#i can think of like. three or four ish things for sources of these

[orcelito]

like ok

> has very definite Trauma Things from various times in life > has difficulty remembering some of them for Various Reasons, while others are. way way way too vivid. > has continuous difficulty sleeping, including a variety of reoccurring disturbing dreams coupled with a general apathy about them (refusal to call most of them nightmares bc most of them im not actually scared in, which kinda rly says smth about me mentally, i think) > general avoidance of Trauma Things > general negative reactions when Trauma Things r brought up

uhmmmm yea ok

[cinnajun]

ᵕ̈ ೫˚∗: arguments with zb1

a/n: omg i posted before midnight this is a big win

notes: yujin is not included due to his age!

wc | 1.9k

jiwoong

the best way i can describe an argument with jiwoong is “mature”

you guys don’t argue often at all so when you do there’s usually a good reason for you to be arguing

perhaps it has to do with your living situation, or you’re not taking an issue jiwoong talked to you about as seriously as he wants you to be, or you feel like he’s spending too much time away from you

whatever it is, your argument will last max 3 days

day one is reserved for sulking, and you might end up staying the night at a friend’s house while jiwoong sits with hao and hanbin and tries to work through what he’s feeling

day two is for thinking—both of you think through things rationally and take mental notes on what you did wrong and what you think was on the other person

then, day three is for talking it out. you’ll decide on a place to meet that isn’t home, and you’ll work through everything while not getting upset or saying something unwarranted.

then, afterward, you’ll go home together and do something light and fun to cheer the both of you up

things go back to normal within four days, and you don’t think about the issue ever again

zhang hao

fights with hao are not fun

hot take but i think he’s the type of person to ghost you when you make him too upset

so whatever you’re fighting over, be it the dishes or something he said, once he gets angry enough he will just walk out and not talk to you for a while

depending on how upset he is it can be anywhere from less than a day to three or four days with no contact between the two of you

so yeah this is kind of a red flag but you don’t fight literally ever so it doesn’t happen enough for it to be a big issue

and his reasoning for ghosting you is that he doesn’t want to say something he doesn’t mean and/or can’t come back from

hao knows he’s the type of person to just say something wildly untrue when he’s mad and his worst fear is doing that to you

he returns from his mental retreat so apologetically, even if you end up thinking you were more in the wrong

will bring you an apology gift (usually it’s flowers or some sort of sweet treat) and always has some big long speech prepared

you also apologize if you feel it’s warranted (which is almost every time)

things will go back to normal in max two weeks

hanbin

fights with hanbin are big and emotional

like super emotional

this man is so in love with you that you being the source of any negative emotions is really hard for him to stomach

and it’s likely that, for the course of your entire relationship, you’ll fight maybe once or twice at most

so the fight you have is big and possibly the result of a lot of pent-up emotions that built up over a long period of time

you’re the one to walk out, and he’s full-blown sobbing by the time that happens

he feels miserable for the next couple of days

you two don’t ghost each other but it’s minimal contact and you can barely look at one another without crying lol

hanbin will probably end up staying elsewhere and you’ll stay home, drowning your sorrows in ice cream while you cry on the phone with your friends

when you’re both sound enough to work it out, you two just kinda cry apologies at each other

when the time comes for you to actually talk it out, it’s pretty easy and you’re left wondering what exactly the fight was over in the first place

hanbin will kiss every single part of you after the wound is patched up

and then he’s attached to you for the next couple of days lol

things go back to normal in maybe three-ish weeks? like that’s when he stops being super clingy and you go back to regularly scheduled programming

matthew

fights with matthew are small

he seems like the type of guy to be able to talk out big issues without it blowing out of proportion

so any larger problems the two of you are like … worked out via controlled and calm conversation

then you will have a blowout argument over you losing one of the sweatshirts you took without asking (your mom took it to the dry cleaners and didn’t tell you)

your arguments are petty and it’s a lot of really fake words thrown back and forth

so it’s not like one of you is being unnecessarily mean to the other, it’s from both of you

you don’t talk for a couple of days (also mutual) and then your mom’s dry cleaning shows up with the sweatshirt in tow

you send him a picture of it with some tear stains on it and he’s like … are you crying

then he’ll show up at your house not even thinking about the sweatshirt, just the fact that he doesn’t like it when you cry

will do anything to get you to stop crying

apologizes 18 times and puts on the tear-stained sweatshirt while going “wow, it’s so clean!” in hopes that you’ll at least laugh

after he fixes the crying situation you apologize too and suddenly it’s like it never happened

things go back to normal in a week

taerae

fights with taerae are quiet

tbh i just think his anger/sadness/any negative emotion is quiet

there’s no yelling, no crying, no insults, no nothing

the argument itself will be a bunch of isolated statements paired with scoffs, rubbing your tumbles, and feeling exasperated

neither of you leaves to cool off, and you just sit in different rooms after the fact

the next day might be a bit awkward and taerae will be somewhat cold towards you (and it would be a lie to say you don’t reciprocate the same exact energy)

but at some point during the day, while you’re sulking and laying down in bed, taerae will come in and lay down next to you

starts off by saying sorry and then you talk things out while just … laying there

he’s neither the type of person to take all the blame nor the type of person to shove all the blame onto you

like you could be entirely at fault but he will distribute responsibility equally between the two of you

he’s just the type of guy who really does not like arguing so he will do whatever he can to fix it quickly

after you’re done talking you’ll go on a long drive together

it’s aimless and quiet, but he holds your hand the whole time :)

things go back to normal within 3 days

ricky

i think fights with ricky are turbulent

you never really know the direction they’re going to go in you know

you don’t necessarily fight often but it’s not like you never fight, either

i think it’s a healthy amount of bickering

somewhat like an old couple LOL

if you have a big argument, though, it’s pretty much the least fun you’ve ever had in your whole entire life

ricky isn’t the type of guy to yell and cry but he’s the type of guy to give you a look that makes you feel like crying

i also think he’d struggle to take everything you’re saying seriously so he might laugh in exasperation from time to time

which obviously makes you angrier

i think if you end up crying, though, ricky will have like a crazy moment of clarity where he’s like … oh shit

cue some crazy introspection

you’ll run off somewhere else in the house and he’ll just sit on the couch and think

he’s practically taking notes on the entire thing, and studying what he thinks was the most out-of-pocket for him to say and what he needs to apologize for

after he’s gathered his thoughts he’ll seek you out and ask if you’re okay sitting down and talking with him

and he will wait however long he needs to if you say no

he essentially says everything he feels necessary, ends it off with an apology and kisses your hand

then it’s over

things go back to normal within the day

gyuvin

you bicker with gyuvin a lot and 99.9% of the time it’s silly and super unserious

that’s the type of couple you are yk

so your fights are born out of your little, unserious arguments actually going a little bit too far, and they last soooo long

and most of it happens in front of your friends which isn’t nice either

it starts out very small, with little jabs at one another

keeps amping up for the rest of the night, and once you both leave whatever hangout you were at, all your friends are like … they’re gonna fight guys get ready

they’re right

you argue the entire way home and when he drops you off he doesn’t even give you a good night kiss, which makes things even worse

you continue arguing over text and into the next few days all while acting like everything is fine

meanwhile, you’re texting your friends (separately) like can you believe that he just said that? can you believe he’s pulling this shit?

finally they lock you two in a room and tell you to figure it out because your arguing is annoying

you will painstakingly be like “okay maybe i went too far” and he essentially does the exact same thing

and then he apologizes for not giving you a good night kiss that one time and everything is fine

things go back to normal in like 2 weeks but just keep in mind for the entire 2 weeks you were just being passive-aggressive with each other

gunwook

arguments with gunwook are born out of stress and aren’t really arguments

he’s a busy guy who’s doing a lot of things and sometimes he bites off more than he can chew

which isn’t nice because he refuses to be like “hey i might have to lay off boyfriend duties for a couple of days so i can work through all these commitments i made without thinking” because he thinks he’ll be a bad boyfriend because of it

essentially you’re not even aware he’s getting upset with you until the stress bubbles over one day

he accidentally tells you to leave him alone and let him work which makes you sad :(

but you do because you pretty much understand that he’s overwhelmed

but you’re still upset so you don’t just forgive him and move on because … idk … if he talked to you it wouldn’t have happened in the first place

is this petty … kind of yes but if you want things to change you need to put your foot down!!!

so you spend the next two or three days missing your boyfriend a miserable amount before he texts you saying “can we talk”

of course you can

you practically sprint to his house

and you talk!! and he apologizes for being mean to you while promising it won’t happen again

and gunwook learns from his actions so it really doesn’t happen again

things go back to normal in 3-4 days

thank you for reading !

tags: @happysmileybee @wtfhyuck

[lu-is-not-ok]

wait. of we can count PAST canto boroughs then there's a bunch more we gotta consider!

I was thinking why the sapling didn't manifest earlier, would not ahab be the prime example of pride, and again the league of sloth?

but that *changes* things. we do have sinclair's and ish's Boroughs too, which I'd claim sinclair has his line lust to a T, and ahab could fit pride too, which would break a new theorem unless...

what if they unlock not for the first resonance, that one just tunes them to it. but the second? which could still fit the envy theory for it responding to Heath's Borough!

So here's how I believe the Sapling of Light works in-universe based on my previous realization and what little info we have.

We see in Canto 7 that the Golden Boughs are parasites - feeding on the desires and consciousness within the heart of whoever they're stabbed into.

I believe that there is a two step process on display here - Resonance and Feeding.

Resonance is what the Bough initially does - it attaches itself to the emotional state of someone in the vicinity and alters reality to match that state. From what we have seen thus far, it would seem Resonance may or may not be required in some way to acquire a Golden Bough, but it's unclear if it's the same as Feeding it.

Feeding is what the Bough does when it is stabbed into the heart of an entity with consciousness. We know it fed on the First Kindred's desire for La Manchaland, as we see he only becomes concerned with his hunger for Blood after he's stabbed.

I believe the process of Feeding is what enables a Bough to be used as a Sapling of Light, with the exact timing of it activating potentially being reliant on Dante in one way or another. They do have a fragment of a Bough in their head after all, one deemed so important that they're advised to kill themself to not let anyone else get it.

So, let's see what Saplings are possible.

There are three other cases of a Golden Bough being stabbed through someone's heart (well, technically four), ones we initially didn't know the effects of when they happened.

There's the Golden Bough in Canto 4, which was stabbed into both Yi Sang and Dongbaek. The former seemed to have caused a hole in Yi Sang that only Dante could see, though at that point we didn't have any more info on what that could mean. The latter would kill Dongbaek, but also seemed preserve her consciousness for long enough for her to be able to give Yi Sang a final message by the end of the dungeon.

Then there's the Golden Bough in Canto 6, which Heathcliff stabbed into his own heart as that would connect him with the Cathy lingering within the manor itself. This Bough would then be stolen by Nelly after the whole ordeal was over.

...And then there's the matter of the Canto 5 Bough. Canto 7 brings up the idea that the Bough was in the Whale's heart because it was also acting as a parasite to the Whale. However, this is much harder to judge how important that is as we. Simply don't know just how sapient the Whales are. They're eldritch entities, we don't know if they even have the kinds of desires that a Golden Bough could feed on.

So, with all of that laid out, here's every Resonated Golden Boughs by Canto so far:

Unfed, held by N Corp

Unfed, held by LCB

Unfed, held by LCB

Fed by Yi Sang and Dongbaek, held by LCB

Fed by the Pallid While (maybe), held by LCB

Fed by Heathcliff, held by N Corp (Coffin Bough is too burnt to be used but i'm mentioning it here for completion)

Fed by First Kindred, held by LCB

We can discount Canto 6 and Canto 1 Boughs being used for Saplings of Light for now since. We don't have them. We can also discount Canto 2 and Canto 3 Boughs as neither of them got stabbed into anyone and thus would be unable to feed on any heart.

This leaves us with:

The First Kindred-fed Bough, likely fed on his Prideful dream and thus being the source of the Binah ability.

The Yi Sang-and-Dongbaek-fed Bough, which we don't know what exactly it fed on but from the fact that Dongbaek's last message was notably less resigned than she was before being stabbed and dying, it likely fed on Sloth and thus could be the source of the Hokma ability.

The Pallid Whale-fed Bough, which uhhhhhh??????????

If we ever get a Sapling of Light ability from the fucking Whale, something tells me it will have to happen after it's confirmed in universe that this is in fact how it all works. Because. What. Would that even do. What Sin did The Fucking Whale commit in its desires that the Bough could feed on. Gluttony???? Maybe??????

But yeah unless we stab the Canto 2 and 3 Golden Boughs into people to feed them, or get the Heathcliff-fed Bough back very soon, I doubt any of them are gonna contribute to the Sapling of Light for now. Rather, we might be getting a lot more Boughs in the future by pulling them out of people who are already stabbed with them.

[gracehosborn]

The February 4th 1781 Letter

So the other day I got all excited over receiving a scan of Hamilton’s February 4th, 1781 letter to Laurens. While I can’t share the entire thing, I at least feel comfortable to share this small part which gained all of my attention. Words in brackets are ones that are lost due to the edge of the page being burned:

Adieu [my] beloved friend. Do justice to my [page burned off] for you. Assure yourself that [it is] impossible more ardently to w[ish for your?] health safety pleasure and success [than] I do. God send you speedily back to us.

There is so much I want to say, but I’ll start with the first elephant in the room: notice how none of this passage is edited by Hamilton in any way? How fluid and crammed his writing is—much like in his “I wish there was a War” letter to Stevens?

Source: Alexander Hamilton to Edward Stevens, November 11, 1769, Library of Congress.

Just like when writing “I wish there was a War,” Hamilton really meant what he said to Laurens. The nature of his handwriting saying that there was too little room for all he wanted to say, and thus did not second-guess himself. This is very openly affectionate.

To the second elephant in the room: “Do justice to my” what? We don’t know as this portion of the page is burned off. However each page of this letter has burn spots on the edges just as you see above, so I do not think this was intentional by any means.

When transcribing Hamilton’s papers, the editors of The Papers of Alexander Hamilton assume the word to be regard (“Do justice to my (regard) for you” XX ), however realistically speaking, the word could be a number of things. Regard, esteem, respect, even love, or my particular favorite: partiality.

Partiality appears four times throughout the Hamilton/Laurens correspondence, used in Hamilton’s letters. While I am not going to quote every single example, I will say that in each, the word is used in the possessive (“my self byassed by my partiality for you….,” “However your partiality…”, etc). Another thing to note: it is a common practice that two of a thing is simply coincidental, whereas three or more of a thing—whatever it may be—is indicative of a pattern. As “partiality” appears four times within Hamilton’s letters to one individual, it is clear this is a pattern. This becomes more notable when considering that partiality is a synonym of love, and that these words share other synonyms throughout these letters (particularly “affection”/“affectionate,” “inclination,” and “attachments.”) Further, all of these words are synonymous with each other—ie: they all mean more or less the same thing.

With all of this in mind, I decided to play around and see if partiality could fit within the burned space, using the word as seen in the manuscript of the June 30th 1780 letter:

Adjusting the cropped word to be the same size as the other writing, and to be as close to how crammed and tall it is here, we can see that the word would indeed fit. Note however that this is very rough and could be done better, I just don’t have the software to test this further. What is very interesting to note, going back to the possibility of a pattern, is that “my partiality for you” is actually seen in the June 30th letter. Considering things, and that these phrases match up almost exactly, it’s not a stretch to say that repetition occurred. 

