are no wounds on Lucien's body, I finally breathe a sigh of relief and meet his inquisitive gaze.

Lucien: Did this classmate here find something on my face?

I retract my hand from his waist, feeling somewhat embarrassed as I avert my gaze.

MC: It's nothing, I was just... I...

Seeing me a bit tongue-tied, Lucien smiles and soothingly takes my hand.

Lucien: Although I don't know what you were looking for, the hallway lighting isn't great. Come inside, and we can talk slowly.

(Lucien's 5th birthday bgm playing)

I sit on the sofa, cradling the perfectly warm hot chocolate, and take a sip. The sweet, aromatic flavor relaxes my entire body.

MC: I didn't expect Professor Lucien to start drinking this sweet beverage as well.

Lucien: While shopping at the supermarket, I remembered how you couldn't stop praising the taste of this chocolate, so I bought it.

Lucien: After all, if I invite you for tea at this hour, the Great Producer who works hard all day might have trouble falling asleep tonight.

Lucien sets his cup down and gently takes my hand.

Lucien: (getting closer) Now, can you tell me why you wanted to give me a "body checkup" as soon as we met?

I purse my lips and explain the "strange event" I just witnessed to Lucien in detail, my brow furrowing in puzzlement.

MC: Could what I saw just now be one of those "space rifts" that have been appearing sporadically in Loveland City lately?

MC: I got a little panicked earlier and didn't think about it at the moment.

Lucien: I understand. After all, concern can lead to panic.

I hear a low, deep chuckle beside me. I tilt my head slightly and am met with a deep smile, causing my ears to flush.

Lucien: But you're right; it should be one of those "space rifts," so there's no need to worry too much.

Lucien: It's not reality, at least not something happening right now.

Seeing my continued confusion, Lucien continues to speak.

Lucien: Recently, various organizations have been observing it, and I've also gathered some relevant information.

Lucien: It's caused by an unknown energy fluctuation, which tears open a "rift" in the present space and projects a "phantom" from the future.

Lucien: They can't be touched, and they don't affect reality.

Lucien: A more straightforward explanation would be some form of "foresight”.

I nod thoughtfully, grasping a certain point.

MC: So, these images from the future, are they bound to happen later?

Recalling him with bandages earlier, my heart tightens once again. As if he noticed my anxiety, Lucien clasps my fingertips and gently strokes them.

Lucien: (softly) I think the so-called doomed fate has long been shattered by you.

Lucien: Otherwise, the "doomed" comet destined for Earth should also follow its predetermined course.

His voice carries a reassuring certainty that can calm anyone as if nothing that happens can deviate from the path he holds in his hands.

Lucien: So there's no need to worry too much. Since I already know about this "future," I'll be even more careful.

MC: (worriedly) I'm just concerned if there might be any accidents... Professor Lucien, you won't be doing anything dangerous recently, will you?

Lucien: Hmm... (chuckle) Some of the experiments I'm currently working on do involve chemicals that aren't entirely safe.

MC: ... Are they toxic substances? Or the kind that could cause explosions?

Lucien: (chuckle then teasingly says)  Both, actually. But in my case, the likelihood of them occurring is almost zero.

His playful tone eases my concerns to some extent, but I still have a lingering unease. After some thought, I take out a few colorful ropes from my bag.

MC: Just in case, I want to add a "safety net."

MC: Yesterday, I had an interview right next to Grandma Wen's* shop, so I stopped by for a while afterward.

MC: She taught me a new knot, which she said could bring good luck.

Lucien leans quietly against my side, his fingertip lazily twirling the other end of the thread.

Lucien: Today, Pete was showing off the protective amulet he got from the temple at the research institute, claiming it's very effective and recommending it to everyone.

Lucien: But now it seems that I can get a more effective "amulet" without going to the temple.

MC: How could something I make be as good as something blessed at the temple?

Lucien: In Buddhism, the blessings of the Buddha are for all living beings. But what you make, all the intentions and feelings behind it belong to me alone.**

The subtle rise in his deep tone has an intoxicating effect and makes me feel entranced. In that momentary lapse of attention, the threads in my hand have become tangled.

The soft laughter in my ears carries a husky undertone as if he sees through all the restlessness in my heart.

MC: Please don't "cause trouble" Professor.

Lucien: Hmm? (chuckle) I'm just here to observe and learn.

He leans in beside me, watching attentively. After a while, a somewhat decent knot appears in my hands.

MC: (smiles softly) Although a bit superstitious, I hope it can help you ward off disasters.

Lucien: I heard that carrying these lucky charms close to your body enhances their effectiveness.

His fingertip gently traces the lucky charm, and he winks at me.

Lucien: (whispers charmingly) Would you be willing to help me put on this token of luck yourself?

*: Grandma Wen is the same grandma that taught MC to make a peace knot back in S1 chapter 9, she also appeared in Bound by Love SP (Chinese Wedding SP)~

**: This small bit is a nod to his 2023 Qixi Karma Date! 🥺. For him, her blessing and protection far outweigh any blessing that ‘god/gods’ can give him, and he is her most devout ‘believer’.

[Chapter 51-3]

After confirming cooperation with Infinite, MC is invited to experience the game device Golden Apple3 by them at the weekend.

On Saturday, I wake up early, and as soon as I push open the door, I notice that someone is already waiting for the elevator in the hallway.

MC: Good morning.

Lucien is wearing a casual but modest windbreaker. Upon hearing my voice, he turns around and there's a hint of surprise in his smiling eyes.

Lucien: You're up so early on a Saturday. Is there something going on?

MC: (smiles) I signed a collaboration with Infinite for their new game, and today, I'm going to try out their gaming equipment.

Lucien: Is it the game called "Odyssey"?

MC: Oh, you know about it too?

Lucien: Since the first-generation products of GA, they've been using a lot of technology related to brainwaves and data conversion.

Lucien: Today, they invited me to attend an internal neuroscience conference.

I recall the testing of their first-generation product with a little smile.*

MC: It's a shame I won't have another chance to be your “examiner”.

Lucien: So, you really like that role?

MC: Well, it's not every day I can get Professor Lucien to call me "Examiner".

The elevator doors also open as he speaks.

Lucien: Since our destination is the same, how about catching a ride with me, Miss Examiner?

They arrive quickly at the futuristic place. Once they're here, they part ways, and MC shakes her phone to Lucien to indicate that she'll contact him later.

MC is welcomed by the game producer, Bi Fang, who was rescued at the GR auction.

Because the game closed its first beta last week, she can't experience the game yet, however, she still can experience other things with the Golden Apple 3 device. With the accompaniment of a swan AI assistant called "Swan Lake" she experiences "Loveland City" in Golden Apple 3 VR. The technology is pretty great, "Loveland City" in the VR is identical to real-life Loveland City and her experience feels very real.

Guided by the swan, I stroll through the virtual Central Park. The refreshing air fills my senses as I gently run my fingers over the roadside flowers, their soft petals still carrying a cool morning dew, sticking to my fingertips.

I walk all the way from Central Park to my own home. Gazing at the apartment building in front of me, I'm unable to hold back my emotions.

MC: It's truly identical. It's just a bit quiet, a little more liveliness would be great.

Swan Lake: Received the request, I have polished the scene for you.

I haven't reacted yet when suddenly my vision blurs for a moment. When it clears again, there are many pedestrians in front of me.

Someone walks by talking on the phone, and people are playing with children downstairs. I ask the little black bird next to me in a daze.

MC: Are these also data?

Swan Lake: Yes, these scenes are simulated based on the environmental data we have collected.

As I speak, I even see the familiar security guard at the entrance nodding at me.**

The familiarity of the scene made me think that in the next moment, someone should come out of the apartment building, smiling and calling my name.

In the blink of an eye, it seems like there's a blurry figure gradually becoming clear behind the glass door.

I was about to speak when I suddenly heard a somewhat urgent "beep-beep" sound in my ears.

Swan Lake: Administrator permissions detected, experience will be terminated shortly.

The scene in front of me gradually dims, and the surrounding white noise disappears. The helmet is removed by someone, and the glaring light makes me squint.

Bi Fang mentions that the company is facing some issues and they need to evacuate. He doesn't explain more and looks a little anxious. Though MC is a bit puzzled, she quickly sends a message to Lucien and follows the crowds towards the escape corridor.

??: MC.

My wrist is enveloped by a warm palm, and when I turn around, I see that familiar figure.

MC: I just messaged you, did you also receive the notification?

Lucien: It's not clear what's happening yet. Let's follow the staff's instructions and leave this place for now.

??: AH– what's that?

An unknown commotion up ahead makes the orderly crowd move faster. Just as we turn the corner, I freeze in place at the scene in front of me—

An irregular, semi-transparent shadow hovers in the middle of the corridor. A faint mist emanates from it and slowly spreads to the side.

Lucien's brows furrow slightly as he tightens his grip on my hand.

Lucien: It's a rift.

I haven't had a chance to digest his words when the spreading mist gradually creates some kind of shadowy figures of nearby people, the shadowy figures slowly lining up in a long row.

MC: Isn't this rift a bit strange…

Lucien: If I'm not mistaken, it seems to be affecting reality.

*: She’s recalling Lucien’s first company cooperation story - [Simulation Project]

**: That security guard is actually Lucien's spy that often appears in some R&S, especially in [An Elusive Man] and [The Eyes That Witnesses] 😂

[Chapter 51-5]

The sudden appearance of the eerie phenomenon plunged the crowd into chaos. The black edges of the rift in the corridor also slowly expanded outward.

Lucien raises his hand a little towards the rift, and I suddenly feel a slight heaviness in my body. The air around me seems to distort for a moment.

I immediately realize he's exerting gravity, but the rift remains unresponsive.

At that moment, another powerful energy fluctuation sweeps through, elongating those eerie rows of shadows even further.

??: Ahh-!

Amidst the chaotic noise, a scream erupts as someone is pushed to the edge of the rift. In an instant, his body begins to turn transparent.

Lucien reaches out towards him but passes directly through the semi-transparent figure. Seeing this, I instinctively pulled him too.

At the moment of contact, a familiar power within me seems to resonate strangely with the surrounding energy.

Crackle—

A burst noise echoes through my eardrums as if a signal is being disrupted, and a blurry scene flickers before my eyes.

Crackle—Crackle—

A muffled and heavy roar reverberates in my ears as if many cold metal pieces are grinding and rotating.

In the blurry picture, I faintly see some huge, heavy gears surrounding me, slowly turning.

MC: ...Gears?

Lucien: MC!

I hear Lucien’s voice and snap back to reality.

The gears and sounds have all vanished, and in that instant, I feel a tangible sensation in my palm— I’ve caught that person.

Lucien grips my wrist and we pull that person out together. Then, we retreat to a more distant place with the crowd.

Lucien: Are you okay?

I shake my head in disbelief, subconsciously recalling the scene from just now. What were those rotating gears?

I lift my head and meet Lucien's concerned gaze, noticing that his expression hasn't changed. The people around us are still in the same state of panic.

I instinctively ask.

MC: Lucien, did you see anything just now?

He shakes his head, his gaze conveying a mixture of confusion and inquiry, indirectly confirming my conjecture.

I'm the only one who sees those mysterious gears.

At this moment, a resounding and powerful sound echoes down the corridor as a team dressed in Special Task Force uniforms marches through, taking control of the chaotic scene.

STF Member: An Evolver with an uncontrollable ability has appeared inside the building. The Special Task Force has already taken control. Please do not panic and evacuate orderly through the stairs.

After receiving clear instructions, the crowd that was previously in disarray slowly regains order.

As they move further away from the rift, the distortion gradually fades.

STF Member A: The situation here is dangerous. Please cooperate with the evacuation.

The special forces officer stands between us and the rift, not allowing anyone to get closer. Lucien calmly glances at the rift that almost swallows the corridor.

Lucien: This rift is different from what we've encountered before. It just exhibited characteristics of reality interference a moment ago, and it's still expanding its scope.

Lucien: Apart from simply evacuating the civilians and controlling the scene, you might need to prepare additional measures.

The STF officer hesitates for a moment, and it seems that he hears something through his earpiece. After listening, he nods in agreement with Lucien.

STF Member A: Thank you for the information. Please leave this area for now.

I look back at that dark silhouette again before I am led away from the building by Lucien.

—-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Back in the car, I fasten my seatbelt and still feel a bit anxious.

MC: Lucien, what will happen after that rift?

Lucien: I'm not entirely sure, but the Special Task Force should have a plan in place to prevent any major repercussions.

Listening to this, I feel relieved and lean back in the car seat, recalling the sensations I felt when I caught that person.

Like an unspoken connection, Lucien also thinks of the same thing, and he slightly glances at me.

Lucien: How did you manage to catch that person just now?

MC: I'm not entirely sure, but I felt a surge of power resonating with the CORE, and then I can hold that person.

Lucien remains silent for a moment, as if contemplating something.

Lucien: My Evol can't interfere with it, but yours can. Perhaps it's because of the unique nature of your power.

MC: Are you talking about... CORE?

Lucien: This is just my speculation, after all, CORE possesses many powers that we have yet to fully understand.

I look at my palm in silence, carefully recalling the resonance of power I felt when I caught that person.

Lucien's guess is probably correct. But why can the power of the CORE interfere with the rift?

And also, the spinning gears I saw for that brief moment…

In the rearview mirror, Infinite's building gradually fades into the distance, but there's always an indescribable unease lingering in my heart.

The car comes to a slow stop at a red light, and a hand gently covers my cold hand.

Lucien: Everything happens for a reason.

Lucien: Don't worry too much, every problem has its corresponding solution. It may just take more or less time to find it.

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The sunlight casts long diagonal shadows through the window, spreading across the papers strewn on the floor.

The young man with green hair sits on the floor, scribbling furiously. Messy equations occasionally fly off the edge of the paper, getting written halfway on the floor.

"The results will vary based on the change in C, but each time, it only gets infinitely closer to the threshold..."

Suddenly, a shadow appears on the windowsill. Joker doesn't pay it any mind, he just moves his papers to where there's more light and continues writing rapidly.

Along the windowsill, a young boy swings his legs and pouts.

Uno: Joker, how long do you plan to stay cooped up in here? Something interesting happened outside today.

[Chapter 51-7]

After close monitoring by the Special Task Force, the rift that had taken hold in the Infinite building completely disappeared after one day.

MC: "According to the investigation, the rift inside the Infinite building was caused by intense Evol fluctuations."

MC: "If any citizens witness similar phenomena, please don't hesitate to contact the Special Task Force at any time..."

After dinner, I lean back on Lucien's sofa, scrolling through today's news.

MC: ... I didn't expect this rift to last so long.

MC: The official explanation in the reports also matches what the Special Task Force explained on the scene yesterday.

Lucien: Until we have gathered enough information, this explanation is the least likely to cause a commotion.

The sofa next to me sinks slightly, and his familiar clean scent lingers around me. I relax and lean back, letting out a yawn.

From yesterday until now, that indescribable sense of worry in my heart has grown stronger.

I keep finding myself thinking about the rotating gears I saw when I got close to the rift and the constantly stretching shadows in front of it.

These scenes are remarkably similar to what I witnessed before at the ruins.*

Could there be a connection between the two? Is it related to the CORE?

Unconsciously, I let out another sigh, and Lucien gently ruffled my hair.

Lucien: (gently) Is it the rift from yesterday that's making you feel so uneasy?

MC: Sigh, it seems like I can never hide any little secrets from you.

Lucien: (smiles) This classmate has practically written her little secrets all over her face. Besides, you seemed a bit distracted during dinner just now.

MC: It seems like I've been a bit overly worried...

Lucien: In most cases, people don't feel uneasy about things they are certain of.

Lucien: So, turning the unknown into the known, and the out-of-control into in-control will alleviate those worries.

Listening to his words, I hesitate for a moment but still decide to tell him about the gears I saw yesterday and the "prophecy" I once witnessed in the ruin.

Lucien listens quietly, his expression shifting from a brief surprise to deep contemplation.

Lucien: Are you saying that yesterday, when you came into contact with the rift, you briefly saw a scene with many gears?

Lucien: And not long ago, you also saw a similar scene through the power of the CORE in a ruin.

MC: It seems a bit different... What I saw in that ruin, in addition to gears, there were also many human….

MC: Uh, something like "worms"?

Lucien: …'Human worms'?

MC: Yes, and then those gears eventually devoured them all…

Lucien ponders for a moment, and his eyes light up.

Lucien: Are these "worms" you mentioned similar to the shadowy figures we saw in front of the crack yesterday?

MC: If I must say, there is indeed a resemblance, but the worms I saw in the ruins were much longer than those shadowy figures.

Seeing me gesturing enthusiastically, Lucien takes out paper and a pen from a nearby cabinet and begins to write and draw on it.

Lucien: MC, have you ever heard of "four-dimensional worms"?

MC: Four-dimensional worms?

Faced with unfamiliar terminology, I shake my head.

Lucien: In the current dimension, we can only see ourselves in the present moment.

I glance sideways— Lucien is focused on the diagrams drawn on the paper, with a faint upward curve at the corner of his lips.

Lucien: But suppose we step into a higher dimension, the abstract concept of time, which is originally intangible, becomes a visible "axis."

As he sketches, a person's form from birth to old age is stretched out along a long line.

Lucien: And this shape might look like a "worm"... perhaps you've seen similar concepts in many movies.

Lucien: So I speculate that within the area where the rift appeared, there may have been a momentary phenomenon of "transitioning into the fourth dimension."

A simple sketch falls onto the paper, the slender, worm-like shape making the scenes from the ruin become even clearer in my mind.

MC: Yes... it looks just like this! Like a person stretched infinitely!

MC: So, what I saw in the ruin was actually people transforming into a four-dimensional form?

Lucien: That's right, those shadows near the rift could also be part of the "four-dimensional worm".

MC: But what could this signify?

The air falls silent once more, and Lucien speaks after a moment of contemplation.

Lucien: Some phenomena may only be visible to you as CORE, and they each have their own significance.

Lucien: Can you try to recall where else you've seen similar situations? Perhaps that could be part of the answer.

His question makes me feel anxious.

Of course, I've seen them—behind the gate known as the truth of the world.

But why did the scenes that should have appeared behind the gate show up when I touched the rift?

Complex thoughts are continuously welling up as if some subtle and unnoticed change has already begun.

Lucien: (tenderly) Are you thinking of some difficult questions?

MC: I'm just thinking... why did it appear?

Lucien: That's a very straightforward question indeed.

