#claudia's elf friend

[rainbowstargazerlilies]

An in-progress pic of another craft project. This one’s been sitting on the side for ages— dolls for the family D&D campaign I’m DMing. There’s one more not pictured, as I’m waiting for that uncle to get back to me about what sort of clothes he wants his character to be wearing. . .

A picture of them with one of my four-inch Mechs and a quarter for scale.

[thrandilf]

Autistic Leola does make sense since she's got her mix of Claudia (purple hair, quirky, showed Callum magic/is our first person we see with a primal stone), Rayla (elf, the braids, also doesn't fit in with her own people), and Ezran (friend to everyone including animals, probably the biggest other autistic coded character alongside Claudia, stims though in more subtle ways).

So she's a mix of so many traits of our own beloved cast, 2/3 who are also autistic leaning it seems

And she didn't defy the rules for any reason out of malice, but those rules likely just didn't make sense to her/there was no reason to not show her friends magic/give magic, and she's right tbh

(And honestly she would have done the same without the autistic coding but I feel like it adds a layer)

It makes her death all the more tragic/awful and is a comment on how people who don't conform are treated in our own system

But also I'm glad to have rep where Aaravos, her father, loved her unconditionally and infinitely. She didn't have to conform to anyone else's standards to be loved, he never wanted her to be any different than just being herself, she didn't have to earn anything. She made his life worth living and he loved every aspect of her because she was herself, not in spite of her "quirks." I'm sure he would have sent anyone who dared comment negatively about her stimming or choice to befriend everyone running. I'm also really glad that she had friends who loved her too.

[ladykailitha]

The Harrington Pattern Part 4

I know I said I was going to wait on posting this one, but it's got the most backlogged chapters so I figured I can at least put out this one for you.

It's extra long, like amount 1000 words longer than my usual. But I didn't want to stop half way through a specific section.

An elf gets his ears, Robin freaks out a bit, and everyone gets a little called out about their pre-conceived notions, but especially Mike.

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3

@mira-jadeamethyst @rozzieroos @itsall-taken @redfreckledwolf @emly03

****

The day had arrived and Claudia had offered to help get them all there, as Eddie’s van was full and Robin still didn’t have her license. She was in driver’s ed right now, thankfully. Her parents didn’t want her going to college without knowing how.

So Dustin, Will, El, and Mike went with Claudia and Robin, Max, and Lucas went with Steve.

Dustin had wanted to go with Steve, but it didn’t make sense as his mom was the other driver. So he pouted all the way to pick up his friends, but by the time Claudia had picked up Mike Dustin was vibrating in the front seat.

Lucas was picked up last.

He still didn’t have his ears so he looked crestfallen when he answered the door. He was wearing the pirate outfit he had told Steve he had.

“He’s being a piss baby,” Erica muttered. “Something about ears.”

“Erica Jean!” Mrs. Sinclair hissed. “We do not talk about your brother that way.”

Erica crossed her arms and pouted.

“Actually, Mrs. Sinclair,” Steve said with a smile. “I have a solution, but I’m going to need your help.”

Both Lucas and Erica perked up at that. Steve patted his pocket with a wink.

“Of course!” Mrs. Sinclair beamed. “I told you Steve and Eddie were going to come through for you, didn’t I?”

Lucas blushed. “Yes, Mom.”

“Where do we need to be, Steve?” she asked.

“The bathroom would be the best place.”

She nodded and led the way, Lucas in the middle and Steve bringing up the rear.

Steve sat Lucas on the toilet seat and pulled out the thin box Eddie had given him. He opened it up so Mrs. Sinclair could see it first.

“Ooh!” she cooed. “I know just what we need. I’ll be right back.”

Steve turned around so Lucas could see them.

Lucas gasped. “Holy shit! What are they made of?”

“Silicone.”

“Do we need anything to affix the ears, Steve?” Mrs. Sinclair asked from her bedroom. “I have makeup glue if we need.”

“That’s fine, Mrs. Sinclair,” Steve called back. “I have spirit gum.”

She peaked around the corner. “Oh that’s even better!” She had her makeup bag in her hands.

“Actually Lucas,” Steve said eyeing the makeup bag. “Go change into your costume. I don’t want to smear makeup on your costume or accidentally knock off one of the ears and have to start all over.”

Lucas leapt to his feet and dashed out of the room.

“It was really nice of you to do all this for him,” Mrs. Sinclair told Steve in the wake of her son’s cartoon speed cloud. “It’s really made him feel special. To stand out in a way that feels good for a change.”

Steve smiled back at her. “He’s a good kid. It was great that I got to do something nice for him.”

Lucas came back a few minutes later, a blanket covering his costume. When his mom and Steve raised an eyebrow at him he blushed.

“I was worried about the makeup getting on the costume,” he admitted shyly.

Steve patted his shoulder. “I would have put a towel over it. A mom approved towel. I don’t think she’s going to approve that blanket.”

“Absolutely not!” She took off the blanket and handed them a ratty old towel to drape over Lucas’s shoulders.

“Thanks Mrs. S.,” Steve murmured and got to work. He applied the ears and then swapped with Mrs. Sinclair.

She applied makeup to the silicone to blend them to Lucas’s ears.

“All done!” she said triumphantly.

Steve whipped off the towel and pulled Lucas to his feet. He closed the door so that they could use the full length mirror that was on the back. He put his hands over Lucas’s eyes and gently steered him toward the door.

“You ready?” he asked softly.

“Yeah,” Lucas croaked.

Steve uncovered his eyes.

Lucas stared in the mirror for a moment or two.

“Baby?” Mrs. Sinclair asked. “Do you like it?”

Tears streamed down his face as he nodded. “I’m an elf, Mom...”

She hugged him tightly. “Yes you are, sweetie. And the best looking elf at the fair, no doubt.”

He nodded and then wiped his tears.

“How did you do this?” he asked Steve.

Steve smiled. “Jeff makes them.”

Lucas’s jaw dropped. “Oh.”

Mrs. Sinclair cocked her head to the side. “Who’s Jeff?”

“Mom!” Lucas hissed. “I like talk about him all the time! He’s the other black member of Hellfire!”

“Ah,” she said with a smile. “You talk about so many of those boys, I get them mixed up sometimes. But I’m happy he was able to help my baby out.”

Lucas rushed out to show the girls who gasped and oohed over Lucas’s outfit.

“How much did you have to pay for those, Steve?” she asked gently. “They can’t have been cheap.”

Steve shook his head. “Jeff did them for free because he knew what it was like to be told no just because of the color of his skin. So don’t worry about it, okay?”

She nodded and the two of them wandered out into the front room.

“Steve!!” Erica screeched. “I didn’t know you could sew like this!” She waved at Lucas. “What the hell?”

Steve threw back his head and laughed. “You could have come, and maybe would have gotten a cool outfit too. Too late now.”

Erica gasped, wide-eyed that Steve would call her out like this.

Mrs. Sinclair patted her daughter on the head. “You’re the one that wanted to sleep over at Tina’s this weekend, sweetie. Maybe next year.”

Erica couldn’t deny her mother’s logic and was forced to concede. “Fine, but just know I’m going to be grumpy about it.”

Mrs. Sinclair kissed the top of her daughter’s head. “I know, dear.”

“Come on,” Max said, “we’ve admired Lucas long enough, I want to go to this fair, please.”

Lucas and Steve shared a glance. “Uh-oh. She said please, we better go before she gets really mad.”

Max rolled her eyes. “Fuck off.”

Mrs. Sinclair bit her lip as she struggled not to tell the girl off for her language.

Max and Lucas piled into the backseat while Robin and Steve slid upfront.

*

The closer they got to the where the Renaissance Fair was being held, the more nervous Robin got.

“Steve?” she questioned. “Why are we heading to the burned down mall?”

Steve grinned. “We aren’t.”

Robin bit her lip. “No,” she mumbled. “I rode my bike on this road every day to get to work. This is the way to Starcourt.”

Lucas and Max leaned forward to see the road ahead of them.

“I think she’s right,” Max concluded. “This is the way to Starcourt.”

They pulled into the makeshift parking lot of the fair. It was pretty much a dust field with people in medieval getups directing traffic.

Steve pulled in where he was directed and they all piled out of the Bimmer.

They stood looking out at the field where Starcourt once stood, but was now a bustling center of outdoor activity.

“What the hell?” Robin gasped. “Where is the mall?”

Steve grinned. “This piece of land was always used for passing carnivals and the Renaissance Fair every year. When the mayor sold it to the Russians to build the mall it put a stop to a lot of summer activities the town once enjoyed. So after the earthquake they bulldozed the area and put back the way it was.”

“What did they do with the underground bunker?” Max asked, vaguely interested.

Steve scratched his cheek. “Filled it with uh, cement.”

Lucas and Max shared an appreciative glance and even Robin nodded.

