#i had to heavily edit on the fly so much but man.

[myfictionaldreams]

Family // Poly!Marauders x Fem!Reader

Summary: Sirius Black, the usually happy prankster within Hogwarts, had a special skill for hiding his emotions. Until one day, he's forced to face the realities of the troubles with his family.

Requested by: @bullets-from-another-dimension Thank you so much for the request and for showing me that Sirius needs a little more love! I hope you like this fic, and thanks for your support with the poly!marauders ♥

Tags: 18+ readers only, smut, angst (lots!), fluff (also lots!), emotional hurt, discussion of Sirius' abusive family, disowned, crying, hugs/kissing, polyamory relationship, nipple play, body worship, making out, oral sex (m receiving), happy ending

A/N: This is just a little PSA that I'll be going through my other Poly!Marauders fics sometime soon to change some bits to make sure that each of the boys is getting enough love! It won't be anything major for the overall story, just spreading the love equally as it appears Sirius may have been skipped a few times (and I don't want that!), so check for an 'edited' note on the story. Thank you for pointing this out to me!

Words: 4.8k

my masterlist 📚 AO3 Link

The last 24 hours had been an emotional rollercoaster, with both positives and negatives coming to light. It had started with the ultimate showdown game of Quidditch between Slytherin and Gryffindor; with both Sirius and James on the team. You and Remus had been nervous wrecks just for the game, let alone all the tension drowning within the two enemy houses. This escalated outside of the pitch, with wands having to remain in hands between lessons to prepare for sabotage attacks from either team.

It was endlessly tiring the days leading up to the events, and it was some kind of a miracle to be standing in the Gryffindors' stands without a single injury. Now, however, you and Remus had to live through the fear of watching your boyfriends fly around with their roles as Seeker and Beater.

You were sure you’d accidentally bitten your nail down to the cuticle by the end of the match, and your throat felt as if you’d swallowed sandpaper with how sore it was with the screaming and shouting you’d been doing in support. There was instant relief as James finally caught the snitch, and everyone cheered.

“Do you think he’ll be ok?” you shout up to Remus, who, with his height difference, could see over the crowd to where the commotion was occurring on the pitch. As James had dived for the snitch, so had the Slytherin’s seeker, who just happened to be Sirius’ brother, Regulus. However, in mid-dive, Regulus accidentally knocked into one of the goalposts, hitting his head and falling from his broom. Thankfully to the Slytherins, Sirius had been close by and caught his falling brother from gaining any further injuries.

Remus was nodding to your question, “Yes, he’s walking away, well - he’s pushing Sirius away, so I’m sure he’s just fine”, he explained, watching Regulus shove Sirius, so the man stumbled away. A pang of guilt settled heavily in your stomach at the thought of the brothers arguing. You knew that the relationship between Sirius and his brother was non-existent these days, and it only made you feel more awful for your boyfriend, understanding how difficult it must have been to lose his family in the way he has.

You couldn’t ponder on these thoughts as the entirety of Gryffindor and the vast majority of Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff began celebrating the win. This included Sirius, who scooped you into an exaggerated hug, spun you high into the air, and carefully placed your feet back onto the floor.

“Was your brother alright?” You shout to Sirius over the noisy crowd forming around the winning team. For a split second, you witness sadness filling his grey eyes before he snaps out of it and a beaming smile replacing the momentary lapse in his emotions.

“Oh, he’s fine; I’m sure a quick knock to the head will bring some sense to him. Anyway, come on, let’s all go back to the common room; I have a special surprise for everyone”. Sirius was great at many things, and covering his emotions was one of them. Any attempts to open up about the situation regarding his family would change the subject within the blink of an eye. You respected that he didn’t want to talk about any of his family members, but you still kept a close eye on him, making sure that he didn’t pent up his emotions until he was at breaking point, which you feared would occur one day as there was only so much one person could go through.

The interaction with Regulus seemed to have been forgotten in the madness of celebrating, which ran into the early morning hours in the Gryffindor common room. It would have continued later, but Professor McGonagall arrived in her dressing gown and demanded everyone go to bed. Sirius needed the most help to bed, having drunk the ‘surprise’ fire whiskey he regretted deeply in the morning.

“I’m never drinking again. Who’s idea was it anyway to bring Firewhiskey?!” came the deep groan of the man lying face first beside you, his face thoroughly buried into the pillow. Your temples were pounding slightly; you’d felt worse hangovers, but it was still uncomfortable as you rolled over towards Sirius.

Your arm wrapped over his naked back, face pressed over his shoulder blade as you could feel the toned muscles adjusting to your presence as you melted into his warmth. “It was your idea. I’m never falling for your charms ever again, Sirius”, you mumbled against his skin, reminiscing on his sweet talking skills from last night that convinced you to have a drinking competition with him.

This pulled him out of the half-unconscious state as his mop of hair turned in your direction. The movement caused you to roll off him and witness the beautiful sight of his morning glow; even in his hangover, he was handsome with one eye squished closed as the room was too bright.

Sirius turned his body entirely towards you, huffing as he moved, and you refrained from trying to reach out and control the usually silky locks of hair that were now all knotted and tangled on the top of his head. “Oh yeah? I’m pretty sure my charms made you cum three times before the fire whiskey joined the party,” he commented confidently and admired the warmth that filled your face. You attempted to hide your smile at the memories but were soon fully scream-laughing as Sirius tried to break your facade by tickling your sides.

Pushing him away, you turned and nuzzled into the naked chest of James, who remained asleep even through your loud laughter, but his arms still wrapped around your shoulders protectively. Besides James, you could see Remus was awake, sitting up and rubbing the sleep out of his eyes. “Remusssss, Sirius is being mean to me”, you drawl childishly.

The man sighed, dropping his hands to give you and Sirius a pointed look, “Please, children, it’s too early, and my head is too painful for you to make this much noise”.

Sirius smirked as he spooned in close behind you, wrapping his arm around you and James as everyone tried to have a few more moments of beautiful sleep before breakfast, and class pulled the four of you from the safety of the bed.

The food helped to settle the hangovers that the majority of Gryffindor seemed to be nursing this morning, much to the displeasure of McGonagall, who was glaring at her house from the Professor’s table. Sitting beside James, you leaned across him for another slice of toast as Sirius sat opposite you with Remus next to him.

As everyone started to be rejuvenated with energy from the breakfast, the owls began to swoop in and deliver the mail for the day. An emerald-coloured envelope landed on Sirius's lap, which caught the attention of you and the fellow Marauders. You already had your suspicions about who the letter was from. Sirius mostly confirmed it, as he had hardly read the letter before shoving it into his bag and brushing off any attempts at discussing who it was from.

“It’s nothing, just some spam letter. So, who do we have first today? Is it transfiguration? I can’t imagine that will be fun with how angry McGonagall looks right now.” Sirius changed the subject, but it didn’t convince any of you as you eyed him sadly. He didn’t wait for a response as he stood, gripping his bag so tight that his knuckles turned white. “Come on, otherwise we’ll be late”.

You knew something was off just by the quipped tone of his voice, and the humour and light that always seemed to dance in his eyes had been significantly dimmed. Even as James tried to humour him with his usual party tricks and jokes, it only earned him a half-assed chuckle from Sirius. Remus even attempted to pull him aside before entering the classroom to see if he needed a moment alone to talk, but Sirius just distracted him with a quick kiss and said he was fine.

You were quick to sit next to Sirius near the back of the classroom, smiling brightly with the hopes that he would return it, but it seemed he was lost in his thoughts as he idly arranged his parchment paper and quills. Thankfully, as the class began, his hand rested on your thigh so you could link both fingers together, lifting it and kissing the back of his hand.

As McGonagall began to teach the class, you leaned closer to Sirius, savouring the warmth that radiated off him and smelling the citrusy scent from his aftershave. “Is everyone ok, Sirius?” Your voice was barely audible so as not to disrupt the class, but you knew he heard as his posture stiffened, and he nodded his head, fake smiling for a second before returning his attention to the teacher. “I know there’s something wrong. Talking might help; I mean - I want to help-”

“Excuse me at the back. Is there something more important than my lesson?” McGonagall demanded with a passive-aggressive raised eyebrow as all other eyes turned to look at you and Sirius.

As your mouth opened to take the blame, your boyfriend beat you to it, “Sorry, Professor. That was my fault I was distracting her”.

“You’re already on thin ice after last night's antics, Mr Black. See me after class to arrange a detention”.

Your mouth drops open to retort to her and tell him it wasn’t Sirius, but the hand holding yours squeezes, stopping you from saying anything. As McGonagall turns back to write on the chalkboard, you lean close to harshly whisper, “You didn’t have to do that, Sirius! That should have been my detention!”

“It’s only one detention, I don’t care”, he shrugs nonchalantly, releasing your hand to begin writing his notes. You frown so deeply that a line forms between your eyebrows as you glance towards Remus and James, who have similar expressions of worry, especially as Sirius hasn’t even attempted to have any sort of friendly banter with McGonagall like he usually did.

At lunch, Sirius had somehow managed to slip away from the group, and your head seemed to be fixated towards the entrance to the Great Hall, neck straining to see over the other students as you waited for him to walk in.

“I mean, it’s not just me, right? There’s definitely something wrong with him”, you say before nervously nibbling on your lower lip.

Remus’ hand cups your shoulder, gripping gently as he agrees, “It’s not just you. I tried to talk to him before the lesson, but he just pushed me away. He just wants to be by himself; I’m sure he’ll be just fine”.

You nod to yourself but don’t believe his words. Yes, Sirius was strong and had been putting on a strong appearance for years, but he never pushed himself away from the three of you. It was like an invisible angel on your shoulder, trying to nudge you towards him, knowing something wasn’t right.

“Have either of you got the Marauder's map?” you ask Remus and James, who then check their pockets and school bags but cannot find the map.

“Sorry, Love, he’s probably got it with him”, James reports, appearing as deflated as you felt.

Standing from the table, the anxious causing your stomach to clench with unease and unable to eat, you inform the two of them, “I’ll be back later; I just need to make sure he’s ok and safe”.

Remus and James nod in understanding and watch you go. As you stand in the entrance to the Great Hall, you’re unsure where to start and what's worse is that he could be in his Padfoot form, which means he’d be able to hear you coming and run away. There were the grounds to search, Hogsmeade, the entirety of the enormous castle; there were plenty of places for him to be.

Taking a deep breath to steady your nerves, you decided to search the dormitory first, hoping the map had been left in a draw up there.

Opening the door to the dormitory room that you shared with your boyfriends, you were welcomed to the sight of Sirius, lying face first on the shared bed, his head turned away from the doors but from the noticeable sniffling noises and his shoulders shaking, you knew he was crying. Your heart felt like someone had reached inside your chest and squeezed as the sight rocked you. Silently as you could, you slipped your shoes off and placed your school bag onto the floor.

You knew he was aware someone else was in the room as his cries softened, and he subtly tried to wipe his face into the pillow. As you began to crawl onto the bed, you could see he was spooning the pillow you usually used to sleep on, clutching it desperately close to his chest. You had to remember to breathe through your nose, remain strong, and not descend into your emotions.

Kneeling next to him, your hand gently met the centre of his back, rubbing slow, comforting circles into his white shirt, hoping the action would comfort him. “Sirius, what’s wrong?”

“What? Nothing's wrong” he tried to brush it off, but you could hear the thickness of his voice as he tried to hide his face further in the pillow beneath his head.

“Is it about the letter from earlier? Who sent it to you?” Even though you knew he didn’t really want to talk about it, you knew he’d also built a wall around his emotions and wanted him to feel like he was in a safe enough space to talk, like the many times he’d done the same for you. Reaching over with your other hand, you ran your fingers through the long strands of dark hair, brushing them out of his face that was still turned away from you. “Talk to me, my love, please. I want to help you”.

Reluctantly, Sirius turned over and began to pull you down to lie in the centre of the bed. You did so and spread your arms wide as he moved to lie on your chest, the top of his head resting beneath your chin as you hugged him closely.

“No one important sent me the letter, it’s fine. I just want to cuddle”, he admits with a sigh, relaxing into the hold, the pillow he’d been spooning now forgotten about as he had the real thing instead, finding comfort instantly. In this position, you could hold him close and do the same actions as before, stroking gently up and down his back whilst also playing with his hair.

You want to tell him that you knew who the letter was from, but he seemed content with being held instead for a couple of minutes until you felt dampness seeping across the column of your neck and down your chest as his shoulders began to shake once more.

“Sirius-?”

“It was from my parents. The letter, I mean. Fuck! I don’t know, it's so stupid.” he sits up abruptly, aggressively wiping away the leaked tears he’d been desperately trying to stop.

Sitting beside him, you rubbed his shoulders while trying to calm him down from his overwhelming emotions. “It’s not stupid, my love.” As you talk, you grip his twists to pull them away so he can look into your face and hopefully see the love there. “Your parents, they’re awful people, Sirius, and anyway, you’re perfectly within your right to show emotions every once in a while; I just need you to know that I’m here for you, we’re all here for you, no matter how you are feeling. It’ll be ok”.

Even though it was comforting for him to hear the words, it still seemed to break something within him. Like a crack had formed in the dam as he relented with his cries, openly sobbing into his hands. Whilst trying to swallow the lump that had developed in your throat, you pulled him close, kissing every part of him that you could reach whilst wiping away the cascading tears.

“You don’t have to tell me what was said in the letter, but I just need you to know that they’re not your real family; you know we’re all your family”. Sirius pulls back from the hug, and your bottom lip trembles at seeing how heartbroken he looks. The area around his eyes is swollen and red to match the shade at the tip of his nose as wetness covers the length of his cheeks.

His mouth opens to say something, but he’s interrupted by the door opening and James and Remus stepping into the bedroom. The two men pause, not expecting to find either you or Sirius here, but as they see the sadness and pain on Sirius’s face, they immediately drop their school bags.

“You missed it”, Sirius chuckled, trying to hide his upset behind humour, “She called me an emotional prick, and the waterworks started”. James and Remus gave him sad smiles, but neither fell for the attempt to change the subject as both sat either side of him on the bed. Remus reached for him first, stroking his scarred fingers through the strands of dark hair that had fallen over Sirius’ face, but only so he could kiss the area beneath. Sirius closed his eyes at the touch and leaned into it, releasing a deep sigh through his open mouth.

James grabbed each of his hands, lifting them to his lips to kiss the palms lovingly and rest them on either side of his cheeks, nuzzling into his hands. “Whatever is going on, you know we’re always here for you, Sirius”, James mutters against the palms on his face.

Sirius sighs even heavier as if trying to will the anxiety away through the breaths. “It’s my parents. I mean, should I even call them parents when they’ve already disowned me? But they’ve just sent me more threats today after what happened with Regulus yesterday. They say things like I should have let him win and wish that I had been hurt.”

He takes a moment to compose himself as you grab one of his hands from James, needing to link your fingers together and squeeze to know that it is a safe place for him to continue and talk. Sirius looked into his lap as he spoke, “They’ve burnt my face off the Black family tree. Not that I care; I expected it, but it just all feels so real now, you know? I feel like I shouldn’t even be using the surname Black with how much they detest me. I also kind of expected Regulus to have my back a little bit, but he’s young; I can’t expect that from him, especially as I know what my parents are like, but he doesn’t even say hi to me in the corridors anymore. I don’t know. I guess I’m just a little all over the place, and with the positivity yesterday, just to have my family metaphorically kick me to the curb again, I should have expected the joy wouldn’t last long”.

Sirius sounded empty and emotionless as he expressed how he was genuinely feeling, struggling to come to terms with the repercussions of the events that occurred with his family that continue to affect him.

“Fuck them”, James says with all the venom and confidence that he could muster. Sirius grunts half-heartedly at the declaration, not seemingly convinced, so James turns his face towards him so that he is looking into the stormy hazel eyes. “I’m being serious, fuck them. You’ve been my family for years now; you know my parents consider you their son as much as I am. Nothing has changed. You live with me and my parents because that is your home. Wherever any of us go is your home because we love you. We wouldn’t make you feel half as rotten as those scumbags, do you understand?”

Sirius nods, swallowing thickly, causing his Adam’s apple to bob. Before he can respond, Remus once again holds onto his face, turning him in the other direction to look at the calmest Marauder. “Sirius, next time you receive a letter from them, don’t open it. They are cruel humans who have no love for anyone but themselves and the prejudices that they live by. You had so much joy and love in your heart; don’t let them destroy you and ruin everything you cherish. And that is exactly what James has said. You’re our family. We’re each other's family. You’re ours, just like you’re mine. Get it?”

Sirius’ eyes have dried as he looks up at Remus, and briefly, a genuine smile welcomes across his face as he leans in to kiss him deeply but then pulls back.

Squeezing his hand, you draw his attention towards you. “You deserve the surname Black more than anyone because it’s what makes you, you—breaking the stereotypes of those evil people and making it mean something that doesn't symbolise hatred. However, if you want to have another surname, you can! Sirius, you’re your own person, and your surname doesn’t define you. You could even make up a whole new name! Maybe you could have one of our surnames”, Sirius laughs at the possibility of a name change. “I love you so much. Your family's opinions of you aren’t how anyone else in the castle sees you. You’re perfect the way you are, Mr Black”.

You couldn’t wait any more time to kiss him, needing to feel his lips against yours and reassure him further with these intimate touches.  Thankfully, to your pounding heart, he smiles into the kiss.

“Maybe we could put all of our surnames together”, he jokes as you move to kiss each of his cheeks. 

“If that’s what you want, I’d do it”, you reassure him with a kiss on his temple.

“Almost sounds like a proposal”, he casually mentions, causing your heartbeat to increase rapidly. Sirius smirks at your face but reassures, “Maybe we’ll sort out surnames once we’ve finished our exams”. You press your lips against his once more for reassurance until he looks between the three of you. “Thank you. I don’t know what I’d do if it weren’t for you three. You’re the best thing that’s ever happened to me. I don’t think I’ve ever laughed before coming to Hogwarts, let alone feel love like this”.

Remus could see the tears pooling along Sirius’ lashline, so he gently cupped the side of his head, wiping away any that fell. “No more tears for them”. The gap between their lips was closed as Remus kissed him passionately, holding the back of his head carefully as they breathed each other in.

Sirius’ head dips slightly, but only to whisper against the man’s lips, “Can you make me forget? Please?”

“I’ll do whatever you want me to do, Sirius”. Remus kisses him again but with more urgency, pushing his body back until Sirius is lying in the centre of the bed with the taller Marauder hovering above him. Their mouths moved together as one, tongues twirling together, heads tilting one way and then the other.

As Remus distracts and devours him with his mouth, Sirius’ hands move around the back of his head, holding him close, which gives James the freedom to move his hands to Sirius’ shirt. With a simple flick of his fingers, James could undo the buttons down the centre of his chest, releasing the toned chest and abdomen of the man whose legs you were sitting between.

You watched with the sadness seeping away and becoming replaced with arousal as James leaned over and licked the nipples of the man who moaned into Remus’ mouth. James was calculated with his movements, making sure to leave teasing licks and bites over the areas that Sirius was most sensitive whilst then worshipping the perked nipples on his chest, his hands caressing the areas where fine dark hair was beginning to grow back from being previous shaved, mainly the snail trail leading beneath his trousers.

Smiling whilst watching them all move together, you were gifted the view of watching the tightness forming in his trousers as his cock grew hard and thick. Without any rush and admiring the desperate moans coming from the man on his back, you began to stroke up his thighs, over his crotch and pausing over his zipper.

Undoing it slowly, you waited to see if Sirius was even aware of what you were doing as he was so distracted with James and  Remus. However, with the sudden lift of his hips to help you pull the material down his hips, you knew he was very much aware of your intentions.

Freeing his cock from the restraint of his trousers and boxers, you watched as Sirius lowered his hips back onto the bed, and his member now throbbed on his abdomen, thick and hard. A pearly drip of precum had already formed at the tip, and you were quick to hold the base, lifting the cock until your lips were wrapped around him.

Your movements continue to be gentle and soft. Licking and sucking without any rush to build the tension and hopefully show how much you worship the ground he walks on by paying particular attention to him when he needs it most. James continues to tweak his nipples, and Remus devours his mouth, absorbing every little moan until Sirius needs to pull back to suck in air.

“Fuck, you’re all- Fuck!” Remus distracts him with his mouth once more, dominating him entirely and causing more whimpers to burst from his chest. The veiny length that was being leisurely sucked in your mouth began to harden further, throbbing as you knew he was approaching closer to his orgasm as your hands fondled his balls.

“So good for us, aren’t you, Sirius? Say it, tell us you’re ours”, James demands, pulling on the back of Remus’ hair so that Sirius can tell the group how he is feeling.

“Yes! I’m yours, I’m all of yours! I’m cumming, holy shit!” he shouts out desperately, face scrunching up like he is in pain but is actually experiencing the opposite as overwhelming pleasure pooled in his abdomen.

You moan around his cock, causing it to vibrate slightly against your tongue as his hot seed begins to coat your throat. You swallow every salty, thick liquid drop until you’re popping off and looking up at his half-lidded, satisfied grin.

James and Remus give you room to crawl up his body to kiss him sweetly. The three of you watch and admire as he comes down from the high, carefully tucking his half-hard cock back into his trousers and doing up the zipper once more.

“Thank Merlin that we have no classes this afternoon”, Sirius jokes as he rests back on the pillows with his arm behind his head. You laugh and collapse onto his chest, hugging him closely as the four of you sit in comfortable silence. You listened to the thump of his heart beneath your ear, but after a while, it increased in speed as he became restless.

“Can I tell you all a secret? I’ve um… I’ve kept all of the threatening letters they’ve sent to me, " Sirius admits as he carefully pulls out of the hug to climb out of bed and dig his way through the suitcase with his name on the side. From within, he pulls out a large stack of letters that are all opened and in the same shade of emerald as the one earlier this morning.

“You kept them all? Oh, Sirius��, you say in shock, only guessing what horrible, hateful words are written on those pieces of paper.

Sirius awkwardly rubbed the back of his neck, looking embarrassed, “Yeah. I don’t know why. Some weird part of me thought that if I burned them all, they would know and come to the school or something. But, I want to get rid of them if you’ll all help me?”

Neither of you have to answer as you climb out of the bed. After dressing appropriately, the four of you walked down to the lake, where Remus carved a hole into the soil. Sirius chucks the letters within as you all form a semi-circle.

Holding onto his left hand, Sirius raised his wand to the right, pointing it towards the letters and shouting ‘Incendio’. The four of you stand together as the letters burn. Sirius sighs shakily as he holds back tears. “It’s weird. I know people say it’s like a weight off your shoulders, but it genuinely does feel like that”.

“That’s because you’re free, Padfoot!” James shouts enthusiastically, grabbing the boy around the waist and lifting him into the air, hollering and whooping until Sirius laughs. The two crash to the ground as Remus throws his arm around your shoulders, watching the pair finally have some fun today as the smoke billows into the air surrounding you, the ash from those horrible words written on the paper disappearing across the Scottish mountains.

[spence-whore]

You are in love

Spencer Agnew x reader

A/N this was inspired by you are in love by Taylor Swift. Yes, I’m a big swiftie lmao. This isn’t so focused on the lyrics or anything specifically in the song. I just thought the idea of him realizing he was in love with his partner was really cute. This is gonna be a really short one but it’s cute. Simple but sweet:) also, forewarning. I do not get to heavily edit this, so you will have to overlook the typos. I have to go study for my exam tomorrow now. Hope you all have had/are having a good day<3

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Spencer realized he is falling harder and harder each day. It was so cliche but he felt like a teenager falling in love for the first time. He honestly felt like there was no time or use for things like this during this period of his life but then he met you. You were new two years ago to the cast. You were hired on in the art department and had to help Spencer out one day with something for one of his characters. It was like love at first sight for him, as cheesy as it is to say. You just had such a carefree energy. You were also always so happy. You were like a big cup of coffee. Anyone who spent any time around you was in the best mood and ready to kick the days ass.

“Hey loser.” You said as you flopped down in a chair beside his desk. It was the end of the day and usually, the two of you would go to his place and order food then watch something or play a game. Tonight, you two were going over to Shayne and Courtney’s home for a little celebration. “You ready to head out?” You asked giving him a soft smile.

Just your smile alone flooded his chest with the craziest butterflies. He felt heat flood to his chest and he smiled and nodded his head at you. “Yep, we’re going to Courtney and Shayne’s house, aren’t we?” He asked while turning his computer off and grabbing his stuff.

“Yes, I’m gonna go get absolutely plastered and you are gonna have to take care of me for the reeeeest of the night.” You said jokingly, throwing your arm over his shoulder.

Just you touching the man sent sparks flying throughout his body. “Yeah, right. You will take one sip of a drink, complain about it not being good, then give it to me to finish.” He said glaring at you.

The two of you headed out of the office hand in hand, to your car. You were in your head thinking about some of the stuff you had to get done tomorrow and realized someone was burning holes into the side of your head. You looked out of your corner of your eye and seen Spencer staring at you.

“Whatcha looking at, pretty boy?” You asked giving his hand a small squeeze.

Spencer tried laughing it off, slightly embarrassed that you caught him staring at you. He shot his eyes forward then glanced back over at you again, “Something beautiful.”

The two of you finally reached his car and got in to make your way to Courtney and Shayne’s home. There wasn’t much talking. You just played music over the aux while zoning out. Spencer could do nothing but stare at you. There was just something different about you tonight. He didn’t know if it was a certain way you had done your hair or the outfit you were wearing or what. He just felt like he was staring at the graphics in a new video game or something. He couldn’t get over how ethereal you are.