So, all this said, I’m shocked at the lack of edits, and in my heart the missing word is partially.

[cboffshore]

Well, less than twelve hours after wondering if I should make it: it's here, the official playlist for On Sea, Sunlight, and Sky! Cover art and everything, too.

Since Spotify doesn't allow track-by-track notes to be added, I've included commentary on each included song under the cut (as well as their names and artists so anyone who's not on Spotify can go look them up). If you're short on time, the most important thing to know is that order is not important here, as this is a rough collection of songs that either inspired or act as parallels to the series. You know, for when you want the energy of the fics without actually reading them.

Before the notes: here's the full cover art. I sourced all the illustrations from free art websites and Google listings, then edited them together and did some minor color correction in Sketchbook (on mobile, too!). I tried to go for a scrapbook style look, so I hand-cut each piece out with a rough eraser for a papery feel, then added text that I formatted in Canva, pulled the background out of, and textured.

Now: the tracklist and commentary!

"Escape Route" by Paramore: Given Nya's MO of GTFO throughout the series, I thought this would be a nice capstone track. I especially love the lines "Not quite a victory to run from your problems/But it's the only plan that I got, the only plan that I got" and "Where I'm going is everyone's story" in a meta kind of way. Where she's going - or trying to - is indeed this entire story.

"The Ballad of Mona Lisa" by Panic! At The Disco: Three out of four entries in OSSAS take their name from "Kaleidoscope Eyes," a bonus track from the same album as this one that's not on streaming services (although you can find it on YouTube). In the absence of the title track, I picked "Mona Lisa" for its ethereal opener and ominous guitar work. I also adore the line "A lonely speaker in a conversation/Her words are swimming through his ears again" for the prologue of IICT(OSC).

"Small Cuts" by The Brobecks: This is where "It Doesn't Take Much (To Cover Up Small Cuts)" takes its name from. I think the themes of covering up pain while wanting someone to acknowledge it works very well for that particular fic, but also for the series as a whole. My favorite OSSAS-ish line in this one is "She will leave you deaf and bewildered/Oh, how she floats like a butterfly, stings like a killer."

"Visitation Of The Ghost" by The Brobecks: From the same album as "Small Cuts," this is a delightfully spooky track (and if you want extra drama, go look up the "fancy studio version"). The second verse is especially relevant for reasons I'll try to articulate in the finale of this year's installment, if all goes well, so pay attention to that one ;)

"GLOOMTOWN BRATS" by I DONT KNOW HOW BUT THEY FOUND ME: This track brings us three for three on Dallon Weekes songs, and there's more where that came from! A brand-new release, this song is a panicky, funky track that acts as a nod towards Nya's canon distrust towards overblown luxury and Nadakhan's veneer of gentlemanly behavior.

"Tell That Mick He Just Made My List of Things To Do Today" by Fall Out Boy: It's loud, it's fast, it's snarky, it's bitter - this is a song to run away to. Take a look at that chorus, the chunk with the bridges and the piss, and tell me otherwise. This might be a personal thing, but the swell of the volume between the verses and the choruses makes me think of swooping ocean waves.

"Playing God" by Paramore: At its core, OSSAS is a power struggle. This song exemplifies that with its own hefty dose of Nya-aligned snark and poignant venting. I especially like the pairing of the lines "Next time you point a finger, I might have to bend it back or break it off/Next time you point a finger, I'll point you to the mirror" as a character analysis of both Nya and Nadakhan (as a bonus, this line will become very relevant in the IICT(OSC) finale - and not for the reasons you think).

"Nearly Witches (Ever Since We Met...) by Panic! At The Disco: Another one from the album that kicked all this off, this is yet another spooky, dreamlike track, with an undercurrent of lost love and regret that serves Nadakhan especially well. (For him, I think it's fun to take the shouted "And I regret never letting you go!" out of the song's context for the IICT(OSC) opening sequence.)

"mirrorball" by Taylor Swift: Something a little softer and solidly out of the 2000s alt rock scene, this song works nicely for the introspective sections of the series, especially when it comes to how Nya processes her situation. For that, I really like the line "I'll show you every version of yourself tonight/I'll get you out on the floor" and the general quietness of the track.

"Look Who's Inside Again" by Bo Burnham: This one is pretty specific to IICT(OSC) and actually almost gave the fic its title! It ultimately didn't, but I think it's still a good fit. If I listed every line that fit the story, I'd be writing out the whole song, so do us both a favor and go play it once or twice.

"Hold Me Like A Grudge" by Fall Out Boy: Yet another snarky one that I particularly like for both Nya and as a tongue-in-cheek reference to Nadakhan's constant physical contact despite the fact that he's growing to resent her and his own failings (literally holding her like a grudge). Nya is nothing if not a "full-time problem". (Also: the bass line on this is incredible.)

"Carry On" by Coeur de Pirate: This song actually inspired the post-Seabound Nya fics I wrote a while back, so it's a Nya song to me now. In the context of the newest series installment, I love the line "The light of the sundowns/On my fate" as a little bit of foreshadowing.

"YES MOM" by Tessa Violet: This one is unadulterated independence, power posing, and self-confidence - that is, Nya every time she kicks off some new menace behavior. "Push me down and I bounce right back/Trampoline and it's in my past/Rising like a phoenix, making fire from the ash" is a FANTASTIC sequence for her, in both the context of her little successes in this series and her origin as Samurai X.

"The Carpal Tunnel Of Love" by Fall Out Boy: Surrealist Wentz lyricism at its best, I chose this one for the underlying themes of relationships that are apparently destined to never work (like the one Nya's trying to avoid) and the sheer energy. I especially like the Wentz screaming section in the middle, and the lyrics for that part are pretty relevant - although unintelligible, so you might want to just look them up and read them on your own.

"Say Amen (Saturday Night)" by Panic! At The Disco: The music video for this one inspired the combat sequence in IICT(OSC). Aside from that influence, I think the lyrics that swing from wild confidence to existential despair are a great fit for the tone of this series.

"bury a friend" by Billie Eilish: I love that this one opens with a series of questions that range from simply wondering what's wrong with someone to wondering about what happens after death. If that's not a fun fit for Nya's arc in this series (we'll get to the death thing eventually, don't worry), I don't know what is. Again, there's a nice sense of bitterness in here, as well as those ominous male backing vocals muttering "Careful" and echoing the lyrics here and there.

"Choke - Acoustic" by I DONT KNOW HOW BUT THEY FOUND ME: Both versions of this track are awesome, but I like the gentle, almost taunting creepiness of the acoustic style in this one. The entire song is about hating a place, which I think is appropriate given the fact that Nya's trapped with someone she hates for the first three fics on the timeline and with memories she hates for "Small Cuts." In IICT(OSC), she loosely considers burning the Temple down as a means of escape, but finds that she can't, which lines up beautifully with "If I could burn this town, I wouldn't hesitate/To smile while you suffocate and die." And, in true Weekes style, there's another little commentary against undeserved wealth that works nicely with Nya's disdain for her situation.

"Absinthe" by I DONT KNOW HOW BUT THEY FOUND ME: As of IICT(OSC), beverages are a major plot device, which plays nicely with 'Whatever they give you, stop drinking it down!" and the title of the track. If "Choke" is Nya's TLDR opinion of the situation, "Absinthe" is Nadakhan's - but we'll get to that in the finale.

"Modern Day Cain" by I DONT KNOW HOW BUT THEY FOUND ME: Last IDKHOW track for a while, I promise! And I hate that I keep saying the finale is going to make a lot of these make sense, but if it's true for one song, it's true for this one, which did inspire some of what I'm working on for the final confrontation.

"The Calendar" by Panic! At The Disco: This one is only here for the lines "There is simply nothing worse than knowing how it ends" and "Anticipation's on the other line, and obsession called while you were out" as very thematically-appropriate lines. Also, a straight bop.

"Patches of Sky" and "Path of the Eclipse" by Coeur de Pirate from Child of Light: A little instrumental break, these are two of the pieces I keep on my default writing playlist. Ominous and optimistic in equal measure, I think these two fit OSSAS well.

"Disloyal Order of Water Buffaloes" by Fall Out Boy: This one is an absolute goldmine of lines that could work for either of the series leads. For Nya, I really like the repeated "Boycott love! Detox just to retox!/And I'd promise you anything for another shot at life/Imperfect boys with their perfect ploys/Nobody wants to hear you sing about tragedy!" For Nadakhan, I like (well, not LIKE like, but I definitely think it works) the slightly stalkerish and somewhat paranoid "Little girl, you got me staring odd/Or was that just a telescopic camera nod?"

"Time To Dance" by Panic! At The Disco: This one is perfect in ways I can't articulate succinctly, although I do want to say I love the detached and kind of panicky sarcasm of the opener as a summary of the overall series mood: "Well, she's not bleeding on the ballroom floor just for the attention/'Cause that's just ridiculously odd/Well, she sure is gonna get it!" There's also some desperation in there that works very well for every failed escape attempt or revenge plot.

"Leave Me Alone - Piano Version" by I DONT KNOW HOW BUT THEY FOUND ME: Surprise, more IDKHOW! The lyrics on this one are pretty straightforward - read it as an insulting monologue being hurled at Nadakhan if you'd like. I chose this one for the lonely, vaguely-frightened vocals over the stripped-down piano backing.

"Boy Division" by My Chemical Romance: I like this one for its high energy and fight scene vibes, but most importantly, look at those lyrics - don't they read as someone lamenting a situation they put themselves into? I think that works well for what I've done and plan to do to Nadakhan in this year's installment and any future ones.

"To The End" and "It's Not a Fashion Statement, It's a Fucking Deathwish" by My Chemical Romance: Songs from Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge automatically get Skybound brownie points for all the gore and the wedding theme. "To The End" reads as a mockery of Nadakhan's marriage plot; "Deathwish" is a fun examination of resilience and, well, revenge - I adore the line "I'm taking back the life you stole/This hole you put me in wasn't deep enough, and I'm climbing out right now/You're running out of places to hide from me!" as a general summary of what Nya's doing the whole time.

"F.T.W.W.W." by My Chemical Romance: Again, excellent action sequence energy here; this is what flipping the bird would sound like if it made noise. In the context of Skybound and this series, I really appreciate the line "The heart you got, it ain't the one you need."

"Karma" by Taylor Swift: Listen, this entire series is an excuse to flip the script on Nadakhan and let Nya take a crack at the whole "read your enemies and then use their flaws to beat them to an emotional pulp" tactic, because frankly that's a cool narrative device. Here's where "Karma" works best: remember the line in "Wishmasters" where Nya, with little other comment, tells Nadakhan that he'll be sorry? That's this song. There's a sort of "I know you're about to get your ass beat" energy, a sort of wink wink from the singer that subtly pokes the subject with the knowledge that only one person here is in the right.

[disco-elysium-via-polls]

2. "Looks like you're on your own hook, too."

ROSEMARY - "Of course, of course, of course..." The drunk raises his pilsner and nods. "It is what it is, you know? What it's always been. People, buddy-boy, it's the people."

COMPOSURE [Medium: Success] - He has long forgotten what you were talking about.

3. "Why does the bottle of spirits cost 300 reál?"

ROSEMARY - "See, friend..." He brings out a one-litre bottle with blue-ish liquid. The mouth is corked shut. "It's *real* valuable. Worth every reál, if you catch my drift. Got it from a bit of a business venture..."

Nod -- let him speak.

"No one can buy spirits for 300 reál, that's crazy."

"I'll just have the spirits and not the story today, thank you."

ROSEMARY - "You know, it's funny, actually..." He bursts out laughing, then takes three gulps of his pilsner and stares at you intently.

PERCEPTION (SIGHT) [Medium: Success] - He's finding it difficult to focus his watery gaze.

"What is?"

ROSEMARY - "What?"

"What do you mean *what*? What did you think was funny earlier?"

"Forget about it, I just want the spirits!"

ROSEMARY - "This guy, this guy..." He says and shakes his index finger at you.

SUGGESTION [Easy: Success] - Conversation might bring a discount, no?

"Where did you get the bottle of spirits from?"

"Okay, can I just get the spirits if that's okay with you?"

"You know what?! I don't even want the spirits anymore!"

ROSEMARY - "Oh, this is medicinal spirits. The good stuff. Got it from the doctor's office."

HORRIFIC NECKTIE - He ain't shitting you. Medicinal spirits are a blast, *bratan*. The flaming truth of this joke of a world.

ROSEMARY - "I got one of those scientific ampoules a few months ago. 'Torpedo' they call it. It's supposed to keep a man from takin' a drink." He spits a nasty yellow clot on the ground before you.

"Didn't stop *me* for shit, that's for sure!" His voice rings with pride. "Five lemons with half a pack of butter and you're good to go."

"That's a good tip, I should remember it."

"That sounds dangerous."

ROSEMARY - "It was," he croaks. "In a week the goddamned kidneys started giving me all kinds of hell. Finally the missus took me to a private doctor's office -- not a charity, the real thing..."

"Those assholes!" He gets visibly angry. "Those assholes charged me *four reál* to remove the damn thing. But I came out on top after all!"

"Assholes..."

"Have they no shame taking money for a service they provide!"

"Okay, how?"

ROSEMARY - "But the idiots left me alone in there. Now, I used to teach high school biology. I *know* what doctors use to preserve dead thingies..." He gets an excited gleam in his eyes.

"Two I already sold to these fine gentlemen here," he nods at his companions. "But this last one is yours for three reál, if you want it?"

REACTION SPEED [Easy: Success] - Don't say it.

"I thought it was 300 reál."

"Can I smell it first?"

"I think it will prove... useful. Yes."

"No, not really."

ROSEMARY - "Here..." He uncorks the bottle and holds it under your nose. "Be careful, it's extremely flammable. One spark and the entire city of Revachol is wiped off the map."

PAIN THRESHOLD [Legendary: Failure] - Feels like someone set a mustard field ablaze right inside your nose, then drenched it in tear gas. Your nose is a singular source of pain... but at the same time you don't remember the last time you felt so alive.

LOGIC [Medium: Success] - In all fairness, that might be attributed to the retrograde amnesia.

HORRIFIC NECKTIE - Did I not tell you, *bratan*? This is it -- this is our party drink. This is what we're having, baby! Please get it for me! (The tie vibrates excitedly around your neck again.)

ROSEMARY - "So, what's the deal, friend? Want the spirits or not?"

"I think it will prove… useful. Yes."

"No, not really."

ROSEMARY - "Three reál and it's yours, friend. The deal of a lifetime!"

REACTION SPEED - Well done. You got it.

LOGIC [Medium: Success] - That's a much more reasonable price right there. Makes sense now.

Well, shit, at those prices we can't afford *not* to buy it.

3. [3 reál] "Here's the money for the spirits."

Item gained: Blue Medicinal Spirit

ROSEMARY - He hands you the bottle. "Jus' make sure to *enjoy* that one, friend!"

HORRIFIC NECKTIE - *Bratan*, I am so proud. Now -- whatever you do, don't drink it. This deserves so much more than just regular *oral* consumption.

ELECTROCHEMISTRY [Easy: Success] - The tie is *SO* on the money there! Up the bum it goes!

Huh...

But… I don't wanna put it up my bum.

Okay, right. We're putting it in the bum!

