#i need the shooting and lightning impact on them

[buck2eddie]

hoping for another divorced era in s7 so i can make a buddie edit with the line "we can make a good thing bad"

[thealtoduck]

Being a student at Xavier’s school and unlocking your second mutation…

X Men x Male Reader

Warnings: Superhero violence…

Part 1: Being a mutant and joining Xavier’s school…

Summary: While on a mission you accidentally unlock another power…

(A/n: Sorry if it’s short i didn’t know what to add…)

——

It happened while on a mission…

You hadn’t been on many missions much less one this dangerous before but the team had needed as much manpower as they could get. Magneto and his brotherhood were at it again. And you and the others needed to try stop them.

You ran over the battlefield, rubble was sprawled everywhere. One of Magneto’s goons ran towards you readying herself for attack, you immediately used your telepathy to give her a psionic blast causing her to fall to the ground holding her head as she twisted and turned in pain.

You ran past her and continued looking for your fellow team mates. You then saw Jean, Ororo and Scott fighting together against Magneto. You knew you couldn’t be much help to them as Magneto’s helmet protected him from telepathic power.

You continued running trying to get past them to find the others but all of a sudden Scott shot an optic blast at Magneto hitting his arm, making him fling an explosive he was carrying with his powers right towards you.

”Y/N” Ororo yelled making you turn to see the explosive flying towards you. You could do nothing but brace for impact. You closed your eyes and felt a blast against your chest. Then nothing.

Were you dead now…? If this was dying it didn’t hurt as you had thought. But wait how could you still think?… were you still alive?…

You opened your eyes seeing a cloud of dust and smoke surrounding you. Once it cleared you saw Jean, Ororo and Scott were staring at you. Even Magneto was looking your way, curious of what mutant he had accidentally almost killed.

You looked around confused how in hell had you survived that. Then you caught a glimpse of your hands and you almost screamed. ”What the-!” you said. Your hands were crystalline, like glass or diamond.

The explosive had made a big hole in your costume revealing your crytalized skin, your whole body had become like this.

”Amazing” Magneto muttred under his breath. Ororo used his current fasination with you to shoot lightning at him taking him down.

Once you had won the battle you went back to the X mansion, where they immediately rushed to figure out what had happened to you. After several scans the professor eventually uttred an astonished ”Amazing”.

”What?” you questioned. ”You seem to have developed a second mutation Y/n” he explained. Jean followed up saying ”Your body seems to have become a sort of organic diamond, which protected you from the explosive blast”.

”Is there anyway to turn it off?” you asked them. ”Try it” Jean urged. You did as told and suddenly you were back to your regular self. You then focused and made only your hands turn diamond. ”This is so cool” you said to yourself.

You immediately went to find Peter your roomate and closest friend at the school to show him your new powers. He then pointed out the irony that the two people who could shapeshift in to different materials at the school were also roomates.

[hunnitastic]

🩹~Tend to your wound~🩹

||Wally Darling x GN!Reader||

(Work can also be found on my ao3. Art used for fanfic done by @/partycoffin )

[I'd be happy to take any requests as well! Shoot me an ask anytime]

~°.•☆*~`.°☆~*'•.`°~☆•.*,°`.'°☆~

It was a nice relaxing sunny day in the neighborhood. The sun was shining bright, the sky painted a beautiful sky blue, fluffy white clouds slowly drifting above. Your friends had invited you out to play at the park. You gladly accepted their invitation as you haven't left your house for the past couple of days. Surely it wouldn't hurt to get some sunlight and play with your friends right?

After walking around your house spending some time trying to find your favorite ball you use to play fetch with barnaby, this found it hiding underneath your couch. You grabbed it and brushed the dust off. you quickly ran outside and headed straight to the park. You were running so fast you didn't even notice that deep hole in the ground coming straight your way. And in the blink of an eye the tip of your foot dragged against the deep hole sending you to plummet straight to the ground. But before you could break for impact, a big pair of light blue fuzzy colored paws grabbed hold of your arms bringing you straight back to your feet.

"Whoa there (y/n)! There's no need to be in such a hurry. The park isn't that far buddy!" Barnaby chuckled and slapped your back. You grimaced at the sudden slap but smiled seeing the rest of your friends where already here but, your friend Wally Darling was missing from the group.

You wondered where he could be. It wasn't like him to be late for a get together...how odd.

You stared at the ground for a slight minute. A faint frown painted your face wondering if wally was to ever show up. But you have the whole day after all There! 'Just be patient (y/n). He probably had something important to do' you thought to yourself before shaking the negative thoughts out of your head as you and the rest of the gang proceeded to walk to the park together.

There was Julie with a picnic basket happily swinging back and forth in her hands as she skipped her way to the park. Finding the perfect spot near a field of flowers Julie began to set up the picnic. She layed out a large red and white checkered blanket and set out the plates, cups and forks. "Hey Julie do you need any help?" You asked as you plopped down on the grass setting your ball beside you. "Hi (y/n)! I sure could use some help thank you for asking! Could you please organize the plates and cups and math them with the correct color?" You nodded with a smile and did exactly as asked. You organized the colorful plates and cups with their respective matching colors. They even had the names of everyone from the neighborhood. You even had your own plate as well! And it was your favorite color too. 'Julie is such a good friend' you thought as you smiled sweetly, staring at the plate a little longer before setting it down.

You glanced over to look at the surprisingly large amount of food Julie had packed. Small sandwiches, gelatin for who you assume is for frank, (your favorite food/snack) oh boy you couldn't wait to dig in! Some apples for wally and a comedically large 3 tier cake. Its colorful frosting surely would catch anyone's attention. It was a bit odd but it was nice to look at. It looked yummy too.

After the 2 of you were done setting up the picnic you got up and grabbed your ball. "Hey barnaby! Wanna play some catch?" You hollered watching barnaby quickly run towards you at lightning speed. "You bet I do! You get any better at throwing? Last time we played you threw it so close it felt more like I was picking the ball that up you kept dropping. It was really boring." the dog joked grinning at the offended look on your face. "I was just tired that day!" You huffed and stomped your foot. "And just so you know I'm most definitely better at throwing things now! So you better get ready!" You huffed some more before taking a few steps back while you watched Barnaby take a few steps back as well. "Ok! HERE I GOOOOO!" you yelled as you threw the ball high into the air watching as it traveled in the sky.

Perhaps...you might have thrown it a little too far. It doesn't seem like barnaby could catch it in time. And it looks like the ball is headed right towards wallys house.

Oh you poor silly fool!

Closing your eyes shut and slapping your hands over your face you were prepared to gear the shattering of glass breaking from a window. But..there was no such sound. What happened? Did the ball fly over the house instead? Removing your hands and slowly opening your eyes you saw a familiar blue hair individual walking your way tossing a certian ball up and down in right hand while his other rested behind his back. 

It was wally...

Your heart started to skip a beat, your face becoming flushed and hot, and your hands started to get sweaty.

Oh- did I forget to mention you had certian feelings for your kind dear neighbor wally? What was there to not like about this man? He was a kindly spoken gentlemen. Sure he could be a little empty headed at times but that's what you loved about him.

If only you had the courage to tell him how you really feel.

If...

O n ly...

You swallowed the saliva that gathered in your mouth and waved at wally as he aproched you. "Hello (y/n), looking for this?" He spoke in his usual calm soft voice. He held up the ball. You sheepishly nodded your head. Embarrassed at the fact you almost threw that ball straight into wallys house. "U-uh yes. Sorry about that-" you mumbled. Struggling to find the right words to say. Smiling, wally softly grabbed ahold of your hand and placed the ball in your palm and cupped his hand over yours. Looking straight into your eyes wally tilted his head to the side, his smile never leaving his face. "You should be more careful neighbor. It'd be a shame for you to lose your favorite ball." He whispered.

You wanted to say 'thank you wally, I'll be more careful next time!' But all the came out of your mouth was "...uh-uh." Wally chuckled and walked over to Julie before barnaby ran back towards you. Panting heavily, Hunching over wth his paws rested on his knees. "Geez (y/n) if I had known you throw that hard I would have suggested we play another game instead" you patted the dogs back and softly apologized. "Hey it's alright! You did prove me wrong though! You got a good arm (y/n)!" You grinned while proudly placing your hands on your hips. "Why thank you! Did you wanna take a break and eat with others?" Barnaby shook his head. "Nah! I've got so much energy after chasing the ball! Hey- why don't we play a game of tag?" Barnaby asked standing straight up after finally managing to catch his breath. "That sounds like a good ide-"

"TAG. YOU'RE IT"

Barnaby ran leaving you standing there like a baffled idiot. "Barnaby that's not fair!" You shouted as you proceeded to chase after him while the two of you laughed. The game went on for so long. You even managed to accidentally knock frank into a bush while he was inspecting a butterfly. "Opps! Sorry about that frank!" You quickly pulled frank out of the bush and helped brushed him off. "You best be careful when running around (y/n). You could hurt someone or even hurt yourself- uh?" before frank could scold anymore you had already run off after seeing barnaby coming straight towards you.

Circling around a tree you run as fast as you could to get barnaby off your tail but he was pretty fast considering how big he is. Using the rest of the energy you had left you bolted to the right towards the flower patch. Looking behind you already ended up gaining a couple feet between barnaby and yourself. You let out a breathy laugh. "HA TAKE THAT BARNABY! I'M THE FASTEST IN THE NEIGHBORHO- OOF-" without keeping your eyes in front of you you failed to see a large patch of dirt sitting right in front of your path. And barnaby was too far away to catch you this time.

You fell straight down, roughing up your knees in the process. You let out a low long groan as you laid there with your face buried in the dirt and pebbles. "(Y/N)!" You heard barnaby shout as you began to slowly sit yourself up. The burning and stinging sensation on your knees was enough to bring tears to your eyes. You bit down on your lip to keep the sobs from escaping your throat. The bubbling feeling in your throat grew as you stared at your bloody knees. You looked up seeing barnaby and the others running your direction. "(Y/n) are you okay?!" Julie asked kneeling down and slowly rubbed her hand up and down your back to help soothe you. "Y-yeah I'm fine. I wasn't p-paying attention" frank frowned and shook his head. "I told you you need to be careful when running around (y/n). You need to get home and tend to those cuts before they get infected." Before you could respond wally walked over, placing one arm behind your back and the other hooking under your legs. He held you up, carrying you close to his chest. "I'll take (y/n) back home." "Are you sure you don't need help?" Barnaby asked looking awfully concerned. Wally simply nodded and began to walk to the direction of his house.

Oh could you feel even more embarrassed? You just had to go and act like a fool and not pay attention! Now here you are, carried in wallys arms and cut up and trying you awful best to hold back your weeping sobs. It didn't take long to make it back to wallys house after the silent walk back.

Once walking inside wally carefully sat you down on the couch in his living room. "Wait right there. I'll be right back." You nodded watching wally walk towards the back. You let out a soft sigh staring down at your knees. "Way to make a fool of yourself infront of wally (y/n) you idiot. This day couldn't be anymore worse." you whispered to yourself cringing as you replied the moment you fell in your head. "Did you say something (y/n)?" Wally asked as he came back with a box of bandages, cotton balls and a bottle of hydroxide. You flinched not hearing him walk back in the living room. He sure is a quiet one isn't he?

"OH- UHM, n-no I didn't say anything...haha" you awkwardly spoke watching wally kneel down on the ground infront of you. You stared as he opened the brown colored bottle grabbing a cotton ball he carefully doused the soft fluffy white ball in the liquid. Gently, he grasped the back of your leg lifting your knee up. "This is going to sting a little bit ok? If it hurts too much just tell me to stop." You swallowed and nodded your head slowly bracing yourself for the pain. The closer wally moved the cottonball the more you tried your best to move your leg away. "Now, now (y/n). Remember what frank said? If we don't get this taken care of your cuts will get infected. And it will hurt alot more if you leave it the way it is. Do you really want that? Hmm?" Wally had a good point. You didn't want your cuts to get more worse. You shook your head. "Good. Just stay still. I'll be as gentle as I can". Wally spoke im a soft calming tone.

Your roughly gripped the couch seats hissing at the stinging sensation tingling as the wet ball lightly dabbed against your skin. The feeling spread through out your knee. It hurt alot and you wanted to tell wally to stop but you had to be strong and push through this. You felt more tears begin to well up in the corner of your eyes while you bit down on your bottom lip. 'It's almost over. Just one more knee and you're done (y/n)' you reassured yourself as wally moved to work on the next leg. "You're doing good. Just a couple more seconds" wally hummed cleaning up your wound on the other knee. After he was done wiping up your cut a lightly blew on the cut to make it dry faster. Your body shivered at the coolness against your throbbing skin. It was a nice feeling.

Really nice.

After making sure your cuts were dry wally placed a band-aid on each knee. "And there you go. All done~" he happily sung looking up at you. You still had your eyes closed shut. Your tears streaming down your red flushed cheeks. "Hmm..." wally sounded. "I heard from poppy about the best medicine one can receive when they're hurt. Do you know what that medicine is (y/n?)" He asked not looking away. You shook your head. Your lips trembling as you let out soft shakey whimpers. "The best medicine one can receive when they're not feeling good you see..." he paused. Moving his hand to softly grasp your calf while his other rested against the heel of your foot.

"Is a kiss."

Wally softly pressed a sweet kiss against your bandaged knee. Leaving his lips there for a few seconds before pressing another loving kiss to the other. You opened your eyes, face still flushed a bright red as you watched wally sweetly kiss your knee before lightly pressing his cheek against your skin. "Does that feel better?" He asked. You nodded and softly smiled. "Ahh there's that smile I like to see". Wally hummed, reaching up to wipe away the rest of your tears. His thumb brushing against your cheek. "I really do hate to see you so upset (y/n). It hurts my heart so much" he whispered staring into your eyes.

There was a short moment of silence. The 2 of you just stared at each other with soft expressions before wally spoke up again. "Please don't ever say you're an idiot. That's just not true. You're a lovely person." Your eyes widened. "So...you heard that?" You mumbled. He didn't respond. Just continued to stare at you with his usual smile and droopy eyes. "I think you're really neat (y/n). You bring so much light in any room you walk in." He cupped your cheek in his hand as he leaned forward bringing his hand to sotly pet the top of your head. "You're so good for me. Always helping our friends and making them smile. You're very very good." His smile grew wider when he watched your flustered reaction. You enjoyed the sudden praise and comfort. It was definitely something you needed.

Wally cupped both your cheeks this time forcing you to look up at him. You held in your breath as you stared into his eyes. His pupils seemed...more larger than they were a few seconds ago.

"....I really like you too."

You opened your mouth to speak but wally cut you off. "(Y/n) will you promise me you'll try to be a little more careful when you play with our friends?" You stayed silent for a minute before answering. "I- I promise to be more careful." Wally hummed letting go of your face and reached down and grabbed hold of your hands. Intertwining your fingers together. "Shall we go back to our friends now?" He asked helping you up off the couch. "Hehe, yes let us go back to our friends." You replied back in a soft voice.

And with that you both walked back to the park, hand in hand with smiles spread across your faces.

Maybe this day was going to go alright alright after all.

THE END.

|| This is the first fanfic I've written after a few years of not writing anything so I do apologize that I'm rather rusty. I hoped you enjoyed reading it tho! ||

[oneshotnewbie]

Thanos throws Reader into a very cold lake. Yelena gets her out but she is freezing and hypothermia and even after Yelena and Wanda care for her after and make her a hot tea, soup, cuddle her in warm blankets etc. she is shivering.

ᕚ---ᕘ

You did not know what was happening to you when you were blown up with full force. Looking at the several meters below you, which lifted you from the ground, you had already mentally prepared yourself for death and declared your life as an Avenger to be over; no one could survive such an impact.

Your eyes shut tight, you hoped for a quick death without having to suffer. To your surprise, it was ice-cold wetness that took over you and swallowed you whole instead of the hard dirt road covered in snow. A shrill scream from Wanda, as you found yourself in free fall, was the last thing you heard before breaking through the thin ice.

Disorientated, you spent those first seconds desperately trying not to gasp as the water soaked your whole body. But the pain that ate through each of your limbs like individual needles made you do just that and the cold wet pierced your lungs before you had bitten through the deep.

The water hit your face, the cold shooting through you like a thousand tiny lightning bolts. Pain filled your body, hoping to scream and fight through. But your screams are lost in the gurgling of your lungs filling with water, your throat constricting.

The lake was hollow and had a complex depth, but you still managed to fight your way up and bring your head to the surface, where Yelena was already standing knee-deep in it, reaching out to you with a hand. With the last energy in your body, you swam onto the sandbank and the blonde pulled you the last few meters away from the water with all her strength. "Are you all right?"

With chattering teeth and lilac lips, you nodded carefully and wrapped your arms around your torso. Your fingers were stiff from the short dive and you could hardly open or close them. "I am so cold," you stuttered and watched as the red-haired witch took advantage of the distraction to decisively unleashed her magic on the mighty Titan, spurred on by the attack on you.