You finally made it to the party and started greeting people as the two of you walked in. You ended up splitting up, as he went with Shayne and Tommy and you went with Courtney, Kimmy, and Amanda.

The three of you stood for a while talking whenever Amanda noticed a certain someone kept glancing at you.

“If someone turns his head to look at you anymore, his neck is gonna break.” Amanda whispered while nodding her head in Spencer’s direction.

“I genuinely don’t think I’ve ever seen him so.. love struck before.” Courtney said giggling. “Ever since the two of you have been hanging out, he just seems so much happier. You just bring so much light to him.”

You started shaking your head while smiling, “No, no. It’s not me that has caused that. He’s just happier in general.” You explained while staring down at your drink and stirring it.

“Y/N. I have never seen that boy blush before until he started talking to you. You are like the sunshine to him.” Amanda said softly smiling at you and you couldn’t help but to blush.

“He honestly makes me really happy. Every other partner I’ve had in the past, I’ve never felt so comfortable with like I do with him. He is like my best friend.” You said while pushing your hair behind your ear.

Courtney just starts giggling while looking towards Spencer, “Literally every time he looks over here, his face lights up. It’s so freaking cute.”

Angela and Arasha walked up, so the five of you started talking about work and Courtney and Shayne.

Over at Shayne, Spencer, and Tommy’s table, they were drilling him about you and giving him shit.

“If you look at Y/N anymore, your eyes are going to burst of your head Spencer.” Tommy said while laughing at him.

“I wasn’t look at them, what are you talking about?” Spencer said while shaking his head and tried to change the topic to a new movie that is coming out. Of course, this didn’t work because he glanced over at Y/N and it was like his brain went to mush. They were standing directly under a light, so it was like a spotlight was on them. They just looked perfect. His words kept getting jumbled together and he kept stuttering. He finally just stopped trying to talk and stared at them for a minute. All he could think about was wanting to go over and kiss them. He was just so enamored by them.

Shayne was looking at him smiling because he knew exactly what it was he was feeling but he didn’t say anything. He knew that feeling because that is exactly how he felt whenever he started falling for Courtney.

It was suddenly like Spencer’s brain just broke down even more than it all made sense to him. All he could think was, holy shit I am in love with Y/N. His chest felt like it was on fire and he started shaking due to nerves.

“Are you okay dude?” Shayne asked noticing that the guy looked like he was about to start crying.

“No. I’m fucked.” Spencer whispered to himself before he chugged the rest of his whiskey.

“What’s wrong?” Tommy asked aloud, looking at the two in front of him.

“I think I’m in love with them.” Spencer mumbled while just staring at the table in front of him. Tommy and Shayne lost it and started shouting nonsense while acting like teenage girls. They never thought they would see Spencer like this because he was always someone who shut down his feelings. They couldn’t get over the fact that Spencer had finally found his person.

Y/N caught on to the two freaking out while their partner sat, looking like he was having a meltdown at their table. You stayed at the table staring at the three till you noticed Spencer was visibly tearing up and starting to cry.

“Oh, shit. I’ll be back, I think something’s wrong with Spencer.” Y/N said before jumping up to go grab Spencer and walk outside. You grabbed a water bottle while on the way and approached their table. “Hey boys, sorry to break up the party for a few minutes. I’m gonna grab curly headed goober here for a second.” You said giving Tommy and Shayne a soft smile.

Spencer just stood up and walked towards the back door that lead to the backyard. You followed behind him and shut the door behind him.

“Hey you, are you okay?” You asked, sitting down beside Spencer on the swing. You placed a hand on his thigh and started rubbing your thumb across his leg then handed him the water in your other hand. “Thought maybe you could use some water. You know, gotta stay hydrated.” You said whispering.

Spencer forced a smile back to you while grabbing the water then shook his head while getting a sip of it. “I’m fucking terrified.” He said while staring at the ground.

“Why?” You asked, taking your hand off his leg and wrapping your arm around his shoulder then resting your hand on the back of his head. You started lightly scratching the back of his head while staring at him, hoping maybe this would calm him down. Little did you know, the little signs of affection you were giving him were driving him absolutely insane. He just wanted to shout that he was in love with you.

You turned a little in the swing to face him but kept your hand on the back of his head. You were giving him a few minutes to try and calm down before asking anymore questions. Out of nowhere’s, Spencer just blurts, “I’m scared because of this.” It caught you off guard. All you could think was, I fucked this up. He’s going to break up with me.

Spencer felt you tense up and all he could do was laugh. “I’m not meaning it in a negative way. Actually, maybe a little. I’m just terrified I’m going to screw this up.” Spencer explained, finally looking over at you.

“Spencer, you could never-“ He immediately cuts you off. “I’m in love with you. I mean I am head over heels, infatuated with you. The second I wake up in the morning, you’re the first thing on my mind. The second I hear news that is exciting, I want to run to find you and tell you. The second I accomplish something, I want to find you and tell you. You give me a reason to be excited about the world, Y/N. I know we’ve only been together for almost eight months but god, I am so in love with you and just want to experience the rest of my life with only you.”

All you could do was just stare at him. “I’m not proposing to you right now, if that’s what it sounds like.” Spencer said while chuckling. “I’m just saying that one day, I want to marry you. One day, I want to do the thing old married couples do with you.”

“Can you say that again?” You asked staring at him in shock.

He looked at you with confusion, “I’m not proposing to you?”

You just laughed and shook your head, “No, no. What you said a minute ago.”

He just nodded his head slowly for a second before turning in the swing to face you. “I am so in love with you.”

All you could do was pull him into a hug and to hold him for a minute. “Is this why you were crying?” You asked laughing a little, pulling back to look at him. He just shook his head yes while looking at you. He looked like he was mentally shitting himself but you realized it was because you had not said anything to him.

“Oh shit, wait, I love you too, you dork.” You said back while giggling. You cupped the side of his face and just brushed your thumb over his cheek for a minute while looking at him.

“God, I am so in love with you Spencer.”

[foone]

you know what'd be a fun idea for a trek fanshow? Star Trek: Mission Logs. You just put a couple people in starfleet uniforms, and have them read off summaries of episodes in an increasingly incredulous tone. Like Drunk History: Star Trek Edition.

"so the captain says that while on the way to the inauguration ceremony, they diverted course to Vulcan as their first officer needed SO MUCH to fuck that he was a week from death, but then when they got there, he got stood up, and then fought the captain TO DEATH but he was ok?"

"so it turns out when they disappeared during the battle with the borg, they went back in time and found out that the first use of warp drive had been undone, so they had to personally help Cochrane rebuild his ship, and they were there for first contact!?"

I say "drunk history" because I imagine the people at the starfleet HQ have to drink heavily to handle the kind of reports they keep getting in from starfleet captains.

"So after a miserable first contact, the commander, doctor, first officer, and science officer disappeared, and their security officer found that the boardgame the barkeep was playing had pieces that represented them? and they were somehow mystically imprisoned inside the game!"

"so the captain says that they detected a ship trapped inside a black hole (!?) and when they tried to rescue the ship, they got damaged and then discovered they were that ship, trapped inside without realizing. Fortunately they found the crack in the event horizon and escaped." (the lieutenant then passes out after finishing the entire bottle of Bolian vodka)

"So while they were on a vital mission to locate the aliens who had blown up florida and were planning to destroy the entire planet, they found a... Cowboy Planet!?" Everyone yells "COWBOY PLANET!" and takes a shot.

"So while testing a weapons upgrade, a crewmember's case of flu was accidentally turned into an infectious de-evolutionary mutagen, causing the crewmember to turn into a spider, and the rest of the crew to undergo similar changes." "stop, stop, STOP! you made that one up, admit it!" "no, really! Their counselor turned into a frog." "ok, now I'm just not going to believe anything you say."

"so a former captain of the ship was visiting when they tried to rescue a ship flying directly into a supernova, but got 'pulled in'!? and ended up in a REVERSE TIME UNIVERSE? naturally, everyone quickly de-aged to children, and the elderly former captain had to take command" "Spelk, you're not even trying this time, that's not even remotely plausible"

"So it turns out that the terrorist who took over the paradise planet was the first officer's (half-)brother, and he uses his magic hypnosis to cause the crew to mutiny and join his mission to travel to the middle of the galaxy... and find god!?" "Did... did they find god?" "oh yeah! turns out he was evil. Don't worry, the first officer blew him up using a klingon warbird." "he blew up god?" "yeah!"

"So this is a little different, it's not a mission log... it's a repair log." "That doesn't sound like it'd be very weird..." "Oh, just you wait. So, they had to get refueled because all their dilithium had been stolen." "Stolen?" "Yes. By a man from AN ANTIMATTER DIMENSION" "So a man in an antimatter dimension discovered there were two dimensions, and his matter counterpart went insane and obsessed with killing the anti-matter version of him, but meeting outside the dimensional corridor would destroy both universes" "both... universes? So if the captain didn't stop these guys, everyone in our entire universe and some other one would be gone?" "YEP!" "did he stop them? well, I guess he did, since we're still here" "oh yeah. trapped 'em in the dimensional corridor forever." "so they're just out there in some weird in-between-the-universes place, just fighting, for all time? and that's the only reason we haven't blown up?" "YEP!" "and this all came out in the logs... because they put in for repairs?" "yeah. to replace the stolen dilithium" "are you sure the captain wasn't really into dabo or kotra and wagered the dilithium crystals on a "sure thing" that didn't pan out?"

"So this one is a report of some people (with pictures!) who don't exist." "They don't exist?" "Nope! never did. They weren't born." "So, we have pictures of them, because?" "Well, the ship crashed, and the stranded crew had kids... then they uncrashed." "uncrashed?" "yeah! so it turns out when they approached the planet, they got thrown a couple centuries back in time, and met their descendants. then when they tried to leave, the ship would crash, restarting the loop. but it didn't." "it didn't?" "yeah, one of the crew was secretly in love with another officer, but she wasn't going to survive the crash, so despite the crew attempting to recreate the crash to continue the existence of their past-future-descendants, he sabotaged the ship into not crashing" "wait, into not crashing? he did sabotage to make everything... work perfectly?" "yeah! they were trying to crash, remember? So they inadvertently didn't crash, undoing the existence of all of their descendants, so they never existed. But here's their pictures!"

"ooh, I found a really weird one! It's not a mission report, medical file, or even another repair log" "So what is it? Another weird artifact?" "no no no, I sent those off to the SCP division. This is a SPY REPORT! About a dead Romulan!" "So this report is on a spy saying that the Romulans had gotten access to some secret information about the then-upcoming Intrepid-class starships. Very minimal info, but this was found in a Romulan database when the ship was just undergoing initial design stages" "Here's the weird part: The database file with the information on the Intrepid was timestamped 2351, but Starfleet didn't even start initial design work on the Intrepid until 2364!" "So they used time travel? to get... basic information on one single starship class?" "Kinda? See, there's a P.S. on the spy file, added later when it was declassified. The leaked info in the Romulan database was discovered in 2371, but the file was updated in 2378, with an explanation." "and?" "Remember when the U.S.S. Voyager was lost?" "oh yeah, they turned out to have just been stuck on the other side of the galaxy, right?" "Yeah! And while they were there, they found a microscopic wormhole, and successfully used it to communicate back with the Romulans... but discovered it was a TIME WORMHOLE" "oh, so they were talking to the Romulans back in 2351?" "Yep! They figured that out and then decided not to transport through the wormhole, as they would have gotten home 20 years before they left, but they sent some messages back to be delivered later. They didn't come through" "why not?" "well... turns out the romulan guy (Telek R'Mor) died before Voyager ever launched, so he never got a chance to deliver the messages. but he DID inform the Tal Shiar about some design elements of the Intrepid class, years before it was launched" "that must have confused them" "yes... the report is basically just two spy agencies completely confused about what to do about the intelligence they had, and confused about why they had it"

"ok ok ok, enough artifacts, mission logs, spy reports, medical reports, repair logs, how about a really weird one: A SENSOR REPORT!" "why is that one weird?" "well, look at the timestamp. Both of them." "so one timestamp is 2372, and the other is... negative 16 billion?" "yep! This one is a scan of the big bang. And slightly before it." "... before?" "Yeah! They did a scan, and then THE BIG BANG HAPPENED, and then fortunately they got out of there before the universe fully existed, as that would exceed the ship's safety tolerances" "so... why were they at the big bang?" "well... you know the farpoint encounter, and that godly being the USS Enterprise ran into?" "oh god (uh, no pun intended)... but yeah, vaguely" "WELL it turns out there was another one of those godly beings who was suicidal and imprisoned in a comet, and-" "wait wait wait. there was a god trapped in a comet?" "yes. apparently they're infinitely powerful but weak to comets. ANYWAY. he was suicidal and trying to hide" "hide? WHAT DOES A GOD HAVE TO HIDE FROM?" "well he was hiding from the other god! the one at farpoint! that one was the one who imprisoned him. because he was suicidal." "so the god was in the comet, and the other god put him there, and someone let him out? and then he hid?" "yes! and where does a god hide?" "at the big bang?" "slightly before, but yes! and he took the ship along with him, so that's how they were able to scan the big bang. because of getting involved in a weird game of hide-and-seek between a suicidal god and a jailer-god" "so what happened? how did they get out of the whole god-war thing?" "well... usual stuff. they put the god on trial to see if he could be allowed to die, but compromised on making him human and a crew member" "so they had a former god on their crew?" "briefly. then he died." "he died? after settling for human?" "yeah, it turned out the jailer-god changed his mind and decided to rebel against god-society and started by giving the former-god some deadly poison to let him finally die, like he wanted" "well, at least that seems to have ended... well?"

"oh no, there's a follow up! see, it seems the dead god thing lead to a god-civil-war and it seems that caused a bunch of supernovae in 2373." "wait... supernovae? plural? like, outshined-the-entire-galaxy SUPERNOVAE? that must have killed billions, or trillions!" "yep! it was a massive disaster and caused a real crisis in astronomy because we had no idea why it was happening, but it suddenly stopped, thankfully. But yes, it was started because the crew accidentally freed a suicidal god from a comet." "oh god..." "literally!"

"don't worry, though... that's not the weird bit" "HOW IS THAT NOT THE WEIRD BIT?" "OK I PROMISE I'M NOT MAKING THIS UP... but after the first supernovae of the 2373 Calamity, it turns out the captain (of the ship that killed the god) discovered another god... in her bed" "her... bed?" "Yeah! it turns out the other god wanted to have a child. with her." "... that's weird but what does this have to do with the supernovae?" "he wanted to end the war, and figured the best way to do it was to get her pregnant with a god-baby"

"NOPE! That's it! I'm out. that's not real. you're making it up. We don't live in a universe where one captain caused death across the universe by sparking a god-war and then only ending it by having a baby with a god. I'm out. I have a Warp Dynamics test to study for anyway."

"wait! wait! I didn't even tell you about the time she turned into a lizard and had babies with her pilot" "NO! I DON'T CARE HOW MANY WEIRD THINGS YOU MAKE UP, THERE ARE NO LIZARD BABIES"

"no, I swear, it really happened! Look, they went infinitely fast and occupied every point in the universe!" "THAT'S NOT HOW SPEED WORKS" "it is! and it turns out going everywhere at once infinitely fast turns you into a lizard!" "*sigh* Are there any reports on unhearing that?"

I imagine they sometimes decide to go HARD MODE on the report readings, where they have to put aside all the ones with "Voyager" on them. They're just too easy.

"So I've got two reports here, and I want you to pick between them. One is the second weirdest transporter visitor log, and the other is a report on why a science officer is 30 years old... except his head, which is 495 years old!" "I'm going to cut you off there, because I know your tricks: those are both the same incident." "Yep! You got me. Am I really that predictable?" "You are. Also, second weirdest transporter visitor log? You phrased that very specifically..." "I wanted to rule out all the transporter accidents and strange misuses of the transporter, and focus solely on WHO was transported. This was the second weirdest person." "I'm not going to take the obvious bait and ask who it was... but I will ask: who is the weirdest?" "Lincoln. Abraham Lincoln. President of the United States, a predecessor to the unified Earth government... he died in 1865." "WHY WAS HE TRANSPORTED? Who was time traveling back to the 1860s? and if they were in the 1860s, why were they beaming up Presidents?" "HARDMODE: No time travel! He was transported out of open space in 2269, because he had been recreated by the local mineral beings on their lava-planet" "why... why did the lava aliens recreate a 19th century Earth president?" "To study GOOD AND EVIL!" "Like you do, I guess?" "Yeah... anyway, the recreated Lincoln got killed by a spear, thrown by either Genghis Khan or Kahless the Unforgettable" "THE FOUNDER OF THE KLINGON EMPIRE?" "Yeah! he got recreated too. And teamed up with Genghis." "No. no no no no no you made this up" "It's real! Check it out, there's a message here to the diplomatic department, asking for the proper protocol to accept a 19th century US president abort a quasi-military vessel. And there's a video clip! Hit play on that..."

"Man, video quality was terrible back in 2269" "Yeah, they were using analog tapes back then. Don't ask why. Retrotechnology studies are so complicated even without timetravel messing everything up. So yeah, apparently the answer is 'dress uniforms, security guys, whistle'" "oh yeah. You can't welcome a 19th century Earth president on board without a whistle. Where's your sense of ceremony!?"

"So I really have to go, my Intermediate Klingoneese class starts in like 5 minutes, but just tell me one thing: Who was the 2nd weirdest transporter visitor on the logs?" "Oh! Samuel Clemens." "Who?" "Mark Twain! Earth author, wrote Tom Sawyer, Huckleberry Finn?" "What? How?" "Yeah, a crew found a time portal that went back to 1893, while trying to figure out why the head of one of their crewmembers was in a cave on earth, and accidentally sent him forward to 2368, and beamed him aboard." "Did they wipe his memory afterwards or something?" "NOPE!" "So the 19th century Earth author Mark Twain, who I'm now remembering wrote a novel about time travel, didn't he?" "yep!" "So he wrote about time travel and HAD PERSONAL EXPERIENCE WITH IT?" "Yeah! thanks to snake aliens, eating humans in the past"

"Yeah I'm gonna go ask my teacher how they say 'You deserve to die for your lies' on Qo'noS" "I think it's... Hegh nep qotlh SoH? maybe 'urmang instead of nep?" "I'M OUT, petaQ!"

(a transcript of a twitter thread I made from back in July 2020)

[richea]

[Translation] Kratos of the Expiation: Prologue-Chapter 1 part 1

This begins my efforts to translate the Tales of Symphonia novel, Shokuzai no Kratos, written by the game's scenario writer, Takumi Miyajima.

Some disclaimers:

I have other projects I'm working on alongside this, so I won't make any promise to get this translated in a timely manner, or that I'll finish it at all (though in a perfect world, I would love to; I had a lot of fun translating this first part!). If I do the whole thing, I'll share my original document, which will have an edited version of the text you'll read below. Think of this as a first draft.

I've never translated a novel before nor am I much of a creative writer, so I apologize in advance if it's an awkward read. I focused heavily on making sure Miyajima's words got across as intended, but given Japanese novels are written differently from English ones, I don't want to put too many words in her mouth here.

The book has 7 chapters and a prologue and epilogue, but as each chapter is really long (about 40 pages each), I'll be sharing the book in its smaller, also numbered parts. So, this is the prologue and part 1/37. My word processor says this alone is around 3300 words.

I want to give a huge thank you to Kevan33 for providing me with scans for this, which allowed me to translate it so much easier.

Without further ado, here's the summary and character introductions, and then the story itself!

Summary

Long ago, Mithos, the hero, brought about the end of the Ancient War in the Holy Ground of Kharlan. As a result, the world was split in two―as Sylvarant and Tethe’alla. However, the worlds exist akin to a waning hourglass, with one of them prospering and the other in decline. It has been 4,000 years since the end of the Ancient War, and now Sylvarant is on the path to ruin, as it has run low on its life-sustaining mana. It is in these circumstances that Kratos will descend unto Sylvarant and have a fateful, unexpected reunion! This is a side story which tells Kratos’ side of the story, who was a key character in the original game. The feelings he’s hidden in his heart will finally be revealed to all!

Cast

Kratos Aurion: This story’s protagonist. A traveling mercenary and remarkable swordsman who was hired to protect Colette on her journey. His true identity is one of the Four Heroes who ended the Ancient War 4,000 years ago, as well as an angel of Cruxis―one of the Four Seraphim.

Lloyd Irving: A young man from the village of Iselia. His grades in school are poor, but he’s quick-witted and good at making the right decision on the fly. Due to certain circumstances, he accompanies Colette on her Journey of World Regeneration.

Yggdrasill: The leader of Cruxis and one of the members of the Four Seraphim. He is Mithos the Hero who brought about the end of the Ancient War, as well as the person who split the world in two, orchestrating this system the world currently runs by.

Yuan Ka-Fai: Leader of the Renegades, which opposes Cruxis. He was one of the Four Heroes and is one of the Four Seraphim.

Martel Yggdrasill: Yggdrasill’s sister. She died 4,000 years ago when humans betrayed and killed her.

Genis Sage: A best friend of Lloyd and Colette. One of the smartest people in his village. He uses magic.

Raine Sage: Genis’ sister. She’s the only teacher in Iselia, so everyone calls her Professor.

Colette Brunel: Sylvarant’s Chosen. She leaves her hometown to go on the Journey of World Regeneration.

Zelos Wilder: Tethe’alla’s Chosen. He hangs around with Lloyd’s group as a spy for Cruxis.

Prologue

The boy introduced himself as Lloyd Irving.

We met in the small, remote village of Iselia. Back when the Sylvarant Dynasty held its rule, it was a prospering village deemed as the headquarters of the Church of Martel. Now it’s but a desolate village, with such a tale only to be seen as an attraction at best.

There were a number of things that led to this state. What brought about the fall of the Sylvarant Dynasty was a decrease in the world’s life-sustaining mana. This led to environmental changes, poor crops, and eventually poverty to the people. Iselia was not the only place that was affected by these changes. The land of Sylvarant―once famed as a kingdom of its own right―slowly slipped down the path of desolation.

What spurred this series of events was a group known as the Desians. The organization, rumored to consist primarily of half-elves, is known to kidnap people from all over the world and place them in institutions known as human ranches. While it’s unknown to the common folk what takes place in these institutions, fear is struck in the hearts of those who see the Desians, as it is fabled by the Church of Martel that the end of the world is coming should they lurk around.

Yes; Sylvarant is on the path of desolation. Within these circumstances, there exists the promised land of Iselia, which is the only place in which salvation may be brought about. The hope for this world is being fostered within Iselia’s land.

The sound of grass being trampled from far away could be heard. It was such a quiet sound, unable to be picked up by human ears.

Kratos Aurion slowly opened his eyes. Deep within the forest, the distant shadows of the leaves shook.

Are you coming, Lloyd?

Thinking of him, Kratos found himself oddly content. A sense of relief washed over him, that finally, the end was approaching. He felt elated, though could not place a finger on why. He had regained his sense of hope, which he had been convinced was long gone. However, the important step in achieving said hope was yet to come.

The footsteps grew louder. At this, all of the forest dwellers collectively fled in response. They could tell that within this tranquil forest, something big was about to happen.

The air seemed to turn tense as a mass of figures approached. A group of eight―all being different ages and genders―approached with stern looks on their faces. The one leading the pact was Lloyd.

The boy’s name seemed ordinary enough, but to Kratos it held deeper meaning. “Irving” was the surname of his late wife. “Lloyd” was the name of the child Kratos thought to have lost.

Lloyd and his friends were on a journey to carry out what they believed to be world salvation.

I wonder if they've brought about salvation yet?

No. The end hasn’t even begun yet.

Kratos rose and approached Lloyd and his friends, in order to see their “salvation” through to the end.

Chapter 1

Part 1 of 6

It’s a wonder just how many people would believe it if they were told the world had been split into two. Many would likely laugh it off, claiming it to be a fairy tale. The land seems unsifted, and there’s no crevices to be seen after all. Nobody would dare suggest the moon in the sky is actually another planet, would they?

Even a fairy tale would require an allegory to hold its basis.

The truth of the matter is that the world had been split in two. The dimensional rift had been cut through, pushing the planets into an orbit. The two worlds exist on a plane together, never to see or touch the other. Despite this, the two worlds do in fact coexist alongside each other. One of these worlds is, for convenience, known as Sylvarant. This world was ruled by the old Sylvarant Kingdom and its allied nations. The other is Tethe’alla. Like with Sylvarant, this world too was ruled by the kingdom of Tethe’alla, and got its name as such.

“These two worlds, as well as our planet of Derris-Kharlan, are ruled by Lord Yggdrasill.”

The angel known as Adol was explaining the structure of Cruxis to a group of newly awakened angels. Kratos was watching them through a monitor, and shook his head exhaustedly.

This was a ritual he had seen far too many times at this point. Over the course of 4,000 years, here on Derris-Kharlan, he had watched as a number of living beings known as angels were born. No, perhaps that’s not the right way to describe it―he had watched as many people had undergone a transformation to turn into the lifeless beings known as angels.

Thankfully, the number wasn’t too high. A tool known as the Cruxis Crystal was required to turn people into angels, of which there weren’t many to spare. With them being so scarce and precious, only selected individuals were allowed to become angels. From there, the angels would undergo special training and become soldiers, fighting to support Cruxis.

Kratos was one of those angels himself. He had a different position than the other angels, however. He was famed as one of the Four Seraphim, the highest rank within Cruxis, and operated directly under the world’s leader―Mithos Yggdrasill.

