#horror looks like he has a second eye but dont be fooled i just didnt shade that in

[triglycercule]

yada yada happy halloween to these FREAKS (and you guys :3 and myself i gusss :3) doodle from art class that i GUESS could be considered halloween...... idk ok idk ok something was up with me when i drew this

[kyyuri]

silent cries || kim seungmin

a series: reasons why skz broke the relationship off

lower caps intended ! taglist open for this series ! permanent taglist open as well !

word count : 764

warnings: might contain profanities

genre : angst

a/n: ik ive been mia for a while ,, ive been really stressed due to exams but i really wanted to give yall some content so here is my attempt to revive this series that has been put on hold for a really long time. i hope u enjoy it !

when he chooses your bestfriend over you

[series masterlist ] [masterlist]

you played with the hemline of you skirt. it was SO awkward. this was supposed to be a picnic planned for you and seungmin only, but somehow he insisted for your bestfriend, yena to come as well. why ? you had no clue either. “here babe.” he said as he passed you a strawberry shortcake, not forgetting to hand one to yena too. you gave him a weak smile as you placed the plate on the ground, opting to take a sip from the coffee he had ordered. it tasted bitter.

“ so yena, how’s your progress on mr kim’s project ?” seungmin asked, taking a bite into the cake. “the same, nothing. i swear to god mr kim can kiss my ass. he made the work so hard, ugh ! “ seungmin chuckled at her reaction. all you could do was sit in silence. it didnt help much that you didnt arent in mr kim’s class. “you know, if you really needed help, we could do it together right ?” yena’s face brightened up immediately as she forced a smile with her mouth full of cake “really ?! youre such a god sent seung ! i literally love you so much-“ the words had slipped unintentionally. yena’s eyes widened in horror “ NO WAIT Y/N I DIDNT MEAN IT THAT WAY-“ you gave her an awkward chuckle, assuring her that it was fine.

you caught yourself staring into blank space as they continued their long rant about how horrible mr kim was as a lecturer. poking at the strawberry cake infront of you, you were bored to your death. what kind of date is this ? you thought. and thats when it all clicked. it wasnt supposed to be a date with you, but her. he was just obligated to bring you with him because you were his girlfriend. come to think of it, you were always the one who initiated things, whenever HE initiates something, yena would somehow have a part to play in it.

did he only agreed to date you for his own benefits ? did he ever truly love you ? all those “i love you” exchanged, did he ever mean any of it ? you were drowning in your thoughts until someone called your name, snapping you out of it. “y/n ! stop playing with your food… its getting everywhere. why didnt you eat it ? its your favourite…” that sentence confirmed your suspicions, your worst fear. “no.” “no …? i-im lost…”

you were unsure what happened but something inside you snapped. “ no. im done. im done with this hangout. im sitting here like a fool, watching you flirt with her ?! “ seungmin stared at you, offended. “excuse me ?! i set this up for you ! i just thought you would appreciate it if i like your BEST FRIEND come with. unless youre saying you wish she wasnt here.” a scoff youve been holding in left your mouth. “ dont put words in my mouth. but at this point, if this keeps up, i wont mind admitting to that. considering how IM ALLERGIC TO STRAWBERRIES and her FAVOURITE cake is STRAWBERRY shortcake. and lets not forget how you got me an expresso knowing damn well i only drink mocha and SHE only drinks expresso. “

“you dont seem to mind it at all. “ you were dumbfounded. how could he say such things ? “ i didnt want to say anything because i wanted to see how far things would go… but its gone far enough. “ tears threaten to spill from your eyers. “you dont love me anymore do you ?“ you mustve looked pathetic in their eyes. “i know that i-i just need to hear it from you in order to move on. “ he looked you dead in the eye. “ i dont love you anymore. i love yena.” you didnt expect the second part at all. it hit you so hard you couldnt hold it together anymore. “y/n im so sorr-“ yena said as she attempted to hold onto your arm. funny how the hands that once brought you comfort was now seen as disgusting by you. “dont touch me !” yena looked away guiltily. “lets break up y/n. im sorry things turned out this way. “ seungmin said as he handed you a tissue. at least he wasnt THAT heartless. “i always knew you loved her. even more than you loved me. have a good life. the both of you.” and with that, you walked out forever, never looking back.

perm taglist: @soobin-chois @aksemy @ja4hyvn

all works here are strictly mine. please do not translate or steal them without permission. © kyyuri

all works here are strictly mine. please do not translate or steal them without permission. © kyyuri

[hildorien]

I am in the minority but I’d love to know more about the pre-noldor elvish edain culture, history, and just life. 

I wanna know more about men in the context of men, I wanna see history through human eyes without the elvish perspective. 

I wanna know the full experiences of all humans in middle earth not the ones the elves interacted with. And if you have to have elves, I wanna hear about what humans thought of elves that isnt ‘oh they are so perfect and amazing and beautiful uwu’, because that’s kind of boring and we can all agree first age elves? on the whole? pretty shitty. (I love em but they have one brain cell to share among them and fuck up on the regular). 

I wanna see Humans who were born into a dumpster fire that is the world of arda, these are a people who didn’t get Orome leading them to heaven on earth, they got Morgoth. These are a people who lived in Morgoth’s land for centuries who probably experienced horror and oppression from basically their species infancy. Unlike the elves of valinor, or even the Sindarin protected by Melian, horror and despair would have not been their abnormal, it would be their everyday.  But they aren’t broken, they survive. They make families, connections, lives in this wasteland. They adapt and change, because I think in some ways that is the race of men’s true advantage over elves. That we don’t have a gap on our ‘greatness’ persay, humanity’s ambitions get’s mutated into greed a lot (I mean numenor is a dumspter fire for a reason) but I think that human ambition is a strength because it means we don’t accept our circumstances. The Edian sure didn’t. 

The edain, the Boerians, the people of haleth, and the hadorians, all marched themselves out of morgoth’s land hoping for something better, with NO GUARANTEE they find anything better.  But they still did it. And while we are here, let’s talk about how the race of men has not guarantee of anything, like elves (and dwarves) kind of know where they end up. They go to Mandos and get reborn, they go to aule, respectively. Men...don’t have that. Men really didn’t get anything (but Morgoth and suffering). They leave this world forever, thats what they know. Thats what they are told. 