Steve was the first to spot the rest of their group. Dustin, Mike, Will and El were waiting in neat little cluster for them.

Lucas tugged on the hem of his gambeson and ducked his head. Max looked over at him and rolled her eyes.

“They aren’t going to care,” she hissed.

Steve glared at her. “There has been evidence to the contrary regarding this very thing, so zip it.” He mimed zipping his mouth closed.

Max stared at him wide-eyed in shock. Robin tugged on her sleeve.

“Come on,” she told the younger girl. “Let’s got meet up with the others.”

Max huffed but did as she was told without protest.

Steve put his hands on Lucas’s shoulders and looked him in the eye. “Look, I don’t know how you feel. I can never know how you feel, but let me tell you something that those buttheads will probably never understand because they aren’t like you and me.”

Lucas nodded.

“Being a ‘nerd’ as they call it is not the be all end all of existence,” Steve said. “You can have interests outside of theirs. I know they gave you shit for joining the basketball team, but you are a good player, maybe even a great one if you keep at it. You won’t have the same experiences that they will and that’s okay.”

“But what if we stop being friends?” Lucas asked, his voice breaking.

“It’s going to suck for awhile,” Steve confirmed. “It won’t be easy and it will hurt sometimes when you least expect it, but you’ll make new friends with your same interests as long as you continue to be you.”

Lucas took in a deep breath and let out slow. “You’re friends were assholes though.”

Steve laughed. “And Mike isn’t?”

A small sunny smile peeked out from under Lucas’s cloud of worry. “Yeah, all right.”

They started walking toward the group with Steve’s arm slung over Lucas’s shoulder.

“Take a deep breath,” Steve told him as they got close. “And know I will kick his ass if he says anything.”

Lucas huffed out a laugh. “Thanks, Steve.”

They reached the crowd of their friends and waited for their reaction.

“Holy shit!” Will said. “That is an epic costume!”

And then Lucas fully reached the group and ears could be seen.

“What are you supposed to be?” Mike asked with a sneer. “There aren’t any black characters with pointy ears.”

Dustin scoffed. “He could be a Vulcan. There was a black Vulcan in ‘Search for Spock’!”

“That movie was so bad, dude,” Mike huffed. “It doesn’t count.”

“It totally counts,” Dustin protested. “It’s considered canon, therefore it counts.”

“I’m not a Vulcan,” Lucas said proudly, sticking out his chest, “I’m an elf ranger.”

“Are you a Drow then?” Mike asked. “You do know Drows are evil right?”

Dustin and Will’s jaws drop in shock and outrage.

“Dude!” Will hissed. “His skin isn’t literally black!”

Steve leaned over to the girls. “Does anyone know what a draw or whatever is?”

Lucas turned to Steve. “It’s a race of elves that live in the underdark, deep below where even the dwarves dare to delve. They’re straight up evil and very matriarchal.”

“Well that’s sexist,” Robin said putting her hands on her hips.

Mike rolled his eyes turned back to Lucas. “Well you can’t be Silvain elf, because they’re pale skinned and beautiful.”

“I’m a wood elf,” Lucas said, “my skin matches the woods around me, so I can blend in easier.”

Mike crossed his arms. “Show me one other dark skinned elf that isn’t you and maybe I’ll allow it.”

Just then a large van pulled up to the entrance in a skid, blaring metal music.

The four men got out and everyone was looking at them in stunned silence.

Eddie was dressed as a minstrel, wine dark puffy sleeves and leggings with a black tunic and boots. Gareth was a magic user in long, flowing purple robes that stopped two inches from the ground and beautifully carved wizard’s rod with a deep purple crystal in its grasp. Brian was a fighter with a metal sword at his hip and dressed in actual leather armor. Then the Party saw Jeff. He was dressed all in black with tight leggings, a short tunic and a black silk shirt that was covered by a short cloak. He had two silver daggers tucked into the tops of his thigh high boots.

He dropped the hood on his cloak to reveal that yes, Mike, he too had elf ears.

Jeff spotted Lucas and threw out his arms. “My kinsman! I greet you!”

Lucas turned and bowed low and Steve was forced to turn away to hide the smile at Mike’s stunned expression.

“Lord Kelnic,” Lucas greeted. “I understand these were a gift from you?” He rubbed the tip of one of the ears.

Jeff ran up to him. “Dude! How did you get them to match so well? I’ve tried every kind of glue to make them look like actual ears.”

Lucas blushed. “My mom used her makeup kit to blend the two.”

Jeff turned to the rest of Corroded Coffin. “And why didn’t we think of that?”

Gareth and Brian just shrugged.

Eddie on the other hand looked sheepish. “Because I thought makeup was just for girls?”

Jeff rolled his eyes and turned back to Lucas. “I’ll borrow my sister’s makeup for tomorrow. Can’t have shoddy looking ears next to my ranger kinsman.”

Lucas laughed.

Brian nudged Gareth in the ribs. “What’s Mike’s problem?”

Corroded Coffin all turned as one to see that Mike was standing there between El and Will looking like a rug had been pulled out from under him.

El patted Mike on the shoulder. “My mom says that people who judge someone by anything other than the content of their character are either too young to know better, or are immature. Grow better.”

She turned and started for the line that would grant them entrance to the Fair.

Lucas looked over at Steve and the two of them tried not to laugh at the absolute gobsmacked expression on Mike’s face.

“I’m not being racist!” he huffed and crossed his arms. “I’m not!” He looked around at all his friends, but none of them looked even remotely like they agreed with him. “He’s black so he should be black characters!”

Brian reared his head back. “Dude, how is that not racist?”

Mike looked around again panicked. “It just isn’t!”

Jeff walked up to him and looked him straight in the eye. A feat that was a little hard for most of his friends these days with how tall he’d gotten.

“There’s this thing, Mike,” he said, his voice low and menacing, “called casual racism. It’s where all your upbringing and prejudices come out in casual ways instead of saying things like nigger and that blacks should be separate from whites. It’s oh he can’t play that character, the character is white. He can’t be an elf, elves are white. That’s casual racism and you better check it before it ruins a damn good friendship.”

Jeff stared him down until Mike was nodding his agreement. He turned to Will and Dustin.

“I wasn’t here at the start of this conversation,” he said, “but you two need to be better at calling out Mike’s bullshit. Because a few years on, he should be better not worse.”

Dustin and Will gave confused glances at each other.

Jeff scoffed. “Lucas told me all about the lovely little Ghostbusters incident. He straight up told you he wasn’t going to be Winston, but Mike here assumed he wasn’t going to be anyway because he’s black. So the fact that here we are and he’s still being a racist asshole?”

“We do call him out,” Will said. “And I wasn’t here for almost a year, I don’t know what happened in that year, but yeah he got worse.”

Dustin shrugged. “I don’t know either, man. Don’t look at me.”

Steve stepped forward. “I think you do know, Dustin and I was really disappointed when I heard about it.”

Dustin looked up at him in confusion. “What do you mean?”

“After all, what’s a little casual racism when Lucas ‘betrayed’ you by joining the basketball team?” Steve said, crossing his arms over his chest.

The older members of The Hellfire Club looked chastised. Because they had all given Lucas shit for that.

“You still have time to course correct,” Steve said. “But make no mistake, any kind of bullying, is still bullying. Whether it’s about the color of their skin, the games they play, or the type of school subject they like.”

He pointed at Robin. “Band and orchestra is still people getting together and playing instruments like a metal band.” Eddie winced hard and shoved a lock of his hair in front of his face.

“Playing a sport is no different than DnD, planning, keeping track of stats, and working together are hallmarks of both.” Dustin and Mike shared a grimace and even Gareth and Brian looked uncomfortable.

“Being a genius at math or science doesn’t make you better than someone who is a genius at history or literature.”

To which everyone but Robin and Max looked at their feet. Because they had all made that mistake with Steve before this all started.

“I think we will all need to unpack some pretty garbage baggage,” Steve concluded. “But!”

All the heads shot up.

“We are here for a good time,” Steve said holding up his hand, “and as long as Mike apologizes to Jeff and Lucas I think we can move past this and enjoy ourselves today. Agreed?”

Everyone murmured their agreement, punctuated with nods. Mike looked down at his feet and kicked at a pebble.

“I’m sorry,” he muttered. “I wasn’t trying to be racist. I’ll try to be better.”

Steve looked over at Jeff and Lucas and they both gave him a thumbs up.

“Great!” Steve said cheerfully. “Now let’s get this show on the road!”

“Dirt path maybe,” Robin grumbled. “It’s like an old western out here. I swear to god Steve if I see a tumbleweed I am out of here.”

Steve laughed as they all met El in line.

Now that the heavy stuff was out of the way, it was time for some good fun.

****

My favorite line was El's "...Grow better." Because there is nothing more stinging then your girlfriend telling you to stop being an ass.