“Through the Church of Martel, our job is to guide the people of both Sylvarant and Tethe’alla. This does not only apply to half-elves, but extends to elves and humans alike. We will guide them down the proper path, to one day make our Age of Lifeless Beings a reality. A great weight lies upon all of your shoulders.”

Not a single person was moved by Adol’s words. At first, lifeless beings―rather, angels―have their emotions almost entirely suppressed. It takes great strength and time to gain control over those emotions once more. There are some who go the rest of their lives never regaining theirs.

“Lord Kratos.”

An angel appeared on his projector―one with white wings. Kratos instantly identified him as an inexperienced angel. When a person turns into an angel, numerous functions of their body undergo a change. One of these is adjusting the distribution of mana in the body to produce wings, allowing them to pull them out as needed in order to fly. However, if one uses their wings too much, their bodily mana materializes the wings and makes it a permanent part of the body. One of the key functions of turning into an angel is being able to control various bodily functions, though the reality of it is that many are unable to control them properly. A large number of the angels within Cruxis have wings like the man Kratos sees here.

“What is it?”

“Lord Yggdrasill has summoned you.”

“...Understood.”

The messenger angel bowed and disappeared. Kratos turned off the video on his monitor and left his office.

A throne of darkness, suspended in the empty sky. What you’ll find in the deepest part of Derris-Kharlan―far beyond Welgaia, where Cruxis’ angels live―is Vinheim. This was where the castle of Yggdrasill, the man who split the worlds into two and ruler of both, resided.

As Kratos stepped towards the throne, Yggdrasill leaned on the armrest as a calm smile crawled onto his face.

“You’ve come, Kratos.”

That languid voice of his was the same as ever. It was the same as it was when Kratos defected 70 years ago. Though the light in his green eyes shone differently than normal.

“Kratos Aurion, reporting for duty.”

Kratos stepped closer to the throne and kneeled in front of it. This exchange of formalities was something he had done in submission to the man over the course of the past 15 years.

“There’s no need for such formalities. I called you here today to talk about our past.”

At this, Kratos’ leader―rather, the leader of the entire world―Yggdrasill suddenly rose to his feet.

“Do you remember the day we first met, Kratos?”

As Kratos nodded, the man famed as a ruler effortlessly changed his form. His once tall figure shrunk in the blink of an eye, and his limbs shrunk with it.

“It was in the imperial capital of Tethe’alla. I was still a child, who knew no fear and who truly believed in the goodness of humanity. Since the worlds had yet to be split, the two countries ravaged in a revolting, long-lasting war.”

What stood before Kratos wasn’t the beautiful young man who was a ruler. It was a petite 14-year-old boy.

Seeing this transformation always horrified Kratos. What he feared wasn’t Yggdrasill, but instead the lifeless beings known as Cruxis Crystals, which allowed the body to transform in such a way.

When the elves in ancient times moved from Derris-Kharlan to the earth, they first planted the Giant Kharlan Tree―the source of mana―and then brought along many crafts and techniques. One of those was the material known as Exspheres. However, over the course of 5,000 years, the knowledge of their intended use and what they were originally made for became lost to time. All that was left was the knowledge that they were advanced beings. They became known as a thing that could protect its user and elevate their abilities to the maximum. Such a thing was then turned into weapons of combat during the Kharlan Wars, which occurred 5,000 years ago.

What brewed was an intermittent yet vicious conflict between Sylvarant and Tethe’alla. In order to get the upper hand, both sides developed magitechnology based weapons, and research developments led to Exspheres finding new use cases. Cruxis Crystals were developed in order to allow soldiers who equipped them to become even stronger and turn into angels. Those who equipped Cruxis Crystals would undergo a physical, battle-ready transformation into an angel, allowing them to also manipulate their hearing, vision, and sense of pain at will. On top of this, those with a strong compatibility with the crystals would be able to control their internal clock at will.

The ability to change one’s internal clock―what a terrifying thing that was. It almost felt as if people had reached into god’s domain. Yes, the boy with the innocent-looking smile on his face that currently stood in front of him had violated god’s domain.

“What’s wrong, Kratos?”

Yggdrasill tilted his head at Kratos, whose face was warped with agony.

“Watching me change form surely isn’t that surprising. Or does it hurt to see me in this form?”

Kratos cast his eyes downward.

It’d be a lie to deny such a thing. The young boy in front of him now looked exactly like the Mithos Yggdrasill he had traveled with so long ago. Some part of Kratos tried hard to separate the two in his head―Mithos, the young boy who worked tirelessly to save the world and was famed as a hero, and Mithos, the young man who fell into despair and cast away his humanity in favor of playing a poor imitation at god.

This was pure sophistry. Kratos knew this. However, it’s all he could manage to give himself even a little peace of mind. He didn’t need to slip further and make any more mistakes.

“I see. So it does hurt you. If you really feel that way, you surely won’t betray me again, right?”

He said this in a fondly-remembered tone of voice, and it felt like something was stabbing Kratos’ heart.

“Back then, you resigned as a knight for the Tethe’alla Kingdom and joined up with us. It was you who said you’d make a place where all of us half-elves could live in peace, and that to that end, your power was ours to use however fit.”

“...Indeed I did say that.”

“Then surely you know where I’m going with this. The Age of Lifeless Beings I’m creating will rid all of the discrimination half-elves face. It’ll be a utopia where everyone can live in peace.”

Facing the ground, Kratos debated on whether or not to voice the words that were forming deep in his throat. Mithos paid it no heed and continued on.

“Soon, Sylvarant’s Chosen will receive the oracle.”

At this, Kratos snapped his head up. Yggdrasill smiled at him like an angel. Well, he was an angel, in a literal sense.

“This Chosen of Regeneration is a 99.999999999% match. This is even closer than the Chosen Spiritua was. This time, we’ll succeed. My sister will finally be revived.”

The revival of Yggdrasill’s sister―Martel Yggdrasill―held a lot of meaning. The reason the world was still split into two was all for Martel’s sake. One huge mistake made 4,000 years ago changed everything.

When the elves planted the Giant Kharlan Tree on this world, mana brought forth lifeforms and completely changed the nature of the planet. Mana was used to power magic and magitechnology, and before long, mana itself had been overused. This overuse led to the fountain of all life, the Giant Kharlan Tree, withering.

“We were only ever fighting to save the Giant Kharlan Tree. We got our hands on the Great Seed, and were going to plant it to bring forth a new tree. But of course, humans wanted to hog the mana all for themselves, and they killed my sister, who was protecting the seed...”

Mithos’ tranquil face warped with hatred and disgust.

“But I’m so nice that I’m allowing those vermin to live. In fact, I’m such a nice guy, I’m even inviting them into my Age of Lifeless Beings. I’ve given them the compromise of a lifetime, Kratos. Martel exists as part of the Great Seed. The Great Seed is Martel herself. If I was any meaner, I would never share the mana from the Great Seed with those disgusting humans. But I’ve gone ahead and split the world into two, so that they can share the mana that comes from it.”

“Thanks to your system, one world is always suffering, while the other is prospering.”

“That’s what the Chosen is for. The Journey of Regeneration is one that reverses the flow of mana. When one world weakens, the mana from that world flows to the other. It’s like an hourglass. This is all we can do to keep our precious supply of mana from running out completely. You said you were on board with this, did you not?”

“Yes, as a temporary solution―”

“Oh, and it is temporary, I assure you. I already promised you―when my sister is revived, I’ll return the world back to normal. When she has a new body, there will be no need to protect the Great Seed as I am now. I’ll reunite the worlds into one and germinate the seed, allowing the Giant Kharlan Tree to grow. Then, my discrimination-free Age of Lifeless Beings will be born on earth...”

Mithos sat down on his throne, still in his child form. The throne was far too large for such a tiny body. Realizing this filled Kratos with a strange sense of sorrow.

“This Journey of Regeneration is not allowed to fail. If it does, we’ll lose the vessel for Martel’s soul, and this will spring us into another indefinite time frame of trying to make another. If that happens, the joined world you wish for so badly will be a long, long way off. So nobody is allowed to get in our way. Not even those rats.”

“You refer to the Renegades, I presume?”

“Yes. They camouflage themselves as Desians and do all sorts of things. You know of them?”

“I’ve received reports of them infiltrating all of the human ranches and stealing Exspheres.”

“Such a slacker, aren’t you, Kratos? Rats are to be exterminated.”

“I am sorry.”

“It’s fine. What they do matters little to me. Their tendency to kill Chosens is pesky, though. Therefore, I want you to escort this next Chosen for me. Protect her, guide her, and help her through the angel transformation as smoothly as possible.”

“I’m the overseer of Sylvarant, though. If I were to go on the Journey of Regeneration, I wouldn’t be around to have Pronyma put the Desians into motion.”

“I will handle that myself. Protecting the Chosen is our top priority. Surely you know this. Following my orders is what will allow you to see your dreams come true.”

To return the world to its proper state―this required fulfilling Mithos’ wish of reviving Martel, and it was the correct path to take. No; perhaps he had just lost the will to choose another path. Kratos had no means of defying such a path.

[kinopio-writes]

Request: A one-shot with Vox and a Fem!Reader who is an Overlord that deemed a less high position but kept being her chaotic neutral self nonetheless. She and the Vees were playing a game and she won in the worst way possible. (tried to remember all the things @matrixbearer2024 told me so, uh, sorry if this wasn’t what you meant)

A/N: I accidentally posted this completely unfinished and deleted it as soon as possible so I lost the request. Vox is one of the harder characters to write because most of the time he’s on screen, he’s shitting on Alastor. Hopefully he gets more developed in season 2. I used his controlled and controlling characteristics a lot here.

Um, this turned out neither platonic nor romantic. I was focused on establishing their dynamic here, so this might turn into a series. Enjoy! I liked how the story turned out to be (although the pacing might be rough).

Words: 1,569 (edited)

Warnings: Valentino (he’s not acting like how he does around Angel, mostly because Vel’s your friend and you’re not a worker in his studio)

———

Vox x Fem Overlord!Reader who had taken the backseat

The doors to his office slid open, allowing the bright light from the other room to pour into his TV-adorned space. The light blocked him from seeing the other side of the screens, and the suit-clad demon sitting on his swivel chair jerked back from whatever he was paying close attention to, bringing him back to reality.

“Um, Sir?” A nasally voice piped up from the light.

His boss quietly groaned in irritation, not bothering to turn around to look at him. “What is it?”

“We have a problem.” Of course, there was. Ever since that old prick suddenly came back, things have been not going well for him. Well, it was mostly because he let that piece of shit get to him. “We’ve been receiving numerous complaints about our new voyeur scopes.”

Vox merely waved a dismissive hand, eyes glued to the screen in front of him. “That happens all the time. If the protests persist, get someone to start on a new draft.”

His assistant left right after, and as Vox heard the doors close, he let out a heavy sigh, deciding to change the setting of his screens to watch over his district.

“Let’s see what the fuss is all about, shall we?”

•••

You had smashed another one of the flying drones.

You’d been doing that for quite a while, settling that as your first order in business after letting someone take over your district for you, granting you more freedom. There wasn’t much thought in the decision. You had just grown tired of being a leader and gaining more power. You liked being laid-back, but it wasn’t as if you’d settle on the retirement (after)life. Now that would be just plain boring.

VoxTek Enterprises was a brand you were familiar with. Not as a customer, but as a friend to someone who was close to the man behind the title: Vox.

You didn’t have anything against the guy—Vox was a charming fellow when you first met him. When he approached you, you were happy to disclose any questions he had, although you noticed that his left eye started to swirl as you spoke. It went back to normal quickly, however, so you went back to your usual talking pace. He ended the conversation briefly after that, and you were approached by more overlords during that event. (heavily edited this paragraph)

Now, you were hanging out with two of the three Vees. Velvette immediately invited you to chat about your new position after she heard while Valentino was lying on the other couch beside yours, on his phone.

She pried for an answer as to why you’d done what you did. When you gave her the direct answer of simply getting tired of it, she changed the topic to new fashion trends. You agreed to be her temporary model for her newest drafts, and Val piped in if you wanted a photo shoot for a magazine for an entirely different cause. Vel swatted his head away, rejecting his offer for you.

When the chatter had slowed down to silence, you explored around the spacious room as the others scrolled through their phone. You managed to find a video game that was unsurprisingly made by VoxTek. It was quite an old product, but it looked interesting enough, so you called out to the other overlords in the room if they wanted to play. They agreed.

•••

Vox’s eye twitched, snarling as he watched you get all buddy-buddy with Valentino and Velvette. And playing his game, no less? The fucking disrespect!

Initially, Vox liked you the moment he laid his eyes on you. That was one of the reasons why he made conversation with you, even if he had non-amicable intentions. You also had been gaining more power at the time and the other stronger overlords noticed, including him. He speculated on your potential to grow more influential and wanted to be acquainted with you for future use. However, you were instantly on his watchlist when he realized he couldn’t hypnotize you.

During the conversation you two had, he managed to get you to tell him how you got into your position, which didn’t even need much prying. You didn’t like business and politics, you hated forethought, and you didn’t even know there was such a thing as a hierarchy in Hell—you thought everyone just did their thing and be their worst, which was just fucking stupid.

You were reckless, an oversharer, unprofessional, passive, and unpredictable. In other words, you were an uncontrollable freak who had too much power. He didn’t understand how you were still alive.

Vox felt threatened when you made friends with Velvette before she even joined the Vees. He knew he couldn’t convince her to stop being in contact with you, so every time you two hung out, he would watch you two closely from his monitors. So far, he managed to keep you as far away from him as possible.

Until now. You were literally in the same building he was in. You were closer to him than you’ve been in years.

Velvette’s voicemail echoed throughout his office. She wasn’t answering any of his calls.

He cursed out loud. What a pain. It seemed he had to deal with you himself.

•••

“Val! What the fuck are you doing in last place?”

You three were playing Mario Kart (Wii), or at least, the rip-off version of it. It was still pretty decent, though. You all decided that doing all thirty-two races would be a fun way to pass the time until the Vees had to do their separate things.

“How the fuck am I supposed to know? The buttons don’t do shit!”

“Use the rocket (Bullet Bill), shithead! Press the arrow key!”

“What the fuck is an arrow key—! Oh, there we go. I’m in second place! Ha! Eat shit, Princess Bitch!”

“Valentino! You blind ass, you’re blocking the screen!”

“I’m winning!”

“Taking my first place, you fucking won’t!”

You ignored their bickering and used two out of your three red shells to hit Rosalina and Toadette, a shit-eating grin on your face as you won first place.

A series of shouts and yells followed right after.

“Wait, what the fuck!”

“Who did that!”

“I did.” The two Vees turned their heads from the screen to see you comfortably lying upside down on the couch, legs hanging on the headrest.

Velvette’s shoulders relaxed. Valentino, on the other hand, flipped…the table. The TV was disconnected from its wires.

“What the—Valentino!” Velvette watched him stomp his way out of the room. “Valentino, where are you going? You better not be thinking about—…”

Velvette’s words fell silent as they both got farther from the room.

You placed the remote on the couch and finally sat upright, examining the space around you as chaos erupted from downstairs. It didn’t seem like they were coming back soon.

Hmm. Now you had the room all to yourself.

•••

You were busy rearranging the snacks and mixing their places into different cupboards when the double doors burst off their hinges and harshly hit the wall. You snapped your head to the entrance to catch a glimpse of a TV head before the doors closed back on themselves.

You snorted, going back to messing with Valentino’s stuff.

A moment of silence passed, and you stopped snooping around to check if Vox was still there, leaning down as you opened one of the two doors slightly. You saw his hands form into fists in front of you, and you immediately stood back to your height with a grin.

“The man himself!” You took a step away and opened both doors entirely, lifting your arms as a gesture of welcome even though he owned the place, and that irked him. “You know, Val and Vel and I played a game. You should’ve joined—”

“I know.”

“Oh, then the two are downstairs causing chaos.” You skipped over to the couch and sat on the headrest, falling back on the seat as you kicked your legs. “Usually that would be my thing, but—”

“I know.”

“And sorry for breaking those drones of yours. It was just—” you curled in yourself as you grabbed at your hands, “—in front of me, y’know—?”

“I know.”

“Wow, you know a lot.” He didn’t know if you meant that sarcastically or not. And that alone pissed him off further. “I’m assuming you also know that I stopped being an overlord?” You heard static in his direction.

“You…stopped being an overlord? No one just…stops being one.”

“Ooh, worded that wrong, huh?” You lifted your upper half to see the TV head still standing in the same spot. “I’m still technically one, I suppose, but I’m more, like, second in command? I’m just letting someone take over for me. The overlord life was too restricting, y’know?”

No, he didn’t know.

“Anyway, good talk.” You raised your legs and pushed them forward to stand up, making your way over to him. “I think I had an appointment with the guy who’s taking over. Thank Vel and Val for letting me hang out here. Actually, maybe go apologize to Val for me; I rearranged his cupboards.”

You patted his shoulder as you walked past. “See you soon, Vox!”

The man in question had his mouth slightly parted, his eyes still glued inside the room.

Shit. He was going to see you a lot often now, wasn’t he?

Fuck his life.

[starwarskawaii]

Annoyance and Empanadas

A Miguel O'Hara fic

Alright, here's that Miguel fic. Dedicated to Lan ( @chaithetics ) for always believing in and encouraging me. Proofread by my husband, @kitsunot . So if I made a mistake, blame him.

A/N: This is self-serving, reader is HEAVILY based on me. No word count because I am lazy.

Edit: possible part 2 if you guys like this one. So make sure to let me know!

CW: disabled reader, possible slightly ooc Miguel, mentions of Miguel's *gestures at his life*, no use of Y/N, second person voice, mentions of mobility aids, disability is not specified but is highly based on my experiences with fibromyalgia, female reader, mentions of brain fog, mentions of safe foods, reader is slightly implied to be autistic, PLEASE LET ME KNOW IF I MISSED ANYTHING

You were annoying. Not annoying like Peter B, who always had a quip and lacked boundaries. Not annoying like Miles, who questioned Miguel constantly. Not even annoying like Hobie, although you were a bit of an anarchist. The first thing you had ever said to Miguel was, "I support women's rights and women's wrongs. I do not, however, support men's rights OR men's wrongs, so I hope you've improved." No, you weren't annoying like any of them. You were annoying like Lyla. You were annoying because you knew him. You knew him entirely too well. Which was quite possibly the worst kind of annoying you could be.

You sauntered in on your purple forearm crutches, thinking of what you could say to piss Miguel off. As much as you'd like to pretend you were a quick thinker, the brain fog made it near impossible to come up with anything on the fly. So as you sauntered in, you thought of what you could do to make those veins pop on his neck and forehead. You liked those veins.

Miguel heard you coming. How could he not? Mobility aids are not stealthy. Not in the least. Miguel knew what was coming, and he braced himself for whatever quip you had up your sleeve. Your quips were worse than a Peter Parker's; you had studied him. You came from a universe Miguel stumbled on accidentally. A world where he and all the other Spiders were just characters in comics and movies. And you happened to be Miguel O'Hara's number one fan (and biggest hater, somehow simultaneously). You had made tons of posts analyzing him on some site, tumbling, maybe? He couldn't remember. He brought you on for a few reasons, but mainly to help the algorithms predict events in the Spider's lives.

"Ohhh, Miiiiiggy!" Came your voice, snapping him out of his thoughts.

"What? I'm a bit busy, you know, " came his reply.

"Too busy for me, Migs?" You pouted and batted your lashes. You knew he couldn't resist that.

Miguel was surprised. No quips yet. That's a first.

"Too busy brooding to listen to your favorite right-hand woman?" There it was. There was the jibe at him. You loved doing that. You were probably worse than Lyla.

Lyla popped up and snickered "He was just brooding, how did you know?"

"Lucky guess. Migs, my love, would you care to tell me why the caf has no empanadas?"

"Aye, you came here to interrupt my ensuring the fate of the Arachno-humanoid poly-multiverse over an empanda?"

"They're your recipe, we all know they're the best in the multiverse" you reasoned with him.

"They're my mother's recipe, technically, and I'll make you some when I take you home." Miguel always took you home. You had a lot of issues with the stupid 2099 high-tech stuff, and it also required use of at least one hand, something you rarely had the luxury of, unless it was a no mobility aid or a wheelchair day. So Miguel made sure you were safe.

"Fine, fine. When are you taking me home, speaking of? Should I just wait here, or should I try to navigate the awful upside down maze you created while I wait for your self-imposed penance for the day to end?" Man you were annoying. Man you knew him well.

"I'll finish up soon. Wait here," his face softened as he looked over at you. You were making yourself comfortable on a chair, placing your aids to the side and getting into that position you liked to sit in. The one that seemed uncomfortable, but you swore was best for your hypermobile joints.

You reminded him a lot of Lyla. Lyla, who Xina had programmed to heckle him. Lyla, who he never had the heart to reprogram. You knew all his buttons. Just like Lyla. Just like Xina... You were also like Gwen. He had initially seen you as much more like Gwen. You had a baby face, so he had assumed you were younger. You had half-shaved hair, which you had actually gotten done because of some singer in your dimension, the year before Spiderverse came out. You had always loved Gwen Stacy, though. It wasn't hard to see why. You were smart, you liked nerds, you were incredibly confident, you were kind of punk, but also hilariously materialistic, not in a fancy clothes way but in a "I have to have this figure or I will cry" way. You were a lot like the Gwen of 120703. You loved that Gwen.

You were very different from all of them, though. He remembered stumbling upon your dimension by accident. A dimension where there were no heroes. A dimension where there were somehow still supervillains. A dimension where, even when faced with a lack of heroes, some people still had hope. You were one of them. He had initially infantalized you. Your mobility aids, your interests, the baby face, the fact that you clearly needed a caregiver, but stubbornly lived on your own all made him see you as younger than you were. You had had many arguments before he finally realized how capable you are. That you're tougher than most Spiders are, save for Sun Spider, who has EDS (you LOVED Sun Spider). That you deal with 24/7 full body pain, work a full-time job, and somehow manage to take care of yourself.

You had shown him so much. Like punk versions of him that you thought were hot. He hated them. He hated that you found that attractive. It made him question for a moment if his appearance was alright. Of course, you would like piercings and tattoos. You had multiple of each. He never really thought much of it before. You had shown him art of him pregnant. You both hated that one. He had learned so much about you. In a way, he had become the caregiver you needed. He made sure you ate, he popped into your dimension to help with your laundry, he helped you on low mobility days, he cooked for you, he helped you set up appointments and refill meds when your brain just wouldn't cooperate. He admired you. He thought you were incredibly strong. He made you empanadas because they're a safe food for you. He secretly loved the way you loved his cooking.

You cared for him. Really, truly, deeply cared. You had listened to his pain and felt it like it was your own. You were so empathetic. He realized that your disabilities and baby face and your being a few years younger didn't matter at all. You were more mature than he was. You knew pain, you lived with pain, you had lost so much and had dealt with it a long time ago. You helped him pick apart his mind, healing what had been broken by grief. He had spent so many nights sitting on the floor of your apartment, next to your couch, pouring his heart out to you. The girl who had fan art of him up on her walls. He was pretty sure he loved you, but too worried he was confusing gratefulness for that painful emotion he hadn't felt in so long that he couldn't bring himself to say anything. You were in love. How could you not be? He let you see him so vulnerable. He was also 6'9, built like a tank, perfect dark skin and hair, newly emotionally open, and had clearly come to genuinely respect you, in a way you struggled to find as a disabled woman. You were much less subtle about your feelings than he was. You flirted constantly. But he was as dense as his muscles.

"Alright, I'm done, cariño," Miguel said. "Time to go back to your dimension, and get you some food. Did you actually eat today?"

"Uhhhh, what answer do you want to that?" You said, only half joking, with a nervous laugh.

"You'll be the death of me, hermosa"

He was used to the quips. He was used to the forgetting to eat. He was used to it all, and he hoped it could stay that way. Miguel O'Hara loved how you annoyed him. And he hoped you would continue to, for at least as long as Lyla has.

[iv-vi-art]

"So-so assistant" - Part 1

— Did you pull it out like that?! — Grusale was surprised, and then he put his hand on his forehead. Sighing heavily, Jerome moved closer to Jarler, who hesitated again, not understanding what he had done wrong. — It must be uprooted! There is no point in plucking the stem, — the man explained, realizing without words that the child does not realize what he is being scolded for. Continued below

Jerome didn't get along with Bernie right away. Another "hungry mouth", unable to pay for their accommodation. I wonder how they'll get along next 👀

Text: Tengiz Tatevosyan edited by: IvVi It was the first time we tried something in this style. It's not ideal, but it feels easier.

Around the middle of the day, Jerome and Bernie went out into the garden so that the child could help grail with the work, which was difficult for him because of his sore back. Little jarler was looking at the garden with interest, it was beautiful here and he was very surprised that Mr. Gardner had grown it all by himself! — Stop flying in the clouds, Bernard, — Grusale said gloomily, when the child did not notice the gloves that were handed to him for a while, — Put them on and I'll show you what to do. Bernie took the gloves, they were very big for him, so he pulled them on as much as possible over his hands, without complaining at all. On the contrary, he looked at Jerome with even more enthusiasm when he was ready to work. Jerome sighed, raising an eyebrow, it seemed to him that the Jarler perceives this simply as a game and he will quickly get bored. “Well, if he gets bored, he will fly out of here with a whistle!" — Grusale thought to himself, but he said aloud: — The first thing to do was to weed the ground. Can you do it?