But no one knows what the means. (Personally, I think its like a good place situation kind of. Eru is just michael and turin is janet) 

But anyway back to the POINT, (if there ever was one) the edain end up finding beleriand but beleriand isn’t the paradise they wanted. But hey, its not morgoth so let’s celebrate said the beorians before promptly getting found by finrod. And look elves did a lot of good for humans, but I also think there is this really bad dynamic of elves holding all the power and men just being in it for the ride. 

Ive made the joke that the elves of the first age are kind of like the edian’s sugar daddies but it’s kind of true. They give them land and like ‘wisdom’ (whatever the fuck that means) and in return men give them their ever increasing numbers. The Silm is a very elven story we don’t really get a lot of human, but when we do I think it’s pretty interesting. Because the relationship between Elves and Men is really uneven in the first age...and all ages even though in later ages forces of men like numenor at their height could I think easily sweep the floor with the elves of the second age combined. I think culturally Elves give a lot more, like men end up picking up their language, though im one hundred percent sure human languages didn’t die out and never do, humans must have shit talked elves a LOT in taliska (oh yes, that is the name of at least the language spoken by the hadorians and beorians, the people of haleth spoke a different dialect) and I think a lot of humans give more in resources (aka men, power, infantry). I mean personally if I was having at a guess I don’t think (as the latecomers) men got very many places to actually farm and have good land and relied on elvish goods to survive. I think this unevenness kind of spurred this idea that ‘elvishness = superior’, so to make this full circle I think a lot of pre edain culture was lost to make place for diet pepsi version of elf culture that we see human cultures like numenor and gondor have, because that’s better than their orn because elves are SPECIal BETTER AND DON’T DIE LIKE US BROKEN AND FALLEN PEOPLE.  ((screams)) 

Okay let’s talk about the death thing. Human and Mortal and Men all mean the same thing, humans die is not a statement that should be up for debate. But the humans of edain, at least from what we see of Andreth is that this was not how it always was. Humans were once immortal like the elves until they were bad and listened to morgoth and then they became mortal and all sick and ew. 

yeahhhh, I don’t think thats true. I think in-universe its a great myth. I love finrod ah andreth for this reason (also andreth is tolkien’s best female character he ever created and the fact that she’s not in the published silm is why we are in the bad timeline) , but I think humans...always were mortal. 

And thats okay. 

We talked about human ambition above, I think that is fueled by the fact that we all die. We have a timer, so we have to do things now, and that’s not a bad mindset to have. I think it gets humjans into trouble but also, imagine your a human in beleriand, you have children, a family, they might have children someday you want to do what you need to do to make sure THEY have a chance. 

(also lets talk about the fucked up fact that humans are punished for lsitening to morgoth in the first place like im sorry that humans didnt have any other valar looking for them, there was no orome, no fucking chance that they could have met anyone else because no valar came for them only morgoth with his lies so yes humans are bad for listening to the only god like entity that seemed like he wanted to help them, the elves did that too but they had nice gods so they are wise while humans who have illness and sickness and death over their heads listen to a guy with power okay jirt i see your double fuckig stnarad and its STUPID) 

And you can’t wait for that chance, so you leap. I think this is best illustrated by Turin of all people. Turin gets called elvish a lot in looks but in actions, he, like most of his family, are allllllllll human. The bridge in nargothrand even though it’s stupid and ends up horribly kind of reminds me of this. Turin doesn’t have time to wait like Gwindor, and Orodreth, etc do. his people have already been fucking disomated, he’s lost his father, his mother is trapped in enemy territory.  He wants to help. 

Sure it blows up in his face, but yknow...the want to do good is there. 

I think on the whole humans get a bad rep...like they’re called stupid and dumb and ugly by both fandom and in universe elves alike. But I don’t think that’s the case. Humans have a lot more balls and have collectively been through more trauma as a species than I think all of the elves (especially valinorian) elves combined. I think when humans fuck up, whether it be turin or numenor, it’s proof of their incompetence, that their inante (eru-given ability) to have ambition to seek beyond the world they live in for something better for something more is evil and they should be more like the elves, stagnant, already at the height of ‘perfection’, never changing....instead of being humans. Like look at these fools trying to act like than can be GOOD at something, sit down and let these elves be best at everything obviously. How many of you would look at me funny if I said, maybe the race of men was BETTER THAN THE ELVES AT SOMETHING? A lot of you im sure, and someone would have a rebuttle for how I was wrong and how this elf was considered the best. 

(like that post going around how could turin actually be #that pretty to thot his way through all of beleriand? Maybe he just Was like that, sure he may have a little elvish ness but honestly I think that be a funny thing elves say to cover up the fact some elves found a icky human was actually just that fucking hot, because obviously humans could never be that actually hot ever, not to intangle a sindarin mast of a guard, a NOLDORIAN VANYAR-DESSCENT PRINCESS, ect) 

Also just to go back to numenor, ever want an example of why it doesnt work for men to act like elves...look at numenor, early numenor was as elvish as humans could produce....but then they got bored. And then numneor became an empire and everyone eventually had so much of a bad time, eru reshaped the fucking world just to wipe the valar’s ‘humans but better’ ocs off the face of the planet. Like just to stray off topic I personally think men can’t go to valinor 1) because the two trees are actually nuclear, and the whole damn island is chernobyl instant death right there and thats why the valinor elves are like #that (they GLOW for gods shake) 2) the monotonous never changing perfection of valinor while amazing in the short term for humans would eventually drive them crazy. Not to say that the race of men doesn’t like some peace and quite or even humans (like myself) can be obverse to change, even I can admit doing the same thing ever day would drive me crazy. 

This got super rambly, but its been a lot of thoughts Ive been having for a long ass time. Basically, I just want people to talk to me about the atani, edian, race of men, whatever you want to call them. They deserve a lot better and a lot more respect than just playing a supporting role to the elves. 

