#i just decided to go with it

[townsenddecades]

1325 – Day 2 – Townsend Farm 3

A few days after Malcolm’s safe return, Malika is standing near the hearth, preparing their evening meal, when there is a knock at the door. The sound reverberates so powerfully in the quiet cottage that she flinches. Who could be visiting them at this hour? Few of their neighbours make the trek through the snows.

She looks at the door for a moment before wiping her hand and walking over to open it. She is greeted by the sight of a man in the garb of the earl’s men-at-arms, although she doesn’t know his face or name.

“Is this Benjamin Townsend’s home?”, he asks, after she has greeted him.

She nods, a little hesitantly. “Yes.”

“And you’re his wife?”

“Yes”, she repeats. “My name is Malika. Has something happened? Can I help you?”

“I think this will take a while to explain. May I come in?”

He is looking at her so earnestly that she can’t help agreeing, although her heart is pounding. She steps aside to let him into the cottage and offers him warmed ale before they both sit down. He looks around in their small, but well-cared-for home and takes a sip before speaking again.

“My name is Arne Faulk. I’m here on behest of Lord Petersmarch and Sir Robert Chevalier. They have been told that you have recently had a child, and that His Lordship’s brother has been…frequenting your farm, for an unclear reason.”

Deep in her heart, Malika had suspected that this would have something to do with Cecily. They have paid their taxes on time, and it is not yet time for another land tax. Besides which, the earl rarely sends out his personal men-at-arms to collect it. Still, she feels the blood first rapidly leave and then shoot back into her face under the man’s gaze. It is clear what he is implying. She is used to her neighbour’s furtive gossip, but the castle barracks being informed is something else entirely.

“Madam?”, he prompts.

“Yes”, she grinds out. “He’s…been here.”

“For your company?” His tone doesn’t leave his meaning to the imagination.

“Yes”, she says quietly, her ears burning. “For my company. It was him who sought me out.”

Arne Faulk sighs. “You’re not the first, good woman, and I’m not here to issue judgement. The Watcher will do that as She sees fit. Believe me, if I had a choice, I wouldn’t be here. But the earl wants to know whether the child is a result of his brother’s…visits.”

“Why?”, she can’t help herself but ask. Fear and hope are warring inside her. “Why would a great man like that care about his brother’s dalliances?”

The man snorts. “I’m not sure whether the earl cares, but Sir Robert does. He never liked Master Clement. Which I shouldn’t be telling you, but this business is awkward enough as it is. So, the child?”

The whole thing still seems strange to Malika. She is sure Robert knows about the entire situation; even if Benjamin hasn’t told him, he doesn’t live too far away. He has servants that visit the small market in Tovar. Some way or another, the news will have reached his ears. What she doesn’t understand is why he would talk to the earl without talking to them.

But Arne Faulk is still looking at her expectantly, so she sighs. “I can show her to you”, she says, and fetches Cecily out of her crib. She is awake and looks up at the strange man with wide, brown eyes. His face shows exactly the reaction she expected, so she smiles wryly.

“As you can see, it would be easy for him to deny any claims.”

Arne Faulk nods, still studying little Cecily. “I will have to report back to the earl, of course, but…”

“I understand.” She smiles weakly. “Do you know what the earl intended to do, if there were any obvious signs as to her father?”, she asks, heart still beating harder than usual. But to her disappointment, he shakes his head.

“I’m sorry, madam. I fear that is beyond my station.”

Prev: 1325, Day 2, Part 2/3 <--> Next: 1325, Day 3, Part 1/2

[katsigian]

Changing my belief system from "this is the hill I'll die on" to "this is the hill I'll kill you on" has done absolute wonders for me 10/10 do recommend

[obsob]

i am a being capable of immeasurable love and whimsy

[beepboopappreciation]

Is this anything

[dovesick]

endless night

[creekfiend]

what's my biggest pet peeve well it's when someone makes a text post on tumblr dot com in which they are trying to romanticize the notion of the livestock guardian dog but they don't know the distinction between a livestock guardian dog and a herding dog and also they've never met a livestock guardian dog and do not realize what their attitudes towards the sheep that they protect actually are

[biggest-gaudiest-patronuses]

Of the 19 hijackers who carried out the Sept 11 attacks:

15 were from Saudi Arabia (a powerful/oil-rich country the U.S. works hard to maintain diplomatic relations with)

2 were from the United Arab Emirates (also a powerful/oil-rich country the U.S. works hard to maintain diplomatic relations with)

1 was from Egypt, 1 from Lebanon.