HORRIFIC NECKTIE - Who said anything about putting it up there? No, we're gonna put it in a *way* more special place. Soooo special. Just hang on to it, keep it safe. Wait for my sign!

INLAND EMPIRE [Easy: Success] - Soon. The time will come soon. Have patience, brave one.

We could also buy more alcohol to trade to Idiot Doom Spiral, but let's see if we can find some around first.

6. "I'm off." [Leave.]

ROSEMARY - "In the civilized world, it's a custom to tip the shopkeep, friend. But come back anyway." He waves you off.

BLUE MEDICINAL SPIRIT

The liquid has an unearthly blue tint. The kind that might or might not, but definitely *does* glow in the dark. This is 98,7 pure alcohol. Keep it away from an open flame.

DON'T CALL ABIGAIL - "Don't call Abigail," grumbles an unshaven man with a ruddy nose. He narrows his eyes at you as if in recognition, then turns his head away.

PERCEPTION (SMELL) [Medium: Success] - The noxious odour emanating from the drunken man is strong and familiar.

DON'T CALL ABIGAIL - "Don't ya call her, ya hear. Don't call Abigail..."

"I am the law."

"Who is Abigail?"

"I'll call whoever I want, don't tell me what to do."

"This is making me uncomfortable." [Leave.]

+1 Lawbringer

KIM KITSURAGI - The lieutenant sighs. "You really don't have to... Besides, he won't understand you anyway."

DON'T CALL ABIGAIL - "Abigail... oh, Abigail..." He mutters while trying to brush something off his extremely dirty trousers. His movements are slow and awkward.

2. "Who is Abigail?"

DON'T CALL ABIGAIL - He draws out a disgusting snort, then mumbles, waving a finger in your general direction: "Ugh... Abigail... don't ya... fuckin'... call Abigail."

SUGGESTION [Easy: Success] - Abigail is his wife or girlfriend. Chances are, she's gone. Calling her wouldn't make it any better or worse.

"Who are you? What's your name?"

"Where am I? What is this place?"

"Why shouldn't I call Abigail?"

"Tell me about your friends." (Point to the others.)

Walk away. [Leave.]

DON'T CALL ABIGAIL - His eyes move around erratically, the look in them hazy and unfocused. "Don't call Abigail," he says.

2. "Where am I? What is this place?"

DON'T CALL ABIGAIL - The man hiccups, then mumbles something unintelligible.

3. "Why shouldn't I call Abigail?"

DON'T CALL ABIGAIL - He snorts and beckons you to lean in closer.

Lean in.

Don't lean in.

DON'T CALL ABIGAIL - His breath smells harsh like a toxic swamp as he whispers to you: "Don't call Abigail. Don't call Abigail!" He then waves his hand, as if shooing you away.

"Hey, I'm on an important official investigation, I demand you answer my questions."

KIM KITSURAGI - "There's no use in yelling at drunks," the lieutenant interjects. "He's barely holding it together."

DON'T CALL ABIGAIL - The drunk man starts coughing, a really disgusting hacking cough.

5. "Tell me about your friends." (Point to the others.)

DON'T CALL ABIGAIL - He glares at you. "Don't ya fuckin' call her, hear me." His voice trembles with every word, becoming ever weaker. "Abigail," he whimpers in the end.

"Don'... don'..." the man stammers, "don't call..." Slowly, his head nods off to the side and he passes out, tongue dangling from his mouth.

+5 XP

KIM KITSURAGI - "There was little chance he'd be a reliable witness, anyway."

[thebestestbat]

more ric grayson thoughts, sequel to this post. now i am thinking of what may have been a more realistic post-TBI ric.

in that post i said that these are the places i think there was damage to ric's brain:

right temporal lobe (point of impact, local injury)

left temporal lobe (as shown in a brain scan)

right frontal lobe (implied by ric mentioning loss of motor function)

he also fell backwards right after getting shot, and in the words of the one-shot campaign podcast, adults falling is bad. but i will assume that did not cause additional significant damage.

Disclaimer 1: there are other brain structures that if damaged could cause loss of motor function (not paralysis, but nonetheless resulting in difficulty walking). however i am going to assume ric was talking about spastic paralysis/paresis caused by damage to the motor cortex in the frontal lobe. sort of occam's razor there.

Disclaimer 2: TBIs cause diffuse damage, i.e. even though the point of impact was in one place, many different factors (fast head rotation, bleeding, brain coming into contact w the skull, etc etc) can cause widespread damage in many different places. i'm just going with these three(ish).

Disclaimer 3: ric would not have all of these symptoms, and he may have symptoms i did not list. these are just things i believe are possible and im thinking about them.

Disclaimer 4: i am not a doctor.

impacts of damage to the right temporal lobe

i think that his damage here would be most severe because this is where he was shot. just a guess though.

ONE. this part of the brain takes creates long-term memories. he may have difficulties creating new memories (anterograde amnesia, which ric does not have) or accessing old memories (is this retrograde amnesia? anyway, ric's got that).

TWO. this part of the brain helps process visual input. he may have agnosias (not being able to recognize familiar objects by sight) or propagnosia (not being able to recognize familiar faces by sight). this is different from a memory or language problem.

THREE. ric may also have trouble using tone while he speaks, or understanding other people's tone.

impacts of damage to the left temporal lobe

ONE. this part of the brain is responsible for processing speech, i.e. auditory comprehension of language. ric would likely have an aphasia (not being able to understand or use language effectively). he would have difficulty finding words. he may have a hard time understanding what people say, and maybe problems reading or writing as well. he would be more likely to have a fluent aphasia, where he may use a lot of words when he speaks, but what he says does not make a lot of sense, and he may not know that he isn't making sense.

impacts of damage to the right frontal lobe

ONE. loss of or lowered voluntary movement in the arms/hands, legs, and lower half of the face. right frontal lobe damage would impact the left side of the body (so left arms/hands, legs, face). not necessarily all of those body parts would be impacted, and may be impacted to different degrees.

ric was unable to walk immediately after his injury. we see him in PT for this, though it's not clear where exactly his weakness is. I SUBMIT TO THE COURT THIS EXPLANATION: right frontal lobe damage caused paralysis of his left leg.

it's possible that his left arm and left lip were also weak or paralyzed while he was in the hospital.

TWO. general cognition impacts.

difficulty with executive functions

difficulty with attention span

sensory overstimulation

difficulty with short-term memory

changes in personality

lack of insight into changes caused by the injury

confabulation (in connection to ric's memory loss): making up stories to fill in gaps in memory

links to sources: one, two, three, four, my own brain

[faceless-conspiracy-buff]

A Bit of an Update

[ Hi everyone! It’s been a while, hasn’t it?

Since I haven’t posted anything new in the past... four months? Ish? I thought I’d take a moment to let you all know where things currently stand with regard to my life, this blog and its future.

Fair warning, though: I’ve got a lot to say. ]

[ Let’s start with the obvious: I haven’t posted anything new since December, and even then, I wasn’t posting very regularly.

There are reasons for that. Four big ones, to be precise.

The first (and biggest) of those is my job. I might have mentioned it before, but I started my first full time job last summer. It’s not a fun or fulfilling position and I plan on leaving it as soon as I possibly can, but right now, it’s the only source of income I’ve got. 

It also takes up most of my free time. Back when I was in university, I was able to answer multiple asks each day. Now, I’m lucky if I draft a new post once a week. 

Secondly, this blog has gotten a lot more attention than I ever expected it would.

As I’ve said many times before, I started faceless-conspiracy-buff as a passion project. I just wanted to try my hand at writing Q and maybe respond to a few questions from my friends. I had no idea that I’d end up with nearly three hundred followers. 

And I’m grateful for the attention! It’s really, really flattering to know that so many people are interested in my art and writing. 

But it’s also a little intimidating, which brings me to my third point: I’m trying to prioritize my mental health. 

I’m an anxious person by nature and the past year has been quite rough on me. Maintaining a healthy work-life balance is challenging under the best of circumstances and since my circumstances aren’t the best... I’m sure you can see where this is going.

Things have been slowly improving. I’ve been practicing self-care, spending more time with friends and family, and generally trying to deal with my issues in a healthy way. 

I’ve also been trying to cut out sources of unnecessary stress and, unfortunately, writing for this blog can be quite stressful. 

I want to learn to manage that stress before I dive back into my inbox, y’know?

Finally, I’m working on a couple other projects right now. My dad’s a writer, and his number one piece of advice has always been “make your own stuff”. He understands the appeal of fan fiction, but he has always stressed the importance of having full creative control of your work. 

And while I’d like to think that this version of Vic is uniquely mine, in the same way that Gail Simone’s Barbara Gordon is uniquely hers, I don’t own him. I can’t put any of my asks in my portfolio, or submit my flash fiction for publication. 

I like writing Q, but I think it’s important for me to create original stuff too.

All of this is a long way of saying that there were legitimate reasons for my absence this time around.

I don’t want to abandon this blog. I don’t intend to abandon this blog.

I may eventually decide to throw in the towel, but I don’t plan on leaving without giving my boy a proper send off. 

Q is still a major source of inspiration for me and a huge comfort character to boot. He is, for lack of a better term, blorbo from my shows. I love him.

And I love you. All of you. The mutuals, the strangers. The long-time followers, the newbies. The AIs, and the Riddlers, and the Dannyzens, and the vampire hunters, and all the people who send me in-character messages and delightful fan art.

I love you all.

Working on this blog has been hard, but you guys make it worthwhile.

Expect some kind of... something, in the near future. The issues I mentioned will probably keep me from settling into a schedule, but I’m going to try to put something together for all you kind, patient people. It’s the least I can do. ]

[chromaticcs]

Who is the father? Tales of Arise Edition

So Tales of Arise DLC has been annouced and I'm sure people are wondering (probably not), which Renan Lord is Nazamil related to?

(Yes, I'm aware I'm pretty late to the party on this, Reddit has already talked a bit about it, but I don't really care and shouting into the void is cathartic)

So here is a (rather long) anaylsis of who I think it has the highest chance of being and why.

MAJOR story spoilers and talks of unpleasant topics below: mentions of r*pe, slavery and the rest of the bs that happens when people procreate when there's a power inbalance: Mentions are rather clinical and there are no graphic details.

(Also if I've missed any warning tags, please let me know!)

Onwards! (Warning, long long read ahead, I've done a lot of thinking over this. Maybe too much :p )

So, let's start with trying to fit Nazamil into the Tales of Arise (ToA) timeline that will help us to determine who the father could be. We only have five (three, really) choices, as the developer did mention that it was a lord who oposed Alphen in ToA (so not Dohalim). Also within the translations I found of her profile, her father is the Renan lord and her mother was Dahnan (so not Almeidrea). Our top choices are Balseph, Ganabelt and Vholran. I will still be including Dohalim and Almeidrea, just because I want to and we can see whether or not it makes sense even if the developer didn't tell us the above.

Nazamil is a young-ish girl, bordering looking around Rinwell/Law's age, which is stated to be 14/16 respectively, according to ToA. She looks similiar to Rinwell, so around 14, which would be a fair assumption. Min age 14 at the beginning of Beyond the Dawn (BtD), minus two when ToA starts (since BtD is stated to take place about 1-2 years after the ending of ToA), so let's say Nazamil is 11/12 when ToA starts. Assumption one.

This implies that the lord would have had to been on Dahna during the last crown contest. This would also imply that the lord had been on Dahna for the last seventeen years (ten years from the last contest and seven for the contest that is going on in ToA). This immediately rules out Dohalim, due to his age being 28 (sourced from the wiki), and with the current contest having been running for 7 years already, he would have been 21 when it started, and at maximum 18 if he were to be Nazamil's parent. Which...is a pretty big assumption as the story in ToA also tells us that Dohalim was on Lenegis during the last crown contest with his whole backstory with his violin quartet.

That and a few other things I'll point out later, Dohalim is probably 99% not Nazamil's parent.

For the other four, Balseph had confirmed to be at least the lord for the last twenty-seven years, as Ganabelt comments early on in ToA that Balseph had lost the last two Crown Contests. So he's a possibility, as he would be at least forty-five (I'm making another assumption here that to become a lord, the candidate has to have a min age of eighteen. I'm using the age of 'adult' that is commonly portrayed in our world).

We know he was not the lord at the very least in the last Crown Contest, because the last 'sovereign' that won the constest was the previous Lord of Cyslodia. Of course they don't give much context for the Lords, in terms of whether it's possible for one to be lord of one one region one contest and then switch regions the next contest. There's no evidence to support that, so we'll assume that Ganabelt was not a lord in the last Crown Contest. Of course, this doesn't confirm or reject whether or not he was on Dahna during the last contest.

Ganabelt also has a relatively older look in the game, giving the impression of at least a mid-30s to mid-40s man. His voice actor in japanese does make him sound older, which I would personally push to early-40s to late-40s. But his english voice actor sounds like a snotty young noble, dropping him down to at minimum Dohalim's age to mid-30s.

This is very estimate and assumption heavy as there is nothing that hints to his age, other than looks and age. But I would put him as a safe bet for possibly being Nazamil's parent.

Almeidrea, well, I would estimate her age as being thirty to forty? Again, no exact numbers I can find, but if there was little information on Ganabelt, there's almost next to nothing about Almeidrea.

Finally we have Vholran. Which I saw a source about him being around twenty-four at the start of ToA, cannot find the official source of that, but I'll assume him to be around Alphen's age. Alphen is said to be twenty-one, so I doubt Vholran is younger so I would put Vholran to be twenty to late-twenties at oldest. The issue is it's implied that he was only sent to Dahna during the current crown contest (less than seven years). The previous lord was killed by Vholran and the Rena on Lenegis seem to confirm that, in that Vholran wasn't choosen to be a lord, and that the kill happened during the time when the previous lord was already on Dahna.

So this would imply that Vholran would already have been turned into a Renan before procreating, which as implied by the previous part, would not fit our initial timeline of Nazamil having to be 12-13 at least. But he's still in the running, I'll explain later.

(Another side note: This of course assumes that Nazamil was birthed by 'normal' means, as in parents has some intercourse be it consensual or not. No test-tube, Renan magic bs, not yet at least)

Next, traits. We know nothing about her abilities, apart from being cursed with this mask thing, which doesn't seem to a hereditary thing in this case, whereas Shionne's thorns were hereditary (to some extent).

From my experience in playing videos games and character design (especially with JRPGs), we can usually use the hair and eye color to see who she might match the best. Nazamil has heterochromia, her left eye's yellow and the her right eye blue. Her hair, a silvery white.

We can then safely put Almeidrea down as unlikely to be Nazamil's parent, due to her having green eyes and red hair. It's not that she couldn't have birthed Nazamil, but I would say by character design-wise, it ain't giving off the same vibes. Nazamil's design just doesn't hint towards Almeidrea. Dohalim, likewise, same argument. Red hair and dark skin, doesn't fit Nazamil character look.

Then let's focus on the eyes, and the final three lords, Balseph has yellow eyes, Ganabelt blue and Vholran yellow as well. Vholran is the only one with his eye color called out in the wiki, but this may be due to him having more attention in the spotlight than other lords, as well as being a very major character in the plot of Arise.

So based off of eye color, it could be either three. The assumption here is that both eye colors come from her parents, as there seems to be nothing (yet) that points to her having one color that is from an event that happened after her birth.

