#for everyone asking about Tiberius

[obsessedwithceleste]

Fighting Fate (It’s a losing battle)

Theodore Nott x gn!reader

Inspired by, and dedicated to @musingsofahufflepuff

Summary: soulmate!au in which everyone sees in black and white until they meet their soulmate. Bold of fate to assume it can tell you what to do.

word count: 3.1k

©️ obsessedwithceleste. all works posted here belong to me and should not be reposted or copied in any way or form.

Ever since your first day at Hogwarts, you’d been told that you were lucky. A one in a million chance. Exceptional. Because as soon as you’d been sorted, and the sorting hat had been lifted up off of your head, your eyes had met his, and the world had burst into color.

It had been wildly disorientating at first- you almost fainted from the visual overload as the banners over each section of students burst into bright color. As you went to take your seat, you got strange looks from several students, but you never felt his eyes leave you.

You’d always thought it was rubbish. Even at the ripe old age of eleven. Your mother had first explained the idea of soulmates to you as a bedtime story. You remember her explaining how everything looked bland and colorless now because you hadn’t met your soulmate yet. But once you did, the world would come to life.

“When will I meet my soulmate?” You’d asked.

“Well, that’s the catch isn’t it? It’s different for everyone. Some meet their soulmate very young. At school even. But some, some will never meet their soulmate. They can be anywhere in the world, fate doesn’t discriminate.”

You’d scrunched your little nose up in distaste.

“That’s stupid. Why do I have to listen to fate?”

Your mother had only laughed, tucking you in and kissing your forehead goodnight. But the sentiment had remained as you grew up. How could someone really just be meant for you? Ridiculous.

Theo had known that you were going to be his soulmate before fate did. He’d watched silently from his seat on the train as you boarded, a nervous grin on your face as you waved goodbye to your family. You were perfect, and he couldn’t take his eyes off of you. At least until Mattheo swatted his arm.

“What’re you staring at, mate?” He’d asked loudly, gaining the attention of the other boys in the carriage.

“See them, there?” Theo asked, pointing to where you were boarding. “That’s going to be my soulmate.” He’d announced proudly.

“Yeah, okay mate,” the other boys had laughed, quickly moving on to the next topic.

But Theo didn’t take his eyes off of you until you disappeared through the train doors and off into some unknown compartment.

The next time he saw you was at the sorting ceremony. He watched as you confidently made your way up to the front, the smile never leaving your face as McGonagall lowered the hat onto your head. It only took a few moments of deliberation before the hat was being lifted off of your head and Theo’s eyes met yours.

It was like the wind was taken out of him as the room sprung to life, colors swirling around his vision as his eyes raced around the room in awe.

By the end of the night, all of Theo’s friends had been sorted into Slytherin with him. Mattheo, Enzo, Draco, Blaise. Even Crabbe and Goyle.

“I was right on the train. About them being my soulmate,” he’d announced proudly, pointing out different objects and describing the different colors to his friends who wondered in amazement.

You on the other hand, didn’t speak a word of it to anyone until you accidentally let it slip to your mother over break that you could see the pretty colored ornaments strung up on the tree.

She’d been thrilled of course, wanting to know every detail about this soulmate of yours. What did he look like? What house was he? Had the two of you spoken.

You answered each question with less enthusiasm than the one prior, and eventually she got the point and stopped asking.

As soon as the news slipped that Theodore Nott, a child of the sacred twenty-eight, and son of Tiberius Nott no less, could see in color however, it didn’t take long for people to start noticing you. Telling you how lucky you were to have found your soulmate. To be able to see color. As if you wanted a soulmate at eleven years old.

The first few years it was easy to avoid. Being only eleven or twelve, Theo was content admiring you from a far. Third year was when the boy finally got the courage to really try and talk to you for the first time. Sure he’d said hi a few times over the past couple years, but nothing you’d found particularly note worthy. Especially not for someone who was supposedly your soulmate.

“Are you any good at charms?” A voice asks, startling you as you look up from the essay you had been finishing up in the court yard. It was a warm, cloudy day, with only a light breeze, so you’d thought it would be the perfect day to take your studies outside.

You stare up in surprise at the brunette boy in front of you, watching silently as he takes a seat across from you.

In the past, you'd played the avoiding game, quickly scurrying off if you saw the boy or his friends approaching. This year, you hadn't been taking the same precautions, and it seemed Theodore was taking full advantage.

“I’m alright,” you reply hesitantly.

That was a lie. Charms was your best subject, but you were hoping the boy might go away. He didn’t.

"I know that you're top of the class," he responds, staring intently at you with a sly smirk.

That afternoon you begrudgingly helped Theodore with his charms homework, and he happily helped you with your DADA essay. There wasn’t a whole lot of interaction between the two of you, but he wasn’t horrible you supposed. At least he had brain cells to rub together.

After that he kept popping up sporadically throughout your third year.

At quidditch tryouts he'd insisted on partnering with you for several of the drills. You both were offered a place on the team. In the Great Hall he'd seek you out to ask about the homework assignment he'd missed after skiving off of class with Mattheo. The fact that you gave him your notes each time meant nothing. Obviously. And every so often, between the shelves of books in the library, you'd see a flash of soft brown hair, and intense eyes gazing at you before they disappeared as if you were imagining it.

With each increasing encounter, the both of you made idle conversation as you kept the boy at an arms length. It was nothing personal really. In fact the more you thought about it, he seemed perfectly alright. But something in your stubborn thirteen year old self just wanted to stick it to fate. So you continued to ice the boy out.

Theodore however, was nothing if not determined. He knew from the moment he saw you that he was meant to be yours, and he’d be damned if he let you slip through his fingers. Thirteen year old Theodore was a stubborn bastard and he knew he was willing to play the long game.

Things grew a bit more complicated in fourth year when you became friends with some of the Slytherin crowd.

It had been an accident really. You’d been reading down by the Black Lake when Daphne Greengrass had stumbled upon you, followed closely by Pansy Parkinson and Lorenzo Berkshire.

“Oh!” she’d said in delight, seeing the book in your hands, “I love that book!”

The two of you ended up talking enthusiastically about the novel for almost an entire hour with Pansy and Enzo butting in every so often to add their thoughts.

“Wait, you’re Theodore’s soulmate aren’t you?” Enzo asks, eventually recognizing you.

You eye the boy cautiously as you nod slowly, suddenly feeling self conscious.

Pansy just wrinkles her nose.

“Sorry you got stuck with such a tosser.” She says.

The four of you are quiet for a moment before your laughter breaks the silence, the other three following shortly after.

After that, you’re integrated into their little group seamlessly. You’d always been a bit of a loner. Sure people would wander up to you often enough to chatter about what it was like to see colors, but that was really all people wanted to know about you. Like it was some trivial party trick.

It was nice having your own friends to study with and wander about Hogsmeade with on the weekends. It was nice to have people who liked being around you simply for being you. Not because some magical force had decided to bind you to a whole other human and grant you the ability to see color.

It didn’t take long for Theo to notice you hanging about more frequently. How could he not? You were so pretty. So smart and witty. So perfect. He was just so happy to have you around more often. Even if it wasn’t to spend time with him specifically.

He reveled in any little morsel of information that he could scrape up from your friends. Your favorite color, your favorite sweets at Honeydukes, your class schedule. Theo was willing to admit the last one was a bit weird, but he was really just hungry to learn anything he could about his elusive soulmate.

Soon enough, it didn’t become unusual for Theodore and Mattheo to join the four of you on your little excursions. Popping up at the Black Lake, or meeting up with you at the Three Broomsticks. He was just always there. As if he was making a point of it. And begrudgingly you began to let him in.

A friend of your friends was okay you thought. Wouldn’t hurt to get to know him a bit. That wasn’t crossing any lines.

For Theo however, this was huge. He was finally getting somewhere. Even if you weren’t ready for any sort of romantic relationship, he was going to be the best damn friend you’d ever had.

By fifth year, there was simply no denying it. Theodore Nott was your best friend. You weren’t really sure how it had happened. The two of you just fit so well together. He had truly wormed his way into your life.

It had started with the study sessions.

"Remember when you helped me with charms in third year?" He'd asked. "I got top marks on that assignment."

As those became more frequent, it had turned into afternoons by the lake with both of you deep in your own novels, but sharing the comfortable silence.

Then it had morphed into weekends at Hogsmeade. Your friends thought they were being subtle when they consistently slipped away, leaving you and Theo to wander about the village. You couldn't find it in yourself to mind though.

You’d tried to keep him at an arms length. You really had. But Enzo couldn’t make you laugh as hard as you did with Theo. And Daphne just wasn’t the intellectual match that Theo was. And Pansy always made sure you let loose sure, but being around Theo was just- freeing.

You still weren’t sold on the whole soulmate thing though. Sure Theo was great. Perfect even. But you just couldn’t shake the icky feeling of blindly trusting fate to decide your life.

Then it happened. No one was expecting it. Especially not Pansy. But you and Pansy and Draco and Theo had all been working late on a potions assignment before dinner, and on your way back up from the dungeons, Pansy ran smack into a certain platinum haired Ravenclaw. You’d later find out that her name was Luna Lovegood. As soon as their eyes met, Pansy stumbled, leaning into you for support. You already knew what was happening as her eyes darted around wildly.

“Oh. I suppose we’re soulmates then aren’t we?” The girl said, a dreamy look overtaking her.

It all seemed too easy for them after that. It was like a flip had switched and the two were just mad for each other. A picture perfect example of what soulmates should be.

You found it to be slightly horrifying how blindly trusting fate could severely change a person and their relationship with an essential stranger.

Theo however, couldn’t help but feel a tinge of jealousy. He had what? Almost five whole years on Pansy, and was lucky to get a friendly hug out of his soulmate. Yet Pansy and Luna were inseparable after only a few short weeks.

