#i'm assuming his trip outside was uneventful

[adaptacy]

A Found Flame {Pt.3}

Pairing: Mentor!Gale Dekarios x Apprentice!GN!Reader

(Previous Chapter) – (Next Chapter) ➔ (AO3)

A/N: Tumblr word limit is fucking me up y'all icl. I had two (2) scenes for this next chapter and those two scenes ended up being EIGHT THOUSAND words so uhm.... i'm splitting this up into 2 sections because aforementioned tumblr word limit izza bitch. But, the full chapter will be on my ao3! I'll post the second half as a part 4 on tumblr eventually, but if you don't wanna wait, go check out the ao3.

Word Count: 2.7k

You weren’t gone for more than two hours, your peaceful retreat to the forest as relaxing and uneventful as you’d expected it to be. The sun had set now, the stars beginning to reveal their white twinkles in the sky above. Aside from the forest-scented crispness in the air, it carries a gentle flowery aroma– or at least the space between your nose and the bouquet you’d created does. It was a mix of purple and indigo, colors you knew he enjoyed, the two plants you’d chosen to harvest on your trip being the autumncrocus and a few small traveling balsam – a rare sight when you weren’t particularly close to any mountains. Along with that, your woven basket contains a very aromatic bunch of lavender billitri flowers and golden honeysuckles, ingredients you planned to boil in your attempt at making tea later in the evening.

Now completely without the protection of the warming sun, you find yourself much more appreciative of your shawl, clutching the sides a little closer to your chest as you retrace your steps back down the trail you had been following. Spotting the edge of the forest, it isn’t long before you emerge once more, and your trip back to the tower is a short one, though it is disrupted by a peculiar sight just outside the familiar building.

“Gale?” You ask, your voice quiet, immediately noticing that he seems rather at peace, distracted by something in the distance. He stands in the garden, wearing a long winter coat, the clothing a blush plum shade in color. The hood, trimmed with a thin black fur, bunches around his neck, a surprising sight given his sensitivity to winter’s company. He turns at your interruption, attempting to smile in greeting, though it registers on his face as though it’s not meant to be there, revealing a burdened discomfort, one that you were nearly positive was brought on by the unforgiving cold. His eyes lower to the flowers in your hand as you approach, head tilting.

“I must admit, you had me mildly ill at ease. You didn’t come back for some time, I’d begun to assume the garden had buried you,” he chuckles, motioning towards your basket. “Though… I see you must have become occupied elsewhere.” His eyes meet yours again, and he then gestures instead towards the empty, frost-bitten garden beds. “How long have they been bare?” 

Stopping a few feet before him, you contemplate his question, eventually replying with “All winter. The majority of them died during our first autumn freeze. We had so many harvests in stock, I didn’t see much of a point in replanting winter crops.” Gale’s gaze becomes one of disdain, and you frown, realizing how this subtle betrayal must look. “My apologies for lying to you. I didn’t mean to mislead – I wanted to surprise you, actually.”

You extend him the flowers, though he doesn’t quite notice the offering. “No, I’m not upset with you. I wasn’t aware it’s been that long since I’ve visited the garden. Seven moons, give or take. Seven moons that I’ve been stuck inside.”

“Well, you’ve been busy. And I don’t mind running errands. You’ve had important things to do,” you remind, inspecting the hardened soil in the wooden beds. To your dismay, you notice hints of pale green weeds poking out of the edges, sure to prove a hassle when the time comes to replant spring crops.

After a few seconds of silence, he regards you once more. “You wanted to surprise me?”

“Oh, yes.” Again, you extend him the flowers, and he receives them this time, analyzing the bunch as though he had been asked to judge them. “I went out to the forest. It was quite serene, and pretty – even with the trees as barren as they are. You’re welcome to join me next time, you know, if you ever want to get out.”

Gale’s smile hardens, picking up a little more rectitude, and he lifts the flowers to his nose, relishing in the fresh floral scents. “Balsam. A product of the winter; they’re usually only found on the upper levels of mountains, however it seems the reduced temperatures have drawn them from their usual environment. Even this far away from home, they survive. It’s quite a spectacle to behold, as simple as it may seem. In unfamiliar surroundings and uncharted territory, they acclimate without issue,” he hums, though his smile cracks into a mischievous smirk, and he shrugs towards you, shooting you a playful wink. “Well, until they were plucked, that is.”

“I almost feel bad for harvesting them,” you chuckle.

Gale shakes his head, his free hand waving away your guilt. “Hardly. Although gifting them to me is a sure promise of their demise,” he laughs, and you do the same, knowing that you were absolutely signing them a death warrant by entrusting them in his care. “I see these aren’t the only goods you retrieved.” 

Noticing that he was eyeing your basket, you nod again. “I was going to make tea to accompany our dinner. I really didn’t intend on being absent for so long. Blame the trees, luring me in with their promises of pretty flowers,” you tease. “If you haven’t already made a meal, I don’t mind–”

“Nonsense. Dinner has already been prepared; mushroom stew and potato wedges, as per Tara’s suggestion. While our plates may not be warm anymore, I'm sure I can conjure up something or other to reheat them.” Gale glances at the building, and then he looks towards the sky, and you realize he’d been gazing at the upper crescent of the emerging moon before you’d interrupted him.

“Do you ever miss the stars?” You ask, tilting your head up to view the star-scattered darkness as well. 

“I see enough from the balcony – or so I had convinced myself. In truth, there’s little comparison to the beauty of a full sky. I suppose I’d forgotten that much. Now that I’ve been reminded, however, I suppose I have missed their company. No shade to my view from the balcony, but the combination of fresh air and a vast universe as far as the eye can see could hardly be contained in the pocket outside of my window.”

“Would you like to sit and stargaze for a little while?”

Gale lowers his head to look at you, and you meet his eye, looking to make up for your absence by providing company to what he seemed to already be in the middle of doing before you’d stumbled upon him. You’re hungry, sure, and dinner sounded nice, but you don’t mind staying out for a little while longer. You aren’t sure when you might get another chance to make such an offer, as he had a tendency to lose himself in his studies, and you often got lost in your own duties. Gale contemplates it for a few moments before eventually nodding. “A hard bargain you drive. I suppose now is as good a time as any to indulge in my affinity for the stars.”

The two of you find a place just outside of the garden beds to sit, and you place the bouquet in your basket, setting it aside as you lay back, arms crossed behind your head, with Gale imitating a similar position next to you. There isn’t any conversation for several minutes, but it’s far from silent. The winter whispers her goodbyes with talkative crickets as her vessels, and the wind carries its own tales, the stars punctuating each and every foreign line. 

It isn’t until the moon reveals her upper half over the horizon that Gale finally speaks, the ambience of the outer city quieting enough to merely support his voice instead of speak alongside it. “The stars never change. No matter the wars, no matter the disasters, no matter the time, no matter the place, they remain consistent. Such perseverance is enviable.” 

“They don’t really need to change. Do you think they’re even capable of it?”

“Of change?” He asks.

“Of change,” you clarify.

“Well, some stars fizzle out. Perhaps all stars have an end, eventually. As untouchable as they are, even they cannot avoid death. Aside from that, they seem to be free of even Selûne’s interference. I’ve never even heard a tale of them rearranging.” His answer is hardly that, and you allow him the chance to think before he provides a reply that’s much closer to an answer. “I’m not sure. Perhaps they do, while we sleep. They could have every eye fooled; they may swap places while they aren’t watched. Mischievous little bastards.” 

You chuckle, amused at such an idea. “Maybe the ability to change is more impressive than being so stubborn as to remain the same for eons upon eons. Like the Balsam. One is able to adapt to new situations, the other is so stubborn as to stay the same for what seems like an eternity.” You glance over at Gale, and he shrugs, unsure his stance on the matter. You look back to the sky. “I can’t believe some people have never seen them.” You recall stories and mentions of cave communities, light-starved species that inhabit places such as the underdark, and you struggle to imagine it. You’ve always found it a hard truth to face. “To not know the songs that the moon sings, or the art that the stars create – it sounds like a bard’s folktale.”

“They find their light elsewhere, I have to assume.”

“Like where?” You question, curious for a potential explanation.

“Anywhere. Light comes in more forms than the sun and stars. I know of flora that glows in such places. Fire is always a possibility. Or, it could very well be from those around them. Though that is a more metaphorical take on the subject. You must bear in mind that light isn’t much of a necessity for eyes adapted to the very absence of it,” he explains, releasing a soft sigh. “Though, personally, I can’t imagine having never seen the sky before. The beauty it holds – well, it can’t be properly shared through mere discussion of the topic.” 

“Drawings definitely don’t do it any justice, either,” you agree. “Of everything the gods have crafted, I think the night sky is my favorite artwork.” 

“Indeed. Not even Mystra’s most trained magic could come close to recreating such a sight. And yet so many pass under it without ever paying it much mind. A great gift it is, only to still be taken for granted so often. Ah, but I’m hardly one to speak – I’ve spent so long reading about it I’ve forgotten to take a moment and truly appreciate it.” His voice is tainted with some edge of regret, and you look over at him, studying his profile as he is entirely captivated by the view above. 