The warlord responsible for your fall was flooded with the red threads of her magic, slowly but surely freeing him from his armor. The look on Thanos' face as he floated into the sky was one of shock and you knew he was not enjoying his luck for long. He shattered into fine particles that swirled through the air in the icy winter wind. The Avengers, however, knew that he was far from defeated. They had all only weakened him, but by no means defeated him.

Wanda Maximoff rushed forward and dropped to her knees in front of you. "I got you," her hands rested on your shoulders, hastily rubbing your upper arms to add a touch of warmth to your freezing body. "We need to get you somewhere warm, let´s go." she whispered, still out of breath from the fight. The redhead pulled you up, grabbing you by the already crystallizing, wet sleeves and right against her, supporting you as you walked to the Helicarrier.

You were puffing hard, shaking against her chest and she pulled you impossibly closer to her, focusing on getting you to headquarters as quickly as possible to protect you from further hypothermia and the fatal consequences that would ensue. Wanda could tell you were still conscious but did not think you would remain for much longer.

When you arrived at headquarters, you lay unconscious in her arms, a warm blanket draped over your flushed body that was still shaking. "We need to warm her up slowly. Wanda, you have to get friendly with her." Tony ordered and the witch looked at him questioningly as she carried you through the hallways of the headquarters. "Warm her up with your own body heat. Embrace her, keep her close to you until she is conscious and change her wet clothes."

She nodded hastily, carefully bringing you in her own room and laying you down on her bed. Stripping off her equally wet clothes, she squeezed into her pajamas and did what she was told without question. The redhead shuffled closer to you, slipping her arm around your shoulder and carefully pulled her blanket up to your nose.

"Come on, sweetheart. Wake up," mumbled Wanda and placed her other hand on your stomach, the trembling lessening under her touch, your skin still cold and covered in goosebumps. Watching you being thrown away and disappear out of her sight was horrific. One minute you had been soundly fighting next to her, the next she was watching you fight for survival.

She hated the feeling that was building up inside her. Guilt for not protecting you enough, unsure how you were feeling and whether you would be okay or not. Wanda was afraid, she did not want to lose you.

The door opened with a bang and made the redhead flinch. Her eyes darted to the door and she smiled when it revealed none other than the blonde who stormed into the room with an entire tablet in her hands. "I have three different types of hot tea, a hot water bottle and lots of blankets. Soup is on the stove and boiling."

"Thanks, Yel."

"How is she doing?" she asked at the same time and sat down at the end of the wide bed. Her hand slid over your covered lower legs, caressing them anxiously. During their conversation, they did not even notice that you had opened your eyes a crack. You did not know where you were, nor why you felt so heavy. You were cold, but you tried to push at whatever or whoever was holding you back did not seemed to work. You had no strength.

In the distance, you heard female voices speaking, using your name in almost every sentence. "Where am I?" you asked, trying to get up. But Wanda held you tightly in her grasp, her fingers placed under your chin so you could look up at her. “Y/n, you are safe. You are in my bed.” shushed the witch, looking at you with concern.

Your eyelids fluttered open and you managed to keep your eyes fully open. Yelena and Wanda could tell that you were still unfocused, your body starting to shake harder again. "Give me another blanket, Yelena," the woman had stood up, pulling a blanket from the stack and held it out to her, who took it and nodded a thanks.

Swiftly, she pushed you up straighter and swung it around your still shivering form as the blonde poured a cup of tea and held it in front of you. You gratefully accepted it, held the cup tightly in your hand and closed your eyes to let the warmth penetrate deeper into your body. "I am sorry," you said quietly, the shivering making your voice shake.

"What for?" The two of them asked at the same time and Yelena helped you bring the edge of the cup to your lips to drink. You groaned as the warm water poured down your esophagus, warming you from the inside while resting your head on Wanda's shoulder. "Causing you problems. I could have died."

"You did not fall into the lake on purpose." pointed the blonde out and you managed to smile tiredly, placed the cup on the small bedside table and devoted yourself entirely to the redhead. Your arms wrapped around her middle while your head made itself comfortable on her chest. "Besides, you are destined to die on the battlefield as any good soldier should, not drowning in a sea."

[nomie-11]

Chapter 26 - Shadows of Blue and Silver

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The thunder crackles in the sky as a bolt of lightning misses its target. 

Vines slither the ground of the earth, helping young children and tired elders into the mines as Liam and Soleil usher townspeople in and around the vines. Genevieve’s on high drive as Violet’s hits miss and miss again, destroying brick and stone with each hit. 

Genevieve watches a bolt of lightning catch a venin’s attention towards Violet, and her stomach flips as the venin reaches forward with her left hand, and flips it, fisting air. Rocks tumble down the mountainside, and before the rocks can crush the people entering the mine, vines race upwards, creating a net to protect the people. 

Her eyes whip back to the venin as the group of civilians are safely secured. Raw power is palpable in the air as the venin stands facing Violet, not too far from her. The venin’s palms are lowered to the ground, and the grass around her turns brown then the flowers of the wild clover bushes wilt, and the leaves curl, losing their color. 

Genevieve’s pulse thunders in her chest. The scene is so familiar. 

“Am I…” She can barely focus, her words hit Xaden like a bullet. “Am I a venin?” 

Another bolt of lightning flares through the sky as the blight of death spreads outward from the venin, as if she’s drawing the essence of the earth into her own power. Genevieve can do that, too. 

“You are not a venin, Genevieve,” Train’s voice booms. A bolt of lightning hits close to the road, and the straggler racing towards safety is nearly hit, only narrowly protected by the wall of vines that shoots up from the ground. “You channel from me, that creature channels from the earth, no matter how similar your powers may be. Now, in that building on the other side of the road, there’s a crate of something marked with Liam’s family crest,” Tairn continues, brushing off Genevieve’s worry with a wave of his wings. “He says it's highly unstable.” 

“I’m trying-” She grunts with effort, pushing life back into the earth. “To counter the venin.” 

The circle of death steadily expands towards Violet, Genevieve’s signet making only a fraction of a difference as she draws more and more power from Tairn. Soleil charges toward the venin with Fuil on her heels, her dagger palmed and ready as the rest of the group of townspeople make it to the tunnel. 

The wave of lifeless air surges forward from the venin, flowing outward and catching up with the fleeing civilian in the middle of the road. He falls, then screams soundlessly, curling in on himself as his body becomes nothing but a husk of a shell. 

Genevieve’s signet stops. She’s no longer sending out waves of life as the air freezes in her lungs. That’s how the cadet she had killed when her signet first manifested had died. He looked just like that. And the feeling, the question, of whether or not she was a venin, of whether or not she was a monster, flooded her mind. 

“Genevieve!!” her gaze snaps upwards as Violet’s plea rings in her ears. She just captures the last view of Soleil stumbling a few steps into the dead-zone Genevieve was so desperately trying to control. Fuil reaches for her as they both buckle and fall, throwing up a cloud of dirt with their heavy impact. They desiccate in a matter of seconds, their bodies shriveling. A vise clamps around Genevieve’s chest. The venin has more power now. The venin has more power after stealing their life, just like Genevieve. 

“Tell Deigh!” She looks back over her shoulder to see Liam sprinting for Deigh. He needs time. 

“Already done.” Tairn rolls left as a fireball churns up at them, Genevieve still seated on Tairn despite her signet so well rooted in the ground. 

“We lost Soleil,” She tells Xaden, and the only acknowledgement she receives is a wave of sorrow, and she knows it's his. 

The gryphons change course, and Geneveive pushes more and more vines toward the venin in hopes of at least trapping her still. She glares up at Genevieve, then turns at the sound of flapping wings. Garrick and the other marked third-years are coming. She’s outnumbered and nearly trapped, and damn, Genevieve hopes she knows it. 

The gryphons team up, tearing into one of the approaching wyvern as Liam mounts and Deigh launches, escaping the spreading ring of death, but the other wyvern dips low, heading for the venin. Right on course to pass by the outbuilding. 

“You said that building has unstable material in it, right?” 

“Yes.” 

“Someone tell Violet to hit it!” Genevieve’s voice carry’s down Tairn, Sgaeyl, and Xaden’s pathways. She’s desperate to reach any or all of them. 

“Excellent idea.” 

Astrape puts Violet into position, hovering about twenty feet above ground as Liam flies for the gyrphons above them, wielding spears of ice from another rider’s signet into the injured wyvern’s throat. Blood streams as the wyvern falls from the sky with an ear piercing cry. One down. 

The venin reaches the road, and the wyvern skids to a landing on the dirt path so the venin can mount. 

“NOW!!” Genevieve can only hope the message has gotten to Violet, but she knows it has when lightning crashes down from the sky and the building explodes into a burst of flames and stones, Violet circling back on Astrape to escape her own blast. One wyvern down, townspeople are out of the way, and there’s no way anything survived the blast. 

Tairn dips his right wing low and we turn sharply, getting set up to make another run through town. She glances down to her right and gasps. Not only did that blast not kill the wyverm, but its rider is alive and well, too, flying toward—

Shit. Oh shit. 

There are more wyvern then dragons exiting the valley to the south, and Genevieve is trying not to panic as her vines rise up from the earth and shoot into the sky in desperate attempts to ground the wyvern with everything she has. She feels as the life in her vines is slowly dissipating the closer it gets to the venin. Each and every vine originally full of advice withering when they make contact. Genevieve is defenseless. 

“Any idea how to kill a whole horde of wyvern?” She asks, her voice raising in panic. There are at least six wyvern, from what she can see, all with terrifying wingspans and sharp teeth, all heading right for them. 

“Violet’s lightning will have to be enough.” Tairn replies, though his voice isn’t exactly hopeful as Violet and Astrape lead the wyvern away from the post’s center, where Garrick and Bodhi are both on foot, chasing down the venin from the clock tower, daggers in hand. 

“What can I do? There must be something I can do against them? Tairn–” Genevieve’s voice cracks with desperation and frustration as she tightens her grips on Tairn’s scales. The sky darkens further, thunder rumbling in the distance like a warning drum. Her mind races, searching for any solution—any advantage she could use against the approaching wyvern and their venin riders. The life weaving vines she summoned are already brittle, drained by the venin’s corrupting influence. Each tendril she sends forth wilts faster than the last. 

“Tairn, I need more power!” She pleads. 

Tairn’s wings beat rhythmically, but his mental voice is strained. “You cannot handle more power, little soldier. Drawing more could hurt both of us.” 

She grits her teeth, trying to suppress the gnawing fear that’s threatening to choke her. Six wyverns—six of them, with their riders and their venomous intent—against a handful of dragons and exhausted riders. She glances down at the others. Violet is still up in the air, lightning flashing wildly in the sky with every command, but she can’t take them all on her own. Garrick and Bodhi are closing in on the venin, but the wyverns are too close for them to handle. 

Then a thought flickers in her mind, wild and dangerous. A spark of an idea that could turn the tide in Genevieve’s favor. 

“Tairn, what if I don’t fight them? What if I just drain them before they can drain me?”

The great dragon’s wings falter mid-beat. “You want to drain the wyvern’s life force? That’s—”

“That’s what they do,” She finishes, her pulse pounding louder in her ears. “I know it's risky, but if I can stop a venin—use their own tricks against them–maybe I can drain enough to stop them!” 

Tairn’s silence presses down on her like the sky is falling. Then, finally: “You have no practice in stealing life, we don’t even know if you can take life without direct contact the way you can when you wield vines.” 

“Then you just have to get me close enough to touch a wyvern.” 

Tairn’s wings bank hard to the right, his massive form shifting mid-flight as Genevieve’s heart hammers against her ribcage. The air grows thicker, darker, as the wyverns swoop closer, their foul energy radiating like a death sentence. 

“You are playing a dangerous game, little soldier,” Tairn warns, his voice grim, but there’s no turning back now. 

“Get me close!” She yells, the wind tearing at her words as she clings tighter to his scales. She knows the cost of draining life—how it invigorates her, how the whispers of the dead pull at her with every ounce of power she takes. But what choice does she have? If she doesn’t act now, they’ll all die. 

The largest wyvern is the closest, its black eyes gleaming as it barrels towards them, mouth opened. Genevieve stretches out her hands, fingertips buzzing with the hum of life. Tairn dives low, skimming just beneath the beast’s scaly stomach. 

“Now, Genevieve!!” Tairn bellows. 

She reaches out, her palm making contact with the rough, scaly hide of the wyvern’s flank. The moment of touch sends a jolt of raw energy up her arm, a surge so powerful it almost knocks her out of her seat. She clenches her jaw, focusing every ounce of her willpower, and begins to draw. 

It’s like trying to pull water from a roaring flood. The wyvern’s life force is massive, overwhelming, and its corruption seeps into her like poison. Genevieve grits her teeth, wrestling the energy under her control, but she cannot find the thread. The wyvern screeches, its body convulsing mid-air as its strength begins to fade. 

Genevieve’s veins burn as the power flows into her, filling her with a dark, heavy energy. It’s not like pulling from the earth—it’s twisted, dangerous, and she feels her own essence slipping, her mind battling against the dark black poison threatening to overtake her. 

But she holds on. 

The wyvern’s movements grow sluggish, its wings beating slower, its deadly eyes dulling. Just as its rider turns in alarm, Genevieve finds the corrupted thread and snaps it, ripping the last bit of energy from the beast. The wyvern lets out one final scream, a piercing wail that echoes across the battlefield before its body collapses mid-air. It drops like a stone, dragging its venin rider down with it. 

Genevieve gasps, struggling to breathe. Her whole body shakes from the exertion. She’s stolen enough life to power her for a dozen battles, but it feels wrong. Tainted. She screams, trying to expel the corrupted power through her in a desperate wail. 

The corrupted energy courses through Genevieve, flooding her senses with an intense, nauseating feeling of wrongness. Her vision blurs, her veins burn, and her heart pounds like it might explode from her chest. She grips Tairns, knuckles white, as the darkness seeps into her mind, pulling at her thoughts, threatening to drown in her madness. 

Tairn’s voice breaks through the haze, a sharp command that slices through the storm in her head. “Breath, Genevieve! You must control it!”

She tries. She fights to rein in the wild power, but it claws at her, relentless, like the whispers of a hundred lost souls calling her name. She can’t breathe. It’s suffocating. Her hands clutch at Tairn’s scales, trying to find something real, something grounding, but it’s not enough. 

“Tairn,” her voice is hoarse, barely a whisper. “I can’t… I can’t hold it…” 

The dragon veers sharply, rising above the battlefield in an attempt to buy her time, but below, the other wyverns are still advancing, their riders circling like vultures. Violet is still battling in the skies, lightning flashing with every strike, but she can’t fight off all of them. Genevieve has to help, she needs to help. 

But the poison inside her is too much. It’s twisting her, warping her mind, making her feel more like a monster than ever before. The echoes of the wyvern’s death scream still resonate in her head, and with it, the horrifying realization that she’s tasted the same death before—when her signet first manifested, when she took that cadet’s life without meaning to. 

Am I really any different from the venin?

Another scream tears through her throat as black vines erupt from the earth in a great explosion, and she barely can register it as two wyvern barrels directly toward her, Deigh and Liam flying hard and fast on their tails. 

The venin atop one of the wyvern whips around, raising his staff, but Liam is brutally fast and slits the venin’s throat with sickening precision. The wyvern stops beating its wings within seconds, its heavy body free-falling to the ground, and Liam leaps from his back just as Deigh flies beneath, easily catching him. 

The wyvern that flies at them from the left approaches quickly with great beats to its wings. There’s no time for evasive maneuvers, Genevieve is barely aware of the fight around her as her forehead presses into Tairn’s back, desperately trying to ease the splitting migraine from this dark headache that might kill her. She lifts her gaze just in time to see red fill her vision as Deigh arrives, driving into the side of the massive gray beast. 

There’s no breath of relief as the collision sends Liam hurtling off Deigh’s back and across the base of Tairn’s neck at breakneck velocity. 

“Genevieve!!”

“Liam!” She yells, catching his scrambling hands as he slides by and holds on, a cry escaping from her mouth as her weakened shoulder snaps out of its socket once more from the strain of catching his weight, and Tairn pitches in a sharp turn to follow Deigh. “I’ve got you!”

Grimacing, Liam crawls forward on his elbows despite the impossible angle, and grasps the pommels of Tairn’s back. Genevieve keels over him, sheltering his head and holding on with everything she has as Tairn rolls and banks to keep close but clear of Deigh and the massive gray wyvern. 

Locked in battle only a few feet away, their talons shred through the scales of the other amid snapping teeth and Deigh’s catastrophic roars of pain. They’re too close for vines and too far for Genevieve to steal the wyvern’s life–even without the guarantee that she can even handle doing it again. 

There’s nothing she can do but secure Liam in her arms. 

“Wrap your arms around my waist!” She yells as wings whip around them. The agony in his eyes steals her breath. “Why did you do that!?” She cries, and she pulls him closer, holding him tight as his arms snake around her. “Why would you risk it!?”

His gaze collides with hers. “You needed saving, Genevieve. You jumped onto Deigh to avenge my life, I jumped in front of Tairn to protect yours. No matter what you think of Xaden and I for keeping secrets, you’re my friend, Genevieve.” 