Not that Theo thought he was entitled to your affection necessarily. But it would be nice if you’d at least acknowledge the bond you two shared he thought.

“Why don’t you believe in soulmates?” Daphne asks one night.

It was one of those rare nights where it was only you, Daphne, Pansy, and Enzo huddled together wrapped in thick, warm blankets inside Daphne and Pansy’s dorm room. Salazar knows where Millicent was off spending her night. A bottle of shared fire whisky sat between you and packs of chocolate frogs littered the floor.

You blink in surprise at your friend’s question. You didn’t talk about soulmate stuff much.

“I do believe in them,” you say with a simple shrug.

“Yeah but you don’t really believe in them, ya know? Why?” She pushes.

You pause again, glancing at Pansy who was looking back at you intently.

“I don’t know. I guess I just don’t like the idea of someone deciding to be with me, just because they’re supposed to.” You say finally.

“I suppose I know what you mean.” Pansy murmurs after a moment.

You look at the girl in surprise and can tell the other two are shocked as well.

“Don’t get me wrong. I adore Luna. Really. I always tell her that I’m so glad that fate put us together. But then sometimes I wonder. If it weren’t for fate, would I have even given her a second glance that day I bumped into her in the corridor?”

There’s a silent lull as your group mulls over Pansy’s words before slowly drifting off to a new topic.

In another dorm, not so far off, Theo lay on his bed staring blankly up at the ceiling.

“Think they’ll come around soon?” Mattheo asks, sensing his roommate’s building tension.

“I dunno. But I’ll wait,” he replies, closing his eyes and letting images of you flood his mind. “They’re worth it.”

That night as you’re leaving to return to your dorm, Enzo catches your arm, pulling you off to the side.

“You can never tell Theo that I told you this, but the first time I met Theo, we were on the train waiting to leave for Hogwarts and he pointed out the window to a someone and said ‘they’re going to be my soulmate’. Then, at the sorting ceremony he got all dizzy all the sudden, and when we got to the common room, he said that he’d been right about who his soulmate would be. You. Just thought you should know.”

And with that, he’s gone.

It’s after that that you really begin to see Theo. You’d never really given him a fighting chance. But now, you kind of wanted to.

It’s the beginning of sixth year when Theo finally notices the shift. Notices you actually seeking him out on purpose, not flinching away when your hands brush, eyes hovering on his lips a bit too long for it to be accidental. And to say that he is ecstatic.

Meanwhile you were silently kicking yourself for taking so long to get over your petty bullshit with fate. Sure you still didn’t love the idea of it all, but after spending enough time with Theo, you could really, truly see the appeal.

After that night in fifth year, you began noticing how Theodore was one of the only students who could keep up with your academic prowess. He could always sense when you were tired, or stressed, or simply in a mood, and always did his best to subtly cheer you up. He was always there. Even after all the years you had put him through the wringer, he remained by your side. And that’s what really convinced you.

It’s also what landed you here, at the top of the astronomy tower, with your head in Theodore’s lap as his fingers raked gently through your hair.

It had become a usual meeting spot for the both of you. Theo had brought you up here a week into the school year starting. It was his safe place. His getaway when everything got to be too much, or when he just needed space to think. When those words had left his mouth you had melted. He trusted you. You had meant so much to him for so long, and you couldn't be bothered to give him the time of day.

“I’m sorry,” you mumble, eyes gazing out at the swirling navy sky that seemed to stretch on forever.

“For what, amore?”

“Dunno. Making you feel like you weren’t good enough, or makin you feel like a bad soulmate.”

Theo looks down at you, and you meet his steady gaze.

“I knew I was good enough, amore. We wouldn’t be soulmates if we weren’t perfect for each other.” He replies.

You perk up at this. “You think I’m perfect?” You ask, a dopey smile appearing on your face.

Theo just rolls his eyes, shaking his head as he laughs. He'd grown used to your antics. Just another piece of you that he'd grown fond of.

“I said that we’re perfect together. But you’re perfect too I suppose.”

It hadn’t taken nearly as long as you had expected to reach this point. It seemed that Theo had just been waiting for the word to switch on boyfriend mode. All it took was one spontaneous, heated make out session in his dorm room, and you had the boy wrapped around your finger. (He already had been for years, but you didn’t need to know that.)

“Alright. Wrap it up love birds. You better be fully clothed,” Pansy calls, head peeping up from the top of the staircase leading up to the tower. “You two have been up here for hours, and you can’t have them all to yourself Theodore. They were our friend first.”

“Yeah! Time’s up lover boy!” You hear Enzo call.

Theo groans, head falling back as he rises lazily, offering you a hand up.

“I waited five years for this, can’t you guys let me have my moment?” He calls back.

“No!” The chorus replies.

With a laugh, you grab onto Theo’s hand, tugging him towards the stairs.

“C’mon. If we get Mattheo and Enzo drunk enough, they won’t notice if I spend the night,” you say with a cheeky wink.

“I heard that!” Enzo’s voice rings out.

“You wouldn’t say no to me anyway,” you shout back.

With a smile, Theo follows you down the stairs after your rowdy friends, hand wrapped tightly around yours. It had taken him five long years, and he certainly wasn’t going to let go anytime soon.

I'm a sucker for soulmate aus

[cookiescribble]

First Day

A/N: this has been in my head for a long time because I have random trivial star trek knowledge and whenever they show spencer talking about star trek in the show i go all heart eyes so I wrote a little blurb 🫶🏻 also I had fem!reader in mind when I wrote this but I realized I didn’t actually make any references to gender so 🤷🏻 - mod angel 