— Uuuh... — Jarler curled his beak shyly, stroking the back of his head with one hand. He didn't know anything about gardening at all, hoping that he would just be told what to do, as it usually happens. Jerome quickly understood everything from the boy's blank stare and rolled his eyes. — We need to remove the weeds. They grow everywhere and interfere with my plants, so first you need to weed the ground, and only then water it," Jerome calmly explained.

A boy opened his beak, a twinkle in its eyes. — Ah, now I get it! — He smiled — Let's see how you understood — Grusale folded his arms on his chest.

They walked together to one of the beds. Jerome pointed with his finger at a rather bright, fluffy yellow flower — Here, this is a weed. He spreads his seeds, and more of these flowers grow out of them. We need to remove it. Bernie came closer to the flower, crouching down next to it. So handsome, but it's a pest? It's strange, because he smells really good! “Why not grow them for sale, since they grow so easily?” — The weed should be pulled out, Bernard, not hypnotized! — Grusale shouted in displeasure, watching the whippoorwill hesitate. — [It was a stupid idea] — he muttered to himself under his beak in his native language. Bernie twitched slightly, as if coming to his senses and just grabbed the flower by the stem, plucking it. — Did you pull it out like that?! — Grusale was surprised, and then he put his hand on his forehead. Sighing heavily, Jerome moved closer to Jarler, who hesitated again, not understanding what he had done wrong. — It must be uprooted! There is no point in plucking the stem, — the man explained, realizing without words that the child does not realize what he is being scolded for. Just like his brothers and sisters… But, unlike them, Bernard at least listened to him attentively and did not bicker. This calmed him down a little, so the grail sat down next to him and in one movement tore the roots out of the ground. — Here it is. Have you seen how it's done? — after making sure that the guy understood everything, Grusale sent him to the right side of the garden. The boy is still helping him here, not doing all the work for him.  To be continued...

[brightbeautifulthings]

The Last Hunt by Bruce Coville

"'…you can choose to be different. You can choose to let go of the darkness inside. It is not easy. It is never easy. But you are not doomed to carry this forever.'"

Year Read: 2025

Rating: 4/5

Thoughts: I waited more than twenty years to finish this series, and The Last Hunt really feels like a labor of love. My hardcover is a beautiful edition with dark brown text, which makes it feel like one of Grimwold's ancient texts. I struggled a little with the pacing, gloom, and never-ending fantasy road trip aspects of the last book, but this one is much quicker and easier. Despite being bigger and more complicated than any of the previous books, I found myself flying through the pages, especially in the second half once I'd adjusted to the many different character perspectives. Some of those are more interesting than others (and I definitely wanted more from my favorite cranky bear-man, the Dimblethum, which for plot and suspense reasons I realize isn't really possible), but the book doesn't rely too heavily on any one perspective, so even my least favorites went by quickly. It's interesting to see how many different factions have to come together in Luster in order to save their world. Coville expertly flaws his "good" characters and offers unexpected redemption to others. It's a vividly drawn universe with all of the real world's complexities and prejudices.

Though Cara has always been the main character of the series, I'm not sure that's still the case in this book. She still probably gets more page-time than any one character, and there's an odd bit of development I didn't see coming. I'm still not sure how I feel about it. There's quite a bit of focus on the delvers as well, and a bit on the centaurs and the dragons, as well as on Cara's mother and father. Lightfoot is sidelined pretty hard here and, in fact, the unicorns don't seem to be featured nearly as often as some of the others. I very much enjoyed the build-up to the Whisperer conflict and its conclusion, and I like the way it leaves Beloved, as ever, the greatest threat the unicorns have ever faced. I've always found her terrifying, and she's in fine form in this book. All in all, it's a worthy conclusion to a much-loved series, and I wish it had a wider publication so more audiences could enjoy it alongside other popular fantasy series like Eragon and Narnia. (Personally, I find this infinitely more readable, having never been able to finish either of those.)

[drifting-pieces-blog-blog]

Breaking down the comics: Learning to Crawl (issue 35)

Moon Knight, Issue # 35: Second Wind

Written by Tony Isabella and drawn by Carl Potts

Hey look! The X-men are in this one! And the Fantastic Four! That’s a lot of cross-over. As I’ve stated before, a lot of times when you have a ‘features’ on the cover, it means the characters show up briefly to do a one liner, then leave. A ploy to try to draw in more readers and sell more issues. Let’s see how much they all feature in this! 

And the plot summary? “Following last issue’s devastation, Moon Knight is at a crossroads on whether or not to continue his vigilante career. Guest-starring the X-Men and FF!” 

Now, keep in mind that this is a new writer (One that was acclaimed and recently retired that came out of retirement to guest appear) right after Moench left Marvel. So we're getting the character intro that feels more geared towards the writer than the audience. ALSO this is a cross over ultra long issue so they are hoping to have NEW readers that are here for the X-men and that will get interested in Moon Knight and then start reading regularly.

So we're not only going to get over intros of the characters, but we're also going to get a heavily watered down edition of the characters because the new readers aren't here for lore, they're here for X-men. 

We open at midnight in Manhattan. 

"It's Midnight when the man born Marc Spector (but who has long since glided into other identities as easily as he now glides over the city) spots the quarry that has brought him out into the darkness. 

Thus Marc Spector begins this in his identity as the costumed adventurer Moon Knight. When it ends he will know who he truly is...and why." 

His prey is "The Fly", who focuses on robbing rich vacation homes while the owners are away. 

After noting that The Fly recently went up against Spider-Man and lost, Moon Knight sneaks up on The Fly and immediately gets his ass kicked. He spends a lot of time on the ground. 

He’s doing well. 

OH. OH NO. I know this comic! (it may come as a surprise to some of you that I do not read the comics then write these analysis. I do a life reaction.) I knew this was coming but it had completely escaped me that THIS was how it happened. Oh. My. Khonshu. This is embarrassing. 

As always, Frenchie is up above keeping an eye on things. When he spots "The Fly" getting away, he radios down to Moon Knight. 

Worried for his friend, he climbs down from the chopper and finds Marc laid out on the roof, unable to move and barely able to speak. 

I must say, the art and colors on this issue are spectacular. 

Frenchie gets Marc to his chopper. 

"Moon Knight glides from pain to oblivion to delirium in no discernible pattern. Once he curses himself through agonized tears for being so sloppy this time. 

Once he wakes in madness to quote Keats. 'There is not a fiercer hell than the failure in a great object.'" 

Side note: We've seen Marc, specifically Marc, quote classical literature before. Marc is shockingly well read and it makes me wonder why he hides how smart he is. In later issues he talks about his struggles in school, but Marc Spector really is very smart. (An idiot but smart). 

John Keats is an English romantic poet. He is famously known for "Beauty in truth, truth in beauty".

Jean-Paul takes Marc to a private hospital that 'doesn't ask questions'. 

He undergoes surgery, but his spinal damage is great. They tell Marlene that they've done what they can and the rest lays in subsequent therapy. "I'm afraid it's entirely possible that Steven Grant may never walk again." 

We move to Paris where a young up and coming dancer is running for her life from some unseen danger. 

Her assailant is a woman who accuses her of abandoning Russia and taking all her gifts with her. The attacker uses the wind as her power and sends the girl off into the sky to meet a terrible fate. 

Back in Grant Mansion, we see one of the Moon Boys working on parallel bars to learn to walk again. The whole time, he curses himself for letting The Fly get away. 

Now, for the past couple of issues, Moon Knight has been facing another internal conflict of if he is doing any good. The people he was supposed to help turned out to be th villains and the villains turned out to be guided by circumstances and then paid a terrible price. 

"I'm not sure I should ever think about Moon Knight again... I mean, what if it's somebody else's life on the line next time I screw up?" 

Marlene calls an end to today's therapy session and helps 'Steven' back to his wheelchair. 

Samules, the butler, announces a guest and Gena busts in at full speed. 

"Guests, Sammy? We're family. Right Lockley?" 

"How's the kids, Gena?" (Jake is always such a sweetie). 

She gives him a hug and I may tear up. I love Gena so much. 

Crawley bursts in next. 

Jake's friends have always been his support and his heart. 

Jake is worried about the boys. 

Gena is too. "This sure isn't the easiest city in the world to grow up in...Even for good kids." 

They reflect on the gangs always recruiting new members. 

They talk about how Lenny, from the Music box issue, is serving time despite being a good kid. They reflect on the gang that was poisoned and attacked Gena in her diner. 

"Those are the reasons I'm thinking of leaving. My brother has a place in Houston. He needs a manager. Hard decision to make." Gena admits. 

"Do what's best for you and the kids. But... If you can --stay. You've got family here too." 

It's hard to let go of friends. Especially someone as important to their way of life and joy like Gena. Jake relies so heavily on his routine. He visits the diner for breakfast frequently and he goes there when things are stressful or he wants to get away from Steven's life and people. 

Gena heads out, back to the diner. Crawley lingers to have a word. 

Moon Knight used to pay Crawley for information. Crawley has always had a gambling problem and he admits that he's been in it again and is out of cash and overdue on the rent again. 

"I...I was wondering if Moon Knight would be requiring my services soon." 

I'm not sure who is fronting at this junction, but he's giving Steven vibes so I'll say Steven. 

Steven admits that he doesn't know when he'll be up and able to walk again, much less Moon Knighting... 

"I'm not sure Moon Knight will be back." 

Marlene offers to put Crawley on a retainer and holds out some cash. 

"Oh, no. I'm afraid I've gotten to enjoy working for a living again. Not to worry, my dear, I'll be fine." 

Crawley refuses help and asks to be notified if his services are needed. He heads back to the diner.

Steven is angry. "He's my friend, Marlene, and for the first time I'm wondering if it hasn't been my needs as Moon Knight that have kept him down in the gutters--While I come home to THIS every morning.

Maybe it is time to retire as Moon Knight." 

He heads into the room that houses his Khonshu statue. 

"What do you say, Khonshu, Old boy? Is the wheelchair and the legs that won't work some sort of sign that my tour of duty as Moon Knight is over? Have I paid for the crimes of my past? 

All the men I am... Can I put Mercenary Spector to rest? Can I stop driving Lockley's cab?

Can I finally be the man I want to be? I WANT to be Steven Grant, Marlene. He's a good man...The kind of man who could make you happy." 

"That would be nice. Let's talk about it...Sometime." 

"Right. Well, wheelchair or not, I've still got a life to lead. Let's get on with it." 

Narration: And if Khonshu has any thoughts of his own to add...He keeps his own counsel.

So we are dealing with Steven primarily in the chair. It’s interesting that Steven is the one dealing with the PT and learning how to cope. We get glimpses of Jake, but mostly it’s Steven wondering what sort of life he is supposed to follow. The desire to just be Steven. To be a good man. To make Marlene happy. 

Next we see Marlene and Steven going to a Ballet. Steven has sponsored the local ballet in an effort to be "just a good citizen doing what he can." 

Steven goes to meet the star, Sergey Valberg. He's brought along the media to help promote the company and get more people to the Ballet. 

As the media sets up, we catch a glimpse of the angry woman from before that sent the other dancer to space. 

Sergey has agreed to let the media record his rehearsal. They watch in amazement as he dances when suddenly...

A gust of wind knocks all the security around and the woman enters the room. "Sergey... Your dance is over." 

"Marlene... I think she's here to kill him! Try to cover me while I...I... Sit here like a helpless cripple." Steven is realizing he can't do anything.

Wind lady blows the chair over for his trouble. 

Sergey recognizes her. He calls her Bora. 

"I have heard...of a woman whose heart is as cold as the frigid winds she commands. I had hoped I heard wrong." 

She had once rehearsed under Sergey, dreaming of being a great ballerina. Then she found out that she was a Mutant as she not only gained wind powers, but she also grew to over seven feet tall! 

When she went to him for help, she found out that he had fled Russia to America. 

Her dreams of being a ballerina were over. 

"I awoke to find my long cherished goals thrust eternally beyond my reach, for what choreographer had ever conceived a ballet for a seven foot tall artist?!" 

So naturally she decided to punish all those who defected from Russia. 

She drops the temperature to below freezing as the winds swirl around them.... And Sergey starts to dance. 

"If I die, It will be as I have lived--Honoring life through my dance!" 

Steven is helpless to watch from outside of the rehearsal room as the temperature drops and the winds blow. 

"The Bora is a cold, dry wind. It can reach speeds of 125 miles per hour and has been known to overturn trucks. He lets the gusts catch him in mid leap.

His dance has become a language now... His movements its alphabet. The opposition of arms and legs create words. His dance speaks to Steven Grant. It speaks of courage unconquerable." 

Steven crawls to the glass and struggles to get to his feet. 

"The temperature in the enclosed studio is now sixty degrees below zero. The sentences form more slowly. Indeed, there is only breath left...for one... final... statement." 

Sergey takes a final leap. 

"The dancer is dead... But not his dance." 

The wind woman departs and Steven is left helpless. 

He has realized a truth. He asks Marlene to take him home. 

Love the imagery of Khonshu’s statue behind Marlene. “Inside the mansion there is a cold silence. It reminds Marlene of a tomb…in Egypt.” 

"Because I have to be here. Because I'm needed." Steven sits in the wheelchair clutching at the Moon Knight cowl. "You know what's out there. It's a world in which the savages all too often rule our cities, our streets, our souls. 

The Good citizens... The Grants, the Lockley's...They fight that tyranny as best they can. They aren't always enough." 

Steven is starting to understand that as much as he wants to be the good person and the only person, he can't. 

"Moon Knight is more than a good man. He's a force that transcends the brutality and the fear that are the savages' main weapons--Because he can use those weapons himself. 

He's a savage on the side of the angels. A protector of innocents... A symbol of vengeance and hope. And, God willing, If he does his job well enough... He'll be the last savage." 

It's an interesting understanding by Steven. Viewing Moon Knight a a necessary violence force. But does he see Moon Knight as his own person, as Marc Spector, or as all of them working together? 

I know how Moench would portray Moon Knight, but with him out of the picture, how is Marvel going to let the character of Moon Knight advance? 

Steven attempts to stand. 

He fights through the pain. 

For once, he’s not looking to Khonshu for support. Or a miracle. 

"This is the truth learned. That being Moon Knight is not a curse... Nor a state of penance. It is simply who and what he was always meant to be." 

So what is Moon Knight's first course of action? 

He goes to see Professor Charles Xavier's school for gifted youngsters. 

Alright. We are a little over halfway through the comic and we are finally bringing in the X-men. 

He speaks with the Professor himself. 

"The Russians have been unusually co-operative with the bare facts. She's fourteen, off her nut, and operating without their sanction. Not enough. I need to know how her powers work!" 

Moon Knight notes that there are four more defectors in the ballet company and he bets she'll strike again on opening night. 

Professor tells him how he thinks Bora's power works then asks if Moon Knight thinks one man can stop her. 

"I don't know. I don't see where I have any choice but to try. Thank you for your help, professor." 

Leaving, Professor X watches him go. 

"He has doubts. His injury--His recent failure....The pain that yet wracks his body. They all work against him. And still he strives to overcome. The man's determination is both inspiring and frightening." 

He calls in Colossus and Nightcrawler. 

Mostly because you can’t have a comic that boasts about an X-man crossover without the x-men. And any time there’s a one off X-men crossover, they tend to just kinda throw Colossus and Nightcrawler at the situation back in the day. (Current day it’s more like wolverine or some random side characters that Marvel wants to promote at the time for a smaller comic). 

Nightcrawler makes the argument that Mutants should deal with Mutants. 

"I would agree...Normally... But Moon Knight is at a crossroad in his life. He must be given the chance to prove himself to himself. He is a powerful force for good. 

Perhaps more powerful, in his own way, than we X-men. We will not interfere unless necessary." 

Yet... They do all agree that a night at the Ballet might be nice. 

Outside the school we find Frenchie chatting up Storm. 

Opening night, the theater is packed! And what's this? The Thing! 

He says his hello to Nightcrawler. 

Nightcrawler admits that he's there as 'unofficial back-up'. 

Ben laughs. "I guess that makes yours truly and pals the "Official Back-ups, then." 

It would seem that Moon Knight knew he wasn't fully up to full strength so he called in a little extra help. 

"The Fantastic four!" Kirk turns to his row and admits "I, too, came with 'Pals'!" 

And there we see more of the X-men! I'm not a big X-men reader, so I only recognize two, maybe three of the ones there. 

It's also interesting that Moon Knight would specifically ask for help from the fantastic four. He's only had run-ins with DareDevil, Ben, and the Hulk up to this point. Inviting Dare Devil to the ballet would be... a bit off. And the Hulk wouldn't exactly be good backup. 

It's also hilarious that to this day, Ben still considers Moon Knight a friend and every single year will send him Hanukkah cards. In later issues, Moon Knight admits that there aren't a lot of Jewish heroes and that Ben needs to meet others besides himself, since he isn't exactly the most observant. But it's still touching how Ben said "This is my friend." and clung to him for so long.

We see Moon Knight himself up in a box seat overlooking the stage. (And this image really tickled me for POTO reasons. If you know, you know.) 

"But if Kurt Wagner has gained new respect for the Moon's Knight of Vengeance, the object of that praise is himself still wrestling with doubts.

Bora has the power to level this theater. He was crippled by a glorified burglar. Memories of past failure assail him. The waiting is a battle in itself. And that he does not surrender to his doubts in those seemingly interminable minutes is a victory as great as any he has known." 

Okay okay okay. Let's take a moment to appreciate the actual Ballet! 

"Laurencia" - A story of love and tyranny. 

A ballet by Chabukiani. As wiki informs me, "Created at a time when 'choreodrama' was considered in the Soviet Union the only acceptable form of contemporary ballet.' 

Basically it stresses that dance was an ultimate form of expression and all movement should serve as a purpose. 

So ballet at the time seemed to focus heavily on drama based plays. 

The story the ballet is based on is one of a peasant revolution. Which, if you know the most basic of Russian history, this was a big deal for the Soviet Union. 

Now, Chabukiani created his own form of choreographic language in Ballet where he focused heavily on the Male Dancer and created 'the heroic male dance'. 

The play is pretty simple. Village awaits the return of some grand Commander with his army. Meanwhile a girl and her admirer are flirting. The commander returns and immediately desires the beautiful girl. She rejects him so he leaves with his army. The admirer asks the girl to marry him but she isn't sure and doesn't answer. The Commander returns and tries to have the girl. She rejects him again and this time he leaves promising revenge. The girl marries her admirer but the commander interrupts the wedding and arrests her groom. Pretty pissed off, she rallies the village and they storm the castle. They kill the commander and free the groom. 

The original story was written in the 1600s and was based on a real story. 

Back to the comic! 

Bora interrupts just as the revolt against the evil Commander is taking place. 

Winds batter around the ballerinas as Bora steps on stage. 

"The winds of retribution have pursued you from the homeland you hae betrayed! They have decreed your punishment! And they have named Me Your executioner!" 

The X-men and the Fantastic Four hold off, wanting to let Moon Knight take his chance to redeem himself to himself. 

(It's also funny to watch a woman command the winds and have Storm be there like, "Oh she is not going to get away with this".) 

Moon Knight leaps down onto the stage. 

She immediately blasts him with wind. This gives the dancers time to make their escape as he fights against the wind storm. 

Professor X had guessed that Bora's powers were psionic in nature. She was not generating the wind herself like Storm does, but she was opening a sort of portal to harness the winds from their original location. 

Off stage, Marlene and Frenchie flip on the lights and buzzers, giving Bora a massive headache and thus she loses control of her wind. 

The notion that Steven goes around building things ‘just in case Moon Knight needs them’ is hilarious. 

The Fantastic Four do their thing and ensure that the audience and fleeing Ballerina are not injured in the wild winds. 

You gotta love cross-over comics. The X-men could have ended this immediately. Much less the Fantastic. Both in the same building? Come on. But this isn’t their comic. They are guests in this comic so they gotta watch Moon Knight, a man without a single ounce of power who just finished recovering from massive spinal injury crawl across the stage. Look at him go. He’s used to being on the ground anyways. 

We get to see the Various X-men like Kitty Pride and storm and Colossus do their thing to help people. We also see the Fantastic Four do their own thing. 

Pretty pissed off, Bora now focuses fully on Moon Knight and he's getting blown around a bit. 

"The temperature drops rapidly, a full degree per second. He cannot feel what he clutches in his hand. He does not stop. Ice daggers cut deep into his flesh. And still he does not stop." 

Nightcrawler pops in just behind her, giving her a start. The momentary distraction is enough for Moon Knight to get to her and...

DID HE JUST CHLOROFORM HER?!

Yep. Sure did… 

Well... It worked. She passes out. 

Later, back at Grant Mansion Marlene and Steven talk.

"You're tired." "I am exhausted--and in excruciating pain--and feeling completely, totally wonderful!" 

"No more doubts?" 

"Lots. But I won't quit again. What we do is important." 

"I can live with that." 

And we end on Khonshu's statue gazing at Marlene and Steven embracing. 

OKAY. Coming from the future and gazing upon the past, we know what is to come in the comics much much distance from when this one was written. 

He does in fact quit again. He also ends up in a wheelchair again. What’s the difference? This time, it is Steven that handles it. In the future issue, it’s MARC that handles it. Another huge difference? In the future issue with Marc being left crippled, his friends have all left him and he suffers alone, angry, and in despair. This time, we see their friends rally around him. Steven is practical in how he confronts the problem, and Steven takes them through the rehab PT, he puts in the work, and he understands what it means to not be able to recover. He accepts potential failure and he makes peace with it. 

Marc does not. In that future episode, Marc pushes himself over and over again and suffers in miserable agony as he fails and fails and fails. Steven accepts that he is a good man and he can live with himself if he can’t be Moon Knight. Marc cannot. 

We also see the general use of ‘What WE do is important.’. He won’t quit again. He, being Steven Grant, acknowledges that he gave up too soon. He settled too soon and didn’t leave the others any say in the matter. He wrote off Jake and Marc and Moon Knight. Now he sees that he can’t do that. Moon Knight needs his place. 

What I also love is that this was again another show of a battle against oneself. We see him struggling again with his own failures and dip into self depredation. They suffer with imposter syndrome and doubt and depression. He acknowledges that the doubt is still there. That they are still struggling, but that they now know that they need to keep pushing on and forward. 

What I didn’t like about this issue? What happens to the girl? What happened to Bora after she is defeated? 14 years old and her dreams of ballet are gone and she is obviously not taking anything well. Do they just hand her over to the X-men to deal with? Also the main ballet dancer was killed! And the ballet just goes on? He was a pretty important figure it seems like! And the girl from earlier that was killed! I hate loose ends. 

Overall, I really did enjoy this issue, even if it was a cross-over with loose ends. This is the last we see of special guest writer Tony Isabella. In the next issue, we get our first full one from Zelenetz!

[eqt-95]

i would love to know more about 83 stops and the one where kara grieves if you pls thanks thanks

ahhh thanks for much for the ask!!

83 stops is, at its simplest, a story about a bus ride. at its most complex, it's a network of things and people and stories all intertwined together. i started writing this on the bus to work each morning (inspiring, i know). at first i just wanted to capture the experience of riding a bus (especially when you know the route and stops and the predictability of it): how sometimes you experience every agonizing stop in all of its tedious glory but other times your mind wanders because you saw a new piece of graffiti that reminds you of Emmett, your real estate agent son from your third marriage who married a house painter and, when the relationship went sour (his fault), she (the house painter) made it her personal mission to repaint (read: dump a bucket of paint on) every park bench that had his real-estate advert (and face) posted on it and then suddenly four bus stops have whizzed past.

And then i did that a bunch of times and started linking the relationships together (what about the man's first wife? second wife? who is the bus driver? what about the random lady who speed walks beside the bus each morning? or the strange man from out of town wearing a fedora carrying a crocodile skin suitcase? or the abandoned printing factory the bus still drives around even though no one has worked there for decades?). Then I made a city map and wrote a history for the city and hopefully maybe one day will finish this thing.

----

the one where kara grieves is.. well it's all grief. it's grief and angst and loss but in the way we all sort of hope for it: after experiencing a full life and not because of unexpected tragedy. i don't touch this one often because i have to be in very particular headspaces to both write and edit it. i (think?) posted this excerpt once before, but this was the (heavily unedited) scene i wrote that set the whole thing up:

“Do you know how lucky we are? To have had this life together?” Lena replied, eyes glistening with unfallen tears. Her cheek leaned into Kara’s touch - it was colder than usual, and Kara moved to grab another blanket, but Lena’s fingers held firm. Kara squinted in question and brow scrunched in confusion, but Lena simply shook her head. “It won’t matter soon.” “Soon?” Kara parroted, eyes blinking with the sudden wave of tears blurring her vision. “I thought-” “It’s time, darling.” The words echoed through their bedroom and ricocheted off the surfaces to land like a ton of bricks onto Kara’s heart. “No,” she replied - prayed. Surely if Rao existed; if she had sacrificed so much of her life, she could have this one thing - she could have more time. But colder lips pressed themselves to Kara’s palm in reply. “No please," Kara said and brushed angrily at the tears abstracting the view of Lena's face. "Not yet; not now. We can still do something. We can… what can we do? Tell me what to do -?” “Lay with me?” Lena asked, and for the first time Kara could hear the frailty in Lena’s voice. She could see the denial she’d been living with for weeks if not months. And she wanted to run; to fly; to freeze time. She wanted anything but this; anything but the fading pulse and shallow breaths and gentle smile of the brightest light Kara had ever known dimming before her eyes. It was worse than Krypton. It was worse than every failed save and difficult life choice, because this was Lena. Lena, who had stood by her side for a lifetime; who held her heart; who never backed down from a fight. Lena who was a life force greater than Kara’s own will or courage or stamina. Until now. Until death came to her doorstep. Until Kara, fighting back her instinct to fix, climbed into their bed next to Lena. Until Kara wrapped her arms around her wife one final time, and with one final press of her lips to Kara’s, she met it with a soft sigh.