Maybe only thanks to the moon, there’s an innocent light in his eyes, his warm features highlighted by the cool blue hues. The peace his expression rests at is an uncommon one, and it makes you appreciate it even more. The man always seemed to jump between deflective, cocky sarcasm and quiet, thoughtful anxiety. But here, the stillness of the night granted you an opportunity to peer behind the curtain, and what lay backstage was an awfully pretty sight. 

Although he’s visibly tired, and his mind is surely contaminated by plenty of busy thoughts, you’re convinced this is the closest to relaxation you’d ever seen him. His fingers are interlaced where his hands rest on his chest, black gloves concealing his skin and keeping them warm. 

He’s handsome in the same way that the moon is; he has his own glow, though it isn’t anything close to the bright light that the sun casts. It’s a silent glow, and even when he sometimes feels far away, lost in his own mind, miles from the present moment, it always remains a comforting sight. Gale could’ve been the leader of the stars, he could’ve been untouchable by the gods, he could’ve been unchanging and everlasting, and you’re sure that you wouldn’t have noticed a difference from the man that lay before you now. Here, even with as human as he is, and although he remains so perfectly flawed, he is utterly invincible. 

His eyes trace the distant lines between constellations, making you wonder if recalling the stories behind them quieted whatever stress stirred in his mind. For as many jokes and remarks he made about his age, he could’ve fooled even the most insightful with his youthful appearance. Of course, his true age would be quickly revealed by his personality – his sense of humor and odd mannerisms easily giving away the reality. 

Admiring him now causes the smallest seed to be planted in the dark depths of your mind. Why did you agree to stay? You’d never really questioned your reasoning, and neither did he. You’d never minded helping him, and the shelter and company was certainly appreciated. When you’d originally agreed to help him, it was only for a little while, helping out around the house so he could get his life back in order after an event he wasn’t particularly fond of discussing. You’d assumed it would be a two or three week ordeal so you could get back on your own feet as well, the agreement a mutually beneficial one.

Maybe it was his unpredictable charm – his playfulness, his self-deprecating but amusing jokes, his shielded validation. You also liked having a place; A roof over your head, warm dinners, and the comfort of his laid-back lifestyle was plenty enough to please you. He even had plenty enough coin to cover whatever he could’ve needed, and that luxury was one you’d never quite had the pleasure of experiencing before. But beyond the physical items of your affection, you had a home. As strange as it was to call his tower such a personal term, it was hard to deny. His house had become a home, and that much was made possible purely by his companionship. So you’d found a place, one that housed you both physically and emotionally. A place with him. 

His head turns to find you staring at him. At the unexpected discovery, his eyes widen as though he isn’t sure how to react to your gaze. You remain still and assured in your spying, giving him a gentle smile. Then he smiles too, and his peace is helplessly contagious. “We should do this more often,” you propose, and Gale nods.

“A fine idea that is. Is it warm?” He asks, and you furrow your brows. “The shawl,” he clarifies. “Are you warm enough?”

“Oh, yeah. Well, I’m still a little cold, but it’s not an issue,” you reply, shrugging. 

Gale frowns for a moment – not because he’s hurt, instead it’s more of a thoughtful frown, as if he’s studying difficult material – before seeming to come upon an idea. Unlocking his fingers, he reaches out and stretches his arm behind you, using his other hand to motion for you to shuffle closer. You obey his implied order, and his arm comes to slide under your head, his hand rubbing your outer shoulder in a small, but thoughtful, attempt at trying to warm you up. “If you’d rather go inside, do let me know. I’m hardly a fan of the cold myself, but the sight is nothing short of beautiful tonight. The moon has always been quite the charismatic one. I’d like to enjoy the moment, and the view – if you’ll be so kind as to join me.”

After a moment of deliberation, you inch even closer, your side against his, finding the warmth that his body produces pleasantly familiar. You’re reminded of your revisited memory from earlier in the day, and you allow your head to rest against him, comforted by the closeness. “I’d love to. Maybe we’ll get lucky and spot a shooting star.” 

“Unlikely, but I respect the optimism,” he hums teasingly, turning his attention back to the stars. You close your eyes, listening to the beating of his heart, feeling his hand rest on your arm and secure your presence close to him. You do intend on opening your eyes again to admire the sky for a while longer, but it isn’t long before you unwillingly drift off, eased enough to be lulled to sleep under the protection of the moon. 

[the-earl-in-the-tower]

"We almost done it...." Elizabeth said with a deep sigh. It was one of those days she secretly visited her cousin. "But this Simmel, I have no idea where he came from"

“Hmm…” A distracted hum, bordering on a sigh. He was sitting on his bed, arms wrapped around his legs with his chin resting on his bent knees, and was in no mood to be consoled. Elizabeth’s attempt to explain to the little earl why he could not go outside again was falling on deaf ears. 

The appearance of Lambert Simnel had probably been the most exciting thing to happen to Warwick since… since… oh, he could not remember… The very thought of someone looking just like him, sharing his name and taking up his cause, had been oh so exciting! He had longed to meet this ‘Other Edward’, to stand face-to-face with him, to see if they were as similar as his supporters claimed. King Henry had even let Edward outside for two whole days, travelling to St. Paul’s with his cousin of Lincoln! Everything had suddenly changed and everything was new and exciting and then everything was… suddenly back to normal again…

And he did not like it.

“But I did what I was told! I was good when we went to Mass. That was the other boy who did all those bad things, Lizzie…”

[therealvinelle]

Ok I'm embarrassed to admit this, but I'm just now copying your Norwegian Bella AU into a text translator, and if you don't already have 50 people in your inbox demanding a translation then shame on ALL OF US because this is glorious! And while Google Translate does have a certain charm (it translated "piper hun ut" as "she beeps") I'm curious to see how you'd put it in English.

Troquantary is referring to this post. In which Bella doesn't speak English.

Fun fact, you're the only one who's gone into my inbox to request this. I was so sad, had the translation half-written and everything, but I was too proud to beg. So thank you, Troquantary, for popping this ask.

As for the dictionary fuckups, sounds about right. I made a few typos, too, that made Google Translate suffer even more. (Such as managing to mix up "henne" (her) and "hendene" (hands), resulting in Aro patting Bella instead of clapping his hands. Poor Google.)

Also, there are a few cultural references and language things that would be lost in the translation, in an attempt to keep them I included notes clarifying things.

Some things, like Aro and Carlisle's very old man way of speaking, are easier said than done to translate, you'll have to bear with me there.

Additional notes are that I added a few things to this version, many of them because translating is hard, but a few because while translating I thought "oh you know what would be much funnier-" and then wrote that.

Alright, without further ado:

When Renée left Charlie she did not go to Florida, she went to Oslo. And she went all in to make her daughter a true Norwegian, hiring Norwegian nannies and making sure never to speak English around the child. Since transatlantic flights are expensive, little Bella Swan rarely got to visit her father, and as such she never did learn what should have been her native language.

She quickly forgot what English she did have in favor of Norwegian, with the exception of words like “Yes”, “No”, and “I’m Bella”.

The few trips she took to visit her father were all the more awkward than in canon since she couldn’t play with the Black kids. Let not the blame fall upon Charlie: he took Norwegian classes and speaks conversational Norwegian. He can’t speak to Renée, because her Norwenglish is incomprehensible even to Norwegians, but he can communicate with Bella.

Not that he’s had a lot of chances to do so.

Bella makes it to seventeen years old, she’s in second grade at Handels* and is a major outsider among the preps there, and then Renée marries a handsome skier**. Together they shall travel the continent all winter to participate in as many skiing races as they can, and in the summer they’ll take gigs at Hurtigruta to see the coast.

*“Handels” is the nickname for an Oslo high school infamous for its pupils being rich and beautiful blonds who are going to be CEOs when they grow up.

**Skiing as a sport is huge in Norway

***Hurtigruta is a famous ferry that travels across the Norwegian West coast

Bella, who sucks at skiing and is too young to work at Hurtigruten, takes the hint.

With dread in her stomach and dictionary in hand she goes to her father in America.

Where she doesn’t speak the language.

Faen.

Charlie gives her a car, and I wish this meta was set in the present because I could have joked about electric cars and the automat only driver’s license*, but Twilight is set in 2005 so I can’t. The car part proceeds without drama.

*An increasing number of Norwegian youth take the driver’s license for automatic cars only, and we’re the country in the world with the highest percentage of electric car purchases.

School is worse than in canon, because she is now a thousand times more sensational than if she was merely the new student. She is from another country! All of Forks keels over with excitement.

To make matters even worse, our girl doesn’t understand a word of what people are saying.

She is too awkward to let them know she doesn’t know English. It’d become a thing, and they might think she’s dumb. To be fair, it’s not good that she’s been through primary, secondary, and now a year and a half of high school and still sucks at English.

So she nods, smiles, mumbles “Hi, I’m Bella” to the new faces, and blushes heavily when anybody says anything.

People assume she’s shy. That’s a bit boring, but oh well.

She has her biology class with the redhead hottie she noticed during lunch. She watched him and his family, they were fascinatingly pretty, but she doesn’t know anything more about them. Sure would have been great if she could have asked the tiny girl (was it Jess?) about them.

Biology proceeds as in canon - Edward badly wants to eat the delicious girl, but fortunately doesn’t.