Then hair color, it's obviously Ganabelt who matches with her the best, with Balseph having brown hair (his beard) and Vholran having black. But note that Vholran also is stated to have white tips, so let's give that a half-check instead of a complete match, especially since there's no way to tell if turning him into the sovereign did something to his hair.

(and if it did turn white, that would mean that the procedures to finish the sovereign-fication would have had to be done before Nazamil's birth, assuming that it's somewhat genetic, which is a fair assumption due to the genetic nature of the 'Renans' in general, which again, look at Vholran's timeline argument)

This doesn't completely knock out Balseph, though, but he is now a weaker candidate for Nazamil's parent.

So, now we have two possible people it could be, Vholran and Ganabelt. And if we look at the rest of Nazamil's character design, nothing seems to scream either of them directly. Color scheme wise, she doesn't fit either of them exactly, with her supporting a light blue, white and purple scheme. Ganabelt is more of a dark, navy blue, and white scheme, whereas Vholran is just blue and black.

Her dress also contains snowflake like patterns, seen more easily here, but that could hint to both Cyslodia being the land of ice and snow, or Vholran's water-based artes which are more ice than water.

Another part of character design is the character personality. Nazamil has a very closed off personality, the profile mentions that she has basically closed off her heart, and good at pretending to be indifferent and apathetic.

In my opinion, this is a bit hard to pin down. Because she's still a child, and has endured a lot of trauma (being hunted down, everyone hates her etc), the personality is a bit more up in the air. We could say that she's similar to Vholran because of the apathetic mask, the indifference, but it is specifically called out to be a mask. There is also the argument that Nazamil mentions about erasing differences, but I would not link that to either Vholran or Ganabelt.

The masking portion, it could be similiar to Ganabelt being good at tricking others, but in the end I am going to discard that bit about her personality, as there is too many factors to be able to get a clear read on who she's most similar too. Both are a draw for me.

Then finally, we get to motive. Vholran doesn't care so he's probably fine with taking an unwilling participant to bed, considering how he kidnapped Shionne in ToA and it was pointed out that he seemed to almost enjoy the struggle she was putting up during that scene.

Ganabelt is basically the snobby noble in the game, the one who represents the 'best' of Renan society, so I really doubt he would willingly touch a Dahnan in that manner with a ten-foot pole. Pure bloodline and all that bs.

Finally there are a few other factors here that may swing the vote to Vholran to being Nazamil's parent.

One, Vholran's face was the one that popped up in the trailer. In a not so subtle manner. They're bringing him back somehow and I would suspect that Nazamil is the tie-in somehow.

Two, people are very aware that Nazamil is half-Renan and half-Dahnan. In fact, they seem to have known from who she was from when she was born. Which puts the Ganabelt-as-Meneck as her parent theory as a bit weak as Meneck was only exposed as Ganabelt in ToA. Of course, trauma doesn't take long to develop and it could be actually that after the events of ToA that Nazamil gets hated on, since BtD is said to take place two years after ToA. Two years of being persucuted is more than enough to cause Nazamil's trauma.

Three, when Nazamil holds the mask up to her face in the trailer, it covers the blue eye, showing only the yellow one. It seems to emphasize that one, which lends more credence to Vholran being her parent.

Four, why would it be Ganabelt? And this has more to do with the story and how they setup Arise, but the other lords barely get a mention outside of their arcs. Balseph was there to setup the beginning. Ganabelt was there to develop Law's story and motive, and Almeidrea was literally just fodder for Rinwell's backstory. The three lords were very 2-dimensional, when compared to the main characters and Vholran, which would lead me to believe that they wouldn't make Nazamil's parent either of those three, unless they plan on expanding on the other lords (which wouldn't be a bad thing).

Five, in the exculsive first clip, the area where Nazamil is running through looks like Mahag Saar, note the windmill in the back and ruined buildings. So it wouldn't be a stretch to say that she used to be from Ganath Haros, but hard to tell.

But...In the same clip, when Nazamil uses astral energy, the eye that glows is the blue one. Which is Ganabelt's eye color. I would usually take that to mean that the eye that glows is the one that belonged to the Renan parent. But I will note that the glow in her eye mimics Vholran's Sovereign glow more than it does for the other Renans in the series, especially since it's in the right eye, where the sovereign crest resides in both Vholran and Alphen.

Then finally, in the pre-order trailer, we have this

Look at that crest behind her, it's not the sovereign crest, rather something different, but it appears in the same manner, which at this point, I am willing to call it as Vholran being her parent, but I'm not going to call it done and dusted.

Regardless, a good amount of the evidence does lean very heavily towards Vholran being Nazamil's parent, a close second being Ganabelt. If they pull a complete plot twist and it's Balseph, oh boi am I going to have fun with analysing that.

The one tiny minor issue that I have is the first point that I made in the very beginning. Vholran doesn't completely fit the timeline and with assumption that Nazamil is 12-13 at the start of ToA. And since it's implied that intercourse was involved, either Nazamil is younger or Vholran is older than I had assumed.

Of course this can easily explained away (as in why it doesn't fit nicely by the developers) by the fact that the DLC was (presumably) not planned when ToA came out. Most likely when they made ToA, they didn't have Nazamil's story out yet in any form, so ToA was made with the assumption that the story was finished, there wasn't more that was planned.

So is that it? Yeah, basically, until we get more information about Nazamil and BtD, we're still in a limbo. But the DLC is a little more than a month out (from time of posting this) so hopefully we'll get some more information (or maybe they'll just tell us, who knows, ToA did do a crap ton of info-dumping during the second half of the game)

Thanks for reading!

Sources: Official Annoucement Trailer Exclusive First Clip Pre-Order Trailer

[animanightmate]

Source here.

[Image description: a series of 15 tweets from Peter Clines (@PeterClines). text follows:

1. I’ve seen a few folks discusing the latest slate of Netflix cancellations, and I thought “hey, this is the internet—I should share MY thoughts.”

So let me tell you what I think’s going on with streaming shows right now. But first... a little history.

2. Back in ye olden broadcast times, creative folks in television made a lot of their money on the back end—what publishing folks now call the long tail. Sure you got paid for that episode, but you also got paid the first time the network aired it. And also...

3. ...when it got replayed later in the season (reruns!). And the big dream was syndication, when you’d make non-stop money. Okay, not tons of it, but with syndication those pennies could add up.

These are residuals. Actors get ‘em. And writers. And directors. Even the crew.

4. Yeah, IATSE crew members got residuals. The biggest ones, really (which tends to come as a shock to many folks). That’s why they had that amazing healthcare plan for so many years. It was funded by their residuals.

5. So anyway back around 2006-ish, many folks noticed their residual checks were shrinking. A lot. Because episodes weren’t getting rerun. And things weren’t going into syndication.

Why not?

Because the studios were streaming them instead. Miss an episode? Watch it online!

6. “Hang on,” said the creative folks. “Where’s our cut?”

“You don’t get a cut,” said the studios. “Check your contracts. Nothing about the internet in there.”

“Well let’s put it into the contracts.”

“Hahahahaaaa. No.”

And thus we had the Writers Guild (WGA) strike of 2007-2008.

7. Much has been said about this. Some of it by me (intrepid entertainment journalist at the time). The WGA struck to get new streaming terms put into contracts. The actors (SAG) and directors (DGA) supported them almost immediately.

IATSE... didn’t. That’s a whole ‘nother story.

8. Anyway the strike was overall successful and new terms became standard for streaming residuals.

With one catch. And I think that catch—that concession—is what’s shaping a lot of streaming decisions right now.

9. Y’see, in negotiations the studios kept *insisting* they weren’t sure streaming would make money. Even though, for example, NBC was going to the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas and saying they expected to make one billion in online revenue that year.

10. They insisted the creative folks agree to a "free window.” For a set number of days, a network can stream a show and not pay ANY residuals. This would let them recoup costs in the uncertain world of the internet. Once the window's past, residuals would flow at the agreed rates.

11. The window? Twenty-four days for new shows, seventeen for established shows.

Networks can stream a brand new show for three and a half weeks and pocket every single cent of revenue they earn from it.

Does this timeframe sound a bit familiar?

12. D’you ever wonder why on so many network sites, they’d show you the latest episode, maybe the previous three... but then you have to sign up and pay?

It’s so they don’t have to pay residuals. As long as you’re watching in that 24 day window, they don’t have to share a penny.

13. Sounds like a model that would really benefit from you binging a lot of episodes in the first week or two, doesn’t it? And a show people don’t binge immediately would cost the studio money, because they’d have to start paying out residuals.

14. (and as a side note-- keeping a bunch of older shows online? That also means paying residuals. Better to remove them from your service. It saves you money)

15. I think this is what’s driving so many studio decisions right now in regards to streaming. They've gotten used to not paying residuals to the creative folks and they want to keep it that way. That’s why popular, well-reviewed shows get cancelled (or removed from services).

End image description.]

[jinxhallows]

Uninvited [ Part X ]

Uninvited. a short-ish series ft. Felix, Chan and Hyunjin (& a sprinkle of Jisung for a little razzle dazzle)

cw: 100% AU, afab reader, blood and gore descriptions, ritual self-bloodletting, supernatural creature themes/tropes, vampire theme/tropes, hybrid theme/tropes.

word count: 4.4k

part one -> click here

part two -> click here

part three (explicit content) -> click here

part four -> click here

part five (explicit content) -> click here

part six -> click here

part seven -> click here

part eight -> click here

part nine -> click here

-----

**taglist <3 (If I missed anyone let me know! it wasnt on purpose i tried to comb all my posts and make sure )

@planetdemon ; @a-person-with-void ; @haleyms ; @wonhottcakes ; @hydroyaksha ; @just-randomm-stuff ; @sooinvu ; @ninjaleeknow ; @thegoddessharmony ; @kittycatkrissa ; @ominous-crow ;

——–

Part Ten

Little witch… 

Little witch… 

A cramp in your stomach causes your body to lurch forward with a gasp. 

Jisung is beside you, holding a makeshift torch in his hand.  You look around, beyond where you sat, and you can see nothing but surrounding vast, dark woods. Albeit, vibrantly.

The only source of light is from Jisung’s flame. 

“I didn’t think you’d make it here.” He finally speaks breathlessly, a look of deep concern settling into his round features.  Jisung stands to his feet and offers you his hand, helping you back up to your feet once more. 

“Make it—where?” You look around, still grimacing from the cramps.   

Were you doomed to this kind of pain in the afterlife too? 

The afterlife. 

Everything sweeps over you, and you look Jisung up and down in disbelief. 

“He did the spell...I-I died…in Felix’s arms, why—why are you here?” 

Jisung shrugs apathetically.  “Ancient magick is unstable, and we don’t have any elders left to show us how to do things the right way all the time.” He holds up his torch in the darkness, surveying the surroundings you two were stranded in.   

Jisung had been in these strange and complex pockets of alternate dimensions on more than one unfortunate occasion.  Life and Death was nothing to toy around with.  He learned at a young age how fragile the glass was between these worlds, and jumping back and forth between them could send a nasty crack spiraling open.  It took great skill, great patience and resourcefulness to bring yourself back to full form, without any errors.  Jisung’s parents called it “playing God”, and it could be done, but not without a great sacrifice.  When his ancestors passed in their old age, they refused to return, instead, lending their ancient power to the next of kin. 

Once it funneled down into Jisung, he found himself wielding a power beyond his wildest expectation.  He was sick for nearly a year in a coma the moment he set foot into his teenage years.  When he finally came to in the Intensive Care Unit, he knew how to conjure things the old Jisung could not wrap his mind around– and he could manifest his magick in ways that astonished his parents. 

Jisung had to learn to remain in control of himself every waking moment and ended up spending more of his childhood on discipline than being a normal teenager.

It was something in his childhood that he held in common with Chan, and was a reason why they had become such good friends throughout working alongside one another.

So, yeah, he could bring himself back from death with little to spare; but bringing himself and another? Without clear-cut help from the other side? For the first time, Jisung felt sincere…doubt. 

He wasn’t ready to die.  Not yet.  Not like this. 

“Edith was already resurrected, I guess we were too late…it took two sacrifices, and I don’t even know if it worked.” Jisung sighs. “I was doing well, going on 90 years death free.  Fuckin’ bitch.” 

He notices you as you stumble against a nearby tree, feeling more pain, unable to focus on anything he was rambling on about. 

“Little witch? Whoa whoa—“he catches you, helping you to stabilize once more. “What’s wrong?” 

You take in a deep, painful breath.  “My stomach is like…killing me Jisung.  I can barely see straight.” The ache gets worse, making you fall to your knees and start to dry heave. 

“Shit.” He mutters.  Jisung thinks quickly, setting the torch between the nook of the low set branches in the nearby tree before he drops down beside you. His touch is not comforting for reasons you don't seem to understand, and you look over at him, trying to manage a way to express it. 

Jisung falls back from you once your eyes meet…crawling away slowly as he holds his hand up. 

“Stay there, little witch, don’t move— “ 

You don’t know what he’s talking about, you’re in pain and now growing alarmed at his sudden yield. You crawl towards him, but Jisung shakes his head, gives you a soft ‘i'm sorry’ before he speaks words in a foreign tongue and you blackout. 

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

“You can’t seriously trust this girl?” 

“I don’t but do you have any other witches on hand before time runs out? If we don’t consecrate them by Dawn, we will lose every chance at bringing them back.” Felix explains to his brother.

Chan was being understandably difficult.  He didn’t want to consecrate your body; he didn’t want to accept you were even gone. 

Surely it was his fault.   

He knew this.   

He allowed himself to develop a weakness for you that he never saw coming. Here, he had allowed history to indeed, repeat itself once more.

If he had not become consumed with bloodlust; he could have stopped the spell from happening.  Edith would have been back, sure, but Chan always could figure out a solution, and he would have found a way to kill her for eternity and do so while his brothers and you both remained alive. 

Jisung would’ve remained alive. 

Chan’s body had gone through cycles of tears that made his throat ache; and pure, silent disassociation throughout the night prior when they first brought you and Jisung's bodies back to the estate.

Chan proceeded to not sleep at all during the following day, rendering him weaker than usual, and when night fell once more, the time to consecrate drew near, and he feared having to face another dark reality. 

Chan was all cleaned up; twice over now. He was dressed in a black short sleeved shirt, fitted to his handsome figure and tucked into his black slacks which were secured by an awfully expensive belt with a square gold buckle. A black leather watch with a gold face perfectly wraps around his right wrist, and a collection of black rings decorate his left hand.   Chan doesn’t care much about his dark indigo hair, clean but lazily blown out and styled, he fingers through it to push it over to the side how you had seemed to like it.  If he was going to see you one last time, for an exceedingly long time, he was going to look his very best for you.    Felix steps into the living room alongside the blonde-haired witch from the shop, Emily. Chan spots them in the mirror he’s positioned in front of. Disapproving eyes scan the girl in the mirror and his expression hasn’t a hint of compassion in it. 

Quite different from the flirtatious gentleman that had graced her during his attempted infiltration. 

Chan looks down and sighs before he turns around and directs his eye contact to his snow haired younger brother. 

“Shall we begin?” He says, walking past the two hastily, making his way outside to where Hyunjin stood with the two bodies, wrapped in cloth and both resting on wooden tables outside in the fields.

Chan wordlessly ducks under the plum tree before he stands in front of the body, both of his hands clasped together in front of his torso, expression unreadable and blank. 