Pairing: Spencer Reid x GN!Reader

Summary: Spencer bonds with his new coworker over Star Trek. 

~~~

It was my first day at the BAU, and I was a little… intimidated being here. I had been mostly keeping my head down and staying quiet, since social interaction wasn’t something I was great at. I was okay just watching the others interact with each other for now. 

“Hey, kid,” Derek called out, beckoning Spencer. “I need your help with the crossword.”

Spencer walked over to Derek’s desk, which was next to mine. “What’s up?” he asked. 

Derek pointed to the newspaper with his pencil. “7 across: James _ Kirk (Star Trek). 8 letters.”

Tiberius, I thought instinctively. I considered saying it out loud, but he hadn’t asked me, so I decided to stay quiet. 

“Tiberius,” Spencer said, almost as fast as I had thought it. 

I smiled to myself. I was always the only one who knew about geeky stuff. Until now, I guess. 

Derek finished filling in the crossword. “Thanks. I knew it was always James T. Kirk, but I didn’t know what it stood for.”

Without thinking, I spoke up. “Actually, in the third episode of The Original Series, someone who’s fighting Kirk prepares a gravestone for him and it says James H. Kirk.”

Everyone turned to look at me, staring at me with open mouths. I blushed. Maybe I shouldn’t have said anything. But now I felt uncomfortable sitting in this silence. 

I cleared my throat. “Um. So. Yeah. It wasn’t always James T. Kirk, as you said. They didn’t mention his full initials until-“

“Episode 13: The Conscience of the King.” Spencer cut me off, his eyes lighting up like he had been dying to talk about this. He walked over to my desk and leaned on the front of it. “The first time they mention it is when Spock is checking his background and speaks it into the computer.”

I nodded, smiling. “Yeah, and they don’t mention the name Tiberius until the 6th movie, The Undiscovered Country.”

“Oh my god, there are two of them,” I heard Emily say. 

Either Spencer didn’t hear her or he was purposefully ignoring her. “Actually…” he started, sitting on my desk. He was bouncing a little. “The first time the name Tiberius is mention is in The Animated Series episode BEM.”

“Oh, I didn’t know that.” I admitted. “I’ve never actually seen The Animated Series. Actually, I’ve only ever seen part of The Original Series…”

That only made him sit up straighter. “Do you want to watch it? I have every episode on DVD. I’d be happy to show it to you sometime.”

I smiled. “Yeah, I’d like that. I’ve always wanted to finish watching it, and watch the other shows too. If you don’t mind me imposing…”

He shook his head. “I don’t mind at all. Not a lot of people I know are interested in Star Trek, so I’m happy to show it to you if you’re interested. You can come by my apartment sometime and we can watch it.”

I nodded. “That sounds great. I appreciate it.”

I heard people whispering in the distance. 

“Did he just-“

“Shh, don’t say anything, you’ll jinx it. I think this is the first time in history that this has ever worked.”

“And probably the last time it will ever work. This is definitely a unique circumstance.”

I blushed a little as I heard everyone talking about us, but I continued chatting comfortably with Spencer for a while before everyone was interrupted by the news that we had a case. But I was really relieved that, despite feeling so overwhelmed about starting this job, I had been able to make a friend on my first day.

[meidui]

jealous!steve fic recs ❤️

Oh bother by @elcorhamletlive

At a vacation on a farm, a piglet imprints on Tony.

An Educational Experience (The Good Things Come To Those Who Wait Remix) by @valdomarx

Ults Tony has a nice day.

aka Tony talks Steve through sucking his cock.

Santa Claus is Coming to Town by Last_Chance_Anna

Steve and Tony throw a Christmas party, and Steve rediscovers his jealous streak when it comes to Tony. Luckily Tony knows the cure for that. Spoiler alert: It's sex.

in the storm, we stay clear by @thahiree

Steve and Tony's car breaks down in the middle of nowhere. It leads to some misunderstandings and then finally some long overdue conversations.

talking sweet and looking fine by meidui

“I haven’t dated since god knows when,” Tony says with a little shake of his head, almost self-deprecating. “This is one of Hill’s friends, actually. A civilian, not caught up with all this. I didn’t know she had those, to be honest.”

“Right,” Steve says, like this isn’t the softest, most unwitting way Tony has ever broken his heart.

you are the reason by @avengersnewb

Steve and Tony are seeing each other in secret. An unfortunate encounter with Tiberius Stone, just as Steve decides to talk to Tony and define their relationship, makes things complicated.

I Always Turn To You by @kandisheek

The Avengers are all hanging out drunk in the common room when Clint suggests playing fuck, marry, kill. Everyone chooses Steve to marry and while it is flattering Steve doesn't really care until Tony says he'd marry Bruce instead. He's not sure why that irks him so much.

Dirty Boss by silentinhill

Mr. Stark couldn't help himself.

Everybody Wonders (What It Would Be Like to Love You) by @soldiersshield

“...Is that what this is about?” He asks slowly. Steve blanches.

“Oh my god. It is.” Tony has no right looking as giddy as he does. “Steven Grant Rogers, are you jealous?”

Nobody Panic, Everything's Fine by @intelligentbees

Steve doesn't get jealous. He doesn't. Honestly.

It's just...well- Tony's been spending an awful lot of time with a new employee. Who's smarter than him. And funnier. And more interesting and generally a better match for Tony than he ever would be.

But he's not jealous. Honestly.

Poster Child Redux: Steve's POV by @sabrecmc

Tony likes the new Captain America poster. A LOT.

Steve likes Tony. A LOT.

These two boys need to stop thinking about it and get together.

Stop Flirting With My Tony by jinxedtiger

Steve accepts the fact that his boyfriend of a few months is famous, popular, etc. They announced their relationship forever ago but noooooo. Everyone still flirts with the billionaire.

Steve's patience is running thin and Tony's trying so hard not to laugh at the poor guy. (he'll have to resort to other methods to remind the soldier just how much he loves him)

[burr-ell]

Putting Terms on the High Shelf: Main Character Syndrome

As I'm watching C2, one thing I've noticed about Caleb's various sidebars to talk to different people is that he's still very much involving them—the conversations reveal various different priorities not just for Caleb, but for the people he's talking with. Liam's RP is often geared toward encouraging character work out of the other players at the table; it's something you see with Vax early on, and it's very present with Caleb.

So I find the accusations and warnings of Liam having Main Character Syndrome, which started during C1 but really ramped up in C2, to be rather shallow. Look at the contrast between the tables during this:

and this:

In C1x27, Orion adds pressure to the cast's already-frayed nerves with him, compounded from previous incidents of bad behavior, by taking up several minutes of time purely to himself—his only interaction with anyone else at the table is to ask Keyleth for help with alchemy mechanics (fun fact, early Keyleth was into alchemy!). This included:

An attempt to buy 1500 mirrors to build a light array;

A request to his father to send in his home country's army to Whitestone; and

An attempt to combine a fog spell and a sleep spell after being told point blank that it was mechanically impossible

This was all very obviously an attempt to make himself the hero in what is clearly set up to be a Percy-centric arc. (Worth noting, for the record, is that up to this point Percy had actually had very little focus and largely kept himself in the background, while Tiberius had been in focus for most of the show's run up to that point.) Laura snarks that he's like the giant eagles in Lord of the Rings and can just do everything, and if you actually watch the clip that I've giffed above, Travis's tone is genuinely aggravated. This, by the way, is all after Tiberius was notably not present for Percy revealing his backstory to the rest of the party in episode 24; while everyone else voiced concerns for him and went down to his workshop to check on him, Tiberius largely ignored this and went off to do his own business.

That is a selfish player. That is selfish behavior and a clear example of someone who thinks the story should revolve around them. There are several reasons Orion was asked to leave, not just because he fudged his dice rolls.

C2x62 is a completely different story. None of the conversations Caleb has within that episode are just a way for Caleb to gain information; he's engaging with what the other people are doing. When he asks Nott and Jester about the letter they wrote to Astrid, he reveals a little about himself—something he is particularly reluctant to do with Jester—and they are given an opportunity to respond. His conversation with Beau gives time for both of them to check in on each other and where they're at and lets Beau give her own perspective on the politics of the Empire, the Cobalt Soul, and Xhorhas. The discussion with Fjord lets them both level with each other a little and does more work for Fjord's character, letting him open up about his insecurities and issues, than it does for Caleb's. Caleb is still initiating these conversations and he still gets something out of them, but both the players and the audience still get the benefit of the other characters pushing and pulling against that in response.

Like many terms that get thrown around in this circle ("player agency", "manipulating", "metagaming", "going dark", to name a few), Main Character Syndrome has been so misconstrued and warped to fit a heavily biased perspective as to be almost meaningless. Main Character Syndrome is not when a character initiates a lot of conversations, even if you personally don't like the conversations for whatever reason. Main Character Syndrome is not when a character chooses to take a risk or push a big red button, even if you personally don't like the choice for whatever reason. Main Character Syndrome is not when a character has an arc or aspect of lore heavily focused on them, even if you personally don't like the character for whatever reason. (Particularly considering that arc focus is entirely out of the player's control; Taliesin, Liam, and Laura did not in fact force Matt to focus a significant portion of each campaign's lore on Percy, Caleb, or Imogen's backstories respectively.)

Main Character Syndrome is specifically about player selfishness—it's a player inserting their character into scenes or roles where they do not logically belong in order to make them the center of the story, as we see with the example of Tiberius. The camaraderie at the current table versus what was going on back in 2015 does not suggest that anyone currently sees anyone else like that; everyone is laughing at the jokes made at someone's expense, and everyone is getting something to do. Your favorite character may not always be flashy or in focus all the time, but then again, you wouldn't want them to have Main Character Syndrome, would you?

[utilitycaster]

I saw you reply to an ask saying Tiberius player sucks, but I never saw anything about conflict between the cast. Granted I didn’t join until campaign 2, so did something happen to make them kick him out?

I'm going to link the iconic r/hobbydrama post because I think it's genuinely excellently written and a thorough rundown, and please note that I also started with Campaign 2 so this is mostly secondhand for me. The tl;dr is that the actor for Tiberius immediately began hogging the spotlight inappropriately, avoiding things that might put Tiberius at risk thus screwing over everyone else, cheating on dice to make his character seem cooler, and ultimately in the course of one episode dominated the conversation and tried to bypass a core aspect of Percy's arc and said something sexually inappropriate in-character regarding Vex, Laura's character. He left not long after. If you watch the early C1 episodes it's very much stated as him needing to leave for personal reasons (he was also I believe legitimately dealing with some health issues), but it became clear later he'd been asked to leave.