They didn’t kill all those dragons to be ignored like this. 

[inspired-snowflace]

Prank ( loki×reader )

Loki× Reader fanfic

A/N : Hey !!! I am new to tumblr !! It would be great if you could give me some tips about it !!! This is a loki×reader fic. Please do review it !!! Thanks !!!!

---

"Hey Sif" you called out as you entered the room. The woman referred to looked towards you and smiled. You and Sif got along well as she had immense respect for your strength, powers and kindness. However, She only disliked your taste in men. Yes. You, a Midgardian, loved Loki, the God of Mischief and was living with him on Asgard for a visit. And It was an understatement to say that she hated him. She could not believe that you would choose Loki over Thor. She even took you to a healer once saying that you need to get your eyesight checked !! Except that, you got along pretty well.

Presently Sif walked over to you and said sweetly "Hey Y/N. Is there something I can help you with?"

"Actually, yes."

She slighty tilted her head giving you an ok for further explanation.

You decided to start carefully. "There is this tradition on Midgard..." and you trailed off.

A twinkle shone in her eyes for she and Thor loved when you mentioned Midgardian traditions.

Last Easter, you all had so much fun until somebody hid the egg in Odins vault and that some one being Loki. Needless to mention the scolding you all got. However, that did not diminish anybody's excitement.

This was reflected in her voice as she asked immediately "What is it ?"

"Well tomorrow on Midgard is 1st April which is All Fools Day. On this day, people pull pranks on each other and have lots of fun."

The corners of her mouth turned slightly upwards at the mention of fun. Even though she was a warrior, She absolutely loved fun.

"So whats the plan ?"

"Well, I plan on pranking Loki"

" Oh...how ?" And then you proceeded to explain your entire idea to her.

"There is no way in Hel I am doing that !!"

Well, you sorta expected this...

So launching convincing plan one- "Pleaseeee Sif... " you said with puppy eyes and pouty lips. "No way." Well this worked better on Loki.

Launching convincing plan two- "Sif ... Imagine the number of times he has pranked you all! This is your chance at revenge !! Come on Sif !!! Wouldnt you like- scratch that-love to see the GOD OF MISCHIEF fail his title for once... the title in which he takes so much pride !!!" You didnt have anything against Loki's title but you knew the exact words that would turn Sifs gears.

At that same time you heard Thor's voice boom " Hello Sif !!"

You both turned to look at the newcomer. Thor shook your hand and said "Hello Lady Y/N". You smiled.

"What were you talking about ?"

"She is planning to prank Loki " Sif said signalling towards you. Thors ears perked up like a dog had just been shown his favourite stick. And you proceeded to repeat the same words to Thor.

At the end of your speech Thor laughed and if you ever wondered why Thor was the God of Thunder, his laugh really proved it. "Sif you should really do it" he added after his laughter died.

"We have tried a million times to prank Loki but to no avail. This might be an amazing chance."

Now convinced when the plan was repeated for a second time and her excuses met with solid replies, Sif huffed "Fine. I will do it "

You exchanged a clap with Thor and said "Let the mischief begin".

--

The next day in the morning you and Thor crouched behind a pillar and were made invisible (however Sif could see you both and you could see each other ) with your magic.

Sif sat opposite the pillar on a staircase that led to the floor above and the long perpendicular corridor stretched between you. At the end of this corridor was yours and Lokis room. You were sure that in five minutes the puntual Loki will head for breakfast.

And It happened. You heard the door of your room click and Loki stepped outside. You gave Sif a thumbs up and threw a magical strand her way which brought tears in her eyes. You used magic; for Sif had made an excuse that she has never cried and wont be able to.

Presently, She sat there holding her legs in her arms, shaking, sobbing uncontrably and for a split second you thought that your magic had been too strong. Lokis footsteps echoed in the hall along with Sif's sobbing. You couldn't see Lokis expression from your position. But the moment he came into your view you could see the tension on his face. If it would have been a normal day, Loki would have mocked her for crying but you could see his tense shoulders and you understood that he felt compassion.

"Well, why is the bravest asgardian I know crying ?"

You exchanged a look with Thor and he grinned and you guessed he must have thought " the prey fell right into the trap."

Going over to Sif-

She moved her neck so sharply at his voice that you would have believed that she didnot sense his presence. She looked at his face with shock tried to stop the tears with her hands but they kept falling. Wow! You were definitely going to compliment her on her acting.

She continued to snif and Loki sat beside her asking " What happened Lady Sif ? What is wrong ?"

The voice was probably one of the sweetest that rolled off his Silvertongue.

She shot a look of longing his way and he immediately conjured a handkerchief for her and made an attempt to hand it to her. She looked at the handkerchief and looked back at him and wrapped her arms violently around him sobbing continuously. You were definitely going to ask Sif to join the theatre even if that meant risking a sword on your throat.

Loki looked like he was ready to push her away but from one look of her face he decided against it.

Thor whispered in your ear that his newfound compassion was a result of your love. You blushed but prayed that Loki didnt hear it; but Sifs sobs made up well for it, keeping Loki preoccupied.

Loki hadn't reciprocated the affection but Sif said " There was somebody I loved but they are now in love with someone else. " all between sobs. At this point Loki carefully put his arm around her, hesitantly, as if a snake would bite him.

"Who did dare reject you ?"

At this question Sif sobbed further. Yes! You were definitely going to ask her about joining theatre. Who cares for a sword at your throat ?

"YOU !!!" She screamed.

"I loved you so much and yet you fell for that... that stupid mortal !!"

This was your cue. You gave Thor a thumbs up and teleported you both to the other end of the corridor. You took off your invisibility but Loki couldn't see you as the staircase was little further inside.

"What ?" Loki almost whispered but you could tell that it was out of shock rather than secrecy.

"Yes." She confirmed.

"I loved you since we were children and just didn't know how to tell you until you gave your heart to the mortal."

She held his coat tightly in her fist and continued crying and shaking convulsively. You started walking down the corridor towards Loki and Sif. The moment you reached there you saw that Loki was in a trance-like state and Sif looked up to you immediately. You could have sworn you saw a smirk on her face but it disappeared rather quickly.