Part 5 Part 6 Part 7 Part 8 Part 9 Part 10 Part 11 Part 12 Part 13

Tag List: @spectrum-spectre @estrellami-1 @zerokrox-blog @gregre369 ​@a-little-unsteddie @chaosgremlinmunson @messrs-weasley @chaoticlovingdreamer @maya-custodios-dionach @danili666 @goodolefashionedloverboi @val-from-lawrence @i-must-potato @carlyv @wonderland-girl143-blog @justforthedead89 @vecnuthy @irregular-child @bookbinderbitch @bookworm0690 @anne-bennett-cosplayer @yikes-a-bee @awkwardgravity1 @littlewildflowerkitten @genderless-spoon @cinnamon-mushroomabomination @dragonmama76 @scheodingers-muppet @ellietheasexylibrarian @thedragonsaunt @useless-nb-bisexual @thespaceantwhowrites @paintgonewrong @mogami13 @beelze-the-bubkiss @croatoan-like-its-hot @retro-vagabond @dolphincliffs @child-of-cthulhu @sani-86

[raayllum]

Why is Clauderry together / why is Terry with Claudia?

This is a question I've seen posed more than a few times in the fandom, of people feeling confused with why Claudia is with Terry (despite her dislike of elves) and more so why Terry is with Claudia despite her being a walking collection of red flags. This has, admittedly, always questions I felt the show answered quite well and obviously, but if it's still being probed, then... why not?

Let's talk about it.

Why is Claudia with Terry?

The only prior examples we have with Claudia having any kind of romantic connection is with Callum, which never came to fruition; I've also gone on record saying myself that the show made it clear Callum's feelings for Claudia were a lot stronger than whatever, if any, she held for him. However, in her interactions with Callum even just as a friend, we can see what she appreciates in her free time. For starters, we see that Claudia enjoys being a goofball:

We see that a shared sense of humour is something that Claudia cares about, as one of the only compliments she gives to Callum is "You always make me laugh" and "That was very confident Callum" as he was able to go with the flow while asserting himself.

Words of affirmation is also something she clearly enjoys. Appreciation, acknowledgement, and gratitude are very important to her.

(Side note: This is also part of why she spirals into "I did all THIS FOR YOU" on the beach in a "You owe me your life" kind of way, because she was prepared and sacrificed and saved you, and doesn't that deserve acknowledgement? Doesn't that mean getting what she wants? What she's owed? But I digress.)

We also see early fracturing in Callum not trusting her (1x03, 2x03), a subsequent breakdown in honest communication on both sides, and that Claudia reads Callum as being judgemental of her dark magic use, which is also something that frustrates her about Soren:

(Part of this is because Claudia has gone from seeing dark magic as just an amazing beautiful tool to a terrible but necessary one, so necessary that it overrules any other reservations... because she's attached to seeing herself as a Good Person—"But I'm not evil, it's me"—but again, I digress.)

Conversely, Terry has all of those things in spades. He admires and relies upon her dark magic use, he's someone she can be reciprocally goofy with, he's extremely attentive and loyal (and loyalty/devotion is something that is also extremely important to her), and perhaps most importantly, he's helpful and non-judgemental.

Terry also explains that one of the things Claudia likes about him is his smarts / creative thinking ("Goofy and glorious, just like you" / "You saved the day Ter-Bear") and his thoughtfulness:

Claudia says I think too much about everything, and that makes me weird, and wonderful, so...

This makes sense as Claudia values being prepared in her own day-to-day life curtesy of being a dark mage, and that Soren's tendency to being impatient when they were growing up together (lying about Harrow without consulting her, picking the fight with the dragon, etc) was something that got on her nerves.

As for the Elf 'elephant' in the room... Claudia also doesn't have an issue trusting Aaravos for one simple reason: he's helping her save her dad.

Even while she's warning Soren against trusting or forming friendships with other elves and dragons because they might "take advantage" of him and be fake friends, she can't see that's precisely what Aaravos is doing to her. In a similar vein, Terry also believes in her (as he says directly in 4x09) and is helping her save her father, so why would she have a problem with him even if he's an elf?

That doesn't mean there aren't problems in Claudia's worldview, or that exceptionalizing people is a Good thing to do, particularly to your partner, but it's a clearly defined and realistic cognitive dissonance. Claudia has moved past seeing all elves as Bad™ to "these ones are good" because they're helping her, and not getting in her way, and that's all she really personally cares about.

However, I think most people can understand why Claudia's with Terry, given how sweet and routinely supportive she is. The bigger thornier question then is the opposite. So let's talk about that too.

Why is Terry with Claudia?

One of the most common things people say when it comes to Terry and Claudia is that they wish we could see how they met (and presumably whether that initial attraction was there from the start or how it developed). This usually leans into an underpinning idea (and I could be wrong) that seeing their beginning would help indicate why Terry fell for her (and thereby why he stays). And I would definitely be interested in how they met, and am open to seeing it, whether in a show, graphic novel, or novelization mention.

That said, I think the show has also answered these accordingly. In a lot of ways, there's really only two reasons why Terry is with Claudia as she is in arc 2:

1) He doesn't have an Issue with dark magic.

He admires Claudia's use of it ("And your daughter's amazing, she brought you back from the dead, wow!"), is open and receptive to using it ("Dark magic has a tingly aftertaste, nobody ever tells you that"), and doesn't see anything fundamentally wrong with it ("Should I give up dark magic? Terry, tell me what to do" "Claudia, I can't"). On the one hand, this makes sense; there are spell ingredients of dark magic that aren't that different from hunting and given that Terry grew up near the Drakeriders, I'd find it hard to believe if the Drake riders don't hunt and eat meat, so even if Terry's village didn't, he was at least somewhat close to societies that did.

That doesn't mean he has zero reservations about dark magic ("I've seen you do some awful things, dark magic things" / "Are you mixing the pentapus ink with your own blood?") but that to him, it's not any different from how Claudia thinks about it. She also thinks she's done terrible things in the name of saving her father:

But I'm not evil. It's me. You know me.

I had to do things... [starts crying] I never imagined I would be able to do. (4x01)

This is also how Terry copes with murdering Ibis, citing "I had to, I couldn't let him hurt you," "and he was going to take Claudia's life, I had no choice," and "I'm going to be strong enough to do whatever I need to do and still have feelings." To Terry what matters most is exactly what he says in 4x09: why are you doing these things? Are they actually necessary?

Terry loves Claudia (and Viren by extension) above anything else. Everything he does is for them, good or bad. That devotional loyalty is something that Claudia also lives by, and is arguably her and Terry's biggest shared life value.

Doing terrible things is okay if it's in the name of love, and if it's not, then you shouldn't do them. This is why when he talks about his grief/guilt with Ibis, Terry always scaffolds it alongside the reason why he did it.

This is also why Terry steps in exclusively when what Claudia is doing is unnecessary. She didn't need to trick Rayla in order to get away. She doesn't need to kill the dragon ("It won't follow us anymore, it's trapped") as it's already helpless. They're actions without good reasons, which is also why Terry distrusts Aaravos, because he realizes:

Maybe this story started out as a story of love, but along the way it got twisted. [...] He isn't doing anything for love. He's doing it out of revenge.

So long as Claudia is doing things out of love, Terry will stick by her. And if she stops doing it out of love, then she stops being the Claudia he knows.

Which, I'll also note, is fundamentally different from the Claudia that everyone else knows, because

2) He didn't know Claudia beforehand.

Terry doesn't know Claudia as a semi sheltered girl growing up in the palace who did dark magic solely for fun, nor how most of her close personal relationships (Soren, Callum, Ezran) got destroyed in the span of 3ish weeks. He only knows Claudia who uses dark magic (seemingly) 90% out of complete necessity for flight, safety, and bringing her father back. He seemingly doesn't really know how Soren and Claudia had their falling out, nor does he have any real clue who Callum or Ezran are.

Because Claudia was his only way to know these things rather than knowing multiple people involved, or even living through experiences, Terry would've gotten sparse details or the version that is how Claudia experienced them, and he has no reason to doubt her.

To be clear, I'm not saying that their set up is perfect or that their relationships is perfectly healthy. It's not. Claudia's singular control over how Terry knows the experiences of her life when we as an audience know it's very different is an issue, but is not that dissimilar from when you meet / date new people to begin with (i.e. was their ex really that bad, or were they the problem is sometimes something that can only be known in time). Terry's passivity and mirrored worldview helps enable Claudia's even when she's being destructive to herself and others, and her treating Terry as an exception for his people is also not good in the long run. Clauderry walks this line of being incredibly sweet and uncomfortable, and I think that's one of the things that makes it interesting and with spades of tragedy, particularly going into S7. Terry may not yet have a deep seated issue with dark magic (which enables Claudia but also frees her up to grow on her own terms), but it is the reason they may be torn apart in the future for a time.