It later came out that the actor had been hostile a few times while on the show towards fans in inappropriate ways, was frequently hostile and abusive towards many people afterwards, and stole and scammed from his own crowdfunding and employees regarding a spinoff of Tiberius's adventures.

For a bit of background, the vibe when I started Campaign 2, at least while avoiding most of social media, was pretty neutral even though Matt had definitely said some stuff that indicated this had gone badly, and TVTropes (look, I was trying to avoid spoilers and at the time it had episode-by-episode updates) honestly seemed to have been written by fans of Tiberius and was pretty sympathetic towards him. If you're not experienced with D&D or are listening by podcast it is hard to tell how bad things were until episode 27 (his final one and the one where the conflict is really apparent), especially if you have no other baseline for the cast. Tiberius's heroic death that comes out in 1x64 was, I believe, arranged by Matt to be fairly respectful, and coupled with the cast's requests to respect everyone's privacy I think it just wasn't much of a point of discussion during C1, though I could be wrong. The crowdfunding scam news came out right when C2 was in its early episodes, and I think that's when the fandom started to become more aware.

Anyway if you watch early C1, I think it is worth it despite him (and honestly while the actor sucks the character was a good concept and would have had immense potential in the hands of someone who was an honest and generous D&D player, particularly if the fall of Draconia was pre-planned even before his departure), but as many other people have said, if you haven't seen episode 1x27 you do not know what the cast looks like when they're actually fucking angry at someone. Like even when they've been upset with each other it's been a "talk it out" situation, rather than that.

[aurumacadicus]

101 for the ask meme?

Steve hadn't really understood what Colonel Rhodes had meant by "Tiberius Stone ruins Tony's day simply by existing" until he finally attended a gala with Tony. Watching Tony's eyes go wide with surprise, his face go ashen, his plastic smile stretching his wan face automatically before the dismay even truly registered in Steve's mind, it left him feeling hollowed out.

It reminded him of the face his ma made when his da's footsteps in the stairwell were heavy with drink.

Steve clocked Tiberius immediately. He was tall, handsome. Blond and blue-eyed. It made Steve think about early in his relationship with Tony, and the fear on his face when Steve moved too fast or too sharply--made him think about the apologies and the excuses Tony had made when Steve had asked if he'd done something wrong. Tiberius's smile reminded Steve of Tony's when he was being asked a question he didn't particularly like at press conferences; like he was lying, and everyone knew it, but he'd done so in such a way that the person calling him on it would be an asshole to say so. Except somehow Tiberius's smile was worse, because he looked like he enjoyed making people uncomfortable.

Steve wasn't great at rich person stuff, but he was good at putting distance between people he didn't want to talk to, so he carted Tony around the gala three times to talk to different people before Tony noticed. Tony had given him a look of speculation, then surprise, then fondness, before he'd rolled his eyes and shaken his head with a disappointed sigh and said, "I have to talk to him, Steve."

"I'll go with you," Steve offered, but Tony just rolled his eyes again. "I want to go with you."

"Yeah, well, I don't want you to punch Tiberius in the teeth, and I know you want to," Tony replied, amused and annoyed at the same time somehow, and then shook Steve's hand off his arm so he could work his way around the gala alone.

Steve retreated to the bar, getting two large ginger ales with lemon, and tried not to break either of the glasses in frustration as he wondered if this was a Rich People Thing or a Tony Thing. At least he could understand Rich People Things. Tony Things usually just made him sad.

Tony sat down next to him a few minutes later, and Steve slid one of the glasses to him. He waited a beat, just watching Tony for a moment, but his face was impassive. He opened his mouth. "So, are you--"

"I'm okay, thank you," Tony cut in, sharp but quiet. "Just please, stop talking to me."

Steve tilted his head, considering. Tony didn't look okay. He looked... blank. Like a slate. But then, at a gala, where there were tons of photographers and gossip magazine writers, perhaps the conversation wasn't necessary. Not right now.

"I stepped on some lady's foot," Steve told the bartender. "The one wearing the teal shrug. How much trouble am I in?"

"The hostess?" the bartender asked, eyes nearly popping out of her head, and Tony choked on his ginger ale.

[baldwin2001]

WARNING. ENGLISH IS NOT MY FIRST LANGUAGE. SORRY FOR THE MISTAKES.

"Let go of me!"

"Silence, you shameless woman" said the gentleman without letting go of her arm while his other companion held her by the other arm.

"You will never silence me!" - she said with a hateful look. - "Let me go!"

Suri was being taken to King Baldwin IV after it was discovered that the red-haired Templar knight was actually a lady, and the other knights did not hesitate to take her to the king to have her head cut off, it was disrespectful for a woman to dress up as a man and fight with them.

"Your Majesty" - spoke a Templar in a loud voice.- "We bring you a shameless woman who has pretended to be a Templar knight."

"A woman?" asked the king.

"That's right, yes, your majesty."

The highest ranks of Jerusalem and the Knights Templar were together with King Baldwin IV, who was in the center of the place. They were meeting to discuss the assaults on the Muslim caravans near the city, which had been worrying everyone for a few weeks.

Upon arriving at the place both knights threw her to the ground, in front of the king, leaving her exotic red knight in sight.

Instantly Baldwin recognized her, he sighed stressed.

It was Suri, his beloved.

Despite the great love he had for her, he could not deny how reckless she could be.

"Lady Suri Sahar, the most stubborn and foolish woman I know" said Tiberius, noticing that this was the young red-haired girl he had known since she was a naughty little girl.

"Lord Tiberius, you know I am a great warrior, please. Let me stay with the Knights Templar and go fight against Saladin" begged the red-haired woman in front of the king's confidant.

"Arrogant woman!" The man who brought her was furious at her words, and was about to silence her with a blow, until the king himself spoke.

"Stop."

And the room fell silent, all looked to him; the leprous king. Wise and loyal before God and the people of Jerusalem, but damaged by leprosy since he was a child, that did not prevent him from being a great ruler.

"Lady Suri, you are permanently out of the Knights Templar" the monarch spoke firmly.

"But your majesty...!"

"Nothing!"- exclaimed Baldwin without a hint of kindness.- "Many of us in this room know of your skills with your back, they are magnificent. But to dress as a man and go to a showdown in Egypt is delicate."

"I am very sorry, your majesty. I will accept your punishment, even if this is banishment from Jerusalem or.... Death" Suri said trying to sound sure of her words, but at the end you could hear the fear in her voice.

Baldwin thought about it for a moment, she used to be rebellious and stubborn, he thought she was just going to apologize but banishment? Even...? Death? It was unthinkable, she would never do such a thing to her crimson flower.

"Tiberius, take her to my chambers, there I will tell her what her sentence will be."

Murmurs began to be heard throughout the room because of the king's words, but no one dared to raise his voice against the king, except for one.

"Your majesty, how can you say such a thing" -spoke Reinald of Chatillon with indignation- "She committed a grave act, she must be punished by death, the most faithful knights want her head."

"Silence!" -Baldwin rose from his throne, and spoke loudly.- "I am the king of Jerusalem, the highest authority. You nor any knight will choose your punishment or when, only I. Understood?"

"Yes, my king."

There was fear in his voice but also hatred, hatred of being humiliated again and again by a leper like him.

The meeting was adjourned. The monarch turned and left. Tiberios took Suri by the arm and they both followed the king. He looked angry because of his way of walking, quick and precise steps. He did not deign to look at her.

"My lord, I am sorry. I know I played with your trust..." a shout was heard in the corridor.

"You don't know anything" at last he looked at her, she was stunned.

She was stupefied.

He had never yelled at her. He always did silly things and sometimes made her hair stand on end from stress, and only got a few scoldings from her. He was always the serious and responsible part of the relationship, but this time it was different.

"Come" -he took her by the arm and led her to her room, without first giving Tiberios a glance- "No one is to enter."

"Yes, my lord."

He slammed the door shut, and began to walk around the room. Although I couldn't see his face, his blue eyes said it all, he was angry.

"Baldwin, I'm sorry" the redhead muttered.

Baldwin completely ignored her comment and walked over to her and grabbed her shoulders.

"Do you know what you just did? Do you even know?"

"I went to Egypt to fight like the warrior I am, I was very helpful." - The young woman spoke firmly before the king.

"You could have died, Suri" Baldwin said angrily.

"I know, my king."

"Are you aware of all the damage you would have caused me if that happened?" -he asked, sighed for a moment and then looked at her with concern. -. "When I saw you being brought by the knights like that I knew something was wrong."

"The last thing I want to do is to worry you" she commented sincerely.

On this occasion she was speaking the truth. Many times she liked to have fun with Baldwin, being a bit naughty. But this was not one of those, she had been of help in Egypt, because in addition to knowing how to handle the sword, she was good with medicine and first aid, managing to help many knights so that they did not go even with God.

The young monarch took her by the cheeks, staring at her through his mask, his blue eyes crystalline because of everything that had happened.

"I love you, Suri" - he whispered close to her lips - "I don't want to lose you."

"That's not going to happen, Baldwin. I swear" - she moved even closer to him, leaning her head on his chest, managing to listen to his heartbeat- "I love you too, how you have no idea."

"Promise you won't go to war."

"But Baldwin..." she blurted out, a little bit complaining about what her lover had said.

"Promise me" - she said almost in supplication.-"I just want you to be safe."

"I promise" she said resigned to his words.

"Thank you" she murmured close to his ear before giving him a soft kiss on his unruly hair.

[apples-and-heartbreak]

I feel like when I’m reading or watching something, for me to like a hero, they have to

1) have ambition about anything

2) not be annoying

3) not excuse their shitty behaviour with their shitty childhood

4) not be so self-righteous they don’t see their own flaws

For these reasons I hate with a burning passion Jace Herondale, Clary Fairchild, Eli Ever, Tiberius “Cal” Calore VIII, Dean Winchester, and Legend/Dante Santos

Jace is constantly doing something shitty in every book and people don’t care and they just put up with it for some reason. In CoG he belittles Clary because he wants to push her away but keeps coming back to her. He also keeps coming onto Clary when he thought she was his sister and said that cursed sentence in CoG that I need to bleach from my brain. I know if he said that shit to me I would’ve punched him in his stupid face cuz who does he think he is? He mocks the werewolves after they lost a child in their pack, he’s just awful to Alec at times, he doesn’t seem to understand there are consequences to his actions and just does shit because he wants to. He had the emotional maturity of a dried up pinecone.

Clary also does so much shit and people don’t call her out because she’s the protagonist and she just lets Jace do whatever to her because he’s hot. Girl please get a grip. She slut shames Izzy because apparently women aren’t allowed to have a sex life or wear revealing clothing 😒 girl you kissed someone you thought was YOUR BROTHER!! She dated Simon to get over Jace and then kissed Jace in the Seelie Court, and repeatedly thought about Jace in a romantic sense WHILE she thought they were SIBLINGS! I can’t.