[arcticgraverobber]

I just finished: Webbed!

I'm a big fan of 2D platformers that try something new, even though sidescrollers are so simple there's so much possible that hasn't been explored - partially because they haven't been mainstream since maybe the 90s and technology has improved since. This game has the cool new idea of being a gay spider that shoots lasers, which peaks my interest immediately and allows for some really cool ideas.

A lot of the platforming in the game is through the web slinging mechanics, like a Spider-Man game but your just a spider now. These are obviously fun and every game designer knows right now that grappling mechanics are the hot thing you can put in anything to make people excited, or to redeem a stagnant IP (e.g. Halo Infinite) but the really unique stuff comes when you build webs. Right clicking (and let me tell you this is available on other platforms but I cannot imagine playing this without keyboard and mouse) on most surfaces and then dragging to another will shoot a permanent web that goes between those two slots. This allows you to walk over the webs, shoot over webs off of them to connect another surface to the web, or to manipulate objects in your environment. This makes up a lot of the gameplay allowing for all kinds of physics puzzles and such. For instance, you have to build the webs that hold the parts of this air balloon together:

Various collectables are strewn throughout the game, one that's really cool is the flies you can catch, like an actual spider would:

Now this is all great, and I liked all this quite a lot, all though moving objects in the environment with webs (and lasers a bit) can be frustrating at times, which is heavily required for part of the game. It's also the part that soft locked my game and required me to edit the save file to progress.

One of the legs of the big mech-ant that you have to help build disappeared for me. Looking online others seem to have this issue, so it's not unique to me. If you do play this be very careful around the above section. Other than this the game performs absolutely fine, but it's been a while since launch so I don't know if this will be patched.

Grade: C - Soft locking is a pretty serious issue, luckily I managed to continue but I might not have continued playing if I had to start from the beginning again.

Significance: 2/3 - Haven't seen much like it. The fly thing really impressed me, though it's a small thing and a small part of the game.

[demigodforfend]

Twilight of the Demigods: Forfend Edition - Session 19

Kairi fluttered down on flickering wings and all but collapsed into Forfend. She looked tattered, severely wounded, and wholly exhausted.

"Did we win?" she mumbled.

Forfend nodded slowly. "Kagoshi and Melzaryn won the battle. The war will be... arduous."

Narmoth finally caught up to the rest of his group, wheezing with exertion. "Is it over? What even happened?"

"It was an Envema attack," Forfend reported, steam hissing in its tired chest.

"Oh no," Narmoth breathed.

The goblin chef hobbled past, assisting an elderly human man.

"Where'd that young man go?" the elder asked. "I thought we were going to have a conversation."

"It's alright. I'll get you some pudding in just a bit. We're all good. Everybody's all good. We'll get you somebody to talk to," the chef promised.

The older man smiled. "Alright."

"We should be getting back around where everybody else is, shouldn't we?" the chef pointed out. "Because it's over, right? It's over?"

Forfend nodded. "It should be. For now."

Kairi pressed into Forfend's back. She was wavering on her feet and barely seemed to have her eyes open.

In its arms, Duncan slowly transitioned from sobbing against its shoulder to drifting into sleep.

Forfend shifted him to rest as easy as he could against its stone body and coaxed Kairi into holding onto its elbow.

It followed Narmoth and the rest of the inn patrons back to the front of the building.

They arrived just in time to see Melzaryn carefully depositing a nearly unconscious Kagoshi off his flying broom and onto the ground.

Kagoshi landed face first on the cobblestone, making no attempt to catch himself. He groaned.

Kairi lay down on the ground next to him and held her bloodied midsection.

Forfend inspected the wound.

She'd been stabbed in her stomach. Kagoshi had as well.

Forfend wondered why their assassins hadn't gone for their throats the way Melzaryn's had.

It dismissed the contemplation in favor of assessing the injuries. For both of them, the bleeding had stopped. They were heavily wounded, but neither was in danger of dying.

That was good. Its dwindling magic reserves meant it probably couldn't help much anyway.

Melzaryn looked nearly as spent as Kagoshi. His shoulders drooped. His skin was shiny with sweat. His usual vague arcane aura was missing entirely.

The crowd of inn patrons around them murmured amongst themselves, nervous but thankful things from the snippets Forfend caught.

One of them, an elven man, hedged forward. "Excuse me, um, is it over? Are we safe? What should we do?"

"At this point, we'll need to wait until we can speak with the guards," Melzaryn provided. "After that, you might need to look for somewhere else to stay the night."

"Okay, we'll wait for the guards then," the elf agreed. "Thank you for saving us."

He shuffled awkwardly back into the crowd.

Forfend could see the guards approaching from over the heads of the crowd.

"They will be here shortly," it commented.

Melzaryn huffed. He slid a bag off the end of his broom. Forfend had a moment of brief confusion before it realized the pack was one of Envema's undetonated bombs.

Melzaryn opened it. He leaned on his staff and mumbled a passage from his spell book.

Magic projected from the pearl in the staff, scanned over the item in question, and returned a schematics screen.

Melzaryn rapidly skimmed over the wealth of information.

Forfend tilted its head. It had no idea how he was using any kind of magic with so much exhaustion tugging him down.

Melzaryn stiffened. He rushed into the inn and returned with another bomb bag.

"There is one more at the back of the building," Forfend shared.

"They can be detonated remotely. I'm getting rid of them," Melzaryn said urgently.

He hopped on his broom and zipped around to the back the building.

A moment later, he was soaring over the rooftops toward the massive river just beyond Cragwall.

Two guards came dashing around the corner of the building and met up with the approaching group.

They seemed to be giving a hurried report, presumably about what Melzaryn was doing. They were waved away. They fell into line with the other guards.

Forfend sat down next to Kairi and Kagoshi. It huddled Duncan protectively into its chest.

The crowd parted for High Knight Erest Ledrian and the retinue of guards on his tail.

"Secure the area," he ordered his fellow knights.

They nodded and broke off, each taking a handful of guards with them.

High Knight Erest surveyed the crowd and locked onto Forfend. He sighed through his helm. Nonetheless, he approached.

"Are the people alright?" he asked.

Forfend nodded. "As far as I can tell, no one was injured aside from myself and my companions."

"What happened?"

"Envema attacked us," Forfend said simply.

High Knight Erest swore. "Again."

"They tried to murder us in our sleep. It did not go as planned."

High Knight Erest nodded, eyeing the gaping hole of free-flowing ichor in Forfend's center. "I see."

Around them, the inn patrons hesitantly approached the guards. They asked questions or provided testimonies and were slowly ushered away from the Brass Buffalo.

"What else can you tell me?" High Knight Erest asked.

Kagoshi stirred. Still facedown in the dirt, he mumbled, "Is that Halt?"

"It is Prince Halt, yes," Forfend answered.

Even through his visor, Forfend could tell High Knight Erest was grimacing at the unflattering nickname.

"Tell him he's a tool," Kagoshi muttered.

Forfend looked up at High Knight Erest.

He only sighed heavily.

Forfend guessed he was rolling his eyes beneath his helm.

"Well, you know the protocol," High Knight Erest said, tugging manacles from his belt.

Forfend started to speak, but someone else got there first.

"Hey, hey, nope, no. Not right now," called a fairly nondescript human. The only things about him that stood out at all were the nice clothes he wore and the fact that he was running in them.

He tugged at his burgundy vest as he staggered up, slowing to a stop and resting his hands on his knees to catch his breath. He pulled himself upright, wiped his brow, and brushed the wrinkles out of his clothes.

He reached over, leaning heavily on Forfend's solidity under the guise of simply patting its shoulder.

"You can't do that," he breathlessly informed High Knight Erest. "Not without legal counsel."

Forfend hummed and took a guess as to who this man was. If it was right, this was excellent luck.

"You've already arrested them once before," the newcomer continued. "You know the deal."

High Knight Erest looked irritated. "Eamon Brighthorn, I see. What, are these your clients?"

"Yeah," Eamon answered. "I'm their legal counsel. It's obvious they didn't do this. You know that better than anyone else. They got the people out. Go and get testimonies from everyone who was here. I'm sure you'll find out these people didn't commit whatever crime you think they've done."

High Knight Erest regarded Eamon carefully. He seemed like he was going to speak again, but Eamon suddenly continued.

"Plus, it's the middle of the fucking night. Cut everyone some slack. You can't have a stick up your ass all the time, Prince, uh..." He glanced at Forfend and Kagoshi. "You called him Prince Halt, right?"

"Yes," Forfend confirmed.

"Prince Halt," Eamon repeated.

High Knight Erest groaned, pressing his gauntleted hand to his helmeted face. "Fine. Get on out of here."

"Alright, cool, cool, cool," Eamon said to himself as High Knight Erest stormed off to fuss at his company of knights and guards.

"Are you our lawyer?" Forfend asked despite already knowing the answer.

"Yeah. I'll explain later. Let's get you out of here." Eamon ushered everyone up. "Where's the, uh, fourth one?"

In the distance, a trio of explosions sounded.

"I believe that was him," Forfend replied. "He left to detonate some untriggered Envema bombs. He should return shortly."

"Pleasant," Eamon strained.

High Knight Erest turned sharply. His hands clenched and unclenched several times. "Alright," he hissed through grit teeth. "We are going to need reports from all of you tomorrow."

"I'll handle that," Eamon assured, glaring at High Knight Erest. "I'll handle it. Do your job and I'll do mine."

High Knight Erest huffed and returned to directing his crew.

"Forfend, let's get out of here. Can you contact your buddy?" Eamon asked.

Forfend nodded.

"Let him know where we're going," Eamon requested. He headed away from the Brass Buffalo toward the city plaza.

Kairi snagged Forfend and used it to haul herself upright. She limped after Eamon.

Forfend stood. It leaned down, scruffing Kagoshi by the back of his jacket and tossing him over its shoulder.

Kagoshi grumbled and growled unintelligibly, but he couldn't lift a finger to fight it.

Forfend balanced him so that it could still carry Duncan comfortably and followed Eamon as well.

It tugged the Sending Stone from its pouch. "Our lawyer arrived. We are following him. Currently, we are heading towards the town square."

As they entered the plaza, Melzaryn touched down by the statue of King Falco.

"Oh, good," Eamon clapped as they reconvened with Melzaryn. "I suppose that means pleasantries are in order." He offered his hand to the three of them that were standing. As far as Forfend could tell, Kagoshi had fallen asleep. "Yes, I am your lawyer. My name is Eamon Brighthorn. I was planning to meet you tomorrow because I know your arrival here was rocky and I didn't want to bring your case immediately to the forefront of your mind while you were all recovering from that ordeal."

He rubbed at his sleepy eyes. "I wanted to give you a break, but unfortunately that doesn't seem to have been the right idea." He paused briefly and glanced around the city. "Do you all have a place to stay?"

"We did," the whole group deadpanned at once.

Eamon looked past them to the Brass Buffalo in the distance. It was now swarming with guards and being roped off for investigation. "I see. Luckily, I see this a lot and I have a guest room in my home for clients to use. If you'd like to, you may stay there."

"I would not mind that. I would be just as comfortable sitting outside, but I believe Duncan will need to be somewhere more comfortable," Forfend said.

"I noticed." Eamon looked Duncan over, his jaw setting as he seemed to confirm some suspicion. "He's wearing the, uh, the garb of..." Eamon glanced around and leaned in to whisper, "Is he Envema?"

Forfend was surprised by the genuine curiosity in his voice. The wondering tone was far stronger than his fear or nervousness.

Forfend shook its head. "He was."

"Was?" Eamon repeated.

"Most Envema members are under a mind control spell," Forfend shared. "I have Dispelled that magic, so he is quite aware of who he is now. I imagine he is also quite frightened and traumatized."

Eamon blinked. "Mind control. I wasn't aware of that. You know what? I'll cash that in the bank later." He shook himself. "I hate to have to say this. It's going to sound really bad. But I can't have him in my house."

Forfend hummed. It started considering its options.

"Well, unless," Eamon muttered to himself. "Do you guys have spare clothes? Wait, no, I have spare clothes. Legally, I can't harbor him while he's wearing their garb, but if we get him out of that stuff and burn it then he's just any other person. Some of you have magic, right? Could you burn the Envema clothes quickly? Like, really quickly?"

Forfend nodded. "That would be simple enough."

"Good. Great. Duncan has got to get a makeover." Eamon nudged them all into moving again. "I live on the east side of town. Come with me."

The group paced after him to the far side of the city near the eastern gate. He led them down more narrow streets off the main thoroughfare. These paths were flanked on both sides by residential housing.

Eamon took the group into a tucked away corner hiding a quaint, deceptively large house.

He opened the door. "Welcome to my home," he said as he waved them all in.

He took off his dress shoes and placed them by the door. "First things first, the makeover."

Kairi took her shoes off and placed them next to Eamon's pair. She removed Kagoshi's next and added them as well.

Forfend took the hint. It tugged Duncan's boots off.

Melzaryn took them before it could set them down. "I'll handle the clothing incineration."

"Thank you." Forfend set Kagoshi on the floor and gently stripped Duncan down to his underclothes.

Melzaryn immediately took the bundle of cloth and disappeared back outside.

Eamon took stock of the sets of shoes and glanced over at Forfend's stone feet. "Do you even wear shoes?"

"My only clothing is my belt and bandolier," it hummed.

Melzaryn returned empty-handed and cast Prestidigitation, waving his hand casually at the dust and dirt caked into the stones of Forfend's legs.

All of the filth was whisked away.

"Thank you." Forfend's chest lit up briefly orange.

"Neat trick," Eamon complimented.

"No problem." Melzaryn added his shoes to the lineup.

"Alright, so, I'll just go ahead and show you around a little bit," Eamon offered. "I was planning to have everything ready for you tomorrow, but this will have to be good enough." He trotted up the hallway and opened a door on the right. "This is the guest room you can all stay in."

Forfend scooped Kagoshi up from the floor and returned him to his place over its shoulder. It peeked into the displayed room.

"Make yourselves at home. You can leave your bags anywhere you wish in there. I got it cleaned up for you. I hope it's comfortable." Eamon leaned in and pointed to different features of the room. "Obviously, beds are there. You've got a storage dresser right here. There's a desk in the corner with plenty of paper if you need it. Table in the middle. If there's anything else you need, just let me know."

He turned to a door straight across the hall from the guest room. "This is the dining room and kitchen area. This is probably where we'll hold most of our important conversations regarding your trial. Don't worry about breakfast or anything. I'll cook."

Eamon led them up to the end of the hallway. "My living room is in here. We'll probably sit down to talk in here as well. It's got plenty of space for meetings. There's a bookshelf too. Help yourselves to any of my books." He paused to look at them. "I think that covers everything. You guys hungry? Would you like some tea? Do you guys take tea?"

"I would love some tea," Melzaryn accepted. "And Kagoshi could stand to sober up."

Kagoshi groaned so quietly Forfend couldn't tell if he was listening to the conversation or just snoring.

"I'll make tea then," Eamon promised. "Make yourselves at home anywhere you wish. The only exception is that door over there." He pointed at a closed door off to the side of the living room. "That is my bedroom and office. I would appreciate if you would respect my privacy. Knock if you ever need anything."

"Thank you," Kairi muttered and trudged off to the guest bedroom.

Kagoshi grumbled unintelligibly under his breath.

"Wake up, please," Forfend requested.

"I'll go start tea right now," Eamon said as he headed into the kitchen.

Melzaryn wandered into the living room, but Forfend followed Eamon.

It nudged Kagoshi off its shoulder and carefully tugged him into a sitting position at the dinner table.

Kagoshi slouched forward. He growled something that sounded slightly more awake and managed not to fall out of his chair.

Forfend carried Duncan across the hall to the guest bedroom.

There were two beds here, which meant there wasn't going to be space to accommodate everyone.

Forfend hummed to itself.

Kairi already had one bed. Kagoshi would be out of it enough that Forfend could probably just lay him down next to her with minimal protest. It knew Kairi would not object.

Melzaryn would be the more interesting case. Understandably, he would not want to share the other bed with his attempted assassin, but Duncan desperately needed the rest.

Steam hissed in Forfend's chest. It would cross that bridge when it got there. It tucked Duncan into bed, made certain he was resting easy, and returned to the kitchen.

"I guess I'll just make green tea," Eamon was mumbling to himself as Forfend entered.

Forfend positioned itself at Kagoshi's side. It checked over his injuries again and nudged him to try to bring him around a bit more.

Eamon placed a mug of green tea in front of Kagoshi. "I guess he'll wake up when he wants to? Is he okay? He looks completely exhausted."

"He will be alright, but he is worn out. I have no idea what exactly he did, but it was certainly taxing," Forfend hummed.

Eamon nodded. He looked Forfend up and down. "Um. Are you okay?" He gestured to the deep, open puncture wound taking up a large portion of its center.

Forfend had nearly forgotten about the injury.

It lightly touched the jagged edges and reached into the bag at its side, pulling out stones. It placed one after the other into the depths of the gaping hole.

"I will be perfectly alright in a short while," Forfend promised.

Eamon watched the air waver with heat around Forfend's middle as the stones transmuted to raw marble and seamed into place. He blinked, pulling his eyes away from the spectacle. "Okay, good. Good. Well, I'm going to take this tea to Mr. Collymore while you do... that."

Forfend hummed idly, focusing on patching itself up.

Eamon grabbed another glass of tea and disappeared into the living room.

Forfend's wound knit itself together steadily. The tensions surrounding the area eased.

It turned to Kagoshi and placed a heavy hand on his shoulder. It didn't have much magic left, but it had some.

Healing magic coursed sunset orange and comfortably warm down Forfend's arm and into Kagoshi's limp form.

Kagoshi lifted his head off the table, his eyes fighting to stay open. "Fuck."

"Drink some green tea. Sober up," Forfend said.

Kagoshi grasped at the cup three times before he caught it and pulled it to him.

"How's our friend doing?" Eamon asked as he slipped back into the kitchen. "Oh, he's up! Let me know if you need food or anything else."

"Where the hell am I?" Kagoshi barely managed.

"Our lawyer's home," Forfend answered.

"Yep. Hi," Eamon greeted.

"Who the fuck are you?" Kagoshi growled rudely.

Forfend smothered the irritated shing of metal across a whetstone with a loud rush of steam. "He kept us from being arrested. You should thank him."

"I'm Eamon Brighthorn," Eamon introduced himself. "It's nice to meet you. I'm your legal counsel. I'll be helping you guys out for as long as you need it."

"Great," Kagoshi said flatly. "What's in front of me?"

"Tea. Green tea." Eamon busied himself over by the kitchen counter. "Can I get you anything else? Maybe bread?"

"Bread would be good for someone who has drank as much as he has," Forfend hummed.

Kagoshi didn't answer for himself. He just turned up the tea and drank all of it in one motion.

"Okay, wow." Eamon stared at Kagoshi. "I'll toast some bread real quick then." He set to work.

The second Eamon deposited the bread onto Kagoshi's plate, Kagoshi scarfed it down.

How he could still eat after devouring a mountain of bacon just a few hours prior, Forfend had no idea. It didn't think it had ever seen anyone eat so much.

"Alright. Well, I won't burden your minds with anything else tonight," Eamon decided. "Given the thousands of stars that appeared over the city, I figure you've already had an overly eventful evening. I just want you all to go get some sleep. We'll discuss everything in the morning. Okay?"

"Thank you," Forfend nodded.

"My pleasure," Eamon returned. "Kagoshi, I hope you feel better. If anybody needs anything tonight, knock on my door."

Eamon ducked his head politely and took his leave.

Forfend watched Kagoshi for a few moments. He was clearly still on the edge of passing out, but he was fighting the urge. It wouldn't be able to do much with him while he was awake enough to cause a ruckus. Forfend didn't want to disturb the entire household when they'd just gotten settled in for the night.

"Our room is across the hall," it said.

"Yeah, sure, whatever," Kagoshi huffed.

Forfend strode out of the kitchen and into the bedroom.

It checked on Kairi and Duncan. Both seemed to be sleeping soundly.

Satisfied, it turned its attention to the table in the middle of the room.

Forfend tested the accompanying chairs, checking and double-checking their durability. Finally, it decided they were strong enough to hold it.

Forfend carefully eased itself into one of them. It positioned itself to where it could see both its sleeping companions and the door.

Its rune blinked out.

Forfend observed its wounded friends as it mulled over the events of the day.

The Envema investigation they'd agreed to join would make it and its allies ever larger targets. Forfend had to visit Foumedo after the trial because it had promised Fletch it would return, but it couldn't stay. It would put everyone at risk.

Forfend hummed fretfully. It would miss its family. Perhaps when the work was done, it could go back.

A dragging sound interrupted Forfend's thoughts.

There was a pathetic slap of a palm against the bottom of the door.

A second weak slap landed just a bit higher than the first.

Forfend tilted its head. Had Kagoshi fallen out of his chair and crawled across the hallway?

"Do you need help?" Forfend asked, lighting its rune.

"No," Kagoshi stubbornly gasped from the other side.

He smacked the door again, this time rattling the doorknob before he slipped back to the floor.

"Are you sure you would not like--?"

Kagoshi cut Forfend off with a sharp growl, "I got it!"

Forfend shook its head. Kagoshi's pride would be the death of him.

After several more attempts, he finally managed to swipe the doorknob just hard enough to unlatch it. He collapsed back to the floor as the door swung open.

"Told you I had it," Kagoshi wheezed.

He hauled himself hand over hand onto the carpet, curled up, and passed out.

Forfend waited a few minutes to make certain he was fully asleep.

When it was sure, it scooped him from the floor and tucked him into the bed next to Kairi.

Forfend figured he wouldn't really remember what happened anyway. He could think he made it to the bed on his own.

It settled into its chair again and flicked its rune back off.

The sun was well past up before anyone stirred. It was late into the morning, nearly noon, before Kagoshi and Kairi entered a lighter sleep and began to near wakefulness.

Duncan hadn't so much as twitched in his sleep. He was far past exhausted. He may sleep for days yet.

Kagoshi grumbled as he forced his unwilling eyes open. He rolled out of bed and fell to the floor.

Forfend tilted its head.

Kagoshi dragged himself to the middle of the floor and attempted a pushup. He wasn't able to lift himself.

He lay flat down and caught his breath.

Eventually, he made a second attempt.

Forfend watched him employ his hubris and fight through his pain with a deep sense of worry.

Despite everything, Kagoshi managed a total of four pushups before collapsing onto the carpet. He wheezed, his body shaking from overexertion.

Forfend leaned forward and clasped its hands together in front of its face, etching concern into every feature of its body.

Kagoshi growled at it.

A quiet knock at the door drew Forfend's attention.

It lit its rune. "Come in," it said as it straightened up.

Eamon peeked into the room. "Good morning. How are you guys doing? Did you sleep well?"

"I did not sleep. I never do," Forfend shared. "But I had a comfortable rest."

"That's good. I brought spare clothes for Duncan."

Eamon did a doubletake as he caught sight of Kagoshi trying and failing to force a fifth pushup out of his quivering body.

"I really don't think you should be doing that," he worried.

"It's fine," Kagoshi strained through grit teeth.

Eamon's mouth drew into a tight line. "Okay," he gave up. "Would you like breakfast?"

"Yes," Forfend perked up.

"Um, I don't mean to be rude, but do you eat?" Eamon asked nervously.

"No, but I enjoy the company." Forfend's chest lit up.

Eamon nodded. "Cool. Also, respectfully, um, how's that chair doing? I don't usually have guests that are..."

"Upwards of four hundred and fifty pounds," Forfend supplied.

"And made of stone, yeah," Eamon added.

"I was surprised by the sturdiness. It is undamaged," Forfend assured.

"Okay, good," Eamon seemed satisfied. He placed Duncan's new set of clothes down on the table. "I'll get breakfast started in just a minute. I'm going to let Mr. Collymore know."

Forfend waved as Eamon stepped out of the room.

It stood, collecting the clothes and arranging them neatly at the foot of Duncan's bed.

It took a moment to assess Duncan's wellbeing for the dozenth time. The man was physically well, all things considered. His body and mind were just completely spent. He needed all the rest he could get.

Forfend figured it was likely he would sleep until at least tomorrow, but it wanted to be certain he could parse what happened if he awoke while no one was around.

It made use of the desk in the corner.

Forfend wrote out a note that simply read, "Do not panic, you are safe from Envema," in large, friendly letters. It signed its name and folded the paper so it would stay propped up.

Forfend placed the note on top of Duncan's new clothes.

"I'm going to try to sleep some more, okay?" Kairi whispered.

Forfend turned. It hadn't realized she was awake.

She huddled further into her blankets.

"Take all the time you need," Forfend hummed. It stroked her hair gently once. "Please call if you need anything."

Kairi nodded subtly.

Forfend scruffed Kagoshi and hauled him up. It dropped him on his feet as it exited the room amid threats and swears.

Forfend crossed the hall. It took a seat at the dining room table and enjoyed the scent of Eamon's cooking.

Melzaryn already sat across from it, tapping the table idly and sipping cold tea.

Kagoshi staggered in a few minutes later, still swearing and brushing himself off as though Forfend had somehow gotten him dirty.

"Fucking touch me," he grumbled angrily under his breath. Nonetheless, he sat down next to Forfend.