MC: Lucien, perhaps you know something?

He pauses for a moment, his fingers gently twirling around my hair as he plays with it.

Lucien: Because of the lack of evidence, I currently only have speculations... My guess is that these various phenomena might be related to that comet.

MC: ….!

Lucien: The earliest energy fluctuations that appeared within Loveland City coincided with the conclusion of the strange celestial phenomena brought by the comet.

Lucien: So my speculation is that perhaps it's a little "surprise" left for us by the comet. Of course, it could also be an entirely new phenomenon.

MC: I can’t believe it was so long ago…!

The timing seems too coincidental. Could the rift truly be connected to the gears or that door?

My mind is in chaos, and I sigh tiredly. In the next moment, I feel tightness around my waist as Lucien pulls my whole body into his embrace.

Lucien: In most cases, solving problems is the best way to dispel uneasiness.

Lucien: But if the problem can't be solved immediately, there are other little tricks to temporarily ease your mind.

Feeling his arm holding me tighten slightly, I bury my head into his chest and speak in a muffled voice.

MC: Then… Please help me, Professor Lucien.

Lucien: (in an almost whisper) Now, slow down your breathing rhythmically.

I begin to breathe slowly as he instructed. Soon, the faint scent of tea submerges my entire body.

Lucien: (whispers softly) Now, close your eyes and imagine yourself entering a place that makes you feel relaxed...

*BG changes to camphor tree*

As he speaks, a lush camphor tree appears in my mind. A gentle breeze rustles the leaves, and there seems to be a faint, earthy freshness brushing against my face.

Lucien: Everything that made you uncomfortable seems to have turned into specks of dust in your hands, and you are scattering them into the world.

A deep and slow voice by my ear is carrying a persuasive and gentle inducement.

I subconsciously raise my hand as he instructed, and that inexplicable feeling of unease that had been lingering in my heart seems to have truly diminished.

*BG changes back to Lucien's home*

MC: Lucien, did you perform some kind of magic trick?

Lucien: (chuckles and then whispers softly) It is a 'magic' that already exists in your body, I'm just giving it a little push."

Lucien: When people hug, their bodies produce serotonin and endorphins, which temporarily override negative emotions.

I nuzzle against his neck and shoulder lingeringly, hoping that this hug can last a little longer.

MC: I feel that it was Professor Lucien's presence that made all the negative emotions in my body disappear.

Accompanied by the low murmur by my ear, the arms holding me are squeezing tighter, deepening this hug even more.

Lucien: (whispers) So, are you feeling better now?

MC: Mm..

I take a deep breath.

Many things don't simply disappear by avoiding them, and I'm not alone right now.

Because the person who can help me uncover the secrets of the rift is right in front of me.

MC: Lucien-

Lucien: MC-

The simultaneous sound makes both of us stunned, but then we exchange smiles.

[Option 1: You speak first]

MC: You speak first.

Lucien: MC, have you ever considered... personally investigating what the rift really is?

Lucien: For you right now, this might be the quickest way to alleviate your uneasiness.

Words that felt like a meeting of our hearts and minds* left me momentarily astonished. I tilt my head to look at him.

[T/N: always love it when they use the word 灵犀 ���. There’s no exact english word for it, I usually translate it as ‘tacit understanding’; but even that doesn't do it justice. It conveys the idea that two people understand each other's thoughts and feelings as if they share a special, almost psychic and soul-deep connection]

MC: (smiles softly) Is that also written on my face?

Lucien: (chuckles) No, this is a direction I've speculated about based on my understanding of you, perhaps one that you might find interesting.

Lucien: And for me, it's also what I need right now.

Lucien: Actually, I've been wanting to speak up today to formally invite you to help me with this favor, but I haven't found the right moment.

Lucien: MC, I need your power to continue exploring the secrets of this rift.

MC: Is it because CORE's power can interfere with it?

Lucien: Yes. I've tried before but never succeeded.

Lucien: But you might be the turning point.

Lucien: Of course, exploring the unknown comes with certain risks. So it's not an obligation, you have the right to refuse.

I tilt my head slightly and wink at him.

MC: Professor Lucien took the initiative to ask for my help, how could I refuse?

Once, when I was lost and hesitant, it was the person in front of me who gave me the answer - that only by always moving forward can you stay ahead of the world.

And now, it seems I have finally reached a point where I can move forward side by side with him.

I smile and extend my hand to him.

MC: Happy cooperation, Lucien!

Lucien: I look forward to working with you.

-

[Option 2: So... should I go first?]

MC: So… should I go first?

Lucien: (chuckles softly) Of course.

His lips curl up slightly, waiting for my next words.

MC: If I'm very interested in this rift, would you help me?

His gentle fingertips lightly pinched my ear, the sensation felt like a delicate and soft kiss.

Lucien: How could a teacher refuse to provide extra guidance to a diligent student? Moreover, this happens to align with my wishes as well.

MC: Your wishes?

Lucien:  Actually, I've been wanting to speak up today to formally invite you to help me with this favor, but I haven't found the right moment.

[T/N: the convo stays the same as the other choice after this]

[Chapter 51-8]

"Authentication successful, identity: visitor."

I swipe the visitor card to open the gate and follow Lucien into the grayish-white-toned corridor of the Bioultima Research Institute.

He leads me to an unfamiliar room and makes a welcoming "please come in" gesture.

Lucien: Please come in, little researcher. This is our "classroom" for today.

I look around this clean and simple small research room, noticing some equipment that's different from what's usually found in normal research institutes. There's also a door on one side of the room.

MC: Is there another room inside?

Lucien: Yes, inside is today's "practice" area.

Lucien then walks over to me, and using fingerprint verification, he opens the hidden door. The moment the door opens, I can feel a faint but very familiar power.

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

The small room is empty, but in the corner, there appears a cabinet with only one corner.

The cabinet is "torn" by highly irregular lines, as if someone tore a piece of paper in half, and I can faintly see a border that's softly shimmering.

MC: Is this... a rift?!

Lucien: That's right, it's a rift that appeared five days ago, and I've managed to keep it here using some special methods.

MC: Can I take a closer look?

Lucien: (chuckles) Just in case, put this on first.

Lucien fastens an electronic bracelet onto my wrist.

Lucien: This bracelet will suppress your Evol. Once it detects an overload of CORE's power, it will activate a protective mechanism.

Lucien: This is to prevent your power from resonating excessively with the rift's power, avoiding any accidents.

I reach out to the rift and pass through it as I did last time, bumping into the cold wall.

Lucien: I've tried various ways to "communicate" with it, but all have failed.

Lucien: However, based on past experiences, I suspect that under the influence of CORE, the rift will establish some connection with reality.

Lucien: So that's why I hope you can help me verify this idea today.

MC: What do you need me to do?

Seeing my eager anticipation, Lucien smiles.

Lucien: I need you to use the power of CORE on the rift.

Lucien: If we successfully link the rift to reality, we can observe the other side of it.

MC: Make observations?

As soon as I finish speaking, a small robot drives in from the next room and stops in front of us.

Lucien: Mm. If it works, it will record what's on the other side of the rift for us.

Lucien: We can begin when you’re ready.

I nod, thinking that using my ability shouldn't be too difficult. So, I take a deep breath and concentrate on gathering that familiar power within me.

Soon, I feel a faint vibration coming from the other side of the rift.

At the same time, the instrument's screen starts displaying a large amount of data.

Lucien observes the ever changing data with a clear smile in his eyes.

Lucien: We've successfully influenced the rift.

After Lucien adjusts the parameters of the small robot, I nervously watch it slowly move forward. When it reaches the rift, its figure shimmers and merges with the scene on the other side.

Lucien: It has arrived on the other side of the rift.

MC: That's great!

I excitedly take Lucien's hand and shake it, and a small smile spreads across his lips.

Through the camera on the robot, we obtain some data.

MC: On the other side of the rift is the Bioultima Research Center 37 days from now. The passage of time there is the same as it is now...

The constant use of power has left me a little sleepy and I rub my temples.

MC: Lucien, what should we do next?

Lucien:  I want to try to see if I can get my Evol to affect the rift through the power of CORE, but….

He winks and gently taps the edge of my eyebrow.

Lucien: This diligent little researcher, why don't you take a rest for a while?

MC: I'm fine, I can continue.

I take a moment to collect myself, and see Lucien pause for a moment before turning around and leaving. When he comes back, he puts something white and fluffy in my hand.

The plush and soft texture wraps around my palm, and I lower my head to see a cute white round mochi-shaped keychain lying in my hand, with a pair of bright, lively eyes embroidered on it.

MC: This is... from KIWI's new little mochi series!

Lucien: I remember you mentioned passing by this shop before and how it always gets sold out.

Lucien: I happened to see a shop assistant restocking them on my way to work earlier, so I got one. Originally, I intended it as a gift for the lucky charm, but it has been sitting here all this time.

Lucien: Let it be your cheerleader, and boost the spirits of this hardworking little researcher.

Lucien picks up the little keychain and gives it a couple of shakes while saying this. The fluffy and bouncy little ball truly seems to be cheering me on.

I giggle and hold the soft toy in my hand.

MC: With this "cheerleader" cheering me on, and the great Professor Lucien keeping watch, I feel a lot more energized, so let's continue.

Lucien smiles and holds my hands in return.

Lucien: Don't be nervous. What you're about to do is similar to what you just did, and you can do it very well.

I close my eyes and awaken the power within me once again.

At the same time, Lucien also extends his hand – a sense of oppression emanates from all around, and the shimmering edge of the rift seems to be suddenly suppressed by an invisible force.

Unlike the situation during the interference at Infinite earlier, the rift clearly starts to contract under the influence of CORE.

As the power is released, I feel myself increasingly in conflict with a massive force.

This sensation presses down on me so hard that I can't catch my breath, and my breathing becomes increasingly rapid.

Lucien seems to sense it too. He squeezes my hand and asks if I want to stop. But when I look at the rift that has already compressed to a small size, I grit my teeth and shake my head.

The sudden contrast was so great that for a moment I was in daze. I gasp for breath, and the soothing pats on my back bring my restless heart back to its place.

The wall in front of us is clean, and the rift that had shown a corner of the cabinet has disappeared.

MC: Do we... succeed?

I look at Lucien uncertainly, and he nods slightly.

Lucien: (smiles and says in a proud tone, hint of astonishment in his voice) Yes, the first experiment to artificially close a rift is a success. Congratulations to this little researcher.

The sunlight gradually slants westward, casting a warm glow on his hair and softening the profile of his face.

I look at his eyes that still shining brightly in the gradually darkening twilight and find it hard to take my eyes off him.

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

Perhaps due to the exhaustion of my power, my brain feels a bit dull. I obediently let Lucien lead me to the sofa in the outer room and sit down.

— The next moment, a hand covers my eyes.

Lucien: Take a good rest.

His body heat, carried by his dry fingertips, adds a layer of warmth to the part of our skin that's pressed against each other.

MC: Professor Lucien, what do you usually think about when you're tired?

Lucien: Most of the time, I have many research projects at hand. If I get tired of one, I switch to thinking about another.

MC: ….

Lucien: Of course, there's one subject that never tires my brain no matter how long I think about them.

Not hearing another response, I curiously open my eyes, and through the gaps between his fingers, I catch a glimpse of his slightly upturned lips.

The last rays of the setting sun hide within his gaze as he looks at me.

[Chapter 51-9]

Subtitled Video

Transcript

MC: Do you want to replace the robot and personally go into the rift?

After successfully closing the rift in the small room, we discovered a new rift in the alley near the research institute.

Lucien used a device that utilizes space-fold to "transport" this rift into the small room for further study.

On the second day, right after the successful completion of the research, he suddenly said he wanted to go inside the rift himself.

Lucien: The robot's range of movement and recorded data are both very limited. To obtain more information, seeing it with one's own eyes is the most effective way.

Lucien: We can now stabilize the rift's intervention time at 4 hours and 25 minutes using CORE's energy.

Lucien: Although it's not a long time, it should be enough to gather some information.

The rift experiments of these past two days haven't caused any danger, but I still have some inexplicable worries.

The image of Lucien with injuries and bandages in the rift that I saw back then resurfaces at an untimely time, intensifying my worries.

Based on the delivery at my doorstep around that time, it's roughly about a week from now.

MC: So when do you plan to enter the rift?

Lucien: One week from now, next Sunday.

Perhaps noticing my somewhat stiff expression, he sets down the report he was holding and walks over to me.

Lucien: What's wrong?

MC: …Lucien, do you still remember when I saw bandaged "you" at my doorstep before?

Lucien nods with an understanding look.

Lucien: According to that timing, next Sunday happens to be the day I got injured in the rift that you saw.

MC: (worriedly) Although I don't know if your injury is related to entering the rift...

MC: But just to be safe, it's probably best not to attempt anything risky on that day.

Lucien: (chuckles) Alright, I promise you. If we make it through that day safely, that "future" will also take care of itself.

Lucien: I'll postpone the planned time by one week and make some more thorough preparations.

I sigh in relief and nod. Lucien won't stop exploring because of such a thing, but for now, it's enough to give me some peace of mind.

MC: Then I'm going with you in two weeks!

His eyes flicker with a hint of surprise, then his eyebrows arch, and a soft smile spreads across his lips.

Lucien: Okay.

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

The night before “Lucien” got injured in the rift, I was still so nervous that I couldn't sleep much even though we postponed entering the rift.

The next morning, I arrived at the company tiredly with dark circles under my eyes.

Every half an hour, I send him a text message. I have lost count of how many times I have checked my phone screen by now.

MC: ...It's been a minute, why hasn't he replied yet?

Not even a single word of the lengthy document in front of me enters my eyes, and I anxiously tap with my fingertips.

Buzz, buzz – my phone finally vibrates, and I quickly unlock it. Lucien seems to have sensed my anxiety, and he replies promptly to each of my messages.

Under my constant "supervision", the day passes without incident.

Finally, I can heave a sigh of relief and fully immerse myself in the promotion work for "Odyssey".

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

I didn't send out the first batch of promotional advertisements until the end of this week. I walk into the residential area under a sky full of stars and let out a yawn.

Lucien has also become very busy these days, and I can only hear his voice in a few hurried phone calls.

The chat page has been stuck at noon more than a day ago.

MC: I wonder how the preparations are going…

The elevator door opens, and just as I'm about to press the floor button, a figure rushes in before the doors close.

I instinctively turn my head, falling defenselessly into a pair of smiling and dark eyes.

Lucien: Good evening, it seems that I got lucky today and ran into someone I wanted to see before going to bed.

MC: Are you done with your work?

Lucien: Mm, there was a project at the institute that needed to be rushed recently, so I was quite busy, but it's over now.

The elevator's light makes the dark circles under his eyes more pronounced, and I hold his hand with a hint of concern and distress.

MC: Are you feeling tired? Is tomorrow's plan still the same?

Lucien: Of course, it remains the same.

Lucien: Don't worry, I've set aside some time for rest, which is why I could rush back now.

Although he can't conceal his fatigue, there is a bright glint in his eyes, as if he eagerly anticipates tomorrow.

As the elevator arrives, he holds my hand and walks me to the doorstep of my home.

At my slightly confused gaze, he leans down and gently approaches me. A hint of white tea's scent fleetingly tickles my nose, and I feel a warm sensation pressing on my forehead.

In the quiet hallway, only his gentle voice resonates in my ears, accompanied by the pounding of my heart in my chest.

Lucien: (gently) Good night. I hope we both have a good dream tonight.

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

Even though I have already made up my mind, I’m still feeling nervous the next day when I put on the bracelet at the Bioultima Research center.

Lucien straightens out my sleeves and takes hold of my hand.

Lucien: The device to maintain CORE energy is ready. We can depart at any time.

Lucien: Let me confirm one last time, are you really going with me to visit 37 days in the future?

The warmth in the palm of my hand is gentle, carrying a soothing touch. I take a deep breath and nod.

The warm sunlight filters through the window glass, casting a glow on the corners of his upturned lips. It feels as if we're not heading to the unknown land, but towards paradise.

The tightly clasped hands convey his longing into me, and I know that I only need to move forward without hesitation now.

The moment I step into the rift, a tremendous surge of energy comes crashing in—

I barely have time to react before I'm thrown into the chaos. I attempt to reach for Lucien's hand but find that my body seems to be out of control.

I want to scream, but I realize I can't even open my mouth. Amid the chaotic dizziness, I faintly hear some voices.

??: Energy transfer... 132%, detecting... consciousness retained.

??: Increase... output.

The words sound like fragmented whispers, as if there's a thick barrier between me and them. But soon, the voices around me begin to fade away.

In its place, there's a heavy and distant roar that’s not unfamiliar to me.

My body seems to be floating, and I struggle to open my heavy eyelids—

In the void, massive and worn gears surround me. My body is so tiny that I feel like nothing more than a speck of dust that has drifted in, instantly swallowed by the rotating air currents.

With a discordant shattering sound, a massive gear comes crashing down, and its colossal debris hurtles past me.

Crackle—

The familiar noise flashes through my mind again, and I'm dragged down into the abyss of consciousness by that great force.

In the midst of excruciating pain that feels like it's about to tear me apart, I regain some control over my body, and I struggle to open my eyes—

The scene before me is like being submerged in water, and I can only vaguely see many white figures moving about.

Cold seeps into my body through every crevice of my skin, and at the edge of my slightly distorted field of vision, I catch a glimpse of a black cable floating by.

Am I in... water?

The moment I realize it, a wave of suffocation rapidly spreads throughout my body. I instinctively open my mouth to breathe, and the icy water rushes into my nostrils and throat—

Who will come to... save me?

There's a white figure that seems to have noticed me, approaching and then stops nearby.

Shortly after, a stronger surge of energy rushes into my body accompanied by pain—

Just when I thought I might be torn apart, the door in front of me is pulled open forcefully. In a daze, I seem to I catch a glimpse of a familiar silhouette—

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

At the moment he passed through the rift, Lucien felt a surge of electricity tearing through his brain. Before he could even think about what it was, his palm suddenly no longer held her.

When he turned around, he found that the person next to him had disappeared.

The place in front of him was not unfamiliar, it was the narrow alley near the Bioultima Research Institute where the rift had appeared.

He undoubtedly had successfully reached the time and space beyond the rift, but there was no sign of her anywhere.

Lucien's face darkened, and an inexplicable anxiety that he couldn't suppress spread throughout his body along his veins.

His heart was pounding rapidly in his chest, but he suppressed this restlessness and quickly walked towards Bioultima Research center.