Response is impossible as Tairn rolls again, and Genevieve fights Liam’s lifting body back down into her lap, holding him as tightly as possible. 

Deigh screams, and it slices her to the bone as the dragon and they wyvern lock into a dive. “Can’t you do something?” She begs Tairn. 

“Working on it!” He pitches right and plummets, positioning himself around the downward-spiraling duel to strike. It should be her fighting for her life, not Liam. Anyone but Liam. 

And gods, Deigh is losing, which means Liam– No. Liam will not die today. Not while I have the power to save him from death. 

“Please get over here!” She shouts at Xaden, and power crackles through her hands, but there’s no real way for her to do anything from her distance. 

“I’m hunting the venin at the walls!!” he answers. 

“Deigh is fighting for his life!”

The heartbeat of terror squeezing her chest like a vise isn’t her own. It’s Xaden’s. “If I leave, these civilians are all dead!”

They’re on their own. A quick glance downwards shows that every other dragon is locked in their own battle. Tairn lunges, snapping at the wyvern’s shoulder and drawing blood, but it’s not enough, and the force nearly costs Liam his grip, but she holds tight. 

Another riderless wyvern flies at them front the right. “On the right!”

“You have to handle that one, little soldier!!”

She reaches a hand out, her bad arm wrapped around Liam as tightly as she could possibly hold. The life from the wyvern drains quicker than the last one, and the huge beast crumples to the earth as Genevieve screams in pain. Her body feels as though it might explode as the excess power tears through her, vines shooting up into the sky. Tairn dives to catch up with Deigh and the wyvern as they race toward the ground. 

Leaning over, her face is green and she feels as though she might hurl just in an attempt to get this corrupted life out of her. Dread settles in her chest, ominous and heavy. 

“We’re on our way!” Xaden says. “What’s going on with you!? Your bond feels like it’s dying!”

He’ll be too late, and Genevieve doesn’t have it in her to respond that she feels like this power might consume her. 

“Genevieve!” Liam shouts over the wind, and she rips her attention from her own body to the gruesome battle alongside them. “We have to take out the riders.” 

“I know!” She replies, her teeth gritted. “I will! Just–” another wave of corrupted pain slams against her, and she nearly collapses over him. “Give me a moment!”

“No, I mean that’s the—”

Tairn lunges again, and they’re thrown sideways as he rips another hole in the wyvern’s wings with his teeth, raking down its tail with his talons, but the creature has Deigh in a death lock. Its wings are shredded now, but it doesn’t seem to care as its claws dig into Deigh’s underbelly, like it’s willing to mindlessly die to make the kill. 

“It’s going to be alright,” She whispers to Liam, wind stinging her cheeks. Deigh screams again, the sound weaker and higher-pitched than the last. It’s a cry. 

“We have to pull up!” Tairn warns. 

“He’s dying!” Liam lunges across Tairn’s back, reaching for his dragon as if he could touch the Red Daggertail one last time. 

“Just hold–” She starts, but Deigh’s shriek of pain closes her throat, strangling the words. He’s being eviscerated, and she has all the power to reverse it, she’s just too far. 

The wyvern roars in victory a heartbeat before they crash into the hillside with a sickening thud. The wyvern limps away on its hind legs and the talons that tip its wings. Deigh doesn’t move. 

Liam’s raw scream shatters Genevieve, and Tairn flares his wings, banking hard to keep them from the same gruesome fate. 

“DEIGH!” Tairn’s grief blasts through Genevieve’s body as he streams fire at the wyvern’s retreating back. No. If Deigh… I can save him, I can save him, I can save him–

“He’s gone. A human doesn't have enough power to revive a dragon.” Tairn reverses course, barreling for the hillside outside the city walls where Deigh has fallen. 

No. No. No. I can do it. Liam will not die. Liam will not die. 

“Liam!” She grabs for her friend as they land at speed, Tairn’s claws digging into the ground to stop them close to Deigh’s body. 

“You only have minutes,” Tairn warns. 

“Deigh,” Liam whispers, falling limp in Genevieve’s arms. 

“I’ve got you, I’ll get you to him,” Genevieve promises, already fumbling to climb off of Tairn with him in her arms. “Deigh’s gone,” She cries to Xaden, her voice a trembling mess. “Liam’s dying and Tairn says I can’t do anything.” 

“No.” She feels his terror, his sorrow, his overpowering anger wrap around her mind, mixing with her own until it hurts to breathe. Minutes. She just has minutes. 

“Just hold on,” She whispers to him, fighting not to cry as he looks up at her with those sky-blue eyes, wide with shock and pain. After everything Liam has given up for her, this is the least she can do for him. She can get him to Deigh, revive Deigh, the same way she knew he would carry her to Tairn. Tairn lies flat, his massive frame pressing into the ground as much as possible as she uses vines and softening grass to ease their descent. 

Deigh lies a couple of dozen feet away, his body folded at an unnatural angle. 

This isn’t fair. This isn’t right. Not Deigh Not… Liam. He’s the strongest of their year. They’re the best of them. Genevieve stumbles, her head spinning, and she can see the frayed rope of a thread Deigh once had. It’s completely torn. 

“Can’t make it,” Liam says, trying to get Genevieve to stop.

Her knee buckles, and they both collapse to the ground. “We can make it,” She forces out through her tightening throat, trying to hook his arm over her shoulders. They’re so close. If a venin comes along, then she’ll steal the life from it just like the wyvern clawed Deigh’s away. 

“We can’t,” He crumples against her, sliding down her side. She falls back on her heels and his head lands in her lap as his body goes limp. “It’s all right, Violet,” he says, looking up at her, and she shoves her goggles to the top of her head so she can see him clearer. His own thread is faded, nearly gone. 

“I’m Genevieve,” She whispers, her hand caressing his cheek. Tears blur Genevieve’s vision as she looks down at Liam, his chest barely rising and falling, each breath shallow and labored. His face is ashen, the life she’s fought so desperately to protect is slipping away right before her eyes. 

“It's going to be ok, I’m Genevieve,” she repeats, her voice cracking as she strokes his face, her fingers trembling against his cold skin. The wind howls around them, a cruel reminder of the battle still raging, but all Genevieve can hear is the hollow silence between Liam’s breaths. She presses her hands to his chest, willing life back into him, but each wave of golden light dims as she presses. Deigh’s dead. She can’t do a single thing. 

Liam’s lips twitch into the faintest smile, and he raises a shaking hand, brushing a stray lock of hair away from her face. “Genevieve… I know,” he whispers, his voice barely audible over the wind. His eyes, once so full of life, are now glassy, unfocused, as if he’s already halfway gone. “I… I was always… proud of you. You never needed saving, you know?” His breath hitches, and for a moment, his whole body tenses as if fighting to hang on. 

“Stop talking like that,” Genevieve pleads, her hands trembling as she presses harder against his chest, desperately trying to hold onto his life as it slips through her fingers, “You’re going to make it, Liam. I swear, I will save you. I’ll find a way, I—”

“Shhh, no…” Liam shakes his head weakly, his hand slipping down from her face. “We both knew this was coming. You were always… the stronger one. You were always going… to beat me.” 

His words pierce through her, sharpen than any weapon, cutting through the fragile hope she’s clung to. Her chest tightens, and the tears, which she’s fought to hold back, come pouring out. She’s drained so much life, given up everything she could, but it feels meaningless compared to the weight of what he’s giving up. The months they’ve spent fighting side by side, laughing in the rare moments they weren’t surring for their lives–it can’t end like this. Her heart is screaming that it's not enough, that there has to be more time. There has to be a way to save him, even if it means burning every last piece of herself. 

“Please, don’t leave me,” she whispers, clutching his shirt with both hands as if it’s the only thing anchoring her to reality. Her voice cracks, raw and desperate. “I can’t do this without you. I won’t.” 

“At Parapet–” His face twists in pain. “You have to take care of my sister.” 

“Liam, no,” She chokes on her words as tears clog her throat. “You’ll be there. You have to be there.” She strokes his hair gently, as if that could keep him tethered here. He’s still breathing, still here—but no matter how much life she channels into him, it’s slipping away like sand through her fingers. There’s no magic in the world that can revive a dragon’s soul. “You have to be there.” He has to smile at the sister he’s missed for years, he has to give her the stack of letters he’s written. 

He can’t die for her. 

“Tairn,” she cries. “Tell me what to do.” 

“There’s nothing you can do, little soldier.” 

She shakes her head in denial. “I won’t let you die for me, Liam, I won’t,” she pleads, her voice cracking under the weight of the truth she can’t accept. “You will survive.” 

“We both know I won’t. Just promise you’ll take care of Sloane, and Violet,” he begs, his eyes searching hers as his breaths grow ragged. Violet’s scream pierces the air, Genevieve’s head whips around to catch her falling from Astrape, a gaping wound oozing black blood in her side. Liam’s eyes go wide and fearful as they dart to the battlefield. Liam’s pulse stutters. . 

“Was that Violet?” His voice is so fragile, so faint, as if the answer could break him. 

“Shh, it’s okay, Liam,” she lies, her heart splitting into two. “I’ll save her, I swear, once I finish healing you. I’ll take care of Sloane and Violet.” She tries to smile, tries to soothe him, but the tears won’t stop. She’s losing him. She’s losing everything. 

He shakes his head weakly, forcing a strained smile that barely reaches his eyes. “Go… save Violet,” he rasps, his voice breaking. He knows. He knows she can’t save him, and yet he’s asking her to leave him, to let him die so she can save someone else. He’s begging her to go, to leave. And she can’t—she can’t. 

It’s a horrid plea. He’s begging her to let him go, to leave him behind so she can save the girl he loves. He’s asking her to let him die alone.

“I will, I promise, I just need to save you first,” she insists, pressing harder, though she can no longer feel his life. There’s nothing left to grasp, only the last threads of his fading essence slipping away. “Please, Liam, just hold on a little longer—”

“Genevieve, please,” he asks, his words forced. “You need to go save Violet. And you need to hear Xaden out, please,” 

“I know,” Her heart cracks wide open. She nods through the tears, barely registering Xaden’s footsteps as he approaches. A gust of wind stirs the air, brushing her hair from her face as Xaden kneels beside them. 

“Go, Genevieve,” Liam whispers, his breath barely there, his voice a ghost of the warrior who stood by her side for so long. 

“All right.” She nods, fighting to force a watery smile as she gently takes his body and lays it on the ground and off of her lap. He could ask for anything right now, and she’d give it to him. “Thank you, Liam. Thank you for being my shadow, my greatest competitor… my first friend.” The tears blur her vision, disrupting her last look at his as they fall faster than she can wipe them away. 

“It’s been… my honor.” His smile is tired and sad, as Genevieve casts one last sorry look at him, and then nods at Xaden, running off to go save Violet. 

Genevieve’s legs threaten to give way as she sprints across the battlefield, her breath hitching in her throat. The air is thick with smoke and blood, the cacophony of battle a distant hum against the frantic beating of her heart. She stumbles, nearly falling, but forces herself onward. There’s no room for weakness, not now—not with Violet dying before her eyes. 

She stumbles, and behind her, the shadow that had been her constant companion fades forever. 

Her mind races back to Liam’s final moments, his body, whole but fading, cradled in her lap, his last words a plea for her to save Violet. The memory cuts through her like a blade, sharper than the physical pain wracking her body. She couldn’t save Liam. She couldn’t bring Deigh back. But she will save Violet. 

“Not again,” she whispers hoarsely. “Not this time.” 

Violet is plummeting through the sky, her small frame limp against Andarna’s tiny form. The gaping wound in her side oozes black blood, staining her riding leathers a deep, unsettling color. Genevieve can see the way her fingers unclench from their fists, the life draining from her body with every heartbeat. Astrape roars in desperation, but Genevieve knows she can’t help her—not this time. 

There’s a wild wyvern bearing down on Violet, its riderless body thrashing as it dives. Genevieve throws herself into action, her entire body screaming with exhaustion. She stretches out her hand, reaching for the wyvern with every ounce of power she has left in her. Vines surge from the earth, raw and untamed, as she, through some miracle, rips the life out from the beast with brutal efficiency through the vines. The wyvern lets out a terrible screech, its body convulsing mid-flight before crashing to the earth below. 

But the victory is short-lived. Genevieve’s body convulses, her head feeling as though its splitting open with a sudden, unbearable pain. The corrupted magic she’s just absorbed from the wyvern pulses through her veins, tearing at her from the inside. She chokes on a scream, falling to her knees, cradling her head in her hands as the dark energy courses through her like a fire. 

No. Not now. Not when Violet needs me—

Her vision swims, darkness creeping in at the edges. She’s losing herself—losing control—but she forces herself to crawl forward, her hand shaking as they claw at the dirt. She won’t let this power consume her. She can’t. Not while Violet’s life hangs by a thread. 

Geneiveve reaches Violet just as her body slumps off of Andarna’s little golden frame, her face pale and slick with sweat. Blood pours from the jagged wound in her side, pooling beneath her. It’s worse than she thought—Violet’s life force is slipping away faster than Genevieve can catch it. 

“Violet!” Genevieve gasps, collapsing beside her. Her hands tremble as she presses them to Violet’s chest, her pulse faint and erratic beneath her fingertips. Violet’s eyes flutter open, glassy and unfocused, her lips moving in a silent plea. 

“Genevieve…?” Violet’s voice is barely more than a breath, and it's shockingly like Liam’s, the sound of it stabbing a knife and twisting something deep inside Genevieve. 

“Shh, I’m here,” Genevieve whispers, though the words feel hollow as she repeats the words for the second time in close succession. She doesn’t know if she can do this. She’s never done anything like this before—not on this scale, not with the stakes so high. But Liam’s face flashes in her mind, his words, his last plea— “Go save Violet.” 

She has to try. Even if it feels like Violet may be poisoned with the same magic that is corrupting her own blood. 

Drawing in a shaky breath, Geneiveve summons the last of her strength. Her magic is a flickering ember inside her, barely enough to light a flame, let alone save a life. But she has something more powerful than magic now. Desperation. 

“I won’t let you die, Violet,” she whispers, her voice trembling as she closes her eyes. She lets her magic flow through her hands, sinking deep into Violet’s body, searching for the fractured threads of her life. Genevieve’s power reaches out like tendrils, intertwining with the fading strand of Violet’s life force, binding it back together. 

For a moment, nothing happens. Genevieve’s heart stutters, fear clutching her chest. But then—slowly, agonizingly slowly—she feels it. A spark. A tiny flicker of life, faint but there. She latches onto it, weaving her own life force into it, pouring everything she has into that fragile thread. 

The connection forms instantly, Genevieve’s own vibrant blue thread weaving into Violet’s silver string once more. She can feel Violet’s heartbeat, weak and uneven, pulsing through her own veins. She can feel the pain wracking her body, the warmth of her blood seeping into the ground. The threads weave further and farther together, as Genevieve pours more of her own life into Violet’s. 

More. I need more. 

Genevieve digs deeper into herself, pulling life from every corner of her soul, every reserve of power she has left. The golden light of life flares, burning brighter as she channels it into Violet. She can feel her own life force draining, slipping away as she forces it into Violet’s body, knitting her torn flesh, mending her shattered bones. The gaping wound in her side begins to close, inch by agonizing inch, the blood flow slowing to a trickle. 

Violet gasps, her eyes flying open, wide and panicked as she claws at the ground. Her chest heaves as if she’s been deprived of air for seconds too long, the breath of life filling her lungs once more.

“Genevieve—what… what are you doing?” Violet’s voice is strained, her eyes flicking between Genevieve and the sky above, disoriented. 

“I’m… saving you,” Genevieve rasps, her own body shaking violently now, her energy nearly depleted. Her hands are still pressed to Violet's chest, her magic pulsing erratically as she forces the last of her power into her best friend. “Stay with me.” 

Violet’s wound heals before Genevieve’s eyes as she melds her own thread with Violet’s, the skin of her wounds knitting together seamlessly. The color returns to Violet’s cheeks, her breathing evening out. But Genevieve can feel the toll it’s taking on her own body. Every second of life she gives to Violet is a second stolen from herself. Her vision blurs, her muscles burning as if they’re being torn apart from the inside. Whatever poison Violet was hit with makes its way into her own blood, and she feels it burning her. 

“I’m fine now, Genevieve, stop!” Violet tries to push her hands away, but Genevieve’s grip tightens, her fingers digging into her skin. 

“I’m not done,” Genevieve whispers, her voice distant, almost detached. She’s so close. Just a little more, just enough to make sure Violet is truly safe. She can feel the edges of Violet’s life force stabilizing, intertwining with her own in a delicate balance. If she stops now, she’ll undo everything. She can’t stop. Not yet. 

But her body is breaking down. Her magic is a storm raging out of control, the corrupted energy she took from the wyvern mixing with her own life force. Her veins feel like they’re on fire, her heart pounding erratically in her chest. The world tilts dangerously around her, the edges of her vision darkening. 

No. Keep going. Just a little longer. 

She presses harder, forcing the last dregs of her signet into Violet. Her own life force slips away with it, the blue and gold light flickering one final time before it sputters out. 

