#i prefer to keep it clean

[the-desert-beast]

Dawnborn Daphne, the commander post-end of dragons campaign.

A confident, intelligent, clever headstrong woman. Standing at 5'4", she's a force to be reckoned with. Immaculate handle on her training as a Holosmith, with a hobbyist interest in Scrapper training. She can often be found tinkering with jade-tech scrap in the Echovald scrapyards on her free time. Vigil-trained, a dedicated member of The Pact, her accomplishments are vast, and nothing to scoff at.

"Remember our promise? We'll make history together, everyone will know our names!" - Excerpt from a private letter to a friend.

|> Dawnborn Daphne |> She/Her/Hers |> Pansexual |> 5'4" or 162cm |> Vigil member |> Pact Commander |> Has a pet siamese cat |> A very elegant, powerful figure. Her selfrespect is second to none, she has a "zero bullshit" policy.

[vaguely-concerned]

thinking about not only the specific people lucanis pulls in to represent the 'locks' in his psyche, but the storytelling that happens in the structure/order of them. the underlying ideas are presented something like:

the lucanis who went into the ossuary never came back out again; he died down there (the boy caterina raised is gone forever) -> you're putting yourself in danger doing this (by being close to me), you should leave because I can't bear it if you get hurt because of me -> it doesn't matter even if we do try this, it won't work anyway (again because of me) ('you know what he's like, you can open the door but he won't walk through it' :'( oofie doofie) -> what if the real secret is that there was never anything but the monster in here from the beginning. you should leave, there was never anything here worth saving in the first place. (implicitly: what if I deserved what happened, all along.)

it runs pretty cleanly from outward-oriented attachment anxiety ('caterina won't even want me back like this, she won't recognize me (the same way I no longer recognize myself)) and gradually deeper inwards until we reach self-image and self worth. or you know, the harrowing basic lack of it lol.

"careful -- they'll know we're not right," spite says in one of their first scenes... but clearly, some very deep part of lucanis has feared or suspected for much longer than that that there's something inherently not right at the core of him, way before any demon entered the picture. and the voice he gives those lines to is the person who should know him better than anyone in the world, who he has loved more than anyone in the world -- and who deliberately chose to hurt him so horrifically anyway. 'It's better if I'm just a monster and deserved what happened than it is to allow for the idea that the brother I love doesn't really exist and maybe never did'. it's better if he's fundamentally flawed in some way that needed fixing to help him survive, and that's why caterina chose to hurt him again and again -- out of love. (this one I think he might have a very sad wakeup call on one day if he ever ends up with the responsibility and care of a child of his own in some way and realizes just how alien the idea of ever intentionally hurting them for any reason is to him. oh buddy. also interesting that he keeps caterina as the outermost lock -- there IS a distance he keeps there that he hasn't with illario. he doesn't resent her 'anymore' he says, but he also keeps her carefully further away from his deepest self.)

as far as I could tell the only note in the mind prison that's fully hidden and needs to be uncovered is the sad painful helpless stupid little truth that even after all this, even knowing what happened... he still loves his brother. is there anything illario could ever do that would make lucanis completely stop loving him, do you think? sometimes the trouble with unconditional love is that it is, well. unconditional, even when some terms and conditions probably would have been in order haha.

that's the pattern you see there again and again; he would rather destroy and abandon and imprison himself at every turn than let go of love, even when it's just scraps, even when there's only ever enough of it to hurt him. it's only when rook shows up and as it were takes his hand and walks along with him that he can entertain the idea of changing the story of what walking out the door might mean in the end.

[moon--kit]

"I'm about to end this man's whole career"

Yeah I can actually draw something aside from doodles

[otherpeoplesheartachept1]

Teen me would be rolling her eyes so hard but working on reframing things from "ugh I have to do these chores" and shaming myself for not getting them done to "I deserve to live in a clean environment, I deserve to work on things for myself" truly does make it easier to get things done. I'm still very messy and behind on a lot of things, but I'm making improvements

[windydrawallday]

Forehead Kiss

[arovalentines]

some bobbles (+ two unfinished things)

[rainintheevening]

Part I – Part II ... Part IX – Part X

Peter knows the smell of blood, knows the smells of fear, and sweat, and anger.

It's muted as he surfaces to consciousness, but still there, and even before he's opened his eyes, he's loosening his tongue, trying to drag moisture into his mouth, ready to issue orders or reassurance.