The researchers occasionally passing by in the corridor displayed expressions of surprise, but he paid them no mind. He simply quickly located the room where they had been researching the rift.

Here, he was most likely to find the information that could explain the current situation. However, when he opened the computer and saw the time, his eyes widened in surprise.

The time displayed on the computer screen was 74 days later.

Confusion and anxiety twisting into a knot in Lucien's heart. He furrowed his brows and opened the folder on the device.

Dozens of files were spread out densely in front of him, and he quickly moved the cursor, scanning over each title.

With sharp eyes, he caught sight of the letters "NW," and his hand paused before clicking on that file.

《Four-Dimensional Rift Stabilization Using CORE Utilization Plan》

Text laden with a wealth of information flowed rapidly before his eyes, and an abundance of data surged into his mind. He could feel the rushing blood in his brain intensifying with each passing moment.

"As a higher-dimensional entity, CORE exists in one and only one timeline across all temporal axes..."

As he continued to advance through the information before him, his gaze gradually turned colder and sharper.

-As it turns out, the world was already changing as a result of the shift in trajectory.

He knew where she would be.

The information in front of him undoubtedly can answer many of his curiosities. However, at this moment, these important pieces of information hold no appeal in his eyes.

He closed the document, preparing to leave, but then he noticed that the notebook on his desk was open. There’s only two scribbled numbers that seem like coordinates on it.

The handwriting belonged to him.

Lucien: ….

The fragile paper was covered with thin ice, shattering on the floor, and the shattered ice shards reflected the darkness in his eyes.

In the blink of an eye, the scene before him shifted, and the next moment, he found himself in a cold and desolate corridor of NW.

Perhaps he should have made a more thorough plan before taking action, but he didn't want to wait any longer.

Pushing open the door in front of him, he immediately saw the girl he had been searching for. She's all alone, confined within a glass container secured by layers of locks and cables.

The blinking red lights from the instruments cast an eerie crimson color on her. In that instant, he even felt like she might not be breathing anymore.

It's as if the last thread holding onto something in his mind had snapped.

Everything in front of Lucien's eyes was dyed with a layer of crimson red.

Before even more frightening thoughts came to his mind, he saw that the girl in the glass container seemed to blink, and a little light slowly gathered in her slowly focused pupils.

And then, her lips moved imperceptibly.

"Lucien."

For a moment, Lucien only felt as if all the sounds around him had turned into sharp buzzing, and the blood in his body went straight to his head.

Some researchers noticed his arrival and showed surprised expressions.

Researcher A: Professor Lucien? What brings you here?

Lucien: (in a cold and commanding tone) Open this.

Lucien pointed at the glass chamber calmly.

Researcher A: CORE is a crucial energy source for preventing dimensional destruction. She can’t leave this place.

Researcher B: Professor Lucien, you also agreed to this plan at the beginning...

Lucien: Move over.

Lucien interrupted the explanation and walked straight towards the nearby control panel. The researchers immediately stepped forward to stop him—

Researcher B: Professor-

Sharp ice spikes shot up from the ground. Crimson blood splattered in the air and then slowly trickled down the frosty ice spikes.

After half a second of dead silence, screams suddenly erupted.

Next Part-> [Here]

[amaru-sage]

About Ivy and canon divergence in the latest Engage manga chapter…

So with the recent release of chapter 11 of the FE Engage manga, there has been complaints about how Ivy was handled and how the manga is diverging from the game’s events

While I understand that different people are gonna have different interpretations of things, that still not gonna stop me from telling the people who are saying “ Ivy is being put through the damsel in distress treatment !1!! “ that YA’LL ARE BEING RIDICULOUS ❗️❗️❗️

Ivy is NOT and I repeat, NOT being put through THE DAMSEL IN DISTRESS TREATMENT

Ivy may have gotten arrested and defended by a MAN 👨 but that doesn’t necessarily mean she has been damsel-in-distressed™ 😭

NOT ONCE has Ivy been weak, pleaded for her life nor hid behind a man when she was in danger during the recent chapter.

I read a thread on Twitter where someone compiled their issues with the chapter and it mostly had to with the obvious-but-not-completely-in your-face Ivy booba fanservice (which is true ngl) and Alear’s gender 😭 bffr

During the chapter Ivy got taken down by the protag™ (like in the game) and moments before she got arrested, she pulled a valiant-sacrifice-of-a-true-leader move, and took the chance to make a leeway for her army and retainers to escape at the cost of herself.

Ivy being imprisoned isn’t something to make her look weak, but actually strong because she got herself into that place to protect her people.

OF COURSE SHE WAS GONNA GET PROSECUTED FOR HER ACTIONS AS SHE IS AN ENEMY THAT ATTACKED THE CASTLE 😭 AND THREATENED THE LIFE OF THE NEXT IN LINE HEIR ( SHE ALMOST BARBECUED DIAMANT YALL )

CONSEQUENCES OF ACTIONS™

And then comes in Alear. Y’all should know by now that Alear is a very kind hearted person and will defend/be kind to anyone as long as they see good in the person, even if the person doesn’t deserve it. And comparing his last fight with Nelucce, an Elusian army leader who used his own men as shields to protect himself, Ivy was different.

Which is why Alear goes to visit her in the dungeons, delivering her food and tells her he doesn’t think she’s a bad person (despite her actions being unforgivable; his words not mine), pointing out that she allowed her allies to escape instead of herself and put himself on front of her to stop King Morion from killing her.

ALSO JUST TO POINT OUT AGAIN that Ivy didn’t plea for her life or looked to someone (or Alear or Diamant when he was pleading his father not to kill her ) for help when King Morion pointed his sword at her.

INSTEAD she stood strong and still at the face of death with her head held high and a cold front, like the true badass she is and just accepted her fate then and there ( pretty much going ‘ whatever 😒’ not only at death but even when Alear suggested she should be put on trial )

SO IN CONCLUSION

NOT ONCE HAS IVY EVER BEEN A DAMSEL IN DISTRESS THAT’S JUST YALL DOING HER LIKE THAT 😤

(Besides, there’s still a lot of chapters left for Ivy to grow and be her cool and badass self)

And as for the manga diverging from the game’s events….

LET 👏🏽THEM 👏🏽COOK 👏🏽🗣

( I WANT TO SEE THE CHARACTERS PULL SOME ACE ATTORNEY SHIT NEXT CHAPTER)

I think the manga deviating from the source material is a good thing ACTUALLY!! as it gives its own identity and more time/space to explore the world building and characters of Elyos that the game could not

I mean we got to find out how long Clanne and Framme worked as stewards, that there exists a village around Lythos Castle, got to learn a bit of the nobles in Brodia, that there are some Fell Dragon worshippers in Brodia (and Elyos) and not just Elusia, more on Yunaka’s, Alcryst’s, Diamant’s and Ivy’s backstory/childhoods, etc., through the manga, so I’m happy and curious with the direction the manga is heading to.

Also Mama Lumera gets to live longer so LET HER HAVE THIS!!

Anyways, that’s all I got to say PEACE OUT BITCHES ✌🏽

[sequinsmile-x]

Allegiance - Chapter 3

It was nice to finally have someone who was on her side, someone who would always put her first.

A Young Hotchniss story with a twist.

Chapter 3 of 3

Chapter 1, Chapter 2

-x-

Hi friends,

3rd and final part of this fic for @sapphoe-sun <3

Thank you so so much for all the love for this version of them. It was originally only supposed to be one part and now it's over 13k words overall!!

I really hope you enjoy this final part and I can't wait to know what you all think!

-x-

Warnings: Pregnancy, mommy issues, complicated mother/daughter relationship

Words: 5.1k

Read over on Ao3, or below the cut

September 1995

He finds her in the nursery. 

It wasn’t decorated yet, but they’d started to put furniture, a crib that needed building, a set of drawers and a large comfortable chair, in the room. There were piles of clothes everywhere since Emily seemed unable to walk past the baby section in a store without buying something. Tiny little outfits that neither of them could quite believe their baby would wear, so small that it seemed almost impossible. 

She’s sitting in the chair, staring at nothing as she rocks the chair back and forth a little, her hand on her bump, absentmindedly rubbing circles up and down on it. She was six months along now, close to the point where she was often uncomfortable. The baby moved a lot, a feeling both Aaron and Emily never tired of, and he can tell from the way she smiles that the baby was currently shifting around inside of her, 

“Hi, sweetheart.”

She turns to look at him, a soft smile spreading over her face as their eyes meet, “Hi, honey,” she says, reaching her hand out towards him, “I missed you.” 

He walks over and kisses the top of her head before he settles on the arm of the chair, “I missed you too,” he says, placing his hand over hers on her belly, “And this little one.”

He’d recently joined the BAU, and the time he now spent away had been an adjustment for both of them. Emily was so proud of him, something she told him as often as she could but she missed him, so used to spending most of their time together. 

She chuckles, leaning against him, her head in the crook of his arm, “She doesn’t feel so little when it’s your bladder she’s sitting on.” 

A little girl. 

They’d found out just before he’d gone away for the last few days on a case. They’d barely had time to discuss it, to celebrate, before he got called away. 

She was happy about it, just as she would have been if they were having a boy, but he’d seen her delighted smile slowly slip away as they drove home from her doctor's appointment, her hand firmly pressed to the top of her bump as she looked out the window. It seemed typical that he immediately got called away on a case, pulling him from her side so she had to process this latest development alone.

They hadn’t heard from Elizabeth since the day after the party that changed everything, the final threads holding the mother and daughter relationship together snapping, the frayed edges giving way after one disappointment too many. It upset Emily more than she’d admit even to herself. She’d never had a conventional relationship with her mother, but the closer she got to having her own child, her own little girl, it made her ache for the relationship she’d always wanted.

The one she’d strive to make sure she had with her daughter. 

“Are you ok, Em?” He asks, running his hand up and down her arm.

She sighs, curling into his embrace even further as she finally says what she’s been thinking ever since the nurse told them the baby was a girl. “What if I can’t be what she needs me to be?” 

He hears what she hasn’t said. The thoughts he knows she’s been having ever since they found out they were having a daughter, no matter how much she claimed she was fine whenever he asked. It was inevitable that she would make the comparisons, that knowing they were having a daughter would make her think of her mother, of the relationship that had never been what she wanted it to be. 

What she needed it to be. 

He watches for a moment as she looks down at her bump, her eyes fixed on it as she tries to picture their little girl. It was something they discussed a lot - what their baby would look like. Whose nose she would have, both of them joking she was screwed either way, whose eyes. What she’d be like, wilful and loud like her, or more thoughtful and reserved like him. They’d laugh as they agreed she’d be stubborn as hell regardless. 

She loved their daughter so much already, she’d sacrificed so much already, and she wasn’t even born yet. Aaron just wished she’d believe him, but he’d assure her for as long as she needed him to. 

For as long as he lives. 

“Sweetheart,” he says, kissing her temple, pulling her even closer, “you’re going to be so good at being her mom,” he assures her, his lips back against her skin, “you already are.” 

She smiles sadly at him, her lower lip trembling, “I love her so much already,” she says, linking their hands on her stomach. 

“I know you do,” he replies, kissing her forehead, “I love her too. Both of you.” 

It was moments like this he itched to pull out the ring he’d bought her, the one he already had before they found out she was pregnant. He’d had to hide it again when they moved, even though he knows she knows about it. He was waiting for the right moment, and as much as he wanted to call her his fiance, and then his wife, he knew this wasn’t it. 

“Do you want me to get started on dinner?” He asks, moving to pull away, but she holds his hand tighter and shakes her head. 

“Not yet,” she says, looking up at him, “Can we stay here just a few more minutes?”

He nods and kisses her forehead, “Of course, sweetheart.” 

___

She’d never liked this house.

When she was young, it symbolised everything she wanted. A home, a permanent place to belong, but she was only ever there for weeks at a time once several months. Her room always seemed to have a fine layer of dust over everything despite the fact her mother carried on paying for staff when they were gone. It was as if the house knew it was empty, abandoned, and rejected any attempt to make it feel liveable. 

As she got older, a teenager and then an adult, she resented it even more. It didn’t feel like home, it didn’t feel familiar, and she couldn’t relate to college friends who’d talk excitedly about visiting home. 

The only redeeming factor this place had was that it was where she’d met Aaron. A strange of fate from the universe, a dose of irony that she would gratefully accept, that the place that had never quite felt like home had brought her the man that would. 

“Right back where it all started.” 

She turns to look at her husband and smiles, grabbing his hand as he reaches her side, both of them standing next to their car in her mother’s driveway, “Who would have guessed we’d end up with everything we have now.”

Aaron winks at her, “I would have.” 

She narrows her eyes at him, fighting a smile as she looks at him, “Really? You would have guessed that a summer of secret, mind-blowing sex would have turned into us getting married and having three kids?”

He nods, “Yes.” 

She chuckles and squeezes his hand, leaning in to stamp a kiss against his lips, “Liar,” she says, kissing him once more and smiling at him, silently thanking him for making her smile today of all days, of briefly making her nerves disappear, feeling nothing other than this love. 

He presses a kiss to her cheek and then stands back, gently tugging her towards the front door, “Come on sweetheart.” 

The house looks the same on the inside and it makes Emily feel like she’s stepped back in time. It makes her feel unsteady, as if she was in her early 20s again, or even a teenager, wondering what she had to do to have her mother’s attention. They barely have time to settle onto the couch. They sit so close to each other that Emily is almost in his lap and her mother walks into the room. It makes them both stand up, and Aaron puts his arm around his wife, giving her the support she needs but would never ask for. 

“Emily,” Elizabeth says, her face tight, unreadable, “I’m glad you came,” She looks at Aaron, “Aaron, it’s been a while.” 

He nods at his mother-in-law, “Ambassador Prentiss.” 

Elizabeth sits in the armchair near the couch and Emily and Aaron sit down too, their thighs pressed together. Emily reaches for Aaron’s hand, linking their fingers together and squeezing tightly. Elizabeth smiles as she looks at their linked hands, the two rings on Emily’s shining in the light in the room. 

“You should probably call me Elizabeth, Aaron,” she says, “Seeing as you are seemingly married to my daughter,” she clears her throat, the awkward, stilted nature of their conversation making her words catch there, “How long have you been married?”

Aaron briefly looks at Emily to see if she’s going to answer, but she’s simply sat next to him, her hand tight around him as she stares at her mother. He looks back at Elizabeth and places his spare hand on his wife’s knee, squeezing it to remind her that he is there, that he wouldn’t leave her side. 

“Coming up on 10 years now,” he answers, “Our anniversary is in May.” 

“Oh,” Elizabeth replies, “That’s-”

“What do you want, Mother?” Emily asks, finally finding her voice, her eyes meeting Elizabeth’s.

She sighs, “Emily-”

“It’s been over 12 years,” she says, cutting her mother off again, “I haven’t seen or heard from you in 12 years and four days ago you just…showed up in my office. What do you want?” 

Elizabeth swallows thickly and leans back in her chair, her hands tight in her lap, “If I remember correctly, you asked me to give you space. And you never called either.” 

Emily scoffs, “I’m your kid, I would never…” She drifts off and shakes her head, “Just tell me what you want.” 

They fall into silence, and Emily sees an expression cross her mother’s face that she doesn’t recognise, something she can’t quite place with an edge of shame that chases it. 

“I…” Elizabeth clears her throat, sitting up so straight Emily thinks her back might snap, “I need to apologise.” 

Whatever Emily had been expecting, it hadn’t been that. She feels the fight drain out of her, causing her to sag into Aaron’s side slightly. “What?”

“I need to apologise, about what happened the last time we saw each other,” Elizabeth says, looking down at her hands, “About our conversation regarding Robert Collins.” 

It takes a moment for the pieces to fall into place, and a humourless laugh escapes Emily and she shakes her head, “Oh my god…something’s happened hasn’t it.” 

Elizabeth clenches her jaw and nods, “There is a…scandal that is about to break, it will be in the press in the next few days. It has come to light that he has a habit of…hitting on young interns in his office. A series of young women who have worked from him over the last few years have come forward with allegations,” she shakes her head, “It is quite the DC scandal.” 

The room falls into silence, thick and heavy and cloying as it lays over them all, and Emily is the first to break it as a strangled noise escapes her.

“This is damage control,” she says, shaking her head, “You knew I’d see it and you wanted to get ahead of it.” 

“Emily, I really do want to apologise.”

“For what?” She asks incredulously, her voice loud, sharp and full of pain, “For not believing me then, or for walking away and never looking back?” She asks, carrying on before Elizabeth can have a chance to respond, “You even said ‘Robert is a tactile man,’ you knew even then that there was something. You made a choice that day,” she says, swallowing thickly, “You chose to believe him over me, to pick your career and your prospects over me. I would never do that to my…”

She drifts off, stopping herself a second too late, and she watches as Elizabeth picks up on it. 

“Your what?” 

Emily looks at Aaron who nods at her, a silent confirmation he was happy with whatever she wanted, “My kids, Mom. I’d never do that to my kids.” 

“You have…children?” Elizabeth asks, her eyes wide, sadness reflecting in the dark pool of them. 

“Yes,” Emily replies, “We have three. Two girls and a boy.” 

“How old are they?” 

Emily squeezes Aaron’s hand, and he squeezes back before he answers, well aware it was what his wife wanted him to do, “Oliver is 2, he’s our youngest. Then we have Rosie who is 6, and Ivy who just turned 12.”

They both watch as Elizabeth’s eyebrows raise, a look of understanding washing over her face, “You have a 12-year-old? You were pregnant the last time I saw you” 

Emily scoffs, closing her eyes as she shakes her head, the lack of surprise in her mother’s tone like a slap in the face, “Yes I was,” she says, and she looks back up at her, “You knew, didn’t you?” 

“Not for certain,” she admits, “You were sick, you didn’t have wine, and we both know you’ve always needed it to get through an evening with me. I suspected you might be but…I was never a good mother to you Emily, I recognise that. If I went back I’d do some things differently, and I am sorry that you didn’t feel as if you could tell me you were having a baby.” 

Emily stares at her, and she knows she couldn’t describe how she felt if she wanted to. Emotions raging a war in her belly, making it turn in a way she hadn’t felt in years, feelings only her mother could bring out in her making a vicious return. 

“I…I don’t know if I can forgive you for that,” she says, her voice shaking, “If any of my children came to me and told me what I told you about Robert Collins I’d be in jail,” she shakes her head, “I love them so much that I’d tear the world apart if someone hurt them. Fuck, Aaron once had to talk me down from going down to the school when Ivy was being bullied in the 3rd grade.” 