I do think they'll find their way back together eventually (even if they'll always be Divorced Eventually in my head). To me, it's clear why they love each other, and while TDP could say that's not enough (and I think that'd be a very interesting valid route to take), I don't think that they will. This scene exists, after all:

[inamindfarfaraway]

I’m so emotional about Claudia and Leola being foils!

Both are the beloved daughters of single fathers who share and nurture their interests in different types of magic.

Both trust, care for and admire Aavaros. He acts like a kind, guiding father or father figure to each of them, but genuinely loves Leola and is only exploiting Claudia.

Both believe that humans should have magic to better their lives.

Both form at least one strong bond with at least one person their age from across the elf-human divide, despite the atmosphere of discrimination they grew up in. Leola befriends humans, while Claudia falls in love with an elf.

Both are heavily autistic-coded, having “different”, “quirky” personalities and mannerisms.

Both have long, loose, partly white hair with purple at the bottom. Notably, Claudia’s corruption from dark magic bleaches her purple dye away and then she cuts her hair short when she questions dark magic, removing this parallel; her reevaluation marks her beginning to mature beyond Aaravos’s influence in a way Leola never could. The intro has him objectify and claim the older version of her with long, half-white, purple-tipped hair, which is arguably her most similar hairstyle to Leola.

Both are associated with unicorns. Leola naturally possesses a single horn of her own, while Claudia steals a unicorn’s to enable murder through dark magic. Both of their dads are proud of the above.

Both commit well-intentioned crimes against the laws of their people involving the human use of magic and human children they consider friends, and are formally judged by their rulers. Claudia’s actions at the time of her judgement are far more harmful and deliberate, but Ezran shows her mercy. Leola transgressed accidentally and did no actual harm, but the Startouch elders condemn her to death.

Both experienced violent, permanent physical loss related to the Sea of the Castout. Leola’s unwilling fall created the crater and her bones were left in it after her life was taken, while Claudia willingly descended into that crater and her blood was left in it after her leg was taken.

Both were innocent, cheerful, compassionate, empathetic little girls. Those girls are gone. The destruction of their pure souls and resultant rise of a dangerous villain (Aaravos in both cases, but also the adult Claudia herself) is the central tragedy of their characters. Leola is cruelly, unjustly killed, while Claudia lives to become cruel and unjust. Losing his daughter motivates Aaravos to avenge her by doing terrible things like inventing dark magic and find new purpose in spreading his pain to others. Losing her father motivates Claudia to honour him by using dark magic to free Aaravos and find new purpose in connecting with and attempting to alleviate Aaravos’s pain.

[fynnlink]

"The Dragon Prince" Theory for Book 6 "Stars" concerning the star "Leola's Last Wish" and the Identity of Leola herself and what her "Last Wish" might have been. Plus some speculation regarding "The Merciful One" and Aaravos

Possible Spoilers but I'm mostly just theorising.

SPOILERS

Okay so quick recap for those who only watch the series and don't interact with other content:

Leola was once a unicorn who once gave the Humans their first Primal Stones, thus granting them access to magic before they later learned / turned to Dark Magic. She was also said to have been "unique" amongst her kind.

Later after the Humans had learned dark magic they hunted the unicorns to near extinction, to use them to empower their magic. This is also what makes the unicorn horn in the earlier Books so rare and Claudia's finding it such a feat.

So on to the theory:

According to Aaron Ehasz the elven child in the drawing below (seen in the credits of an episode and more importantly in the Star-chart/map in the new Intro) is none other than Leola herself.

Tweet from Aaron Ehasz talking about the drawing of the Elf Child

Star Map in the new "Mystery of Aaravos" Intro (same drawing in the center on the left)

While I'm neither arguing against or trying to "disprove" the stated theory of "Startouch Elves = Unicorns", I'm instead focusing on another part of the drawing and the greater lore of TDP as a whole. (Whether there is a specific connection between Startouch Elves and unicorns beyond a shared Primal Source is ultimately irrelevant to my theory but it's an interesting thought nonetheless.)

As stated/shown in Book 5 Episode 2 "Old Wounds" the Elves of Xadia call the brightest star in the sky "Leola's Last Wish" (as opposed to the Humans calling it "The South Star" which is probably a play on our own "North" Star). What interests me is the fact it is specifically called Leola's Last Wish and the fact that this star is the brightest of all.

It's also interesting that Rayla doesn't know who Leola was joking that she might have been a friend of Garlaath the Annihilator (which might have been the case but we don't know. Garlaath might be seen wielding an axe and shield on the right side of the star map though this is also unconfirmed.)

While we do not yet know why or exactly when Leola became a unicorn we do know it must have been before the Splitting of Xadia and probably before - around the founding of Elarion 2000+ years before the begin of Book 1.

Regardless of why, we know Leola was once an elf (maybe even a Startouch Elf) who later became a unicorn. It is my theory that Leola's "Last Wish" was the one that turned her into a unicorn and the drawing above shows the exact moment she wished upon a star. This would also explain why Leola was "unique" among the unicorns.

Furthermore I believe that Leola's wish was granted by "The Merciful One" a Startouch Elf first shown in one of the new promo clips "Elf Sad" which features Aaravos (possibly just after his literal and metaphorical "Fall") being visited by T.M.O above the Sea of the Castout. This is also the same place where we first see the two statues of Aaravos and T.M.O back in B5 E9.

This clip also shows "The Merciful One" in much brighter, even glowing garments as opposed to Aaravos' cold and dark ones. While this is most likely because of his Fall (the star symbol on his chest is also black and his clothes look damaged/ripped), the entire scene draws attention to The Merciful One connected to the brighter purple/red/gold of the stars and nebulae. This contrast between Aaravos' dark and T.M.O's light/colour is most noticeable in the top-down shot below.

I do think the difference in attire has more to do with Aaravos' "Fall" than with The Merciful One themselves but these two theories aren't mutually exclusive.

I believe "The Merciful One" is this brightest star, the one known to the Elves as "Leola's Last Wish" and the Humans' "South Star" thus why I speculate a connection between them and Leola.

[swtorramblings]

Claudia as Cruella as usual by @fleeting-sanity, thanks again!

Claudia watching the box that you can see things in when she comes to a sudden realization. 817 words. Happy Halloween!

She just stared at the spindly woman on the “television”. That she wasn’t actually real did not help make her less disturbing, in some ways it made her more. And this wasn’t even the same as the “horror movies” that Azula and Vaylin had taken some interest in. Claudia had, too, if she was honest, but this was somehow worse. Probably because it was more, what, mundane? Just an everyday person with wealth whose evil was finally defeated by a good family.

She had watched the show to, as they put it, “get into character”. Now she felt something stirring about this Cruella de Vil. At first, she was angry that they’d suggested her for a costume. How dare they? The only thing they had in common was an unusual head of hair, but this almost spider-like caricature of a woman was truly awful, mistreating her “friends”, trying to round up a hundred and one adorable little pups just to make a coat? Then she had a stray thought, “I wonder what kinds of spells they could be used in?” She turned off the television (she had only just started calling it that after “box that shows things” for weeks). She sat, open mouthed for a few moments, then pulled her knees up to her chest and wrapped her arms around them. She felt tears on her face, but she couldn’t stop them. She was this devil. She had mistreated, even misused her friends. She had driven her Sorbear away. She never used creatures to make a coat, but she had destroyed living creatures to fuel her magic. Sometimes for truly petty things. To start fires, to make her quick brown morning potion and pancakes. And when they weren’t petty, they were worse. She saw her former friends, and the elf with the cute braid they had sided with, accusing. She didn’t think then that she should care, she was just being practical, defending her family, protecting the long-suffering human race. But then why had Soren left her? She hid her face, and lost track of time, didn’t notice how dark the room became without the television on. So she jumped out of the chair in a panic as the lights clicked on. “Your costumes ready, interesting choice,” she heard Sameen say. She rapidly tried to wipe the tears from her face, pretending that the light had just woken her up to cover. She didn’t think Sameen would believe it. “The others suggested it,” she said, voice cracking a bit. Then she turned and looked at it. “I don’t think I want to wear it, I’m sorry you went to the trouble.” “It wasn’t any trouble, I picked it up from a shop. Why don’t you want to wear it?” “Because she’s awful.” Sameen paused. “You watched the movie with all the dogs?” She couldn’t say anything, so she just nodded, trying to keep from crying again in front of the woman that had taken them all in. “All right, I won’t ask about it, but…” Claudia couldn’t stand it. Clenched fists to her sides, she whispered, “Because I’m her.” Sameen studied her again, the way she had when the three of them had been brought here. “Do you want to talk about it?” She started shaking her head, but when she found her voice, she said, “Yes.” Later, after telling all of her secrets, her tears had dried, she was feeling more like herself. But she was nervous about how Sameen would react. She had seen her kill a few times now. Sameen tilted her head, and then turned towards the room’s camera and said, “Root, any suggestions?” “I think I have just the thing.” They could almost hear the smirk just in her voice. “Do you think the others should join you?” “Well, probably not Fusco, but Vaylin and the girl, sure.” “OK, I’ll get it streaming for you after they’re there.” “Thanks.” “You know how much I like it when you want something.” “Quiet, you.” The two of them were so weird, Claudia thought. They watched the movie together. She didn’t know if it was a great story, but she found this version of Cruella to be someone she could possibly feel some kinship with. Hurt repeatedly as a child, then more as an adult, and she did get her revenge. Not a horrid, bloody revenge, just a form of justice. This was a person she could be. “All right, I’ll wear it, let’s go get candy or perpitrate some tricks.” “What, you weren’t going to wear it?” Azula said. “I thought you’d like her, really,” Vaylin put in. “I think I do now, I like the character we just saw.” “Good! So I hope you all got something from that, but it’s almost time to go and none of you are in costume.” Claudia walked passed and snatched the costume. “Be right back.