None of the hijackers were from Iraq.

None of the Sept 11 hijackers were Iraqi.

None of the 9/11 hijackers were from Iraq.

[regonold]

So during a wayne gala, there was a rouge attack shocker. It was by scarecrow he was planning to flood the ballroom with his gas

Unfortunately his bomb was shoddily put together and one of the cannisters holding the gas fell and landed in the hands of one danny fenton there with his godfather

Now unfortunately all anyone could do was watch as this gas can suddenly spayed gas in this young mans face who started looking panicked and backing up before spotting vlad and stopping

Suddenly this kid who seemed like he was seconds from running is now fucking growing and preparing to pounce on vlad???

And vlad just looks resigned as if he figured this would happen

[fairsweetlonging]

truth serum / system reveal au where shen qingqiu gets hit with an uncloaking spell that reveals the system in the reflection of his eyes every time it pops up.

during one of his missions, in the treasure hoard of some dragon-like creature, he finds a golden, oval shaped hand mirror, its gaudy style more victorian based than anything (airplane you hack!), that doesn't seem to do anything when he looks into it. but when he does, it reveals the system's screen in his eyes.

he doesn't notice this, of course, because he can't see it, and the system, surprisingly, stays quiet.

the peak lords think he's cursed.

maybe mu qingfang is the first to notice, during the mandatory post mission check-up, when shen qingqiu is scrolling through his most recently accumulated points and mu qingfang can see the strange vividly-blue lines reflected in his pupils. it's gone when shen qingqiu blinks, like it was nothing but a trick of the light.

it comes out when yue qingyuan is visiting and, just as he's done laying out the plans for a new mission, shen qingqiu's eyes glaze over and a bright blue box takes over the whole of his iris. shen qingqiu goes quiet; the thing in his eyes moves, shifts, pulses for a second, like static worms crawling all over his pupils. then he blinks, and it's gone, and shen qingqiu accepts the mission that yue qingyuan was almost sure he would decline.

maybe there is an intervention, when the peak lords corner shen qingqiu at qian cao peak and try to figure out what's wrong, subjecting him to all kinds of treatments and curse-finding spells that turn up empty, they can't find anything.

of course, the silencing threat is still very much up and running. at first shen qingqiu was kind of confused by the whole ordeal, but when the peak lords start describing a "strange blue box", he realizes, with sickening suddenty, that they're describing the system. and he can't say anything.

this only makes everything worse, because their fellow peak lord now keeps evading every question and acts like he doesn't understand. liu qingge points right at his face and asks, "that blue box, what is it?" and shen qingqiu laughs nervously and starts talking about how bright the weather is and surely it's the sky and nothing to worry about!

even worse, during the intervention the system thought it was a good idea to start talking to him, so now even the peak lords who hadn't seen it and who might have been persuaded by light tricks and reflections, get a first row view that no, that definitely isn't a trick of the light.

they try to do the whole thing of "are you in danger, blink twice" but shen qingqiu can't even do that because it's still a direct admittance!

maybe eventually he starts saying vague confirmations that don't actually confirm anything, like "this master hears what you're saying", or maybe he goes with a classic "this master can neither confirm nor deny that." but the system starts warning him for that too and eventually he stops saying anything, which worries the others more.

luckily mu qingfang catches on that every time they ask a direct question about the box or shen qingqiu says anything vaguely confirming, it appears. it doesn't appear when they ask about curses or demons, so it must not see that as a threat.

for a little extra angst: maybe the peak lords keep pressuring him for answers, and at some point shen qingqiu gets fed up and snaps out something like, "why don't you understand that i'm not allowed to answer that!" the system counts this as a direct admittance, threatening it's existence. so it punishes. shen qingqiu has a qi deviation so bad it lasts two weeks and takes two people every day to cleanse his meridians. the system doesn't appear in that time. it doesn't appear for a long while after that, either. the peak lords stop asking, mainly because shen qingqiu will instantly leave the room if they do. they don't stop searching for a cure, though.

shang qinghua returns from a business trip and catches on the second someone mentions a blue box and forced silencing.