She runs into him in the office when he tries to switch to another biology lesson, but she has no idea what he’s saying so she only has the suspicion that this somehow concerns her. Which is still uncomfortable, but Bella is probably the problem here. The hottie surely can’t be.

He’s missing from school for a week, Bella finds that weird.

He returns, and to her great horror he starts talking to her.

“Hello”, he says.

Bella dies inside. He’s too handsome!

"I'm Edward Cullen," he continues, and ok, she got that. The hottie is called Edward, that’s good to know. She’s not sure she caught that last name, though, Köln?

He says something else, it’s gibberish to Bella even though she’s concentrating, and at the end there he says “Bella Swan”.

She gulps.

"I'm Bella Swan," she confirms and nods. That should be correct. God, she hopes it’s correct.

He smiles a crooked, boyish smile. She’s awed. She didn’t think it was possible to be so beautiful.

He says something else.

Bella didn’t catch it.

She blushes even harder, she hasn’t been more embarrassed in her life. Here he is, the most handsome guy in all the world, and she has nothing to say to him. Literally, they don’t speak the same language.

She should tell him.

It’s one thing to chicken out of telling the town she doesn’t speak English, but there’s something different about Edward Cullen. He deserves the truth.

But...

He’s the most beautiful person she has seen in her life. He is American, too, so the odds of him knowing Norwegian are microscopical. If he finds out she doesn’t understand a word he says he’ll stop talking to her, and selfish as she is she doesn’t want that.

So with a slightly guilty conscience (but not enough to fess up) she contributes to the conversation with enough words and smiles to pull through. "Yes", "No", "Thank you", and "That's nice".

He is surprised by several of these answers, but instead of giving her odd looks and losing interest he grows more invested in the conversation.

Class ends.

The next day the near accident happens, and he saves her. She is stunned - dear god, did he just pick up a whole car? After teleporting across the parking lot..?

Soon she’s in the ER, and more than a little bit stressed about that fact since she knows the Americans have a terrible healthcare system.

She hopes Charlie has an insurance.

An insanely beautiful man walks into the ER, and Bella is shocked. He is just as handsome as Edward and Edward’s lunch friends!

He introduces himself as Carlisle Cullen, and Bella can only assume this is someone’s older brother. Possibly related to the blonde girl.

He smiles at her, says something, and she answers, "I'm Bella Swan."

He frowns.

That must have been the wrong answer, then.

His hands return to investigating her scalp, and to her great surprise he switches to perfect Norwegian, "kjenner De* noe ubehag når jeg holder her?" Do you feel any discomfort when I touch here?

*De is the Norwegian polite pronoun for “you”. Du = thou = the French tu, and De = you = the French vous. These polite pronouns went out of use in the 1980’s, save for when addressing royal persons, and would be considered antiquated in 2005.

He hurries to add, "Norsk lærte jeg i... fjor sommer. Det var et nettkurs." I learned Norwegian… last year. Online class.

"Hvilket da?" Which one? Bella asks, because Charlie needs to hear about this. The doctor has beautiful, if slightly outdated, pronunciation.

The doctor’s smile turns uncertain. She gets the feeling there’s something he doesn’t want to say. "Husker ikke," I don’t remember, sier han etter en litt vel lang pause.

That’s a shame. And weird.

"De hadde hellet med Dem i dag, som ikke ble truffet av den bilen." You were lucky today, not getting hit by that car. he then says, noticeably changing the subject.

"Det var ikke hell, det var Edward," It wasn’t luck, it was Edward, she replies sharply.

The doctor definitely looks uncomfortable.

She continues, "Han krysset skolegården på et blunk, og plukket opp hele bilen. Jeg så det," He crossed the schoolyard in a moment, and picked up the whole car. I saw it,

The doctor laughs. "Om han kunne det hadde nok gymkarakteren hans vært meget bedre. Nei, frøken Swan*, jeg beklager å si at det høres ut som at De er litt omtåket. Det er helt normalt ved hjernerystelse." If he could do that, his PE grade would be a lot better. No, Miss Swan, I’m sorry to say you seem confused. That’s normal with concussions.

*Addressing a young woman as “frøken” is even more outdated than using polite pronouns.

Why does Bella get the feeling he’s lying?

She’s discharged.

We’ll jump ahead to her trip to La Push - that trip uneventful, since Jacob knows she doesn’t speak English. They stick their hands in their pockets and stare at the sea.

The next day she’s shanghaied to Port Angeles, because apparently she said “Yes” at the wrong time when talking to Jessica (Turns out Jess’s name was Jessica!) and accidentally said yes to a day trip to Port Angeles.

Like in canon she wanders away from the others, and as in canon she is nearly gang raped. And again as in canon she is saved at the last moment by Edward.

He buys her dinner, and she can’t believe her own luck- and misfortune. A date with the most handsome guy on the planet (hence the luck) and she can’t say a word to him (hence the misfortune)!

He says things to her, lends her his jacket, and really this is it for Bella, she’s peaked, life can’t get better than this.

(That’s a lie, it would be better if she spoke English.)

He’s so amazing.

She’s gotten pretty good at navigating conversations with him, so she nods and aha’s her way through.

In his car on the way home the tone takes a more serious turn.

He asks her about something, and it’s a serious question, that much she’s gathered. She answers in the confirmative.

He is silent.

Did she say anything wrong?

(Edward, on his end, just asked if she knows what he is. She said yes, so calmly, not even a trace of fear in her.)

A few days later he takes her out on a walk in the woods.

He shows her a meadow in the woods, and when he steps into it he lights up in the sunlight.

Bella is in shock.

She knew there was something different about him, but- holy cow. This guy isn’t human.

Is she dating a god?

She stumbles into the clearing after him, and they spend a day together where he says things, and she can barely hear any of it (nevermind understand it) because she’s so distracted by how pretty he is.

The next day he takes her to a house in the middle of nowhere. She doesn’t want to guess that this can be where he lives. Surely gods don’t live in houses?

He shows her inside the house, and introduces her for Dr. Cullen and a lady with a name she doesn’t catch.

Bit weird that these two are acting like a couple of parents, they’re far too young and divine for that.

Edward shows her around in an old-fashioned office, and she doesn’t know what to make of i when she sees a painting of Carlisle. Edward launches into a long story when he sees her watching it, unfortunately she doesn’t catch any dates or artist names. At one point she heard the word “suicide”, though, and that’s not good.

She doesn’t get much out of the story.

The baseball game doesn’t happen because Bella didn’t pick up on what Edward wanted and didn’t realize she was being invited to a thing. They spend the afternoon watching a movie instead.

The relationship continues, impeded slightly by communication problems, but she’s mostly able to cover those up.

Until her birthday comes around.

She gets a papercut.

Jasper lunges at her. Edward throws her into a glass table, and then everyone is leaving.

Carlisle is kind enough to switch to Norwegian when he’s stitching up her arm, perhaps remembering the last time she was his patient. "Jasper har ikke vært på dietten vår så veldig lenge." Jasper hasn’t been on our diet for very long.

"Diett?"she asks. She’s never seen Edward eat anything. She wasn’t clear on what the Cullens ate, honestly she thought they were above such things. She was thinking maybe photosynthesis. The knowledge that they apparently eat food astounds her, but diets?

"Dyreblod istedenfor menneskeblod," Animal blood in stead of human blood, Carlisle clarifies.

Whachasay?

Carlisle gives a slight smile. “Jaspers liv som vampyr fikk en brutal start." Jasper’s life as a vampire got off to a brutal start.

...

Vampire?!

Bella’s missed something here.

Oh dear lord, oh fy faen, she has missed something.

“Åja”, uh huh, is all she can say, and suddenly she’s very aware of the fact that she’s sitting there with a bleeding arm.

And Carlisle.

Who is a vampire.

Over the course of the following conversation Bella makes a host of discoveries.

Edward has been a vampire this whole time, and he’s a telepathic vampire. Whether Bella should be a vampire too or not has been a matter of hot debate, but due to religious reasons Edward doesn’t want that.

Carlisle also brings up how Edward died of the Spanish flu.

"Jeg var under den oppfatning at Edward fortalte deg bakhistorien min?" I was under the impression Edward told you my back story? Carlisle asks at one point, and Bella just has to ask very nicely if he’d be so kind as to repeat it.

Turns out the guy is nearly four hundred years old.

Jaha.

Jahahaha jaa ha.

That’s… a lot.

She wanders out of the house in shock, and hardly notices Edward’s strange behavior over the next couple of days.

One day he picks her up at school, and takes her behind the house.

That works out.

He’s a vampire, but he never hurt her. He is endlessly beautiful, perhaps easier to love now that she knows he’s not a god. He’s her Edward, and that’s suddenly easier now that she knows.

They can still be together.

But now that she knows this about him, it’s about time he knows something about her as well.

It’s time to finally be honest with him.

So when he opens his mouth, she opens her mouth as well, but she doesn’t get any further than to “Edward-” before he launches into a monologue.

She’ll have to wait until he’s done before saying her piece. It’s a bit embarrassing, but it doesn’t seem like he intends to stop talking anyway.

And what he’s saying seems to be serious, so it’s probably best to let him finish.

Edward concludes his monologue by kissing her forehead. Then he disappears.

Where did he go?

A big unsure, Bella goes back to the house. She’ll just have to wait until he gets back.