"Loki !!" you exclaimed, lower lip quivering. You just hoped that your acting was as good as Sif's.

Loki didn't move from his trance till you called his name. He looked up at you shocked but you fixed your eyes rather disgustedly at Sif. He looked from your face to Sif then to his arm that lay on her as his look changed to horror and his face paler than milk as he realised what that must look to an onlooker.

Meanwhile, Sif appeared to be shocked and was switching her gaze between you and Loki every few seconds.

"Y/N Wait! " Loki croaked not as powerful as he had hoped.

You shifted your poisonous glare towards him demanding an explanation which you knew he didn't have... not a logical one atleast.

"Y/N I ...." he trailed off looking down in shame as he tried to find the logic in his explanation.

"Well, If you loved this stupid warrior then why did you pretend to love me ?" You spat at him.

"Y/N I dont lo-"His words were cut short by Sif's scream.

" WELL MORTAL HE DOES LOVE ME. He loves me and I love him."

You pretended to break down and went on your knees as Loki sat there frozen.

"How long has this being going on for ?" You asked with a teary gaze.

"WELL MORTAL HE NEVER LOVED YOU. He only loved me and he has been even sleeping with me."

"What? " - Similar to Loki's from a few moments ago left your mouth.

Loki was shocked to the core. It felt as if someone had told him that Odin was a frostgiant.

At this moment you took of Thor's invisibility and this was his cue His footsteps rang in the hall.

"Y/N no !! That is not true." Loki protested.

You started to sob uncontrably.

"Lady Y/N... Is everything okay ?" Thor ran towards you even placed his hands on your shoulders before looking forth.

He looked at Loki and Sif and the shock was written all over his face as if he had just noticed them. Damn! Did all Asgardians learn theatre ?

"Brother! Lady Sif! " Thor's voice boomed. Thor helped you up as Loki looked on helplessly.

"Thor!" You cried hiding your face in his chest knowing very well what effect it would have on Loki.

Even though you didn't look up you knew that Thor must be glaring at Loki.

"What is the meaning of all this ?"

"Brother, I can explain-"

"Can you now ? Please do explain why you are wrapped around lady Sif and why is lady Y/N crying."

"Brot-"

You cut Loki short and said " Thor !!! Loki has been cheating on me ! He has an affair with Lady Sif ! He has also been sleeping with her." Your voice broke at every second word.Thor furrowed his eyebrows in shock.

"I am leaving and I am not coming back" you spat, throwing Loki a spiteful look.

You glanced back at Thor and then back to Loki and said waving your finger at them "look how they are still sticking together like a vice!"

At this realisation, Loki tried to get Sif arms off him while you started running.

You looked back and said "Don't come looking for me."

"Y/N no !!" His voice was laced with immense sadness and a look behind confirmed that he was crying.

By the time he got Sif's arms off him, you had gained a considerable lead. He turned to follow you but was blocked by Thor's huge body. You cast an illusion of you running away while you stood behind another pillar a bit farther away; cloaking your true self in invisibility .

"Brother !! A woman is kind to you, courts you, loves you and that is how you treat her ? I thought you only loved betraying me. Was not even she excluded from your schemes and betrayal ? "

Loki looked at him with eyes from which tears fell smoothly.

"Brother, let me go and stop her ."

"No."

"Brother, please." Desperation in his voice.

" I will not allow you to hurt beautiful lady Y/N anymore."

" I DIDN'T MEAN TO HURT HER"

"Well you clearly did, intentional or otherwise."

Loki fell to the ground after making an attempt to push his stone wall brother as he watched your illusion run away, around the corridor, abandoning him forever. His eyes suddenly fell on Sif as he turned around realising her presence just yet.

"WELL LOOK WHAT YOU HAVE DONE !! BECAUSE OF YOUR STUPIDITY MY BELOVED Y/N THINKS THAT I BETRAYED HER AND ...AND ... AND ... she left " his voice turned into sobs and he turned to face Sif.

A sudden anger took over him and he started to choke her by wrapping his palms tightly accross her neck. Thor thrashed forward and pulled him back before he could strangle Sif.

" For once I had found happiness in the smile of the lovely woman. Why did you take it away from me ?" The words somehow hurt like a wild sword in your stomach. Loki tried to thrash at her again but his energy was drained.

"I dont want to live without Y/N anymore. Brother, please kill me." His words a mere whisper.

All of you were shocked at his words. Did Loki love you so much ? You immediately materialised in front of him. He looked at you but didnt respond.

He finally spoke pointing at you " My magic even cast an illusion of her. Involuntarily."

You and Thor exchanged a look.

"Brother, It is not an illusion. This is Y/N herself."

"Loki... this was all a prank we played on you. But it seems we took it too far." You added.

"Prank ?" His eyes shone with hope.

"Yes, Loki. Today is April Fools day, so we decided to prank you but we clearly went overboard."

You three watched on as Loki put two and two together. You closed your eyes imagining him to storm off or screan his lungs at you. If it did happen you wouldn't blame him, except it didn't. All you felt was a warmth coming from the arms tightly wrapped around you.

"Oh Y/N, please don't do this to me ever again. I...I....I... I thought I lost you.. forever."

The last word seemed to cause him physical pain.

"Loki, I wont."

"You promise ?"

"I promise."

[wardencommanderrodimiss]

Chapter Six: Flashback, one of two, and also Maya’s in it

[Beginning] [Chapter Masterlist]

“Hey, Chief, question: so murder’s murder even if it’s one of the Fair F -- the fae, who’s murdered.”

“Murder is murder when a person is killed, accounting for manslaughter, accidental death, and the like -- honestly, Phoenix, you just think a person doesn’t count?”

“No! I mean, like… It just surprises me, is all, that you would let a human court arbitrate it and not just…”

“Revenge ourselves on the suspected killer with our magics in our home realm?”

“Yeah.”