“Your majesty,” says a quiet voice, musical and wispy. “Lie still. You have suffered a grievous hurt.”

“Indeed?” he mumbles.

Hurt, wounds, blood… and enough memory returns

“Edmund?” he croaks, prying eyes open to light that seems too sharp, and there is movement, boots on stone, a dark head blotting out some of the light.

“I am here, brother, and unhurt,” Ed says quietly, and Peter would relax, but for the cough that climbs from his dry throat, and then another, and another, wrenching at his abdomen, so that at last he feels the pain, quick and hot.

Ed’s arm is under his head, lifting it just enough to hold a cup to his lips, and half the water ends up elsewhere, but enough gets down his throat to ease the terrible spasms, and he closes his eyes tightly, turns his face into the crook of Edmund's elbow, damp fabric of a sleeve cool against his forehead.

“Your majesty, you were not supposed to wake this soon. The knife carried poison, and my antidote is still taking effect. I have only begun to poultice and bandage the wound.” There is a pained edge in the hare's voice, an apology, but also frustration, towards herself, Peter guesses.

He tries to lighten his voice, but the pain radiating up from his right side is still abhominable, and the hand he holds out to her shakes slightly.

“Peace, Drybones. Continue your work, and I will bear it.”

He lifts his head from Ed’s arm just enough to see the hare take his hand, feels her whiskery kiss brush over his knuckles, before Ed lays him flat again.

“Wait,” he murmurs up at his brother, before the younger king can step away. “What happened to the assassin?”

Ed’s eyes seem to deepen, brown shading to black in their depths, but his expression does not change.

“Dead. But he had a letter in his purse, describing his charge, and we have removed from Lord Alcsace's keep into the town. The people at least are with us.”

“Ah.” Peter's acknowledgement twists into a gasp, chokes off into silence as he clamps his teeth together.

He is fully aware of his body now, and he thinks he can truly feel the battle in his veins, the antidote against the poison, every beat of his heart a strike for one or the other, fire creeping across his abdomen, up to his chest.

“Aslan,” he breathes, screwing his eyes shut, and then cool hands take his, loosen the wild grip he's taken on the sheets beneath him.

Above him Edmund's face blurs, but Peter understands the squeeze of his fingers well enough. He anchors himself to his brother, a sure and steady thing in the haze of agony, setting his teeth against the battle, forgetting to breathe until Ed’s reminder reaches him.

Some interminable time later, the pain begins to ease, and the moment that registers in his mind, he lets go, and tumbles down into the exhausted shade of sleep.

When he wakes, it is to flickering lantern light in the cool of night, the faintest of breezes touching his face from the open window, and he lies still, relishing the quietness in his body, and sniffing at distant jewlberry blossoms and woodsmoke.

A stirring nearby, and he turns his head on the pillow to see Edmund rise from a low stool, where he has been leaning against the wall close by Peter's bed.

“Do not try to rise,” Ed says softly, moving to the table, pouring a cup of water, and Peter smiles a little as the light catches on the clear stream falling from the lip of the jug. “Drybones does well as a healer, but she has none of Lucy's cordial.”

As before, Edmund's arm is strong under his shoulders, and Peter does not try to speak till he has drunk two cups of water and half a third.

“Well,” he murmurs, “I for one am glad our little sister isn't here.”

Ed nods curtly, drifts back to the table to pour a drink for himself. “Thank Aslan. Lord Alcsace knew of her reputation. She would have been their first target.”

Precisely.

“Have you sent any communication home?”

“Only a note with Sunleaf, and she is under orders to answer no questions and return at once. Merely saying we have met with an ill welcome on Lord Alcsace's part, and will make it known if we require aid.”

“Well done,” Peter murmurs, and something in his brother’s back relaxes.

“For now, the common folk hold him at bay,” Edmund adds. “We may either leave with our tails between our legs like kicked puppies, and return later with an army, or stay and attempt something diplomatic. But,” he adds as Peter begins to speak. “I run ahead of us. That debate will wait for the morrow, and our gathered council.”

Peter sighs, lets it go, listens to Ed tapping fingers on the wooden cup, the louder tap of his signet ring. The lamplight edges Edmund's face with gold, and Peter notes the firmness of his jaw, and the dark stubble sprouting there.

A different kind of ache is building in his stomach, catching his attention. “Is there anything to eat?”