Eli is so self-righteous, annoying and hypocritical. He uses God and religion as an excuse to kill innocent people which is just disgusting. Like I get that he thinks being an EO changed a person because Victor became different but he is an EO himself and he just takes it on himself to murder innocent people for simply existing.

Cal has no desire to do anything, at least up to the beginning of King’s Cage he doesn’t (where I currently am). He knows how poorly the Reds are being treated and he doesn’t want to change anything because (and I’m paraphrasing) there would be outrage among the Silvers and a war would break out. Bitch you are already at war! He’s the reason why so many innocent young Reds have lost their lives fighting in a war they have no say in. He sees the Scarlet Guard killing Silvers and he doesn’t try to stop them. He sulks and whines but doesn’t take any real action, which he could if he actually wanted to. He stalks around the camp like Mare’s dog and thinks he’s better than everyone.

Dean Winchester is an abusive asshole. He locked Sam in the cellar when he was addicted to demon blood when he knew the withdrawal could kill him. He shit on Sam for being manipulated. He’s made horrible perverted jokes about women, might I remind y’all of the high school episode (he was at least 26 at the time). He guilted Sam for leaving him in Hell and Purgatory when he did THE EXACT SAME THING when Same went to the cage. He threatened Kaia, a teenager at gun point for his own selfish purposes. He abused Jack til the very end, yelling that he wasn’t family when Jack had sacrificed his soul and life for the Winchesters, and made Jack hate himself for being born. He was shitty to Cas in so many seasons and didn’t care that Cas just went through seeing his son die and wasn’t able to save him. He violated Sam’s body by tricking him into letting Gadreel in which led to the death of Kevin and had the audacity to think he was wronged.

Dante is shit. Julian, his brother, lived with him for centuries, followed him wherever he went and loved him unconditionally. All Julian asked was for Dante to love him back, which he never did. When Julian finally found someone who loved him, Dante made fun of him. And then in the next book he gives up his immortality for Tella, a girl he has known for literal months at most. He didn’t love his brother, who has been with him since the beginning, enough to give up his immortality but he loved this random girl he has known for a couple months at most to give it all up?? Tella should’ve left him in the dust just like she did Jacks and went off on adventures by herself and met someone that wasn’t a twat.

[birbsmonsters]

IT’S HERE!

Thank you to everyone in the poll for encouraging me to do this >:)

It’s me, BirbMonster, here with an MSM OC askblog!

You can ask them pretty much anything, just be nice please!

I’ll add more of my OCs to this whenever I decide I’m willing to answer in character as them.

You can also ask ‘meta’ things that are directed to be about my OCs, rather than to the OCs themselves

Rules;

-Be nice (I’ll block you/delete your ask if I think you’re being purposely rude to my characters)

-Make it clear who you are talking to!

HERE ARE THE CHARACTERS:

Haven Trio

Three characters I often group together because of their stories all mainly taking place on the same island, and since they'd probably interact regularly.

Relationships:

-Ember and Scorch are dating.

-Tiberius is Scorch's adoptive grandfather/mentor

Team S.W.E.T.I

A trauma-ridden friend group, they travel dimensions together

(oh my god I need to redo Bulldozer his ref is shit)

Relationships:

-All are very close... a lot of them pretty much only have each other

-As the oldest (Everyone would be in their early 20s, expect Lucky who is in his 30s, and she's like 60) Emblem is motherly to the rest of the group

-Cherish and Harry are besties, as they were the first two to meet eachother

-Lucky isn't around much, but everyone still loves him just the same

-Bulldozer is overprotective of everyone else, feeling like they owe him for saving him from the Mirror Dimension. He's still getting used to having Ethereals see him as an equal.

[sforzesco]

i think you said in response to a previous ask that octavian and antony are a Worse version of the brutus and cassius gladiator-statesman dynamic, and that octavian and agrippa are a different thing that wasn't relevant at the moment. i was wondering if you meant that octavian and agrippa are a thing outside the gladiator statesman dynamic (and if so, any ideas on why that is?) or that they were a different version of that dynamic?

also, this is the same anon who asked about using some of your quotes in a presentation! it ended up going pretty well considering most people there weren't unwell about dead romans!

octavian and agrippa are thing outside of that dynamic! this is, ofc, a YMMV type of thing, this is very much getting into creative/thematic nonsense that I like to play with as someone who makes comics

but basically the cut off for the statesman-gladiator/politician-warrior dynamic is philippi. things get hazy leading up to philippi because julius caesar has already eroded a core element to rome's structure, which is that it's made HIM the focus point of politics. there is no longer room for horizontal alliances of power amongst men vying for prestige, there is only room for vertical loyalty (so like, a more extreme version of patronage and bossism politics) (and disloyalty! because you get stabbed if you make people unhappy!! you make your body one with the state and people will let you know what they think of you. and the state.)

Antony, Fulvia, and the Ghost of Clodius in 47 BC, Kathryn E Welch

so by the time octavian wins, standing on top of everyone else, the general power structure of rome has changed and it's not going back. it looks the same, and people are going 'nooooo it's still a republic, LOOKS like the republic!' while dragging around decayed corpse, but it's different.

Caligula, Aloys Winterling

octavian and agrippa are co regents, with octavian as the clear head of state and agrippa, who is borderline unwell in his devotion to octavian, and somehow it worked for them. like, for them specifically it balanced out into a partnership.

Ancestor Masks and Aristocratic Power in Roman Culture, Harriet I Flower

in theory, this kind of dynamic (with a domestic politician and a general to enact imperialist policy) would be the blue print that would continue down, and boy did they try. tiberius and sejanus. caligula and macro. good grief. the system of relationships and obligations that allowed this kind of dynamic to show up frequently in the republic falls apart here because power corrupts, baby, and with a state assuming a body, there's no way that power is going distribute itself. everyone is going to want to be that body. except agrippa, who was devoted to octavian, but you can't. replicate that kind of intimacy even if you want to.

so it LOOKS like a statesman-gladiator dynamic, but they're really just co regents in practice, but the actual framework is closer to a king and his knight. they are also. incest adjacent. ground zero for the incest circus that happens later? or maybe something else.

basically the logic for that is the way that octavian kept trying to get agrippa into the family tree to make agrippa his heir prompted this kind of. increasingly more insular behavior. AND THIS TOO

Ancestor Masks and Aristocratic Power in Roman Culture, Harriet I Flower

additionally, I think proximity to octavian-imperial rome dooms a lot of people. agrippa dies before octavian, tiberius' character goes on a definitive downward arc. brother-pairs as rulers, caligula's hellenistic tendencies and the incest allegations with his sisters, the twin-ification of pairs--

Tiberius and the Heavenly Twins, Edward Champlin

--agrippina and nero. Everything Nero Was Doing With Masks And Theater Sure Was Weird. there's a kind of house dynamic going on with imperial rome, but the whole thing is a mouth eating itself. rot. pater patriae. in a permanent state of digestion. etc/

that last one is a thought I'm work shopping, but basically to me all of this is a worse version of the statesman/gladiator dynamic because of the concentration of power.

[wolfmage553]

If Vox Machina were in Once Upon A Witchlight

With The Adventures of Vox Machina's season 3 happening and with Campaign 3 currently focusing on them, I wanted to see how OG Vox Machina (all eight original members & Trinket) would fare in Prismeer, the setting of Once Upon A Witchlight.

Tiberius' teleportation circle in the Kraghammer Arc was what brought the party to Prismeer.

Tiberius would get the most fey curses out of the members of Vox Machina due to trading away his luck for one of the objects he was searching for.

Every member of Vox Machina ships Kremy x Gideon.

Grog and Gideon have a friendly rivalry.

Vox Machina meet Hootsie in Prismeer instead of Hootsie meeting Sir Talavar. Once Hootsie was reunited with Gricko, she's torn between the adoptive dad she was taken from and the party that became her family in Prismeer. This causes a bit of angst since Vox Machina don't wanna take her back with them to Exandria but they cannot stay in Prismeer as they have duties and responsibilities (Tiberius especially) back home so they know saying goodbye to Hootsie is inevitable.

Scanlan has joked more than a few times about Kremy being a relative of The Stormwind Family due to he and Tiberius looking similar. Tiberius has had to hold Kremy back from feeding Scanlan to shadows more than once because of the teasing.

Baron Samedi (Kremy's patron and the loa of death) has offered a pact of becoming their patron to the members of Vox Machina who don't have Gods or Patrons they serve (which is everyone but Pike and Percival at this point) and all of them refused for different reasons with one secret exception: Vax made a deal that if Baron Samedi saved Vex when she would most likely die then Vax would serve him for the rest of eternity. Baron Samedi is planning on keeping his end of the bargain. Only Kremy knows of the deal Vax made with Baron Samedi.

Tiberius likes and hates Frost for the same reason: Frost reminds Tiberius of his brother, Faeryn. Traveling with someone who reminds him of his brother both is a nice surprise but also makes him homesick.

Scanlan has an even more fierce rivalry with Kremy than he did with Tiberius.

Kima was unpetrified but lost all memories as a result of the unpetrification being preformed by pixies.

Torbek was actually the first member, unless you count Hootsie, of the Witchlight party Vox Machina met. While Torbek did scare a few of them, they realized he wasn't a treat and helped him reunite with the rest of his party.

Percival has had more than one instance of running off and taking in the technology of Prismeer's residents to the point Vex has joked that Percival needs a leash more than Trinket.

Every NPC the group meets thinks that Trinket is a circus bear. Nobody corrects them on that assumption.

Tiberius witnessed the infamous moment of Frost and Gricko having a spicy moment behind a palm tree and couldn't look the pair in the eyes for the next couple of days. When asked by the rest of Vox Machina he simply said "Ask Kremy."

(That's all for now. I might have more later)

[theromaboo]

@just-late-roman-republic-things seems to be plowing through Suetonius Augustus and I am here for it!

Your mention of the dinosaur bones that Augustus used as home decoration reminds me of a story about Tiberius! (I swear, everything recently has been reminding me about Tiberius!)

By the way, finding the ancient source for this story was shit! I remembered reading this like a year ago, and I had forgotten which ancient source this was from. Using my critical thinking skills ("hmmm tiberius hmmmm dinosaur"), I assumed that this story came from Pliny's Natural History.

It did not.

I was searching through the Natural History for so long that I was starting to wonder if I had made the story up!

After searching through the Natural History for ages, I finally used more critical thinking skill and was like "Hmmm. Maybe if I google this, I could find an article about the event and maybe possibly it would cite a specific part of the Natural History!"