“That’s always a possibility -- but it’s far too messy. That sort of thing tends to drag others who are far outside of the disagreement into the fighting, by way of networks of alliances, and before you know it there’s a full war that began because of a stupid crime of passion in a human bar. Some time before me, our Courts decided that humans and your courts and laws are the closest to fair, neutral judgment available, and that we would abide by their verdicts. Oh, certainly humanity was not consulted, but it is to your benefit to investigate the killings of fae, so as the allies of the deceased will not strike a curse down on all who were in the vicinity. And besides, you don’t think that, if humanity agreed that fae deaths won’t be tried, that rule wouldn’t be abused? That any man might claim his neighbor was one of the Fair Folk and killing him does not ‘count’ -- that any mother might throw her child in a fire because it acted just the slightest bit strange and claim that its life was forfeit on her suspicion?”

“You say that humans are fair and then list out all that. Neutral, with our lying and biases and stupid foolhardy impulsive actions--”

“Other than lies, we have the same faults, but so often magnified. We are impulsive and petty and cruel, with bias bred into our bloodlines -- it is an imperfect decision, as we are imperfect, as you are imperfect, as I have found even your laws to be. We make do with our best. It is all we have, in the end.”

-

A cold iron stake through the heart will kill anyone, not just one of the fae.

The same, Phoenix thinks, would go for an iron bullet through the forehead.

It’s not that he doesn’t know what Magnifi was -- Zak told him that from the beginning, and Pearl’s gift confirms for him that he wasn’t lying. And even without it, he could still see the lingering traces that Zak was a witch -- once. Their powers fade quickly when their patron is gone. He knows that without asking.

If it should matter, though, there is no way to prove to anyone else what Magnifi was.

Fae corpses don’t leave evidence. If they leave a corpse at all -- most do, but not all, and those deaths by their nature are never judged but in the Courts of Kurain, if the dead has the allies to bring the matter forth -- it is indistinguishable from a human’s, a last residual enchantment to make sure they cannot be ignored or dismissed.

Or to fuck with those left behind, as Phoenix comes to understand of Magnifi.

The evidence of the trial made that much obvious: one shot to the forehead; you cannot refuse, and we both know the reason why. A final cruelty to impart on those whom he bargained with -- and why wouldn’t he? If he knew he was dying -- of age, a curse from another, whatever it was -- the Gramarye witches would outlast him. And even if his death would take their powers away, the fae never like to feel that they’ve been cheated. One last indignity: don’t forget what you lost forever to make a bargain with me.

There is a lot Phoenix does not know, answers he is still seeking, but this, he understands. The nature of the fae, he understands.

The Bar Association suspends his badge pending inquiry, the hearing scheduled for one short week after the trial. News travels fast about Phoenix, ever since von Karma, ever since Gant, two pillars of the legal system he brought crumbling down, and the prosecution already had done half of their inquiry for them, placing Drew Misham in the courtroom with a speed that made Phoenix’s head spin. His memories of the trial are patchy, direly so, when it comes to the diary page -- how he got it, why he didn’t find it too suspicious to present -- and that will be his own inquiry: who fooled him, and how. It probably wasn’t Zak; it very likely could have been Gavin, a prodigy looking to make a name for himself, with enough enchantments and glamours to make it happen. He is human at the core and nowhere else, but the old adage, foot in each world, doesn’t seem so true, not when he drapes himself in iron jewelry like he thinks it can ground him firmly on this side of the veil.

Phoenix doesn’t trust him -- Phoenix has five people whom he personally trusts -- but he can’t condemn him, not yet. Not without more evidence.

The first lead he chases down is the forger himself, Drew Misham. (No, not himself.) The forger is his daughter, Vera, a shy, sickly little girl, and a changeling besides. Drew seems to know, but he won’t say it outright -- Vera is “exceptionally talented”, “a genius”, and he never makes eye contact with Phoenix. She was the only one to see the client’s face, and whoever it was has done a good job of convincing her to clam up. A gentle smile, she says. Like an angel, but for the briefest of moments -- a slip in the upkeep of a glamour? -- Vera saw the devil.

Not exactly helpful, and definitely worrying when compounded with the secret charm that she won’t show, but she does tell him that she lays an enchantment on all of her forgeries -- not in those exact words. Phoenix isn’t even sure that she realizes what she is, that her powers are not human.

Valant is the second he speaks with, at the detention center where he has been interred for trying to pin the murder on Zak. Talking to him -- or maybe it’s that Phoenix retrieved the magatama to keep with him on this investigation -- brings one memory into sharper focus -- the girl, the little girl, Zak’s daughter, as human as her father but draped in magic even when it was fading from Magnifi’s two pupils. And that is definitely worrying, too; Phoenix has stumbled sightlessly into the dark, and something monstrous is lurking in it.

He nearly misses his hearing -- an unnecessary formality because there wasn’t one among them, except apparently Kristoph Gavin, who hadn’t decided that Phoenix’s badge would be gone at the end of it -- trying to track down Trucy. The Gramaryes were an elusive coven -- Valant tried to make a cursory protest on the terminology, “Troupe! We were not…”, and Phoenix broke the single lock by just staring him down until he rescinded his words -- who were never found by those desperate enough to seek them out, but instead would appear to them in the midst of their search. If they had a home base, Valant won’t say, and no one else in the world knows. Zak’s daughter, Trucy is her name, could be anywhere in the city, anywhere beyond the city, out to the mountains of Kurain, and Phoenix might never find her.

Getting an answer from her about who she received the diary page from would be a bonus; Phoenix is more concerned for her sake. He was only able to briefly See her, but he didn’t like the glimpse.

This is going to take some assistance.

The first thing he can unearth in his apartment that can make a circular shape is an extension cord; he drags it out to the kitchen and sets a cold half of a ground beef patty on a plate in the center. The fake candles are back at the office, but that is an unneeded trifle -- funny, but unnecessary. “Maya,” he says, stepping back from the circle and closing his eyes, “there is someone I need your help to find.”