Now Edmund smiles properly. “Of course. I'll go see what Courser and Ariane have made. Though,” he adds over his shoulder, halfway out of the room, “you won't be allowed anything thicker than soup for the next day or so.”

“Mane,” Peter mutters after him, just to make that loving smirk grow as Ed stops just outside, turns to confer with what must be some of their retinue on guard.

Peter listens closely, picks out two satyr's voices, Trifon and Kostas, and he wonders where the wolves are; perhaps on patrol outside the house? That was certainly how he would deploy them.

Quite quickly food is brought, and under Drybones’s watchful eye, Edmund props Peter up with a cushion enough for him to eat, with a bowl in his hands, resting it on his chest when he tires. Ed sits on the low bed by his feet, tearing into some very brown but sweet-smelling bread slathered with a white butter, along with some well-salted meat, while Peter is forced to carefully spoon up his own intensely uninteresting soup, though it tastes well enough.

He notes the fervor with which Ed falls to; he must not have taken food in all the time Peter had been sleeping.

The soup is warm and soothing, no doubt infused with a healing physic of one kind or another, and Peter feels himself relaxing again. When it is all cleared and Drybones spreads a grass mat on the floor to Peter's left, the old hare is humming a whispering breezy song, singing not quite under her breath as she stetches out her paws and flops down on her side. Peter's eyes drift shut.

He snaps them open again at the scrape of wood on wood, blinks over at Edmund, taking a seat on his low stool again, sitting on Peter's other side, naked sword laid across his knees.

Only a single lantern remains lit, and shadows play across Ed’s face, making it appear thinner than usual.

“Truly?” Peter asks, sleep thickening and slowing his voice. “You are to sit up when there are guards at the doors, wolves at the windows, and the hare who once bit the head of a mad squirrel clean off is also watching over me?”

Peter ignores the faintly protesting squeak that interrupts Drybones's song, and keeps his eyes on Edmund’s, until his brother looks away.

“I shouldn't have let them separate us,” he murmurs. “I should have been there to protect you.”

Peter glances down at his side, the lump of bandages under his loose shirt at the bottom of his righthand ribs. The attack had come from the right, the place where Edmund was accustomed to stand, where so often Edmund was his shadow and shield, his righteous blade and quiet right hand.

Lord Alcsace had been right to separate them, and Peter had sadly been wrong to give him so much trust. He had turned away from the soldier walking on his right without thinking, and found a dagger buried under his ribs a moment later.

Assassination of the High King of Narnia is no small action to attempt, and Peter only prays to the Lion this will not end in war.

But that is a worry for the morrow.

“You are an ass, Edmund,” Peter grins softly. “I will need you fully alert for tomorrow's council. Do not make me command you to sleep.”

“It may not be my duty to guard you,” Edmund says, eyes drifting around the room, never still, “ but it will always be my honour.”

Peter presses his lips together, and shakes his head just a little. “Then at the least, lie beside me and guard me from there. You cannot argue that will make me even more secure.”

Edmund turns his head, looks straight at Peter as he rolls his eyes in the most un-kingly fashion possible. But he doesn’t argue, he compromises by sitting next to Peter's head, and taking his boots off, leaning back against the wall, stocking feet up on the sheets. He keeps his sword unsheathed.

Peter falls asleep to the clean smells of bandages and ointment, and close by the smell of an oiled mail shirt, leather, and the cool earthy scent of mist that is Edmund. He knows those scents well, and he knows he is safe.

Next

[hearteyespierce]

god the hits really don’t stop fucking coming do they.

[catknot]

i cant believe im a disaster lesbian

i mean i absolutely can but,

ive got this girl whos been sleeping with her hoodie and working out in it for like.. 3 nights now and she plans on giving it to me for the "scent". Which TO ME reads as obviously flirting or horny or lewd, and it started on team fortress 2, like.. we were talking the sweater came up like the delphine bathwater being sold and i said id buy every sweater she's got and she told me don't worry about it, it 's free for me

and goes on to say tonight anytime i need to re-up the smell i can just come get another sweater.. and like.??.?? shes in love with me maybe right?? im certainly head over heels right now.

she also called me good girl- 🥺💜🫠

[fadewalking]

Speaking of Post-Game, I guess I better think about detailing a verse of what comes After for him.

There will be at least two

The Good Ending and The Bad Ending verses.