[cantpickonefandoms]

Sooo guess what came in the mail for me!!

It’s really good and I wanna ramble about some of my favourite things in the comic so THIS IS YOUR SPOILER WARNING!!

OK SO:

-First, this is probably my favourite of all the TDP comics that have been put out, TTM was chock full of Rayllum and I loved every second of it, and I loved learning about Rayla, and Claudia and Soren’s pasts in their respective comics, but I have been dying to learn more about Callum and Ez’s past for a long time, and this comic delivered plenty of what I was hoping for, I think the only thing I’m kind of disappointed about was we didn’t learn much about Sarai or about Callum’s bio dad, but that’s alright, that’s more of a gripe of mine than anything.

-The story starts off with Callum and Ezran coming back from the incident with the waterfall and the raccoons that Callum mentions during 1x09, nice continuity nod!

-There’s a part where Ezran is struggling to explain to Harrow how he can talk to animals and Harrow just gently tells Ez to slow down to let the words come to him, Harrow is such a good dad!

-Callum makes this face when the boys discover a library:

I love that nerd so much! (All I could hear when I read this line was “I’d like to spend my vacation at the LIBRARY!”)

-There’s a handful of moments where Callum quotes Sarai, little tidbits of advice she gave to him.

-There’s a great moment where Ezran goes around talking to several kids and offers them comfort and sends them to the town hall for safety and Callum is completely blown away and tells Ez that he was amazing and he sounded just like Harrow in that moment.

-There’s another great moment where Ezran wants to go check on the kids in the town hall while Callum reads about the dream warden and of course Callum doesn’t want Ez to go alone and we get some genuine vulnerability from Callum when he admits that he promised to keep Ezran safe for Harrow and that he thinks if he succeeds then Harrow will be proud of him, and that he feels like he keeps failing at keeping that promise, poor guy doesn’t realize that Harrow already is proud of him!

-Easily the best moment is when Ezran talks the dream warden down, the the story of the dream explains that the creature had a young elf friend, but eventually he lost his friend started giving people nightmares as a result, now during most of the comic there’s a lot of times where Callum is irritable towards Ezran, he scoffs at a lot of Ez’s suggestions, he mocks Ezran’s ‘weird animal thing’, and there’s a part where he’s trying convince Harrow to let him come with them to the east side of the village, and is annoyed when Harrow permits him to come on the condition that he keeps an eye on Ezran, and when Ez talks to the dream warden he says that creature reminds him of his brother, that Callum makes him laugh and draws imaginary animals for him, but around the same time every year, around the time when Sarai passed, Callum becomes angry, but that Ezran still loves Callum and refuses to give up on Callum, I love this message so much, also Ezran is truly wise beyond his years, he’s like somewhere between four and six in this story and he shows this level understanding and patience towards Callum dealing with grief and missing Sarai, that’s incredible!

-Later Callum tells Ez that he has a gift for talking and that Sarai would be proud of him, and Ez tells Callum that she would be proud of him too, I love these boys so much!!

-JERK FACE DANCE ORIGIN REVEAL HELL YEAH!

I loved the comic so much, I loved looking into Callum and Ez’s past, I loved the angst, I loved the message, I loved all of Ez’s animal sidekicks, I had such a good time reading it! This is just making me more hyped for season 7! Idk if they’re gonna put out another comic, but if this the last TDP comic then I’d say they ended on a high note.

[starry-skies-writes]

Watched that ep in s4 when Soren meets Claudia again and they have that talk about Amber Nose—I mean Aaravos

And the talk about magic and how Soren said the world would be better off without magic while Claudia is so adamant that elves and dragons see humans as inferior

Soren said he was friends with elves and dragons but Claudia just said that they were probably manipulating him????

(Girl your bf is an elf??)

Then Claudia says that Aaravos gave humans magic cause he believed in them when no other Xadian did (smth Aaravos probably told her) but Soren is sure Aaravos just wants to see people hate each other and watch the world burn

The way Soren was right about Aaravos though

[bat-snake]

My take on a distant future AU (that depends on Aaravos sacrificing so much energy into finally ensuring Leola's return that he has to abandon his mortal form for a bit - much to her heartbreak) and so

I have no idea how to connect all of these things and have a few vague ideas about who the New Gang is (one of them is a Moonshadow/Sunfire elf with a human grandma, who works for the Katolis Historical Society as a tour guide and she is e x h u s t e d)

There are so many more humans that figured out how to connect to a primal source, but it's like a small rural town's worth because it's still very hard to connect and requires a lot of introspection.

I'm trying to decide if Leola has just one child (named after Callum) or if she has two (named after Callum and Claudia). She's also looking after one of the New Gang, who is also in a coma. But because she connected to the Star primal and she couldn't handle the depths of Infinity, and not because of The Thing that knocked out all the elf kids under 10.

Zym is going strong as the Dragon King and is pretty well adored. Especially since Thunderfall is a thriving integrated city at this point.

And of course, aside from a Molly Gru-esque "How dare you come to me now, when I am this??? (burnt out and exhausted and lonely)" response to his return, Leola makes a pretty clear threat regarding Aaravos and his grandchild(ren).

Basically a "If I even hear a hint that you are pulling destructive stings for my child(ren) that you did for me, I will personally put you in a pearl myself and I will bind myself to it because I know how. Anyway! Humans figured out how to capture an obscura reflection! They put mirrors in a tiny box! I have mourned so many human friends that I am about to snap! The light in side me is dying! I really need you to just be my dad right now or I am going to lose it!"

There's a Rayllum grandchild running around as the new guardian of the Moon Nexus. Her name is Odette. (Which I. Realize now is ironic name choice with the whole "moon touching the lake" thing and was not deliberate on my part but I'm sticking to it. Give her eleven swans I guess)

[zuppizup]

Work in Progress Wednesday - A Dark Alternative

“Callum!”

He started upon hearing Claudia’s voice, very much not in the mood to talk to anyone right now. She hurried across the grounds, clearly excited to see him. “Hey Claudia,” he didn’t try to even disguise his mood, hoping she’d pick up on it and leave him alone.

“Hey!” She beamed at him. “How was your trip? Ez said you went out rock hunting or something.”

“It was good.” Callum continued in the direction of his room. “Long though, I’m pretty tired, actually.”

Claudia walked quickly with him, seeming intent on continuing the conversation. “What’s on your head?” She snorted, reaching forward.

Callum frowned, assuming he’d got leaves or cobwebs caught up there and immediately flushing with embarrassment when Claudia pulled the flower crown from his hair. “Oh, eh-”

“Cute!” Claudia examined the chain. “Where did you get this?”

“Em, a friend.” Callum didn’t really want to elaborate, thoughts of Rayla making his heart ache right now. He reached for the flower crown, frowning when Claudia seemed reluctant to give it up, though she eventually relented.

“Who’s your friend?” Claudia sounded a little suspicious, which probably made sense. They pretty much knew everyone in each other’s social circles.

“Someone I know from before I moved to Katolis.” He kept his responses short and to the point, not wanting to engage Claudia any more than he absolutely had to. The whole… plan to maybe rekindle their thing had sort of fizzled out when he started spending more time with Rayla. He probably should have said something to her really. He’d sort of forgotten about Claudia and the whole thing though. Which just went to show how much of a crush he had on Rayla. She was pretty much all her thought about now.

The thought of discussing her with Claudia made him uncomfortable for multiple reasons though. He could already feel himself blushing about the flower crown and he didn’t want Claudia noticing and teasing him about it, maybe figuring out he had a crush on Rayla. Ugh, what if she told her father? After that weird conversation with Viren, the last thing Callum wanted was him knowing he spent a day alone with an elf. An elf who’d made him a flower crown. Viren would read way more into that than was there. There was no way he’d accept he and Rayla were just friends. Or maybe he wouldn’t care either way and would try and manipulate the information to try and make Callum look stupid or something?