Violet’s eyes widen in horror as she realizes what’s happening. “Genevieve, stop!” she screams, grabbing her by the shoulders and trying to force her off of her, maybe putting some life back into her. “You’re killing yourself!”

But it’s too late. 

Genevieve’s strength collapses beneath her, her body going limp as the last of her magic drains away. The connection between them snaps, Genevieve’s thread is more silver than blue and Violet's is more blue than silver, and the world goes dark. She feels herself falling, the ground rushing up to meet her, but she’s already on the ground, and there’s no pain. Only a deep, crushing exhaustion, and the cold, empty void left in the wake of her signet. 

The last thing she hears before she blacks out completely is Violet’s voice, screaming her name. Then there’s nothing but silence. 

—--------------------------------------------------

“Are you sure she just overworked herself?” someone says in a deep voice, but Genevieve can’t place who it is. She’s awake, but her eyes won’t open, and her headache is splitting. Garrick, maybe? Gods, everything hurts. “It might be magic. There’s no other explanation for her hair to look like… that?” 

Like what? She wants to ask, but she can’t speak, can’t open her mouth. 

“Did you see the way she just took the life from all those wyvern?” someone asks. 

“Leave her alone,”  Violet grumbles. “Not now.” 

“She saved your fucking life by saving Violet’s. She saved all our lives.” Bodhi growls. 

But I didn’t. Soleil is dead. Liam is dead. 

“Her blood is fucking black,” Xaden snaps and his arms tighten. Genevieve feels the steady thrum of his heartbeat against her head, which eases her mind but does little to ease the splitting migraine that plagues her. 

“It has to be poison,” Imogen cries— a garring sound Genevieve never thought would have come from her. “Look at her! Her hair is turning black! We have to get her back to Basgiath. Nolon might be able to help.” 

Who is Nolon? The healer? She can’t ask, can’t make her lips move, can’t even reach out along the mental pathways to Xaden and tell him that she’s alive. It’s like this black energy is corrupting her mind, tearing them away from her. 

“That’s a twelve hour flight,” Xaden’s voice rises. “And her arm is clean out of its socket.” 

She’ll be dead in twelve hours. The promise of eternal rest already hovers at the edge of her consciousness, a promise of peace if she decides to finally let go. Finally dying sounds like a good deal. Having to watch as her shoulder slowly heals itself again for the second time is a whole other form of torture. 

“There’s somewhere closer,” Xaden says quietly, and she feels as his fingers skim over her cheek, and then run through her hair. Another wave of pain and fire consumes her, and her head pulses, but all she can do is lie there and take it. 

Gods, please just let me die. 

“You can’t be serious.” Someone’s voice lowers to a hiss. 

“You’ll put everything at risk,” Garrick warns as sleep tugs at her, the only escape from the searing pain and blinding headache. 

Tairn bellows so loudly her entire body rattles, and fuck her head hurts like she’s been thrown into the mouth of a dragon while it’s flames burn brightly. 

“I wouldn't say that again,” Violet mutters. “Or he’ll probably eat you. And don’t forget, if Genevieve dies, there’s a damn good chance Xaden does, too.” 

“I’m not saying he shouldn’t, just reminding him what the stakes are,” Garrick replies with a tense shrug. 

Can Tairn feel this too? Is he suffering the same pain I am? Is this awful power corrupting him, too? Is Violet really ok? I need sleep. Cool, blissful, empty sleep. 

“I don’t give a fuck what happens to me!” Xaden yells at someone, in response to a comment Genevieve missed in a wave of nauseating pain. “We are going and that’s an order.” 

“No need for orders, man. We’ll save her.” Is that Bodhi? She could never distinguish him and Garrick’s voices all that well before. Or could she? What was it that she couldn’t distinguish? She couldn’t remember. 

“You’ve fought before, you can cheat death again,” Xaden whispers against her ear, brushing a piece of darkened hair far from her face. Then he says louder, to someone farther away, “We have to get her to him. We ride.” She feels the shift as he begins to walk, but a passing burst of pain and nausea lulls her to sleep. 

—-----------

Hours pass before she wakes again. Maybe it’s been seconds, or maybe it’s been days, or maybe she’s been sentenced to an eternity of torture by Malek for choosing who really gets to live and die without regard for who he wants to take. 

A steady rush of wind at her face and the rhythmic beat of wings tells her that they’re flying, and it takes all her energy to lift a single eyelid as the riot of dragons cross over the Cliffs of Dralor. The thousand-foot drop is unmistakable, home is near. 

The black, searing poison in her veins scorches every nerve and limb as it runs through her blood, slowing her heartbeat. The irony, really. The one verse of fighting Violet knows every word to will kill her. 

Until a few hours ago, she didn’t know venin existed outside of one single death record, and her little shared world with Violet, and now there's nothing but pain and death and horrible black poison seeping into her brain. 

Maybe this time she would just let herself die. 

—----------------------------

Death would be preferable to existing for another second in her pyre of a body, but it’s apparently a mercy she’s not allowed as she’s jostled awake once more. 

Her chest shudders as she struggles to inhale. Fuck, everything hurts so badly. It’s somehow worse than it was the last time she was lucid. 

“You’re sure about this?” Imogen asks. Each step Xaden takes brings a new wave of agony that starts in her shoulder and ripples through her whole body. 

“Stop fucking asking him that,” Garrick snaps. “He made his decision. Support him or get the fuck out, Imogen.” 

“And it’s a bad one,” another man retorts. 

“When you have a hundred and eight scars on your back, then you get to make the fucking decisions, Ciaran,” Bodhi snarls. Scars? One hundred and eight of them?

Train’s roar startles her, and she twitches, which only intensifies the already indescribable torture racking her body now. 

“What was that?” Garrick asks from somewhere to the left. 

“He said that he’ll cook me alive if I fail,” Xaden replies, holding her closer. So I’m the only one cut off from the bond. Just me. Her cheek falls against his shoulder, and she swears she feels him brush a kiss over her forehead, but that can’t be right. 

You don’t keep secrets from someone you care about, right? Let alone secrets that may take her life in a second if the struggling beat of her heart is any indication. It’s struggling to pump the liquid fire cauterizing her veins. Gods, I wish he’d just let me die. Again. 

I deserve it. I couldn’t save Liam. I couldn’t save the one person I promised to save all those months ago. 

“You have to fight, Gen,” Xaden whispers against her forehead as they move. “You can hate me all you want when you wake up. You can scream, hit, throw the entire world at me for all I care, but you have to live. You can’t make me love you and then die. None of this is worth it without you.” Am I dreaming? That was so sincere, it can’t be real. 

“Xaden?” A familiar voice calls out, but Genevieve can’t place it. It’s a woman. Imogen, maybe? One of the third years? So many strangers. So little friends. 

Liam is dead. 

“You have to get him to save her.” 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hey everyone... oh man, I'm so sorry i had to do that. it was just so necessary and integral into a plotline Genevieve and Violet go through in book 2, and his death really marks a turning point in how Genevieve sees herself, so unfortunately, he did need to die.

anyways, there was so much in this chapter that is so, so, so important for plotlines in book 2, so Im exciting to see what you guys pick up on. Like, how will the poison affect Genevieve? and how will being intertwined with Violet affect the two of them?

On another note, I feel like i'm shadow-banned or something on tumblr, because i'm all of a sudden getting no interactions on tumblr. does anyone know why? anything I can be doing to change that? I love getting feedback so not getting anything is really bothering me.

as always, if you enjoyed, leave a like, comment, or kudo, and i'll be back on Wednesday with the final chapter before the epilogue!

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Taglist: @awkardnerd , @hannraumari , @minjix , @glaciuswduo , @wolfbc97

[lover-of-mine]

https://www.tumblr.com/lover-of-mine/745334896398073856/i-know-i-completely-changed-my-original-spec-on-s7 please I want to hear this! I love hearing your metas and spec lol

Alexa, darling, I love that the original spec was also written on an ask from you, thank you for always supporting my ramblings 💜💜💜💜also @steadfastsaturnsrings, Saturn, darling, I do have more thoughts lol

Okay first, this one needs context, so other metas/speculations whose elements got me to think this one makes sense, I don't think you need to read them for this to make sense, but just in case you want to read something more in-depth about it, I do strongly recommend you read them thought, I think it makes this one more impactful: link to the original spec where all I had to go on was the voices in my head, like legit, we didn't even have a date for season 7 yet, this one is just in case you wanna see the original version of this, buddie is mirroring the couples in Buck, actually and the only situation they are missing is the couple that crashed into the tree aka both of them in danger/hurt at the same time, Buck needs to deal with death/figure out how to live as someone who wants to live, buddie is tied by death. 

Okay, so, when I first started thinking about this I was mostly thinking about Buck's relationship with water/breathing and that leading to a breakdown or leading to buddie. Because Buck drowning could trigger him enough for him to have a full-blown breakdown, but a Buck who's already been through the process of realizing he wants to be alive almost dying again might give him an oh moment that would lead him to act on his feelings for Eddie. My hope was also for that to mirror elements of the shooting since I am a firm believer that the shooting was Eddie's oh moment. But I was writing that with no clue about what they would do with the season, so now that we have more information, I need to tweak things a bit. 

Buck has a very intricate relationship with breathing which also gives him an intricate relationship with water. The first call we see on the pilot is the 118 responding to a kid who drowned, who Buck is doing cpr on, then we have the baby on the wall who's also not breathing, we have the girl getting strangled by her snake, and we have him saving Athena with water. On a less this is probably just a coincidence note, Buck's first real brush with death is on the date with Abby, where he chokes and Abby needs to perform an emergency tracheotomy on him, the surgery on his leg leads to blood clots in his lung, he gets caught on a tsunami, during the warehouse fire in Buck Begins he gives his mask to the victim and openly states he will hold his breath and the sprinklers also give it the water elements, and after the lightning, the thing that stops working is his lungs. This all led me to the belief that they will drown Buck at some point. Mostly because I wanted to mirror elements of the shooting and one of the elements of the shooting is that it brings up a previous trauma for Eddie. The easiest way to bring up previous trauma for Buck is to drown him, you hit breathing and water elements. Having him crash his car, be driven off the road, drive off a bridge, or something like that, into water is a situation that would be urgent enough that he can't wait for help. At first, I just put Eddie in the car because I wanted Eddie to be forced to save Buck, but now I have a reasoning for Eddie to be in the car. 

Let me back up and explain how getting there makes sense though. The promotion of the season has had a lot of talk about vulnerability, and Buck and Eddie leaning on each other, and they need to deal with death as a concept. Eddie needs to stop chasing Shannon, along with dealing with the grief over having to save Buck and Buck needs to deal with his passively suicidal behavior and with the way that following the coma dream, Buck actually does care if he dies, so he needs to get to a point where he acts as someone who wants to be alive and asks for the things he wants. Personally, I think the only way buddie will truly work as a couple is if they get to that point, because a Buck who asks for what he wants is not a Buck who will let Eddie get away with thinking he's always right, and Eddie needs to stop trying to fix what went wrong with Shannon and just do what he actually means. 

Eddie welcoming Buck to the world of the living in the locker room gave me hope on that front because Buck finding out he wants to be alive and also calling Eddie on his bullshit while they navigate a place where Buck can face death as something not scary can be good for both of them, especially with the way they keep talking about both Buck and Eddie just “wanting to be happy” because they could walk through the trauma, and Buck talking about death as boring and the focus the show put on Shannon on the past few episodes, showing Eddie and Chris visiting her grave, more detail on hers and Eddie's relationship, Chris’ conflict with her memory, you can have them learning the move forward together. Oliver also saying there will be a chance of things coming up in a not so great light but the friendship persevering can also mean that they will deal with other aspects of their relationship that could create problems in their relationship, like the way they assume they understand each other so they won't actually talk about things that matter and just assume the other will understand what they mean since they are very much in sync a lot of the time, like for instance the way Buck definitely misunderstood what Eddie actually meant with his will or the way Eddie reacted to Natalia and the whole I feel like she sees me. They also need to deal with the way they don't talk to each other about big changes in their lives, Eddie didn't talk to Buck about changing his will or leaving the 118, Buck didn't talk to Eddie about the sperm donation, and they need to. 

So let's say season 7 is the buddie utopia of my dreams where they address these base issues, something they need to talk about is how it felt to save each other's lives. But they haven't talked about it yet, and it's been long enough they would need another trigger. But this conversation is the conversation you pretty much can't write without ending it with a love confession of some form, but I'll come back to this. 

We need a trigger. I said up there about how they are mirroring the calls in Buck, Actually. There we have a crush injury involving a vehicle with Thomas and Mitchell, we have someone injured more worried about the other's safety who got injured by someone while at work with Ruth and Earl, we have Lola and See Me Norman talking her out of the ledge. Crush injury and focus with hand holding happens both ways, with the truck bombing and the bridge, one of the injured by more worried about the other we also have both ways, granted one is a lot more intense than the other, but during the shooting Eddie asks if Buck is hurt and when they get kidnapped, Buck gets pistol whipped but he spends the whole time more worried about Eddie than himself. And we watched Buck talk Eddie off a metaphorical ledge in dumb luck, if we're lucky, we can get a mirror of that going the other way this season.

Most of my hopes of this particular thing come with the way Buck and Eddie's individual storylines are parallel but slightly misaligned, you have the first love who left and came back without giving them real closure, you have Eddie having too much responsibility being put on him by his parents when Buck is invisible over the fact that he “failed” on the thing his parents' wanted from him, the lightning mirrors the well quite literally, they are in opposite sides of the frame, Buck is in the sky, Eddie is underground, Buck is the middle of a street, Eddie is the middle of nowhere, (here’s a set if you need help visualizing that), among other smaller things, like the way Buck’s first death on the job was someone falling to their death and for Eddie too.  

That leaves us with the newlyweds who crashed on their way back from the wedding, aka a situation where both of them get hurt, but one of them gets pinned, one of them gets the worst of it. 

So car crash. 

I go back and forth as to why they are in the car. I played with the idea of Taylor activating her emergency beacon and them actually going into that situation willingly, but considering everything about the show, you can do pretty much anything, they could witness a crash and then things go to hell, they could be driven off the road, they could fight in the car and lose control, I don't know, but the thing is, utopia buddie who are in a spot where the change from friends to more could work, maybe toeing the line more heavily (I mean, we are mirroring newlyweds lol), getting into a crash while off duty. It's very important that they are off duty because now we're mirroring elements of the shooting. 

Why we mirroring the shooting? Well, because the shooting is a banger. I'm kidding lol. There's something inherently romantic about the shooting, Buck wearing Eddie’s blood, the shared looks across the pavement, the focus on hands, Eddie literally bleeding out and asking if Buck’s hurt, Buck escalating from we got you to I got you, from just hang on to I need you to hang on. And there’s also my personal belief that Eddie is aware of his feelings and realized what they meant during the shooting, so I want to put Buck in a situation where he can’t escape what his feelings about Eddie mean, because I think Buck never stopped to truly look at what Eddie is to him. And with where they are, to be put in a situation like that would force them both to confront these feelings, even if they don't feel like saying Eddie has been pining since season 4.

The shooting has quite a few elements that make it as intense as it is: they are not supposed to be there, it’s not their call and the 136 is the house responsible, it brings up a previous trauma for both of them, Eddie gets shot, bringing up things from his days in the army and Buck is forced to roll under the truck after being crushed by one, Buck does the saving alone because there’s no one else they trust around, it happens by chance because Eddie gets targeted just because, they are also done with what they went to do by the time Eddie gets shot. All of these can be achieved in many ways, the only thing I’m sure of is that they need to be in the car together and they need to be off-duty because if they are not off-duty you take away from the urgency of the situation, having tools and immediate rescue available waters the situation down. I don’t know why but I keep going back to them driving off a cliff into water, sometimes I shift to a bridge, but they used that with Judd and Grace in Lone Star so I don’t know if we would get a repeat, but basically I see them stopping to help someone, getting back to the car, and maybe the side of the road gives under them, or there’s another crash, that now is into them throwing them over, or they get driven off the road. There’s also the chance of them just losing control of car, a tire pops, it's raining, something runs across the road, and they get underwater. 

Why is them being underwater important? If they are just hanging on the side of the cliff, they can wait for help. Also, we are bringing up past trauma for both of them, if you put them in a car filling with water, you hit the water/breathing elements for Buck, but you also hit well elements for Eddie, and Shannon was also hit by a car. So their car gets thrown into water, going back to the Buck, Actually comparison, the crash, one of them gets pinned. The one who’s pinned needs to be Buck. Why? Eddie is the widower, Buck is the savior. Eddie has to live with the fact that he didn’t actually save the people he thought he did, and he has to live with the fact he was helpless watching Shannon die, and Buck exists to do the saving. So we are letting Buck be saved and Eddie know he actually did save him. It could be cathartic for both of them. 