Hyunjin carefully observes his brother’s attempt at holding it together for a few brief seconds before he decides to speak up. 

“We’re going to bring them back brother.  And it won’t take a millennium.” He says confidently. 

Chan’s eyes flit up from the bodies to Hyunjin.  He watches the flame that burns on the fire dance in his scarlet haired brother’s eyes. 

“The fire in your eyes…it’s from the flame we’ve set tonight brother but—the flame that’s been in your eyes since you were born, that’s what I see when I look at you Hyunjin.” Chan looks back down at the fire yet again. He believes his younger brother's words. 

“You survived a hell I’ve never known, and you have a resilience I’ll never comprehend, so brother,” He tilts his head, focusing on the flames, 

“I know we will.” 

Felix and Emily join the elder brothers outside.  Chan doesn’t move much, in fact, he remains eerily still; his brown eyes, like those of a predator, begin shifting to olive, and to amber as he keeps steady watch on Emily while she whispers foreign tongues over Jisung’s body, and then yours, while anointing you both with herbs steeped in oils that spill from a golden goblet. It's engraved with intricate depictions of war and resurrection.  Her pale fingers cover most of it, but Chan had lived long enough to understand hieroglyphic-like imagery. 

He’s waiting to hear her heartbeat spike before she tries anything, he’s listening to the way blood moves through her circulatory system, he’s preparing to smell the fear increase in her.   

Why would the witch who had led him into a trap so he could be killed by her family, suddenly decide she wanted to be helpful?   

What did she gain from this? 

“Felix, could you, maybe help me out?” Emily turns to the freckled vampire, her blonde hair falling over her shoulder.  Felix had been quiet for some time now.  He joins her side as they stand over your body.  His hand rests on the small of her back as they speak in hushed whispers. 

Chan crosses his arms as he rolls his eyes, looking over at Hyunjin, who meets it with a similar sentiment before the red-haired vampire draws his lower lip in between his teeth to stop from smiling. 

“Something wrong?” Felix quietly asks Emily, noticing her hesitation over your body, the uncertainty in her eyes. Unfortunately, there was no time for such a pause.  He speaks again, “You know we have to get this done soon. If we’re to have any chance at bringing them back–” 

“That’s just it, Felix.” Emily shifts uncomfortably, looking down at her goblet.  Her voice is barely above a whisper.  “I can practically feel your brother waiting to kill me if I mess up and…something's wrong, and I don’t know what to do.  They’re both not…gone.  Not yet.  There's something...tethering them–” 

“'Something’s wrong?' What do you mean 'something’s wrong?'” Chan’s hybrid hearing doesn’t let anything slip past, and he’s approaching your body, splitting up Felix and Emily by merging between them. 

There would be no secrets held here tonight. 

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

You don’t even realize you’ve blacked out until you see the world above you fade back into focus. 

Your head feels heavy, as if you were knocked out. Were you knocked out? Had Jisung hexed you?  You don’t feel any more pain, instead, your stomach just grumbles a little. 

You realize you’re on the cold ground as you dust your hands off and come up to your feet.  Its the same spot where Jisung left you earlier.  He looked…panicked.  Where could he have gone in these woods?  It was dark all around you, and no stars in the sky above. 

In fact, it was so dark, you weren’t sure how you were still able to make out the shapes of the trees and their intricate branches. 

“JISUNG!” You call out, looking around you at the endless darkness.  You breathe heavily, waiting to hear a reply. 

“JISUNG!” You yell again, beginning to feel uneasy.   

As if someone is holding the scent right under your nose, a sweet, floral and berry smell wafts by.  You move so quick, too quick, to turn around; and you stumble over your feet from a thick chain that’s been lasso’d around your throat.  You're yanked down onto your back, your head slams against the dirt.  Your vision hazes in and out as someone hovers over you. 

When you realize it's not Jisung, you try to sit up, but are instead violently pulled down once more.  Frustration fills you until you feel an object, hard and sharp pierce the skin of your chest, causing you great pain. 

“Hey.  Don’t kill her.” 

“You said she was turning, didn’t you?” 

Jisung’s voice helps you to concentrate a little more on what’s going on.  You manage to lift your head enough to see him, holding the torch that was providing the illumination around you.  He stands a few feet away, looking between you and the woman above you. 

“No, I said I don’t know what’s going on and she could be turning.” He replies sharply.  “Take the fucking stake out of her chest, Amelia.  I won’t ask twice.” 

You weren't used to hearing such hostility in Jisung's tone. It nearly rendered his voice unrecognizable.

“Ame–lia?” You choke out.  The pressure and sharp pain is lifted from your chest, and you cough, sitting up and feeling the rusted iron chain around your neck; you curl your fingers around it as you lift it so you can take in a deep breath. 

“Jisung.  Explain.  Now.” You pant, looking at him with a fierce gaze.  He takes a step, hesitates, and then decides to come over and kneel beside you.  Amelia, with a thick, long crown of curly haired and smudged blood and dirt over her ripped shirt and pants, stands over you two, keeping a watchful eye, fingers wrapped tightly around the wooden stake in her hand.  Her dark brows are furrowed, but she also looks concerned. 

“Earlier, you, didn’t look like yourself…when you looked at me, your eyes…they reminded me of Chan right before he…turns.” Jisung’s eyes bounce over you, down your body and back up to your eyes.  “But now…” his voice trails as he shakes his head in disbelief. 

“You look…normal, I don’t–I don’t understand.” His hand lays on your shoulder.  Silence passes between you two as you look at one another, lost for words. 

“I do.” Amelia’s voice breaks the silence as she holds the stake to the bloodied hole in your shirt where she nearly pierced you moments earlier. You hold your breath, expecting another pinch, when instead, she pulls the hole open more to expose the wound.

Or rather, the lack of one.

The sinewy fibers of muscle and skin were slowly beginning to weave themselves together again. It was gradual, but happening in front of your own eyes.

You and Jisung look up to her.  Amelia sets the stake down on the ground gently, and you notice her eyes wellling with tears.  She sniffs and wipes her cheek with the back of her hand as she crouches next to you. 

“She’s pregnant.” 

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

  “Christophe, stop–” 

Chan’s fingers release Emily’s throat and she falls to the ground, gasping for air. 

“Brother, a minute, please?” Hyunjin asks in a strained voice as he jerks his head to the treeline of the forest before disappearing into it.  Chan’s fist curls at his side as his jaw flexes in barely contained hostility.  He turns to Felix as he points to Emily. 

“Finish the ceremony or I will hang her skin from your bed frame.”  

His nostrils flare briefly, and he turns on his heels and is gone in a blur after Hyunjin.  Chan catches up with his younger brother amongst the maple and pine trees.  Hyunjin is leaning his back against a thick tree trunk, arms crossed over his chest.  He wears a white V-neck and dark jeans.  His silken, cherry hair is pulled into a ponytail, with wild ruby strands framing his beautiful porcelain face.  He looks vastly different from the savage Hyunjin that was trapped in purgatory for a millenia. 

“The pretty witch was an anomaly, you know this Christophe, what if–what if Emily’s right?” 

Chan is pacing, albeit slowly between two large trees. 

“She’s fucking lying brother.  She’s lying  Little witch, she’s a–threat to Emily’s entire family for siding with us and bringing you back.  They probably told her to say this–” 

“But what if…she’s right?” Hyunjin calmly repeats, voice airy and soft. Chan’s pacing takes pause, but he doesn’t look up, not yet. 

“What if we move too hastily and actually kill her? If there is a chance she’s alive, like I was, then she’s in there fighting for her life right now to get back here, to get back to you.  And there’s a good chance Jisung is right alongside her…which means, he’s not gone yet either.” 

Hyunjin’s logic is sound, and his experience speaks volumes over it. Usually, Felix was the voice of reason, but in most cases, Hyunjin was always the one that could get through to Chan the quickest. 

“There’s no pulse in either one of them.” Chan says, and for the first time, Hyunjin finally hears just how broken he truly was. 

“I know.” Hyunjin’s voice settles over Chan like a warm blanket. Hyunjin doesn’t provide answers he isn’t certain of, but he actively acknowledges the pain his brother was experiencing.  Hyunjin pushes himself from the tree and rests his large hands on the shoulders of his elder brother. Chan stares off to the left, trying, once more, to hold it together. 

“There’s…no...pulse…” Chan repeats, as thick tears stir in his eyes and spill over the edges. Saying it aloud is breaking his heart all over again. When his chest begins to take staggered sobs that he holds firmly onto, Hyunjin pulls him into a deep embrace, hugging his brother tight. 

“It’s okay to not be okay, brother.” The younger vampire speaks delicately to Chan’s brokenness. He pulls back from the hug, and their foreheads press together. Chan’s face is streaked with the tears of his mourning; Hyunjin’s eyes shine with tears of his own, held back. He was better at disguising his emotion than Chan. Hyunjin's hands cup around the back of Chan’s neck as he sniffs back any further weeps, his gaze growing darker, more deviant, unhinged. 

“But it is not okay to let that cloud your sensibility. I want to kill the witch too, you see, but we hear her out first.  She’s more useful to us alive, especially if her family comes looking for her. Be patient, brother. You will have your revenge.” 

“But Felix–” Chan stares back at his brother, tempted by the malice in his tone. It was something Chan had grown to hate about himself. Somewhere, inside of him, there lay at rest, a monster. Something rooted deep within him loved the idea of bringing harm to others who had wronged him.  It felt too good afterwards. But he forced himself to let it go, to create as much peace as he could gather, to become a leader not by fear, but by true admiration of character.  

Chan had grown to put that part of himself away for many, many years, but now that Hyunjin was back…well...the younger sibling knew just how to bring it back out of him. 

“Felix let Amelia die in your arms so he could sire her for his own use.” Hyunjin steps back, allowing his words to take effect. 

Chan shakes his head. “What he did was, it was a mistake but–that’s our brother-” 

“That’s the truth, Christophe.” 

Emily and Felix are soon reunited with the other brothers as they emerge from the tree line. Chan strides over to Emily and squats down in front of her, his hands held together, elbow resting on his thigh. She stares at him, ready to flinch, to react, anything. 

Then, the sapphire haired hybrid finally breaks the ominous silence as he extends his hand to help her stand to her feet.  

“Tell me exactly what you need to bring my little witch and my bestfriend back.” 

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

Jisung sits in front of you on the ground. His hand rests over his mouth as he leans on his thigh and stares off into the wilderness. His brain is calculating, thinking, and processing. He looks focused, dark hair falling over his creased brows. There isn’t a hint of lightheartedness about him in this moment and you realize—this was an ultimate test of Jisung's strength. 

“How long has it been since you’ve died?” You ask, breaking his focus as he glances up at you. His expression softens and his eyes drop back down to his lap as he sighs. 

“90 years.” He murmurs, rubbing tiny pebbles from the ground between his fingertips. “It’s tough...ya’know? Humans are so...fragile.” 

“So... why haven’t you ever asked Felix or Chan to turn you?” 

He answers you with a light chuckle, a brief puff of air leaving his nose as he draws the corner of his mouth up into a crooked smile. 

“Because I am a Han.” He picks up a lone pebble and tosses it into the darkness. “My blood, it can’t take the transformation. Too much...” he waits to find the right word, “...power. And really if I’m bein’ honest--” Jisung takes a deep breath in before blowing it out. 

“Every time I come back; I feel myself getting weaker. Those hybrids and witches back at the warehouse? 90 years ago, they wouldn’t have made it past the doorframe.” He meddles with the soil in front of him once more, the curtains of his satin, ebony locks drawing the conversation to a close. 

You don’t speak for a long while, a few minutes that feel like hours. 

“I felt weird at the graveyard, like I could feel my body almost...vibrating when danger was close. Then…when I…went into the tomb I could…feel him, I could feel Chan down there even though I had no idea where he was. That wasn’t me…was it?” You finally break your long, fixed stare from the ground and look at Amelia, who was now seated on a nearby fallen tree log. It was chilly, dark, and wet, and Jisung had managed to start a fire, which was also a good sign–he still had some ability to conjure.  

“It’s not like that…you’re still–you but enhanced.” Amelia explains, her right knee hugged to her chest as her left leg hangs loosely over the edge of the log.   

She lay her cheek on her kneecap as she fixes her eyes onto the fire. 

“So, I’m not a vampire then?” You ask. 

Amelia sighs. “Not vampire, wolf, nor hybrid or witch. Until you give birth, you will carry the traits of all four. It will change the way you conjure; you will have fainting spells and grow dangerously weak if you do not feed when the moon is full.” She tosses a stray branch into the fire, and it licks higher to the sky.   

“Tis no simple task for a woman to bear, being impregnated by a hybrid and carrying his unborn to full term.” 

Jisung turns over a smooth rock in his fingers.  “But you did it.” He adds in your defense, looking across the fire to Amelia. 

“I was murdered by my own people for it. They knew I carried a child with extraordinary gifts. This will make you a target. It was irresponsible of Christophe to even allow this to happen again.” She lets out a deep breath before dropping her knee, finally leaning closer to the fire.

“You are of my bloodline; we cannot allow something like this to happen again;. Being here too long will do us more harm than good. We are no longer the only ones who know of this.” 

“What do you mean? Who else is here?” Jisung quips aloud. 

“Are you a fool?! My mother was cast back here when Hyunjin was split from her, I sent her back with my own hands. A witch of the Pavo coven birthing a hybrid is a beacon in here, I’ve told you this!” 

You feel your eyebrows drawing together as you look over at her.  “If this baby is tethering me to the real world, then how do we get out of here?” 

Amelia shakes her head, “We are not getting out of anything.  With great luck, maybe you can, and with even greater luck, Jisung can hitch a ride, but I am dead, and I have been dead for a long while. My soul will shred if I pass back over.” 

“Is this where you came in?” Amelia asks, getting to her feet and looking up at the skies above the trees that eternally stretched upwards. 

Jisung stands up and dusts himself off as he nods.  “We’ll need a few things.” 

“I have a cabin a couple of miles away; it should have everything you need.” 

A howl pierces the dead of night around you, and the three of you freeze.

You feel the hairs on the back of your neck begin to rise. 

“Go, go, now!” Amelia breaks off into a run in the direction of her cabin.  Jisung follows close behind and so do you, until you feel like you are approaching danger. 

“Stop!” You yell, breathing heavy.  “Not that way!” 

Amelia nods in understanding of your warning, but before you can reroute, Jisung is taken down by a snapping, snarling blur of black fur. Amelia’s arm extends in front of you to prevent your reflexive foolishness from jumping in without warning, and with a curl of her fingers into a tight fist, the bones of the wolf crack as it gives one, single yelp and collapses. 

Face blown with shock, Jisung sits up, touching his intact chest and neck before looking at the scratches and blood on his hands. 

A chorus of wolf yodels and calls begin to sound off, and there is no longer any more time to waste. You look around, whipping your head back and forth, focusing on which direction smelled the clearest. 

“Eucalyptus...” You take in a big breath. “I don’t understand--” 

Amelia takes a step forward with certainty as she declares, 

“My garden! Follow it!”  

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

“So you want me to believe, that an elementary witch, can open a makeshift gate to the afterlife? But to do it, all three of us have to be totally incapacitated so she can channel our power?” Chan grows more frustrated by the minute.