I googled it, found an article about the event, and it cited Phlegon's Book of Marvels.

Whoopsie! I was looking through the wrong book this whole time! In my defense, Pliny and Phlegon actually are pretty similar names if you squint sooo...

(it was however worth it to look through the Natural History because I found the funniest story about Tiberius ever but that's a story for another day)

Now that I have the ancient source of this story, I can finally tell it!

Basically, there was an earthquake which opened up all sorts of cracks on the ground. And in those cracks, there were dinosaur bones!

The people were pretty spooked so they took a tooth and sent it to Rome. And this was a massive tooth.

The tooth was showed to Tiberius and he was asked if he wanted the rest of the bones. He was like "Well, I'm really curious about this thing, and I'm aching to get an idea of what size it was, but it feels like graverobbing to take the rest of the bones."

So Tiberius got some dude called Pulcher who was skilled in geometry. Tiberius asked him to make a face in proportion to the tooth. The dude estimated the size of the creature using its tooth as a reference and then showed Tiberius a construction of it he had made. Tiberius said that looking at the construction was good enough and sent the tooth back where it came from.

Tiberius and (especially) Pulcher, the world's first paleontologists!

I love this story. It's wild. Though I do wonder what happened to the construction. Did Tiberius keep it?

If Tiberius randomly showed up at my door one day, I'd bring him to Drumheller to go to the Royal Tyrrell Museum. Alberta is one of the most boring places in the world but we do have a banging dinosaur museum!

On the hours-long drive there, I will most certainly give him like a billion questions, though. "How was Caligula like? How was Augustus like? How were you like? How was Livia like? How was Sejanus like? Actually, scratch this. Name every single person you know and tell me how they were like and how they looked like. What did you do in Capri? Explain your entire life from beginning to end, giving extra attention to the personal parts! I don't want to hear about wars I want to hear about what people were like! Could you read Suetonius to me and point out parts where he's wrong? Could we watch Domina together and you can tell me if you like your characterization or not?"

For everyone's sake, it's good that dead Roman emperors usually don't randomly show up sometimes (not counting whatever the fuck was happening right after Nero died!)

If you want to read the Tiberius Tooth sTory (haha Triple T) for yourself, you can here. Look for §13.

[echidna-enquiries]

✨ @tired-old-men Continuation of this response ✨

When Fae finally heard the chaos in the meeting room die down, she finally felt able to check in on the Guardian family again. She just hoped thzt tearing out the drawing from her book did something…

“Umm-Guys? Is everything okay?”, she asked as she opened the door and peaked inside, trying her best to act calm… it wasn’t working that well.

Shepherd who was… frankly wearing nothing but his torn pants, turned to his assistant quickly, “Fae! Erhm…”, he stopped when he realised how little he’s wearing now, the rest of his clothes being shredded on the ground, “Well…this is embarrassing…”.

The hybrid girl quickly averted her eyes, she was NOT a comfortable seeing her boss almost naked, “UMM- what-what happened with you guys? I heard screaming and stuff and… yeah”.

The Head Guardian shifted in place, showing his uncertainty, “Truthfully I… I’m not sure what happened. We were starting out meeting and these… things, they were made of… some kind of energy? They came into the room and then they did something to some of us…”.

Fae looked around the room to the others. Some of the guardians were talking quietly to themselves, clearly unsure and disturbed by what just happened. And if she hadn’t known already, she could’ve guessed easily who was the most affected.

She could see Hadar on the floor on the other side of the room, the poor guy was having a pain attack. Shaking like a leaf and hyperventilating while Rhett and Marcello were tending to him. Talking to hi. Quietly and holding onto him, it didn’t stop his crying and spastic breathing. She could hear him talking under his breath, or at least barely speaking.

“Sp-spsps-spa-spi-de-ders. I-I-I-I don’t- I don’t”.

“We know pops, we know….its okay now, it’s okay”, Rhett talked lowly, his arms wrapped around him.

Seth was helped up off the floor just now, with Tiberius and Sorrel at his side, his make-up running down his face and his legs wobbly.

“Shit… This makeup took me ages to put on… and new my leggings…”, Seth sniffled, wiping at his face desperately to get rid of the smudged make-up.

“Dad you’re just-your smudging it. Here”, Sorrle quickly began going around his pockets, until he found a small packet of wet-wipes and started cleaning up his father’s face.

“C’mon, you should sit down”, Tiberius began leading Seth to a chair, at least one that wasn’t toppled over, “I’ll get your boots, they’re just under the table. Good that they fell off when you went.. snake?”.

Seth winced in discomfort as he said that.

Salem was frozen in place, minus his body shaking. The back of his shirt was shredded open from the sudden growth of wings coming out of his back. Lance awkwardly stood at his side, while Journey was stroking his shoulder.

“Salem, honey you okay? Salie?”, but even then her grandson was unresponsive.

Lance continued to shift uncomfortably in his spot, “I…I’ll go get him some tea. Maybe that’ll calm him down”.

“Yeah, go and do that Lancey…”, Journey agreed while she kept stroking Salems arms, he didn’t even respond when Lance suddenly teleported out of the room. The flash of green managing to spook some of the Guardians. That wasn’t a good sign…

Even the ones who weren’t directly affected were still off put by it all, the vibes in the room were so heavy. Fae could practically feel everyone’s stress rubbing off on her. It just added to her guilt… she felt sick.

“Do you…”, Fae swallowed her nervousness, “Do you guys know what like… did the whole… magic, energy… stuff?”.

Many of the others turned to Morgan, including Shepherd himself. Unfortunately, she could only sigh and shake her head.

“I’m sorry guys I… I don’t know what that energy was. I’ve never sensed anything like it before. It’s not chaos energy, I don’t know what it was… I’m just glad we don’t have to undo it. I was worried about how I was going to do that… if we even could”.

A scowl went over Shepherds face “Whatever this was, it had to have been some kind of attack on us. A failed one but an attempt nonetheless. We might have to be on the look out for another enemy if this happens again…”.

Morgan crossed her arms, her expression turning serious “I’ll be sure to try and pick up any sense of this energy if it happens again and banish it”.

Fae felt her nervousness worsen, it wasn’t just Shepherd and Morgan’s ominous talking. But the idea that they thought this was an attack on them… If this for sure was her doing, would they feel that way? Would they think she was… bad?

She felt herself about to go into a mental wormhole but Shepherd calling her name snapped her out of it. She did glance over at him but looked away again, once again, almost naked.

“Fae, since the meeting got… interrupted, thus might take a lot longer than expected . Why don’t you go back to whatever you were doing, or in fact, take the morning off. I’ll just send you a message when I’m ready to assign your work. Okay?”.

“…Okay…I’ll uh-… Bye”, Fae quickly left the room…

While he was not good at picking up other people’s feelings, he still could tell something was bothering his assistant. Instinctively he wanted to go after her, but what could he do? He wasn’t good at this stuff, and while they have gotten friendlier. It still didn’t feel like it was his place to comfort his assistant… right?

“Morgan?”, Shepherd spoke up, “Could you maybe… go after her, check if she’s okay? I don’t know how much of that she saw… “.

“Sure, gramps… maybe you should go get changed… it’s weird seeing you all naked”, she awkwardly chuckled, “Seriously though, go get changed, like right now”.

“Um…right”, Shepherds embarrassment was reignited. He quickly turned to the group, “Everyone uh… let’s just take a moment to-… calm down. I’ll be back”, like Lance, he quickly flashed out of the room. Wanting to be out of there as quickly as possible, he didn’t particular want to run around the base with only his torn pants being his only clothes.

With the family trying to calm themselves down after this failed attempt at a meeting, Morgan took this moment to look for Fae.

“Hey Fae!… huh…”.

She was surprised to not see the assistant in the nearby halls… but she did see something.

A crumpled up piece of paper on the floor, that wasn’t there before. Did one of her sloppy grand-nephews do that? Time to snoop and see who’s the culprit… and it was just an excuse to see which was tyring to hide something and failed miserably.

Using her chaos energy, she brought the paper to her, opening it from the ball… what she saw on the page though… it took her by surprise. So much that she just stood there, looking over the piece of paper.

It didn’t take Shepherd too long to return, deciding to walk back to the meeting room briskly… he was confused to find Morgan stood in the middle of the hallway.

“Morgan? What’s wrong?” he asked, approaching her.

“…Shepherd…”, Morgan started, not looking up from the page, “Remember when you were talking about how Fae might not be as normal as she thinks?”.

“What of it?”, he walked faster, quickly coming up to her.

“Well, if this is her drawing… then this definitely not normal”.

Shepherd looked over her shoulder… and his eyes widened in surprised to what was in her hands.

By now, he knew his assistants art style, this was definitely hers. This drawings… they were the exact image of what he and the other three on the page turned into… she must’ve done this. Somehow. It was far too strange to be just a coincidence. But her reaction, there was no pride or fake concern or anything malicious about her reaction. It seemed genuine, just as confused and scared as they were.

Their talk of an enemies attack likely didn’t make her feel better either… he was regretting that now.

“Thinking back… to that incident I spoke about with Fae and the Master Emerald. The strange energy that came from her… it was similar to what we saw just before…”.

Morgan sighed, “So what are we gonna do? She must have some kind of power that she’s unaware of. It’s definitely not chaos energy, so I don’t know what we can do”.

Shepherd stared down at the page intensely as he thought this situation over, if this even was a situation…

“I think… we’re going to have to be cautious about this. This unknown territory, but I don’t think she’s meaning to do whatever it is she’s doing… Whatever we do, I want us to try and be gentle about this, especially if we plan on talking to her about this. Fae is sensitive, I… I don’t want to hurt her”.

The two stared at the page some more in ominous silence, thinking over what they could about this.

Morgan eventually broke the silence, “I gotta say, she’s good at drawing though”.

Shepherd nodded folding the piece of paper and putting it away, “Yes, she shows her pieces sometimes. She’s very good”.

✨ End ✨

[essayofthoughts]

canonically, is percy the type of person that’s too embarrassed/stuffy to say “i love you” or show pda to vex in public?

You seem to be asking for a straightforward ruling and sadly, I cannot give you one because you're assuming the factors in play and assuming, so far as I can tell, wrongly.

Percy is a very private person. He's hesitant to show affection to anyone, even Keyleth - his best friend and one of the only people he reliably accepts hugs from in the whole group. Even Vex's kisses to his cheek make him blushy and stuttery before they get together, but it's not really about him being embarrassed or stuffy - it's upbringing and trauma.

The man was tortured, remember. He has every reason to be incredibly iffy about touch, especially non-consensual touch, from relative strangers and people he doesn't like or trust.