And I want Eddie performing desperate CPR. Sue me. Can you imagine everything Ryan can give us there? Mouth to mouth, “you’re not doing this to me again”, being all wet and you can’t tell if the water on his face is from the water or his tears, begging Buck to wake up, Buck finally coughing wake and dropping back against Eddie, Eddie breathing as heavily as Buck as he hubs his back and encourages him to breathe while refusing to let go of him. If we’re lucky Eddie hiding his face in Buck’s hair or something like that. It could be so good. Because you can also have Buck looking at Eddie like he’s seeing him for the first time in a very clear revelation moment. You can have them looking at each other in a clear revelation moment. It could be THE oh moment.

And then they can talk. I said I would come back to this. Them having a conversation about saving each other, forces them to talk about what they mean to each other. You literally can’t have them talk about what it was like to save the other without forcing them to talk about how they love each other, and if they do the groundwork I mentioned, they can have one HELL of a getting-together scene. Imagine one them yelling “because I don’t want to live without you!” and the way it would be literally I don’t wanna be alive without you and I don’t want to continue living my life without you. And like, having Buck say something like this with the way he reacted to Thomas and Mitchell dying together and how he focused on them dying together, not the life they had, and the way Buck interpreted Eddie’s will as Eddie asking him to be okay with Eddie dying, Eddie asking him to outlive him, and have him look Eddie in the eye “I don’t ever want to do this without you” come oooooooooon, it would be such a beautiful conclusion to the buildup we have right now. 

But yeah, this is the madness. The ultimate wishful thinking. I could be so good.

Anyway, if you read this I love you 💜

[p-receh]

Analysis time! :D

What better way to make another thesis for certain parts of the last episode?

This post, I'll be talking about how strong the Power Spheres could take over its owner's mind.

As I ever mentioned it before. Even though comic book already covered the story of season 2. Again, we still need to look at the TV ver. Because whatever happens, TV shows is still the roots of Boboiboy's franchise. Whether you like it or not.

We good? Now shall we begin?

Re edit for grammar correction

See, of all every Power Spheres that had been introduced, only Kokotaim gang were not yet been "confirmed" what was their Power Spheres look like. Sure, the only elemental bot that had been shown were Hang Kasa's Crystal Bot and Retak'ka's Light Bot, but that's it.

Monsta already established two rules about the Power Sphere:

Every Power Spheres have their mind and soul. They could talk, think and feel like a living being.

Whatever happens, their contact with their first owner emended to their traits and it impacted to their next owner as well.

My first suspicion obviously came from what Gopal had said before in one of anon ask box about the first debut of Taufan and Hali in OG series.

"In the past, Boboiboy Lightning turn into Thunderstorm because he felt extremely angry. Boboiboy Wind turn into Cyclone also because of felling an absolute joy."

Another interesting aspect is from Mechamato movie. Specifically when Amato in Mecha suit mode was being locked to a flashback scene triggered by Mecha Bot uncontrollable sense of fear.

(excuse me for putting the Indonesian sub ver. :/

*translation note in order:

"Mechabot, Shoot!"

"Mechabot! What's wrong?"

"C'mon Mechabot!

From this point, I think you can guess what I would want to go from here.

As the tweet mentioned. It is interesting to note the similarities between the two. Whenever the Power Spheres' soul take over the owner's body more deeper, their eyes will glow and the scars spreads to their skin.

And by that logic, the Power Spheres consume much more energy than before. Thus the heavy drained out both mentally and physically from their owners.

Amato knew this and to fix the same issue, he convinced Mecha Bot during their final battle against General Grakakus in the same movie.

"Mechabot, close your eyes! I will be the one to handle our moves! Trust me!"

It goes back to one of my ted talks about this topic and a highlight some particular line from Kuputeri.

One of my favorite Boboiboy account also solidified his statement again about Oboi's being controlled by Power Sphere or in this case, elemental forms.

In my opinion what Oboi went through was somehow worse than any other Power Sphere wielder out there.

Not only he wields seven strongest powers in the galaxy but also might be the most unconstrained one to control them. Then again he still not reach his age of consent, but he already hold big responsibility to become the hero and most wanted target in the galaxy.

Think about it, even their original owners were a bit struggled to learn their power. Hang Kasa travel planets to planet only for learning his power with other elemental masters, Kuputeri needs to harness for at least hundreds years until she could tame Beliung/Tempest's, A small crack Ki'rana's body armor could made her went berserk due to the immense power of the Lightning bot.

In common sense, every wielder still has their Power Spheres as their own companion while Oboi hasn't. What Boboiboy only has to contain that grandiose powers? a watch. A watch that went three times modification simply because of the powers that was too strong to keep and use all at once. Not to mention how frequent Oboi uses split and now with fusion techniques is also add to the list.

He barely managed to ease his mind when transform to Beliung, Ice and Blaze worsen Baraju's conflicts with their near 3rd tier transformation, and he was lucky to be saved by 30 minutes Oakuat Juice so he could keep Rimba under his watch.

Now that we come so far, the questions still remains missing:

With how bad the elementals took over Oboi, will it possible they are gonna be the next villain for him in the future?

Does Amato knows about Boboiboy's Elementals powers? Does he also know Ochobot past before sending it to him?

Did the rest of elementals Power Spheres already destroyed after the first Retak'ka's raid or not?

I guess maybe Mechamato series might be the answer of Ochobot and all elementals Power Spheres in the past. Again we still have no clue what happened to him during the season 2 events.

And also this line up post before Monsta split the title for Dwifusion to "Gentar" and "Baraju"—

—announced the third season of Galaxy series after BM3 Gur'latan(quite close too after the movie you know?) . My only hope is that it cover the elenmentals and also other origins of Yaya, Ying, Gopal, and Fang Power Sphere.

Where were they came from? Were their Power Spheres also get destroyed like all elementals did? Are their owners still alive or not?

🤔

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OOT but I just love Monsta's new thumbnail art for full ep marathon of Windara. 😎👍

[cutegirlmayra]

Sonic Generations prompt: Rosy comes along for the ride with Sonic and Tails. Obviously she's all over Sonic but she also can't believe how pretty her future self is. Modern Tails forgot how cute Rosy is and is glad to be taller for once. Knuckles and Rosy mock wrestle and everyone finds her adorable. When it's time to leave Rosy practicality wants to stay which makes Classic upset how could she *not* want to hang out with him? Eventually modern Sonic and Amy convince her to go back with them.

Inspired from this, I’ll use an idea I’ve had recently.

(This is a preview image for the prompt done below, therefore, the art does not belong to me, please support the official artist! (x) )

Guess what? Those Prompt things? STILL ON SHUTDOWN. DO NOT SEND ANOTHER HOMELESS PROMPT TO MY INBOX, THE SHELTER FOR ABANDONED PROMPTS IS CLOSED. Gosh, we barely have blankets to cover my toesies let alone more amazing prompt ideas! Sheesh!

Prompt

Red and white shoes skid with a screeching halt against a metallic plane, shining in a reflective light in the air above a circuit of routes looking more like flattened, winding snakes.

Lifting his head up, a sole hero smiles with a flicker of excitement glazing his eyes at a figure with a darker blue than his own… cased in heated steel, Neo Metal Sonic flares out his arms to show he’s ready for more.

Sonic, the hero of this tale, wipes his nose against his pale white glove and rises from having resisted a heavy impact hit… He stands confident and boldly, no fear, only amusement towards this rogue Eggman creation.

“That all you’ve got?” He mocked, ticking his tongue against the roof of his mouth to give clear conviction in each sound, a dictation diction to them.

“Hmph.” Neo Metal Sonic rose his head, his eyes slowly blaring the red lights within them. “You mock me for the last time, Hedgehog… I’ve come prepared this time.” He threw forward an arm, having his cape whip behind him in ecstasy at the revealed device now transforming from his shoulder down his arm, gripping him in fast-moving latches and spinning gears to reveal what looked like an arm now made to resemble Time Eater’s design.

Sonic took a step forward, marveling a moment as his eyes glanced back and forth at the new arm.

“Woah… Talk about a gaudy upgrade.” He flicked out a finger to lay upon the air, dismissing the cool, though exaggerated action of his timeless nemesis… Well, other than Egghead.

“Fool.” Neo Metal Sonic straightened up, holding his hand up to then ‘snap’ his fingers together.

A portal appeared, and with his other–normal–arm, he flexed it out to have electricity suddenly bundle on the ends of his finger tips.

In his palm, a bright button-like orb was attached, and shooting out, lifted in an electrical field… What Sonic hadn’t been expecting.

He had been searching for her, but…

“Amy..!” He lurched forward, his expression now one of concern and distress.

Neo Metal Sonic gave a culinary feast of laughter, delighting in seeing Sonic’s stance change, a fist held high, and his knees bent for action.

“Gahh… You dirty cheat!” Sonic somewhat growled a groan out, swiping his arm in front of him and stepping a foot even more forward, “Why can’t you just play honest and fair like the rest of us!?”

“I wasn’t built like the rest of you organic morons…” If he could smirk, he would, but his eyes did it for him. He leaned his head down and metallic eyelids from below grinned upwards to ‘squint’ his eyes in malicious pleasure.

“I figured, why not have a bit of fun? A race if you will…” Neo Metal Sonic looked to the portal forming out of purple swirling darkness, which had the strange shapes starting to appear of green hills and checkerboard brown and tan squares on the ground…

“Huh? You gotta let the past go sometime, Metal Me.” Sonic shook his head, and charged with lightning speed towards Neo Metal Sonic.

“Hahaha. Even I know you need a ‘running start’, Sonic.” He threw Amy into the portal.

“No!” Sonic’s eyes opened wide, seeing her unconscious form fly through the air in the electrical current that locked her in Neo Metal Sonic’s grasp, and disappear through the portal.

He skidded to turn, scrambling on the ground before holding a hand out to her, useless while on the ground.

Neo Metal Sonic laughed one last good chuckle, before turning in the air, his jets making him bounce somewhat in the atmosphere, and pulled himself into a half-curl before launching himself like a rocket through the portal.

“Enter… if you so dare to save your precious friend again…”

“Let’s have you eat those words, Metal Me!”

Sonic spun into a spin-dash, revving up before shooting off into the portal… but the portal didn’t close…

Instead,... Amy Rose, held by Classic Metal Sonic, suddenly had snuck out through the portal, landing on the reflective surface of the floating metal race-track.

Classic Metal Sonic looked around, rising from his metallic knees and looked to his captive, a modern Amy Rose.

She was unconscious still, but no longer trapped in electricity. Sonic had been fooled.

Glaring down at his prisoner, it was clear this was Neo Metal Sonic’s plan all along… He would fight Classic Sonic, in a dimension deemed ‘weaker’ by Neo Metal Sonic. Once destroyed, the two would team up to defeat Modern Sonic, and thus, become the only remaining ‘Sonics’ in the universe… and take over the living, organic world…

Classic Metal Sonic flew gently away from the portal… ready to hide and ambush when Sonic returned to this time and dimension…

After a fight with Neo Metal Sonic, Classic Sonic had won, only to discover the ‘friend’ that his ‘Other Him’ had mentioned wasn’t there.

Finding that strange, he used the device on Neo Metal Sonic to enter Modern Sonic’s universe, and fought the surprised Classic Metal Sonic, freeing Amy Rose.

However…

Sonic, upon stumbling through the dimension, got… sidetracked…

Instead of finding Neo Metal Sonic to free Modern Amy Rose, he ended up finding a tied Rosy the Rascal on a track, similar to the one reconstructed back in his dimensional time.

Freeing her, she didn’t identify him immediately as ‘Sonic’, and hid from him, worried he was a mechanical look-a-like that would abduct her again!

Seeing Neo Metal Sonic handiwork with how things ‘should’ be, Sonic concludes that this is all his doing…

“Hmm… Changing the timelines in other dimensions… maybe, he was trying to help out his ‘Little Him’, too?” Sonic looked up towards the side of the side, scratching his chin, “Heh-heh! Not that that bucket of bolts would have a heart to do so!” He fanned his hand about the side of his cheek, to disregard Neo Metal Sonic as being ‘brotherly’ in that sense.

He then got down and lightly crawled on all fours over to a terrified Rosy, who bent her knees and held her hands over her head, shivering in fright…

“Hey… It’s okay. Look over here~” Sonic tried to squat and wave his hands by his face, looking ‘silly and charming’ as best he could, but she wouldn’t budge, just continued to cower.

“Hmm… Have I lost it?” Sonic began to act, looking himself over, and making her peek behind her and sniffle in her fearful tears. “Hmm? Maybe I stink?” He wiggled his long black nose under his armpit, “WHOO!! That might be it!”

She chuckled slightly, but then sniffled again. Clearly, he’d have to put on a ‘real’ performance to get her out of her shell…

Or in this case, spiked back turned towards him.

“Must be my shoes.” He sat down and happily held one of his feet, “Hmm… No, squeaky clean and bright!” He used his elbow to shine it, “Just get a little elbow grease in there…”

She giggled again, and he smiled sweetly.

“Oh? Does the young lady like this color of red?” He held up his foot, before jumping up to walk on his hands, doing a one hand-stand and then backflipping away from her, “Tah-dah!”

She got up and clapped, squealing in delight.

Her little tail profusely wagged and she wiggled her bum a few times, putting her gloved hands up by her mouth in a demure but excitable fashion.

“Heh,” He blushed slightly and put a finger under his nose, rubbing it. “Works every time, eh?” He winked to her, mostly commenting to himself.

“What got you in this mess anyway, little miss lady?” He teased, as she bounded up to him and began to mime her abduction.

He looked as though feigning ignorance to her situation, acting serious as he put a foot out and a hand to his chin, the other holding that hand up as though paying great attention to her story, and looking puzzled.

“Uh-huh, uh-huh… and then what happened?” He smiled as she spun around, eager to share her alarming life experience with him, and then immediately changed his expression back to ‘serious’ again.

He rose the tip of his shoe, narrowed his eyes, pouted his lips… “Hmmm… Seems a bit of a switcheroo happened here, Miss Damsel.” He put a hand to his hip, “I think you were supposed to be saved by a charming hero… W-Well, not that you weren’t. Umm…” He tapped his nose… Thinking…

‘Looks like she hasn’t met Little Me, yet…’ He slowly looked down to peer at Classic Amy Rose, just a Rosy-cheeked Rascal who kept following her blue-blur hero about, and got caught up in one of his adventures again.

But still, the little, harmless stalker didn’t seem to mention anything more than having followed her lifelong hero to this location, and that made him worried…

‘Is… Neo Metal Sonic trying to sandbox this universe? Figure out what alterations could affect his success at beating me through these ‘change’ circumstances?’ He figured that might be ‘deep-diving’ a bit to far into surmising, so he shook it off.

‘Could be a sad happenstance. We’ll fix it right up, won’t we?’ He smiled non-verbally to Rosy.

“Little Miss, I think I need to find a big scary robot.. .with a thing on his arm?” He pointed to it, “Kinda ghostly~ Oh! But don’t be afraid.” He mimed the ‘creepy ghoul’ pose, but then waved his hands out in front of himself to sow no fear in her. “I’ll protect you.” He put a confident thumb to his chest, “So? What do you say?” He bent down again, hands on his knees, “Ready for one more high-speed, thrilling adventure?”

She looked a little hesitant… her finger in her mouth, looking down as though unsure…

‘Hmm, this Amy lacks confidence.’ He concluded, but smiled brightly once more. “Don’t worry. If you have time to worry, run, right?” He quoted, closing his eyes to try and give her some courage.

She looked back to him, her eyes sparkling at the motivation, and nodded, making her two–once shy fists–now looking ready to try!

“That’s the spirit!” He cheered, as she suddenly raced up his body.

“W-Woah, hey now!” He looked around himself to see she had climbed up to his head, and pointed forward.

“Uhh… Hmm, not really how a lady should be carried, but… Eh.” He shrugged, not really gonna tell her what to do.

“Hang on tight then, Little Miss Lady!” He pulled himself back before launching forward. Together, they broke through typical line-ups of Eggman robots he recognized from his past, as well as figured out as he could duck his head forward and launch Classic Amy Rose with her hammer at enemies, and it actually started giving her some bravery.

He spun and she would jump up in the air, letting him spin dash before landing back on his head when he boomeranged back and knelt to catch her below with his noggin’.

Finally finding Neo Metal Sonic, who had scrapped together other Classic Robotnik Badniks, the new frankensteined, colossal giant threaten to destroy this dimension so no ‘Sonic’ could ever be created in any dimension ever again!

Alarmed by that declaration, it sounded like a desperate attempt to not lose…

Rosy held up her hammer, suddenly filled to the brim with confidence, thanks to Sonic’s encouragements in having her help him in combat.

“You sure you’re up for this, Little Miss?” He looked up with his eyes to her situated happily on his head, basically hanging on to his middle quill for support, and having her feet upon his two lower quills in the back.

She nodded to him, eager to please and help out!

‘Aw, this Amy Rose is gonna be a firecracker!’ He smirked, happy to see her coming out of her shell and reminiscent of why he was even here.

“Metal Me!” He called up, bending back to attack and holding his hands in fists, one behind him and the other in front, lowering his stature as Rosy matched the ‘angry justice’ vibe and lowered her head too, her hammer raised behind her, gripping his ear for support. “Where is my friend?”