“Ooooh, yes, the elf.” Claudia continued along with him, appearing oblivious to his attempt to exit the conversation. “What sort of elf was it again?”

Callum frowned, not sure what it was that Claudia could be interested in and not knowing how to avoid telling. “Moonshadow.”

Her eyes went wide as they dart to the flower crown clutched delicately in his hand. “Reeeeallly.” She grinned widely. “What does that mean then?”

“Mean?” Callum stopped, frowning at her. “Why would it mean something?”

“Well, Moonshadows are all into cryptic messages and that, aren’t they? Always weaving illusions.” She shrugged, looking excited. “That’s got to mean something.”

“I… no, I don’t think so.” Callum glanced at the little string of flowers in his hand. “Rayla’s not really like that.” He bit his lip, mind a mess. “She’s not really into the whole Moonshadow thing.”

“An elf who’s not into being an elf?” Claudia waved her hand dismissively. “How’s that work?”

Callum took a breath, feeling more awkward now. He didn’t want to explain anything about Rayla and her situation to Claudia. In fact, he didn’t want to discuss Rayla with Claudia at all. Especially not after everything Viren implied about him and his apparent “tastes”. “Elves are just people, Claudia.” He turned back in the direction of his room. “They all different, you know. Someone of them just aren’t into the philosophy or cultural stuff, you know?”

———

As I approach the last chapter of Fuel the Pyre, the tail end of Purgatory and slowly chip away on the final chapter of Zoom-mates, I’m cleaning up the first ~20 chapters of my dark magic AU, A Dark Alternative.

Set in a world where humans and elves lives a lot more closely, Callum and Rayla, childhood friends rekindle that friendship in the midst of political and personal turmoil.

Ticking the childhood friends to strangers to lovers tropes, copious pining, idiots in love, along with map making, world building and pastry pondering.

Projecting ~60 chapters (lets not discuss my track record), 40 of which are in a decent state of finished. Hoping to start posting mid-June/July.

[a-very-sparkly-nerd]

@dragonprincedrabbles

Gren + Pip, Clear

Gren has an epiphany sitting in the dungeon with Pip, and maybe even a plan for a coup (that is not really a coup because Lord Viren is an illegitimate ruler, but he digresses).

An important fact about Commander Gren is that he was a teacher’s pet.

So of course he would raise his hand as best he could to be called on before speaking, chained up in a dungeon with the elf that had killed his king in a side chamber nearby, and said king’s bird stuck in his cage hanging from the wall.

Their imprisoner strode in, hands neatly folded on top of his staff, eyes shadowed and hanging heavily, bloodshot.

“No hot brown morning potion?” Gren asked, letting his wrists fall as limp as he could. It was hard to sleep standing up.

“No,” Lord Viren sighed, pinching his nose.

He kept on talking. “I have another-”

“Complaint? I’ll send a piece of paper. It will be promptly burned.”

Gren waggled a finger, grinning. “No! Not complaint- constructive criticism! We can all stand to do a little better, dontcha think?”

“If I humor you, will you silence?” Viren groaned, exasperated.

Gren was fairly certain the only reason he hadn’t done worse than chain him up here was because even the strongest mage would be helpless against General Amaya when she got wind of the predicament.

Still, he shrugged. He wasn’t the best at cards, but even he knew when to play an ace. He wasn’t commander to the revered general for nothing. “Sure!”

Viren mustered the most pleasant expression possible for him, one that was still the exact opposite of comforting, and smiled, though it came out a grimace. “Please do share your concerns, Commander.”

“Cool! I think…” He pondered for a moment. “I think it’s a little counterproductive- no, that’s not right. I think, yeah, I think it doesn’t make sense to keep the late king’s, may he rest in peace, bird in the dungeon.”

“And what would you rather I do with him?”

He pursed his lips. Gren hadn’t thought he’d get this far. “I dunno. Let me get back to you?”

“Yes, you ponder on that. Good tidings.”

Viren strode into the elf’s private cell, slamming the door behind him.

Gren leaned back against the hard, damp stone and released a long breath, looking to an oddly silent Pip in his cage hanging from the stairwell. “So. How are you?”

The bird squawked and ruffled his wings.

“Me, too, buddy. Hope you can get out of here, at least. No one’s built for this life.”

Pip tilted his head and picked at something under his wing.

“How long do you think we’ll be here?”

The bird moved his head in a little circle, and Gren chuckled.

“Hope it’s not long. If he cares this much about keeping me off the rescue mission, we could’ve compromised,” he mused. Gren had never been one for complete leadership, instead preferring to follow guidance and lead based on that. He would’ve been more than happy to co-lead the mission with Claudia and Soren, odd as they were. Just more opportunities to get to know them better, because one could never have too many friends.

Pip hopped forward on his perch, leaning his head so close to Gren that his beak poked through the bars. “Harrow,” he squawked.

Gren nodded. “I miss him, too.”

Pip shook his head, vibrant green plumage drooping and dirty. “Viren. Power.”

“I know he wants power,” Gren sighed in frustration, which was very counterproductive–and that was the right word this time–to what he’d worked on in therapy, channeling frustration and anger into productivity and paying things forward. But being productive in his current situation was very difficult, in his defense. No excuses, only doing, Ashton’s voice echoed.

 He gestured loosely to the door, taking a breath. “I don’t use the word lightly, but he’s cra-” He paused, the message the songbird was trying to relay growing more clear by the second.

“Are you telling me that Lord Viren let King Harrow die because he saw an opportunity to take power? And that’s why he’s keeping us here, so we can’t interfere?” He leaned towards the bird, struggling to keep his pitching voice from raising too high in excitement as the puzzle pieces fell into place.

Satisfied, the late king’s pet nodded. “Power-hungry fuckface.”

Gren burst out laughing. He had no doubt Queen Sarai had taught the bird that language that was quite accurate in describing the usurper.

“You’re not wrong, buddy. Hey”–he shot the bird appreciative finger guns–“you’re a good friend, Pip. Opened my eyes. But now I have to do something about it.”

Kick him where the sun doesn’t shine and chain him up in your place, Amaya would have said, but Gren didn’t possess her disregard for authority, nor her strength. No, Gren had to be more cunning about it. But how to outsmart a snake?

He thought back to the few words Pip had said, how Amaya had always complained, disgruntled, about the High Mage after every interaction with him.

“He’s manipulating Harrow,” she’d told him once in confidence after a few rounds of drinks, and Gren hadn’t breathed a word of it because not only would that have been treason, but betraying his best friend. “He’s selfish and you could swim in his sea of pride. I keep telling Sarai to work her way to getting him out by getting close to him, but she doesn’t listen. Tries to coexist.”

Pride. That was it.

Lord Viren couldn’t crack the Moonshadow elf who’d killed their king–who Viren might have let kill their king–and it was grating on him, breaking him down bit by bit until he’d do something less than humane- as if he hadn’t already.

Pride. He just had to play to his pride.

Gren had no more aces left. A king would have to do.

A voice echoed from the chamber, angry and piercing. “Would you stop talking to that blasted bird?!”

[seven-homosexual-dinosaurs]

Ok so we all know that Claudia has become the “main” (excluding Aaravos himself) villain of tdp right.

The question is, what is her goal for the future?

She might still want to free Aaravos if she still believes his imprisonment is unjust, but she’s lost her main motivation for freeing him with Viren’s death.

So what comes next for her?

There’s a lot that we know about Claudia. She’s strong, she’s ruthless, she always believes she’s in the right. She thinks that it’s the people around her suddenly changing and betraying her, not the other way around. Terry serves as somewhat of a restraint for her, stopping her from what he believes is “going too far” but we know that he’ll still follow her in whatever she choses.

We’ve seen that Claudia can be cruel, and Claudia can be vengeful. As we’ve addressed, she has a strong sense of being right and perceiving any disapproving of her goals or methods as a betrayal. She takes everything personally.

With the loss of her father and further losing herself to dark magic, it wouldn’t be too unlikely for Claudia to turn to vengeance. She’s lost. She’s desperate. She’s angry. She wants to blame someone for all her problems, as she always has.

There’s one person I see most likely for Claudia to blame for her problems.

Rayla.

Think about it.

From Claudia’s perspective, Rayla has taken so much from her. Rayla took her friends when she and the princes ran away with the dragon egg, then when she proved Claudia and Soren couldn’t be trusted in the Moon Nexus. She took her brother from her when Soren decided to defect to the heroes’ side- after all, she’s more likely to blame the elf she’s been taught to hate than her friends from childhood. She took Claudia’s father from her when she killed him the first time and prevented his resurrection. She took Claudia’s fucking leg.

With this in mind, consider that Claudia is stronger and angrier than ever. Consider that she’s powerful enough to defeat a dragon and access the spells that brings. Consider that Callum would do anything for Rayla, even use dark magic. Consider Aaravos’ connection with Callum. Consider the tweets that season six is going to break us.