She doesn’t know what to think when Charlie returns from work and tells her the Cullens have all left.

Oh, god.

Edward must have found out she doesn’t speak English.

She made a mockery of him.

He has every right to leave.

Knowing this doesn’t make it any easier to live with.

Bella sinks into a depression.

The hallucinations begin, as in canon, though Hallusinward speaks Norwegian. Thank god for small mercies.

The friendship with Jacob (dictionary in hand) blooms, as someone has to help her see those hallucinations.

The cliff diving happens, and Alice shows up. Bella’s not sure what this is about, but she has gotten good enough at English to know that something bad happened, and Alice wants them to do something.

She’s a bit surprised to find herself on a plane to Italy, though.

Alice tells her to “Run to Edward” and ok, she got that, actually.

So she saves Edward.

After that she’s taken into the sewer, which turns out to house dozens of vampires.

Bella, Edward, and Alice are received in some kind of hall, where an unusual vampire has quite a bit to say. She understands some of what he’s saying, at least the part about “la tua cantante”. She knows a bit about Italian, see, so she knows that he’s talking about a song now.

She wishes she knew the context.

At one point he takes her hand, and appears fascinated by it. She wonders if he’s a palmreader. Not very vampirey, but what does she know.

He asks her a question.

"Yes," she says.

Saying yes has gotten her this far, after all.

But when he lights up and claps his hands together, and Edward and Alice stare at her in shock and betrayal, she knows she must have said the wrong thing.

The two are dismissed from the room before Bella can do or say anything, she’s just listening to Edward make a racket outside in the hallway.

Not good.

The unusual vampire brings her further down in his sewer palace to a basement, and she is given comfortable clothes to wear.

This is getting terrifying.

The vampire leans towards her - and she chickens out.

"Jeg snakker ikke engelsk!" she squeaks. "Non habla ingles!" I don’t speak English.

Han stanser, og ser forvirret ut. "Que- Hva behager*?" I beg your pardon? spør han etter et øyeblikk.

*A very formal, and slightly outdated (you can use it, but people will think you’re putting on airs. And they will be right) way of saying “excuse me?”

Sobbing, Bella tells him the whole story, from how she didn’t want to be the weird kid in school to how she’s now somehow in Italy without knowing why nor what she just agreed to.

When she’s done the vampire starts laughing.

"Dette forklarer jo en hel del," This explains quite a bit, ler han. "Men, kjære Bella, jeg er redd det ikke endrer noe." But, my dear Bella, I’m afraid it changes nothing.

He tells her that she has agreed to serve him and his army of undead warriors into eternity.

Well fuck.

"Du skal få slippe det, når du ikke visste hva du samtykket til - men skjebnen din forblir den samme. Loven er loven." You’re released from that promise, as you didn’t know what you agreed to - but your fate remains the same. The law is the law.

After a moment of silence, during which she looks terrified, he hurries to add, "Vi har en lov. Du må bli en av oss." We have a law. You must become one of us.

A law that Bella Swan has to become a vampire?

People are finally speaking Norwegian, and Bella is still lost. And it’s too embarrassing to keep pestering this poor, polite man with questions.

So she nods.

He gives her a glittering smile, and bites her.

When she wakes, Aro offers her an English course. A language course that, naturally, leads to her staying in Volterra. Why not learn a few more languages while we’re at it, dearest Bella?

Some time later Edward breaks into Volterra to save his Rapunzel, only to barely recognize her now that she’s a vampire who says things. Lots of things, she talks all the time now. WHAT DID ARO DO TO HER.

Too mortified to admit that she never spoke English, Bella claims she’s been brainwashed.

Aro is having too much fun to correct her, and the whole sad affair sets off a regrettable flood of rumors.

[antarax]

𝐇𝐮𝐬𝐡𝐞𝐝 𝐂𝐨𝐧𝐟𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬

It's late at night when Damian makes a stop by your house with the intention to confess his feelings for you.

Damian Wayne x Black!Reader, gender neutral.

Words: 2,105

AN: Happy Valentine’s to all the beautiful black people in the fandom!! I dedicate this one to all of us, who rarely get any works that include us or are actually vague enough to. Hope you enjoy it 💞

It was a quiet, cold night in Gotham. Neon city lights blurred into your room as the muffled sounds of the videogame on the old TV kept you company, the blue hue of the fluorescent lights washing over your bedroom even through half-pulled curtains. 

The day had been a slow and uneventful one. For you, at least, after the hope of receiving someone's valentine had been completely blown off, the same energy manifesting itself in you as the night also dragged itself along. 

You almost jumped out of your skin at the sound of your window opening, having had no expectations of anything more for the day –that, and the fact that it was well into the night already. You saw Damian standing outside with his hand on the window sill, a bag in the other, Robin uniform dirty and tattered as his cape fluttered violently with the breeze. 

He seemed stuck in his place, as if he had been the one surprised, frowning like he hadn't expected you in your own room. 

The slight semblance of a smile grew on your face, "Well, come in," you said, pausing the game. 

It wasn't uncommon for Damian to stop by your building after a busy night, the moon shining beautifully in the sky and the clouds a beautiful swirl of the light as he came through your window expertly quiet. But, even then with the known comfortability and trust you two had managed to reach in your relationship, it also wasn't uncommon to feel like remnants of the younger, more insecure Damian still clung to him slightly. 

Slightly as in  heavily. 

You watched him as he moved into the small space and set down the bag on the floor, taking off his gloves and mask with the rough delicacy you associated with him. 

He stood as if he was tightly wound up, like perhaps he could breathe wrong, or whatever new, unspoken rule he'd created for himself plagued his mind now. 

It was a little funny. 

"I'm not going to eat you, you know?" 

Damian rolled his eyes, "I'm aware." 

"Doesn't look like it," You muttered, glancing down at the controller in your hands, "What's in the bag anyways?" 

"I— Things." 

You raised a brow. 

"Food, sweets. Drinks." 

"Really?" 

"Yes," Damian replied, sitting down and sagging against the wall underneath the windowsill, chest rising and falling slowly as he exhaled deeply. Damian grabbed the bag again, putting it down next to you, "They're yours." 

You set aside the controller and rummaged through the bag, the thoughts racing in your head. Damian knew you well and you him, your friendship spanning over a few years now. There had been a lot you'd trusted him with. Secrets, worries, embarrassing shit you'd done that still haunted you and Damian had been no different. He let you in on his bigger secret, how he carried the mantle of Robin every night. Some of his deepest remorses were ones that you had knowledge of; although never diving too deep in the murky waters of Damian’s life, you still valued the clear trust he had in you. 

And along all these moments, every opportunity you've had to know each other, slowly and softly peeling aside the layers covering the people you were, a warm intimacy rooted itself in your growing friendship. A comfortable sort of intimacy. 

Every once in a while you stopped by the manor on the quiet days where it was only Alfred and the animals. You helped Alfred in the kitchen whenever he was practicing for a new recipe or baking a dessert for the family later in the day. You spent hours with Damian in his room, where his cat Alfred would always curl up next to you on his bed as he worked on his art, walking around the manor or playing around with Titus and Batcow in the manor's backyard –which, really, was just an enormous open field that they were too humble to call so– and sometimes you'd even earn an invitation to dinner. 

As for you, Damian tended to visit at night more so than day, but there were moments where he would show up on a sunny afternoon when everyone else wasn't home, slumping down on your couch for an hour or two before going back to his own things. Sometimes he'd drop by books he'd seen at the library, a small trinket he'd bought at the store and various other paraphernalia that, somehow, you always ended up loving. 

Damian knew your taste well, and there was no doubt he'd spend countless amounts of time pondering over each of his gifts before they ever reached your hands. All things that while anyone else might have brushed over you appreciated immensely. 

"You know," you began as you leaned back into the foot of your bed, ripping off pieces from a napkin you'd taken out of the bag, buying time. Hesitating, "I actually— sort of, was hoping for a valentine this year." 

You gazed at Damian's eyes, your interest boring into them, digging as deep as you were allowed. They looked nervous, hilariously so. Almost like he'd been caught. But caught... doing what, exactly? 

Perhaps caught in the middle of staring back at you as he'd tend to do; how he'd tend to do and assumed you didn't notice. 

Or maybe caught when he would discreetly drop off something in your room or your locker after having seen it at the store or the cafeteria and knowing immediately you'd like it, always behind the guise of simple complacency. Caught, in his true intentions, what truly made him do all these otherwise insignificant things that were much too small even for somebody as detail-driven as Damian. 

Olive-colored eyes still shifted uncomfortably in front of you as the sole giveaway of the true nervousness Damian was drowning in, refusing to show anything more of himself, even when it mattered. 

Especially when it mattered. It was frustrating. 

"You were?" 

"Yeah," You shifted in your spot, "I was." 

No one could ever, ever know something about Damian that he didn't share. It's just not something you could do. Not when it came to him. Anybody who knew anything at all about who Damian Wayne is, at his core in existence, knows it only because he's allowed them to. 

And he'd allowed you to know this too, and yet now he was hesitating. 

"You wished to have... a valentine. Anyone?" 

"Anyone." 

"You could have, easily, if you wanted it," Damian rolled his eyes. 

"I could?" You smiled, and the twinkle in your eyes was nothing short of mischievous. 