He didn’t want to tip this little Classic Amy Rose to her other, nor his real purpose for being here.

He didn’t want to ‘affect Little Him’s timeline all too greatly, afterall…

He did kinda just steal his ‘thunder’, you know?

It would be a new low to steal Little Rosy’s heart, too!

“Muhahaha..!” Neo Metal Sonic’s laugh bellowed in the depths of the new creation he had conjured up by fusing with so many robots, who all looked like they wanted to attack Sonic just as much as him. “Come! Find out what I’ve done to her!”

With that, the epic tag-team of the Lovely Little Lady Rosy and the Blurry Bluestreak Badnik Bouncer fought a legendary battle in hopes to prevent a threat that would alter their realities!

Once defeated, Neo Metal Sonic and his torn contraptions, hit off by the combined forces of Classic Amy and Modern Sonic, fell far below the race-track stage and crashed in a fury of fireworks, explosions, and epic failure ‘NOOOOOOoooo…!!!’ cries!

The other robots, scrapped and scattered about, fizzed and sparked from being bashed into.

Breathing hard, Sonic nodded, seeing he was really defeated. “We got him… Great work, Little Lady.” He held up a hand to his head, and she high fived it, laying across his head before drooping over his forehead and almost falling down. “Ah..! Gotcha.” He looked fondly to her, “Proud of you,... Amy.”

In her exhaustion, having his hand now on her back to keep her up on his head, feeling the little pats of approval and ‘good job’ to her, she smiled with a goofy grin during her heavy, worn out breaths.

Racing down to find Neo Metal Sonic’s device, Sonic looked to Rosy. “Here goes.” He shrugged back to her, as she worriedly stepped forward, before back as he placed the device on his shoulder, and flinched while writhing in pain as it latched onto his arm like it did Neo Metal Sonic, making a cyborg-ghostly exoskeleton off the side of his arm, like a Time-Eater’s wing.

Sonic flexed out his hand, realizing he had total control over the scary-looking, dark wispy device.

He smiled over to Rosy, “H-hey, it’s okay now. I think I know where to find my friend.”

He had already talked to Classic Sonic beforehand about ‘finding his friend’, but snapping his fingers, the portal opened and both him and Classic Amy walked up to peer their cute heads together out of it.

Only their eyes and muzzles with their long noses got through, making for a cute picturesque of them blinking adorably out of the portal to look around.

Sonic and her gasped at seeing Classic Sonic trying to struggle away from a Modern Amy Rose, who as affectionately holding him like a puppy in her arms, dangling his small self as she embraced him like a child with a teddybear, adoring him.

“Ah-ha… I owe him big time…” Sonic scratched the back of his head, and then, stepped through the portal.

However, he gasped again when Rosy jumped through the portal, and began to run around exploring.

“Uhh…” He looked out after her, ‘Isn’t she curious about Little Me..?’ He decided to address that later and walk over to Amy, his ‘dark one-wing angel’ look making her freak out as she dropped Classic Sonic and he raced away from her, brushing himself off by frustratedly smushing the sides of his face and flicking his hands hard off his face.

He continued to ‘self-clean’ from the ‘overbearing girlie germs’ while Sonic made sure his dimension’s Amy Rose was okay…

“Never better..! Thanks to you…” She looked to Modern Sonic… then slowly twisted her torso to look under her arm and below her at the angrily little blue hedgehog behind her.

“Hehe.” She chimed, blinking a single ‘thank you’ with a bright open-smile towards him, then looked back at Modern Sonic. “What’s with the emo wing?”

At her gesture, he held out his arm, “Ehh… kinda cool, right? But not my thing.” He teased, and then turned behind him to hear–

“Finally! I’m not the only smallfry of the squad again!”

“Tails!” Sonic greeted, waving to him, “Over here!”

Tails chuckled as he patted Little Rosy’s head, before hurrying over with a fast walk that turned into spinning tails for flight, then landed to look over his wing. “A device like this… hmm… I’d like to study it further… if I may.” He nodded as he looked it over, his hands gently hovering above Sonic’s arm before Sonic nodded his permission.

“After I send this lot home first, Tails. Then, you can be my guest.” He advised, looking to see Knuckles trying to grab Little Rosy, who–much like she did to Sonic–started climbing all over his body to get to his head.

“Hey-o, gotcha-Ah! You little, squirmy-WOAH!” He circled a few times, patted areas of his body that she miraculously had already crawled away from before being caught, and got him to fall down as she landed on his stomach, laughing at his ditzy, swirling eyes from having fallen backwards.

Sonic chuckled, “Alright, it’s time I kept my promise to ya.”

“Promise?” Modern Amy Rose looked at him curiously, as he just grinned to her, holding up a hand as though to say, ‘Let me handle this, sorry, it’ll only take a moment.’

Walking over to Classic Amy, he bent to a knee and used his hand to gesture for her to come closer.

She jumped up on Knuckles’s chest, making him flop forward before she dismounted and raced over to him, then saw him hold up his hand to ‘whisper’ something and extended out her ear.

She looked a little sad, then shook her head, pointing to Sonic, then putting her hands together with hearts all around her.

‘Oh Boy…’ He gave a goofy kinda awkward grin, sweat dropping. “Check your cards again, Little Miss Lady.”

He pointed to her tarot deck, which made her look at him as though confused how he knew she had that.

She pulled them out and offered him to pick cards, when he did so, she reshuffled them and had him pick again.

He laughed, “It’s the same fortune every time… Trust me.” He winked to her, then looked over to his tiny blue Other Self.

Looking gently back to her, he nodded, “He needs you.”

Amy Rose gently inhaled a small and shocked breath of air, holding her hand to her heart as though touched by that statement. “Emm~” She grinned with a blush, finding that really sweet.

Rosy stuck out her lower lip, but then looked over to her ‘former’ hero and sighed.

She nodded to Sonic, then summoned her hammer and tapped it on her shoulder, showing she was A LOT stronger than before!

“Heh,” He raised an eyebrow and tilted his head, smirking to her newfound, snarky confidence. “You think he’ll be the one needing saving next? Well, you better prove you’re strong enough now to take care of it.” He fist-pumped her with an added high-five, and she was off with arms extended out to embrace her old hero love.

Classic Sonic pouted, not sure what was being spoken about, but pulled her gently away, only to be surprised by her strength as she scooped him up over her shoulder, laughing at him struggling.

Sonic sweatdropped, “Easy there, Amy…”

She realized that he called her by name, surprised to hear that, but also saw Modern Amy Rose bend down to tilt her head to Sonic.

“What? Like I can’t handle it?” She laughed cutely, and Classic Amy Rose connected the dots, looking between her and Modern Sonic…

Smiling with lots of rapid blinks at her discovery, she knew her other dimensional future would be just fine!

Exactly… as she would have wanted the cards to predict it, as much.

She was suddenly swept back as Classic Sonic had ‘swimmer’s kicked’ his way to the ground, spun her up into the air, then caught her bridal style.

Finding that highly romantic, she unsummoned her hammer and went right back to being shy, her fists bundled up by her blushing face, and smushing herself deeper into his arms with a nuzzling head towards his chest.

He looked visibly shaken by her actions, but that just made Modern Amy giggle all the more, while Modern Sonic got up from his knelt position and scratched the back of his head, also not sure how to respond to this PDA, especially seeing it as a ‘different POV’ since he was basically looking at a younger version of themselves.

“Yep, still got it.” He winked to his Other self, who winked back, as though knowing entirely what he was doing.

Sonic held up his fingers… and flicked them into a snap.

The Portal shrank somewhat, but with a final wave from Classic Amy Rose, and a goodbye nod from Classic Sonic, the two jumped through the time dimensional portal, and Sonic closed it.

Now that they were all back together, Amy Rose looked to her blue hero. “What did you whisper to her?” She inquired.

Sonic blinked in surprise at her inquiry, before smirking back to her with a raised eyebrow, “Wouldn’t you like to know?” He then turned his head, acting very much like ‘she would’ do if he made a mistake to her…

“Wha!?” Being on the other side was NOT what Amy was used to. “S-So-Sonic!? Wait, what did I do!?” She fumbled as she chased after him, but he just continued to act ‘coy’ like he wasn’t going to tell her…

Looks like two could play the ‘rascal’ game, huh?

A 'Turn-of-the-Tables' if you will ;)b

[blazeeblake]

Senseless, unqualified rambling incoming:

I don’t pretend to know what direction anything is going with regards to Buddie callbacks, or whose “turn” it is to have something life-threatening and traumatic happen in the silly wee-woo show, but by my estimation, here’s the tale of the tape so far, so to speak (and I 100% could be missing a few instances, so feel free to [gently] call me out if I do):

Season 2

- Truck explosion crushes Buck’s leg. To my knowledge no call back to this but maybe some behind the scenes hints of it, and I do think it would be interesting for this to be revisited in a flipped way (ie: instead of Car accident that maims Buck➡️ Buddie grocery store drama, they do Buddie drama➡️ Car accident that maims Buck)

Season 3

*Tsunami endangers Buck and Christopher. I don’t know if this counts in the overall NDE/injury tally because even though Buck’s life was in danger (especially because of the whole blood thinners thing), this was largely about Christopher going missing and Buck trying to rectify this and not fail his BFF. I don’t think we’re going to get a call back to this moment unless something goes down in the process of Christopher coming back home, and I have no guesses on the timing of that resolution.

-Well/tunnel collapse almost kills Eddie. We’ve already had a callback to this as of 8x06, and can safely rule this incident out as something revisited directly upon the boys. ✅

Season 4

-Eddie gets shot in probably one of the most tragically iconic Buddie moments to date. No callbacks as of yet but definitely a possibility going forward. Could be that it would be revisited in a way that jogs Eddie’s memory of that day (or forces him to admit he remembers more than he lets on 👀), and/or threatens Buck’s life this time around, just because I don’t think they would full on repeat the circumstances of something this formative/important to the canon.

Season 5

-Eddie and Buck are held hostage by escaped prisoners, and ultimately Eddie alone is held at gunpoint in the ambulance. This isn’t really a serious injury or NDE situation, so much like the tsunami, I don’t know if it belongs on this list or has any revisiting potential.

Season 6

-Buck is struck by lightning in yet another shockingly (sorry) memorable Buddie-flavored disaster. From the previews, it looks like we’re getting all visual callback to this next week, which should be interesting but also likely rules it out as something that’s going to directly impact/threaten either firefighter. ✅

-Alongside Bobby, Chim, & Hen, Eddie is injured in a bridge collapse. Again, not exactly an NDE and one could argue that Chimney and Bobby were in way more danger than Eddie, but I think the parallels of it all (Maddie, Athena and Buck trying to save their partners from a life threatening catastrophe…) are worth mentioning. That said, I don’t think this one was major enough to come back to in the near future.

If everything on this list “counts,” even in spite of my doubts, they’re both about even with life threatening situations above and beyond the typical expectations of firefighter endangerment, with about two really major situations apiece (truck explosion & lightning strike vs. well collapse & shooting). I don’t know if the order of all those things matters/will be taken into account in terms of which one of them is at risk for a new NDE or trauma, and honestly I think if it’s going to happen at all it’ll come down to who most needs that kind of push to have a breakthrough.

It could be argued that it’s Eddie’s turn since Buck’s lightning strike was the most recent actual NDE, and that newly single Buck could use the wake up call of almost losing the person who checks all the boxes Josh listed. There’s also the Christopher of it all (maybe Eddie almost dying will bring up The Will and somehow shock Chris into coming back home, but I kind of want that to explicitly be Chris’s decision rather than anything knee-jerk).

One could also make a case for it being Buck’s turn again, timing-wise if the bridge collapse counts, and because of the remaining scenarios to call back to/flip and reverse (drama + car accident or the shooting). There’s also the potential for Eddie to have some kind of realization or need to be honest with himself in a way he never felt he could now that he’s opening himself up to joy and self-exploration. Again, I don’t know anything and I am far from an analytical expert of any kind, so these are just my hyper-focused ramblings, but I do think the show could be narrowing down to something very pointed and specific. Given the behind the scenes pictures and interviews that are probably best taken with a grain of salt, I can easily envision the car accident/drama scenario, but maybe just because I like the narrative roundness of that choice. And obviously, I can’t rule out a variation on the sniper angle because, again, it’s Iconic.

It could also be that I’m just spinning my wheels, delulu on main in full clown regalia, but a gal’s gotta fill the time between now and Thursday somehow, so 🤷🏽‍♀️

[mostofthingsmostofthetime]

Omg just watched episode 2 of Distant Lands & I'm screaming.

Now, don't get me wrong, I definitely shipped Bubbleline before, but this episode had me INVESTED!!!!

Ahhr, I don't even know where to start?

The glass kingdom is so beautiful. I don't care how impractical it'd be, I wanna live there.

Marceline's old look was so awesome!!!!!! like, don't get me wrong, she always looks good, but I know WLW were being fed this episode, lol. As for me, I want Bubblegum's wardrobe STAT as not only is it a pastel lover's dream come true, but all the clothes look so soft (which I don't know how they manage to convey in 2D but they did).

Domestic Bubbleline has my entire heart forever, bye!!!!

Am I correct in seeing the friendship between glass boy & See Through princess as a parallel to Finn & Bubblegum's early friendship? Like tall, beautiful royal that's bogged down by her duty vs small, younger(?), disabled (which Finn later ends up becoming), blue boy who starts feeling dismissed/not taken seriously by his older(?) friend & wants to help/be a hero despite not having any powers (ok, so Finn has lightning amuinty, but that didn't come till much later)? Plus, there's the whole fire monster trying to kill him only for it to turn out to not be so bad, like when flame princess was introduced, & turning into (what looks to me like) some kind of a butterfly at the end, which we know was one of the things Finn was reincarnated as in a past life.

Those royal helpers (or whatever they're called) suck ass.

Simon, I love you!!!! Also, Ignore those monsters. Wear that moomoo & crown if it helps you cope.

They bubble wrapped him!!!! I'm crying, that's the sweetest, funniest & most practical way to go about it though like dude, you're litrually made of glass & already have a cracked face. You need to be way more careful about your obvious fragility.

I'm sorry, Bonnie, but the song does slap.

This is the major Bubblegum betrayal that I've been hearing about? Omg you have to be kidding. Like, I'm not saying you HAVE to love her as a character, but you really had me scared she was gonna do something absolutely twisted & it turned out to be.....this? Like, don't get me wrong, her reasoning wasn't the best & it was definitely bad of her to keep it from Marcleline, but do we really want characters without flaws & why are some fans seemingly convinced that Bubblegum is the sole AT character (especially out of her & Marcleline) that has any? Like the episode litrually gives us serval scenes from both of their POV's to show us that they each have good & bad qualities, streaths & weaknesses, baggage/insecurities & don't always handle everything the best way (especially in the past) but that they clearly love each other & are now in a much better place. Where they are willing to learn & grow & be vunrable by actually talking things out & apologising if they do something that hurts the other. Also wasn't, overcoming past hurts that are impacting your current, hard earned happiness by realising that you can't always be right/win all the time & that it's not always worth it if it means loosing what really matters to you, a huge part of the theme of the episode?

Mama Marcleline, we finally get more of your backstory & god dose it hurt. RIP queen, you did the best you could (am still scared to find out how you ended up pregnant though coz like, Hunson's a freak LMFAO!). Also, baby Marcy, I wanna hug you so bad 💔😭.

Ok, that song is so fucking cute that it makes me wanna bite my own cheeks off & eat them, and no, I don't care that that doesn't make sense.

That's how she got the band shirt? Omg, shoot me dead!

Oh, Simon, you know those banana guards can't do shit lol.

Omg Finn!!!!! Ok, so I kind of already saw that visual (being online, you can only avoid spoilers for so long), but still. My man, looking good. No prostetic? That's probably nice for amputees to see. The Jake Tattoo makes me both happy & sad because, on the one hand, it shows how much they love each other, but on the other, he probably got it because Jake is dead in this time period (I'm assuming).

Omg, grown-up Bronwyn is so cute 🥰!!!!!!!!

All the other cracks being revealed in others was a lovely touch. Thinking about the cracks as flaws or imperfections (or truma like the "damage" people accuire through being alive) & how society demonises that to the point where people feel like they have to hide them & then lash out at others who can't or refuse to hide theirs. Also, love the princess getting pants, lol. The angry monster secretly having a cracked face the whole time got me ok . Like, no wonder it hated the palace for how they acted towards glass boy. When it first saw him, it was probably so happy to know that someone like it existed & then was so hurt that Glass Boy was trying to change himself to be like everyone else.

Yes, Glass boy, kill those assholes!!!!! I hate hypocrites. It's sadly realistic, though. Sometimes, it really is the people with the most flaws who wanna condemn people the most.

[totkdaily]

Day 83: Gerudo Desert, and Riju

From here, the desert looks foggy. Perhaps a sand storm? I hope it clears before I need to head to Gerudo Town. I spot two other things of note: the tower in the Highlands, and a geoglyph. It looks like a figure of some kind. Could I glide all the way there? It looks far… 

No. But I at least get on the right level of the Highlands. It's even colder up here. I find the geoglyph. 