Before, he would’ve done anything to prolong having to give you your final farewell; but now it was late in the night, going on 3 in the morning, and within a couple of hours, Dawn would soon approach, and the opportunity would be gone. 

“As far as I know from mother’s works, it sounds like the only option we have right now.” Felix explains, “Unless you have something better?” 

Chan wants to speak but bites his tongue as he lifts a pointer finger to Felix, saying everything with the ferocity of the silence in his pissed off expression before he turns around and exhales, fingers gliding through wisps of his hair. 

“I don’t care for this method either, no matter the accuracy.” Hyunjin adds, finger to his lips as he thinks. 

“Try with Christophe and Felix, I’ll just standby.” 

Felix shakes his head in immediate protest. “Hyunjin there are four points to the gate,” he proceeds to point to himself before he goes to each person standing around, “One, Two, Three, Four.” 

“Damn it!” Chan shouts.  

The eldest brother rarely does this, and the bass in his chest causes the other two to recoil from their debate.

Chan intertwines his fingers in a nest atop his sea of hair as he brings himself back from the edge of insanity before he walks up face to face with Emily.

Breath heavy with mixed emotion, the hybrid brings his wrist up to his mouth and breaks the skin with needlepoint canines, spilling his blood as he holds his wrist out and wipes the excess from his lips with the fingers of his free hand. 

Emily scrambles to tear a piece of the cloth from around your body and Jisung's. Chan watches the baby witch as she kneels under his extended arm, catching the precious blood on the white cloth. It soaks into the fibers of the fabric instantly. She nods for Felix to approach next. He looks at Chan and they share an exchange of wordless eye contact that called for conversations to be held at a later time. 

Felix gently punctures his wrist, a lot neater, perhaps due to the thinner build of his pureblood vampire teeth. Licking his lips, he clenches his fist, soaking the cloth with his own blood before he gives Emily a small, supportive smile and steps back. 

“There is no witch worth my life.” Hyunjin speaks aloud, quite adamantly in fact.

He then takes a step forward.

“But I owe Jisung many a favor, I’ll consider this one of them.” 

Hyunjin bites into the edge of his palm and holds it over the cloth innocently, but he jerks it back into his grip, sending Emily stumbling forward, just inches away from his face. Hyunjin's ice blue eyes could be both beautiful, and terrifying.

“I am not my brothers. Do keep this in mind, useless witch.” 

[subwaysurf45]

Winter Makes Ice (Ep.3)

Summary:  you’re captured after a brawl at the Avengers building, Bucky and others must save you before Hydra makes a new Winter Soldier out of you, Bucky has given up that title.

Words: 2799

Episode: Three

Warning: not much, flashbacks, talks of violence

Masterlist! Winter Makes Ice Episode: Two

Time: 1:00pm 

Date: October 2nd 2024

It didn’t take long for everyone to board the helicopter and for it to take off, no one was lounging around this morning so they assembled quickly. Bucky sat by himself on the heli, the file was still open in his hands with the page turned to Dr. Wright. Bucky looked over the information that was given; he double and triple checked. There was a car waiting for them when they were going to arrive, Bucky would get dropped off and then Steve, Nat, and Wanda would drive around Halifax but would keep watch for a distress signal. Bucky made it clear it would only be him talking to the doctor, he was practicing his script in his head. 

“Five minutes ‘till landing,” the pilot spoke into his headset, the sound went to their ears sounding like a 1940s radio show. 

“Copy,” everyone replied without unison. 

The plane got lower and lower until it touched the ground; it was a private tarmac for primarily military forces and other important people; SHIELD was always allowed to use it. Everyone got off the plane after the propellers began to slow down, Bucky had jumped off once while they were still at top speed and got flung forward but the air. The all black car stood a ways in front of them, they all took their bags and headed over. 

“What a ride…” Steve muttered as he ran his hand against the perfect hood, this car was brand new and probably had never been in the sun before. It wasn’t a low sport car but rather an everyday car that was bullet proof and decked out with an AI on the inside, no one would take a second glance at it but the four of them marveled at how this car could fit in amongst others. The black rims matched the black tires and the black paint, this was Bucky’s dream car. 

They all got in and the ride began, Steve drove while Wanda sat in the back with Bucky, Nat was in the passenger seat playing her music. Every so often Wanda would look over to Bucky, he could see her out of the corner of his eye, she’d give a sympathetic glance and maybe open her mouth as if she was about to say something but chose against it. Bucky had Dr. Wright’s address on the file sheet; he was giving directions to Steve as they drove through the colourful houses. 

They had never seen houses like this, around four to five houses lined up next to each other, each of them were painted a different colour but they looked the same. Flowers grew in little holders under the two window sills at the front of the house, tulips were the most popular, vines would grow on the side where the sun didn’t shine too much and pain would chip around the bottom of the houses. Some houses still had Halloween decorations up, red leaves scattered on the ground and blew everywhere. There was a brown hue to the world around them, pumpkins were scattered on some door steps while other people still had Christmas lights up from last year. 

Bucky tapped Steve’s head rest and the car slowed to a stop, they looked out to their left to see a house that looked like it belonged to the community. It wasn’t modern and square with sleek grey tiles on the outside, it was old and run down. A ghost hung from the single garage light, one pumpkin was sitting on the doorstep. This house didn’t look like one of a nazi group member, nevermind just a person with their doctorate.

Tons of leaves crunched under Bucky’s combat boots, the road was littered with them, it made it seem like it was a red and yellow road. He looked both ways as he crossed even though no cars were on the road except for the military grade undercover car, Bucky looked over his shoulder to see Wanda waving. They were going to head to a farmers market in this town to pass the time, and Bucky would walk over there when he was done. He gave a thumbs up and the car drove away and down the street, he didn’t watch to see it disappear, Bucky only had one thing on his mind and it wasn’t some apple pies Wanda was looking for. 

The driveway looked new as well as the cobblestone walkway, one car was in the driveway and it looked to match the house, no crazy sports car. There was a screen door before an actual green wooden door, Bucky pulled back the screen and didn’t bother with the doorbell, he banged on the door. When he pulled his fist away there was a flake of green paint on his middle finger’s knuckle, a quick swipe and it was gone. Bucky stood back because he saw that in the movies, his back turned to the door as he looked out to the town. It was a lovely day, most people were probably at this farmer’s market, Bucky had never been to one even though you had offered to take him. 

His head whipped back at the door opening, the same man, but only older, opened the door. He looked tired and worn out, this was probably his last Halloween. The cane he was holding was shaking in his grip, the other hand gripped the side of the door extremely tight. You could see the white through the speckled skin. 

“What can I help you with, son?” the old man spoke with a smile, he licked his gums. A Canadian accent seemed almost cartoon-ish. 

Bucky froze as he looked at this man, the sight of him brought him back to his nightmares and everything he’d been through. The name ‘son’ rolled off this man’s tongue and down Bucky’s spine and sent a shiver running all through him, it was obvious this man didn’t know who Bucky was. Bucky almost felt bad that he was bothering him, it was obvious he wasn’t a walker and standing seemed to be his exercise for the day, but at the same time Bucky couldn’t help but think about all the ways he could rip this doctor apart. 

“Son?” the name came again. 

Bucky looked up with a shake of his head, “hello, are you Dr. Wright?” he asked quietly. 

“Yes it is, what do you need?” he didn’t seem freaked out that Bucky knew his name, it was a small town. 

“My name is James Buchanan Barnes,” Bucky started but the man didn’t seem to figure it out, “I am the Winter Soldier- used to be actually…” Bucky added. 

“Are you here to kill me?” the man’s voice shook, “because if you really are him then you have every right to do so,” he stepped back and opened the door for Bucky to walk in. 

“I’m here to talk, you’re not going to die.” Bucky walked in and kicked off his combat boots, he’d heard it’s a thing in Canada to take your shoes off in the house. He also heard there was bagged milk which didn’t make any sense to him, but he wasn’t about to argue. 

“That’s always good to hear, eh?” the accent slipped out again, it was weird for Bucky to see this man who haunted him just laughing. “Would you like some hot chocolate?” Dr. Wright asked as he made his way into the kitchen. 

His house was small, not many walls as one room just faded into another. Knick-knacks littered shelves and tables, everything brought a homey feel to it all, the house was very lived in. “No thanks,” Bucky waved up a hand to signal no. 

The doctor came and sat across from him, Bucky was sitting on a chair while Dr. Wright took the sofa, they both were wrapped in plastic. It made a squeaky sound when either of them moved but it didn’t seem to bother the doctor at all, Bucky one final time before swearing he wasn’t going to move again and hear that annoying sound. Both of Bucky’s hands were clasped in front of him, he felt too large and bulky for this petite chair, his fingers fiddled with each other. He’d pick and poke at the massive gloves he wore, his long sleeve was covering everything he needed. 

“So, Dr. Wright-”

“Jacob, son,” he corrected, “though I am a doctor,” Jacob hesitated, “I go by Jacob.”

“Is that your real first name?” Bucky asked, he was met with a smile and nod, “then call me Bucky, please.” Bucky smiled back, there was a growing tension between the both of them but they chose to ignore it. 

“Nice to meet you, Bucky.” Jacob seemed to relax at the name, he was scared of Bucky and Bucky could tell. This man had seen Bucky train for years on end, and Jacob knew what the Winter Soldier was capable of. “What do you need to talk to me about?” his cane rested beside him, his hand found its way there and just held it. 

“I need to talk to you about Hydra, any information you have on the Iceland base- or any base in Halifax, Iceland, Greenland, and there’s one more…” Bucky brought a gloved hand to his stubbled chin, the leather making a rough noise when it brushed against the facial hair. “Oh! It was Newfoundland, anything you knew about those four places.” 

Jacob thought for a moment, he didn’t have stubble to rub. Though he was old it was obvious he still thought that it was the old days, hair slicked back and a very fresh shave, facial hair wasn’t allowed unless you had grown it out in private. Bucky had always remembered Howard Stark’s mustache; he couldn’t picture him without it. 

“I mean, I was just a scientist, I ran labs and tested things on animals. I didn’t come up with the world ending plans, I was never told the reason for what I was doing, I was just told to do it.” Jacob sounded worried, “when I used to work for Hydra I was worried for my life everyday, they were so paranoid all the time that someone could be a rat. If you said ‘hail Hydra’ a little too quietly then you’d have a bullet between your eyes, I just kept my head down and did what I was told.” Jacob’s hand got increasingly tighter on the handle of his cane. 

“Was there something new they were working on?” Bucky asked, and he pulled out a little flip book to keep track. 

“I quit a total of ten years ago, when I was seventy-one, the only thing they were thinking of was keeping you in their grasp, there was no other plan.” Jacob shrugged, “Hydra couldn’t see a life source without you, they never intended on losing you the way they did.” 

“So you have no idea what they could possibly be working on, at all?” the hope Bucky had was falling, this was the only lead they knew and if all he could say was there was never a plan B, you were screwed.

“I’m sorry Bucky, I really want to help, but I just don’t know.” Jacob stood and walked back to the kitchen. He filled a glass of water and grabbed three pills from a container before heading back over to his seat. 

“Out of the four places I mentioned, Iceland, Greenland, Halifax, and Newfoundland,” Bucky paused and watched Jacob mutter them to himself and then take the pills, “which one is the strongest?”

Jacob swallowed his pills with water, “Iceland.” without any hesitation, no second guess, nothing giving away he was lying for didn’t know. “Iceland was hell for me, it has the best of the best for agents, scientists, and…” he glanced out the window, “cells and tourture.” 

Bucky shot up right away, he headed to the door. Jacob followed him, glass still in his hand. When Bucky was about to leave Jacob placed a hand on his shoulder. When Bucky turned back around the hand traveled along the center of his chest, “I'm not wired, Jacob.” Bucky eased. 

“Some things just come second nature, son.” Jacob kept his head down, “y’know, I never wanted to hurt you. I thought I was making my old man proud, but I never stopped to realize what I was doing was actually wrong.” Jacob looked up with glossy eyes, “I actually wanted to find you at some point because I know I was the one who woke you up last, I remember clearly the way you looked, right then, I knew I needed to leave that place.” Jacob shuffled over and stood completely square to Bucky, Bucky just looked down at Jacob with a face of horror. The man Bucky saw every night was crying and apologizing to him, he didn’t know anyone who worked with Hydra had a heart. “I’m sorry for everything I did to you,” Jacob reached in his back pocket, he had placed the glass of water on a side table. “Here, take some money-”

“No, none of that, Jacob, really,” Bucky held his hands out, “you’re forgiven, don’t worry about all that, I just need to find someone.” Bucky reached for the door. 

“What do you mean?” Jacob fished in his wallet. 

“Hydra stole my girlfriend, I think she's in Iceland.” Bucky’s eyebrows knitted together at Jacob who was given him a coin. 

“I think you’re right,” Jacob dropped the coin in Bucky’s palm before closing the door, the screen door creaked as it shut quickly with the wind. 

Time: 2:33pm

Date: October 2nd 2024

Steve, Nat, and Wanda were walking around on the closed road, stands of every fruit and pastry lined the streets. Wanda was on top of the moon, she had a tote bag with some apple turnovers in them, that was really all she wanted. Nat had actually bought something too, Steve was genuinely surprised when Nat bought some earrings from a vendor, they were very small and dainty moons that would go in her ear lobes. Steve didn’t buy anything but just liked walking around, there was a lot to see but in a good way, no screens or jumbotrons, just people being people. 

As Bucky made eye contact with Steve, Steve’s phone rang. Nat and Wanda rushed up to Bucky and were asking how it went, but the unknown caller was what Steve was focusing on. 

“Steve Rogers,” Steve lowered his voice. 

“Captain Rogers,” an all too familiar voice hit his ear. 

“King T’Challa?” Steve turned his back to the group. 

“We have three Hydra agents in custody, they tried to take out my sister,” his accent flowed and bounced as he talked.

“Keep them in the cells, we’re on our way.” 

“Will there be more of them?” T’Challa asked before he could hang up. 

“I don’t know, but hold them and don’t kill them, they might be our only hope.” Steve said his goodbyes and hung up. 

When he turned back to Bucky and the rest of them, they seemed scared, Bucky had overheard Steve’s call, super hearing, and was looking at him weird. 

“What was that?” Bucky asked. 

“King T’Challa, says there was an attempted hit on Shuri, doesn’t know where they came from but they want her.” Steve shoved his phone in his back pocket, “what did you find?” 

Bucky just held up a silver coin, “we’re going to Iceland.” 

“We need to go to Wakanda,” Steve stepped forward. 

“Not all four of us,” Nat pulled everyone aside from the farmer’s market, “I’ll go with Steve to Wakadna, you go with Wanda to Iceland. We’ll be talking and before you ambush the Hydra base in Iceland we’ll confirm y/n is in there, deal?” She looked to the other three. 

“Deal.”

“Deal.”

“Deal.”

Winter Makes Ice tag list: @small-death-and-codeine​ @commonintrest​ @buckyys-doll​  @lil-baby-nor

let me know if you want a tag!