“Emily-”

“I need time, and there might not be enough of it,” Emily says, quickly wiping a tear from her cheek, “But I am willing to try.” 

Her words shock her just as much as they shock Aaron and her mother, but it feels like a weight has lifted off of her shoulders, something she hadn’t realised she’d been carrying around for years. 

“Really?”

“Yes,” Emily replies, squeezing Aaron’s hand again, “I can’t promise anything, but I’ll try.”

Elizabeth nods, pressing her lips together to suppress a relieved smile, “Can I meet your children?” 

“No,” Emily says quickly, the word escaping her so fast she almost trips over it, “No. I’m not going to be comfortable with that for a long time. If ever.” 

Elizabeth looks like she wants to argue with that, but she stops herself, “Ok,” she says, I can live with that.” 

It’s not a resolution, it’s not an answer. If anything, Emily feels like she has more questions than she did when she arrived here.

It’s not a resolution, but it’s something. And for now, that would have to do. 

___

When they get home it’s chaos. The kids running around and driving their sitter a little crazy, something Aaron slips her another $20 for as he shows her out. 

He finds his wife on the couch, curled up in the corner with a cushion pressed into her chest, her eyes fixed on the wall of photos they had. A gallery of their life together, of their family. A museum of memories they were forever adding to. 

He checks on the kids. He’s grateful that they are all distracted. Oliver and Rosie were in the den, Rosie keeping an eye on her little brother as they played together, and Ivy was upstairs doing some homework. He takes the opportunity to sit next to his wife, his hand on her knee as they sit in silence, his patience for her unending, just like his love.

“She didn’t know we were married. Or that we definitely had kids. She never even looked me up, Aaron,” she says eventually, shrugging sadly, “We both know if she wanted to she has the resources too,” she sighs, a steady breath escaping her as she looks at her husband, “It’s almost as if I gave her the out she’d been looking for when I asked her to give me some space that day.”

“She does love you, Em.”

“I know, I know she does,” she says, resting her head on the back of the couch, “And that’s the worst part. It would almost be easier if she didn’t,” she sighs, “If…i this whole thing with Robert hadn’t come out she would never have got in touch.” 

They fall into silence and he wraps his arm around her, pulling her into his side, “You don’t have to make a decision about anything now, you know that right?” 

She nods against him, “I know. Part of me thinks I should try and fix it, the other part thinks it’s not my place to,” she tilts her head to look up at him, “I…I’m not even that sure I really missed her,” she says, and she shakes her head, “And I know that’s awful-”

“It isn’t awful, baby,” he says, running his fingers through her hair, “it’s understandable. She was never to you what you are for our kids.” 

She smiles at him, the compliment on her parenting making her feel warm from the inside out, “I just…don’t think I need anything other than our family.” 

He opens his mouth to say something, to assure her if that’s what she wanted, that’s what she would have, but he’s cut off. 

“Daddy! Ollie took my toy.” 

They both chuckle at the sound of Rosie yelling and Aaron leans in to press a kiss to Emily’s lips, “Duty calls.” 

She nods and watches him go, content to be alone for a little while, knowing he’d get dragged into whatever game they were playing. Her solitude doesn’t last for long, it hadn’t ever since she’d Ivy, who as a baby had always been all about Emily. 

“Mom?” 

She looks up and sees Ivy standing in the entryway to the living room, her arms crossed over her chest, her teeth sinking into her lower lip. 

“Hi honey, are you okay?” 

Ivy nods, “Can I join you?” 

“Of course,” Emily says, patting the couch next to her, “You can always join me.” 

Ivy smiles and joins her on the couch, her eyes fixed on her mother, “Is everything ok?” 

Emily sighs, “Ivy-”

“What are you and Dad being so secretive about?” Ivy asks, not giving her the chance to deny it, “He just gave me the ‘be nice to your mother’ speech and the last time I got that you were pregnant. Oh god you’re not pregnant are you?” 

She chuckles and shakes her head, “No, honey. I’m not pregnant.” 

“Then what’s wrong? I get hiding it from Rosie and Ollie,” Ivy says, leaning back on the couch as she looks at Emily, “But I’m not a little kid. You can tell me.” 

Emily smiles, and she thinks about it, looking her daughter up and down and she nods, knowing she could give her the truth. Or at least, a watered-down version of it. 

“You know you’ve never met my mom?”

It was something that had first come up only a couple of years ago. Ivy had innocently asked why she had never met any of her grandparents as she put together a family tree for a school project. Emily knew it would come up eventually. That, whilst there was no absence of love in her children’s lives, there were gaps in their family when it was compared to a more traditional one. In a macabre way, it had been easier to explain that both of Aaron’s parents had passed away, and that her father was gone too. Elizabeth had been the difficult one, the tricky missing piece of the puzzle that Emily had struggled to reveal to her daughter. 

“You said that your mom hurt your feelings a lot, and that you needed to protect yourself, and us, from her.” 

Emily nods. Hearing her own, simplified, explanation of the situation repeated back at her makes her heart skip a beat, the mixture of innocence and confusion in Ivy’s tone making it seem impossibly sadder. 

“That’s right,” Emily says, “Well, she came to my office a few days ago. It was the first time I saw her since before I had you, and your dad and I went to see her today.” 

“Oh,” Ivy says, tilting her head, “Was it…weird?” 

Emily laughs, Ivy’s simple choice of words making something ease in her chest, and she nods, “Yeah, honey. It was…really weird.” 

There’s a moment of silence and Ivy slides slightly closer to her, leaning her head on Emily’s shoulder, craining her neck so she’s looking up at her. “Will ever I meet her?” 

Emily sighs, the mere thought of it making her chest tight, “Well, you aren’t a little kid anymore,” she says, tucking some of Ivy’s dark hair behind her ear, “But you are my kid, and it’s not something I’m comfortable with for now, it’s something I might never be comfortable with. But if I decide I’m happy for her to meet you and your brother and sister, I’ll leave it up to you.” 

Ivy nods, her eyebrows knitting together, “If you decide I can…do I have to?”

“Of course not, sweet girl.” 

“She made you sad,” Ivy says, “I don’t think I want to meet someone who makes you sad.” Emily pulls her daughter into a hug, wrapping her arms tightly around her, hiding her face in her hair in a vain attempt to stop her from seeing she’s crying. “I’m glad I have you as a Mom.” 

Emily sniffs and pulls back a little to look at Ivy, no longer caring about the tears shining in her eyes, “Yeah? Why is that baby?” 

Ivy smiles at her and wipes a tear from Emily’s cheek, “Because I know no matter what, I’d never not want to speak to you.” 

Emily chokes on a sob and pulls Ivy in, grateful when her little girl hugs her just as tightly as she hugs her, “I love you, sweet girl.” 

“I love you too, Momma.” 

___

January 1996 

Emily hears crying from the bassinet next to her bed, and she instinctively shifts in the bed to pick up her daughter. She winces as the movement makes pain flash through her, and she makes a mental note to ask the nurse to bring her fresh ice packs when she next comes along to check on them. 

“You a did a real number on me, sweet girl,” she says as she settles back down comfortably in her hospital bed, Ivy secure in her arms, “You’re worth it though,” she looks over at Aaron and smiles at the sight of him fast asleep on the couch in the corner of the room and she looks back at Ivy, “Daddy was so worried about us, he loves us both so much.” 

She watches as her daughter nurses, staring at her face, memorising everything about her, and she can’t help but think about those early hours of her own life. Unable to stop herself from wondering what her mother said and did, what promises she made that she ultimately didn’t keep.

“I’ll always be on your side, Ivy” Emily says quietly, well aware it was something she would stand by, a promise she would keep for the rest of her life. “No matter what happens, you’ll always have me on your side.” 

She hears movement on the couch and she looks up to see Aaron sitting up, rubbing his eyes to get rid of the last remnants of sleep. He’d been her rock all day, nothing short of perfect as he supported her in any way she needed, holding her hand and letting her squeeze his so hard she was surprised it didn’t break. Despite his strength, and his unrelenting love for her and their daughter, she could tell he struggled to see her in pain, a slight desperation in his eyes that he couldn’t hide from her. 

“How are my girls doing?” He asks as he stands up and sits on the edge of her bed and kisses the top of her head before he looks down at Ivy. 

“We’re trying to get the hang of nursing again,” she says, grimacing at the sensation, “It hurts, but I think she’s actually getting something this time.” 

Ivy pulls away, already full, and Emily smiles as she rests her against her shoulder, gently patting her back. 

“I can’t get over how much she looks like you,” Aaron says, tilting his head to look at Ivy’s face, transfixed by her. He’d known the very first second he saw her that she’d hold the same power over him that her mother did, that he was already wrapped around her tiny little finger. 

Emily smiles as Ivy burps and looks at Aaron, “We made a damn cute baby, huh?” 

“No cursing in front of her,” Aaron jokingly chastises, and Emily rolls her eyes at him.

“She’s two hours old, honey. I think it’s going to take a while for her to pick up on what we’re saying,” she sniffs and turns her nose up, looking at Ivy, “I think we have our first dirty diaper.” 

“Come over here, princess,” Aaron says, lifting Ivy into his arms, the baby impossibly small in comparison to him, and he kisses the top of her head before he walks over towards the set-up the nurses had left them to change her, “Daddy will change your diaper.” 

“I might need Daddy’s help to change mine later,” Emily says sarcastically as she shifts in the bed, her entire lower half burning as she moves, “I don’t think I can bend down.” 

Aaron briefly looks over his shoulder at her and smiles before he has all of his focus back on Ivy, “Mommy can have help with whatever she wants forever,” he says, his voice low and quiet, the same tone he only ever used on Emily previously, but she doesn’t mind sharing with her little girl, “She can have whatever she wants forever because she gave me you.” 

He half pays attention to Emily’s response, as he changes Ivy’s diaper and takes the chance to put the tiny onesie, which was somehow still slightly too big, that he’d bought and hidden from Emily weeks ago onto her. He smiles down at her, his heart in his throat as nerves take over. 

“What’s taking so long?” Emily asks, “I want my baby.” 

“Coming sweetheart,” he says, straightening up as he holds Ivy delicately, as if she was made of glass, “Let’s get you back to Mommy.” 

Emily gratefully takes her daughter back into her arms, unable to understand how she’d missed her when it had only been a couple of minutes and she’d never left her sight. She frowns in confusion as she realises Aaron has changed her out of the lion-covered onesie she’d been in before to a white one with printed, flowing script on the front.

‘Mommy will you marry Daddy?’

She chokes on a sound somewhere between a laugh and a sob as she reads it again before she looks up at Aaron, who was now sitting on the edge of her bed, an open ring box in his hand, a gorgeous ring shining at her. 

“This is the moment you’ve been waiting for? Your perfect moment?” She asks, her voice thick with the same emotion that had been lingering in the air all day. 

He chuckles, the sound catching in his chest as he shrugs, “Can you think of a better one?” 

There’s a beat of silence as she looks back and forth between him and Ivy, who is now fast asleep in her arms, and the answer is obvious. “Yes.” 

“Yes you can think of a better moment-”

“No, you idiot,” she says, cutting him off as tears slip past her lash line, “Yes, I’ll marry you.” 

Aaron leans in and kisses her, his lips firm yet gentle against hers as the hand not holding the ring box tangles in her hair. She’s sure she should care that her hair is greasy, that it was messy and unclean from the hours she’d been in labour, thrown up in a loose bun on top of her head, but she doesn’t. All she can think about is him. Their daughter. The life they were going to have together. 

He pulls back and looks at her, and he smiles, “I love you.” 

“I love you too,” she replies, kissing him again before he sits back just far enough to slip the ring onto her left hand as she offers it out to him. Ivy makes a noise, as if she was grumbling that she was no longer the centre of their attention even though she was mostly asleep, “Did you hear that, sweet girl, Mommy and Daddy are getting married.” 

Aaron wraps his arms around them both and helps Emily shift over just enough for him to properly get onto the bed next to her, “And, you’ll get to be there,” Aaron says, trailing his knuckle down the baby’s soft cheek, “Something you can hold over your younger siblings one day.” 

Emily scoffs and tilts her head to look at him, “Can you at least wait for me to regain the ability to walk properly before you think about getting me pregnant again?” 

He laughs and nods, kissing her, “Of course, sweetheart. Are you ok?” 

“Yeah,” She says, as she relaxes against him, content to stare down at her daughter, “I’m really happy,” she says, her voice shaking a little, “I’ve never been this happy.” 

She didn’t know it would be possible to be this happy, to feel so content. She knew there would be hard days ahead, that life would never be simple, but if she had her family, the one she’d built herself, she’d be okay. 

She had everything she needed. 

-x-

Tag List:

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[x--daughters-of-darkness--x]

Paramore Wipe Social Media Accounts Clean + Delete Website + Fans Have No Idea What’s Going On

Paramore have wiped their Instagram and X (formerly Twitter) accounts clean, updated with a blank profile picture. The band's website no longer exists either and fans are confused.

The timing of this latest scrubbing, however, is especially curious as Paramore recently expressed that they're not sure what the future holds for the band or if there even is one.

The Changes to Paramore's Social Media Accounts + Website

Every single post on Paramore's Instagram and X accounts have been deleted and the profile pictures have been changed, showing a stick figure head and torso against a grey background.

Paramore's profile picture on Facebook has been changed to the same image, however their pre-existing posts are all still there, the latest coming on Dec. 17, wishing guitarist Taylor York a happy birthday.

Regarding Paramore's website — paramore.net — that landing page now reads "404 Not Found. The requested URL was not found on this server."

Fans Have No Idea What's Going On

Fans have flocked to the r/Paramore Reddit thread to discuss these latest activities, pondering the significance of these moves in relation to those recent comments about a murky future.

Some claim (as of four hours prior to this post being published) that they were still able to access the website, while others were greeted with a message that read, "Future home of something quite cool."

One fan posits, "I think they're making big 'left the label' moves," while another wondered if Paramore's previous label — Atlantic Records — had managed the social media and webpages and that this is a transitional period for the accounts and site.

Elsewhere, fans urge everyone to remain calm and don't panic, opting to wait this out to see a new announcement will be coming soon.

The new profile picture on Facebook has generated over 11,000 comments with a mixed bag of reactions. There's comments using Paramore lyrics in an ultra dramatic fashion, ones with optimistic outlooks and some that are all doom and gloom.

The Recent Uncertainty of Paramore's Future

On Dec. 14, Paramore posted a quote from their interview with UPROXX in a candid assessment about what's next for the veteran group.

Paramore's Instagram story contained the following note, which is an excerpt from the feature (not a direct quote from the band):

Now that Paramore has spent the year touring behind This Is Why (and making sure to take better care of themselves while they’re at it), a chapter of the band’s career has come to a close. They’ve now fulfilled all label obligations and are effectively free agents. As for the future of Paramore, all three members agreed that there’s a level of uncertainty.

"The only thing that matters is we will still get to be each other's community,'" says Williams, while drummer Zac Farro adds, "I just hope we can keep building the Paramore empire and then rule the world."

Elsewhere in the interview, Williams laments the state of social media and how difficult it is to casually joke around and engage with fans without some small anecdote being blown up into something much larger and/or deceitful. Ensuring private and professional barriers are kept intact is often challenging.

The singer does, however, see how beneficial TikTok can be, especially as a tool for self-promotion for artists.

Paramore in 2024

Despite all the chatter about an uncertain future, Paramore have a slew of tour dates on the books, opening for Taylor Swift on a European and U.K. leg of her ongoing The Eras tour.

[jimmymcgools]

any directors commentary for this most recent chapter? (or any of the others you havent gone in depth on, like if there's a part you just really wanna talk about!)

ahh thank you anon! i'm sorry i ignored this for days but i couldn't decide what i wanted to do commentary on -- i got spooked trying to pick a chunk of the latest chapter (cannot believe i wrote an 8k word conversation whoops) and so i think i'll talk about the red cloud flashback at the start of chapter 11! <3

me: picks up east of eden to finally read it me: screw reading, i need to write a red cloud flashback IMMEDIATELY

this was an odd chapter. sometimes (like with the flying star convo) i have an idea that i know is weighty enough to support an entire chapter. but sometimes i feel like i have a gap. like... ok, i know i have that skyler&marie&blanca convo coming, but i also know i want that to happen NEXT chapter, so now i need to fill this space.

and it ended up as this odd little thematic musings type chapter. but i like how it turned out! it felt important to spend a little bit of time thinking about what 'home' might mean to kim wexler (especially if, yknow, a real home is something we want her to end up finding by the end of this fic, right?)

Kim doesn’t look at the houses. Not the one on the corner with the white rocking chair on the white porch.

i have a (maybe silly) thing where i don't like putting dates/etc as headers above flashbacks. it feels fitting for a show that never puts them on the screen! and i love the challenge of trying to include that information in other ways.

But the houses want her to look at them. The letterboxes wave to her with flags and the letterboxes have people’s names on them.

shoutout to the NEW 2022 STREETVIEW IMAGERY OF RED CLOUD NEBRASKA (sadly still only 2 major streets but) that gave me this entire houses-as-people idea because i saw the names on the letterboxes.

She learned in school that a long time ago this whole town was underwater.

me googling this and frantically hoping it was true! this, specifically, is what that second page of east of eden inspired with the description of the salinas valley once being an inlet from the coast and before that a forest: "And it seemed to me sometimes at night that I could feel both the sea and the redwood forest before it."

and god the idea of feeling the sea beneath you at night felt SO screamingly kim wexler to me.

He nestles the hat on her head. It smells like horses and cigarettes and old, old things. “A proper cowboy hat.”

i am passionate about cowboy girl horse girl kim wexler

also--ahhhhh finally braving the idea of meeting kim's dad! now that rhea's talked about her ideas for him i wanted to see if i could balance that with stuff i'd folded in

i'm not particularly in love with the "jimmy is just her dad all over again" take as a full explanation of him (imo, kinda boring!) but i did want to thread a bit of that in. hopefully in a less 1:1 way and just like... there are things that made kim feel warm and comfortable and loved as a kid. and when she later finds some of those qualities in jimmy, they bring similar feelings. her dad remembers the names of these teachers and classmates of hers even though (in my mind) it has been quite a long time since he was last here.

but i always had the idea that kim got her silence and her stillness from her dad, so that's in here, too.

from safs:

All of this, and he was the only still thing. He just sat there and the TV flickered and it seemed like nothing could touch him, like nothing could ever touch him ... And I guess nothing really did.

and then similarly in safs i had this idea of like... kim positioning herself as the angry one in her childhood. i felt like it was more interesting to show this comparatively happy scene and just try to sow it with some kind of edge/disquiet and the seeds that might lead to that anger.