[spaceratprodigy]

could i bother u for more thoughts on faith and max in a mock apple orchard 🥺👉🏻👈🏻

@gayafsatan — I would absolutely LOVE to brainstorm some fun ideas of them in a mock apple orchard!!

I've been replaying again so they've been rotating around in my mind a lot extra hard and was especially thinking about mock apple picking bc the botanical labs also has a lil orchard where you can pick mock apples up off the ground! But I'm currently in Roseway so oughhh.. ideas....

I want you now I am going to ramble a LOT so please bear with me I swearsies it'll be more fun if we get the full lore dump from my brain 😩💖💕

–

👇 ROSEWAY THOUGHTS 👇

(I AM GOING TO TALK ABT ROSEWAY THOUGHTS AS A WHOLE AND THEN EASE INTO SOME SILLY MOCK APPLE ORCHARD IDEAS AT THE END OKAY. OKAY ILY THANK YOU).

–

My thoughts are very chaotic and rambly so let me try to walk though my ideas lmao

Roseway is typically where I peg Faith's death wish arc happening, and to summarize what all that entails, it's when the mask slips and the weight of everything finally hits her in full force.

I always envision this story happening over a long period of time so a lot of time has passed since first arriving at Edgewater and the Groundbreaker.

Halcyon. Her situation. Her identity. The life Phineas threw her into abruptly and his expectations for her. Making split second moral decisions where no matter what someone is going to get hurt. Being so alien and alone, no one to understand her or believe in her predicament but having to be the mysterious competent captain regardless.

It finally gets to her. Bad. And she makes some self destructive decisions. She gets sloppy, careless, hoping someone else will end this nightmare for her. Until they almost do.

I am swiftly brushing past many details so we don't get too lost in the sauce. But Max went after her, found her collapsed and injured bad, carried her back to the ship for Ellie to do whatever she could, and then stayed by her side for as long as it took for her to wake up.

This is such a key moment for them getting closer. Because there was a lot of frustration and emotion and being forced to confront the possibility of feelings existing, but nothing they fully understand or are ready to acknowledge as such yet.

She tries to brush past the subject of what happened, deflecting everything until he raises his voice in a way he hasn't since she gave him the journal and she threatened he never talk like that to her again. And it was enough to break through her facade, for her to show just how utterly broken and vulnerable she is, and they have a proper fucking conversation about where she's at mentally. He still isn't ready for the truth about her life before. But it's a step forward.

There is a lot of patience and understanding and just. Yeah. A lot happens here. Some walls come down. There grows some room for them to become softer and closer over more time.

All of this is important because a short piece I had written a long time ago took place in this area roughly after this incident.

It was a personal outlet vent piece, I will be honest. When I wrote it it was after I had a very bad panic attack after an awful scare. And I wrote it into Faith because I just wanted to get some feelings from that experience out of my system.

The shortened version of that one is Faith recovering from a bad episode, trying to calm her breathing, waiting for her ears to stop ringing and for her vision to come back. Her legs gave out on her and she was sitting under the mock apple trees. Her voice locks up on her when she's seriously distressed. Yadda yadda yadda, Max had brought along his datapad so she could communicate anything important and she was incredibly confused because she knows he doesn't like using his datapad ever and then rendered even more speechless to know he brought it specifically for her in case something like this were to happen again. It ends with her just asking if he would keep talking to her, and they sit there under the mock apple trees for a while, in no particular rush to get anywhere.

And after this point, I think the mock apple orchards become a really peaceful, therapeutic spot for her when she just wants a moment to herself. Sits there, breathes, takes in the Roseway scenery and collects herself before jumping back into the horrors of Halcyon. Spends some time picking mock apples to take back to the ship.

I've been having a lot of ideas of her asking Max to go with her. I'm of the mind if she'd ask directly that he'd either decline, or at least pretend to be uninterested but she's the one who asked so he accepts the offer.

But I can see her being vague and just saying that she's heading out if he'd join her and she leads him to the orchards. By this point they're already often in each other's company, she indulges his interests often, letting him be the one who is finally listened to. But in general, they get along very well in conversation when it comes to a handful of similar interests and their personalities and attitudes bounce off of each other well.

(In my story anyway, since she spends an extended amount of time in Edgewater and the Vale, there was also a lot of time spent doing some early bonding with Max. So do with that info what you will. They're not likeee besties yet but they're much more than strangers by this point, ya'know? Just to get an idea of where their familiarity with each other is at and why there's enough respect and trust to some extent already existing. Not to mention how much time they had spent on the Groundbreaker).