A cold gust of wind batters against his face. When he opens his eyes, the room has filled with a slowly-dispersing purple mist, twisting in strands around the fae standing in the circle. She has gained an extra pair of eyes since he last saw her, smaller slits right along the browbone, all four glowing red. The remaining mist settles about her head like hair or the headdress of royalty, not quite blending with the void-black tendrils that frame her face. One of them extends, almost like an extra arm made of shadow, down to the floor, snatching up the burger and tossing it into her mouth. She grins, the truest cheshire smile Phoenix has ever seen, stretching literally from pointed ear to ear, displaying dozens of huge sharp fangs. “Hey Nick!”

Immediately she turns to face the refrigerator right behind her. “Are you holding out on me? That was a lame burger just now.”

“Cut me some slack. I just lost my badge. I’m trying not to burn my savings on food too quickly.”

She cocks her head, still staring at the fridge. The mist doesn’t move with her like something part of her should. “Where’d you have it last?” she asks. “If you lost it at the office, Sis will probably have it on your desk in the next couple days.”

Ah. Literalism. The main weapon and weakness both of the fae. “No, I mean -- I was disbarred. I am no longer allowed to work as a lawyer--”

He stops when he sees Maya’s face. She has finally looked at him and her expression, however hard to parse it can be, shifts rapidly, the briefest flash of something like horror that twists into fury, a contorted, monstrous rage. “Who did this to you?” she snarls, and he didn’t know he looked, physically, that bad, or that she knew how to read the depths of his exhaustion and despair from his aura. “You want my help to hunt them down and eat their hearts?”

“No! No, that’s not what I want!”

“Oh.” She frowns. “I would throw it in for free.”

“No!” He bends down to break the circle and stops. “On the condition of not eating any part of a person, I let you leave.”

“For the duration of this summoning, you have my word,” she replies. He could -- should -- argue that, try and make it a blanket deal for eternity, but he decides they can negotiate that some other time. For now, he has what he needs, and he unwinds the extension cord.

When Maya steps forth, the glamour settles over her in a wave, the mist hanging over her settling into glossy black hair, her two smallest eyes vanishing and the others whitening and gaining dark irises, her mouth shrinking, and the four small glowing orbs that drift lazily about her face sink down to become four large beads of a necklace. And then she looks like an ordinary girl, late teens or early twenties, her hair done up in a topknot and her smile small but still toothy and just a little too sharp. “So who is it that you want to find?” she asks. She frowns, but it seems like such a minute motion compared to moments ago. “Is your prosecutor in trouble again, too?”

“No; that was last month.”

And he leaves her hanging on that one and they sit at the kitchen table while he instead begins to explain his own case, his own worst situation, and the Gramaryes. She repeats Magnifi’s name to herself after he says it, again and again until her voice loses its human quality, sounding instead like the clatter of bells or a windchime, until suddenly she snaps back. “This fae you call Magnifi -- he was banished, many years ago, stripped of his power with his name and cursed to never return.”

“Why?”

“He strove for power and made those who had that power very mad,” she answers. “And so -- ouch.” She picks at some stain on the table and Phoenix winces, anticipating her leaving claw marks gouged into the wood. “He had a daughter. No other allies besides her -- she left with him, naturally.”

“Thalassa,” Phoenix says. Maya nods. “It was a far fall for him, huh, to end up where he did. Probably all he had left was the power trip over Zak and Valant, and all they had was pretending that they weren’t witches sworn to some bastard.”

“That’s the funny part of it, kinda,” Maya says. “They didn’t even credit him, when they were saying they can perform spells for whatever sorry suckers show up hoping for a miracle -- they were just like ‘yeah, no fae involved, ignore that guy, we won’t screw you out of a deal’. And they by being like that probably screwed him out of dozens more deals with sad desperate humans. No wonder he decided his death should be one last one-over on them.”

Sitting cross-legged in her chair, her hands in her lap, she leans it back to balance impossibly on two legs. She likes to cause the double-take, to force Edgeworth or Franziska or whoever else to look twice at the way she twists the world around her. “And you’re looking for his granddaughter?” she asks. “Not his daughter?”

“Thalassa is dead,” Phoenix says. “And Trucy isn’t, yet, so yes, I’m looking for Trucy.”

“I’m vaguely flattered that you think I’m powerful enough that I can just find her, just like that,” Maya says. She doesn’t wobble. “It’s not so easy, not here in this realm, not without knowing her true name.” “Trucy Enigmar,” Phoenix says. “Or Trucy Gramarye.” Maya rolls her eyes. “I need to know which, Nick.” Names have more power in the Twilight Realm. It’s why Mia, even trying to be human, stumbled on names that weren’t Phoenix, the human whose life she owned, and Dahlia, the fae she defeated. It’s why Iris only ever called him Feenie. It was the kindest gesture she could make. In the same fashion, Maya calls him Nick. They don’t own him, not entirely, though they could. “It’s only two choices. You can’t guess?” “No. I need to know.” Half of magic is certainty, Maya and Dahlia so certain they have the world at their fingertips, Iris so much meeker and weaker than her sister, Vera knowing little about herself but knowing that once instructed she can create anything and that is all she needs to know. And Valant, weaker, because he was so sure he was second-best, a self-fulfilling prophecy, the only kind of prophecy that Phoenix ever sees. A spell can’t be cast on a guess. “Is there anything you can do if you go back to the Twilight Realm?” Phoenix asks. “Hm.” Maya holds her hands up, palms facing each other, and a purple glow begins to form around them. Then she claps them together and the light vanishes, her eyes glinting red for a moment in the sterile light of his kitchen. “I’ll ask Sis for help, first.” It has started to rain when they leave Phoenix’s apartment. Biking in this weather is unfortunate enough, but Maya insists on balancing herself on the handlebars, right in Phoenix’s line of sight, and this would be the most embarrassing way for Phoenix to die after everything he has been through. They are both soaked through to the skin but only fell once by the time they arrive at the office. The lights are already on and the heat is blasting a literal warm welcome. “Hey, Sis!” Maya calls into the silence. No answer comes forth, of course, but the smile on Maya’s face is one that shows her to be more at ease than in a long time. “I could use some help! Nick’s trying to steal a kid.” “I’m trying to help her,” Phoenix objects. “Honestly, Maya.” “Yeah, yeah.” Maya twirls through the office and her hair doesn’t move like it is heavy with water, or even like it has the weight of that much hair. She stops at the shelves of law books that Phoenix has meant to read for two and a half years and never did, running her fingers down the spines but not stopping at any of them and proceeding on to the binders and file folders full of Mia’s case references and research materials that Phoenix hasn’t known how to sort and get rid of. “Somewhere here,” she mutters, “maybe there’s something.” Phoenix gives her a moment to offer one before he asks for an explanation. “After our mother left,” she says, “Sis at some point moved some of the royal records out of the Twilight Realm. I think she was worried about our aunt getting her hands on them.” The pages turn without Maya touching them. Her bangs and the hair framing her face sway as though there is a gentle wind to tousle them. “But… nope.” She stops on a page and squints down at it, only to resume flipping a few seconds later. “This Magnifi of yours, his true name – it wasn’t just taken, but erased. There’s not even an echo for me to work from.” The binder slams shut and is tossed over her shoulder without her moving her hand. “If these witches were well-enough known, how did people usually find them?” “They didn’t,” Phoenix says. “Anyone who went looking for them, they would eventually appear to.” “Huh,” Maya says. “Well, we’ve got two options, now!” Phoenix is already bracing himself to hear them. “We can go out and wander until I find us a likely trail, or you can put up some – uh, wanted posters.” “Wanted? For the Old West, maybe, but—” “Then, a ‘lost kid’ kinda thing. You do that, right? With the description, and the phone number, and the reward money.” “That’s for pets.” “It could be for kids. Don’t let your narrow-minded cultural assumptions box you in.” “Ah.” Sometimes, Phoenix has no idea what the hell she is talking about. “If we’ve got to make a grid search of the city, we’d better get started.” Maya hops up onto the couch and pushes the curtains aside to look out at the rain. “Maya, do you know how big Los Angeles is?” She looks back at him with her head cocked. “No,” she says. “How big?” Again they set out, on foot this time. “We’re helping her by stealing her,” Maya says, jumping squarely into a puddle and splashing muddy streetwater up Phoenix’s jeans. “It’s not either-or.” She tilts her head back, face to the clouds that are darkening from gray to black as night falls. “I bet Sis can save her, like she did you.”