[overmorrowpine]

colors (look up complimentary colors! good combinations are similar blocks (diorite & calcite & white concrete powder, prismarine bricks & oxidized copper & stripped warped stem, etc) and mismatching blocks for aesthetics (deepslate & oxidized copper like mumbo's s9 base, birch & cyan concrete & stone brick)).

for blackstone, block palates i'd use are blackstone (bricks or cracked bricks)/honey block/calcite with a little gilded blackstone or deepslate gold ore if you can get it (lanterns as preferred light source), blackstone (polished or bricks)/warped stem/quartz or white concrete with a few sea lanterns if you can get them (sea lanterns or soul lanterns as preferred light source), blackstone (polished or bricks)/mangrove planks/red terracotta with deepslate redstone ore for accents if you can get it (lanterns for preferred light source).

shapes (don't just do rectangles and flat walls. you know those worksheets in early geometry that's like "here's three shapes put together"? make builds shaped like that. put flower boxes on your windowsills. make pillars running up the sides of your houses with wall blocks. add trapdoors for foundation layer or above your door. have the roof overhang so it shelters a block or two away from your house. add buttons in rows along the walls. add banners or trapdoors for shutters.)

shapes i'd recommend are rectangles that have smaller rectangles sticking off (think entrance hall sticking out of the main building), two rectangles connecting slightly offset at a corner, or a large rectangle with a circular tower, but even a simple square house can look great with an entrance hall and a balcony.

texturing. if you want a larger build to look good from far away, texturing is your new best friend. remember the calcite/diorite/white concrete powder from the first example? you can get an AMAZING white wall by mixing those three together randomly. stone/andesite/gravel, prismarine/copper/warped stem, blackstone/coal block/black concrete powder, just get three blocks of the same ish color and go ham.

interior. good things to fill a space with are bookshelves, flowerpots (the little ones), looms, crafting tables, "couches" (stairs), and tables (slabs). kitchen-specific means go ham on the furnaces; they look like ovens, and with a blackstone pressure plate on top it like like stoves. add barrels, a (waterlogging optional) quartz stair facing the wall for a sink, trapdoors for shelves. if you have pets, place them around the house decoratively. if you have two floors, make the ceiling of the first have "rafters" of logs, and top-slabs for the second story's floor. carpets are a way to make a space look more colorful without doing much at all. barrels are a much nicer looking alternative to chests. hang cool banners from the walls, add paintings, add flowers in pots on shelves. go into a creative world, look at the decoration blocks, and try to match them to a real world thing you'd see in a house.

also, pillars of support-beams go a LONG way. outline the corners of your house in logs, then fill in everything else. the lowest block of your first floor walls being a different block, stone or brick or stripped logs, means it looks like a foundation of the house.

and also, just,, remember You Will Get Better. i used to only be able to build with stone bricks and spruce, and now i'm giving building advice hslfhdkfhsjd. the ability to see blocks for their texture and color, not their purpose, is a skill and one that takes a LONG time to get. you know floors of smithing tables or bee nests? that sort of thinking will come eventually. i've been building stuff in minecraft for maybe four years now and i'm still not that good. so. just keep going i prommy you'll get there

blackstone is such a pretty block it makes me wish i knew how to build

[aidanezra]

Cybermen? Really? (Part Five)

A/N: Again, today's gif has nothing to do with the chapter, Ten and cats are just my current favorite thing :) Anywho, I really enjoyed writing this even though it took me a good bit to get started, I love it so much. I hope you all enjoy it as much as I did writing it! I hope you all have a fantastic day/morning/evening/night etc! Also it's in readers POV unless otherwise stated!

Theme: Angst ish? A bit o banter and successful destroying of my most hated Doctor Who creature.

Setting: The Doctor and Y/N finally defeat the Cybermen who took over St Albans, but victory comes at a cost.

Fandom: Doctor Who

Pairings: Tenth Doctor x Gn!Reader

Warnings: swearing, mentions of pain and injury, think that's it.

Words: 1,404

Tags: @bittersnowflake @dontbelasanedw

Part (One) (Two) (Three) (Four) (Six) (Seven)

---

Running out of the Tardis, yet again, I grab hold of Ten's hand before he gets too far ahead. "So how are we supposed to get these things?" I ask him, my heart pounding--practically beating out of my chest.

"Find their main power source and destroy it. They'll all shut down, and there won't be any power for them to create more Cybermen, in the chance a few survive. And if only a few survive, we can take them down ourselves." He tightens his grip on my hand as we turn a corner, entering the town square. We head towards the Town Hall, smack dab in the middle of town.

"Why here?" I stop him, pulling on his hand. He looks forward to the older building, surrounded by newer ones.

"Middle of town. Perfect place for a central power source." He looks back to me, then shoots me a cheeky grin. Man, did I miss that.

"Allonsy?"

"Allonsy!" He pulls my hand with him, running to the doors as he stops to pull out his sonic. Letting go of my hand, he does the usual routine, pull it out, press the button, sonic it, boom--unlocked. He grabs ahold of my hand again, pulling me through the double doors.

I look around the room, stepping away from him a moment to help in finding access to the basement. Maybe an attic as well. My head starts to pound, my brain feeling almost mushy. I close my eyes shut as pain surges through my body and mind. I try to brush it off, going back to what I was previously doing. Looking around yet again, I spot a starwell access to the right, and I smile, letting out a laugh of triumph.

"There! Found one!" I look over to Ten, my hand pointing to the spot I found and he grins at me.

"Brilliant!"

I open the door for him, and he runs through the door and down a very rickety looking set of stairs. Stairs I will be carefully stepping down. I step down, watching my feet as I make each step. Being sure to avoid any cracks or gaps in the wood, with a tight hold on the railing.

"Y/N?" The Doctor yells for me from somewhere down in the basement, he must've run off before I could see him.

"I'm taking my time! Unlike you!" The moment I step off the stairs and onto the stone floor, my head begins to feel even more cloudy and pained. As if someone hit me in the head with a mallet. I hiss in pain, curling down into the fetal position. "Fuck."

"Y/N?" He calls for me again, but this time the sound is closer. I have my hands over my head, shielding my eyes from any light, and muffling any sounds in the process. I feel a hand on my shoulder, and I shudder. Its cold, the touch is cold.

I look up, letting my eyes graze upon the person stood in front of me. Everything is colored in a sheer golden light. Everything looks so beautiful, so shiny.

"Y/N, are you okay?" The man who stands in front of me, kneels down to where I'm sat.

"Who are you?" I ask, my head tilting in genuine curiosity. His brown eyes blow wide, and he steps back, nearly hitting the wall in the process. He stands, sighing in frustration as he runs off.

I stay there, curled up on the floor. It hurts to move, but I don't know why. My eyes feel like they're made of glass, as if they'd shatter if I used them too long. It all hurts, my body hurts so much. And I don't know why.

The man comes running back a moment later, his hand reaching down for me to take. He seems so familiar, so friendly, so I take his offer, grabbing his hand as he pulls me to stand in front of him. I press my hand to my forehead, my head pounding in agonizing pain.

He pulls me along, running up the stairs and without a second thought, I follow with even more agility than him. He pushes open the door at the top of the stairwell just before we make a turn left and out of this old building. I collapse at the bottom of the steps, hitting the ground hard. I shut my eyes, only a small bit of light seeps through my eyelids. Red light is all I can see before everything goes black.

----

Hissing in pain, I put my hand on my head, moving to sit up. I feel a hand gently push me back down, and I instantly know who it is. Now, where I am is a whole other story. Because I have absolutely zero clue.

"Ten?" I call for him, my voice coming out only as a strained whisper.

"Mm?" He asks and I sigh in relief, I knew it was him but there's always a piece of me that fears I'm wrong and that it isn't him. I open my eyes for a brief moment before instantly regretting it, shutting them closed in response to the pain using them caused.

"Nothing, just wanted to make sure it was you." I move my hands to cover my eyes, blocking out any and all light. Then I hear him shuffle a bit, metal clanking together and the mechanical beeping paired with the clicking of a keyboard.

"It wouldn't be anyone else." I can hear the smile in his voice as he moves towards me yet again, gently resting his hand on my shoulder.

"Don't be so sure of yourself, you never know." I remove my hands from my eyes to look over at him, I only open one eye, which I notice is much better than two. I shut my eyes again a moment later, what little pain it causes in comparison to two eyes open, still too unbearable.

"Mm, maybe. How do you feel?" He asks, his voice softening into a barely audible whisper--if you were across the room. Next to him, I can hear anything he says as clear as day. Throw in the sound of his breaths and his hearts beating softly, and that's all you'll be able to think about.

"Absolutely horrid." I breathe out, trying to ignore how impossibly close he must be. Only out of necessity. I remind myself. "What happened?"

"The Cybermen had some of the remaining Altron energy stored in their power source, when you got near it, it enhanced what you had inside you. And your body couldn't handle it." He sighs, moving his hand to rest on my cheek, I place my own hand atop his.

"Oh I hate those metal fuckers." I laugh, my hand tightening around his, subconsciously prompting him to gently stroke my cheek. I smile against the touch, bathing in the calmness he's brought me, simply by being here.

"I hate them even more," he pauses, sucking in a sharp breath, letting it out in a single shaky movement. "I don't know what it did to you, I'm trying to figure that out. But I've gotten no where."

"At least I'm not dead." I shoot him a cheeky grin as I attempt to open my eyes again, this time being able to squint a little, just long enough to see the smile creeping up on his face.

"At least you're not dead," He pauses and I quickly butt in before he has a chance to say the next part;

"And I'm not, so end of story."

"Yeah, you're right."

"Can you turn the overhead light off?" I ask him, letting my hand fall from where it laid upon his. I hear him shuffle a bit, the warmth he radiated quicky leaving my side, following wherever he went. He comes back, sitting in the chair beside me. I'm able to open my eyes fully, still not quite able to look around much, but at least I can look at him.

"Ten?" I ask him, reaching my hand out to him as I turn to face him. Laying on my side I stare straight at him, anticipating whatever he will say next. Could be a monologue, could be a simple answer.

He takes my hand in his, and smiles, "Yes?"

"Thank you."

"For what?" His eyebrow perks up, a small grin dawned on his lips.

"Saving me."

<- Previous || Next ->

[theregoesmylurkerstatus]

SPOILERS AND ASSUMPTIONS FOR CAMPAIGN 1!

OKAY, let me start by categorising what spoilers I know as best I can, going (mostly) in chronological order AFAIK:

Clarota betrays them (VERY sad, when I first watched those first 10-ish episodes I was fully behind Keyleth’s ‘trust him’ train)

Vax loses a foot to lava and also his snake belt rip

Kima and Allura are the cool, trustworthy PCs, as is everyone’s favourite, Gilmore, a shopkeep with a black belt in karate

The dragonborn guy’s homeland gets dunked on and then later he dies offscreen

Percy’s sister is alive and betrays them but only kind of? I think? She was held captive by the Briarwoods for years and Percy thought she was dead, but she was blackmailed/brainwashed/tortured?

Vax gets cornered by the Briarwoods alone by accident (classic)

There’s a chick called Ripley who makes guns A Thing for the wider world

Something about a sun tree? It’s a creepy tree? They hallucinate their own corpses on it? Or something?

They probably kill one of the hottie vampires at the end of Percy’s arc, I think the male one? Because the lady vampire shows up later?

Percy dies in his arc and it’s the second res ritual they do, after Pike’s one pre-stream

“Take off the mask, darling.” I still don’t care about romance but I feel obligated to mention that I know that famous line

I also know the equally famous “I thought he’d never leave” bubble bath bit, ah Laura

There’s a CHROMA CONCLAVE attack right at the end of Percy’s arc, somewhere

Rashian is a dragon or something, everyone laughs at Liam for not knowing this. I know nothing else about who the Chroma conclave is (3-5 chromatic dragons??? One of each colour????) or what they want, except Vax levels up in the middle of fighting one and Keyleth yells at one

There are communication earrings. There is also a weird black powder man. Victor?

They actually have a permanent home/keep unlike the Mighty Nein?

Vex dies because Percy didn’t check for traps, this is the start of some deal of Vax’s with the Raven Queen which means he multiclasses into paladin?

Vax can fly, he can fly, he can fly!

Uhhhh there’s a couple cursed swords or something in there lol

Percy sells his soul briefly? Genius move Smart Guy lmao

Feywild??? Somehow????? They meet Artagan and make a deal with him for a doorway, and they spend an episode as cows somewhere in here?

Keyleth has Mom Trauma, I don’t know how much this will feature in the campaign

Vax and Vex’s dad suxxx or something, mother is dead

Scanlan hits on his surprise daughter and everyone screams

They have some kind of year long adventuring group break for some reason?

Keyleth makes a storm on an airship (???) and this is cool. Also she turns into a fire elemental a lot and this is also cool.

There’s a kraken fight? It goes really badly, like LEGENDARILY badly, and ngl I’m kind of looking forward to it

Scanlan #LOSESIT and has his legendary ‘what’s my mother’s name?’ rant, after which he leaves for an undetermined number of episodes and is replaced by Tary

This leads to Grog spelling C-A-T for some reason and this???? Makes people cry???????? Truly something you had to be there for

Pike tries to commission drawings of VM for Tary (who calls Vex “little elf girl” and braces for impact when Laura’s nostrils flare) and this goes Very Wrong in a funny way

Tary’s dad sucks

He writes a book

Some NPC reads said book in campaign 2, hence why I know about it

Grog has an arc to do with the other Goliaths who beat him up for defending Pike’s dad?

When Scanlan comes back he tries to sneak in, Vex chases him and he panics and casts modify memory on Vex, it fails several times, an angsty moment becomes comedic very fast

He is received with Mixed Emotions lmao

Keyleth turns into a goldfish and kills herself, this is both apparently extremely painful and extremely funny

Vax gets disintegrated and dies in a beholder fight (rip)

Gilmore is not a dragon but everyone was fully convinced he was. He also gets bodysnatched or something at some point to freak out VM, but they figure out very quickly it’s not him

Scanlan is Ioun’s chosen? Whatever that means, something to help fight Vecna I think

“It was an honour knowing you” sad! Sad! Sad line! Gilmore doesn’t understand, cheekily responds, and leaves!!!! Liam looks on the verge of tears!!!!!! SAD!!!!!

There are so many true love nat 20s. I don’t know what any of them are except that Pike has one and Ashley looks like she’s about to cry

They win the Vecna fight and Keyleth gets the HDYWDT, Scanlan wanted to save a Wish spell for Vax but couldn’t, so he stays dead

Everyone cries here but at least the rest of the party is okay

Keyleth is the last woman standing and everyone cries at this too

And then Grog uses the deck of many things, spawning two oneshots to clean up his mess

Also somewhere in here Vex steals a broom from a guest (lol)

Assumptions!!!!!

More tears than campaign 2 I think, since there are at least two resurrection rituals we see on screen that I know of

The fights might be more stressful since they’re higher level?

Scanlan is going to be the most sexual and lewd character because he is played by Sam

Vex is going to be the second most sexual and lewd character because she is played by Laura

Vax will still instigate most of the one-on-ones so Liam can have as many heavy conversations as his theatre kid’s heart desires

Keyleth will try and fail to make the group more moral

Pike will not try to be moral at all despite being four feet of blessed armour and adorable hair

I think other characters try to make Percy feel remorse for Murder Reasons, but I suspect he’s not going to feel that guilty (I will likely support him in murderous endeavours unless they are FAR more messed up than I currently believe)

From what I understand Grog is Loveable but not hugely layered or complex, and I know Travis was proud he didn’t cry this campaign. I suspect I may be surprised at the character depth Travis gives him, however.