Eamon grabbed the newly emptied tea kettle next to Melzaryn and began brewing a fresh batch.

"As you guys are well aware, I'm your lawyer," Eamon started. "Originally, I was only supposed to be your legal counsel for your case, but given the recent events and your astounding propensity for heroism, High Lord Isaac Summerstead opted to employ me to you more permanently. So if you'll have me, I'll be helping you out for a long while."

Forfend nodded. "We certainly seem to need it."

It cast a sideways glance at Kagoshi, remembering his most recent arrest. "That reminds me: Melzaryn, what is it that is going on with Kagoshi?"

"Oh, right," Melzaryn hummed casually, refilling his cup with hot tea the moment Eamon set the teapot down. "He's had his memories modified."

Eamon jolted and dropped the ladle he'd been using. "What?!" he yelped as he whipped around.

"I can fix that," Forfend determined.

"Hang on, what?" Kagoshi slammed his hands down on the table.

Forfend tapped Kagoshi's forehead as though it was trying to get someone's attention through a window. "Fix him," it commanded its magic.

Forfend felt the Modify Memory spell snap under its cast of Remove Curse.

Kagoshi felt it too. His eyes shot open wide as whatever memories had been altered came flooding back in their entirety. "Son of a bitch!"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, what?" Eamon hurriedly asked. He rushed to finish what he was doing and nearly dropped the pot of breakfast stew onto the table as he slid into his chair. "Hold on, memories were modified?!"

"That motherfucker! It was some old wizard guy and goddamn Halt," Kagoshi growled out the nickname with unbridled hatred.

"Now... when you say Halt..." Eamon couldn't seem to figure out what to do with his fidgeting hands.

"I don't know his real fucking name!" Kagoshi snapped.

"High Knight Erest Ledrian," Forfend offered.

"That guy!" Kagoshi dug his nails into the table. "That son of a bitch!"

"The prince," Eamon said incredulously.

"High Knight Halt," Kagoshi hissed. "I already refused to call him by his real name, but this just solidified that decision."

"Okay, this conversation definitely requires food." Eamon reached for the pot and paused. He got up, rifled through a cabinet, and distributed bowls for everyone.

Forfend started to protest, but Eamon was already serving it a ladleful of stew. He moved on, serving Kagoshi, Melzaryn, and then himself.

Forfend hummed quietly. If nothing else, it would take its portion to Kairi when it was done with this discussion.

Eamon slowly seemed to realize what he'd done. "Oh, you don't-- Uh, sorry."

Forfend shook its head. "I appreciate the gesture. I will share with Kairi."

"Okay, sure, that works," Eamon nodded.

"Shut up and listen!" Kagoshi demanded. "They took me to the fucking jail after my fucking curse tried to read that stupid fucking book! Halt dragged me to a Teleportation Circle in the jail, but it wasn't a fucking Teleportation Circle. It just made us invisible. Then he walked me at swordpoint through this fucking hidden tunnel all the way to the godsdamn castle. We met this old fucking magic elf asshole. The motherfucker called me an 'accepted vessel,' whatever the fuck that means!"

Kagoshi paused just long enough to take a deep inhale. He launched straight back into his story, "Old Fuck and Halt said they were gonna have to Modify Memory everybody in the godsdamned library and Old Fuck said that wouldn't even be hard! And then Old Fuck said he wasn't even telling Falco, so that's how fucking useless the king is! That motherfucking son of a whore tried to Modify Memory me. It didn't work the first time, but I guess the second one fucking took. He fucking lied to me about what happened and then he did some other magic bullshit that made me pass out! I'm gonna fucking kill that cocksucking shitstain. I'm gonna get my hands around his fucking throat and squeeze until his eyes pop out of his godsdamned head! Old Fuck and Halt both!"

Kagoshi panted, seething as he caught his breath after his outburst.

"Wow, that was a lot," Eamon squeaked.

Kagoshi growled. "No shit. Halt called me untrustworthy, which is..." He trailed off, considering. "Valid, actually. But my track record recently is better than it's been before!"

"I can vouch for that," Melzaryn chimed in.

Forfend stiffened, steepling its fingers. "This is your improved track record? That is startling news."

"At least he is doing better," Melzaryn offered.

"Yeah! The Colly-guy gets it," Kagoshi shouted.

Forfend shook its head in exasperation.

"I think the, uh, old elf you were referring to might've been a High Arcanist?" Eamon hazarded a guess. "Which was probably the patriarch of the Sagemantle family."

"That motherfucker," Kagoshi cursed under his breath.

"That's not good," Eamon fretted. "Like, really not good. Oh boy."

"Who are they?" Kagoshi asked.

"The Sagemantles? They're a noble family. They're in charge of pretty much everything arcane," Eamon explained.

"I recall that King Falco was not particularly fond of the Sagemantles," Forfend hummed.

Kagoshi shrugged.

"This is so much." Eamon rubbed his face.

"There is always more and it keeps getting stranger," Forfend lamented.

"That feels like an understatement, honestly."

"Halt always had such a punchable face," Kagoshi grumbled.

"You have barely known of the man for two days and you have never seen his face," Forfend pointed out.

"I'm imagining a very punchable face under that stupid helmet," Kagoshi said.

"I don't even think I've ever seen his face," Eamon mentioned.

"He's a coward for always hiding his face," Kagoshi decided.

"I guess that's a way of putting it," Eamon hummed nervously.

Melzaryn tapped a single finger on the table, drawing everyone's attention. "I have a meeting to attend on the other side of town, if you don't mind."

Eamon's brow creased. "I guess that's okay, as long as you keep your head down."

Melzaryn grimaced. "It didn't go well last time I was told to do that."

"Well, who are you meeting?" Eamon asked. "A noble? A friend?"

"There was an older man at the inn last night. I promised I'd speak with him," Melzaryn said simply.

"Oh! That should be fine." Eamon waved his hand dismissively. "I don't see any harm in that. Just keep your personal business close to your chest, alright?"

"Fair enough," Melzaryn agreed.

"Before you go though, there are some things we need to discuss." Eamon sat up straighter. "Since no Cragwall citizens died and no property was severely damaged last night, the courts are open. Your appeal is scheduled for today."

"Finally," Forfend let steam hiss loud and long in its chest. There had been so many stressful events lately, it would be glad to have at least one behind it. Especially, this one. Jessie would finally be free from house arrest.

"I know the basics of what happened. I know what Jessie Smith was accused of and the situation with the Gallofords, but I'd like to hear more specifics from your perspective," Eamon prompted. "Tell me everything you can. If it's miniscule or major or just messed up, tell me anyway. Anything could be important. The demon's in the details, as they say."

"I've always heard the fae is in the details," Kagoshi mumbled.

"That works too." Eamon spread his hands. "Tell me as much as you know."

Forfend titled its head back and forth a few times. It locked gazes with Melzaryn.

Melzaryn very subtly shook his head.

Steam hissed. Forfend launched into the story as truthfully and detailed as it could manage, save for the Calamity Shards. It left those out of the tale.

Kagoshi repeated his version of events with much more swearing and far less tact, slurping his second and third helpings of his meal between words. Still, he pointedly avoided mentioning the shards.

Melzaryn followed suit with exhaustive detail, also evading mention of the shards.

"So the gist is that a blue monster attacked Foumedo, kidnapped some kids, and stole a bunch of animated armors?" Eamon summed up.

"I think it was an oni," Melzaryn offered.

Forfend had no idea what an oni was, but it trusted Melzaryn's judgement.

Eamon nodded. "And will-o-wisps possessed those armors? Is that right?"

"Yeah. Nasty little fuckers," Kagoshi spat.

"You all dispatched of the will-o-wisps and the blue oni creature," Eamon continued.

Everyone nodded.

"But alongside the Foumedo children was a noble boy who was apparently a Galloford. He was unfortunately dead."

Forfend hummed sadly. "He was weeks past gone. There was nothing I could do for him."

"And after all of that awful ordeal, the Gallofords' knights accused Jessie of stealing the armor?" Eamon asked.

"The Galloford version of the story sounds weak and full of holes, does it not?" Forfend could hear rocks cracking in its chest. It couldn't quell its irritation.

"It does," Eamon agreed. "Wow."

He mulled over his new wealth of information. "Okay, when we get into the courtroom, just let me do all the talking. The Gallofords are snakes. They're crafty assholes. They'll try to rile you up. Don't let them. No outbursts."

"Do I have to be there?" Kagoshi rumbled.

"Yes," Eamon deadpanned. "Also, no lying. None. I don't know what happened, but I got a notice yesterday that you all got the king's attention, so the case has been moved into the highest court in Tyrwedia."

"We did meet the king, didn't we?" Kagoshi recalled. Drunk as he'd been, Forfend figured the details had escaped him.

"Listen, the courtroom is under a spell of some kind. I don't know exactly what it does, but it'll detect any lies." Eamon tipped and tapped his fingers along the edge of the table nervously. "One more thing: you'll have to answer any direct questions they ask you. For the most part, let me do the talking and everything will be fine. Just answer concisely and honestly when you're asked something directly."

Everyone nodded their agreement.

"Great." Eamon clapped. He stood, checking his timepiece. "Your trial isn't until seven tonight and it's just a little after noon right now. The day is yours. I just ask that you're all back here by six, no later than half-past six, for preparation. Don't do anything to get the court closed or yourselves arrested."

"As long as no one comes out of the woodwork to attack us, that should be easy," Forfend said flatly.

"Let's hope," Eamon sighed. "If you guys want anything or need to know anything, I'm pretty well connected. I can help you out. Just let me know and don't do anything crazy."

"Yeah, we got it," Kagoshi growled. He pointed across the table at Melzaryn. "You're telling me what happened after I left."

"After you got arrested?" Melzaryn asked. "It was something else. You really flustered that mage. Pretty sure your, uh, pal was going to kill him. I had to burn the book. I'm still pretty upset about that."

Eamon creased his brow. "Should I be present for this conversation?"

"No," Kagoshi snapped. "Go take care of the bedridden people."

Eamon flinched at the harsh tone. "Okay, I'll just go check on your other companions then."

Eamon picked up the bowl he'd left in front of Forfend and took it with him as he quickly exited the kitchen.

"Take care of Kairi," Kagoshi yelled after him.

"I will," he almost yelped.

"Rude," Forfend said as the door swung shut. It folded its arms and stared down at Kagoshi. "It is his home. Be kinder to him."

"They're his guests. He's supposed to cater to them," Kagoshi argued. "Anyway, what was in that book?"

"The book was burned," Melzaryn reiterated. "No one else got to read it. Oh, but I did learn you're a bigger problem than we first realized."

"What do you mean?" Kagoshi demanded.

"Well, you may or may not bring the end of the world." Melzaryn sipped his tea idly.

Forfend stuttered to a halt.

Even Kagoshi seemed taken aback.

"I'm... hold on." Kagoshi stared at his hands. "What do you mean by 'end of the world?'"

"You know those little crystals we just got rid of? Don't touch anymore," Melzaryn said sternly.

"I'm trying to resist the urge!"

"I hate to say something so blatantly obvious and condescending, but try harder."

"You should never have touched the first one," Forfend interjected.

Kagoshi scowled. He pointed at Melzaryn. "You get one. One time talking to me like that."

"I saved someone's life for you. I better get one," Melzaryn returned.

"That's the only one," Kagoshi snarled.

"May I get more context regarding the end of the world," Forfend requested.

"Well, I don't have any issue saying it to Forfend, but I don't know if your alter ego is listening," Melzaryn noted.

"The thing in my head?" Kagoshi asked.

Melzaryn nodded.

"Can I talk to him?" Kagoshi wondered aloud.

Melzaryn grimaced. "He's not very pleasant to talk to. I can tell you that."

"He's not pleasant to listen to either."

"He has said he would like more time outside," Forfend brought up. "I am not sure he should have it."

"I refuse," Kagoshi growled.

"Long story short," Melzaryn started, "you're a much bigger problem than we thought, but you didn't kill anyone yesterday. So, progress."

"Well, he did not kill anyone except that one Envema member," Forfend hummed.

Kagoshi threw his hands up. "I tried to subdue him!"

"Instead, you burned him alive," Forfend replied.

"I was literally on fire! How much control do you think I have over that?! I was a fire giant! What part of that do you not get?!"

"Apparently, you can change forms! Perhaps you should have just done that!" Forfend fussed. "Actually, could you explain that whole situation to me? It made no sense from where I was standing."

"I don't know how I did that!" Kagoshi yelled. "I had no idea that was a thing I could do until yesterday!"

Forfend hummed, curious. "Can you become other types of giants?"

Kagoshi started to snap something hateful, but he paused to consider the question. "I don't know, maybe? To be honest with you, I don't know if I could even do it again at all."

"It did look like it nearly killed you," Forfend commented.

"On top of the near death though, it did look pretty cool," Melzaryn added.

"I will give you that much," Forfend afforded. "It did look very cool."

Kagoshi scoffed. "Why are you suddenly praising me?"

"What you did on that rooftop saved all our lives," Forfend answered sincerely.

At the same time, Melzaryn said, "You saved a building from collapsing."

Forfend and Melzaryn paused to look at each other.

"Yeah, we have different priorities," Melzaryn shrugged.

"This dynamic is getting strange," Kagoshi grumbled. "I'm going to leave, if my body will let me."

"Yeah, good luck with that. I'm going to my meeting." Melzaryn got up and tromped off out of the kitchen.

Kagoshi struggled upright, his body protesting every movement.

Forfend watched him hobble off into the living room.

It headed back across the hall to the guest bedroom to check on Duncan and Kairi again.

Kairi had eaten and was sitting up in bed with a book in her hands.

Duncan was precisely where Forfend had left him, breathing softly.

Forfend hummed to itself. "I am thinking about going out for a while to distract myself from the stressful proceedings. I know you are tired, Kairi, but may I ask you to keep an eye out on Duncan for me? I want to make certain he knows he is safe."

"Yeah, I'll take care of him," Kairi promised. "I'll make sure he's healthy and I'll get him a meal if he wakes up today."

"Thank you."

"Right now, his emotions are calm and peaceful. He's sleeping well," Kairi shared.

"That is excellent news," Forfend said, its chest brightening. "Make sure you also rest well. I will see you this evening for our appeal."

Kairi waved goodbye as it left.

"Eamon, I am going out!" Forfend called just before it closed the front door behind it.

Forfend made its way to the main thoroughfare and walked towards the plaza's soaring statue.

It wasn't sure of its real destination yet, but the plaza was the center of everything. It could decide once it was there.

It could also keep an eye out for Erzor. It hadn't seen him since the attack on the Teleportation Hub. It was worried he'd been injured.

Forfend hummed to itself, considering going back into the cathedral. Cragwall had more to offer than that though and Eamon had asked it not to cause a ruckus. It settled for something that would draw less attention. Perhaps, it would visit the woodcarver's shop Erzor mentioned during his tour.

Forfend paused as it entered the bustling town square. It scanned the crowd.

Its chest lit up as it spotted Erzor by the statue. He was talking with a couple of earth genasi. That was even more cause to go see him.

Forfend very much wanted to understand their plight from their perspective. It would be a far more useful point of reference than King Falco could give.

Forfend carefully navigated the busily flowing crowd as it made its way to Erzor.

The two earth genasi with him both looked deadly serious.

One had dusty earthen skin marked by thin indented lines where the plates of her body butted up against one another. Rather than hair, she had a tied-back series of crystalline beads somewhere between the clarity of glass and the snowy white of quartz.

She was beautiful.

The second earth genasi was slender, lithe. His expression was softer than his companion. His skin was the deep brown of mud after a rainfall. Polished onyx crystals jutted from his head, giving the impression of a closely cropped haircut.

He was beautiful.

Forfend suddenly caught sight of a third individual lingering behind the earth genasi. She appeared to be human, and she was decidedly foreign.

Her attire struck an odd balance between casual and combat ready. She wore a simple gray robe, over which she'd layered a studded breastplate and a large shoulder guard.

Metal-plated grieves covered her legs all the way up past her knees.

Around her waist, she wore a simple blue braided rope belt. Her left hand never left the sheathe tied there and her right hovered near the hilt of the longsword within. She was fully prepared to draw and attack at the slightest hint of danger.

Her mess of thick black hair was tied high up out of her way. Her golden eyes were sharp, watching everyone. Everything about her was prepared for a fight with anyone at anytime.

She locked onto Forfend and glared, sinking into a slightly lower battle stance. At a word from her, the earth genasi moved back.

Forfend waved, trying to appear as friendly and nonthreatening as it could.

Erzor threw his hands up excitedly. "Hey!"

The earth genasi leaned into one another, muttering in hushed tones.

Erzor walked right up to Forfend. "Hey, you're alive! Wow! You caught a building and you're still walking!"

"I did." Stones ground in Forfend's chest as it chuckled. "It was frightening. Were you alright in the midst of all that?"

"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine. I think?" He pat himself over. "I figure nothing got broken."

"I was worried for you since we lost you in the aftermath. I am glad you are okay."

"Thank you." Erzor scratched at the back of his neck. "And sorry. I know that really wasn't the best Cragwall welcome. Um, but it's nice to see you again. What's going on?"

Forfend knelt to make itself less imposing. "Well, I wanted to make certain you were unharmed, but I also noticed you were speaking with a couple of earth genasi." It inclined its head toward the tense pair and their much tenser human companion. "Were they at the protest?"

Erzor stiffened, twiddling his fingers nervously. He looked over his shoulder.

One of the earth genasi nodded slightly.

"Yeah, they were actually," Erzor answered.

"That is excellent news, thank you." Forfend stood and took a very short step towards the genasi. It spread its hands to show it had nothing to hide. "May I ask you about the protest? I do not have an understanding of the political turmoil involved."

The two genasi eyed one another.

The male genasi gave a tiny shrug and cocked his head at Forfend. "Are you... sure?"

"I want to help if I can," Forfend nodded.

"And what are your intentions?" the female genasi asked.

"First and foremost, I want to understand what happened. I have heard from a layman. I have heard from King Falco, but I--"

The genasi shook their heads.

"Nevermind," the woman said and ushered her companions to move away.

"Please," Forfend called after them. "I do not want to take him at his word simply because of who he is. I want to understand what truly happened."

They stopped.

The woman heaved a heavy sigh. She looked to the male earth genasi again.

They had some sort of silent conversation before both looked up and around, eyeing the crowd.

The human swordswoman jerked her chin over at a man running a fresh fruit stand.

Everyone but Forfend seemed to immediately gather the importance of that motion. It saw only a commoner trying to run his business, but the rest of them must've seen something more important or more sinister.

"Not here," the genasi woman said.

"Alright," Forfend agreed.

The genasi, their swordswoman, and Erzor all immediately headed east, towards one of Cragwall's gates.

Forfend followed closely.

They led it a short ways out of the city and fairly far off the side of the road, well away from prying eyes and eavesdropping ears.

The swordswoman whispered to her companions.

The genasi woman looked Forfend over, perplexed and concerned.

The swordswoman squinted at Forfend. "Is there any way to prevent you from seeing?"

"Yes," Forfend answered.

The swordswoman cocked an eyebrow and rolled her hand.

Forfend took a moment to realize she was asking it to elaborate. "Oh! If you cover my rune, I cannot see. A blindfold would do fine."

The swordswoman pulled a bag from her belt and dumped the supplies within onto the ground.

Forfend started to kneel to make it easier for her to reach its head.

She jumped, latching onto its arm and scaling it instead.

Forfend sat still while she tied the bag in place around its runic head.

She jumped down. Forfend heard her dust off her hands.

It lightly touched the leather obscuring its vision and held out a hand to whoever was nearby.

Erzor took its hand.

"Follow us and don't do anything untoward," the swordswoman ordered. "I will cut you down if you do."

"Alright," Forfend agreed easily.

Erzor tugged it forward.

They walked for a long while.

The ground was uneven and plush with greenery. It occasionally stumbled over rocks and roots. The scent of the trees comforted it despite its unsure footing.

Forfend could tell the genasi and their allies were intentionally leading it through confusing twists and turns to make certain it lost its way.

It didn't mind. It would allow them to do whatever they needed to do to ensure their safety.

The ground suddenly turned from undergrowth to solid rock.

Forfend was led down and down and down.

The path changed again from stone to wood.

Erzor stopped.

Forfend did as well. It waited.

"Alright, you can take that bag off now," the swordswoman allowed.

Forfend reached up, fiddled with the knot until it came undone, and pulled the bag off its head.

"I guess introductions are in order," the earth genasi woman said. "I'm Jewel."

The man ducked his head politely. "Flint."

"We were the leaders of the protest," Jewel shared. "Come on in."

Forfend took in its new surroundings.

As far as it could tell, they were in a repurposed storage building of some kind.

A door opened to its right. A handful of earth genasi, some frazzled and wounded while others were simply curious, watched it walk past. They huddled back into their room and shut the door.

Forfend hummed to itself as it followed Jewel and the others up the main hallway.

"This is our..." Jewel clicked her tongue, picking her words. "Sanctuary, or hideout. Whatever you'd like to call it. Keeps us away from Tyrwedia."

Forfend nodded. "I see."

Jewel shrugged. "Yep. We've got this place because if we had any official place to stay, well, you saw what happened at the Teleportation Hub."

"Yes, I did bear witness to that. I am sorry for the losses I know you must have suffered," Forfend hummed.

Jewel paused halfway up the hallway and moved to lean against the wall.

Flint followed suit along the opposite wall, making it impossibly for Forfend to watch them both at once.

It could feel the swordswoman hovering at its back.

They were still prepared for a fight.

"So, what do you want?" Jewel asked with a shrug.

"I want to understand the situation," Forfend answered.

"I think it's pretty cut and dry," Jewel snapped bitterly. "They wanted to stop our protest and they blew a building up to do it."

"What was the protest about?" Forfend asked.

"We want our Land back and they don't want to give it to us," Jewel huffed.

Forfend hummed. "Could you tell me the history of--" It stopped itself. "I am sorry, I should explain. I have only been awake and aware in this modern era for the past two years. I have lived in a very small village the entire time. I do not know the history of Tyrwedia."

"Really?" Flint raised an eyebrow.

Jewel shrugged and gestured to Forfend in its entirety. "Look at him for a second."

Flint shuffled in place, uncertainty clouding his expression. "Yeah, I know. But who knows whether or not he's got his claws in him?"

"What? Who?" Forfend was ignored as Jewel and Flint carried out another silent conversation.

"You have to get tested first," Flint finally said.

"Alright," Forfend agreed, though it had no idea what it was agreeing to.

"River, can you come down here?!" Flint called.

An enormous earth genasi rounded the corner. He was easily as tall as Forfend with muscles that strained beneath his slate-gray skin. A mohawk of raw aquamarine crystals only added to his towering height.

He was beautiful.

Forfend couldn't recall a single time that it hadn't had to look down to lock gazes with another mortal.

But River was precisely its height.

It squared its shoulders back and adjusted its stance to show its excitement.

"Yeah, what is it?" River called in a deep, rumbling voice as he approached. He crossed his arms over his broad chest, eyeing Forfend suspiciously. "What's wrong?"

"We need to test this one," Flint said.

"Alright," River nodded. "Stay still."

Forfend did as was requested.

River brushed at the toga he was wearing and pulled a spellbook from a holster around his waist.

He opened it, pulled a pearl from a smaller pouch at his side, and chanted a spell in what Forfend presumed to be Primordial.

The magic, sturdy and searching, passed over it and faded away.

"Doesn't look like he has the Geas or the explosive on him," River decided. "Can't tell if he has the claws particularly, but given..." He trailed off and searched Forfend's runic face. "What's your name?"

"Forfend," it answered.

"Do you know why you're here?"

"Well, I am asking a lot of questions and hopefully getting at least a couple of answers," it hummed.

"Who's the king of Tyrwedia?"

Forfend tilted its head. Was River giving it a cognitive test? "King Falco Ledrian, as far as I am aware."

River nodded to himself. "Do you know what the Battle of the Emerald Sky is?"

"I do not." It shook its head.

"Hm. One more question." River stepped uncomfortably close to Forfend and placed a hand on its shoulder.

Forfend resisted the urge to move away. It tilted its head curiously.

River suddenly tensed and drove his fist into Forfend's torso.

Stone cracked beneath the thunderous force of the blow.

Forfend startled at the sudden pain.

River gripped its shoulder tighter, refusing to let it back away. He left his hand clenched firmly in its damaged midsection and stared unflinchingly into its face.

Forfend waited.

Nothing else happened. No one else attacked it. River didn't rear back for another blow.

Forfend looked down at the damage in its center, right where it had just repaired last night, and up again at River. "Why?" it asked.

"He's not one of them," River said. He backed up again, pulling his fist free of Forfend's marble body. He eyed the golden ichor evaporating off his knuckles with mild curiosity. "Hm. I hope we have a good talk." He brushed the remaining stone dust off his hand and turned. "Follow me."

"Do you have any rocks I could use to patch up this wound?" Forfend requested, following him and inspecting the damage at the same time.

River froze in his steps so quickly Forfend nearly stepped on his heels. He looked at his own stone skin. "Does that work?"

"I don't think it does," Jewel responded skeptically.

"Yeah, probably not," Flint concurred. "But has anyone actually tried it?"

"No," Jewel shook her head. "That would be stupid."

"It does work for me," Forfend hummed.

"We do have some stones around. Erzor," River called, "could you get our friend some pebbles?"

"Sure thing." Erzor disappeared into a storage room.

Forfend followed River and the others to the back corner of the building.