Streetlamps flicker as they pass, and in those brief spurts of shadow, Maya’s shape flickers too.

She leads him down streets he didn’t know existed, past storefronts that look long-abandoned, with neon signs still glowing in the windows but not the puddles they should be reflected in. “You definitely were enchanted, by the way,” she adds. “I can still see the residue.”

“It’s been a week,” Phoenix says.

“Well, double-layered enchantments are harder to shake off and take longer to fade.” She shakes her head. “You were doomed as soon as you took that paper, without anyone to help you. You’re only human, after all.”

“Yeah,” he says. “Yeah, I know.” A cheap, sad ball bounced back and forth between players of a game whose rules he doesn’t understand, then as in now, a pawn dragged to the other side of the board to be crowned a knight and turned back again.

“What did you say this coven called themselves, again?” Maya asks, when they’ve been out for a little more than an hour, Phoenix soaked through to the bone, Maya having given up the illusion that weather affects her the way it does mere mortals. Her skin does not shine wet in the light. Her hair still flutters like a ribbon with the breeze of passing cars.

“Gramarye.”

“The name itself might be an invocation,” she says.

“What, like ‘Bloody Mary’ three times in the mirror and she’ll--”

Maya squints at him. “I don’t know anyone who uses that moniker,” she says, very seriously. “Is that a meme?”

Phoenix regrets teaching her about memes, for many more reasons than this, but also specifically for this. “The -- the belief is that you say her name three times and she’ll appear behind you in the mirror.” He turns to his reflection, staring back at him out of the dark window of a closed-down ramen shop. “Gramarye,” he says firmly, despite feeling a little silly, and doubting that the reflection is even necessary. “Gramarye, Gramarye.”

“That’s not a mirror,” Maya says.

“I don’t wear makeup so I’m not going to just have one in my pocket--” Something flashes in the storefront window and Phoenix glances back. Something is glowing, a small pink light, and he figures that some neon sign in the shop has sputtered back to life until it moves, flitting about like a moth thumping up against a lamp. He looks back over his shoulder. There, down at the end of the block, the light is dancing up above the street. “Maya, look,” he says, nudging her, not even sure why he’s pointing it out but compelled to. “What’s that? We should go look—”

“Nope!” She grabs his arm and yanks him back. He hadn’t realized he ha started walking, toward it, until she stopped him. “What’d we just talk about, Nick?”

“Bloody Mary? Or that I’m only human?” The light pulses, brighter and softer, but never too bright that the glare is jarring in the dark and the rain.

“Yes! That without me you walk right into enchantments!”

“An enchantment?” He looks again at the light, really looks, but nothing about its shape or color changes and he takes another step forward. The edges of his vision are blurry, like he is staring through a sheet of falling water, and he should be able to see something—

He didn’t see anything suspicious about the diary page, either. Glancing over at Maya, his stomach momentarily turns over at the sight of the pale claws on his arm. “It’s trying to lead you astray,” she says, and even when she isn’t grinning, her full shark’s mouth of several rows of teeth is made visible, and she tugs at his arm again. “Back this way.”

The light bobs back and forth, sashaying forward as Phoenix moves away from it. “A will o’ the wisp?” he asks.

Maya nods. “A distraction,” she says, very seriously. “This is all very clever, actually.” One hand still closed around his upper arm -- he blinks and wills her claws to look like stubby nails and blunt fingertips again -- she pulls him back toward the storefront. “The doorway appears where there is a need, then the wisp distracts for the witch to step forth and seem to have just appeared from nowhere.” She reaches forward, touching a finger to the glass, and it wobbles and ripples like water, opening wider and wider a circle big enough to step through. “Because you can’t just teleport like that. There always has to be a door, but it adds to the illusion if it doesn’t look like there’s one.” Stepping to the side, she waves to usher Phoenix in first. He can see a stained wooden stairs descending, before they are swallowed up entirely by darkness. “Age before beauty!”

Even in the most human of her grins, he is reminded what she is.