They'd be having such a peaceful time away from the rest of the crew.

Oughhh hear me out, okay, Faith loves to bake. She doesn't even ask, she just makes Max hold her bag open while she starts collecting mock apples and after they finally head back to the ship she figures out how to make mock apple pie for the crew 😭 we already know Max doesn't care much for sweets (I wonder how sweet or tart a mock apple pie would be.. Faith girl what all Halcyon ingredients are you adding to that bad boy) but.. what if.... After everyone goes to bed...... He tries some anyway........ Because she made it..........

Most of what's bouncing around in my brain is them early on having wholesome bonding time in a spot just for the two of them. Just enjoying each other's company. Realizing they have genuine respect for each other, Faith feeling like she found a genuine friend who went to lengths further than anyone had in her entire life to make sure she survived. I am specifying Faith's feelings here intentionally. I write Max in a more complicated spot very blinded by his revenge scheme more or less unaware for a long while just how much the lines start blurring between his faith and his Faith. To put it succinctly. (Look I know I'm always drawing The Good Stuff™️ but in actuality their relationship is suchhhh a slow burn. They are not the most romantically inclined people lmao).

But also.. once she realizes she can talk to him when she needs to. I think coming back to this spot, off the ship, away from the crew, she just likes it there. She likes being there with him. She finds comfort in that spot.

OKAY BUT DO YOU KNOW WHAT ELSE WOULD BE CUTE.... they should come back here.. post-scylla and post-gorgon...... Ya'know......... The first being when they establish not wanting to be apart and the second being when they want to make that partnership a permanent one......... ASKING HER IN THE MOCK APPLE ORCHARDS WOULDN'T THAT BE DARLING ough okay I need a minute my brain is going too fast to comprehend

My Roseway ideas aren't the most cleaned up I know BUT so many important bonding moments exist and oughhhh LOOSE IDEAS ARE STILL WORTH TALKING ABOUT OKAYYYYY

I just want them to go mock apple picking together and learn how to get smiles out of each other and not understand why it makes their chests hurt but they know they need to do it again

ACTUALLYYYYY post-scylla when he's much more mellowed out and they're the closest they've been I think would be so so nice. they'd be so much softer and he'd probably be so much more involved in wanting to enjoy silly lil activities with her.....

Currently imagining him reading out loud to her, all the conversations they'd have, maybe he brings his tossball cards to show her, maybe they bring one of the lil games, have a lil makeshift picnic....

Godddd the transition between just how much enthusiasm he shows spending time with her is enough to make me explode. Can you see my vision. The reluctance, to the hesitancy, to becoming absolutely inseparable.

I HAVE A LOT TO THINK ABOUT BUT I'M GETTING SLEEPY SO SENDING IT!!!!!!

Literally feel free to add on or share your own thoughts I'm begging you lmao I promise there is so much room for ideas to be fleshed out and better put together, I'm mostly just spitballing what all I think would be incredibly fun ideas to work with. Plus I'm kind of thinking across the timeline and how much their relationship would change between each visit. And how over time they would enjoy it more and more and make each visit more special than the last.

WAIT BEFORE I LOSE THE THOUGHT!! They make a stop RIGHT BEFORE HEADING TO SCYLLA TO GO TO THE HERMIT'S LODGE!! Oh that could hurt so good omgggg. Okay okay I need to stop now I NEED TO STOP.

[kelvingemstone]

a starstruck odyssey is for lovers

[fatelcved]

may i impulsively offer a sweet kaiya for your inboxes in this trying time?

[phosphorus-noodles]

does anyone know how to. like. crack roughly 500 walnuts in less than two hours

[dapperrokyuu]

Happy Pride Month, everyone! Made a Mizi bi pride icon for myself, just wanted to archive and share, haha. Mizi frame is from the beginning shots of Sweet Dream, it fits so much, ahhh~!

[coffeeworldsasaki]

Hello back to asking mutuals and strangers extremely important work questions I guess

Unfortunately not making ads is out of the question because I'm poor and I need money to escape this hell as soon as possible and more than ads (that make very little money unless the app is extremely popular) I count on making at least a little bit by selling an ads free version. I still want to make the less unpleasant version for anyone that can't afford even uh idk I think maybe 3€ for the ads free version, I'm still deciding on that, so please vote on this thank you!