Consider.

[kradogsrats]

oh hey out of nowhere it's 1500 words of Claudiangst, possibly some kind of spiritual sequel to that Viren one from pre-s5

—

Claudia sits on a stone beside the Sea of the Castout, and sharpens her knife.

It’s not quite dawn, and the coming morning promises to be bright and clear—she can almost imagine that it’s just another sunrise in Xadia, and the last few days were a terrible and confusing dream. Maybe even the whole month. The ruined stump below her knee, radiating the dull, persistent ache that was as far as she could reduce the pain with what she had in her satchel, destroys the shelter of that fantasy.

The repeated motion of the blade against stone helps a bit, like her calming mantra once did. There is no synonym for cinnamon, there is no synonym for cinnamon—every stroke a little sharper, a little clearer, a little more deliberate. The soft lapping of the waves against the shore might have done the same, once.

She’d almost drowned. Without the potion, her shifted form hadn’t lasted. She’d kicked desperately toward the surface with one leg while bitter seawater and blood rushed into her lungs. When she finally broke the surface, choking and exhausted, it took everything she had just to stay afloat. There was no way she could swim to shore—only drift, watching the sky slowly darken. At some point, the tears came, hot on her sea-chilled face. By the time she washed up on the rocky beach, she’d been incoherent with pain and grief.

The transformation was also the only thing that kept her from bleeding out—her pentapus limbs fusing back together as they returned to human form had mostly closed the wound. Terry had stripped her out of her soaked clothes and wrapped her in a blanket, her body shivering uncontrollably from cold and shock. He’d bound her leg where it was still oozing blood, and he and Sir Sparklepuff fretted over her late into the night as she alternated between chills and feverish delirium.

She holds the blade up to examine it in the pre-dawn gloom, tilting it to catch whatever light it can. It’s a good knife, slim and elegant and curved. It has always been, ever since she found it on the body of a Sunfire elf while picking through the abandoned battlefield. It's far from the least useful thing she's harvested from the dead.

Still, it's not sharp enough. For now.

Wracked with sorrow and fear and pain, she barely slept an hour. But she dreamed.

She'd been back at the center of the sea, standing above it as if it was no more than a puddle. The surface below her was smooth as glass, perfectly reflecting the sky overhead—so overflowing with stars that she couldn't tell if it was night or day. Blood seeped slowly from her leg and dripped into the dark water, lurid in the harsh light, ripples spreading out of sight.

Aaravos’s voice came to her, echoing from every direction. Soft as a whisper, but vibrating through her bones like thunder. We are all stardust, bound together only by love.

She spun, foolishly hoping to see him there. If she could just plead her case to him—she could do better. She would do better. She'd been foolish, thinking her old friends would understand her. Sentimental. She wouldn't make the same mistake again.

There was no one. She was alone between twin tapestries of stars, indistinguishable save for the red ripples that faintly disturbed the one below.

Someone once thought those words would comfort me. Do they comfort you?

“No,” she said. Her voice cracked. “They don’t.”

I thought not. Soft laughter, the kind of indulgent chuckle where it was impossible to tell if you were being laughed with or at—not cruel, but indisputably superior. They did not comfort me either, but I can give you something that might.

Her mouth trembled, eyes burning. She wanted so badly to be wrong, for him to have lied to her, for there to somehow be another chance. “You already said there's no way to bring him back a second time.”

All that could hold him here is cut loose. He is beyond your reach, now.

She couldn't stop her tears, but gulped in a breath and held it to keep from sobbing. It was her fault. She had failed. If she’d only—

If Ezran had just told her where the prison was—

If Callum hadn’t been so stubborn about bringing the baby Archdragon to Xadia—

If Soren had would have killed the elf back when she'd feigned sleep in that stupid, beautiful moonlit garden—if she'd made him, instead of indulging his stupid, childish sense of sportsmanship and honor—everything would be different. Everything would be fine.

She should have realized then that her brother wasn't on her side. Not really. Not like she'd been on his. Not like she'd always been on their family's side. She'd thought he loved her. She'd thought Callum had loved her, or at least liked her. Even Ezran had abandoned her, now. Everyone was gone. She only had Terry.

But I am not.

And Aaravos.

She breathed, shuddering inhales and exhales as she wiped at her face with her sleeve. "What do you want?"

I'm not the one you should be asking. Search your heart, child—there is still something you want very badly. Something that, with my help, lies within your grasp. If you are strong enough to take it.

She would already have everything she wanted, if she hadn't—if Callum and Ezran and that elf hadn't gotten in the way. If the boys she'd once thought of as her best friends hadn't left her for dead, choking and and bleeding and alone in open water. She'd done a lot of things she wasn't proud of—but she would never do that. Not to someone she cared about. They should have known she wouldn't actually hurt Ez.

She still didn't want to hurt him. Not much.

Callum, though—Callum she wouldn't mind hurting. The elf she'd cheerfully tear apart with her bare hands.

The sky continues to lighten, and she holds up the knife again. It's sharp now, like new—it will cut swift and clean. Traveling Xadia for two years, she'd learned a lot. How sharp a blade had to be, the amount of strength it took to sink it deep enough, where and how to cut. Back in Katolis, it had once sickened her to put her hands around a fawn's fragile neck to save her brother. She'd cried with frustration and shame as she struggled, trying to ignore the creature's panicked bleats and thin, flailing legs. Now, she could cut its throat before it even realized what was happening. Ruthlessly. Mercifully.

It can still be better. She returns to the stone.

Fortunately, you already have something that can give you that strength.

Aaravos had told her what to do. Then she'd been plunged into the blood-red water below her, dragged down into the darkness. She'd fought, reaching toward the receding surface, but she was so deep she couldn't even see the light from the sky. As her strength and breath ran out, everything fading away into a soft, endless black, she thought she felt the brush of fingers against her own.

Sir Sparklepuff had been crouched beside her when she started awake, pawing at her as he stared down into her face from the dark. "Blood!" he croaked, scampering away when she sat up. "Blood, blood of child, bloodied child!"

The eastern sky was beginning to pale by the time she'd dragged herself into her clothes and mixed herself something to bring the pain of her leg down to bearable levels. She'd levered herself upright with her staff, hobble-hopping to a nearby rock. The rocky sand shifted under her with each step, only the staff and her own desperation keeping her from falling. If she went down, she wasn't sure if she'd be able to get up again.

She finally collapsed on the rock, chest heaving with effort from having crossed barely ten paces of beach. Aaravos was right—between exhaustion, pain, and blood loss, she wouldn't be going anywhere without a boost.

Her eyes fell on Terry, a little line of worry creased between his brows even as he slept, snoring lightly. He cared for her so much it made her heart hurt, but so had Callum and Ezran, once. Now she saw that he would only ever hold her back. If she still had those coins, Moonshadow elf would be in the palm of her hand. Even tossing them into the lava beneath Umber Tor, though a waste, might have broken her enough to disrupt whatever sway she held over the boys.

It will be best for both of them for her to leave him behind. Maybe he'll hurt for a while, but he won't see how cruel she can be. How cruel she will be, once she catches up with her prey. Let him remember loving a girl who still hesitated.

The first glimmers of sunlight peek over the horizon, and Sparklepuff is at her side. He gazes up at her adoringly, head resting against her good leg, the pale violet stretch of his throat exposed. The blade is heavy in her hand.

Claudia's knife won't get any sharper. She cuts swift and clean.

[raayllum]

We don't appreciate Soren's batshit evolving view of Rayla (and Rayllum enough) tbh.

Think about it: you're Soren. Your dad and sister tell you the princes you were sworn to protect got kidnapped by a Moonshadow elf (some of whom you just fought, killed, and watched your fellow crownguard be killed by). You never met her and never saw the encounter in the dungeons that Claudia did, so you have no reason to doubt this. Then your dad gives you a mission that curdles your stomach and you find yourself more than half hoping that elf has just killed the boys because that means you don't have to dirty your hands and have plausible deniability of your own and your dad's involvement in all of this.

Then you find the Moonshadow elf and she's young. Younger than you. Asleep; it feels wrong. But then it's a trick and she's got the momentary upper hand! She's talented. She's sarcastic(?) and pretty. She's dead meat—

Then Callum runs in, in front of your raised sword, and defends her. He says she's his friend. He says she's a good elf. (How can that be possible?) He says you have to learn to put aside your differences. Your brain is breaking. You assume nothing will change in the morning. And then the weirdest thing is that the elf has the same reaction to your sister and Callum flirting as you do, a big ugh. What's up with that?

You speculate about Moonshadow madness and lie about the king, and the elf gives you an Intense Look that, unfortunately, is not because she's hot and talented, but because she's suspicious. She looks after Ezran like he's her own little brother. When she tricks you guys, again, it's just her on the ground and the princes safely on the stupid moon bird.