Beneath his feet, the steps creak at every movement, the walls closing tighter and tighter as he descends, brushing against both of his shoulders at the same time. He fumbles forward, one hand stretched out groping blindly for an exit or a wall. Maya is prodding him in the back as they go -- “C’mon, Nick, you’re so slow!”

“I can’t see,” he protests, right as he walks straight into something solid, the impact of his hand against it jarring his entire body. “Ah.”

Maya’s hand brushes past his ear to reach over and tap the wall. With a loud scraping sound, a thin crack of light slowly spreads wider and wider, shifting aside to reveal the interior of a gaudy gilded room. It isn’t the decrepit shack he expected, no rats or exposed wires or broken furniture, but it still disgusts what slight aesthetic sense he has. Everything is gold, or red, or black, a collection of clashing decorative styles, Victorian-looking couches with abstract modernist tables and shelves, and a few implements that look like something from a circus, strange boxes and colorful flags and hula hoops.

Stage magic. Phoenix snorts.

Sitting on the couch, a blue plastic bowl in her hands, a spoonful of mac-and-cheese on its way to her mouth, is Zak’s daughter. “Oh!” she says brightly, through a mouthful of noodles. “Hi, Mr Lawyer! If I had known it was you I wouldn’t have let Mr Hat lead you away.”

Mr Hat? Phoenix mouths it at Maya, even though reasonably there is no way she will know what that means. She shrugs. “Hi Trucy,” he says, looking around for a place to sit and deciding he doesn’t trust anything in this place. “Your daddy hasn’t come back, has he?”

Her face falls. “No,” she says. “He hasn’t. But he told me I could trust you, Mr Lawyer!”

Why, Phoenix so desperately wants to ask, but he is trying to keep that trust and that question will not do him any good. “I did some digging to find out if you have any other family,” he says, trying to keep eye contact with her while also watching where he puts his feet. “And it didn’t seem like it, so I wondered if you wanted to stay with me for a little while -- until your daddy comes back.”

She nearly overturns her bowl trying to set it down. “So if I stay with you,” she says, “does that mean we’ll be family?”

“I, uh… I guess so?”

Maya is laughing quietly as she circles the room, plucking up the decorations on the mantles and setting them back down. “Who is she?” Trucy asks. “Will she be my new mommy?”

“Er -- no. No, no.”

Trucy’s face falls. “Oh,” she says. “Since my mommy disappeared years ago, I thought I might get a new one now too.”

“No,” Phoenix says, “she’s just -- a friend.” Sort of. As much as human and fae can ever be friends, without the tangle of deals and magic and curses that always litter those relationships. He’s heard of romantic couplings of fae and human -- ones genuinely built on love, he means -- but that was not his experience and he has no intention of repeating anything close to that situation.

“I’m Maya,” she says. “Nick and I have known each other for a few years now. You can trust him.” She grins. Trucy hasn’t recoiled from horror from her; it doesn’t appear that she has the Sight, and another quick glance over her confirms that. Phoenix hadn’t paid attention to that last time, distracted as he was by everything else that was going on, with her, and in general. Now he can see that her eyes don’t change, but marked around them is a teal glow, in the shape of a diamond, over each of her eyes like a variation on a domino mask. He can’t quite tell what it means; curses are always easier to read, a red slash across the throat only really meaning one thing.

In the meantime, until he can ask Maya out-of-earshot, he decides he should stop staring and instead deal directly with the situation he has invited upon himself. “Oh, Trucy? You don’t have to call me ‘Mr Wright’ or ‘Mr Lawyer’ or anything. You can just call me Nick if you want.” He scratches his head, as the depth of this is beginning to weigh on him. “Or even ‘Daddy’ someday, but not now if you don’t want to--”

“Okay, Daddy!”

Oh. Okay.

“I have to get my stuff, if I’m going to be living with you,” Trucy says. “I’ll be right back!”

She springs to her feet and runs off into the next room. Phoenix moves to follow her, not sure if this place won’t swallow them both up, never to be spat back out into the world. “It’s truth, if you’re wondering,” Maya says, opening an ancient-looking wooden cupboard and rifling around in it. “The blessing on her,” she adds, emerging with a pack of microwave mac-and-cheese that for some reason was stashed there, and tearing open the pack of cheese powder and shaking it into her mouth. “It probably doesn’t look quite the same as Pearly gave you, but I wouldn’t recommend lying to her.”

“I see,” he says.

“No, you didn’t See. You were wondering.” She grins again, and she swallows the package of pasta, plastic and all. Once she told him that she can unhinge her jaw like a snake to swallow anything as big as her head; he wishes that she could lie. He wishes that her sense of humor could extend beyond literalism into exaggerated falseholds.

He steps into the hall that Trucy disappeared down, just far enough to see her running from room to room, with the clattering of objects upended and tossed aside. “Do you need help carrying things?” he calls.

Trucy sticks her head back into the hall, beaming. “Nope!” she says proudly. “I have this!” She waves at him a huge pair of frilly pink bloomers, and part of him -- most of him -- does not want to ask, but he also does not want to trek back into this hideout when he finds out she didn’t bring any of her clothes. “My magic panties are better than any suitcase!”

“Can you… elaborate?”

She reaches in through the top of the bloomers and pulls forth a pink cape. “Oh,” he says, but she drops the cape in a heap on the floor and reaches again to bring out a t-shirt. “Okay, I see. Thank you.”

Maya has wandered into the kitchen area and is continuing to devour everything she can find in the cabinets. Phoenix decides against asking her to leave him some of it to bring home for him and Trucy now. “This really isn’t a liminal space, is it?” Phoenix asks. He would be able to see if it were, the way magic hangs in the very air in his office, the way Mia herself and the last traces of her life linger.

Maya shakes her head and sinks her teeth into three donuts stacked together like a hamburger. “Hidden by magic, but no closer to the Twilight Realm than anywhere else. She’d have at least a bit of the Sight if it were.” She leans up against the wall, watching Phoenix with eyes that glamour doesn’t quite have a hold over, flickering as they do to red. “But even then, she might still be too young to know to be afraid.”