[lotus-pear]

soukoku as one of my dearest renaissance paintings

[savanir]

The What Corps?

“we have you now spook! there is nowhere you can run and hide with our new spectral tethers active!”

Danny winces at the small metal clips that have hooked themselves in his leg, some new GIW tech that is messing with his powers.

“oh yeah? I was just dying for you guys to give me a challenge” plan. plan. He's gotta think of a plan to get out of here and fast. He takes a steadying breath and starts to look for anything that can help him.

he can’t get caught here. He just can't. He simply won’t allow himself.

suddenly the two GIW goons in front of him click their earpieces to clearly listen to what someone else is telling them, Danny is very glad for his own enhanced senses.

“Operatives K and O, be advised, there have been sightings of a new ectoplasmic entity near your location. Other operatives report that it’s incredibly small and moves fast. watch your backs, this may be an ambush”

small and fast? it better not be some poor little blob ghost, Danny sort of hopes it’s some manner of ectowasp, at least that could be entertaining to see.

“you better not be hoping for back up, ecto scum”

“I have no idea what you are talking about”

It's then that a small bright green light zips on scene and weaves through crowds in the distance with ease and then speeds up towards the two operatives who do not hesitate to shoot, missing completely like the storm troopers they are.

Whatever it is, it is indeed going very fast but Danny manages to figure out what it looks like and it appears to be a… ring?

“hold it you tiny accessory shaped ecto fiend!”

The ring does a speedy circle around Operative O while K is lining up a shot and ends up blasting the poor guy point blank in his face, “O!”

Danny takes a step forward with an arm outstretched and a “oh damn! Are you alright?” on his lips when the ring takes the chance to slip on his finger. “Daniel Fenton of Earth”

Danny already had a freakout about a ghost jewelry getting on him, his experiences with those so far have been incredibly bad after all, what with the rings and crowns and pendants… now this damn thing is just straight up outing him! 

Thank the ancients the two GIW stooges are too busy with each other right now to pay close attention to what this weird ring is saying.

“You have the ability to overcome great fear” ah so this is related to him steeling himself just now? Maybe? or something??

You have been chosen” never good, we are back to freaking out again.

“Welcome to the green lantern corps” 

… the what?

Danny notices that his usual outfit suddenly has more green going on, and his DP symbol has some sort of… he guess it’s supposed to be a lantern, maybe? shape around it.

He’s somehow even more glowy now, and there is something on his face. Feeling its shape makes him think it’s some sort of mask.

The metal clip things are no longer attached to his legs though so that’s great!

“You’re not getting away so easily ecto scum! sentient ghost paraphernalia coming to your rescue or no!” They both aim their weapons to take a shot.

Danny figures he can now easily hold them back with his usual shields,“you guys realize you just called this weird ring sentient and thereby negate the whole nonsentie-ack!”

“Attacking a corps lantern is punishable offense as of the instatement of the galactic diplomatic immunity as declared by the-” Okay so now Danny is just raising his eyebrow at this weird as fuck ring. Just what is it going on about?

“notifying nearby lanterns and requesting assistance with apprehension of hostiles”

what?

“getting your friends to help you out vile spook? such a thing is useless with the Blackout still very much in place”

Well… the two streaks of green light in the distance is making Danny doubt that statement.

Maybe there is more to this Lantern corps thing than he thought… And something tells him his life is about to get even more complicated than it already is.

[stump-not-found]

A Lifetime Served in a Little Cup

pt.1 / pt.2 / pt.3 / pt.4

---

bill, babygirl, the red flags get outta there

[egophiliac]

in honor of Azul's time to shine 🐙

[hinamie]

spiraling

[technically-human]

Payneland² 

[samglyph]

Mermay….mermay…. Merlinmay….