"Yes." 

"Reeeally. How?" 

Damian slouched against the wall, "Well, you'd simply have to ask," he said it as if it had been an obvious fact, "I'm sure anyone at the academy would've said yes." 

Your smile widened as you raised your brows, "Oh?" 

Damian frowned, "You are making fun of me." 

"What do you mean? How." 

Damian crossed his arms as you laughed. 

"You think I'm making fun of you," you protested, "I'm not." 

"TT." 

"There's something you want to say, isn't there? Just spit it out, Damian." 

Damian's eyes lingered all over the room. His hands had started to sweat a while ago and by then, his heart had sped up so much he was sure it was making some attempt at breaking through and out of his chest. 

Originally, his plan had been to drop by and bring you a gift, but then he'd gotten nervous and internally malfunctioned, because he'd bought a double of everything so that you wouldn't assume it had been a gift and instead just him coming by to hang out like he always did. 

He had planned to come by, tell you he'd... harbored a few unwanted feelings towards you and hoped you would have been tired enough that you wouldn't have realized it, but clearly, his plan had flipped over backwards and blown up in his face. 

Damian took as deep a breath as possible with his collar putting him in a choke hold, as if trying to push out his words while simultaneously wanting to keep them buried the deepest he could. 

"I— hm," He stared intently at the floor, for the first time in a while feeling like the small child who would trip over his own emotions again, but he was resolved to tell you, "I like you. I suppose." 

It hadn't been surprising to Damian. More that it was hard to accept. He'd mulled over it for a long, long time. In fact, the reason he'd visited you tonight, made up his mind to tell you so, had been his ridiculously embarrassing performance. 

Being surprised by petty thieves and thrown out of the loop by measly codes, none of which happen, ever, not to him at least. Damian was far above such childish mistakes, at least so he thought until he started taking a closer look at his own thoughts and realized your eyes had gone from brown to 'beautiful pools of honey', your skin a beautiful, shining shade of brown. 

He was an artist, after all. He'd spent afternoons studying his environment, the shapes and colors, how everything fit in together; you were no stranger to his thoughts. 

Which of course, you wouldn't know. If you had, you would have taken the jump much earlier. You would have never acted based off of assumption alone, but having the confirmation, well. 

By now you had to contain your smile because surely, surely, your cheeks would be sore afterwards. 

"Wow," you raised your brows in obvious mocking, "Really?" 

Damian scrunched up his face in disgust, like he'd witnessed the most foul thing yet, crossing his arms tighter but refusing to meet your gaze as he turned to the wall. 

"You know, Damian." 

"Yes?" 

"The valentine I was hoping for this year… was yours. You could've easily made a card and thrown some glitter over it and that would be the end of that." 

"A card, with glitter?" Damian snapped his head at you, seeming almost bored as he spoke in a deadpan voice, "Is that how lowly you think of me?" 

At this you did laugh, almost too loudly for one in the morning, that you had to push both your hands against your mouth. 

Damian frowned, "Please do know that if I were to ever make something so miserable, it must be because I've been replaced. Which would not happen. Ever." 

You stood, shuffling over to Damian and sitting down next to him. 

He looked pretty underneath the moonlight coming through the window, the curls over his forehead looking soft and shiny. 

Damian looked right into your eyes, for the first time that night not looking away, he was trapped now. Not truly, he could leave, but did he want to? Not at all. 

Softly, Damian touched your hand, something perhaps akin to fear in his eyes as if he still expected rejection. 

"Damian?" 

"Hm?" 

"I'm going to kiss you." 

"Oh." 

"Unless you don’t want me to." 

"Please do. I mean—" 

It was a shy and quick kiss, but so, so exciting as Damian's grip tightened around your hand and you leaned into him. 

When you leaned away, it was with a mischievous glint in your eyes. 

"Please do—" 

Damian frowned again, clearly not amused. After a few seconds though, your laugh died out. Truth is, your stomach was churning. Because, while you were very much happy and excited, you were also incredibly nervous. 

Both of you were stitching your thoughts back together, seconds of silence passing by. You were still holding Damian's hand. 

He closed his eyes, frown deepening considerably and quickly before he spoke, vile spilling out of his mouth, "A card? With some glitter thrown over it?" 

He looked downright furious, disgusted even. 

"Seriously?" 

"It's not that big of a deal," You chuckled, "Get over it." 

"Hm." 

Damian looked out the window, and you followed, the moon standing beautifully in the middle of the sky. 

Damian sighed, "I have to go." 

"Oh... okay." 

He didn't move. Neither of you did. 

Damian gave you a quick kiss again, looking absolutely scandalized when he pulled back. You stared at each other in complete disbelief before he stood up and started putting his gloves on again. 

He pressed his hands onto the windowsill and took a deep breath.

Damian looked at you, tenderly, "Goodnight, Y/N." 

"Goodnight, Damian." You smiled. 

Damian gave you a small smile, "Hm." 

You watched as he jumped off, grappling to the nearest building and laughed when you saw him standing still before disappearing into the night. 

[dreamsmp-au-ideas]

Okay so more thoughts on TUA Eggpire and Phil stuff!! Post is still long, hahaha.

So just before Phil left, things weren't in active crisis, but they also weren't looking super great. Skeppy was still apathetic and impossible to rouse for anything except the egg, and Bad was getting more and more distraught. Ant and Puffy had all but moved in to help keep an eye on Skeppy and support Bad. Phil offered what help he could, but when he saw a news story about a protest and saw footage of Fundy (assuming him for now because he seems the most likely to get on the news given what everyone's up to), what was he gonna do, not go find him? He had faith that Puffy and Ant would be able to handle it for the few days/weeks it'd take him to get there and back. He promised Bad that everything would be fine and then headed out.

It's a fairly uneventful trip, Phil all but vibrating the whole time because family?? Getting to finally see family again?? Getting to hug family again and know they're okay?? He's so hype?? And once they get in town it takes a little bit of searching but then hey!! It's Fundy!! And he's staying in a little flat above a bakery with some friends, and Fundy made friends?? (Phil tries not to sound as surprised as he feels at that, because he's honestly not used to Fundy ever interacting with people outside the family. But Fundy just laughs it off, looking genuinely not bothered, and Phil's like, maybe I'm not the only one who got a recovery arc here?)

So then Phil gets to meet Eret and Niki, too! And he's genuinely charmed, they seem like lovely people, but when they invite him to stay for a while Phil doesn't really want to leave the egg unattended for too long. And he contemplates just leaving Fundy with them, because he knows where he is now and he's clearly doing fine, and Phil's a bit hesitant to pull Fundy back into danger when he only just got out of it. But as soon as Fundy learns Phil's leaving again, he's 100% coming along, especially since Phil has a whole setup where he's trying to track where/when everyone else might reappear, and Fundy misses everyone, too. And he has a little bit of separation anxiety due to abandonment issues but he is not thinking about that noooo.

(Fundy, Niki, and Eret have a little farewell party. Tears are shed. Fundy vehemently denies this, while wiping his eyes. Niki gives him a box of goodbye mini-cakes and Eret gives Fundy a queer pride patch to sew onto his jacket. Fundy denies crying even harder.)

And then they're on the road back, but then when they get back to the apartment, it's... empty? Bad, Ant, Puffy, Skeppy - no one's home. The dogs have food and are taken care of and everything, so it's not been abandoned, or if it has it was recent. And when Phil checks for the notes he and Sapnap have been keeping about when the others might reappear, they're gone, too? So Phil starts getting a little bit of a bad feeling.

And then Ant comes in! He says he heard Phil and the others had just got back and came to get them, because there was a development with Skeppy and the egg, and they need to get there right away. And Phil's getting kind of weird vibes off of him, because he kind of dodges Phil's questions on where everyone is and why some of his stuff is missing, but Phil figures it's maybe because of whatever this new development is. And Ant spends most of the walk over trying to talk to Fundy, anyway, so Phil doesn't get a lot of words in.

And then they get to the egg, but they only see Bad there with a guy in a white hoodie, still no Skeppy or Puffy. And when they try to ask what's going on, where is everyone, what's this new development, they keep getting brushed off. The egg looks even bigger, to their concern, and there's even more vines everywhere, and Ant and Bad and the new guy, Punz, are getting insistent that they just get a little bit closer to the egg, trying to get Fundy especially to touch it, and then they'll explain everything. And then just before it looks like things might get violent, Puffy busts through the door and shouts at all of them to get out and away from the egg, and Phil and Fundy certainly don't need any convincing.

It turns into an all-out chase - one that Phil and Fundy and Puffy swiftly win, thanks to Phil's wings, but just how hard Bad and Ant and Punz try is still disconcerting. Puffy starts bringing them back to her own secret place, and she fills them in on what they missed on the way - Bad trying harder and harder every day to figure out the egg and get Skeppy back and failing, getting more and more desperate until one day Puffy came back to the apartment and Bad and Skeppy were both gone. She found Bad with the egg, Skeppy nowhere to be seen, and asking Bad what happened got her nowhere. Instead, Bad tried to blockade the door to trap them both with the egg, and Puffy only just barely escaped. She's had to lay low since then, doing what she can to overhear the egg's plans and learn how to fight back and try to prevent them from recruiting any more people. Most recently, she tells Phil and Fundy, she learned that Bad took all of Phil and Sapnap's notes because he wants to find all of them when they appear before Phil is able to.