Kim watches him and he watches the movie, and he’s not moving at all anymore. His face is still and calm and she doesn’t know what’s behind it.

kim possessing that same stillness in the drive-in movie chapter of acb: He just watches her, and she watches the film—so still.

also my god i had remembered that sentence from acb but not THIS one right before it: "The blue-white light of the prison dormitory shadows her face, and her eyes glimmer, and he doesn’t look away, and Kim doesn’t look to him." wow ok

She knows she might never see him again.

i feel like the heartbreaking thing is like.... eventually kim is right about this. maybe it's this time. but i think she's almost thought it any time she's seen him that she's old enough to remember. like :( honey

[ravarui]

Ravarui is an independent multi-fandom multi-muse RP blog.

The blog is private/mutuals only and highly selective Personals do not interact, unless you got an RP Sideblog

Written and loved by Akki (she/her - 30y/o - germany)

Icons were made by @alyafae

Short overview of my muses as well as my rules under read more (in case the link doesn't work)

Shanks is currently my most active muse, so be prepared for a lot of One Piece content on this blog

Links:Rules - Muse list - Memes - Wishlist - Headcanons - Mains & Exclusives

Muses on this blog are currently:

Tony Stark from the MCU Red Haired Shanks from One Piece (Manga/HC-based) John Marston from Red Dead Redemption 2 Cersei Lannister from Game of Thrones (book based with some show influence)

Request only:

Jaime Lannister from Game of Thrones (Book based with some show influence)

Arthur Morgan from Red Dead Redemption 2

Morzan from Inheritance Cycle (Heavily HC-based)

Disclaimer: This is a multimuse blog for muses of various fandoms. I am up to date to everything regarding all the muses I have on this blog, so this blog is NOT going to be spoiler free.

Recent spoilers, for example in regards to the latest One Piece Chapters, will be tagged however.

This blog will contain mature and triggering content, such as murder, robbery, kidnapping, mentions of slavery etc. Especially when my Red Dead Redemption muses are involved. I will tag triggering content like "murder tw" for example.

1) No Godmodding

If you do it, I’ll contact you and ask you not to do it again and change the part in the reply. If you do it regulary you will be blocked.

2) Portrayal

My Tony Stark is mostly based on the MCU since I have little to no knowledge about the comics. His relationship with Pepper is exclusive with @alyafae version, since we developed our headcanons together over the years and there is no way to seperate them by now.

Everything that happens in Movie Red is irrelevant for my portrayal of Shanks and will be treated as AU. So please do not assume that he raised Uta, unless we discussed it beforehand, because my version does NOT know her.

His backstory is heavily headcanon based and in my version he was NOT found in a treasure chest as a baby by Roger!

Post Time-skip Shanks has a tattoo that looks like this

In the verse where he is married to Makino he wears his wedding ring around a thin chain around his neck, and he keeps the ring hidden under his shirt. No one except his crew and the people of Fuschia know about their marriage. Please do not assume your muse knows about it, unless we talk about it before. I am more than fine with muses finding out about it over the course of threads! It just has to come naturally.

Arthur and John stay mostly true to canon. Arthur is mostly based on the high honor version, because that's how I play him in the game. John is mostly neutral, but leans towards high honor, can however also act more low honor, depending on the situation/muses

3) This blog is 18+ and mun is 28+

I will not write with anyone under 18, since I myself am in my thirties now and it just makes me uncomfortable writing with minors. Preferably people who follow this blog are 21+

4) Shipping:

Shipping is always welcome, no matter what kind of ship. If we're mutuals and you would like to ship our muses in whatever way, don't hesitate in approaching me. Chances are I ship them already as well anyway.

I am multiship in regards to all of my muses. The only exception is my Tony Stark muse when it comes to shipping with Pepper. That is exclusive with @alyafae

I also won't ship Steve and Tony. If you are a Steve Rogers blog and send something shippy in a romantic or smutty way Tony will not react in a positive way and will make fun of him for it.There are only two people who are excluded to this rule.

5) Triggers:

I have personally no triggers and I am willing to RP very dark themes as well. The only topic I will not touch is animal abuse. Otherwise everything is fair game.

If we write dark/triggering themes I require plotting/ooc talks! I do not want to make my RP partner uncomfortable.

Should we write something dark and you notice that you can’t bring yourself to write this theme anymore or feel in any way uncomfortable with the way it’s going: Please tell me immediately so we can talk and drop it if you need it.

You never have to worry when you bring something like this up. The well being of my RP partner when writing highly triggering and dark subjects is my main concern.

6) Activity:

I have a personal life and RPing is a hobby and not my job.

I try my best to do my drafts, but I don’t always have muse for them and some drafts take me longer than others.

Mains/Exclusives get priority most of the time.

So please be patient. You’re welcome to send me a small reminder if I didn’t reply in two weeks. Tumblr loves to eat my notifications and on top of that I have the attention span of a squirrel sometimes and also tend to forget to draft replies.

7) OC’s:

I am OC friendly, but picky when it comes to interacting/following them. If you have no about page I will not follow at all. No arguing. If you have one, I'll read through it and if I can see our muses interacting I'll follow. Otherwise I wont. It's nothing personal.

8) Duplicates:

I adore duplicates! I love exploring all kinds of shenanigans our muses can come up with, if there are two of them.

9) Memes:

This blog is private/mutuals only. It’s a personal preference so I can keep my blog tidy. Memes are open for everyone, even non-mutuals, unless stated otherwise in the tags.

My memes don't have an experiation date and it doesn't matter when I reblogged one. If you want to send something in, feel free to explore my meme tag and send whatever interests you. Spamming memes is also encouraged.

You're always welcome to turn asks into threads! Doesn't matter if we already have a lot of them going or not. It's always encouraged.

10) I wont accept asks like: Do you want to RP with me?

If I am following you it’s a 100% indication that I want to write with you and explore the chemistry between our muses.

If I am not following you and you send me such an ask it will be ignored. If you truly want to write something then come to me with an idea or send me a meme. They are always open unless stated otherwise.

11) Inbox memes/Asks:

Always specify a muse when you send something into my askbox. Especially when sending asks regarding Headcanons or little games like: Guessing my muses kinks

Unspecified asks will get deleted/not answered

If you forgot to specify you're always welcome to either hop into my DMs to clear things up or send a follow up ask.

12) This rule applies to ALL blogs that follow me (especially personal blogs)

If you reblog my roleplays when you are NOT involved in them, I will message you and ask you to delete it from your blog. If you don’t do this you will be BLOCKED without a further warning.

13) If I see you posting a lot of callouts and drama I will block you. I am to old to deal with this stuff

14) My IM is reserved for mutuals only. So if you have any question send them into my askbox.

Rules will be updated

[amxrany]

!! MY BLOG IS NOT A SPOILER FREE ZONE !!

I will be posting threads from the latest diasomnia release so please be careful when interacting with my blog especially if you're a twst eng only player 🙇‍♀️

But do know that I will be using the tags #twst spoilers and #chapter 7 spoilers for all my posts relating to recent diasomnia content as well as #twst jp for any content that's from the jp server which hasn't been released yet in the eng server

There are times where out of typing in a rush i misspell the tags (especially the spoiler tag, i spell it as spolier in a rush 💀), but don't worry I will try to fix those mistakes if I accidentally post it with the errors 😅. If I forget to use any of the tags I mentioned, then feel free to message me on that post or dm me even, as long as you're nice about it then I'll fix it.

However if you're going to get mad at me for getting spoiled when I tagged the post properly, I will not hesitate to block you on sight 🙂

Anyways, that's all and let's have some fun 💖!

[thelowkeygeek]

Check out the latest LOWKEY GEEK #youtube video! Will Dune 2 Join The Billion Dollar Club At The Box Office? | The Morning After by LOWKEY GEEK! Good morning and Happy Monday! Dune 2 had a wonderful debut weekend at the box office and is 2024's first major movie blockbuster hit but could it his $1 billion dollars worldwide? I'll be talking about the weekend box office and all the recent headlines. Great ways to show support to the channel is by donating during the live stream in the following ways: TTS is ON at $5+ Super Chats & Donations - Get your messages read out loud! Donations: https://ift.tt/mzITkRV Become a friend of the channel for just $1 a month. Join a membership TODAY! 🔔 Consider Subscribing: https://ift.tt/b4GRisU 🎧 Listen on Spotify: https://ift.tt/S87kDyM 🎧 Listen on iTunes: https://ift.tt/nbIXfmG ► The gear used on this channel: https://amzn.to/3L79c1Y ► Sign up for Surfshark VPN and get 85% OFF + 2 Free Months: https://bit.ly/3ZLU5Cn ► Get 3 months of UNLIMITED DATA for only $15/mo with Mint Mobile: https://ift.tt/anYsKgh ► Fever events and experiences: https://ift.tt/rGK9FCL ► 80s Tees: 30% OFF with code WINTER30: https://ift.tt/u7J3wlX ► Entertainment Earth - 10% OFF In-Stock Items Plus Free Shipping On Orders $40+: https://ee.toys/LOWKEYG Other Great Content ---------------------------------- ► Movie Review & Out of Theater Reactions: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLsH8u5sKE6YH2jORSfkqtudOJX2KFFJkK ► The Trailer Park: Trailer Reactions: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLsH8u5sKE6YETuoR2B2Y1ulc_TfFKkyGZ ► The MovieTime Podcast: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLsH8u5sKE6YFrFx7-xandmlAgLWoUwIhc ► The Talking Talk Podcast: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLsH8u5sKE6YG3kXuSkEzu2PGgnjvU70Kc ► Special Events & Travel: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLsH8u5sKE6YGUo9x5FHnbideFkmHV_lAM ► Japan WOW Now: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLsH8u5sKE6YFX48uPJl5FwipHSTGis9Qy ► LOWKEY GEEK Gaming: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLsH8u5sKE6YHHmgt_YpmNFEbOi0d52hic ► One-Shots: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLsH8u5sKE6YGDDThqnXOa9FOLYtvAjFNK Follow Us --------------------------------------------------- Twitter: https://twitter.com/the_lowkey_geek Instagram: https://ift.tt/EGHcP4y Threads: https://ift.tt/M4CjmAD Follow the Team on Letterboxd ----------------- Blake Wolf: https://ift.tt/vaMxrD6 Rene A. Zelada: https://ift.tt/9QfZUvt Chapters ----------------- #Dune2 #boxoffice #themorningafter #podcast #movienews #morning #morningnews #morningafter #headlines #entertainmentnews #moviereviews #moviereview #dune #duneparttwo #dunepart2 #weekendboxoffice via YouTube https://youtu.be/TVdZqYb6WxY

[ear-worthy]

Pod-Alization: Exoneration On Conviction Podcast; iHeart's Best Podcasts This Week; NPR's Layoffs

Conviction Season 2: American Panic, a podcast from Gimlet, a Spotify Studio. Season 2 of Conviction premiered in February 2020, and takes listeners inside one of the darkest and most bizarre chapters of American history, telling the story of Melvin Quinney, a man wrongfully convicted of indecency with a child and sentenced to 20 years in prison.

In the update episode, hear reactions from Melvin and his family after they learn the news of his recent exoneration, and the next steps Melvin and his lawyer will take towards fully clearing his name. More about the season below:

When John Quinney, Melvin’s son, was ten years old, he took the stand to testify against his own father. He had come to believe that his dad was the murderous leader of a satanic cult.

 It would be decades before John would learn that his family was just one of many swept up in a panic that gripped America in the 1980s—one in which hundreds of people were accused of taking part in underground satanic cults that sacrificed infants and sexually abused children. 

By the time the panic had subsided, scores of people were in prison, convicted on little to no evidence—people like Melvin Quinney.

On Wednesday, February 15, 2023 the Court of Criminal Appeals vacated Melvin Quinney’s conviction. The timeline of the case is outlined below: ●      In July 1991, Melvin was convicted of indecency with a child and sentenced to 20 years in prison. ●      In 1999, Melvin was released from prison and required to register as a sex offender. ●      In 2020, Melvin’s children reached out to the Innocence Project of Texas for help in clearing their father’s name. A petition for a writ of habeas corpus was presented to the district court asking that Melvin’s conviction be vacated. ●      In June 2022, an evidentiary hearing in the case was held and Melvin’s children, John and Sarah, along with experts in psychology and the Satanic Panic, testified of Melvin’s innocence. ○      Listen to a September 2022 update episode (HERE) from Conviction Season 2: American Panic, where listeners are taken inside the courtroom as John recants his testimony and tries to get his dad exonerated. Spotify had exclusive access to the exoneration hearing, with multiple witnesses called referencing Conviction Season 2. ●      In September 2022, the writ was approved by the court and sent to the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals. ●      On Wednesday, February 15, 2023 the Court of Criminal Appeals granted the writ and vacated Melvin’s conviction.

iHeart's ear worthy podcasts of the week

Here are the latest iHeartPodcasts, seasons and episodes to keep on your radar --  “The Mantawauk Caves,” “Let’s Start a Coup!” and “The Professional Homegirl Podcast.”

 The Mantawauk Caves: On the night of May 1, 2010, three boys entered a cave in Mantawauk County, Tennessee. Only one made it out alive. The boys were found days later, and they had been attacked by someone––or something. The investigation that followed revealed town secrets as old as the caves themselves. Created by filmmaker Dan Bush, iHeartPodcasts and Blumhouse’s new scripted thriller podcast weaves together the narrative threads of social drama, supernatural horror and psychological thriller. Listen to the first two episodes of “The Mantawauk Caves” streaming now.

Let’s Start a Coup!: Dive into this darkly comedic and terrifying retelling of one of the weirdest, forgotten schemes in American history. What would you do if a secret cabal of the nation’s most powerful people asked you to overthrow the President? Weirdly enough––it’s not a hypothetical. It almost happened to FDR in the 1930s, were it not for a very intense, very problematic Marine named Major General Smedley Butler. Tune in on Mondays.

 The Professional Homegirl Podcast: This informative podcast anonymously interviews women who have survived obstacles like addictions, overcame generational curses, and have learned a multitude of life lessons along the way. In this show, host Eboné aims to show the range of women of color living the full lives they have worked hard to create. Tune in each Tuesday.

 NPR announces layoffs

 Besides COVID, one of the more infectious things is layoffs in an industry. Right now, the podcast industry is riddled with staff layoffs. No one currently knows what the vaccine is to inoculate the podcast industry against more layoffs and show cuts.

 Recently, NPR announced that it would lay off ten percent of its staff and eliminate vacant positions to compensate for an estimated thirty-million-dollar shortfall in revenue. John Lansing, the CEO, blamed declining corporate sponsorships and advertising income.

 NPR said the budget shortfall this year, once estimated to be $20 million, had grown to at least $30 million. NPR, a nonprofit with a work force of about 1,100 people, had already cut $14 million in expenses through eliminating open positions, restricting nonessential travel and suspending internship programs. But those moves, Lansing said, are no longer enough to prevent job cuts.

 NPR joins a long line of media companies that have laid off workers in recent months amid falling advertising revenue and the threat of a possible economic recession. The Washington Post, CNN, Vox Media, BDG and Gannett have all laid off workers.

[verycharismaticdragon]

Okay, err, a few points I wanna reply to, so I'm just tackling them in random order.

First, about Peak Lords' ages - yeah, there's a lot of support for making them not that old.

I'm p sure the bit about TLJ-sealing happening before YQY was Sect Leader is just straight-up canon. Then, when SY!SQQ sees SJ's memories of disciple selections, it mentions something about how the Peak Lords only ascended a couple years ago (I'm trying not to skip ahead in my reread so idr exact wording). Which would make the IAC Gone Wrong either 2nd or 3rd ever for their generation. (Fun fact: if IAC happens every 4 years, it means SY transmigrated a year or less after the previous one.) Also, when the System gives Airplane a deadline for becoming the head disciple, it's 3 years, and yeah the System is a bitch but: wouldn't it make sense for the deadline to be either the ascension itself, or at least the latest possible date the previous peak lords may choose a succeeding disciple? Putting SQH's ascension age at smth like 20-21.

I hope to collect a few more clues as I reread, but yeah. There's a lot of support for not-that-old peak lords.

Next point, I'm kinda not sure about the idea of the 20-days binge being a reread. Esp considering the context for SQQ mentioning it, which is that he had "clean forgotten" most of the beginning arc. I'd guess his memories would be fresher if he was re-reading and recently too. So far, it seems that the most likely case is that he binged the novel when he first joined the fandom (either during the abyss or post-abyss arc), and then followed it update to update.

As for Airplane dying while writing another chapter, see, here's the thing: Shen Yuan had clearly read the finale. The way he talks about holding out till the end, hoping the plot threads would be resolved after all, is one thing. Another is this paragraph:

ch.1, p.12 (eng.edition)

Which sounds exactly like a sort of thing that would be in the book's epilogue / ending. The sort of thing that would wrap up the story.

So, what's up with Airplane writing another chapter?

One possible explanation is that he was writing extras. Most cnovels have them, and considering PIDW is his money tree, I'd imagine he'd write some whenever his finances would look a little dry, even if he moved on to writing something else.

Another is, ofc, that he was writing something else, because I paged through his extra real quick and it doesn't seem to ever specify that it was a PIDW update he was working on.

If you wanna go slightly tinfoil hat unhinged, though, I would suggest "sv!Airplane and sv!Cucumber actually come from two parallel worlds" theory. That would explain who is writing the revised danmei version of PIDW (Airplane in the world where Shen Yuan died), how Shen Yuan read the finale even though Airplane died writing an update, and even why Shen Yuan says PIDW ran for 4 years while the beginning of the Airplane extras says he maintaned his insane productivity for three...

(Yeah, the last one can also be explained differently, if we consider that Airplane was writing PIDW seriously in the beginning, and only started banging out brainless smut later.)

(Tbh this was a crack explanation I came up with for possible binggeyuan fic so. yk. mostly joking about it. unless? 👀)

...actually you know what*, I'll check the canon myself tomorrow, but: do we actually know for sure that SY died immediately after finishing PIDW? because i remember he died cursing it with his last words, but not whether it was indicated that he died the same day as he finished reading.