The swordswoman still hovered just behind it, her blade at the ready.

Erzor returned with a handful of rocks.

"Thank you," Forfend said cheerfully and began patching up its injury.

The wound dribbled ichor, but it wasn't particularly deep. The heat and magic transmuted the stones, quickly restoring Forfend's body.

Flint took his place at the end of a long table upon which was spread a map of Tyrwedia.

There were no chairs. Flint simply leaned over the table.

Erzor stood next to him at the side of the table.

Jewel and River took their places opposite Erzor.

The swordswoman finally left Forfend's vicinity to take a spot at the head of the table.

Forfend wasn't certain of the hierarchy here. It didn't want to offend, so it simply slid in beside Erzor on the least occupied side of the table.

"So what do you want to know?" River asked, bracing his hands on the table.

"The history of your plight, whatever the Emerald Sky is. As much as you are willing to tell me, really," Forfend hummed.

"I guess first and foremost, you know we're the native people of Tyrwedia, right?"

Forfend nodded. "I have learned as much recently."

"You know we've had our lives taken from us, yes?"

Forfend nodded again. "The tale I heard was sugarcoated, but it could not hide that fact."

River nodded. He leaned back and inhaled deeply, thinking through his next words.

Forfend watched him intently.

It could feel the swordswoman watching it just as intently, though with much more suspicion. Forfend wasn't certain if the sharp glare she was casting at it was nervous intensity or genuine rage.

It decided simply not to lock gazes with her. It didn't want her to think it was challenging her authority.

River rubbed at his face. "The conflict that arose was wholly unnatural," he finally said. "You see, back then Tyrwedia was an unrecognized nation of sorts. Before it was this sprawling kingdom, it was a nice, wholesome..." He trailed off. He looked Forfend over. "Before it was Tyrwedia, it was simply known as the Land. That is what we called it and what we'd wish to keep it called. It's our home, where we came from. It's where our people appeared for the first time when the Gleaming Isles were ripped from the Planes, sundered by Atrox, and turned into the Flaming Isles."

Forfend hummed. "That I am more familiar with."

River blinked. "You are?"

"Fornax built me during the Sundering. I know a decent portion of the history there," Forfend explained. "I have just been... out of commission since. Until very recently."

The swordswoman leaned forward, her hand on her weapon. "Fornax what?"

Forfend tilted its head at the sudden hostility. "He built me during the Sundering," it reiterated.

"And what does that make you?" she asked, scowling.

"That is an excellent question and not one I am certain I will ever truly have an answer to," it hummed thoughtfully. "I call myself a Fornaxian."

The swordswoman narrowed her eyes. "You're the creation of a god, right?"

Forfend nodded. "Yes. Not for any particular purpose though. I have chosen to help mortals."

"Can you die?"

Forfend startled, pressing its hand to its chest. Was she threatening it? Why? "I do not know. I hope not to find out any time soon. I think that I likely could."

The swordswoman turned to Jewel. "Did he show any powers when he caught the building?"

"Yeah," Jewel answered. "He made adamantine pillars."

"So you're a demigod," the swordswoman said, turning back to Forfend with predatory slowness.

It nodded. "Yes."

"Get out," she snarled. "Get out right now."

"What? Why?" Forfend looked to the earth genasi.

None of them looked it in its face.

Jewel had her lips pressed tight together.

River tilted his head back, his shoulders slumping as his eyes watched the ceiling.

Flint kicked idly at the floor.

"Get out," the swordswoman repeated.

Forfend turned to face her, holding its hands up placatingly. "Why?"

"You're a demigod," she growled. "Get. Out. Now."

Forfend spread its hands. "Please, I do not understand the hostility."

"Do you know what you do to people?"

Forfend was confused. Very confused. "I... do not?" it responded.

"Do you know what it's like living in a world of demigods?"

"I do. I think." Forfend wasn't certain of her point. It lived in a world of demigods just the same as she did. At least, it thought so.

"Leave now or I'll make you leave," the swordswoman threatened. She stalked around the table toward it, her hand gripping the hilt of her blade.

"Alright," Forfend agreed, backing up a step. "I still do not understand why. Could you please explain?"

Erzor sidled out of Forfend's way, worry etched into every feature of his face.

Flint tugged Erzor to the opposite side of the table. All of them pressed their backs to the wall as the swordswoman continued forward, her blade halfway out of its sheathe.

She truly intended to hurt Forfend. It didn't understand why. It wasn't frightened of the sting of the blade. It would survive. But it hadn't meant to anger her. If there was a way to amend this, Forfend wanted to find it.

"Do you know what demigods do to people just by being in their mere proximity?" the swordswoman hissed through her teeth.

Forfend shook its head.

"Do you think Tyrwedia started out like this?" she continued, bristling. "A place mired by lies? Deception? Do you think people turn like this overnight?"

Forfend kept backing up as she kept prowling toward it. "I am uncertain what you mean," it said honestly.

"You change things," she spat. "You rob us of our agency!"

Forfend froze. It hunched down and tilted its head. "What?"

The swordswoman freed her longsword from its sheathe and pointed it squarely at Forfend's chest. "Your mere existence alters the world around you. And that includes us!" She gestured to herself and to the others who stood with their eyes downcast. "I will not have it happen again. Now get out."

"I am still not sure if I understand," Forfend hummed, concerned. "They--we change people?"

It had backed all the way into the hallway. It wasn't sure how much further it could go. It couldn't leave without an escort.

"Get out," the swordswoman said again. She brandished her blade and crouched, prepared to rush it if it didn't move.

"Alright." Forfend hung its head, sad and confused. Steam hissed long and slow in its chest. It turned toward the door at the far end of the hallway.

"Guys, I have to guide him back," Erzor squeaked meekly. "He can't know where he is."

The swordswoman glared at Erzor. "Fine." She sheathed her sword and stomped back around the table. "Leave."

"Right," Erzor mumbled. He pat Forfend's leg as he walked past. "Come with me, big guy."

Forfend followed obediently, casting one last look over its shoulder at the earth genasi.

They hadn't relaxed. All of them seemed to be watching it from their peripheral vision, a range of emotions warring in each of their eyes. No one spoke.

Erzor paused at the door and picked up the leather sack they'd used to blind it.

Forfend knelt, allowing him to tie it back into place.

"I am still rather baffled," Forfend hummed.

Erzor heaved a heavy sigh. He took Forfend's hand and led it outdoors.

"She's got a thing about demigods," he said once they seemed to be a short ways away from the sanctuary.

"I was only hoping to help," it lamented. "I was hoping to heal some of the genasi I saw on the way in before I left today."

"I know. It's... I'll explain, okay? Let's just... get a little further out."

Forfend nodded.

They walked in silence for a significant while.

Forfend pondered over its interaction with the swordswoman. What could it have said or done differently? Would anything have changed the outcome if she simply hated all demigods?

It could've lied to her it supposed, but that would've felt much worse than the argument they'd gotten into. In fact, Forfend felt lying would've been worse than if she'd actually attacked it.

Forfend hummed low in its chest.

"Sorry about what happened back there," Erzor finally sighed. "I know it wasn't great."

"I am still not sure I understand it," Forfend said honestly, lightly squeezing Erzor's hand. "I would like to."

Erzor didn't answer. He seemed to be pondering over something.

"You wanted to know about the Battle of the Emerald Sky, right?" Erzor asked after a little while.

Forfend nodded.

"Well, we've already told you that the original inhabitants here in Tyrwedia are the earth genasi," Erzor began. "Here in the Land, I should say. That's what they call it."

Forfend nodded again, listening intently.

"The genasi have a lot of practices and held the Land's sanctity in very high importance. So when the Howling Plains people came in and colonized the place, you can imagine the earth genasi didn't take it too well." Erzor offered a mirthless chuckle. "Guess it was justified. This, the Llardel Forest, used to be a lot bigger than it is now. They deforested a lot of land to build Cragwall out there."

Forfend hummed disapprovingly.

"Despite all that, the genasi tried to make peace," Erzor continued. "It seemed to work for a while. The colonizers promised to stay in Cragwall. That would be all the land they needed. Of course, they started farming and that meant they needed more space, and that meant more deforestation. It really escalated tensions."

Forfend nodded. "Understandable."

"Yeah," Erzor agreed. "Still, the genasi clan leaders, those being the emerald dragons that resided here protecting us, said that we weren't to attack them. They said if the colonizers kept intruding, we'd just convince them to leave with other means. Maybe appealing to their morals, or creating magical illusions as emerald dragons tend to do. But then one day, one of the guardians..." He trailed off.

Forfend tilted its head. "What happened?"

"We still don't know how," Erzor said. "Dragon lairs tend to be hidden, especially emerald ones. Emerald dragons have an affinity for illusions, you know. Yet someone, somehow, found one of the guardians' lairs. I don't know what happened, but the genasi say one of their guardians was changed."

"Changed?" Forfend repeated.

"They say that guardian was known for his kind, jovial demeanor. Suddenly, his personality shifted." Erzor brushed up against Forfend and squeezed its hand. "It's like there was no joy in his soul anymore. He would thrash around and no one could help him. He refused help. Wouldn't allow anyone to even try. His only desire was to fight and kill. He left his lair and attacked Cragwall. The difference in him, the circumstances. It's eerie, like he was mind controlled."

Forfend slowed its pace, humming lowly. Maybe Envema was much older than it had guessed.

"Kind of reminds me of what the Envema guys are like," Erzor voiced Forfend's own thoughts.

It angled its head in Erzor's direction. "You know about that."

"Yeah. They're always targeting the earth genasi in particular. We've actually managed to capture a couple of them alive," Erzor shared.

Forfend tugged at the loose drawstrings dangling from the bag over its head, tightening them as it fiddled. Nervous energy always made it feel like it needed to do something with its hands.

Did King Falco know the genasi had captured Envema members before? It didn't think so. Had he ever asked? It guessed not.

"With River's assistance, we managed to remove some of the effects on them," Erzor continued. "We learned that the reason they're so skilled in the first place is because any desire they have to do anything other than get stronger and complete their goals was removed. It's like they had all their personal desires and thoughts stolen. Replaced."

"Frightening," Forfend hummed.

"I'd say so," Erzor seconded. "They're not exactly brainwashed. They're performing as they normally would, just with a goal in mind that they didn't choose. And anything that doesn't further the goal of who, or what, ever did this is erased. A desire to sleep? A desire to be kind? A desire to act like a person at all? Gone. It also seems to remove the ability to make memories. Everything that makes them who they are was stolen from them."

Forfend nodded. It was familiar with that much. It had seen the way they fought with no regard for their own lives. It had seen the Envema gladiator fail to recognize his surroundings, not having the slightest clue what had happened to him in the past three months.

"One key thing we did learn is that when they're mortally wounded, it all comes back to them," Erzor said.

"I have seen that," Forfend hummed. "You can remove it with magic also, though it is not easy."

"I see." Erzor seemed to consider that possibility for a moment. "Well, I think I've told you all we know."

"I have rescued three of the Envema members now. It has been regrettably trial-and-error, but I think I am learning how to do it consistently," Forfend shared.

"That's good. If you ever see them, tell them to meet with the earth genasi. They'll know more about this than anyone else. We tried to make appeals to the new government, but they tend not to be kind to the genasi or the recovering Envema members," Erzor sighed bitterly. "It's important that you know this: don't trust the ruling elite in Cragwall."

"Yes, I have been learning that as I have encountered them," Forfend couldn't keep its own tinge of bitterness out of its flat tone.

"If there was anyone else that could help, it would be the Sagemantles. They've got the magic for it. That said, the only two families we know we can trust are the Farglades and the Duskhelms." Erzor paused, then decided to elaborate. "The Farglades handle banking and financials. They're only trustworthy if you push enough coin their way. But if it works, it works, you know? Their intentions are clear and that makes them predictable enough to trust. The Duskhelms are just very stalwart in their sense of honor."

"What do you think of the Summersteads?" Forfend asked.

"They're pretty alright, I think," Erzor hazarded. "They tend toward agriculture and, back before everything went straight into the hells, they were one of the families trying hardest to keep peace with the genasi. Their proximity to the king these days makes them suspect, but they're still holding onto promises they made to the genasi a long time ago."

"I see." Forfend wasn't quite sure yet how it felt about the Summersteads, but this information was somewhat promising.

"As for how things move forward..." Erzor shook his head. "I don't know. There are some groups of genasi who want to take the Land back by force. After all, you know all the major cities?"

Forfend nodded. It didn't know much about them, but it knew their names and had an idea of which direction it would need to travel to reach any particular one.

"All of them, except Cragwall, are built on top of the lairs of the slain guardian dragons."

Forfend's core stuttered in its chest. "What a statement to make."

"It's extremely rude and disrespectful, yeah," Erzor noted.

"Outright hateful," Forfend agreed.

"There's only one dragon left now. It's quite a miracle they haven't found him yet."

Forfend drew its shoulders back, listening intensely. There was still a dragon left. The genasi still had a guardian. That was good.

"He's actually in this forest," Erzor overshared information Forfend didn't think it was meant to have. "He's injured though. He's got this blue poison running through him. We don't know what it is. It makes his veins and stuff glow."

"That sounds concerningly familiar," Forfend hummed, pebbles beginning to tumble in its chest.

"Does it?" Erzor asked, but spoke again before Forfend could answer. "We're almost at the edge of the forest. You can take that bag off now."

Forfend tugged the bag off and handed it to Erzor. It covered its face briefly, shielding its vision from the sudden flood of afternoon light.

"Erzor, I want... I know they do not want me, but I still want to help however I can," Forfend confided.

"It's not the genasi. It's Kiyori," Erzor said.

"Do you understand it more than I do?"

"She says that this whole situation stinks of demigod influence. She says that demigods change the world around them to fit them, essentially," Erzor explained.

Forfend tilted its head. It looked up to watch the sunlight filtering through the trees. The foliage was getting less and less dense as they neared the edge of the forest. "They certainly have the power to do such things, if they so wish."

"No," Erzor shook his head. "No, it's not like a thing they do on purpose. It's an ambience. It just happens around them. That's what she says. So, like, a demigod that's warlike tends to turn their region and the people more warlike. I mean, look at the Howling Plains. They're all about war and fighting and taking over shit. And that's exactly what King Maggard is like."

Forfend felt its core drop. It froze in its tracks.

Erzor walked past it a couple steps, then paused and turned to look at it. He kept talking as though he hadn't noticed Forfend's distress. "A demigod that's all about control... Well, you can imagine the kind of people they would create. Kiyori experienced it herself back in her homeland, the Fulgar Isles."

Forfend watched Erzor, hanging onto every word he said.

"The ruler their, Takahiro, had a number of children who almost became demigods. They influenced Kiyori's home." Erzor shifted foot to foot, as though he'd only just realized he should perhaps not share all of this. He'd already committed to the story though. "A demigod rolled in one day and took up residence in Kiyori's area. She saw her friends and family slowly change to fit him. She wasn't affected because she traveled a lot to train. She wasn't around him nearly as much."

Forfend stared at its hands. They trembled. "Am I... doing that to people?"

"Wait, are you a demi--" Erzor clicked his jaw shut. He moved a little closer to Forfend, inspecting it. "Are you a demigod?"

"I thought that was covered," Forfend said quietly, its gaze firmly affixed to its wavering hands.

Had it altered Foumedo? Was anyone there meant to act the way they did or were they all just unconsciously appeasing Forfend? Would they revert to their natural states in its absence? Would it have a home to go back to? Would they want it there if they knew? Could it stay now that it knew?

"I didn't think you were serious!" Erzor exclaimed. "I thought you were just a cool construct made by Fornax or something!"

"Well, that is also true," Forfend responded numbly.

"Shit. But, yeah, that's kind of what happens. Have you noticed anything like that?"

"I... I don't know." Forfend finally tore its gaze from its hands. "The Sundering was so chaotic, and then I have only been awake for the past two years. I did not think... I did not think anything had changed."

Maybe nothing had needed to. Maybe sitting beneath a place for eight thousand years had given whatever aura Forfend had all the time needed to change things. Maybe there was nothing left to alter. Maybe the damage was already done.

"There probably wasn't a major impact then," Erzor guessed. "Especially if you're moving around a lot. Two years isn't really much. It happens slowly over time. I think."

He paused to reconsider.

"I mean, it was fast enough for Kiyori to see it," he amended. "Like I said, the only reason she wasn't affected was because she stayed away from home a lot to train."

Forfend touched its runic face, feeling cursed by its abilities for the first time.

"I do agree with Kiyori about demigod influence here in Tyrwedia," Erzor added. "The situation's only had around a hundred years to develop and Tyrwedia is nothing like what it used to be."

"I would like to make things better here," Forfend said slowly.

It still had to try, didn't it? Fornax had asked it to. And people were in danger.

If it couldn't control its ambience, it could at least try to mitigate it and make certain what couldn't be mitigated was positive.

"I hope you can. Maybe your influence will counteract the other one." Erzor shrugged. "But, you know, I think that would take a while."

Forfend knelt. "I want to help people. If I cannot control the influence I am having, I will try to make sure it is a good one."

Erzor nodded. "I want you to know that Kiyori really does want to help the genasi as much as she can. She's just very careful. She's had a lot of problems. She's still got a lot of problems."

Forfend hummed earnestly. It took both of Erzor's hands in its own. "If you or they need anything, please do not hesitate to let me know. I am a cleric and a blacksmith, and I will do whatever I can."

"I hope to take you up on that. I think the Genasi would like it." Erzor shrugged lightly and kicked the dust. "But if Kiyori refuses... She's technically a hired mercenary, but they trust her skills and all. I don't know if they'd want to upset her."

"Tell her that I said I did not know demigods had such effects. Tell her I will seek to mitigate them as much as possible."

"I'll let her know," Erzor promised. "For now, let's get you back to Cragwall, buddy."

Forfend stood slowly. "Of course. I cannot be late to my appeal proceedings."

It followed Erzor out of the woods and back onto the main road leading into Cragwall's east gate.

It trudged, feeling heavy and scared of itself in a way it had never been before.

Erzor pat its leg.

Forfend wanted to find more comfort in the gesture than it did.

It couldn't stop worrying.

What had it done to Foumedo?

What could it do to Cragwall?

[thetentaclecommander]

For Emoji ask: 🤡🙋‍♀️🦅

What's a line, scene, or exchange you've written that made you laugh? Bringing back Domesticity again, in the Reindeer Games chapter there was a scene where Nem and Jill run off into the woods to ‘frolic’ away from Sia. This scene also had the other BSAA operative watching them try to hide and not get caught. This forces the man to hide in fear in the hot sun and watch while Nemmy rails Jill very noisily and enthusiastically. He narrates this in the most offended ‘why God why I don’t get paid enough for this’ commentary, just fucking upset that this monsterboy is dicking her down and this woman is just ‘fuck harder, you can do so much better <3’ with topping from the bottom realness. The guy thinks such gems as ‘The Agent swore even from here he could see an outline of that bastard’s cockhead plumbing for gold-‘ and it makes me giggle so hard. Also, the reveal of how much of a trolly dick Nem is at the end knowingly making the agent wait till he’s done fucking his waifu to deal with him is just peak Nemesis is a mean dick that gives zero fucks about your existence but WILL end you for watching

Do any irl people know you write fanfic? Yup! They know about my monsterfucker tendencies too, I make no secret about it. Probs helps I run in kinky and nerd circles and have been for years, so they are very open about things. Also, helpsx2 some of them write their own fic!

Do you outline fics or fly by the seat of your pants? I tend to write like this: 1. Idea usually a shower thought that seems neat to play with comes to mind 2. Write more around idea when not in shower, making idea move to become a basic main plot 3. Organize plot into outline* of planned actions so I can later flesh them out. This is where side plots begin to form/get added. 4. Filling in gaps (pantsing) between outlined sections with free writing/stream-of-consciousness writing to connect all sections to main plot 5. Edit/pare down for flow to have basic draft 6. Sit on it for a week or so and edit. *if fic is part of AU, insert elements of it to link them together Longer (3+ chapter/10k+ word) fics get the above outline treatment. For example, OaDWs has a set plan/outline and because it follows a larger plotted narrative across 5 other stories, while shorter fics like a gosling only seeks the warmth of his mother tends to be free written and not using the above process with small sections being shifted around because it’s shorter, is one extended scene/plot and has less moving parts to worry about. So I do basically both, but typically lean on outline more for long/more complicated/heavily plotted fics. Then there’s outliers like Necromancy where I freewrote all of it because all the words were prompts (so each was its own story), then went back and rearranged each chunk/rewrote a few/added 'connecting sections' to make a longer overarching narrative. Prompt memes I almost always write this way. So yeah, my writing process is a chaos-level blend of plotting/pantsing. Thanks for the ask!

(in response to this)

[kevinsreviewcatalogue]

Review: Chronicle (2012)

Chronicle (2012)

Rated PG-13 for intense action and violence, thematic material, some language, sexual content and teen drinking

<Originally posted at https://kevinsreviewcatalogue.blogspot.com/2024/07/review-chronicle-2012.html>

Score: 3 out of 5

Back when it first came out, Chronicle was heavily marketed and often described as a dark superhero movie, a twist on the Spider-Man mythos that showed what might actually happen if you gave an ordinary, troubled teenage boy superpowers. It's an assertion that many people both then and now have disagreed with and challenged, most notably the film's screenwriter Max Landis, who argued for it more as a modern-day, gender-flipped version of Carrie and said that the only reason anybody considered it a superhero movie was because those were all the rage in 2012, the year it came out when the young Marvel Cinematic Universe was about to release the game-changing superhero team-up The Avengers. Nevertheless, both this film's director Josh Trank and two of its stars, Dane DeHaan and Michael B. Jordan, soon found themselves lined up for superhero movies on the strength of their work here, and watching it again in 2024, while the Carrie allusions are obvious, so too are the stylistic influences from the superhero movies that had flourished since Sissy Spacek burned down her senior prom in split-screen.

Watching it again in 2024, it's also a film that doesn't entirely hold up. The entire found footage angle felt extraneous to the point that it was distracting, and the characters other than the film's three protagonists all felt empty and one-dimensional. Given how short the movie was (only 83 minutes including the credits), it felt like there were a lot of efforts to trim the fat in the editing room that wound up cutting into its muscle and bone. That said, the action and special effects are still quite impressive given the small budget, the three lead actors all do very good work that shows why there was so much hype around them (even if only Jordan's career lived up to the hype in the long run), and when it's focused on its protagonists, especially its main viewpoint character Andrew, its story about a kid getting slowly but surely drunk with power is still a compelling one. It's a movie that, even with its flaws, I'd still recommend to fans of superheroes who want a darker take on the genre that nonetheless isn't as violent as The Boys or Invincible.

Set in the suburbs of Seattle, the film revolves around three teenage boys, the moody loner Andrew Detmer, his more popular cousin Matt Garetty, and Matt's friend Steve Montgomery, who gain telekinetic powers and the ability to fly after discovering a strange artifact buried in the woods. For much of the first half of the film, it leans very much into the power fantasy side of things, as these three boys use their newfound abilities to pull pranks on unsuspecting people, flip up girls' skirts, do dumb Jackass-style stunts, participate in the school's talent show, try to find out more about how they got their powers (a dead end that ultimately turns up more questions than answers when they see that the cops are also snooping around the area), and generally enjoy the newfound freedom that comes with suddenly gaining superpowers. I bought these three as people bound together by their shared gift who reacted to it not with the idealism of Peter Parker, but with the exact amount of maturity you'd expect (i.e. something that they still need to learn through experience). Alex Russell and Michael B. Jordan were both compelling and charismatic as Matt and Steve, the "cool" guys among the trio, but the most interesting by far, and the one the film seems most interested in, is Andrew. An emo kid with the Worst Life Ever, Andrew has few friends other than his cousin Matt, he's raised by an abusive, layabout drunk of a father while his mother is slowly dying of cancer, his neighborhood has drug dealers on his block, and he's started filming his day-to-day life seemingly because he has nothing else to do. Dane DeHaan may have been playing a walking stereotype of teen angst, but he makes the most of the role, first making Andrew feel like a guy who knows he's going nowhere in life and acts accordingly before letting him open up as his powers, and the influence of Matt and Steve, give him a new confidence in life -- before it all falls apart as he finds out the hard way that his powers haven't solved all his problems. By the end, when he's killing drug dealers and ranting about how his mastery of his powers makes him an "apex predator," I felt like I was watching a school shooter. DeHaan was scary as hell in the role, delivering the kind of performance that makes me wish he'd gotten a better movie than The Amazing Spider-Man 2 to play a supervillain in.

It's in the film's structure that it kind of lost me, and much of it ironically comes down to its main hook. To put it simply, most of this movie's problems could've been solved by simply dropping the found footage conceit entirely and making a straightforward, traditionally shot movie. It's a conceit that the movie already strains to adhere to, especially by the end when it has to find a way to justify the manner in which it stages its bombastic fight scenes and dramatic speeches with all the flourish one would expect from the third act of a superhero movie. Despite the title Chronicle, almost none of the film feels like an actual, y'know, chronicle that these people had filmed themselves. Andrew's insistence on having a camera film him at all times in order to record his increasingly bizarre life, his powers letting him move the camera around to places where a human can't film from in order to get a better angle, is already a rather thin explanation, and it takes a turn for the ridiculous when he psychically seizes the camera phones of a bunch of tourists at the Space Needle so he can film his big speech with a bit more cinematic flair. I wonder if this is why the film was as short as it was, that there were originally supposed to be a lot more scenes fleshing out the supporting cast that they couldn't justify from the perspective of this being found footage. As a result, characters come off as either one-note stereotypes, like Andrew's abusive father who exists only to constantly treat his son like dirt and get his comeuppance later on, or one-dimensional ciphers, like Ashley Hinshaw's character Casey, whose only characterization is that she's Matt's on-and-off girlfriend and a vlogger in order to make her a Camera 2 for certain scenes.