Because, hey, guess who Phil confided in about all his kids? And how powerful they are? And how they'd probably make super useful assets to the Eggpire, if Bad can just get to them first, because hey, he knows and has been helping Phil! He can help reunite them with the rest of the family, even! They just have to come with him to check out something first. :)

So now it's become an even more dire race to either find the rest of the kids or find a way to stop the egg, because if Bad and the others can find any of them and recruit them first, it definitely will not spell good news for the rest of them. Or the rest of world, if the Commission has its way.

Perfect. I love this. I love this so much. This is amazing and I love Phil and Fundy’s reunion. God I love that so much. Also, Pain!

[whumperscorner]

Hello! I've just discovered your whumpy FFXV fanfics and oh my gosh I absolutely adore your writing and ideas! I love a whumpy Prompto story! I've looked over the whump bingo and I think Prompto and "Strapped to a bomb" would be a really interesting/whumpy story! Of course please don't feel pressured to write this if you don't want to and I'm so sorry if this comes across as rude. I hope you have a lovely day!

Ah thank you anon! Don’t worry it definitely doesn’t come off as rude :3 I’m really happy you’ve enjoyed my writing!

Decided to try someone kinda new with this, going with Cor’s pov for the first time, so hopefully that will still be somewhat enjoyable eheh

BTHB #6- Strapped to a Bomb

Fandom: Final Fantasy XV

Characters: Prompto Argentum, Cor Leonis, Nyx Ulric (a little bit)

Whumpee: Prompto Argentum

Word count: 2568

Warnings: none

This work can also be found on ao3 :3

Cor lets his eyes finish skimming through the document in his hand. Then he throws it onto his desk along with all the other documents he’s read through and sighs, pinching the bridge of his nose. It’s been a very long, very uneventful day. Glancing at his watch, Cor is relieved to find there’s now only a little over an hour until he can leave. Though of course then he has to make his way through the traffic of the streets surrounding the Citadel, which is always a nightmare at this time of day. Now with the furrow between his brows made even deeper than usual, Cor returns to the paperwork. He’s moving on to what he thinks should be the last document in the pile when heavy breathing and rushed footsteps sound through the otherwise empty corridor.

"Marshal-"

"What." Cor's voice is tinged with irritation. This better be damn important for someone to barge in right at the tail end of his workday.

"You’ve been summoned at the entrance," says the breathless recruit. "it’s something about your son."

It doesn’t even take a full second for Cor to react and be up on his feet. He grabs his jacket and phone and hurries out of the office along with the recruit. Not that it’s out of the ordinary for Prompto to come to the Citadel, whether it’s Cor he’s coming to see or Prince Noctis whenever he’s around. Normally he would just let himself in though, and that along with the frantic look on the recruit’s face - no, something has to be wrong.

"What’s the situation?" Cor asks, not bothering to look back and just assuming the recruit is following him as he strides down the hall.

"I don’t know, I was just told to get a hold of you quickly." Comes the answer from behind. Cor almost has time to get annoyed at the lack of information, but the recruit keeps going. "Glaive Ulric and Glaive Altius are there already, and when I left they'd started working to evacuate employees outside of the Glaive."

Cor curses under his breath. Evacuation of the other employees? He trusts Nyx and Crowe enough to make that call, but since they have it has to be something serious. Cor enters the elevator and taps his foot impatiently on the floor, infuriated by how slow the descent is seemingly going. His mind races through all the different possibilities for what could be going on, and how Prompto could be involved in it.

The familiar dingand the sound of elevator doors opening cannot come soon enough, and the second it does he's on the move again. It takes him almost no time at all, though still too long in Cor's mind, to make his way to the doors at the main entrance. From the vantage point there he can already see parts of what's going on. Further down the staircase are multiple glaives already at work. Cor recognises Crowe where she stands at the side, gesturing to the people around and obviously in the midst of the evacuation work. He spares a short moment to send the recruit, who is still following behind him, over in her direction with orders to assist in the evacuation work. Then he sees Nyx, standing a bit further down, and then finally he sees a familiar tuft of blond hair. Prompto is talking to Nyx. Cor can't hear what they're saying as he makes his way towards them, but he can tell from meters away that something is wrong with Prompto. It's the way he's holding himself, tense and unnaturally stiff in his movements.

When Cor is close enough, he sees Prompto’s eyes widen, and his mouth opens in a silent plea. Cor lets his own expression soften some and sends him a reassuring nod. It’s at least intended as one, but he’s not sure it helps. Prompto still looks so very scared, and it pricks Cor’s heart painfully. He's about to turn to Nyx, to demand an explanation as to what's going on, but his attention is caught by something else. Peeking through behind the half-open zipper on Prompto's hoodie is some foreign object.

"Open your hoodie Prom, let me see that." Cor says. His mouth feels too dry all of a sudden, but he keeps his voice low and calm despite it. Prompto shifts uneasily but complies. With two shaky hands he fumbles a bit with the zipper, eventually getting it up. What reveals itself is a jumbled mess of wires and various cylindrical objects in black and grey, all fastened together with tape and zip-ties, strapped around Prompto's stomach like a horrid belt. It's most definitely home made, but there's no mistaking it. Cor recognizes explosives when he sees them.

"The hell-" Cor hisses. Though he immediately regrets that and cuts himself off when Prompto shrinks in on himself as if the curse is directed at him. Worry and disbelief swirl around in Cor's stomach. He turns his head to Nyx so fast his neck nearly twists. "What's going on here?"

The look on Nyx's face mirrors Cor's own emotions, and the crease to his brows deepens as he answers in a hushed voice. "Crowe and I found him standing here just earlier, says someone put that," and he motions with his head towards the device. "on him and dropped him off here with orders to go inside. He didn't see their faces."

Now anger flares up in Cor along with all the other conflicting emotions. Someone had dared to put a godsdamn bomb on his son. Cor feels his body tense up, and his hands balling into tight fists. He wants his hands on them, to make them regret ever thinking they could touch Prompto. But that will have to wait, Cor knows it. The top priority has to be getting that thing off of Prompto safely. He bites back another curse by pressing his lips into a thin line and wills himself to loosen the fists, though the tension still lingers in them.

"Bomb squad?" He asks.

"Already called, should be here any minute." Comes Nyx's answer, and Cor nods. He'd rather they were there already, but pushes that thought aside, they'll just have to wait. He then turns his attention back to Prompto. His son's eyes are wide and fearful, darting in between Nyx and Cor. His hands clutch the ends of the hoodie hard but even then, Cor can see them trembling faintly. Now that nobody's talking anymore, he suddenly becomes aware of Prompto's breathing. How strained it is, coming in short, shallow gasps. As if he's trying not to breathe at all.

Now every part of Cor's body urges him to rush to Prompto's side. To reassure him and tell him that everything will be alright. He knows he can't do that but takes one calm step forwards regardless. "Prompto-"

"No!" Prompto gasps, jerking back a step and stumbling slightly. It catches Cor completely off guard, and he stops dead in his tracks. Lifting his hands in a placating manner.

"Wha-"

"Don't come closer, please." Prompto's voice is barely more than a whisper, but to Cor it seems he might as well have been shouting. "If- if it blows, I don't want to hurt you."

Cor feels like he's just been hit in the chest with something hard. This isn't how things are supposed to be. Prompto, his sunshine, should not have to be this scared- for himself or for Cor. Cor sucks in a sharp breath, and despite what his brain is screaming at him to do he takes a step back to where Nyx is standing. It takes considerable effort to keep his voice calm when Cor speaks up again. "Okay, okay. Prompto look at me," he urges, trying to hold his son's gaze intently with his own. "I'm going to be fine, and you're going to be fine. Do you understand?"

After another moment Prompto nods weakly, even as his eyes glaze over with unshed tears. Cor sighs, and wonders what on earth is taking the damn bomb squad so long. He's about to turn to Nyx with this same question when, as if on cue, Prompto's breath hitches and his eyes fixate on something over Cor's shoulder. He turns around and there, finally, he sees a group of about seven or so men and women prepped with armoured suits making their way down the staircase. It draws some stares and gasps from the few not in the Glaive who are still there, but thankfully the evacuation work has come so far that there aren't many around.

Cor lets his shoulders sag ever so slightly in relief as the woman who seems to be in charge of the group comes over to him and Nyx. They exchange a few words and what little information they have on the situation, and she nods in affirmation and begins her work. Ordering three of her people to secure the streets and immediate surroundings to the bottom of the staircase, and the rest to come with her as she movies calmly towards Prompto. Cor tries to send him another encouraging nod, but he looks possibly even more terrified than before. The wide, unsure eyes and trembling lips are not something Cor wants to see on his son's face ever again if he can avoid it.

"They," Prompto tries, but it comes out more a choked gasp than anything else, and he hurries to try again. "they said not to touch it." The words almost trip over themselves in the rush to get out, and Prompto sends Cor a pleading look. Almost desperate as members of the bomb squad are getting closer to him.

"These people know what they're doing, kid." Cor urges on, thankful that his voice carries such authority and doesn't betray any underlying worries. "Let them help. I promise it will all be fine." Anything else is out of the question, he thinks, but he doesn't say that. Instead opting to take on as soothing and confident an expression as possible.