Couldn't it happen at a later date? Because, like, just basing it on myself, there are some things that I finished 2 years ago and hated so much that I still have a rant pretty much lock'd and loaded, and I will start recounting it at the slightest provocation.** Couldn't it be the same case?

*inspired by a couple posts i saw before, about the discrepancy between SY following the novel for years (i didnt see this on my reread yet so idk source) and finishing it in 20 days (chap.1)

**yes, yes, the probability of transmigrating into woh/shl if i meet an unfortunate accident is something I have a healthy fear of

[tenspontaneite]

The Ceracurist (Chapter 3/?)

Even after these past months, she wasn’t yet used to it. Another Full Moon spent alone.

(Chapter length: 10.4k. ao3 link)

---

“Did you go to the game night?” Was Ethari’s first question when she called him the next day.

She rolled her eyes at him. “Yes, Ethari.”

He looked delighted. “Did you make friends?”

She hesitated, thinking about it. “…Well, I did beat them all at Antiquitora,” she said eventually. “And you were right, they did appreciate that.” She paused, and added “I’m probably going back, I think.”

She spent the next ten minutes having details pried out of her so warmly and kindly it hardly felt like an interrogation at all. Ethari was good at that. Finally she secured her escape via the need to leave for training, and was farewelled with considerably less fretting than usual. When the call dropped, she was about to shut down the Sunbeam module entirely, but then-

New Contact Requests, said the alert in the corner. Rayla blinked, nonplussed, and opened it, already having a decent idea of what she’d find. Sure enough, there were three new requests from codes she recognised: Kazi, Nihatasi, and Callum. She lingered there for a while, feeling bizarrely overwhelmed, then finally accepted all three of them.

She didn’t linger by the computer, after that – she had training to get to. Rayla paused at the door to perform a final once-over of her armour, then grabbed her swords and left.

 ---

 Rayla stumbled back into her room in late afternoon, covered in about three different kinds of mud and her body aching all-over in the aftermath of prolonged exertion. She spent the next two hours with rigid discipline: cleaning herself, cleaning her armour, checking her weapons. She cooked unenthusiastically and ate, then finally felt justified in utter collapse. She landed face-first into her bed and fell asleep immediately.

Three hours later, she woke to a stirring of magic in her veins, prickling over her skin, all the hairs on the back of her neck standing on end. Slowly, she blinked her eyes open, and pushed herself up; every hint of soreness from training was completely gone. She turned her eyes to the window, staring at the Moon rising full and resplendent past the horizon. Something deep and instinctive in her delighted at the sight of it. But something else twisted, sharp with the pang of homesickness.

Even after these past months, she wasn’t yet used to it. Another Full Moon spent alone. She sighed, and tried not to think of the festivities that would surely be beginning back home. It was moonrise; Ethari and Runaan would be at the Circle by now. Had the dancing already started? With the Moon this high, it must have.

She stared unblinkingly out of the window, turning thoughts over and over in her head. It wasn’t right to be alone at Full Moon. It wasn’t right to spend it all indoors, either. She couldn’t do much about the first thing, but the second…

Silent, Rayla slipped outside. A few of her wingmates were out in the common room, chattering drunkenly with each other near the table. She blinked, slowly, and exhaled. When she passed, they didn’t see her; only started with surprise at the open and close of the door. She crept through the streets like a ghost, visiting each of the parks and training grounds in turn until she finally found one unoccupied: a small stand of well-kept trees, and a fountain that reflected the full body of the Moon in its burbling waters. It would do.

It was no Circle. There were no runes in the ground – nothing here that awaited the careful precision of the lunar dances, nothing that would light up at her passing. But it was better than nothing. Rayla pulled at the moonlight until she was nothing but shadows flickering in the shadows of the trees, and danced.

There were plenty of moondances that could be done alone, and she circled the fountain with all of them, one by one. A tracery of magic hummed in the air at her passing, whispers of light following her; magic summoned by her motions, without the guidance of a Circle’s shaping. Even formless and aimless, it was beautiful. So, for the pleasure of it, she spun through those motes of moonlight and held them flickering in the shadows of her skin; light and dark woven together.

When she was done, she felt…not joyous, maybe, or exhilarated, as a celebration back home might have left her. But she was satisfied. Calm, and a little less sad. With the Full Moon still high above her, its magic brimming in her veins, Rayla headed home once more.

She didn’t bother to hide herself this time, and when she came through the door and passed by the remaining wingmates still up and awake, they saw her perfectly well: skin night-dark, eyes glowing, the edges of her form blurring into the shadows. They were all of them Sunfire and Skywing, and went a little quiet as she went by them; she wondered if they’d ever seen one of her kind at Full Moon before. Somehow, she doubted it.

Finally, Rayla arrived at her door, disarmed its security, and closed it behind her. She sighed, standing for a moment in the moonlight through her window, and considered it. Sleep would be a lost cause for another few hours, probably. So, somewhat inevitably, she ended up checking the computer. Browsing the mageskein was probably the best way to kill a few hours, and it wasn’t like she had anything else to do, this time of night.

Except: her Sunbeam module was still on, humming inside its casing, and…when she looked, it had projected a few message alerts onto the screen. Hesitantly, she checked them.

One was from Ethari, wishing her a good Moon, and entreating her once again to visit a Circle for it. Somewhat belated, that. One was from Kazi, confirming the time of their rematch tomorrow, as well as the address. Nihatasi had sent another, packed with effusive praise for her gaming excellence, insistence that she return, and an offer to come by the house whenever she wanted. Rayla shook her head at that, reluctantly amused. It wasn’t as though she’d met many nomads before – not in a social setting, anyway – but so far, Nihatasi more than matched their reputation for being aggressively sociable.

The last message was from Callum, and she steadfastly pretended that she wasn’t any more interested in it than the rest. He’d cheerfully thanked her for coming to the game night, said he hoped she’d come again, and then made an inquiry about her gaming tastes. Did she play computer games? If so, which were her favourites?

With the slow, halting uncertainty of the socially awkward, Rayla responded to all of them except Ethari’s. Kazi’s was easy enough, she just had to say ‘thanks’ and ‘see you tomorrow’. The other two took more doing. To Nihatasi, she expressed her thanks, and her assurances that she intended to come to a game night again. She said nothing about the house visit. To Callum, she reiterated her intentions to return, and admitted that, yes, she did like computer games, but hadn’t had the opportunity to play many of them, for lack of the necessary modules or a computer with the right specifications.  

Given the hour, she certainly didn’t expect any response, so she switched active modules to the mageskein to start browsing. News headlines on the home site vied for her attention: something about the outcome of the latest Katolis-Evenere expedition into the wastelands; the most recent public appearance of the Dragon Prince with his esteemed parents; a gossip piece about some Katolian royal’s birthday. She checked the second one for images, and sure enough, there he was: the young prince Azymondias, still tiny in comparison to his queen mother…and, in the background, a few Dragonguard standing at the ready. Rayla spotted her parents and smiled. She clicked to transfer the picture through its Sunbeam link and waited.

The other module hummed, her computer making distressed noises as it attempted juggling the inputs of Sunbeam and Mageskein at once. The unit at home wouldn’t have had any trouble, but this one…she sighed, and waited, and was eventually rewarded when her Sunbeam successfully imported the image and displayed it full-fidelity, with all the depth and nuance of lighting that a flat picture could never convey. She filed it away, and was about to switch back, when she saw the alert.

A new message. At this hour? It had to be at least two in the morning by now, surely. She checked her clock to be sure, and, yep. 2:14am. She eyed the icon with consternation, then opened it.

Callum had responded. She stared, brow furrowing as she read. Hey, glad to hear back from you! He opened, cheerfully failing to acknowledge the fact that it was currently stupidly late. The rest of it was perfectly normal too; commiserating about her lack of access to proper computing, commenting that yeah, I didn’t get to play any EX games until I moved here, and you know what WX graphics are like, and which ones did you get to play? Any I’d know about?

Rayla reread its entirety several times, mildly flummoxed. At Full Moon her emotions were all closer to the surface than usual, so there was an undeniable thread of glee in her chest about this unexpected late-night contact, but…well, she was curious. In her limited experience with the ways of other students, the only reasons a non-Moonshadow would be up this late would be ‘partying’ or ‘insomnia’. Or ‘last-minute coursework’, but that was unlikely to apply when term was already over. So: You’re up late, she wrote, without thinking about it, and sent it back without responding to any of his actual questions. She’d begun composing a belated second message, but apparently Callum was a lot speedier with typing than she was.

Haha, yeah, I kind of lost track of time. Gaming, incidentally. She thought he must be used to significantly faster systems and transfer times than she was, because that was the entirety of that message, and then he sent another one: What about you? What are you doing up?

Rayla blinked, then settled herself a little more comfortably in her chair, since it seemed like, well. Like there might be a conversation happening, here. She brought the keyboard further forward. It’s Full Moon, she responded to him, a little dryly. Her computer took its sweet time about sending the message, as usual.

Oh. It is? After a pause, during which he presumably looked out of a window or something, he said Huh. So it is. Does it keep you awake?

She paused. Kind of, she wrote, slowly, and then wasn’t quite sure how much more to divulge. Eventually, she wrote It’s kind of hard to sleep through when it’s still high. I’ll be okay in a couple hours.

That must be so cool, he answered, which seemed a weird thing to say to a statement of Moon-induced insomnia. I’ve used artefacts to cast moon-magic before, but it must feel totally different when you’ve got the arcanum. What’s it like?

Rayla stared at her screen. She recalled the implications of him being a mage student, and was suddenly brimming with curiosity. I don’t know, I’m not a mage, she wrote, and then paused. Do you cast a lot of artefact magic, or was that a one-time thing?

She probably should have just outright asked about the mage student thing, rather than trying to be cagey about it. He probably wouldn’t have minded. Except, that turned out to be unnecessary, because the next thing he wrote, as if it were perfectly natural and unsurprising, was Well, I’m doing a thaumaturgy / thaumatology masters, so I definitely cast a lot of magic, yeah. Then, while she was still gawping at that, he followed it up with Listen, do you want to call?

What? She sent back, astonished, still in the middle of trying to process the concept of a human thaumaturgy student. She couldn’t quite get her head around it. How did that even work?

It’s okay if you don’t, he clarified. But your Sunbeam seems to have kind of a lot of connection lag, so it’d probably be faster to talk, you know?

Rayla was, in fact, using a fairly old edition of the Sunbeam module, which did have to establish a new connection for every individual message it sent and received. It was what was cheapest, and the lag was just…an unavoidable side-effect. She called more often than she messaged anyway, so it was rarely relevant. Except, apparently, now. It’s two in the morning, Callum, she sent to him, bewildered.

And we’re both awake, he pointed out, as if it was perfectly reasonable to call someone you’d only met twice before in the middle of the night.

Her first instinct, fuelled by bemusement and social anxiety, was to say no. Her second instinct was quick to the scene, with some very definite opinions about interacting with Callum, even at as weird an hour as this. She hesitated, wavering.

In the end, it was a glance at the Moon through the window that decided her. Rayla was emphatically not a mystical person, but even so, there were things that were deeply culturally ingrained. And one of those things was Full Moon is community time. Family, or friends, or a wider community – it didn’t really matter, but you weren’t supposed to be alone. This…probably counted.

Yeah, okay, she typed in the end, foot tapping under the desk with a frisson of tension. But only for a bit.

He didn’t waste any time about it, just sent the call request. Rayla took a quick moment to check she hadn’t made a mess of herself dancing, realised it was something of a moot point when everything attached to her was veiled in shadows, and finally accepted the call.

Callum’s room was startlingly brightly-lit when it appeared in the monitor, and it hurt her eyes a bit. She blinked rapidly, fighting the urge to squint, and glimpsed what looked like a well-appointed loft room with an unexpectedly dense population of easels. She could see at least three of them, most of which occupied by some sort of paper or canvas. She blinked, nonplussed, then steadfastly did not react when his face came into view. It moved around jarringly as he adjusted the lightcatcher, then finally settled.

He grinned at the screen, looking sleepy but in good enough humour, and said “Hey! Wow your room is dark.”

Rayla opened her mouth, closed it, then blinked. “Oh, right, your eyes,” she said, embarrassed. She generally only ever called her family, whose night vision was perfectly equal to hers. Humans, as well as most other elf races, were not nearly as well-suited for the dark. “Can you even see anything?”

“I can see your eyes,” he volunteered helpfully, looking amused. “They’re glowing. Really brightly, actually.”

“Yeah, that’s the Full Moon,” Rayla told him, already standing to go for the switch of the wall lamp over her desk. She’d never actually had cause to use it before, other than testing it when she first moved in, so the soft blue light it produced was almost wholly unfamiliar. “Is that better?” She asked, moving back to her chair.

“Well, I can actually see your room now, so-“ he started, then cut off abruptly as she settled back down in front of the lightcatcher. “Oh, wow,” he said instead as he stared at her, eyes wide.

Rayla ignored the self-conscious twinge in her stomach and frowned at him, folding her arms. “What?” she demanded.

He startled, as if only just realising what he’d said. “Oh. Um, sorry?” he attempted, weakly. “It’s just – I’ve never seen a Moonshadow elf all, er…” he waved expressively at her, contrite. “You know, Full Moon-ish?”

Oh. She eyed him, determined that he wasn’t messing with her, and relaxed a little. “What, not even in the Honour Games?” She asked, after a moment.

“Well, I mean, sometimes. But that’s usually in broad daylight, you know, and from a distance, and broadcasted.” He shrugged, a light dusting of pink rising in his cheeks, like he was embarrassed. “Kind of different to…” he nodded to her via the lightcatcher, smiling sheepishly.

“Suppose it is a tad different to a close-up Sunbeam call,” she conceded, lips twitching.

“I should’ve expected it, really, considering it’s full moon and everything,” he said ruefully. “Sorry, I’m not exactly at my brightest at two in the morning.”

Oh, that was right. It was the middle of the night. She squinted at him. “Then shouldn’t you be sleeping, instead of sunbeaming random Moonshadow elves?”

“Well, you’re up,” he said, as if this was a perfectly logical reason for him to be awake too. “And it’s not like I have to be up early.”

Lucky for him. She thought of the training and the Antiquitora rematch she had scheduled for the day, and suppressed a sigh. It was sometimes truly inconvenient to live in a mixed-race city that didn’t automatically expect the day after Full Moon (and the day of and before New Moon, of course) to be a rest day. “Wish I could say the same.”

He winced sympathetically. “Can you not cancel whatever it is?”

She opened her mouth to say no, stopped, and frowned. She hadn’t yet missed training even once. But…it wasn’t like attending every session was compulsory. And she did train three other times a week…and besides, a Sunday morning short session had never fallen on Full Moon recovery day before. “Probably, honestly,” she admitted. “My – uncle wouldn’t even tell me off for it. Moonshadow elves aren’t supposed to work the day after a Full Moon.”

��Because none of you can get to sleep the whole night?” He asked with interest, as if the cultural habits of her kind were genuinely intriguing to him. “Makes sense, I guess.”

Rayla huffed and shook her head. “Kinda. Mostly it’s because, traditionally, we’re supposed to spend moonrise to moonset with – family, or the community, or whatever. And we’re not much good for anything except collapsing once the Moon’s gone. So we all take the next day off.”

He blinked at her curiously, but if he wondered why she wasn’t currently out spending the Moon with her rightful community, he was tactful enough not to ask. “You should skip your thing, then. Whatever it is,” he determined, after a moment. “Get some actual sleep.”

“Says you,” Rayla said, wry. “You don’t even have a stupid magical reason to be up this late.”

“Does a technomantic game count as a stupid magical reason?” He grinned at her, his smile lopsided and full of humour. Her stomach did a weird flip-flop. “I mean. It is magical.”

Despite herself, she snorted. “And it is stupid,” she allowed, lips twitching. “As far as reasons to be sleep-deprived go, anyway.”

“Worth it,” he claimed, cheerfully. “I don’t have work till the afternoon anyway, so I’m fine.”

Rayla nodded at that, then a moment later actually recalled what his job was, and practically felt her face heating. Thank the Moon – literally – for her skin currently being too dark to show it.

He noticed some sort of reaction, though. Maybe her shoulders had hunched a bit. He tilted his head at her, a little rueful, and said “Yeah, er, about that. I wanted to apologise, for the others talking about it, yesterday? Couldn’t have been super comfortable.”

Abruptly hyper-aware of the weight and presence of her horns, Rayla did her best not to sink into the chair. “…It’s fine,” she muttered, embarrassed. “It’s not like you told them about it, they just guessed.”

“Yeah, I definitely wouldn’t tell them about who my customers were unless my customers said something about it first,” he assured her. “Not really professional, you know? We’re supposed to be confidential about it.” Suddenly, he smiled again. “Then again, it’s not like I usually end up meeting my customers at game night, so that part tends to be easier to manage.”

“Usually?” she asked dryly, ruthlessly suppressing the urge to lift her hands and hide her face behind them.

“No, yeah, you’re definitely the first time that’s happened,” he admitted. “It was kind of a surprise.”

She thought about how she’d reacted to seeing him appear through that door yesterday. “Just a tad.”

“A good one, though!” he claimed, cheerful. “It was nice to meet you properly.”

Rayla was tempted to say something along the lines of you know, where I come from, touching up someone’s horns is considerably more than a ‘proper’ meeting, but that was too mortifying to express, and he probably knew it anyway. She couldn’t imagine anyone becoming an experienced ceracurist without learning all the assorted implications that sort of thing had. “Even though I kicked your Archdragon across the board?” She questioned eventually, when she found her voice again.

“Even though you totally kicked my butt, yeah,” he agreed readily, looking far too pleased about it. “It was a great match. You’re crazy good at that game.”

An involuntary smile pulled at her lips. “Well, Kazi’s better,” she said, pleased despite herself. “They’d have had me easily, if they weren’t playing Ocean.”

He didn’t argue with her. Clearly, he understood the game plenty well enough to know the truth of that. “Still the second-best player I’ve met,” he insisted staunchly. “Is Antiquitora one of the computer games you said you did play? You must’ve put in some serious practice time.”

Rayla snorted. “I wish. No, the only games I ever actually got to play were on a gameship, just the one time, when I was…” she frowned, trying to remember. “Thirteen, maybe? Good long while ago.”

He perked up, expression brightening. “I love gameships,” he enthused. “There’s one that comes by Gullcrest twice a year, and I swear, all the students in the entire engineering department just disappear on board until it leaves. It’s crazy.” After a moment, he admitted “Well, to be fair, I disappear on board too, so, you know. It’s not like I can judge.”