A vision. I see...

Ganondorf swears loyalty to the King of Hyrule. The conversation is tense.

This vision is different - as they talk, I feel I'm following Ganondorf's eyes specifically. Examining each secret stone on display, ignoring their bearers. Resting again on Sonia's. I have already seen the Queen's fate. 

Zelda is concerned. Even his name… I understand her hesitancy, and I share it. Rauru is foolish to reassure her. Everything could have been prevented if Ganondorf had been stopped here. Rauru was right. He was an arrogant king. So sure none could unseat him. 

It's so cold. I have to keep moving. I consider leaving the tower for another day, but I'm halfway there now. 

I glide over what must be the old Yiga Clan hideout - I wonder if they still use it? That map in Robbie's lab suggested yes. 

I reach the tower. There's a little tent - the journal belongs to Billson. The tower is snowed in… fortunately, it sounds like there's a cave somewhere below. 

Meadella's Mantle Cave. I wonder if this is it? Billson's records suggest the cave does go under the tower - but also that it's massive. There's a river flowing through it - I chuck a wooden board into it and climb on. 

Bubbulfrog! By complete chance, I manage to land its gem on my rudimentary raft as it lands at the bottom of the waterfall. 

The raft takes me perfectly under the tower. And launch!

I try to glide to a southerly sky island to hop over to Gerudo Town - but it turns out to be inhabited by a three-headed dragon, so we won't go there. I redirect to the plateaus around the old Sheikah Tower site, which is now a chasm to the Depths. The desert is engulfed by a sand storm. Can I make it to Gerudo Town from here? I feel like I should try. 

I barely get as far as the ruins before I completely lose visibility. I can hear these huge impacts, like explosions. There's a trio of… guards? No, training dummies. And the impacts flash like lightning. I know who's here - I rush to find her.

Riju. 

She recognises me still - it's good to find a friend. She says this sand shroud appeared when Hyrule Castle rose - that tracks. And there are new monsters - gibdos. We work out a technique which might be useful against them - I aim, and Riju shoots lightning. 

And then golden light fills the air… the Gerudo sage is watching us. 

Another Gerudo, Faundi, arrives. She says gibdos are attacking Kara Kara Bazaar. We have to go there. But… how can I find my way in this?? 

I climb a piece of ruin, intending to guess and glide - but it's high enough that I can see across the sand shroud, thank goodness. Aiming for the bazaar is still a guess, but it's slightly more informed. 

I almost lose my way once I glide back below the horizon, but I make it to Kara Kara Bazaar and help Riju fight off the gibdos. Awful creatures, long-limbed and half-rotten, with insectoid faces and gill-like necks.

I think I saw some through the sand storm on my way here. I'm glad I didn't have to fight them without Riju. There's some kind of weird mushroom that glows, seemingly the source of the gibdos or their power. 

Suddenly, through the sand - Zelda!

No, it can't be. It must be the imposter. Coincidentally, right at that moment, tornadoes head for Gerudo Town.

Riju heads back that way. I want to see if anyone I know is in the Bazaar before I join her. 

Also, I need to stop at the shrine here.

[cyborg-hydra-girl-thing]

I love Warframe, so much.

The super fluid, only touch the ground to start another parkour sequence, the floor is lava, bouncing off walls and flying across rooms and down hallways style of movement.

The >utterly overwhelming< number of weapons available. Primaries range from bows (Paris, Dread) to rocket launchers (ogris) grenade launchers (penta, tonkor), a handheld laser cannon (opticor), spicy bows (Lenz and Bramma are both rocket launchers cosplaying as bows), an 18th century naval cannon (zarr), machine guns with a 200 round magazine (soma prime) and machine guns that get more accurate the longer you fire (Tenora my beloved), innately suppressed smg (baza). You want a chaining lightning gun that will kill the guy you’re aiming at, and the next two rooms of people via daisy chains? Amprex. if you need a tactical weapon for grouping enemies the Mutalist cernos shoots an arrow full of grabby tentacles that brings enemies together for group hugs. Do you need a rifle to hunt cthulu T-Rexes (eidolons)? Rubico (Prime) or, my favorite, Kuva Chakkhurr - a black powder musket that shoots moderately slow projectiles, high skill high reward, you land a shot, it’s gonna feel it. Here’s a goody - Tigris (Prime) - it’s a double barreled shotgun, with a duplex trigger - you squeeze the trigger, it fires one round, you release the trigger, it fires the second! really interesting to play with, though with the changes to shotgun status a few years ago it’s no longer the powerhouse it was, though quite potent. Phenmor is also one of my favorites, a precision semi auto rifle, land a couple headshots to charge it, and it evolves into an archgun (gun for mecha or exosuits, bigger, and badder) that’s basically a minigun. Corinth (prime) is cool, primary fire is crit based shotgun, alt fire shoots an air burst grenade you can manually detonate over enemies heads (prime version, regular corinth is locked at 20m detonation). Kohm is an auto shotgun that spoils up like a minigun, the higher the spool the more pellets it shoots, very ammo hungry, but man if it isn’t satisfying to point down a hallway and watch it fill with red mist. Astilla is a shotgun that shoots glass slugs that explode on impact. Arcs Plasmor shoots solid walls of energy. like straight up, point down hallway, and you shoot a bright blue (ur energy color) brick wall of plasma. you can’t miss. Simulor is a gun that shoots miniature black holes. Trumna charges it’s alt fire with the literal souls of the enemies you kill. Shedu and Bubonico are the weapon arm cannons of sentient (enemy robot faction) that we ripped off and stole.

secondaries are have a bit less variety, but we’ve still got oodles of goodies

Pandero, a pocket sniper rifle, this lil handcannon is hella accurate for reaching out to touch someone, and alt fire dumps the entire magazine in an automatic burst. Laetum is the cooler pandero, land a few headshots and it evolves into an automatic assault rifle. Lex (Prime) was my starchart clearing gun, back in the day. space deagle. Nukor (and it’s cooler older sister Kuva Nukor (Kukor)) are similar to the amprex in that they chain to enemies, however they also have the quirk of having the highest critical damage in the game, with the lowest critical chance. (there’s shenanigans you can do to force them to crit, making them devestating). Pyrana (Prime) is an auto shotgun, it’s got high spread and high rate of fire, but get in their face and drop mag and see the magic. Zakti (Prime) shoots small needles that explode in clouds of aoe gas after a moment, really good for priming status effects and swapping to melee or primary to take advantage of. Euphona Prime - look, i love it, it’s not great, you gotta build it exclusively for the slug firemode or for the shotgun fire mode. it’s really cool, you should try it if you can, but it’s solidly just okay. Sepulcrum feeds on the souls of its victims to power its alt fire, and it’s just a massive beefy fuckin pistol straight out of 40K. Tenet Spirex force procs impact, and with the hemorrhage mod you can guarantee you turn some of those impact procs into bleed procs for DOT damage. Athodai is straight up like retro sci-fi laser pistol, it shoots beams, and alt fire has a big burst of energy aoe in front of you. Twin Kohmak are like the kohm, but smaller, and akimbo, for pocket dakka. Twin Grakata MOAR DAKKA. A beloved meme gun in the warframe community. just two fuckin bullet hoses that will eat your ammo faster than you can find it. truly one of the guns of all time, and a joy to fire.

and don’t think for a moment i’m going to forget about melees lmao.

we got Nikanas (space katana - nikana (prime) , skiajati ), we got greatswords(Gram (prime), Galatine (prime)), we got throwing glaives(Glaive(prime) Xoris), we got gun blades (like think those bizarre renaissance era swords with guns built into the hilts? got it? yeah, those, but space-y. redeemer (prime), sarpa), we have claws (venka) , we have sword & board (silva & aegis) scythes (reaper prime), hammers (heliocor, jat kittag), dual blades up the wazoo, single daggers, dual daggers, fist weapons, fist and feet weapons, war fans (quassus, arum spinosa), staves (Bo, pupacyst), tonfa (kronen), a gigantic saw (ghoulsaw), rapiers (endura, ), blade & whips (atterax, lacera)

[thegeminisage]

okay, i had to leave farosh and grab my lightroot before she could light up again, but i also got to hit a yiga camp. now i need to figure out how to find kohga OR start looking for those signs. i think the gerudo highlands is both with one stone

got the sign in the highlands! there was actually only one. got four more near hyrule ridge and one in the desert and i think that's it?!

oh no jk two in the desert. rip

bars on the yiga clan hideout from this side (side where kohga fell in botw)...BOOOOO let me INNNNN

cackling. went up to the front door in my yiga threads and this npc thinks im one of them

ok, THIS is what i thought i was doing earlier when i found all those frogs

i wonder what happens if i take off my mask...?

saving first lol

damn i get my ass beat is what lol. it wasnt a hard fight but three guys at once plus all these sages makes for a hectic time

omg theres like stores in here!! lol including a banana store

i like the music as well

all these guys trying to sell me vehicles...whats up with THAT lol

omg the lightning helm!!! "our" sacred treasure THAT BELONGS TO THE GERUDO YOU JERKS...yet another lore breaking moment.........

earthwake technique!!!! yeahhh this is what i got spoiled for. im gonna keep fighting until i get it >:(

i got it that quickly?! but i can keep going for the helm i think...

"if youre this talented you might be a match for link" LMAOOO

oh i see. apparently this thunder helm is a yiga COPY. whatever nintendo

that's that i guess! really didn't take long...i'm gonna hit this chasm and grab a lightroot, then warp back to the tower and take the other chasm to get closer to gerudo town so i can go get kohga

oh damn landed right on top of one

ohhh i can see several more way in the distance...FAR too tempting and also they're in the wrong direction, i gotta book it right now lol before i can look around anymore

ok, down the new chasm, already see a lightroot in the correct direction. i'm coming for his ass

i forgot what it was like when the depths was truly dark. i see lightroots in every direction bc ive never been anywhere close to here. crazy.

man i seriously need to trade in some poes. i've got over 900

MINER'S MASK!!!! cool..............

at least you can use mineru to walk over gloom. i'd be bummed if she wasn't good for SOMETHING

oh hey i can go over 999 poes! what a relief...

oh theres the man himself!!!!

GOOD LORD WHAT IS HE RIDING NOW..........it flies AND has wheels. i want one

god this fucking music fucking slaps

i wish i hadnt killed those yiga earlier...i really want to steal one of their planes now lol. i dont wanna build something myself...

i built a rocket platform, but it's kinda one use only :/

A FUCKING CANNON?? LMAOOO

oh my god i'm eating shit!!!

i'm actually having more fun using the spring in this area to fly up, shoot him in slowmo, and then kick his ass lol

incredible. got him again. this is so fun

oh, this about a weapon again...they're usuaing crystalized charges to replenish something for ganondorf...i bet it's the secret stone

this is the most fun i've ever had in my entire life. i love this dude

it's wild though. same fight, different music, it might feel less fun? score has such an impact...

alright, NEXT UP...the mine under zora's domain. happily i can simply fast travel to this one

SCREEEEAM the super bright headlights are SO good. every time. like those douchebags in the pickups irl

LOLLLLLL I STOLE HIS RIDE!!!!!!

back down he goes. i kinda wish i had done these earlier and spaced them out more...he's a fucking blast. i didn't know there were multiple fights! i figured there was just one rematch and i'd wanna do it near the end/when i got to the gerudo region, lol

oh wow. they found the demon king himself...a bit sinister actually

HEBRA??? oh no.......

oh no wait!!! it's just under rito village, i got that already. whew

a weapon to the demon king...REBORN?? GHIRAHIM??????

i know it's not ghirahim. let a girl dream

omg he's being kinda serious rn...girl...

A MECH????????????

bro. i could be doing a mech fight rn. im not gonna bc i dont like riding the mech but i COULD BE.

WHAT THE FUCJ KIND OF LASERBEAMS ARE THOSE LOL

he put up a shield. guess i have to summon mineru to knock him into the electrified fence...tho i wonder what would happen if you had got this far and didn't have her?!

GOT HIS ASS!

oh man i miss these fights already. soooo fucking good and fun

k......kohga rocket???

OMFG LMAOOOOO I LOVE THIS

TEAM ROCKET IS LITERALLY BLASTING OFF AGAIN,. INCREDIBLE 10/10

ok truly. stellar work. he went down a hole last time and up a hole this time. sorry for saying hole like that

(for some reason i had to break here. apparently there is now a 4096 character limit on text blocks???)

ugh sexy i got so many crystalized charges for doing this...i have GOT to upgrade my battery

nice, i FINALLY started on my second battery meter

swinging by lookout landing to talk to the poe statue but i'm NOT talking to purah. i'm not ready for all that yet

ok. now im gonna see if i can grab a few more hudson signs before bed, so tomorrow i can get right to it...

frankly, i'm not fucking around. i'd love to explore the desert properly someday but for now i'm just gonna fly there with the bike

both desert signs done! man, i didn't even hit the nearby cave but i got shit to do. one more thing before i leave the desert, though...i wanted to see the corner of the world <3 where the great fairy used to be lol

great skeleton CAVE? what happened to the skeleton???

oh. there it is. wtf is it doing in here...

all one big room...i can even see the frog from here

apparently there's a korok seed INSIDE this cave?????? that is NOT how that's supposed to work lol

and finally, off to hyrule ridge.......

not a tower or anything really close to this area...i'll start at lindor's brow and do the best i can

first one: mt rhoam!! easy to get to from the tower. i'll glide for the next and then maybe bust out the bike

this second one i was most worried abt because its near ACTUAL hyrule ridge which contains Hands. but irony of ironies when i got close i'd already done it early on and never marked it!! two left...

god it feels sacrilegious not to stop for some of these seeds lol. DIRECT PATH ONLY.........

lol i'm down by tamio river directly under washa's bluff and. the framerate of this river rn. rip

like everything is fine. it's JUST the river

omg omg omg okay LAST ONE.......

it's by a shrine. should i get that one first?? no, i waited too long.....

HE'S ALL OUT OF SIGNS.........................

aww i got some fabric. but more importantly he finally gets to go home...shrine, and then i'm warping to tarrey town to say hi, and THEN going to bed lol

omg its a trick shrine lol. wet thorns

i can't find addison :( he's not where hduson is...don't tell me he's not actually here?!

ok, i googled it, and apparently no matter what he just hangs out at stables?! dude, you should get to go home!!!! i'm gonna go to a stable to find him...dueling peaks stable, of course

lol on googling this btw. i got a theory on reddit that says he's hudson's illegitimate child (head shape, hero worship). hilarious but also sad

aw. wait. wait...

he's standing in the same sign holding pose!! maybe they didn't have time to animate another one lol. or no he definitely stands normally sometimes. they did it for the bit

he's supporting the stable trotters and he doesn't need my help to do it 🥺 im happy for him but he deserves to go home!!!!!!!!

"why are you bothering me"?! AFTER ALL THE GOOD TIMES WE SHARED.....this is so hilariously unsatisfying. this game and completionist quests. i bet the reward for korok seeds is poop just like last time

ok. good grief. im going to BED!!!

tomorrow, the END......................

[queen-ofsunflowers]

"You're Magic Now" WIP Preview: Chapters 1 - 5

Since these are still works-in-progress, it is likely that the following excerpts will change between now and the final draft! Please keep that in mind while reading.

Chapter 1: A Fairy on Earth

(The girls follow Dain outside into the backyard, leading the troll out of the house with them. Barbara casts a spell to try and fend off the troll. Dain looks back at Lumine, the gears in his mind twisting and turning as he tries to figure out what to do next.)

Lumine: What do we do?

Dain: I’m not sure if there’s anything that you can do right now.

Barbara: Whisper of Water! (She casts the spell at the troll, only for it to backhand her across the yard.)

Lumine: Barbara! (Luckily, Barbara manages to stabilize herself mid-air.)

Barbara: I’m alright! (Dain’s right arm is trembling. He holds his wrist steady, as if holding something back. It takes Dain a second to figure out exactly what he needs to do. He rushes past the troll, dodging out of the way of its attempt to swipe at him. He grabs the hose from where it’s wound up nearby, working quickly to uncoil it. Using the hose as a makeshift rope, he throws it, the nozzle giving it enough weight to circle around the troll’s neck.)

Lumine: Awesome! (Dain grabs the hose, digging his heel into the ground.)

Dain: This isn’t over! Don’t let your guard down! (The troll thrashes against the hose. Dain grips his arm, and in the dark of the evening, Lumine can make out some strange bluish glow.) And do something! (Barbara nods. She begins to launch a steady stream of magic at the troll, but it’s not as strong as it could be. Lumine feels that electrical zing as she looks at the stars above. She draws in a breath. It’s instinct… Just instinct, simple as that. She shuts her eyes, holds out her hands and…!)

(A small flicker of a blast shoots out of her palms, almost like a burst of starlight. It hits the troll in the face, stunning it long enough for Dain to get the hose to Lumine’s and Barbara’s hands. Immediately, they struggle to keep the troll in place.)

Lumine: Dain!

Dain: I know! Just hold on! (The girls struggle.)