Additionally, Percy has said before "We didn't touch in my family," and Taliesin has elaborated that he was kind of riffing on a British/Prussian idea of stoicism and not showing affection much even within family. Percy isn't really that opposed to physical affection, he's just more used to verbal expression of affection and gift-giving, and was probably taught that needing physical affection was childish - everyone else's liking for it (aside, notably, from Vex) probably contributed to his feeling like the only adult in the room.

He rarely initiates hugs - usually only when he's drunk or highly emotional or both and usually with Keyleth - and rarely initiates physical affection at all - other exceptions being things like the kiss with Vex - and has been known to recoil from physical affection with certain people - Tiberius after the Slayer's Take; one can point out Percy was recovering from injuries, but he did also accept Keyleth hugs then despite that. We also know that when in a bad mood with someone - Keyleth, after he got blinded because of her - he can be more standoffish, because Percy is a prickly bastard sometimes, especially when he feels hurt or betrayed.

I mean, why wouldn't he? The most significant time he was hurt and betrayed, his personal tutor betrayed his whole family and he was tortured. What started out as probably a mild teenage defensiveness has been drastically amplified by severe trauma.

Further, Percy has his own self-worth issues; combined with his upbringing he is very unlikely to impose his desires on others especially where they relate to affection. It gets easier the longer and better he knows someone - hence his increased ease hugging Keyleth over the course of the campaign, and how he's perfectly comfortable going arm in arm with Vex at several points.

And tying back to what I said earlier - Percy is fine with verbal expressions of affection; it's actually the thing he's most comfortable with - and even sometimes tips his hand with, because he can be so verbally expressive. Who here remembers "Never forget you're my favourite and I'm so sorry"? Verbal affection is far and away what Percy is most comfortable with, closely followed by gift-giving. His awkwardness around physical affection isn't stuffiness or embarrassment - it's his upbringing and his trauma. He gets more affectionate as it goes on and while his sense of privacy means he clearly has some ideas of what is and isn't appropriate - "This is a deeply inappropriate convincing mena-mechanism and it is working" when Vex is holding his face in front of everyone to convince him to come with her to Elysium - he also has no compunctions being sickeningly cute with her verbally and kissing her in public - remember the debate over who gets death ward? And the fact that, when told to "Just kiss already" both Laura and Taliesin just went "we do"?

So, TL;DR: It's not embarrassment or stuffiness that makes Percy hesitant with physical affection, it's his upbringing and trauma, and over time, he gets increasingly at ease with it when it's people he likes and trusts. Verbal affection, meanwhile, is absolutely one of his most preferred ways to express affection, and he is absolutely unstinting in it.

He's never going to be unable to say "I love you" to Vex in public - when fighting Thordak he goes out of his way to reassure Vex that of all the things he regrets, being with her and showing his love for her is not one of those things. Percy is deeply considerate of his loved ones (if not always the most reliable about it with others and people he's drifted from, see: Cassandra) and, knowing her self-worth issues, he is never going to let Vex doubt he loves her. He may have compunctions about certain forms of publicly shown affection, due to his upbringing and the etiquette he was raised with and his sense of privacy, but he also knows how easily some of that could, for Vex, butt up against her feeling unwanted or like something to be ashamed of and hidden, and he will never ever contribute to those feelings. Percy loves Vex, is aware of her self-worth issues and the trauma she gained from Syngorn, and will do everything in his power to reassure her and help her feel loved. Even if that means he feels uncomfortable - before Umbrasyl, the soot facepaint, Percy refusing until Vex draws a line down his face and his only response is "I feel violated but thank you".

Percy has his hangups, but he will always end up doing all he can to set those aside if he thinks they'll hurt Vex. He loves her and the last thing he wants to do is hurt her.

[fairyhagmother]

okay i know i’ve been annoying in your ask box a lot recently but i can’t stop thinking about livia and i throughly enjoy anytime you speak about her. so please, spare some livia cardew thoughts?

Oh please you could never annoy me <33

Under a cut due to lengthy and unhinged yapping and potentially triggering content (tagged)

Talking about Livia on here has really helped me refine her character — she has changed so much since I started thinking abt her, from outright villain to simply being misunderstood to outright villain again. Now she kind of sits in the middle. there is a dark streak to her, for sure, but she does also have some redeeming qualities.

I’ve always been under the impression that she was raised by her mother after the war so I’ve kind of run with that. Her father was a legal scholar who died during the war (still unsure how) and Livia misses him horribly. Livia’s mother buried herself in her work so Livia has pretty much raised herself (and has done a. not so great job at times). She’s been enrolled in ballet since her earliest childhood, and is actually an extremely talented dancer who has a knack for pushing through and past physical pain and could have been a professional, but her mother’s always said that it would have been a waste of her intelligence (🤨). She has a long-standing rivalry with Palmyra Monty that once resulted in um. fisticuffs. shall we say. Unfortunately for all, Livia has pretty poor emotional regulation skills and will get so angry, and so outraged, that she will lash out, usually after a period of lengthy seething. She figures out early on that sometimes causing other people pain brings her pleasure, especially if she believes that her fury is somehow justified (however skewed that justification may be).

She’s gay but doesn’t really know it.

She marries one of Arachne’s older brothers. Again I go back and forth with what happens to poor Tiberius Crane. He dies, that for sure. As you know I’ve sorta been playing around with Livia being Snow’s second wife, but the idea that he may have married Iphigenia Moss is so deeply horrific to me that I almost push back against it. I think that he takes so much from her that it exacerbates her mental health issues and that that is what kills her, and I find that extremely troubling.

Anyways sometimes I think she ends up marrying Snow because she loves power. Sometimes it’s because she’s on a revenge crusade for Iphie (which everyone thinks is really strange because Iphie and Livia weren’t even that close). Sometimes it’s because she genuinely thinks she may be happy with him (BUZZER. WRONG.)

Coriolanus and Livia are incredibly poorly suited to each other. It is fascinating. They seem so repulsed by each other that everyone is genuinely shocked when they have children together. like it’s a joke in the friend group where they will just look at each other in absolute disbelief and shock like when and how the fuck did THAT happen. It did and it was terrible. That Livia has constant affairs is the Capitol’s worst kept secret but somehow coriolanus is just like “my wife’s lesbianism is the only thing I respect about her.” I’m joking. Or am I. Idk it’s hard for me to reconcile snows obsession with control and his image with his rather unruly wife’s behaviour. I’m choosing to see it like how in medieval literature everyone knows king arthur’s wife is having an affair but no one says anything out of fear of disrupting the status quo. now I bet u didn’t think I’d manage to work king arthur into this but there you have it.

Livia hates her husband and fantasises about killing him constantly. She stumbles across the John collier clytemnestra painting while she’s at a reception at the Ravinstills and is deeply compelled like. Maybe she could axe coriolanus while he’s in the bath? Wouldn’t that be fun and empowering?

In some worlds she escapes her husband and drives off into the sunset after mobilising a network of women who hate coriolanus (there’s a lot). sometimes she realises that he will kill her so kills herself just to spite him and disrupt his career. She’s pretty unhinged by this point. I think she dotes on her children, particularly her youngest daughter, so I’m trying to wrap my head around a context in which it would make sense for her to leave her children behind? Maybe she thinks they will be safer with her gone but coriolanus not in power than they would be if she were around but coriolanus was in power? Idk idk initially this entire thing started bc I thought It would be funey if Livia gone girled herself but now I kinda can’t make it work lol

[charleecat-bat]

"So, what's the scariest thing that's ever happened to you? What happened?"

Tiberius' Story- Summer Camp Sighting

Okay. I haven’t really spoken about this to anyone but, what’s a better time to finally get it off my chest better than now, right? 

I just hope no one gives me shit for this story. I’m not trying to fake nothin' for attention or exaggerate and all that bullshit. This happened. 

I was around like... 9? 10 years old? I wasn’t TOO young, but not a tween yet, pre-pubescent. Anyway. My parents had decided to sign me up for Summer Camp. I wasn’t sure if I was gonna be into the whole thing, but my gramps had signed my dad up as a kid, and while he hated it at first, he wound up loving it and going back to it for years. So I guess my old man hoped the same would happen for me. 

If only it turned out that way...

I’m embarrassed to say, but… I wasn’t as popular as I wished I was as a kid. I was picked on a lot for a lot of bullshit reasons. Especially to do with stuff I couldn’t help, like my fur colour or how small I was. I hated it. I was a huge target for a lot of the big kids. And for those asking ‘What about the counsellors?’ Well, you know those typical teenager-20-year-old counsellors in horror movies? That were less focused on the kids and more on smoking, drinking and putting their tongues down each other's throats? Yeah, those were the type of counsellors I had, and the few decent ones- well, just didn’t really do much to help me. 

What made it worse was that despite this, I was so desperate to seem cool to most of the kids. I did a lot of shit that wound up just making me look stupid or getting me hurt. Kids can be fucking cruel.

Anyway, not important.

It was evening time and just about everyone was sat around a giant bonfire, just doing their own thing. Honestly, due to how most of the counsellors were focused on themselves, I'm shocked that I don’t remember a lot of the kids sneaking off. Maybe they did. Wouldn't surprise me. I don’t remember quite what happened at this point, but a bunch of the little shit ‘cool kids’ that I wanted to be friends with so had just finished doing another hazing ritual to me. I even don’t remember what it was, but I do know it was embarrassing and upsetting enough to make me come up with some excuse to leave.

(imagine illustrated by @btm-txt)

I remember announcing that I was gonna ditch this place and go into the woods alone, and as a plus for me at the time, a lot of the kids thought that was ballsy since it was getting dark and not really recommended for any of us to be out there after dark. Didn't stop me, though, and probably didn't stop other kids doing it either. I didn’t care, though. I just wanted to go somewhere to cry alone without being picked on anymore. As pathetic as it sounds, this wasn’t the first time I came to the woods to cry. In fact, I was caught doing it once, but that just made me go deeper into the woods to avoid getting seen by the other kids. 

I was trying really hard to like it there, but I didn’t. I hated it. I hated it SO much. I wanted to go home so bad. So, out of my embarrassment and homesickness, I just started to bawl my eyes out.  I must’ve sat there crying for a good 10 minutes maybe, until a sound made me go quiet.

SNAP

The break of a stick.