She blinked, and leaned forwards. “What clan is the ship?” She asked, with considerable interest.

“It’s a joint management. Serat-Demani,” he said, watching her knowingly.

“Moon above,” she swore, and he grinned.

“Right?” Looking exceedingly pleased with her reaction, he took that as his cue to go into extensive, exacting detail about the wonders that a fully-stocked, state-of-the-art Demani entertainment airship had to offer. She listened raptly the entire time, interjecting with questions about the rates, the facilities, the games. If it was a Demani ship, it had to have Skycrawler, surely? What was it like? Was the gameplay everything it was said to be?

In the end, Rayla didn’t think she could really be blamed for losing track of time.

Callum was in the middle of enthusiastically praising Scion of Shadow, with particular attention to its unusually enjoyable stealth mechanics, when out of nowhere a yawn cracked through his sentence. He seemed fully ready to keep on talking once it was done, but Rayla sat up a little straighter, and for the first time in a while remembered that it was the middle of the night. She consulted her Moon-sense, and then the clock, and then buried her face in her hands.

He cut off mid-sentence, inquisitive. “What?”

“Callum, it’s nearly four in the morning,” she informed him, lowering her hands to stare at the clock, consumed with a baleful sense of having been betrayed by the passage of time.  “The sun’s probably not even far off rising.”

He blinked, looked to the side, then blinked again. “…Huh,” he observed, a little sheepish. “Yeah, that’s…later than I usually stay up.”

“It’s later than I usually stay up, even on Full Moons.” Technically true, for the ones she’d spent at university. At home, though…moonset was, after all, later than sunrise in summer. Full Moon celebrations usually concluded once everyone’s skin was back to normal, but not always.

Callum shot her a weird look, long and appraising, before he spoke. “You’re still all…Moon-shadowy, though.”

“That won’t stop for a while yet,” she informed him, and shook her head. “I can probably get to sleep by now, anyway. Or another hour off, at most. You…” For a moment, she inspected him, spotting the signs of tiredness in his bearing. “You won’t have that problem, I think. You look knackered.”

He offered a rueful smile. “I’ll probably pass out the second I lay down, yeah,” he admitted. “I kind of lost track of time. Again.”

She rolled her eyes at him. “Well, I’ll just go now, then, so you can’t get distracted again.”

Hastily, he sat bolt upright. “But there was something I wanted to-“

“Tomorrow,” she told him, firmly. “Or…today, technically. Later, anyway. Whatever it is can wait.”

He opened his mouth, closed it, then smiled sleepily at her. It looked far more endearing than it had any right to. “Well, okay then.”

Rayla nodded to him, said “Thanks,” then leaned in and shut the call down without a further word. Sunbeam’s active connection died down, Callum’s face disappearing from the screen, and she leaned back in her chair to fix the ceiling with a long-suffering stare.

On one hand, Ethari would’ve probably been delighted to hear she’d spent a couple hours of her Full Moon socialising, as a proper Moonshadow elf ought to. But on the other….Ethari could absolutely never, ever find out about this. If he knew she’d been up chatting with someone, losing track of time, for actual hours…she’d never hear the end of it. To say nothing of how he’d react if he got wind that she – that she might sort of-

“Ugh,” Rayla grumbled to herself, wiping a hand over her face.

She stared at the ceiling for a good long while, experiencing a variety of emotions that she wasn’t keen on thinking about too hard. She also spent a not inconsiderable amount of time thinking about the conversation, running it over in her head, thoughts stubbornly fixed on Callum. This was how she ended up realising that she’d never actually asked about the mage-student-thing, and she still had no idea how that worked.

“Ugh,” she said again, more emphatically, and finally left her chair. She left her room to perform some necessary ablutions in the bathroom she shared with the next room over, then returned to draw the curtains. Without the direct moonlight through her window, the magic in her skin started to stutter a little. In ten minutes or so, she’d be back to normal again…and, with luck, she might be asleep by then.

Begrudgingly, Rayla peeled herself out of her clothes and threw them haphazardly onto the floor, not even bothering to watch the magic desert them, and climbed into bed. A suboptimal amount of time later, she was asleep.

 ---

 “Goodness, you look tired,” said Kazi, welcoming Rayla in. Rayla, for her part, was a little too exhausted to feel particularly awkward, which was nice. “Was the Full Moon particularly trying?”

Rayla’s lips twitched. At least this one knew when Full Moon was. “No more than usual,” she said dryly, bending to remove her shoes when Kazi made noises about it. “Just, you know, getting enough sleep is kind of a lost cause.”

“Oh, I know the feeling. Or at least somewhat,” they commiserated, leading her through to a small and cosy-looking living room lined with bookshelves, and then through to a somewhat larger dining room, whose table was…occupied. Very thoroughly occupied. Rayla tried not to look at it too closely until she had a chance to inspect it properly. “There was a solar flare a few years ago, and of course I and the other Sunfire elves couldn’t sleep for days. It was quite the experience! And I’m sure you know how the Skywing elves get when there’s a particularly powerful storm abound.”

She had, in fact, had occasion to see what Skywing elves looked like when they were storm-drunk. It had been funny, up until it got annoying. “Probably more of a pain for them and you, really, since none of you take anything like moondust,” she volunteered after a moment, mouth turning up with wry sympathy. She’d hate to be a Skywing and be subject to random, unpredictable bouts of their equivalent of being moonstruck. “You all get the full effect of it.”

Kazi looked a little curious at that, but didn’t ask. “Yes, I suppose so. We should be thankful our magical overload is not so consistent as it is for you. In any case-“ they gestured towards the table. “Please take a seat wherever you prefer! Would you like any stimulants?”

Rayla blinked. “…Could you repeat that?”

“Tea,” they clarified, eyes merry with humour. “Or perhaps reveillant, or coffee, by your preference. I have all three, in some measure.”

For a moment she’d wondered if she was being offered something illegal, which…looking at Kazi, she was quite sure had been on purpose. She shook her head, reluctantly amused, and said “I could try some reveillant? I’ve only had it once.”

“It is not especially common, in a Skywing city like this,” Kazi allowed, already heading in the direction of one of the doorways. They kept speaking as they disappeared through it, still perfectly audible to her ears. “But I always keep a supply. It’s the only one that tastes particularly good cold, after all, unless you are very creative with your teas.” There was the sound of a cupboard opening, and then a good bit of rummaging.

During the wait, Rayla cautiously selected a seat at the table and settled there, finally letting her increasingly wide eyes rove over the board set up across it. She was still gawping conspicuously when Kazi returned, brandishing three brown paper packets of what she assumed to be reveillant.

“Do you prefer unflavoured, citrus, or mixed berry varieties?” they inquired mildly, hiding a smile when they saw her inspecting the board.

“Er, berry?” Rayla offered, only half paying attention. She was too busy looking at the intricate detail on the hand-carved and probably hideously valuable Antiquitora board. There were no pieces on it yet, but even just the tiles…it was astonishing. All of the terrain had been dyed and varnished in different colours, with careful attention to the different biomes. It all gleamed. The ocean tiles had even been coated in some kind of resin, making them look wet. The artisan had even mimicked the effect of the edge of an underwater continental shelf seen from above, with an area of lighter ‘water’ closer to the ‘coastline’.

“Berry it is,” Kazi said, sounding quite smug. Rayla didn’t have the chance to see what their face looked like, because they’d already disappeared back into what she assumed was the kitchen. She spent the next five minutes of beverage preparation time inspecting the game board with undisguised admiration. Rayla wasn’t one to usually pay much attention to art, but…this was game related art. It was different.

“The set you brought to the game night wasn’t your one set, then,” Rayla finally commented, when Kazi reappeared. She accepted her cup with exacting care, not wanting to risk a drink spillage near a board like this. She was honestly surprised Kazi allowed drinks so close to this thing.

Kazi smiled, disproportionately small for the amount of self-satisfaction in it. “Yes, it’s my more portable set,” they said pleasantly, and took a seat across the table from her, setting down their own glass. “This one…well, I certainly do not take it out of the house.”

“I can imagine,” she expressed, uncertain whether to be jealous of the board or just plain impressed. She wouldn’t even want something this pricey. She’d constantly be worrying about damaging it somehow. But, even so…the hint of avarice remained. “I’ve never seen anything like it.”

“The various tile-pieces and figures are quite a sight themselves, I think,” they said, evidently extremely pleased with themself. Rayla wondered how many people they invited round for Antiquitora for the express purpose of showing off this set. “Have you decided your faction for today? Once we have that settled, we can begin setting up.”

Rayla snorted, lips turning up into a half-smirk. “Depends what you’re playing as.”

Kazi beamed back. “Do you have a preference? I am perfectly open to suggestions.”

She considered it. Allegedly, Kazi was most beastly when playing Earth or Sun. Rayla herself was best at Moon and Sky…and Sky was exceptionally poorly matched against Earth. Sun’s best counters were Earth and Ocean. Moon wasn’t great against Sun, but not terrible either. “Take Sun,” she decided, eventually. “I’ll do Moon. I want to see for myself how much you wipe the board with everyone when you get to play properly.”

If Kazi had been smiling before, they looked positively frightening now. Not that their smile had widened, or anything; they just seemed to have a way of looking disconcertingly menacing while beaming pleasantly at you. “I will do my best to arrange that,” they said, and reached for three boxes: Moon, Sun, and the tiles and dice and cards.

Setting up would have gone more quickly if not for Rayla’s interest in inspecting the various gamepieces, and Kazi’s interest in flaunting them. Most of the units, from citizens to mages, were all carved in beautifully varnished wood. The Hero and Archdragon figures, though… “Is that gemstone inlay?” Rayla asked with disbelief, inspecting her Lunar Archdragon and turning it this way and that.

“The Lunar Archdragon has mother-of-pearl inlay, in fact,” Kazi said pleasantly. “And, yes, some very small gemstones for the eyes.”

She shook her head at that, half-impressed, half in disbelief. “Where did you even get this?”

“It’s an heirloom,” they elaborated, which made sense. The only other way for someone to have a set like this would be by being ridiculously rich, or by knowing an insanely skilled craftself. “Hence why it has the standardised continent shape. It does need fairly careful maintenance, though. I paid to have some of the varnishing redone recently, for example. But for me, the joy of owning a set like this is well-worth the upkeep.”

Rayla nodded. It wasn’t her sort of thing, personally, but she understood well enough. “I bet you try to get people over to play you every chance you get,” she said, amused. “With a board like this…”

“It would be quite a shame otherwise, yes,” they agreed. “I must thank you for obliging me! This board so rarely sees a high-level game.”

She huffed, amused, and kept unpacking the gamepieces one-by-one. Kazi had to know that they were the better player. If she’d barely beaten them when they were playing Ocean and underestimating her for most of the game, she certainly wasn’t going to win now. “I’ll see what I can do.”

Eventually, when everything was set up, they rolled the starting conditions and began playing. Kazi very obviously knew what they were doing with the primary advantages of the Sun faction – agriculture, population, and military might – but Rayla was perfectly well acquainted with a proper Moon playstyle as well. She leaned into the espionage and intrigue skillset as heavily as she could manage, wreaking political strife in Kazi’s territory wherever she found an opening. When Kazi could find them, her units died; but that certainly wasn’t always.

Even so, the outcome was something of a foregone conclusion. The game lasted a while, because Rayla knew that her main defence against the Sun armies was if they couldn’t find the Moon cities, and planned accordingly…but Rayla hadn’t succeeded in assassinating the Archdragon, and hadn’t managed to get the Sun citizenry to demand a leadership duel either. So, unsurprisingly, Kazi eventually managed to field an assault that broke through the illusory barriers protecting Rayla’s stronghold, striking at her Archdragon precisely on the turn before New Moon. It died of its injuries the turn later.

Rayla considered the board carefully after that. Her best chances of winning against Sun would be crop poisoning, Archdragon assassinating, leadership disputes, or revolution. She’d managed the first and had been making decent headway on the latter two, but, in the end…it wasn’t close enough. She smiled ruefully, and said “Moon concedes.”

They nodded, having expected that, and smiled beatifically. “It was a marvellous game,” they said warmly, already reaching over to begin clearing the pieces. “Thank you very much for it.”

“I don’t know, it was a pretty solid victory for you.” Her voice was dry as she reached out to help, handling each of the intricately-carved figures with care. “You’re obviously the better player, here.”

“Yes,” they agreed, neither modestly nor boastfully, simply as the fact it was. “But nonetheless, you are certainly the best player I’ve encountered in-person in a very long time. Certainly the only one I didn’t arrange to meet with beforehand. It was a good game, no matter that you lost it.”

Rayla dipped her head, smiling a little. It wasn’t like she enjoyed losing…but she’d appreciated the challenge enough to make up for it. She’d ceased finding any sort of challenge back home a long, long time ago. “Yeah, it wasn’t bad.”

Kazi reached for another piece, paused, then eyed her consideringly. “Would you…like to discuss it?” they asked, tilting their head, watching her.

She glanced up, surprised. It was hardly an unfamiliar concept. She’d watched enough matches broadcast on Sunbeam to know how it went; when two top-tier players concluded a match, they talked about it afterwards. They discussed each other’s plays and strategies, pointed out mistakes, considered where there was room for improvement…

The only after-game discussions she’d ever had had been at Runaan’s knee, when she was still small and didn’t know the game nearly as well. It was weirdly flattering to be invited to do it now.

“…Yeah,” Rayla said, eventually, and sat back down. “I’d like that.”

Kazi beamed like the Sun they’d just used to trounce her. “Very good.”

The next half hour involved more talking than Rayla thought she’d done at a time in months…or, well, she would’ve said so, if not for last night. It was certainly a good second-place contender though, and by the end her voice was feeling a little tired from overuse. They concluded the discussion, packed away the gamepieces and board, and then were done.

“But of course, you must stay for another drink,” Kazi said, and whisked her empty glass of reveillant away. “You liked the berry infusion, yes? Excellent, I will get you another.” Good to their word, they did precisely that, and returned in short order.

Rayla did feel a little more awake, on that second glass of the reveillant. It was effective stuff; as much or more so than coffee, with (in her opinion) a considerably better taste. She was debating the merits of asking Kazi where they got it when they spoke up first.

“You’ll be returning, I hope?” they said, and it took Rayla a moment to think of what they meant.

“….Here?” she guessed. “For a rematch?”

“Well, yes, naturally.” Kazi pushed their glasses up, smiling a little. “I had assumed as much. But, no, I was referring to the game society. You’d be an excellent fit, I think.”

Rayla blinked. “Oh.” She thought of the previous night, and hunched down a little in embarrassment.

“I know it was only a very small group when you visited, but I have the impression you prefer that, anyway,” they said, neatly demonstrating that they were as unnervingly good at reading her as she’d sort of inferred. “It can get rowdier in term time – at least at the official meetings. The meet-ups at our houses are much calmer – usually just the core group.”

“Which is?” Rayla asked, a little reserved now, if only to disguise the fact that she really didn’t need convincing. She might have, after just the Friday. But after this…after yesterday…

“Myself, Callum, Nihatasi. Usually Pava, but often he spends the whole time tinkering instead of playing.” They shook their head, amused. “In term time – well, usually I’d say to expect Evairas, but he is spectacularly busy these days, so perhaps not.”

“…They sent messages,” she commented, after a moment. “Callum and Nihatasi, I mean. Pava didn’t.”

“Pava tends to forget Sunbeam exists for weeks at a time, don’t mind him,” Kazi assured her. “Nihatasi and Callum though, I’m not at all surprised. Nihatasi adores new people, and Callum…” they eyed her, just a little speculatively. “Well, I think you impressed him. Has he invited you to Tuesday, yet?”

Rayla blinked with consternation. “Invited me to what on Tuesday?”

“Game meeting, at the house,” they clarified. “It’s hardly an official thing, but it’s often Callum’s house that has everyone over. He hasn’t invited you over, yet? Well, he will. I am quite sure of it.”

For a long moment, she looked into her glass and the dark red liquid therein, pondering it as if it held all the answers for how she was supposed to respond. “If you say so,” she said, finally, and lifted her glass to drink.

“I do,” Kazi claimed serenely, and gracefully changed the topic to (naturally) more about Antiquitora. By the time Rayla finished her drink, she’d learned that Kazi played broadcast games online fairly regularly, under a handle that she recognised; she’d watched a good few of their games before.

“Is there a story behind that skein-name?” she asked, undeniably curious now that she was acquainted with the elf behind it. “’Finguistician’.”

Kazi laughed, like she’d surprised them. “Oh, that,” they said, mirthfully. “It’s something of an in-joke. You see, I have my doctorate in Linguistics – specifically, in non-verbal linguistics. Various sign languages, Draconic Corpus, and so on. I made a joke once, when I was still an undergraduate in a sign-language module, that the course should be called finguistics, given, well,” they waggled their fingers at her.

She snorted, amused. “Did it catch on?”

“Sadly, no. But I do call my sign language classes for the public ‘finguistics’, and no one can stop me, because I am the teacher.” They giggled a little to themself. “Perhaps in time it will become a more widely-used term. I would like that; it would be very amusing. In any case, that is where the handle comes from.”

Rayla thought, for a moment, about a moment from the game night: Kazi and Callum had used some sort of sign language with each other for a second, hadn’t they? She considered asking about it, wondering what his background in that was. Did he take any of Kazi’s lessons, or had he learned some other way?

In the end, she bit her tongue and said nothing. After a little more idle conversation, she eventually made her leave, farewelled at the door by her cheerful host. Without the game to bolster her, she swiftly began to really feel her exhaustion. Stimulants or not, she was so tired that a headache was starting to pound luridly behind her eyes, almost enough to make them water.

She headed home intending to collapse back into bed and nap – if the lingering effects of the drinks allowed her to, anyway. Which was why she was considerably displeased to arrive back to find her wing busy and full of noise and various elves milling about. The halls were crowded. She was about to say “What the fuck”, or perhaps “Shut up, do you know how bad my headache is right now”, but before she had the chance one of the closest elves (some wingmate she didn’t know the name of) spotted her and shouted down the hall “It’s her, she’s here, she’s not dead!”

All eyes went to her, and an immediate chattering started up. Rayla stared, utterly nonplussed, fighting the urge to pull on the Moon and take advantage of a state of near-invisibility to just retreat to her nice, privacy-sealed bedroom. The noise cancellation ought to take care of this racket.