Lumine: DAIN! (Dain grabs the shovel that’s situated near the garden and— CLANG! He swings it as hard as possible to collide with the back of the troll’s skull. There’s a sharp crack and it drops. The girls pant heavily as the adrenaline starts to fade. The troll disappears in a shimmer of light. Dain drops to his knee, his right arm trembling.)

Chapter 2: Welcome to Magix!

Tartaglia: It’s a pity that you had to meet us like this. Who knows? Maybe we could’ve been good friends under different circumstances. (He raises the dagger, and Lumine begins to panic, trying to call upon her magic to help her to defend herself, but it’s not working.)

Lumine: Stay away! (An electrically-charged shard strikes Tartaglia’s wrist, making him drop the dagger so it dissipates. At the mouth of the alleyway are Barbara, Keqing and Ayaka — all three of them transformed into their fairy forms.) 

Keqing: If you want to fight a fairy, then we’re right here!

Scaramouche: Tch…

Signora: Pathetic… Huh…? (Her eyes land on Barbara.) The lyre… (Tartaglia gets a wicked grin on his face.)

Lumine: Barbara, watch out! 

Barbara: Melody Loop! (Tartaglia rushes at her, creating two new daggers. Thanks to Lumine’s warning, Barbara is able to put up a barrier in time to trap him like a rope.)

Tartaglia: Do you really think that this can hold me? (Electricity crackles over the barrier, allowing him to break it.)

Keqing: Then try this on for size. Lightning Stiletto! (She casts the same spell that disarmed Tartaglia earlier. He faces the shards head on, most of them shattering upon impact as he summons a shield of his own to protect him.)

Ayaka: Ice Flower! (A large snowflake forms underneath Tartaglia, catching him a bit off guard as a flurry of ice and snow shoots up and surrounds him, making him stumble back a little and unable to see.)

Barbara: Lumine! (She holds out her hand, and Lumine doesn’t waste another moment rushing over to them. She grabs Barbara’s hand, and Barbara pulls her close.)

Signora: Fool…

Scaramouche: Idiot.

Tartaglia: I don’t see you two doing anything! (Signora and Scaramouche exchange looks with each other before stepping forward, calling forth a spray of ice and lightning to attack the girls.)

Keqing: Get behind me! (The girls do.) Beckoning Clouds! (She summons a bunch of clouds to surround the group in a sort of barrier.)

Scaramouche: You won’t leave alive! (Lightning fiercely crackles around him in anger.)

Tartaglia: Scaramouche! Watch it!

Scaramouche: Don’t tell me to— (Barbara takes out her Lyre and starts to play a tune.)

Barbara: Hold onto me! (All the girls grab onto her. Magic swirls around them. Tartaglia grows and rushes forward, trying to grab a hold of her, but misses as the spell finally takes hold and whisks them away to safety on the outskirts of Magix. They drop, the other girls flashing out of their fairy forms in the process. It’s more because of the adrenaline rush than anything else.)

Chapter 3: The Holy Lyre

Lumine: If I scream, everyone will come running.

Scaramouche: Are you sure about that? Can’t even face me on your own? Face it, you’re alone! (Sparks and bolts of lightning come crashing down around Lumine, trying to hit her and hurt her. Panic starts to surge in her heart.) That’s what I thought. (Wind swirls around Lumine, keeping her in place. He calmly walks towards her, taking her face into his hands.) You know, I’m getting pretty tired of you messing with our plans.

Lumine: Who the heck are you…?

Scaramouche: Wouldn’t you like to know? (The spell disperses.) I don’t even need to use my full power to take you on. (He hits the ground, causing a void to open up in it. Lumine shouts as she gets caught in the vortex, spinning and feeling fear race in her heart. She grabs the edge, holding on for dear life. Scaramouche stands over her.) Pathetic… I thought I saw something in you. I was wrong. So long, fairy.

Lumine: No! (She shuts her eyes, trying to call upon every ounce of magic in her system. something zips through her veins, rushing like electricity as Scaramouche steps on her fingers, loosening their grip to allow her to get sucked in. Golden eyes widen in panic. She can’t… She can’t let him get away! She won’t… She was a fairy. She couldn’t fail! Not again… Never again! She falls into the vortex, her eyes focused on the stars and the moon above as the vortex steals away her breath. They glow so bright… shining in the sky. The flower falls from her hair and into Lumine’s vision. Her eyes widen as she takes a hold of it. A faint memory… a faint memory of a field filled with these flowers. The magic within her moves faster, making it feel like every part of Lumine like a livewire. The field of flowers, the stars and the moon… and a golden-haired boy who’s face is incomprehensible to her, but he’s holding out his hand to her and she feels happy. She reaches out in the memory, taking the boy’s hand as he pulls her along through the flowers.)

(And then… Lumine feels like something shatters within her. A sense of euphoria overcomes her, the feeling of stardust cascades over her body, and the coolness of the moonlight seeps into her skin. She can’t recall this feeling, but everything about it feels so right.)

(Lumine can feel her clothes melt away, replaced with new ones as magic spirals around her as bright as a supernova. There’s something strange and new that glitters up on her back, and in a flash, she’s shooting straight out of the vortex that she was trapped in. She blinks once… twice… and then realizes what’s going on. She’s flying. She looks down at herself, at her new outfit, her wings and even the flower that nestles itself in her hair. She smiles.)

Not so wingless anymore, am I?

Scaramouche: Are you kidding me?!

Lumine: Looks like you shouldn’t have pushed me too far.

Chapter 4: The Melmamora Swamp

Ayaka: I have a bad feeling about this… (Kazuha puts a hand over Ayaka’s mouth.)

Kazuha: (whispering) Be careful. (He gestures over to some of the bushes nearby.) Those are Cryo Whopperflowers. They disguise themselves as other plants to trick passersby and absorb their magic.

Lumine: Really?

Kazuha: (whispering) Lumine!

Lumine: What? I don’t get what the big deal is-- (She yelps as something bursts out from the ground, throwing the girls back as it goes for Lumine. She scrambles back, dodging out of the way as the creature lowers itself to the ground, spinning around to try and knock her back with its icy petals.)

Bennett: Hold on! (He tries to conjure a spell to do something, but Keqing takes his wrist.)

Keqing: We’re not supposed to use magic, remember?!

Bennett: But! (The pair duck as a few icy projectiles come their way. Oh boy. Kazuha gathers some of the water from the swamp, flinging as much mud as possible at the flower. It hits it directly in the head, and Lumine kicks it in the face. It stuns it long enough for her to run to the group, and for them to race away. They double over once they’re far enough away, trying to catch their breath.)

Kazuha: As I was saying, they react to noise. Getting too close can also set them off. So it’s best if we stick together. (Lumine sighs and nods.)

Lumine: Thanks for that. (Kazuha only nods in return. In the distance, they can hear the sounds of fighting. It seems like they’re not the only ones who ran afoul of the whopperflowers. They race ahead to find the specialists from before, not doing too well against the flowers.)

Alhaitham: Will you stop throwing yourself into battle like that? Trying to cover for you is making it difficult to think.

Childe: At least I’m doing something! (Xiao growls as he fights with a spear alone, while Alhaitham tries to cut down the flowers.)

Xiao: If you haven’t noticed, water and ice don’t mix! (Childe huffs in irritation.)

Lumine: So that’s where they went.

Chapter 5: A Blind Date

(They’re careful, hovering a bit off of the ground as they enter the building. From the shadows, they hear a slow and sinister applause.)

Strange Man: Well, well, well… you three sure took the scenic route. (He steps out of the shadows.)

Barbara?: I’ll say. You took your time. (With a flick of her wrist, the door slams shut. They’ve walked right into a trap. The illusion on them both disappears, revealing the true perpetrators -- Scaramouche and Tartaglia.)

Scaramouche: The Fatui will have the Holy Lyre, and you’re going to hand it over one way or another! (He leaps into the air, summoning a crackling ball of dark energy before blasting them with it. The girls dodge, Keqing and Lumine taking refuge behind a pillar while Ayaka ducks behind an upturned table. Scaramouche continues to blast at the pillar, chipping away at it bit by bit while Tartaglia summons two daggers to combine into a polearm. He makes his way over to Ayaka.)

Ayaka: No, you don’t… (She zips out towards Keqing and Lumine, creating a shield of ice to protect the three of them.)

Lumine: Thanks, Ayaka. (The pillar shattered, and Scaramouche cackles.)

Scaramouche: I suggest you surrender now. (Magic swirls and gathers in his palm.) Or they’ll have to drag what’s left of you from the rubble! (The girls gear up, channeling their own magic and readying to counter when--)

Signora: That’s enough. Or did you forget that if you destroy this building, you’ll bring it down right on top of us? (Tartaglia snickers as Scaramouche’s spell dwindles and vanishes. Signora steps out of the shadows, and wrapped in frozen restraints is--)

Lumine: Barbara! (Barbara groans a little at the call of her name, opening her eyes and looking towards her friends. The look of panic immediately surges when she sees them. She’s scared. To Signora:) Let her go!

Signora: Don’t worry, we will… as soon as you hand over the Holy Lyre. (The girls grow nervous.) Poor little princess… Those coils will keep squeezing her tighter and tighter until she pops. (Barbra groans in pain as Signora spins her finger in the air, tightening the coils around her.)

Tartaglia: If you want to save your friend that badly, I suggest you listen.

Signora: Time’s running out. What will it be: your friend's life or the Lyre?

[time-to-write-and-suffer]

Wondering if I should put the elf marriage wip up on Wattpad again ... She's so silly but I love her <3

I remember when you talked about this wip a while ago. Omg I would love to read her 💅💅

I also had to ask: what's your favourite genre for books and games/IFs? Do these genres differ from what you write or are they relatively similar in terms of its genre?

I think I'll slap it up on Wattpad again just for shits and giggles. I've written like 60k and it's probably barely halfway into the story so like. Lmao. What am I even doing???

ANYWAY.

My favorite genres of IFs? I dunno, I kinda vibe with whatever in terms of genre, my pickiness comes from writing style and story focus.

I prefer ones that are more specific in scope and focused on character development and plot progression.

So games that describe themselves as "open-world" I shy away from, as well as like big, stat-based RPGs. If I wanna play something where I can fuck around and be a rogue-mage-warrior elf, I'll just play Skyrim, not read a fuckin 100k word book about nothing at all except stats and action scenes and interchangable bit characters. I come to IFs to read something interesting and to make choices that impact the narrative in interesting ways. To me, IFs are interactive books, and to me the pleasure of reading a book is about characters, narrative, and story. Adding interaction to that means I get to influence things, but not that I get to derail it like I can in Skyrim by ignoring the main quest line and fuck about collecting cheese wheels.

I do also gravitate toward ones with romance, obviously, but it's not a requirement if the story is good enough. Generally I also prefer fantasy over sci-fi, though mainly because sci-fi tends to frontload all the exposition and wordbuilding and is generally harder to get into. I also think that shooting lightning from your fingers is objectively cooler than shooting laser guns.

As for books, it's a bit more complicated, because I read mostly romance nowadays (don't have the spoons for anything heavier because I have brainrot), but I generally dislike romance as a genre. Not because EW GIRLY FEELINGS or EW SEXY MEN, but because mainstream romances tend to be very formulaic, both in terms of characters and relationship progression. And I get why that is, and that's probably why I keep finding them so easy to read. But for someone who loves to explore weird dynamics, funky tropes, new twists, reading romance gets kinda stale. I have fun writing romance, but when I read it, I feel like the authors don't? Like they're just boxing themselves in because that's what the genre says.

I also love fantasy romance in particular, because it lets you add a bunch of different layers to your relationship dynamic, plus it's just fun with elves and fae and shit. It's fun! But I love to also put some emphasis on the stuff that's outside the romance, but also keep it relevant to the romance? Idk how to explain it. Like my dragon wip where the princess dates a dragon sounds really tropey and stupid and it is, but I also touch on like ... culture differences, and generational divides, and prejudice and cycles of violence and stuff.

People always say "If you like romance in your media but hate the genre itself, read fantasy/sci-fi/etc with romance in it!" not taking into account that 1) That shit's really hard to find unless you mind spoilers because "[genre] with romance in it" doesn't always advertise itself as such and you'll need outside sources to recommend it to you and 2) the romance sometimes is so minor in these books that it's not really worth your effort, or it's prominent but entirely disconnected from the main plot, so it feels tacked-on even if it's well-done, which it isn't always.

I want romance where the romance is the main plot, but it's not the only plot, but other plots are also relevant to the romance. I want characters who are there to be smashed with other characters, but they're also their own characters, and the plot would still happen even without the romance, but it's only happening because of the romance.

DO YOU UNDERSTAND MY DILEMMA?! I can't even define what it is I want, so finding it in the wild is pretty much impossible.

I have decided to call what I write "epic fairy tales" because I want that focus on romance that fairy tales have and true love wins but where everything else also matters and is impacted by the love but also impacts the love in return, where the couple are the main characters but not because they must be in love but because they fell in love. AUGH. I don't know man my brain is broken!!!!

[todaysthinks]

Trauma cycles and synesthesia-driven neuroses

I need a writing outlet desperately for my own self-discipline and brain documentation. Writing down my stream of consciousness is the only way I'm going to be able to measure my improvements over time. I'm going to try out this tipping feature, in case something I write now or in the future resonates deeply enough with a person that they feel compelled to throw me a dollar or two out of appreciation for crafting it into something they can read.

Today marks about 4 days since I last allowed my thoughts to go to "the bad place". My trips to the bad place begin with a trigger. Maybe it's a tragic news story that I'm captioning, or a sound that spooked me, or an event that happens on a TV show I'm watching. I start fantasizing about the overwhelm that I would experience if that deadly scenario happened to my family members. I picture each of them separately dying that way and weigh which death would be the most… I suppose, tragic or ironic or whatever the negative equivalent of "serendipitous" is, out of all four of my immediates. I think about the hormones that will be pumped into my veins when I receive "the call". I put myself in their position at the imagined moment of their death and feel what it would feel like to have my body terminated in whatever horrific way I've just latched onto.

And then I wonder, what if it's actually me that's going to die soon and the universe is just giving me signals to let me know? I panic that the recurring "visions" that I create and relive are premonitions. I picture what it will be like to be driving in a car, at night, in the rain, (possibly speeding to escape a home invasion) and seeing a car coming at my driver's side full speed. I let myself feel the impact. Note to self, it's been about 4 years that I've been doing this every night and so far no crushing tragedies have come to fruition.

Could ultimately ending with this "maybe it's going to be me" conclusion be caused by years of compounding car trauma? It seems so specific. I can't remember why I started thinking about that particular scenario months ago, either. What I DO know is that I've crafted a couple of these recurring scenarios over time, and each time, convinced myself that "that was the way it was going to happen" because I keep coming back to it all the time, over and over.

Last week it looked like this. I noticed how eerily quiet the neighborhood was and imagined a bomb going off somewhere, pumping my body full of the uncomfortable being-startled hormones that I hate and avoid at all costs. I thought about how maybe eventually one day I could be the victim of an explosion. I continue to wait to hear an explosion in the silence. Murphy's Law is just waiting around the corner.. Any second. My heart pounds. Then I think, "If this were supposed to happen at a symbolic moment, it would've happened already. But the minute I let my guard down is when the explosion is FOR SURE going to happen so I'd better stay alert.

It feels so scary to be alive in this fragile body knowing it can be easily splattered by something out of my control. What feels worse, though, is the feeling of being startled. Synesthesia causes the feelings of being startled to occur like a bright, painful lightning bolt that shoots through my body and blinds me momentarily. To explain, synesthesia is a miswiring between my sensory body parts (vision, sight, taste, etc.) and the way they occur to my brain (sound is visual in my peripherals, color schemes "taste" like things or create sensations, amongst other things).

Anyway, I remember that I come to this conclusion all the time, how the sensitivity to being startled is what I fixate on, not what comes after or what life will be like when I lose my loved ones. For comparison, thinking about a long-term death, like a sickness, is not something I fixate on even though it's perfectly likely. And likewise, if there's already a steady stream of sound happening around me, it is hard to startle me even if I hear something weird. I have to make clear for myself in writing over and over again that my sensitivity to being startled is the part that freaks me the heck out. I can't make this distinction enough.

To go even deeper, I've realized the reason why I fixate on my family members dying before we're all "ready" comes from feeling that through my 20s, I absorbed myself in the touring band life and all of my vices for the wrong reasons. I spent all of my free time away from my family, rarely visited my childhood home where my parents and brothers still lived, and went straight to the bar for a semblance of social time when I was done working at late o'clock for most days of my legal drinking life. I missed out on all the amazing things my family were up to while I was living like a low-budget rock star. I don't think there will ever be enough time to feel like I have made up for the time that I missed.

The reconnection and closeness from my family the last 2ish years has been rejuvenating, but it's clear to me that my parents are getting older, my cats are slowing down, my once-close pals have mostly dropped off, and the reasons I attached myself to people from teenaged years to 28ish were probably more disingenuous than not.

The life I want is clear now- one that allows me to soak up as much time with my favorite people/creatures as possible and for those times to be overwhelmingly visceral and happy, and free of any more pre-grief. Four days down.