Prompto nods again, but doesn't look any more convinced, letting slip a tiny whine when the approaching bomb technicians are close enough to touch. The woman orders the hoodie to be removed, and her associates make quick work of it. It's close to torture, Cor finds, having to stay where he is and only watch. Prompto stays stiff and unmoving as the hoodie is removed and thrown to the side, where Nyx goes to pick it up. In the clutter of people now around him, Prompto looks like a forlorn kitten, fixed to the ground and scared to move in any significant way.

"Timer?" asks the woman loudly.

"None ma'am." comes the answer.

At this the woman turns her attention back to Nyx and Cor. "We're sure it's timed?" She asks. "No chance it could be remote controlled?"

Cor opens his mouth to answer but to his great surprise, and the woman's too it seems, Prompto beats him to it. "It's timed," his voice shakes slightly as he speaks. "they said so when they dropped me off… f-fifty minutes." he stammers, then his voice dies down again.

A moment of stunned silence goes by, then the woman curses loudly. "You should have said so sooner!" She snaps. Cor sees how it makes Prompto shrink in on himself and hears his stuttered apologies. They need to figure out how much time they have left, and the last thing he wants is for Prompto to panic now. So he takes a careful step forward, intent on getting Prompto's attention away from the lady.

"Prompto look at me!" He implores loudly, cutting Prompto off in the midst of his train of apologies. "Just look at me. I need you to tell me how long you stood here before anyone arrived, can you do that?"

"I- 6 maybe 7 minutes, I think." He answers, swallowing hard. Cor nods at him again then hastily checks the time on his phone. It's been almost 30 minutes since he left his office, though to him it feels like much longer than that. Still, that doesn't leave them with much time, only a little under 20 minutes. Cor relays the information out loud, to which the woman nods and goes back to her work, not wasting another second on talking.

Through all this Prompto has been keeping his eyes locked on Cor, exactly as told. So Cor sees it the second he returns his attention to his son. That now with the working hands of multiple people back around his waist, and the knowledge of just how long he has left until an eventual untimely death- a little under 20 minutes, it's all too much. Cor can see it all swirling around in his head, can read it in his face. It's one of the effects of having cared for someone from when they were a small child, Cor knows his son, and he knows the breaking point is coming.

"Prompto," he begins softly, "keep your eyes focused on me, okay? Only on me, ignore anything else." Prompto nods, chokes out a sob, and lets the first few tears come. Cor sees them rolling down unhindered, and the wet streaks they leave on freckled skin. "It's okay," he hushes, barely even noticing that he's taken a few more steps towards Prompto. "you've been brave today. Now just let us fix the rest, okay? It'll be alright."

Cor keeps speaking softly like that for what somehow feels simultaneously like an eternity and no time at all. The tears are still running down Prompto's face, but he's managing to keep his attention mostly on Cor and not on the rest of the situation. It's working exactly how Cor was hoping it would. When, after some time, the bomb loosens from around Prompto's waist and movement surges all around it catches Prompto entirely off-guard. But not Cor. Cor rushes forward the second he sees that the explosives are removed and Prompto is being shoved away from them for the bomb squad to finish their work, and when Prompto stumbles Cor catches him. Relief floods through Cor's body like a breath of fresh air, and he wastes no time before dragging Prompto a few secure steps back. He's holding his son, and it's okay now.

Prompto cries for another while, not at all surprising given the rush and tension from the day, but he's at least safe. In a move uncharacteristically tender for Cor when they're anywhere other than the privacy of their home, he runs his hand through his son's soft hair and places a gentle kiss on his forehead. "You're okay Prom, you're okay."

The two are awarded some peace and quiet before Nyx comes to check on the two of them and provide them with the news that the bomb has been properly taken care of. When he does Cor gives him a grateful nod. He knows it's time for him to take Prompto home, but before that there's one last thing he needs to do.

"Make sure the security footage from today is thoroughly checked." Says Cor, his voice every bit as serious as the situation calls for. And now it's Nyx's turn to nod, knowing without needing to be told what he's on the lookout for. "I want them found and identified."

[itsbenedict]

Two-Faced Jewel: Session 9

The Slaying of the Bobbledragon

A half-elf conwoman (and the moth tasked with keeping her out of trouble) travel the Jewel in search of, uh, whatever a fashionable accessory is pointing them at. [Campaign log]

Since slaying a serial-killer dragon is a little outside the party's expertise, they're off to Cauterdale to enlist the aid of the Deathseekers' Guild! Having gotten a good night's sleep at a druid village, and not eaten, they're ready to take on, uh...

Well, some sort of very large monster that Zero kindly drew for me.

In the morning, they rather uneventfully get up and get back on the road, thanking the villagers for their hospitality. And the remainder of the trip to Cauterdale is likewise brief and uneventful, right up until the fire.

Saelhen du Fishercrown: the what Benedict I. (GM): The fire.

Yeah, the forest and the road up ahead are ablaze, sort of blocking passage. The dirt road isn't actively on fire, but the trees on both sides are, making it pretty risky to proceed. The team opts to send Oyobi up ahead to scout the situation- and pretty soon she comes back with a report. Apparently, just past the visible fireline, the forest is totally burned down- just charred stumps as far as she could see, right up to the city walls. The fire itself is just, like, 10 meters wide or so, so it's totally something they could just dash through.

It takes some Animal Handling checks to coax the giraffes through, and the ones that balk get them and their riders a little bit of chip damage from heat and smoke inhalation, but the party is pretty much able to push through to the blasted wasteland of charred tree stumps surrounding Cauterdale.

They notice a few people in strange armor in the distance, doing something near the fire- from the seemingly controlled nature of this burn and the name of the town, they conclude that those are fire squads doing this deliberately, and don't get involved. It's a fine conclusion, and the party begins walking the remaining mile to the city.

As they approach, they notice... a little ways off from the main gates, something is attacking the city walls. Guards atop the walls are manning some sort of huge harpoon guns, and they seem to have already slain several of the... whatever these things are. The remaining one, though, seems larger and more resilient than the others, continuing its assault despite the several harpoons already lodged in its flesh.

What they see is a huge reptilian monster. It's probably not a dragon- no wings, and it doesn't appear to be using a breath weapon- but it's the size of a dragon, with tiny arms, headbutting the metal walls of the town repeatedly.

Orluthe makes his Nature roll to recognize this thing- he's heard of them before. They're called "bobbledragons"- some sort of deformed mutant offshoot of true dragons, incapable of speech or flight or magic but still possessed of monstrous strength and durability.

Luckily, the bobbledragon doesn't seem to be in between them and the main gate- the fight is far enough away that they could potentially just walk up and head into town, assuming they'll open the gates during a situation like this. Hell, they don't even need to open the gates- if the guards just drop a rope, they should be able to just climb over. That seems like a decent plan, so Saelhen and Looseleaf begin working together to draft a use of the Message spell to ask the guards to help them inside.

Then they notice that I've been moving Oyobi's token on the map in the direction of the fight.

Oyobi, blinded by bloodlust and/or extra-credit-in-Severe-Zoology-lust, is determined to help fell the bobbledragon. Their attempts at persuasion fail, and Oyobi, undeterred, continues to charge the giant fucking T-rex that is making huge dents in the walls of a city.

As Oyobi runs for it, and as the party follows behind in hopes of stopping her from making a terrible mistake, the bobbledragon jumps and seizes one of the guards on the wall in its jaws, demonstrating its +10 4d12+7 bite attack by immediately oneshotting its victim.

Looseleaf: oh god we're all going to die. you're using the real t-rex statblock. that thing is challenge eight. it is made for a party of four level eight adventurers, so either we are all going to die here, or the guards are going to show us why they are professional fighters and we are students. Benedict I. (GM): "Shit! It can jump!" "No!" The guards seem upset.

Not promising.

Looseleaf: This thing does sufficient damage to oneshot any of us with a perfectly mediocre hit. Looseleaf right now is kind of thoroughly convinced that Oyobi is actually literally about to die. In that light, Looseleaf is going to message Oyobi again. And she is not going to get any closer. Actually, she's going to back off, put distance between herself and the monster. [Oyobi that thing is going to bite you in half get back here you are going to die.] Benedict I. (GM): Roll Persuasion! DC 20 again. -Looseleaf: 17 / PERSUASION (1)- Oyobi Yamatake: [I'M GONNA LIVE FOREVER!!!]

So... that's a bust, and Oyobi finally reaches the dragon and begins her assault. Miraculously, her flying leap hits, and she digs her sword in... for thirteen damage.

The guards return fire against the bobbledragon, and one of the harpoons catches it in the chest- but it doesn't go down, and the second harpoon- manned by just one guard, after his partner got crunched- misses. Another guard, without a cannon, throws a spear- and gets not only a critical hit, but a max damage critical hit, spearing the thing right in the eye.

...for eleven damage, because these are ordinary CR 1/8 Guards, but still!

Saelhen tries to distract the bobbledragon so Oyobi can run and hide, but... her arrow goes wide, and Oyobi isn't interested in running and hiding anyway. The bobbledragon, targeting whatever did the most damage to it recently with its bite attack, jumps and bites the whole damn harpoon gun out of the guard tower, leaving the guards without heavy weaponry.