After a few seconds, a face she actually had a name for pushed forwards. It was Stavian, a Skywing elf from her bellatorium, still in armour from training. “Rayla,” he said, sounding very relieved. “Thank goodness, we were about to call for an official search!”

Rayla had no idea what was happening. “What in Xadia’s name is going on here?” she demanded, finally, and her irate tone seemed to remind him that he (for some reason) customarily seemed to be quite intimidated by her. He shrank back a little, and as he did, a few of the rest of the Honour Games team started to appear.

“You didn’t show up for training!” he said, defensively. “And from anyone else that wouldn’t be much of a big deal, but you’ve never missed a day before. And then when we went to check on you afterwards you weren’t here.”

“And none of your wingmates knew where you were,” added one of her teammates: Fiera, a particularly tiny Skywing mage with hair and feathers dyed a distinctive lilac colour.

Rayla stared for a few more seconds, then wiped a hand over her face. “It was Full Moon,” she said, very slowly, her patience already somewhere on level with the floor. “I didn’t get to sleep till around five; of course I wasn’t going to go to morning training.” She ignored the fact that, if not for Callum, she absolutely would have. He’d been right; it was completely reasonable to miss training on a Full Moon rest day, and if they had a problem with that they could bite her.

The vast collective of people assembled in the halls all looked very embarrassed, suddenly. And honestly, they should be. Moonshadow elves were definitely uncommon in Gullcrest, but surely someone should have known it was Full Moon, and made the obvious conclusions. “Oh,” said Fiera, weakly. Her wings drooped a little. “That…makes sense.”

Now looking very abashed, Stavian echoed “Oh.” The crowd of assorted wingmates and guests, probably attracted by the initial hubbub, started to grumble and dissipate.

Rayla sighed, and rubbed at her eyes, attempting to scrounge some sort of positive emotion from beneath her absolute crankiness at being confronted with a noisy group of people when she was this sleep-deprived. “Look,” she attempted, tiredly, “It’s…nice you were worried. I didn’t realise anyone would be looking for me.” She searched for something appropriate to say. “I’ll…put a note on my door, if something like this comes up again?”

Her teammates, four of whom had shown up, nodded contritely. “Sorry for bothering you on a rest day,” offered another of them, starting to shove the others towards the door. “We’ll see you for training tomorrow, right?”

“Yes, I’ll be there,” Rayla looked longingly down the hallway, where her bed awaited. “I don’t exactly make a habit of missing training, you know.”

“Yeah, you’re very – dedicated,” Fiera said, in the tones of someone trying to be diplomatic, still being ushered doorwards. “Have a good rest day!” she called, right before the rest of them filed out and the wing became something approaching quiet again.

Too tired and too grumpy to have much emotional response to the whole thing, Rayla turned and headed down her hallway without a further word. The wing was still bustling, and it was more of a relief than usual to close her door on it; the privacy runes hummed lethargically as they activated, but the noise level outside cut off sharply enough that for once she didn’t mind their quality too much. They mostly did their job, and that was all she really needed.

It turned out that the effect of the reveillant couldn’t really complete with post-Full-Moon sleep deprivation; Rayla crawled into bed and fell asleep more or less instantly.

She woke some hours later, stirring at the sound of some computer module or other humming as it reactivated from idling. It wasn’t loud by any means, but she was quite sensitive to new or changing sounds in her vicinity, so it was enough. She blinked her eyes open, rubbing grit from their edges, and stumbled out of bed with a glance at the clock along the way. Moon-sense said it was late afternoon; the clock was a bit more specific about it, and said 6.33pm. The sky outside was still blue and light, but in that summer-evening way, where the sun had fallen low enough to cast long shadows between the city buildings. It was still bright enough to make her tired to look at.

There were new messages on her Sunbeam.

Rayla dropped into her desk chair and eyed the icon tiredly, uncertain if she was awake or rested enough to deal with any further social contact today. In the end she decided there probably wasn’t any harm in checking them, so…she looked. Kazi had thanked her for the game, and sent her some sort of invitation to make an account on…what looked to be the skeinsite that hosted the high-level Antiquitora broadcasts. She wasn’t sure what the purpose of that was, and didn’t have her head on sufficiently to figure it out, so she left it for later. Ethari had asked how her Full Moon had been. And…

She sighed, not sure whether to be pleased or embarrassed, because: Callum had left messages, too. Fairly recently, actually.

They read Hope you got to sleep okay, and how are you feeling? There was no mention of whatever he’d supposedly wanted to mention before the call ended, so he’d probably forgotten, or…something.

She debated whether or not to reply now. She found she was a little wary of…something. She wasn’t quite sure what. Making a fool of herself, maybe? She’d already spent nearly two very late-night hours sunbeaming him, and…that was already…well.

In the end, Rayla spent about five minutes trying to wrestle some semblance of reason past her sleep-mired brain, finally concluding that she was probably unlikely to come across as an infatuated idiot by responding to a couple of messages. Then, slowly, she picked at the keys to write back: Kind of knackered, but okay. While that one was processing, she hesitantly sent another: Just woke up from a nap. I think it helped?

She left the computer to visit the bathroom, tidying up her hair and washing her face with cold water. It did little to make her feel more alert, or to remove the weird muggy haze of exhaustion from her head, but it was better than nothing. She contemplated getting something to eat, but knew she wasn’t going to be up to cooking tonight. She went for one of her bottles of emergency moonberry elixir instead, which were so full of nutrients they probably counted as some kind of soup.

That in hand, she returned to her computer….and, somehow, wasn’t surprised to find that Callum had already replied. Was he just constantly glued to his computer, or what?

Well, at least it’s apparently traditional to be tired after full moon, I guess? He’d written, light-heartedly. At least you got a nap! Although it’s kind of late. Won’t you have trouble getting to sleep later?

Rayla shuffled forwards in her chair to respond. Nah. There’s a neat trick you can use to get to sleep at night if you’re a Moonshadow elf, and if it’s not Full Moon. Just need to shine a bright light in my face and I’ll be good. She hadn’t had to use it in a while, but she knew where the thing was: on her windowsill, to soak up sunlight during the day. It’d do the job just fine.

The pause in response seemed to be longer than connection lag would account for. That’s so weird, and cool, he marvelled, eventually. I just looked it up. They call them sun lamps?

Yep. Flash of sunlight in a dark place gets us sleepy pretty much every time. Moonshadow elves tended to be mostly diurnal by practice, but naturally, they all had the wiring for a nocturnal lifestyle. Bright sunlight in the eyes after being in the dark would usually trigger tiredness, even in elves perfectly used to going about in the daytime. Sun lamps were extraordinarily simple as far as enchanted objects went, but extraordinarily useful for Moonshadow elves with weird schedules.

What about if someone turns a light on in a dark room? He asked, apparently fascinated.

Nah. Has to be sunlight. It’s pretty specific.

That’s so cool, he reiterated, from that bizarre well of enthusiasm he seemed to have for banal magical elements of everyday life. Rayla waited to see if he’d write anything more, and after a moment, realised she’d started smiling. She wasn’t sure when that had happened. Eventually, he did send something else: I’d ask if you wanted to call again, but you should probably, you know, be getting actual sleep.

What Rayla intended to write then was something along the lines of, ‘yes, you’re entirely correct, I need to sleep for like twelve hours if I’m not going to be a useless wreck for training tomorrow’.

Instead, what she ending up sending was keep it half an hour or less, and you’re probably fine.

I’ll set a timer :) he typed, complete with smiley, which was something she’d never actually encountered outside of the mageskein before. And then he called her.

“How’s the light level?” she asked him, when the call resolved. It wasn’t yet far into sunset, so she thought there ought to be sufficient lighting in her room to see by, but who really knew with humans. She certainly didn’t know how bad their eyes were.

In his own room, Callum was bathed in the warm glow of the light through his windows, shaded the same pink-orange that she was. He was smiling, even as he pretended to squint exaggeratedly at her room. “Yeah, I can just about see,” he said, obviously teasing. “It’s not dark yet.” A pause, and he took a moment to look her over a little more directly. He was a little more concerned when he added “Are you sure it’s okay to be calling? You really do look tired.”

“I think I’ll survive half an hour, Callum,” she told him wryly, and one corner of his lips twitched upwards.

“Yeah, fair enough.” He hesitated for a moment, like he was summoning his nerve for something. “Listen – I wanted to ask before, yesterday, but – there’s going to be a sort of casual gaming night? At my house? On Tuesday. The others will be there. And my housemates, er, obviously.” He cleared his throat. “Sorry if it’s short notice, but – do you want to come?”

Rayla stared at him, half bemused by the offer itself, half at his apparent nervousness. “Kazi said you were going to invite me,” she said, a little too nonplussed to offer any more intelligent response. “I guess they were right.”

He blinked. “You’ve been talking to Kazi?” A pause. “No, wait, what am I saying, of course you’ve been talking to Kazi. There’s no way they’d let someone who beat them at Antiquitora get away.”

“We had a rematch today, actually,” Rayla admitted, lips twitching. “I let them take Sun. Naturally they destroyed me.”

“Ow,” Callum said, with feeling. “I’ve been on the receiving end of Kazi playing Sun before. It’s…” he searched for the words. “Really something.”

She smiled, remembering it. With a few hours separating her from the game, she realised she’d enjoyed the experience more than she’d anticipated. The discussion in particular had been welcome. “I’m just glad to be able to play someone new, honestly,” she confided. “Though it’d be nice to do it again when I’ve actually slept.” A second later, she remembered he’d had an almost equally dubious bedtime, and inspected him critically. He looked surprisingly okay, actually. A little tired, but not like he’d been up most of the night. “Did you sleep in late, or what?” She asked then, a little amused. “You don’t actually look tired.”

He laughed sheepishly. “Yeah, I didn’t wake up till around lunchtime,” he admitted. “I had to go to work after that, though.”

Rayla paused, still very unsure of how to respond to mentions of his work. “And…was that okay?” She asked at last, uncertainly.

“Yeah, actually. I had a pattern etching appointment, and those are some of my favourites,” he said, brightening. “This one wanted one of my new designs, too. It turned out great!”

She’d seen something about that on the posters in the waiting room, she thought. “That’d be the…buzzing patterns into the horns?” She asked, faintly.

“Mmhm. I use sort of a really small thin version of an electric buffer, and work the etching in that way,” he agreed. “I draw the design on first and follow the lines, and then after you can either just polish it up and leave it, or like, fill with metal or something. It takes a while, but, you know, that’s kind of just how art works.” He shrugged. “It looks great, anyway.”

Rayla thought of her looming appointment, maybe a week or so away, and found she was entirely unprepared for thinking about that. “You…seem to kind of do the art thing a lot?” she hazarded, as a distraction, nodding to the nearest easel. “Painting?”

He turned to look, then grinned back at her. “Yeah! I mean, art is…well, I probably draw more than I game, and that’s really saying something. I do all sorts, kinda. I’ll have to show you some of my sketchbooks sometime.” That seemed to remind him of the question she still hadn’t answered, and he abruptly looked nervous again. “So. Er. Um. About Tuesday…?”

She tried, very hard, to keep an even expression. “Er,” she managed, and then finally: “…Yeah. Sounds good? I’ll…be there.” Wherever ‘there’ was. She did have the address written down, but hadn’t actually tried to figure out where it was in the city yet.

Callum straightened up, brightening. “Really? That’s great!” A second later, he amended “It’ll be really nice to have someone new over! We’ll have food and stuff, too.”

She paused at that. “Should I bring anything?” Hospitality expectations tended to be very different depending on culture, so it merited the question.

“Nah. Well, if you want, you can bring snacks or food, but you don’t need to. We have loads.” A second later, he added ruefully “Kassa has some…pretty strong opinions about how fully-stocked a kitchen should be.”

“That’s one of your housemates?” she remembered.

“Yeah! Actually, I lived with Kassa and her mom for a few years before. They sort of hosted me, when I was…well, when I first came to Gullcrest.” He amended his sentence half-way through, as if realising he was about to say too much. She was intensely curious about that. “This house is her family property, too, so we don’t have to pay much on it. We moved in when Kassa started her undergrad.”

She blinked, filing that information away. This had something to do with the mystery of him doing a mage’s masters at the age of eighteen, she was sure of it, but… “What about your other housemates?”

“Nihatasi moved in because we had room and she was a friend,” he said, matter-of-factly. “Soren…” he hesitated. “Well, he’s a childhood friend of mine,” he settled on eventually. “So he came to study here, and he took the last spare room.”

Rayla eyed him, but didn’t question him on the obvious secrets clamouring behind his words. “Looks a lot roomier than usual student wings, at least,” she commented finally. “These rooms are pretty cramped. And the runework is pretty worn-down. My door makes this horrible droning noise every time the wards come on.”

He made an ‘oof’ sound. “I’ve visited student wings before. They’re…well, they’re okay. Definitely prefer this house though.” He eyed her curiously. “Is yours at least one of the ones where you get one bathroom between two people? Because I knew someone who only had one bathroom for twelve, and it was terrible.”

“That sounds disgusting,” she said, making a face. She could hardly imagine how terrible that would be, with how some of her wingmates were. “I’m so glad that’s not me.”

“So glad,” he agreed, and before she knew it, they were off on a weirdly engrossing conversation about the merits of student living compared to home life. He was pretty evasive about it, but she got the impression he’d been used to a fairly fancy home before he came to Gullcrest, and he’d been astonished at what student wings were like.

Rayla was in the middle of describing how chaotic move-in day had been, with so many elves hauling all their boxes of things in at once, when a shrill ringing started up from over Callum’s voicecatcher. He reached hastily to the side and disabled some sort of egg timer that had gone off, settling back into view with a sheepish smile.

“That was the timer,” he said, apologetically.

Half an hour, already. It was a little disconcerting how quickly it’d gone by. “I’d better try to turn in for an early night, then,” she offered, weirdly reluctant to hang up.

He hesitated a fair bit, too. “Probably a good idea,” he agreed, wry. “We can talk again later?” His tone went questioning, at that. A little hopeful.

Rayla resisted the urge to bury her face in her hands. “…Yeah, sure,” she sighed, more and more exasperated with herself for just how much she wanted to talk to him.

Callum smiled again, the edges of him lit up from the light of the falling sun. “Later, then,” he said, and hesitated once again. Then he reached out, and the call disconnected. Sunbeam minimised to its idling overlay around the edges of her screen, the background of Silvergrove scenery back to the fore.

She sighed, and leaned back in her chair. Ruefully, she spend a while reflecting on exactly how in trouble she was. Then she did as a responsible elf on their Full Moon rest day ought, and went to attempt an early night.

She managed it almost as soon as it was dark enough for her magic rune-rock to work. Thank Xadia for sun lamps, honestly.

  ---

End chapter.

Yeah so this is basically completely unbetaed, even by me, because I’ve been frantically trying to churn out a complete chapter this week in time for the Modern AU day of rayllum month. There will be typos, there will be clunky sentences, that’s just what you get for a rush job. I’ll return to it and do some editing in the morning.

Re: the Antiquitora. ‘Would you like to discuss the game’ *hikago fandom origins vibes intensify*

  Worldbuilding notes for this chapter:

Moondances: specific ritual dances made to react with the runic Circles that Moonshadow elves use. The dancing is used as a form of spellcraft, to cast enchantments or strengthen the magic of a community. The Full Moon dances in Silvergrove for example are integral for keeping its magical defences running. (piaj)

EX and WX: East Xadian and West Xadia. A more modern and correct term for the human and elf/dragon sides of the continent, respectively.

Artefact magic: primal magic cast with a power source other than your own arcanum. E.g. a primal stone, a moon opal.

Thaumaturgy: the practice of magic casting.

Thaumatology: the study of magic.

Lightcatcher: magic camera, basically.

Voicecatcher: magic microphone, basically.

Honour Games: a fun sport :) more on this later.

Technomancy/technomantic: alternate proper term for magical engineering.

Antiquitora notes: while the game has been steadily gaining complexity over time, the game at its fundamentals is very old, and quite traditional. It’s considered a respectable strategy game, and Runaan certainly would have approved of Rayla showing an interest in it when she was younger. Modern variants tend to adopt features and ‘house rules’ that don’t strictly conform to traditional standards, though.

East Xadian computer games: though boasting dramatically better visuals and audio than human technology is currently capable of, the limitations of elven computing mean that computer games are extremely expensive, and difficult to integrate into lesser systems. Most elves will never be able to run the best gaming modules at home.

Nomad Gameships: Brevili nomads are well known for their magical engineering, and produce some of the most advanced technomantic games there are. Owing to the limited number of elves who can actually afford to buy them, they get creative with the marketing: many clans field airships whose sole purpose is travelling around as a sort of mobile arcade, landing at various destinations for a set amount of time, during which customers can pay for access to the many assorted games they have on offer. Demani, as the clan that (a good long while ago) invented the airship in the first place, boasts the most impressive facilities on their ships.

Skycrawler: a game so advanced and finicky that its developers haven’t yet figured out how to get it to run on less advanced systems than the gameships’ computers. There are a handful like these, usually the newest and most technomantically complex titles, and their release on gameships usually serves as something of a ‘beta’ build while they refine the technology for more accessible use. Imunaviga was one of these, and was very recently released for public purchase.

Imunaviga: as several commenters guessed, this is indeed a Subnautica expy. Rayla is not at all keen on the idea of playing it. I spent probably too much time working out the worldbuilding and plot for the elf AU version of this game. It was a lot of fun though.

Scion of Shadow: a well-regarded game with a Moonshadow elf protagonist, involving a lot of stealth gameplay, a highly-lauded storyline, and in-setting ‘fantasy’ elements; i.e. they’d be considered fantasy in this fantasy setting.

Magical overload states: Natural events that cause high levels of ambient primal magic can induce some very unusual effects in beings with the relevant arcana. Terms include ‘moonstruck’ for Moonshadow elves, ‘sunstruck’ for Sunfire, and ‘storm-drunk’ for Skywing. (piaj)

Moondust: a magic-dampening drug taken in different dosages based on the phase of the moon, to dampen the effect of the lunar cycle on Moonshadow elves’ bodies and minds. Not all Moonshadow elves take it, but most do. (piaj)

Reveillant: Sunfire elf beverage made from the dried berries of a shrub with stimulant properties. Some preparations are very strong and are restricted, but preparations from the berries are mild and very popular. (piaj)

Draconic Corpus: a sort of full-body sign language spoken by dragons incapable of complex vocal speech. Given this accounts for the majority of dragons, it’s generally useful to understand some of, even if bipeds are generally incapable of speaking it properly. (piaj)