If the film really wanted to weave the found footage style into a story that leaned into the dark side of the superhero genre, it could've just as easily done so by focusing more on Casey. Make her a full-blown secondary protagonist and as much a viewpoint character as Andrew, an outsider to the protagonists' lives and friendship who's witnessing the events of the film as an ordinary human, and then have her take center stage in the third act once the mayhem begins. Do what Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice later tried to do, or what Cloverfield successfully did with a giant monster movie, and show how terrifying a big superhero battle would be from the perspective of the civilians on the ground without superpowers. During act three, follow Casey as she and others fight to survive and not get caught in the crossfire of the mother of all street brawls, all while she tries to help her boyfriend out, cutting away occasionally to the combatants themselves as they settle their scores. On that note, more focus on Casey also would've fleshed out Matt as a character thanks to their relationship, and by extension the other people in their lives. After all, Carrie, one of this movie's main inspirations, wasn't told entirely from the perspective of its title character, but also from those of Sue Snell and Chris Hargensen, the popular girls whose actions wind up setting the stage for the tragedy to come. Finally, Casey's scenes, where she doesn't have superpowers that allow her to fly the camera around, would've made a great stylistic contrast with Andrew's, with her half of the film looking and feeling like a grounded, naturalistic found footage film while the other half had Andrew's theatricality.

At least said theatricality afforded the film some very well-done action scenes. Despite a budget of only $15 million, this was a very good-looking film, one of the benefits of the found footage style (and probably the reason why this movie used it) being that the lo-fi feel of the film makes it easier to cover up dodgy special effects. The seams are visible here, and there are quite a few shots where you can tell it's CGI, but the effects are never distractingly bad, and quite a few of them are very impressive, from the boys assembling LEGO sets with their minds to the scenes of them in flight. The shift into action and horror later in the film is also handled very well, as Andrew clashes with street thugs, bullies, the police, and eventually his friends in fights that range from gritty and vicious brawls to the genuinely spectacular. This movie may have felt like it had a few too many scenes cut for its own good, but it is remarkably straightforward about what it's about, never feeling like it's spinning its wheels and always progressing forward.

The Bottom Line

Chronicle needed another pass on its script, either abandoning the found footage angle entirely or finding a better way to make it work than they ultimately went with. That said, as a version of Carrie for the internet age that combines that classic story of teen rage with a superhero motif, it's still a diamond in the rough.

[living-d3ad-gh0ul]

Tuesday 29th August 2023, 05:48am

I've been trying to figure out a way to start writing my next post to you for a couple days now. I keep coming back and writing and then deleting everything. Right now, I just want to sigh very deeply. Things are just.. I don't even have a word to describe them, I just want to do a big sigh.

I'll start off with some nice stuff. London was lots of fun, Joji was amazing. I'm gonna attach some pictures of the concert and places I went and just some other random pictures of my trip. My little mini holiday started with something really cool actually, I laughed when it happened. I went to check in at the airport (cause I had a checked bag and I hate doing it online when I have one of those) and I give the guy my passport and stuff, tell him my name, where I'm going etc. And he just goes "Oh.. how about that" and immediately I'm looking at him like 👀 how about what? What does that mean? And I start panicking thinking my flights delayed or cancelled or I booked the wrong fucking date or something. And he just says "Well it says here 'Thank you for flying with BA, enjoy your upgrade' so it looks like you've been upgraded". I swear to you E, I looked at the man like he'd grown an extra head LOL. I was all like "is this some like.. ploy to get me to pay for an upgrade? Cause it's not happening lol" and he's like "nope, you've already been upgraded, you're in business class now, you get extra luggage allowance, here's your boarding pass, go to priority security and head on up to the lounge for free drinks and food". So I just stood there and laughed and shook my head and asked him if he was serious, and he absolutely was. Thank god for the extra luggage allowance btw, because I had absolutely overpacked. I think I always worry I won't have enough or that the weather will suddenly change or something and I won't be prepared. Which, is actually a very valid fear when you live in the UK lol.

So.. I went on up, went through priority security.. and I got fucking stopped didn't I? I sat there like "shit what did I leave in my bag? Did I not do my liquids right?". The guy pulled me over.. and it turned out it was my dad's jacket that they had flagged. He passed his leather jacket down to me, his proper real leather biker jacket. It's too big on me, but I love it and I really wanted to take it with me. Now.. I'm not sure if I said before or not.. but my dad was a fond man of the devils cabbage. So I *immediately* started panicking, thinking there was some hidden pocket I hadn't found that had some in it.. or that he'd just stuffed some in the lining or something, because that was a very my dad thing to do, I honestly wouldn't have put it past him. So I'm standing there, watching this guy look through all the pockets and almost fucking sweating at airport security lmfao. Then he just goes "ah okay, our scanner just didn't like the zips for some reason" then he SWABS it and my backpack and I was like OKAY YEAH I'M ABOUT TO BE DETAINED LOL. But it came back fine, he handed me my stuff and off I went to find the fancy lounge. I literally looked up at the sky as I walked away and I laughed and was like "fuck you". I'm honestly convinced that was my dad totally fucking with me, just playing a prank on me and winding me up like he always loved doing. He'd have been pissed himself laughing at me.

God, I just realised how much I typed already, jesus. This might be long, because I'm sure you're aware of this by now, but I tend to ramble and drabble on about stuff. I'm sorry I just.. idk, I like giving you as much detail as possible, I like fully explaining things to you like we're actually having a conversation and not just writing letters to one another, it's just.. nice and I just want these to be like.. totally organic and not heavily edited or anything. I just wanna talk to you like I normally would.. if that makes sense. I hope it does.

So I managed to find the lounge, went and sat myself down, I had like.. an hour and a half before my flight so I grabbed this wrap thing and there was free drinks including alcohol so of course I poured myself one lol. I sat there in a nice comfy booth by myself, charging my phone, eating this tasty random wrap I picked up and drinking expensive whiskey, all because I could thanks to the random free upgrade I got. I then went and got on the plane (I was one of the first to get on too) and oh my god I had so much room. I was sat on the aisle and there was a table between me and the person in the window seat, I could properly stretch my legs out and everything. It was.. amazing. And then we took off and we got drinks and stuff brought to us. And ACTUAL food on ACTUAL plates with ACTUAL cutlery. Let me tell you, I was absolutely fucking AMAZED hahaha. I think the flight attendants could definitely tell that I had never experienced that before. I was like a kid in a candy shop haha. They gave me a gin and tonic with my little plate of food, which was SO fucking good too. And then came back and asked me if I wanted some CHAMPAGNE. So I was like UH FUCK YEAH OF COURSE I WANT CHAMPAGNE hahahaha. And it came in a REAL glass. Honestly, I've never experienced anything like that before on a plane and honestly, coming back home in economy sucked after having that lol.

I got there all good and my bag came through almost right away so I wasn't fucking about at the airport for ages, I hopped in an Uber and went to my uncles. It was really warm and the drive took a while because of traffic (I also was going from one end of London to the other tbf, but I was far too tired and warm to be dealing with the London underground, I also hate getting the tube when I have a case with me, people just look at you and give you the dirtiest looks). The first evening I was there was super chill and low-key. Me and my uncle nipped around to his local pub which was only 2 minutes around the corner from his place, we had a couple drinks together and actually bumped into a Scottish guy who was there on his own, we got chatting to him and he was quite cool. Him and my uncle were talking about being teachers and me and him had a chat about music and stuff. He didn't stay long though, but it was nice to talk to someone from the same country I am when I was away from home haha.

The next day was the Thursday which was the day of the concert and I basically had the flat to myself all day. My uncles flatmate (who is also his ex partner who I've known since I was a kid, they're still really good friends though and still live together) was gone to see family and my uncle was going to see friends on the coast that day, so we had breakfast and coffee together before he left. I chilled in the morning, put some music on and just.. enjoyed the sun. I had the balcony door wide open and just sat there playing music and relaxing. It was the most chilled out I'd felt in months. I ended up picking up my uncles guitar and playing that for a little bit too. I'm so fucking rusty haha. I hadn't played for quite a long time, so I was trying to remember stuff but some things just came back to me, like total muscle memory almost. It was so badly out of tune too but I just tuned it up by ear, I'm still really glad I can do that. It was just really nice to have that little bit of time before I had to get ready for the concert and make my way across London again. But I did and I actually met up with someone from the discord server we first met on! A guy called Zach from London and his girlfriend. Me and him are still friends and have been for years, but I'd never met his girlfriend before. She was so nice, she even got me water when I thought I was dying of heat stroke at the concert lol and I had a really cool day with both of them. It was just soooo busy and sooooo fucking warm at the concert. So much so I ended up buying a fucking hat lol. I don't ever wear hats, but I really needed one. Even when I had sunnies on. I ended up buying a t-shirt too, which I'm actually wearing right now. I ended up I was so warm and drank soooo much water, genuinely thought I was gonna keel over at one point, but I was okay and I had fun.

The support acts I didn't really know, but they were quite good. I really enjoyed the first support, he was really funny and really got the crowd involved. Omg and he sang Gary Come Home from SpongeBob hahahahaha. I was absolutely pissing myself laughing when he did that, but it was a good rendition hahaha. Then obviously Joji came on and I was absolutely in my element. He was amazing. He sang one of my favourite songs first too. He actually sang quite a lot of my favourites of his, and even some old ones too, and I mean like.. songs from his SoundCloud days. It was really great. And there was two fucking mosh pits haha! He basically paused the concert halfway through and went off stage, then came back on and him and his hypeman or whoever started doing a fucking DJ set in the middle of the concert hahaha. They also had a Jack Sparrow lookalike competition on stage and called it a Jack Off lmfao. Oh and they literally brought out a blackjack table too and started playing that hahaha. You could tell he really wanted to appeal to all of his fans and wanted to make people laugh, FilthyFrank and Pink Guy are absolutely still in there haha. I honestly had such an amazing time at the concert. Getting out was an absolute pain though, they stopped and started us all leaving so many times and had like.. police blocking off entrances and stuff for no reason other than it was busy. I remember getting asked where I was going about four times and I was just like "um.. to get the tube home? Same as everyone else?" Lol.

The Friday I was there was more low-key. I stayed at the flat and chilled with my uncle for a few hours before I got ready and headed into Soho. I ended up going to a pub my uncle recommended me and had a few drinks. I got talking to two older ladies who were really nice and let me sit with them and chatted away to me. I also met up with a friend who had moved down to London once they finished work and we had a couple drinks there too, before we moved on to a different pub that I'd been told about. I really liked that second pub, it's actually apparently really well known and a lot of famous people go there. But I didn't see any famous people haha, or not ones that I knew anyway. My friend recognised a relatively famous ex-manager of one of the biggest Scottish football teams though in the first pub we went to and I made them take their picture with him lol. Well, I say I made them, they were like "should I ask for a picture?" And I just whipped my phone out and was like "excuse me, hi, you were just talking to my friend, do you mind if they have a picture with you?" And the guy was happy enough to do it. We then ended up having a walk around and going to another couple of bars. So many people instantly gravitated towards me because of my accent and kept telling me how amazing it was and I was just like "it is?" Hahahaha. I didn't stay out too late though, I was still tired from the concert the day before and I think I was home and in bed by like.. 1am haha.

The Saturday I just went around some places locally to my uncle. There's a cool little old cemetary nearby him that they're doing a lot of restoration works on, but you can still walk through it. So I had a wander through there, it was really nice. I then found this nice little cafe and had some lunch there before I went back to my uncles place. He'd gone out and his flatmate was still away, so I just chilled and listened to some music again, before I had some dinner and then I got ready and went to a goth club that night haha. My uncle had got back before I went out and he was telling me how he'd been to the same club I was going to before, but it was back in the 80's and was telling me stories and stuff while I did my makeup. We also had a little drink together before I headed out and it was nice. We're really similar personality wise and he's honestly really cool. We sat and listened to The Cure and Cocteau Twins and Lebanon Hanover and Siouxsie and stuff like that while I got ready and we drank together. Then I went off to the club MYSELF might I add. That was a really big thing for me, going to a place like that alone. But I ended up I just got a drink, found myself a seat near the dancefloor and just chilled for a bit. Again, I ended up opening my mouth at some point, I think I was ordering myself a drink, and some girl asked me where I was from and said she liked my accent. I told her and we ended up chatting for a while. She introduced me to her friends and I ended up tagging along with them for the rest of the night. They were all really nice and took me under their wing and we even took pictures together haha. I got drunk with them and danced with them to music similar to what me and my uncle listened to before I went out haha. I got really excited when Depeche Mode came on and basically just put myself right in the middle of the dancefloor haha. I have a tendency to do that when I'm drunk lol. I didn't get home til 5am, I had been having that much fun haha. The club didn't close til 6am too, so I really could have stayed until then if I wanted to haha.

The Sunday was just really chill, we went for some lunch and we chilled in the flat, I was a little hungover so my uncle just told me to relax and take it easy. I had been really busy tbh, so it was only natural I started feeling it a bit by the Sunday. I also ended up getting bitten on my arm and shoulder by mosquitoes or something on my first day there and by this point the bites were really itchy and irritating, so I kept having to put stuff on them to soothe it. I ended up I sat and talked to my uncle til about 9 o'clock before I got really tired and went to go crash out early. I woke up really early the next day and had to pack everything away for leaving that afternoon lol. It was sad saying goodbye to my uncle, cause he's one of my favourite family members and he really sympathises with me on the bullshit with my mother. He was really shocked when I was telling him all about how she'd been acting when my dad was sick and when he passed. She actually hadn't spoke to me for like.. 3 weeks after her birthday at the start of July. She didn't even send me a text on the day of my dad's funeral. Not a word. Didn't hear from her for like another 2 weeks after that. It's actually been like a month since she's even made any kind of attempt at contacting me. She's just.. she's really shown her true colours with all this and it's sad, because I feel like I've lost and I'm grieving for both parents almost. Just in different senses of the word, I guess. It's a whole thing spanning years, I won't get into it cause this post is long enough. She's just not a very nice person and I'm slowly starting to realise that, when I used to idolise her. It just hurts.

I was supposed to get home at like.. 6pm on the Monday evening, but our plane ended up delayed by 2 hours so I didn't get picked up by my sister at the airport until like 8pm. There was some issue with the planes navigation system that didnt happen until we got to the runway and were just about to take off. So we sat there for like.. an hour, while they tried to fix it. They managed to sort it out.. but then we had to return to the stand because they had wasted all the fuel just sitting there lmfao. So I was just like ok lol we're not going anywhere anytime soon, put my headphones in and just chilled. They refueled the plane and eventually we were on our way. I didn't get any fancy drinks or food this time, just a bottle of water and a bag of pretzels that tasted really bad hahaha. I got off the plane and, as usual for me because I always seem to have shit luck when I land at Glasgow airport, we'd landed at the furthest possible gate and had to walk aaaaaaaaall the way through the airport to the baggage carousels and so I could leave. Then there was an issue with them too. No one knew where our bags were lol. And then suddenly we were being called through to the other room which had one carousel thing. Another 2/3 flights landed at the same time as us and the baggage people put ALL of the bags from ALL of the flights on one belt. It was fucking chaos. And there ended up being a massive pile up of bags and the airport people had to press the emergency stop button. It was just a total fucking clusterfuck lol. They said that one was only supposed to be for the Dublin flight, but apparently the baggage people just went "lol no" and put all the bags on the one. Luckily, I could literally see my bag just before the pile up, so I managed to grab it (after I made sure I wasn't gonna make anything worse) and quickly make my way outside where my sister was there ready to pick me up.

I got home and had a long ass shower and just relaxed for the rest of the night. I was off work the rest of the week, so I didn't have to do anything and took my time doing laundry and unpacking and getting back into a routine a bit. I'm actually still off work right now, before I went away, me and my manager had like.. a little meeting thing. She was concerned that I hadnt had enough support at work because I'd had loads of time off dealing with stuff with my dad etc. So she wanted to like.. restart me? If that makes sense? So I took some holidays and some unpaid leave (begrudgingly, but she said it would do me best) and I'll start back from my training weeks on Monday 4th September. She thinks if I have all my training again and have a proper chance and a proper start at things without the stresses of having to look after dad or any of the other stuff I'd had to deal with, that it'll make me feel more supported and I'll do better this time around. I'm not really sure how I feel about it, cause I kinda feel like it's being forced upon me against my will? But I kinda need the job and they do keep saying it's for the best so.. I'm not gonna argue with them too much about it. Especially if they really are just trying to support me. It just means I'll be able to fly through all my training and stuff and hopefully get really good marks on all my assessments if I remember everything haha.

So um.. now comes the kinda bad part. The bit that's been making me want to just.. *big sigh*. The weekend after my dad's funeral, my aunt was pretty insistent on coming to see me. I was kinda like wtf why? This is my aunt on my mum's side btw, the one who I'm close with and who really understands my situation with my mum and stuff (and really does not agree with how she's treated me at all). She also lives with my gran, who is my mum's stepmum, but she's always just been my gran cause her and my grandad had been together since the late 70's until he passed away in 2020. So.. yeah.. I was a bit worried as to why she wanted to come over and I had asked her if it was important. She turned up at my door like 20 minutes later, telling me that it was and she wasn't going to stay long, but she just didn't want to tell me over the phone or anything, she wanted to tell me in person. Immediately, I panicked. And I was right to. My gran had been sick for quite a few months. Unexplained weight loss, loss of appetite and energy and stuff, some other really weird things that they couldn't explain. They did so many tests and scans and everything and they couldn't find anything. That was, until she had another follow up scan the week before and they called her with the results a couple days after my dad's funeral. My aunt just wanted to give me a couple more days, because she knew I was already upset, that's why she waited to tell me. But um.. yeah.. what they told her is that she has pancreatic cancer. My aunt started telling me this, telling me that they were looking at all available treatment options and that surgery was potentially going to be happening and stuff. The whole time I just stood there staring at her in complete shock. All I kept thinking to myself was "really? Again? Already?". This is now the fourth close family member of mine to have cancer. My stepmum who passed in 2014 (it was actually her anniversary yesterday on the 28th, my first one without dad), my grandad (my grans husband) who passed in 2020, my dad who got sick really suddenly and passed this year.. and now my gran.. so soon after my dad. I really got upset. I can't remember much of that evening because I think I just broke down. They've basically said that they're going to do this really intensive and strong round of chemo to try and get rid. They may also be doing surgery to remove things too. Unfortunately though, this chemo and surgery plan is like.. a one time deal. So it HAS to work. If it doesn't then.. I don't wanna think about the "if it doesnt" right now tbh. I dont know if I'm strong enough to. She started her chemo on 17th August while I was away, but I've been texting and calling, checking in on her and stuff, seeing how she's doing, even while I was away. She's been okay, but over the weekend just gone, she was feeling really sick and dizzy, not eating much or drinking, they nearly took her to hospital because she was dehydrated, but thankfully she's perked up again. She's eating and drinking and feeling a little bit better. She has to get the chemo treatment every 2 weeks and she gets 6 treatments. So there's 5 more to go. I hope her body gets used to it and she doesn't feel as bad as she did over the weekend just past again. But if she does? I'll go help her if I need to. I haven't been able to see her since I got back because I got sick with a cold or flu or something again, so I didn't want to risk passing it on to her, especially when she's going through that and her immune system is already low.

I've been feeling a bit down since I got home too, I'll be honest. This town is just.. it's so shit, there's nothing here and it's honestly just.. bleh. That's the only way I can explain it. I haven't been seeing people much either. I just feel like everyone's too busy for me. I try and reach out and make plans and stuff, but everyone's just.. idk if they're busy or just cba with me. I really hope it's not the latter. But it's kinda shit. Considering everything I've been through this year and am still kinda going through. I also keep thinking more about saving up and moving away from this shithole town I grew up in. I just want to move somewhere where there's more to do or a better life to be had or where there's more opportunities. Idk, it's definitely something I might look into. But right now, I need to be there for my gran, get started with work again and just.. breathe a bit. I can think about all that bigger picture stuff soon. I just need to look after myself and my gran and just.. idk have some kind of normality for a little bit I think.

I really hope you're doing okay too. I hope your doctor's appointments have been going well. I swear to god, if they don't let you keep the piece of your rib that they cut out, I will come over there and I will riot lol. It's your fucking rib, they better let you keep it! Haha. I'm glad you managed to figure out the monitor thing too, that would have honestly driven me mental. I think I'd have also went a bit crazy with that going on, I'm sorry you ended up getting migraines and stuff from it, that really does not sound fun at all. I really hope you're feeling a bit better though and that you've been able to have some good times and some good rest too, considering you've had a lot go on this year too, with all your health stuff and having to move back home and stuff. It seems like we've both had really busy and stressful years so far. Let's hope that the rest of the year is nice and uneventful and has some happy things for us both, I really honestly do hope that for both me and you. We both deserve a bit of a break, let's face it. If I could, I'd come steal you away for a few days so we could have a break together. We could maybe go to Tasmania and you could show me those little markets and stuff you talked about before. That would be really nice I won't lie.

Oh, I also had a dream about you a few nights ago. It was only like a two second thing, but we were standing in a shop and you were laughing at me cause I wanted to buy peanut M&M's? Lol idk why but you were like "Don't you know what they put in those things?!" and I was genuinely so confused and just wanted peanut M&M's lol. It was one of those ones where I woke up and was like "huh?" Hahaha. You weren't being mean or anything, you were saying it more in like a.. jokey concerned way it seemed.

I really really hope you're doing good, E. I really can't wait to hear from you again. And I'm sorry that this is so bloody long. I guess I just wanted to tell you everything and do it justice, tell it like I would if I was sat here talking to you in person or on the phone or leaving you a voicemail or something. Idk it just feels better than way.

I had woke up and couldn't get back to sleep when I started writing this, but now I'm starting to get tired again. It's 7am here now, but I think I could probably get another couple of hours sleep. Hopefully. My sleep hasn't been too good since I got back home again. Probably because I don't really have anything to do during the day other than things around the house etc. So I end up getting bored and napping. Which isn't good but sometimes I just get so cosy lol. I wish I had a cat like Chonky to snuggle up with and nap. I hope she's doing good too. Please give her some pets and scritches from me. Belly rubs too, if you're feeling like a gambling man.

I really look forward to hearing from you, E. I hope you like the photos and stuff of my trip to London.

"If you ever go, all the songs that we like will sound like bittersweet lullabies"

P.S, it was only gonna let me upload one video, so I put them all up on my YouTube. There's a couple different ones, but here's the link for one of them, you can have a look at the rest if you like

and heres the pictures..

[moonedman]

All other sagas done in previous or future posts

Circe Saga

I'm going to preface now. I physically cannot analyze Hermes' songs. I get distracted every single time I get too into it.

Puppeteer

[heavy sigh] strings save me

If only he listened

I’m a huge fan of the fact that Eurylochus’ backing vocals are gone now [he lost his team] and it sounds so stark and different

“A woman” “what” he sounds so done

“Come inside” “Damn”

I hate them i hate them i hate them

Banger tune

“Circes’ got you now” yeah she does

Men to pig plotline and meaning i’m crazy about you.

You have 43 men. Six of them are pigs. One gets drunk and dies [fly high Elpenor]. You need to go save them

“Look at all we’ve lost” DON’T LOSE SIX MORE GO GET THEM

Also. maybe Odysseus hasn’t really grasped it all yet. Eurylochus has. 

Ough brothers

I thought he relied on wits [“it’s a game of wits”] [and then i drew a shitty eyebrow raising emoji]

Wouldn’t you Like

I had to heavily edit this because. I said some things.

HERMESSSS

“Use more than words” warrior of the mind, wits and cunning [in dangerous he encourages Odysseus to stay within his circle of talents. So. you know]

There’s not much foreshadowing.

I’m kind of convinced Hermes is just there to move the plot

The beast he summons ends up being a cyclops which makes me think that he’s always thinking about that moment and he’s constantly replaying it

Each of Hermes’ songs end with “Hermes, thank you” “Don’t thank me friend” which isn’t crazy but also. Hermes is one of the few gods who helps him AND IN THE ORIGINAL ODYSSEY ATHENA SENDS HERMES DOWN WITH THE HERB AND THEN THE WIND BAG AT CALYPSOS ISLAND

I was going to say something about how. He’s doing this stuff kinda on his own and out of free will but actually? shout out Athena

Done For

“All I did was reveal their true form” “You turned them into pigs” and was she wrong

They’re just like each other

Liar!

“People to protect, friends I can’t neglect” oh they really are just like each other.

Something about Mr. Jorge Rivera-Herrans’ girlfriend being Circe does something to my brain [positive] [shout out Talya]

Cyclops time (again. think think brain blast) ((I don't know what I meant by think think brain blast))

Manipulation to get what they want!! They really are like each other!!

Trust thing again

There are other Ways

Thinking about Appetite (Hey if you guys haven't seen an animatic of Appetite the cut song, you should go do that it's 40 seconds long and has me in a chokehold)

Game of wits

Just a man

Stronger than me

“There’s no puppet here” he’s making decisions on his own

Another “forgive me” layer

Wife time

Still on the less violent path

Underworld tune!

Love her

I’m so insane about the Ithaca saga do you tumblr people want to hear my full analysis of each song to celebrate