I immediately sat there in dead silence as I quietly began looking around. Now, my first thought would’ve been it was more kids that found me, but you know as much as I do, kids aren’t that sneaky. You’d be hearing giggling and a lot of movement. Hell, a lot of kids I knew at that camp would’ve just barged through to laugh at me, not hide from me. And if it were a counsellor, they’d immediately be approaching me, not hiding either. So… the idea that someone was trying to sneak up on me was already really fucking creepy. 

I didn’t see anything for a bit, no matter where i looked there was just nothing around me except more woods.

Until I turned my head towards another crack of a branch. This time it was closer and louder. I quickly turned, and I saw this... figure. This tall, lingering figure; just standing between the trees in the darkness. it was hunched over, and its arms were long and dangly. It just… wasn’t normal. The one thing I could see clearly were its eyes. At least I think they were. These small white glowing orbs just staring at me. 

(Illustrated by @btm-txt)

You know those times when you’re so scared you just can’t move? That’s what happened. I wanted to scream, I wanted to run but I just couldn’t. I was frozen I just stared at…whatever this fucking thing was. 

I don’t know how long i was locked in a staring match with the thing for. But eventually, it just vanished from my sight. I don’t know where the hell it went, but as soon as it left. I booked it. 

I just ran in a random direction into the woods, which looking back now, was a dumbass move; I dunno why I didn’t go back to the camp, but I guess I just wasn’t thinking. I was just a scared kid who wanted to get away from whatever I saw. After running out of breath and hiding under a fallen tree, I just curled up, trying to catch my breath and calm down. That wasn’t easy, considering I was JUST crying, holding my breath in fear and THEN ran for it. So I may as well have sounded like an asthmatic. Eventually, my breathing calmed down, but I just stayed in that spot. I was too scared to move as you could expect. The woods were eerily quiet except for a few of the typical noises but that didn’t make me feel better. The coldness began to get to me, too, so now I was shaking both out of fear and the cold. 

(Illustrated by @starlitskvader)

“Tiberius?”. I heard someone call my name, I looked up and around but still didn’t see anyone. “Tiberius? Where are you?”. I heard it again; this time the voice was clearer… it was my dad's. My dad’s voice. I had no idea how it was possible but my kid brain didn’t care. I was happy, and I crawled out of my hiding place immediately. I started calling out for him. “Dad?! Dad?! Where are you?” “Come here, Tiberius. I can’t find you”, the voice spoke out again in a weirdly calm tone. If I wasn’t in such a stressful situation, I maybe would’ve picked up on the strange way my dad was talking, but like I said, I didn’t care at the time. I was just relieved that my dad was here and thinking I was gonna finally get out of there and go home. I started going through the woods, following the voice that sounded like my dad but my excitement started slowing down and it started to hit me. The more closer I got to the voice, the more I realised it sounded... off. The strange calmness was still not a warning sign for me, but what was is that the voice just sounded so… shaky? Fake? It sounded like my dad but something about it just didn’t FEEL like it was from him. More like someone trying to do an impression of him, but how was that possible? He was back on the island, ages away from here. No one here would possibly know what he sounded like except for maybe one or two counsellors but that was way too much of a longshot. Why would some counsellor be doing an impression anyway, it made no sense...

I soon stopped when I saw a figure again, the dark outline approached slowly and as it got closer it started to look like my dad. I smiled but… something felt wrong, really wrong. Something in my gut was screaming at me that I needed to run, but I didn’t know why. It was my dad; it had to be, I thought. The figure of my dad stopped, I could see some of the details, the salmon pink fur, the long curled spines, even the clothes, the hiking boots, and all the gear he wears on him. It had to be him, It was uncanny!

But something still felt wrong... “Hello, son. Come here, let's go home”, it stretched it's arms out. My smile vanished… now that I was right there, I really picked up how weird his voice was… something was really wrong with it. ‘Till this day i still can’t pick up on how it was exactly. You just kinda had to be there to know. You could just tell it wasn’t right, and listening to it made you feel like something was crawling up your spine. I didn’t move. “Tiberius? What’s wrong?” it spoke, taking a step forward. I started to notice this-this thing. Its arms were way too long for the body, and 'my dad's hair was starting to move, almost like tentacles or some shit... I couldn't understand what I was seeing.

(Illustrated by @starlitskvader) Stupidly, I spoke up out of nervousness. “W-...who are you?”. “It’s me, son. Come here, give me a hug”. The long arms stretched out even further and closer to me and the figure took a few steps forward, coming completely out of the darkness of the trees showing its face… it was not my father. That face. I don’t know if I could begin to describe it. The smile was huge and unnatural, going all the way to the cheeks, full of uneven teeth that made me think of a fucked-up shark. Rows upon rows of these janked up teeth. The eyes were open wider than I thought possible, the pupils tiny and barely visible. Staring into my fucking soul. And to this day the gaze of this thing, pretending to be my father, has haunted me.

“Come here, son. Come to me”, it spoke as it started approaching me. The voice fell apart and sounded more unnatural. It started moving with a strange twitch and making these strange sounds. After being frozen in utter fear this entire time, my legs finally moved, and I booked it. Just running back as fast as my little legs could take me. The entire time, I could hear a slurry of noises. The best I can describe them was like a bunch of demonic feral sounds, along with fast, savage movement coming after me from behind. I knew it was chasing me; whatever this thing was, it wanted me. I had no idea what it wanted to do with me, but I knew it’d probably result in me being fucking dead. 

I only looked behind me once… and the image of this thing, still trying to appear like my father, running around like a fucking animal. Running on all four of its distorted limbs and it's fucked up face looking up at me. It was at this point I started screaming my lungs out in terror; I didn’t even care if I was crying anymore. That was the least of my worries.

When I finally got out of the woods, I scrambled my way to whatever was closest, which was the stairs to a cabin, I think. I don’t remember how many people approached me at first, but i remember hearing a lot of voices, and eventually, a bunch of counsellors came running over, trying to calm me down. I was screaming, crying and thrashing around for ages. Not even the little shit kids were laughing; everyone was wondering what the fuck was wrong with me.  It took me ages to finally calm down enough, but even then, I just couldn’t explain. I tried to, but it came out as nonsense. I was a scared kid who saw something that was worse than any horror movie I’d heard of at the time. 

Eventually, the adults kinda gave up on trying to get an explanation from me after they kept asking me to ‘stop lying’ or to ‘make some sense’, but I wasn’t. They just assumed I'd get over it after that night or so and I'd be fine.

I was the furthest from it. That night I didn’t get a wink of sleep. I laid awake, shaking and hiding underneath the covers. I don’t remember speaking much, if at all, after that. I just shut down. I didn't do any of the activities. I barely ate. I was practically a shell of a person. I didn’t know how to process what the fuck I just saw.

(Illustrated by @btm-txt) After a few days. Yes. I know. DAYS. My family was finally called, and the counsellors told me my dad was coming to get me ASAP. I couldn’t even be happy about it. I think at that point they just made sure to have a counsellor with me at all times. Dunno what for exactly, since I wasn’t really doing anything and it's not like them being around made any difference to begin with. I guess I just made them super fucking worried.  When my dad got here, with my mom and grandpa, they all rushed towards me. My dad quickly hugged me and picked me up, but I don’t even remember reacting much other than curling up a little into him. Meanwhile, my mom and grandpa went from fussing over me to yelling at the counsellors at the blink of an eye. They were furious. I don't remember what went on with that conversation but I could only imagine what went on.

(illustrated by @btm-txt)

I didn’t hear much else about what they talked about, as my dad just put me in the car with my things already packed. He sat in the back with me on the drive home, just holding me as I laid my head against him. When we got home. My family, mostly my grandpa, wound up suing that summer camp over what happened to me and not helping me much at all during the whole time and not even seeing me go into the woods at all. The camp wound up being charged with gross negligence and closed down not long after. I don’t even think I said anything on the drive home or when I got home. I don’t remember when I started talking again, but I didn’t talk about this that’s for sure. It was hard though, I had nightmares and apparently night terrors for weeks, I’d apparently wake up screaming and when my parents would come to comfort me, I’d fall back asleep and not remember the next morning.  Speaking of no memory, I actually didn’t remember this for a long time. I guess I tried so hard to forget most of this nightmare that I eventually did. Well, most of it. I still remembered two things. One. I always unconsciously remembered something bad happening to me in the woods, so it made me permanently uncomfortable with the idea of going into any woods, forests or any of that shit. To the point I was even terrified of letting my daughter go camping with my dad. I couldn’t even give an explanation as to why I just said I didn’t like it but I didn't stop them. I just made it painfully I didn't like it. I'm not surprised if my Dad was a little disappointed at how much I grew to hate the forest. I know he loves the outdoors and camping, and I knew he was really sad he couldn't share that with me I could see it with my daughter too, how she'd beg me to take her camping to let her try it and I just refused At least they had each other. I always felt bad that I was so against any sort of activity to do with the woods without even having a proper reason for them…until now at least. They never held it against me though, and I'm grateful for that.

And two, even after all of that… I had never forgotten that face. I think after a few years, I thought it was some messed up dream, but it’s imprinted itself into my brain. That horrible fucking face. 

Now that this is fresh in my memory, I actually decided to look up stuff on the area of that camp and that forest… and it turns out. Some weird shit has happened in those woods at night. A lot of people have had stories Stemming from being stalked by an unseen pursuer, being chased by a weird animal, or even like me, having some… thing… look like someone they know approach them and talk to them. After doing more research, a few people think that it’s not a paranormal occurrence or some weird spirit or demon doing this. Instead, these people believe it’s a shapeshifting creature; it goes by many names, but it all means the same. It takes the form of animals and people in order to lure people toward it so it can kill and eat them and or then take their place as their doppelganger.

I don’t believe that entirely, but… I know for sure now that something definitely happened to me in those woods. It wasn’t just a nightmare or a fucked up scenario I imagined. It was real. I honestly don’t know what scenario is worse, if it actually was a dangerous person after me that went way too far, if it was something paranormal or… if there really was a creature in there. Something dangerous. Sometimes, I wonder if… despite all of these years, it’s still there. In the woods. Waiting to lure another person… Not like I’m ever gonna find out for myself, though. I am never EVER going back there. Never. 

If you read this far. Thank you and HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!!