Keyleth also thinks the gods are overrated and I AGREE

Percy is three feral and eldritch raccoons in a trench coat, held together only by sheer force of will and the fragile shell of a posh accent. No one notices because it’s a really cool accent.

There will be a lot more money/shopping/drinking elements than in campaign 2, since I know Vex is a haggler, Percy is a Lord, and Keyleth is a day-drinker? As are Grog and Scanlan

It will be funny for me to see Taliesin play a smart character and Travis a dumb one, though I know that the whiplash went the other way for most people lmao

Vox Machina will be less team-heavy than the Mighty Nein? I gather they’re more of an ‘individual hero’ makeup than an ‘everyone has support abilities’ makeup

It will be more fast-paced than campaign 2? It seems like a lot of the arcs lead directly into each other, with only the occasional shopping episode break

It feels like it might be less friendship heavy than the Mighty Nein? Like they seem more like ‘we’d die for each other’ pals who otherwise spend all their time trying to draw dicks on each other’s faces

They have a more clear “party leader” than the Mighty Nein, who might be Percy and/or Keyleth

I think most PCs and NPCs are more morally clear cut than in campaign 2, like most towns and people in positions of power are either “cool guy who can pitch in” or “get rid of this abomination immediately” territory

I think my favourite character will be Vex, Percy or Keyleth. I just feel it in my bones. 

I think I may also get an extreme soft spot for Grog and Pike, however

My main sources of surprise will be, I think, how things fit together? Like I have no idea WHY they’re in the Feywild, or most other places really, or what any villains’ motivations and backstories and personality traits are, and how they end up fighting any of them in any particular place for any particular reason. I don’t even really know characters’ abilities or literally anything done in any of the fights, aside from “they win/nearly die” and “Scanlan uses Wish and Bigby’s Hand against Vecna”

I assume most plot threads all lead into each other fairly solidly and that they don’t actually seek most of their stuff out?

This assumption will either be fairly right or hilariously wrong, but -- I assume that I already know almost everything important or shocking? I tried really hard to avoid it but being active in campaign 2 meant that over time I got exposed to more and more of campaign 1, and I genuinely believe that I have almost everything down, if not details or order. I don’t think I’ve missed any big moment or impactful arc

Let’s see if I’m right

[prof-peach]

Out of all of the pokemon you have taken care of, which one do you think it was the hardest to deal with? Be cuz they were in a pretty bad shape, or just personality wise?

We get rumbunctious and rowdy Pokemon all the time, our works nature brings them to us probably more than any other issue, outside of grass Pokemon care and management. Anger and nervousness is something we have a good hold of here, and try to help iron out of various species. I do a lot of that work, and on occasion, Grey will do the odd water type with these problems, as I tend to shy away from those. For the most part, they are short stint stays, a couple months, to a couple years helping them to rewire their anger into a more productive feeling or energy. That being said, there’s alwasy the odd Pokemon who comes our way who’s just a step above the rest. So here’s some stories of the ones who have had to stay with us, for their temperament and behaviour.

On the north side of the island, we house the biggest, meanest Pokemon, and the individuals who are very timid and nervous around people. We do this to ensure they have space to live undisturbed in peace, but also to protect guests and visitors from being eaten, crushed, blasted, or otherwise harmed. Some of the northern residents are difficult yes, but most are just stroppy or uncomfortable with the majority of humans, but there are a handful that are actively engaged in harming or hunting people.

One such Pokemon is a rather nasty tempered Drampa, he came to us about five or so years ago now, kindly donated by being abandoned on our shores, it’s original trainer leaving the ball and hopping on a boat without alerting us, or letting the individual know. We figured it would be possible to rehome it, they’re usually a rather reasonable Pokemon to handle, considering their typing. We were wrong. This Pokemon when let out of the ball, went on a monsterous rampage for four days, destroying forests, toppling buildings, blasting holes in the mountain to try to burrow away, and picking fights with anything it’s size or bigger, often causing great harm to others. The island didn’t rest for that entire time, most Pokemon cowering from it, bigger species trying to halt them, all in vain. It took an entire troop of grass Pokemon using sleep powder to knock it out, the Drampa moved about so fast, one single grass type didn’t stand a chance to produce enough spores in time. It took a lot of work but we knocked the old boy out, and got a good look at him. His body was riddled with arthritis, not medicated, he would thrash about and cause himself so much pain and discomfort. He had overgrown nails, the feet hidden in the fur they have around their torso, often overlooked, and it’s ability to fly was limited because of its general condition and state. We began helping it, medicating it’s aislments, aiding it’s inflamed joints, but it never really calmed down, so now it chills out alone on the coast of the north side, left well alone, it doesn’t even like the company of other Pokemon.

We’ve done our best to interact with it, to socialise it, to generally get it use to people enough to do medical checks, but it’s still very resistant. We have decided that after two years of hard work, and it being tolerant to me, at least to check it’s health and wellbeing, that it’s best to let it live it’s life unbothered. Many would push a Pokemon to be a perfect social being, but we don’t believe it’s necessary for happiness. Some species are happy to be away from others, I wouldn’t push a human to be social, I know how awful that can be, so we didn’t force the individual to be around others either. It’s not that it’s unhappy, we spot it from time to time sitting on the rocks by the ocean, humming to itself, and the small pidgey and tailow that come by don’t bother it, and even give mild brief conversation. He seems ok, the medicine given means he’s in less pain, despite still having stiffness, and in the winter we’ve built him a unique space, rocky cover much like a cave, just above a Macargo hide where they lay eggs. The heat from those Pokemon keep its cave very hot, and help in the cold to ease the joint aches. The two species have different entrances, making sure they never meet within the hide at any point. There’s a good slab of rock dividing them, so it’s not an issue, and saves us having to pipe hot water over that far for him. He eats well, has a few items he’s kept from the labs, a toy sentret, and a large red ball, and generally is in a good place to live out his life in peace now.

Another difficult member would be a particularly timid Slazzle, gifted to us by a police member who had confiscated it from a rather mean individual close to her home town, they had been hurting the poor Pokemon, forcing it to produce an insane amount of poison liquid, throwing water on the poor thing every time it tried to ignite to retaliate, generally abusing the poor thing for its life, apparently it had been locked away since it was a young unevolved Pokemon. They’d been harvesting the poisons from the Slazzle and dropping it into various water sources to try to control the local Pokemon population, as they blamed the wild ones for the state of their land, and diminished crops yield from their allotment. Jokes on them, that water poisoning affected them too, and their garden died very quickly, and made the man quite sick through consumption of the crops he grew there. The slazzle is still very skittish, will hide at any given moment, we’ve seen her ignite an entire building in one move, and then bolt away through the flames to lose our line of sight. She managed to stay hidden for two weeks on the island, before we caught sight of her again. Generally she’s just a case fo neglect but we have been working with her now for a long while, 3 ish years, and her temperament is at least manageable amongst our staff. We have found her others of her kind to help her settle, and she’s become good friends with a Wartortle who came from the same area, they bond over memories of the place, and seem very happy in each others company.

We’ve found ways to keep her grounded, but she never goes near people when we have open days, slinks off through the big fence to the north side, and waits out the visiting hours until night. They’re not usually nocturnal but she likes the night, and spends her time looking about, foraging and feeding in the later hours. If you’re quiet you can catch her moving around the forests and the base of the mountains here, talking with the occasional individual, she seems to enjoy Murkrow too, their company seems to keep her quite social, as they usually move in large flocks here. She may never be rehomed, but for now we try to socialise her, we don’t battle her, and she has a very calm and peaceful nook to go to when she’s having a rough time. We make sure to provide support where possible, and though she’s a little skittish she’s somewhat happy to have myself and Grey, even Pari take a look at any wounds or scrapes she may gain while living here. She’s become trusting enough to come to us if we call, and who knows, maybe someone will come our way who she takes an interest in. There’s hope for her yet, we have however become quite fond of her, and she’s part of the furniture now. It may end up that she never leaves, and lives her life in peace here, surrounded by people and Pokemon who love her. Her panic makes her very difficult to pass to another trainer, and she’s prone to spitting up huge quantities of toxic liquid when spooked, and bolts at a slight bang or rumble.

One I have kept back for a number of reasons, is a rather mean tempered Aerodactyl. Normally we get Pokemon sent to us, but this one I ended up finding myself, some circus had her chained up in a box hardly big enough to turn around in, an attraction to the masses as they travelled through the area. The leader of that troop was particularly awful, treating Pokemon as commodities, items to be bought and sold, used as toys in his big performances. Boiled my blood. We called her Zeplin, and after 12 years she has still got a nasty temper on her, when not focused on a task. Her condition when we first found her was quite something, tattered wings, unable to fly straight at all, and she was littered with cuts and bruises, not in good health. Val has melted the chains that bound her, and the lock in her cage, and she just went, like a bat out of hell, flew off, blasting the tent that hid her quarters, burning a lot of the circus as she went. Little did I know, my foot was in one of the chain links, and I got dragged off with her, the ground, Val, all my other team mates, falling from my pocket, or being left on the floor where we had once been standing. She flew, and kept going, not aware I was still attached, you could see her wings were having a hard time catching the breeze, littered with holes and tears, she went for about two hours, I nearly froze that high up, trying to get a good grip on what chain was left so I didn’t come falling from that height. We came to a very sudden crash landing, she hadn’t had much chance to practice the whole take off - land thing from the feel of it, we both ate dirt, and she became very aware that I was there all of a sudden.

I had about three seconds while she assessed my presence, to get out of the chain, and dive behind a rock that gave me cover from an almighty blast of energy, chipping away bits, catching my arm a little. Trust me when I say, it’s terrifying coming face to face with something that stands a fair few meters taller than you, with more teeth and claws than you’re comfortable with dealing with, with none of your Pokemon, no weaponry, no real plan or cover other than a rock. How she didn’t eat me, I don’t know. Perhaps she knew it was me that let her go, maybe she just ran out of energy, but for whatever reason, she made a few bits and tail lashes at me, missed the lot, and gave up, turning to stomp off into the forests around us. She was still shackled with heavy irons, one on the neck, two on the legs, and was in serious condition, so I did the stupid thing and followed her, tried to sneak my way behind, though every now and then she would look towards me, and try to focus on my form in the dark of night now. It was a few days, she had stalked some prey, fed, and was starting to ooze from some wounds. Though the circus was unkind, they were providing her with medication that stopped further infections occurring, perhaps a scarred beast of great size drew more punters, maybe they were just making sure she survived to make them money, I still don’t know.

I hunted herbs, dug out roots with rocks, used river water, and common berries and managed to fashion some kind of salve, nothing amazing, especially back at that age, but it would work, I knew it would because I used it on my own wounds first. Just had to convince her it was a good thing to let me get close. Not an easy task. We physically brawled, she was clearly spent, not able to use any attacks, just thrashing about, I managed to trip her with the chains still attached to her legs, and once downed, you can jump on the head of these Pokemon to keep the jaws shut, just long enough to lather the wounds you can reach, then bolt fast. It was a small act, but she took off running again. With some wounds sort of cared for, I followed again, fishing for dinner, forraging roots to chew on. It wasn’t much but it kept me going, then one night, where I had climbed to a crook of a large tree, using my jacket to tie myself in for a nights sleep, I was awoken by loud rustling, thudding of feet, and a mighty huff.

Below where I sat, the Pokemon had returned, being no doubt well aware of my presence, following the smell of human, she had noticed the salve do a good job on the wounds I managed to reach, but the ones I couldn’t get near had become far worse, red, inflamed and weeping terribly, no doubt hurting and itching. I’d seen her rubbing her sides in the day, itching gasinst rocks and trees, smearing blood and ooze along her path as she trudged. So here we were, alone in the woods, I veeeeery carefully climbed down, staying in cover as much as possible, and over the space of an hour or two, she let me come out into the open, teeth bared yeah, but she hadn’t attacked, and other than a very uncomfortable, low growl, she allowed me to creep closer, some more of that salve made more for my own wounds than hers, being sniffed at, she licked it too, but wasn’t happy with the taste, very bitter, and I was cautiously optimistic, allowed to help her heal the rest of the cuts she had acquired from her old home. So we began our....I want to say friendship but that wasn’t it, it was a collaboration to survive.

We had landed somewhere far from others, I missed my team, and she had never experienced anything outside of the cage, and so we banded together, tentatively. We caught dinner as a team, and climbed for fruits, foraged for berries, reapplying what loose form of medicine I managed to make, before coming to some kind of comfortable companionship together. A week passed, wandering without a clue where we were, before a path was found, she seemed to want to avoid it, and while I wasn’t keen on people much either, it was impossible not to want to find my team again. They needed me, and I needed them. If they had been found, a police officer or the likes may have sent them to my original professor, waiting to be called from the PC system again, but knowing Val, she had grabbed the balls, my things, and bolted to hide, waiting for my return. In desperation I tried to explain this to the Aerodactyl, who had not experienced a trainers care before, and seemed reluctant to return.

It was only upon mentioning revenge, to burn the circus to the ground, that I regained her attention, and we came to a slow agreement to get aid, gather items, and return to where she had been released from. She waited in the forest while I went to town, checking my PC space to see if my team had been handed in, which they had! It was lucky, I was reunited with Val (vulpix), Booker (teddiursa), and Potato (bulbasaur) who I took back, and returned to the woods with.

We had to get some revenge, and in turn we devised a plan to free the Pokemon first, sneak in and pick the locks, melt the chains and gates, and then finally, let the aerodactyl do her thing once the vulnerable individuals were loose. I did my best to hold back my own personal rage, and simply aid the demise of a group who were awful towards Pokemon through this one big flying type. I wint go into details but no one perished in the fire, they were arrested and charged for unsafe work conditions, and abuse towards Pokemon, not to mention false advertising, having no worker’s Compensation in pace for injury, which many staff complained of, and several incidents of sexual harassment in the work place that were brought to light.

Once one started to talk, the others all joined in, and the fire was put down to unsafe working conditions and a lack of health and safety. From what I heard, the whole circus worth of Pokemon were rehomed, helped and generally lived much better lives after that. However now we had one very mistrusting angry Aerodactyl on our hands, a Pokemon I had not worked with before, who had seemingly become quite tolerant of me, but would snap at just about anyone who clocked eyes with her. So I kind of just kept her, no ball, not for a fair few years, we both didn’t think it was important. She was nursed back to health, and we had to go through a lot of training together, she bit booker once quite badly, but we’ve all put that in the past, and have worked on it together.

She is still testing, she won’t be ridden by anyone else, she doesn’t care for other Pokemon much, crowds will spook her, she doesn’t like when people talk with raised voices or hostile tones, and gets real irritable if you come at her in any kind of way that isn’t open handed, calm and slowly. She’s now a very capable flier, wings healed up, spending her first half of life locked up made her long for the open sky, so now we take time together to go off and ride winds when work is slow, and she’s helped in many ways to make the island functional, by moving logs, clearing paths, helping lift building materials around, and generally being there for me when I’m full of rage, which is actually annoyingly often. We’re anger buddies hah, kind of get on the same level with it. She’s become so much part of my family, and I feel like i’m part of hers now too, so I doubt she’d be rehomed, but should she find somewhere she would rather be, we wouldn’t stop her going. She is difficult, angry, snappy, tempermental, difficult, won’t be touched by strangers, likes to fight, but I’d not change her, she’s our testing monster, who we love and adore.

Went off a bit, but I figured why not, I know her, and can write more about her life and story than the others.