Then you don't see her again until it's raining, and she's shown up seemingly of nowhere to save this dumb monstrous dragon. She can't cut the chains and she's outnumbered. An easy prize. Claudia tells you not to kill her because she might be useful. You haven't really made up your mind about it when—

Callum is there in the rain, following after her like a good loyal knight of his own. Callum does dark magic. You wonder if this was the plan all along or not, since the elf doesn't look happy about it. In her your periphery you see her run to him anyway once the dragon is freed. Then it smashes you into the rocks, and everything gets fuzzy.

You don't see her again until at least a week and a half later at the Storm Spire. Ezran calls for both of them (are they always a package deal) and they come running. They exchange wary looks as you give explanations. You can hear their voices, dimly, in the queen's antechamber while you play a game of chase with Ezran and the Dragon Prince. Callum looks to her when you ask to speak and she gives you an eye-roll of permission. Her name is Rayla. She thinks you're more than just a big dump lump (compliment). And maybe you wonder if she's a little more than a friend to Callum as she takes his hand and squeezes, watching Ezran fly off into the night. Maybe you don't.

But they're not holding hands when you find them the next morning so it's fine to interrupt, and you don't know for sure they're a thing until everything is said and done—until you learn that not only is Callum more than over your sister, he flung himself off the top of that tall tall mountain to catch Rayla without even knowing the spell would work.

It's intense and overwhelming to the point you might worry about it if she didn't also look at him like he hung the stars, holding hands in front of the Dragon Queen—on the way back home to Katolis. Ezran gives you pieces of whatever Callum's told him, that Rayla needs a new home. That she got banished.

Every time you're with her at the castle it's a group activity, like sparring or dinner. She doesn't open up easily, even if she's softer—more awkward. You learn that her people like dancing and not much else. Ez and Callum are both very protective of her, Callum especially. She sleeps in a lot. She seems lost. You come along to the Moon Nexus because your king is going, and when Rayla finally asks to talk with you one-on-one, it's because she's chasing answers about your father, and an elf you think she might consider family.

You help Callum and Allen rebuild the Moon Nexus. You don't know what it's for till she's under the water (you don't know that she's scared of water) and Callum is kneeling at the shoreline like he's going to lose his mind with every second that she doesn't surface. The weird Moon lady says your mind will be shattered, that you can be stuck there between life and death forever. Ezran helps Callum dive beneath the waves anyway. It's one of the longest hours of your life, waiting there—because Rayla was brave enough to do what you couldn't, in looking after the boys, and you still have so much to make up for with Callum (plus, Opeli will kill you if you don't come back with the crown prince).

Finally, as the sky begins ever so slightly to lighten, you help drag them out of the water. Callum embraces her—"I couldn't lose you"—like he's never going to let go. Rayla hugs him back just as tight before she kisses him sweetly. You think you'll have to try and entertain Ez tomorrow to give them some privacy, a bit, for Callum's birthday tomorrow.

Rayla is gone in the morning. You don't even hear about what happened from him; Ezran tells you, eyes rimmed in red. Gone without a trace in the middle of the night, leaving only a letter and promises of love behind.

Something bristles inside you; at least your mother had the decency to say goodbye.

Callum is miserable on the way back to Katolis. He doesn't sleep. He doesn't eat. He lasts three weeks before he gets angry, and you never knew his temper could be that bad. He goes off to Xadia to search guided by his wings, and brought back by the cold every few weeks or so, continually empty handed. Opeli grounds him (literally); his mood worsens as snow thickens.

You take the brunt of his anger without complaint, because you is also smirking and good with a sword and worried about Viren, and because Callum took the brunt of your projection and resentment and jealousy for years. You can handle a few months.

It is not just a few months. Callum gets worse, and then, slowly, after the first anniversary of her being gone, he gets better. It means less shouting, but also less of him—he spends more hours locked away in your father's old study, throwing more and more of himself into magic. You remind yourself that it's okay. It's just primal magic.

(Surely, Callum got rid of your father's old dark magic books. Why would he keep them?)

Another year passes. You're upset at Rayla for leaving, for how much she upset both the boys, for how miserable Callum has been. At the same time, you want her to return, not only for their happiness, but for your peace of mind, because if she does, it'll either be with her mission successful and your family vanquished for good, or because there was nothing to find. She might even have information about Claudia.

Then she does show up, and Callum can barely look at her. He brings the mirror to the Storm Spire. When he falls, Rayla catches him. When he retreats to the Pinnacle, she follows, and you interrupt. You protest in the Drakewood, because your father told you that you had to carry burdens alone and that never did anyone good, and Callum lays down distance that feels strange and exclusionary. When Rayla is standoffish amongst the trees, you critique her—over your younger brother figure, but also over the dragon. You don't know how she's become so changed (how she could leave the same way your mother did).

The next time you see her, she's radiantly happy you're alive and gone just as quickly. Then Callum pulls her from the rubble after one heart wrenching moment, because Callum when she was just gone was rough enough, but a Callum when she's dead is awful to imagine, and—

You watch him forgive her in every way that matters. He stays with her at the castle even as you go off with Ezran and Corvus to do important dragon stuff, and holds her hand as they climb out of the water. He gets madder than you've ever seen him when Finnegrin torments her. You watch him do the impossible first hand to save her life.

You watch him offer to get out of the water, to delay the mission, when she's too scared to. (You didn't even know she was scared of water.) You embrace both of them when everything is said and done, once Callum has nearly fallen over in his haste to just hold her hand.

You still, at the end of the day, don't know Rayla that well—bits and pieces to construct a fragmented but real view of someone who's bold and beautiful and brave and kind, but snarky and judgemental and prone to leaving, too. Balanced, even if it's not deep.

But Callum's love for her? It's as deep as the ocean, and that's kinda what matters most.

[sarcasticassian]

Steve (and Robin because they cannot be apart) works at a Christmas Shop, it’s one of the only things that draws people into Hawkins because it’s massively, truly huge, and it’s committed to being a 365 day Christmas pit stop, the cafe that’s hidden in the depths of the store sells Christmas themed drinks all year round and Robin is pretty sure the shop has cut a deal with the electricity company because the fairy lights are on nearly 24/7, Steve has a green apron he has to wear and a hat with a bell that he will only wear when the owner, a sweet but cutthroat Claudia Henderson, is around and he actually really loves his job

the cafe is a hangout for anyone in town, kids pour in straight from school (including the owners son and all his friends), parents and babies come in for a much needed dose of caffeine, the older gossips of the town gather for lunch and this means Steve and Robin know pretty much everyone in town

that is until a new guy starts showing up, he’s got wild curly hair and is usually wrapped in a leather jacket with a denim vest thrown on top more often than not, Robin immediately clocks his crush and winds up to start the teasing until Steve reminds her that she laughed so hard at one of Chrissy’s jokes (she owns a bakery and provides treats for the store’s cafe) last time she was in that Robin snorted and then immediately walked away from the poor girl because she was so mortified

Robin snaps her mouth shut and just stalks off to leave him to check out the new guy (both figuratively and literally, the guy is buying the most heinous looking elf Christmas decoration)

Steve thinks it was probably a one off, just another cute guy coming through to check out the famous Christmas shop but he comes back a few weeks later, once again buying one of the ugliest decorations in the shop, flirting up a storm and leaving Steve with a wink and a cheeky grin, Robin does laugh this time because she actually managed a very normal conversation with Chrissy about music last time she was doing a cake and pastry drop off, Steve shrugs it off though but then this guy is back, asking Steve what Christmas drink he would recommend and hey when is his break because they could have a drink together and Steve is endeared by this man’s, Eddie apparently, cute dimples and he leaves Steve blushing but happy

Eddie comes back a few more times, each time buying up the most disgusting looking decorations and eventually Steve asks about it, Eddie flirts a little and tells Steve he needed an excuse to come back and see him and once Steve is sufficiently flustered Eddie sighs and tells him the truth, he’s back to look after his Uncle Wayne who had an accident at work and the two of them are both as stubborn as mules and they don’t usually get to arguing because they’re both big communication is key people but Eddie is worried and Wayne is irritable from being cooped up and they’ve been spatting more than they ever have but Wayne loves Christmas and this store so to make up with him Eddie comes here and buys the weirdest looking thing he can find and Wayne will always sigh and grumble but he loves them because they remind him of Eddie (Robin scoffed when she heard that because it’s so true) and then they make up until Eddie helicopters around him again and the cycle repeats

Steve listens to this with the biggest heart eyes ever and oh dear god is he in love with this weirdo already? but Steve is a sucker for people who just show their love and affection for others on their sleeves and Eddie seems exactly the type and now Steve’s personally taking him around the store and into the storage room to show Eddie his favourite ugly Christmas wreath that will match the decorations Eddie has been buying up