And then with its tail, it tries to slap the insect that just stung it in the rear.

...and rolls a 3, meaning Oyobi gracefully backflips over the attack and strikes a dramatic pose.

Looseleaf: God, she did not deserve that dodge. She got so fucking lucky there. Saelhen du Fishercrown: she really didn't Oyobi Yamatake: "When you get to Dragon Hell, tell them Oyobi Yamatake sent you!!"

Looseleaf, in the interest of communicating to Oyobi how much danger she's in, makes use of an upgrade to her Rend Spirit attack she learned while studying Lumiere's notes on pain. With Painread, she can get some feedback back from something whose spirit she disrupts, and figure out exactly how bad a shape it's in. She does so (dealing a cool 16 damage as she does), and learns how huge this thing's remaining hit point pool is, so she can tell Oyobi how unlikely she is to survive long enough to take it down.

...It, uh, it was already pretty hurt when they arrived, and it, um, has nine hit points left. And it's Oyobi's turn.

Oyobi Yamatake: Oyobi dashes forwards, Naruto-runs up to the T-rex's throat, and does a spinning leap that slashes open its jugular. It roars, and the roar swiftly fades off as its breath escapes. Saelhen du Fishercrown: God dammit, Oyobi. Oyobi Yamatake: "YES! YES! B-S-U! B-S-U! B-S-U!" "THAT is how it's DONE!" She is jumping up and down, doing a celebratory dance, the works. "Flawlessed the boss! Hell yeah!"

Yeah, so... I had kind of been planning on her getting oneshot and laid up in the hospital, as a sort of character growth thing and also keeping her out of the way of certain events in town, but, uh... the dice... didn't exactly... share my priorities.

With the bobbledragon slain, and Oyobi doing an extremely obnoxious victory dance, the rest of the party springs into action to stabilize the guard who was used as a chew toy. Thanks to his plate armor, he hasn't lost much blood, but he's got more broken bones than not, and his prognosis wouldn't be good... if it weren't for the healer's kits Looseleaf had the foresight to buy for everyone. Saelhen stabilizes him, and Orluthe calls on his goddess to Lay On Hands to save the guard's life.

Then there's this guy- the captain of the guard, who fought in the battle with a fancy crossbow that shot flaming bolts. He demands to know who the party is, seeming kind of annoyed that they rewarded weakness by saving the guard's life.

Benedict I. (GM): He looks down at your medical kit. "Y'know, all of my men are prepared to fight and die for our home. You really want to take away this man's glory?" The injured guard looks up. "Uh, sir, I- it's fine, actually..." "Feh." Looseleaf: This guy immediately seems like a bad boss. Saelhen du Fishercrown: Oh, he's ridiculous. Okay, that changes the tenor of this conversation somewhat! "...I apologize, sir," says Saelhen, bowing to the guard on his stretcher, "if I have diminished your victory with my carelessness."

And rather than give this guy any more of the time of day, Saelhen asks the random guard his name. (And then I have to give him one and make him a character, whoops.)

Medd Cutter here is thankful for Saelhen's assistance saving his life, and Saelhen pledges to remember his heroism. The commander feels- by design- somewhat left out of the heroism-remembering, and declares that he is REX SCAR, and Saelhen kind of blows him off. He's not happy, but...

Captain Scar is still the sort of person who is very impressed with anyone who rolls up and kills a bobbledragon just because they felt like it, and despite Saelhen's calculated snub, tries to get buddy-buddy with the group of obviously very powerful people who just arrived. He decides to help them through customs without going through the usual processes, much to the chagrin of...

...Long-Tongue, Cauterdale Customs and Border Inspection Officer of Cauterdale, who's very loquacious and wordy and redundantly repeats what she says in different words to phrase things differently in a somewhat unnecessary fashion for no real reason. Rex bullies his way past her, but Saelhen- as another snub, and just to be... nice? (What's her game...?), hands her the 300-page history of the de la Surplus family as collateral for a deferred border inspection.

Inside the walls, Cauterdale is a very crowded place. It's like 80% slum, choked with buildings constructed of a patchwork of scrap metal and discarded siding, without much wood to speak of. The streets are narrow and bustling, and the general vibe around the place is impatient.

The remaining guards escorting them (Rex went off someplace) inform them, when questioned, that the town indeed burns down the forest around them- since they're near the jungle, horrible dangerous things tend to come out of the trees to attack them, and their harpoon defenses are most effective when they can see their attackers coming from a mile away, with no obstructions. Looseleaf asks if bobbledragon attacks are common.

Benedict I. (GM): Another guard shakes his head. "No, that one was pretty crazy. Usually it's just the giant spiders, or the giant mosquitoes, or the mushroom demons." "We've had a few bobbledragons before, but that was like, four at once." Looseleaf: "Oh gods there's already giant spiders?!" "We're not even at- I thought this was a pine forest still!" Benedict I. (GM): "No, that's usually after it rains," Medd says. Looseleaf: Looseleaf casts Druidcraft. Please tell me it's not going to rain. Benedict I. (GM): Nope! Clear skies for now. "Whoa, cool." Looseleaf:"Thank the gods of sea and sky and weather and everything even tangentially related to weather," she says. "No rain." "I hope it never rains, ever again." Benedict I. (GM): "Haha, better stay away from..." "Wait, where are you headed?" Saelhen du Fishercrown: "The rainforest," adds Saelhen, mildly. Looseleaf: "Ttttthunderbrush, and yes I know that place is crawling with spiders NOERU SHUT UP,"

Then Looseleaf asks about what they're there for- the Deathseekers' Guild. Unfortunately, the guards tell them that the Deathseekers... probably still exist, but they're like, a weird secret club of old people who think they're too cool to join the guard. They give them a couple leads- apparently the Temple of Andra keeps tabs on them, and also a guard by the name of Mags was the last to see them as they were recently seen leaving the city.

The team splits up- Looseleaf and Orluthe head for the temple, and Oyobi and Saelhen head for the guardhouse to talk to Mags. (Vayen... is still gone, after vanishing as soon as the bobbledragon fight started.) The latter group does their thing next session, so...

After dropping off their rental giraffes, they head inside to meet...

This guy, working the reception desk. He seems to be made of rock, and when he talks he rumbles.

As Looseleaf explains their dilemma and their need for Deathseekers, this guy takes a keen interest in their plight. He's very "hmmmm, iiiiiinteresting, oh i see, you don't say?" about the whole thing, making a very normal interaction seem as ominous as possible.

He tells her that the Deathseekers, to his knowledge, should be back in the city from their unspecified errand inside two days, and offers to take a message.

Looseleaf: "I don't suppose they're looking for a green dragon, are they?" Benedict I. (GM): This guy's smile keeps getting wider. It's kind of creepy. "Hm? What makes you say that?"

As she explains about the dragon, he offers her and Orluthe a candy from a bowl on the desk. After some hemming and hawing out-of-character because the creepy rock man is offering you suspicious candy, they eventually opt to have some, because really, Looseleaf isn't suspicious of this guy. Hers is lemon-flavored. It's tasty.

Then, as she describes the empty tower with the corpse of the torture wizard in it, this guy's demeanor changes suddenly from "creepy wry amusement" to "genuine concern". He tries to put on a poker face, but him having a poker face when he's until now been all creepy-friendly chewing the scenery... stands out. He gives her a strong assurance that the Deathseekers will handle this problem for her.

Benedict I. (GM): "I... thank you, for this information." Looseleaf: "You're welcome. Please, uh, make sure that the Deathseekers get this information as quickly as possible. The dragon eats a corpse a week and there's only three corpses left in the tower, there's a very real deadline on this." Benedict I. (GM): [rolling 1d20+4] (Insight) 17+4 = 21 Looseleaf: Belatedly, Looseleaf realizes she's made a mistake. Benedict I. (GM): "You say... the dragon eats three corpses a week?" "Only three corpses left in the tower?" Looseleaf: Namely: Looseleaf has no good reason to know the fact that the dragon eats a corpse a week. Since she's never met the dragon. Benedict I. (GM): "Curious information." "How did you come across it?" Looseleaf: "Uh, erm, uh." Shit.

Looseleaf opts to tell the truth about Arnie, to avoid spinning a dangerous web of lies for herself- after all, Arnie's not worth lying for. She does describe him in as sympathetic terms as she can, though, and asks this guy not to harm him if possible- she doesn't want to break her word to Arnie if she can help it.

Benedict I. (GM): He takes a moment to process this. "...Very well." "My people will be the soul of discretion." "I thank you very much for your generous contribution to the Ecumene of Understanding."

Looseleaf notices that something is wrong.

This guy is the receptionist. He's not a bishop or anything. He's not even wearing priestly vestments- just a nice suit. And he's speaking as though he's in a position of power- "my people", he says.

And after considering various possibilities, she tries something. A shot in the dark, but...

And the way Looseleaf plays this, is... "quit acting like you don't know what I'm talking about, c'mon, the jig is up". She takes out the letter she found in Lumiere's tower and shows it off, as proof!

And this guy keeps denying it, and getting increasingly more panicked, and looking nervously over at Orluthe, and asking her to please stop, shh shh shh shh, and it's when he begs her to have a conversation with him in private please that she makes the connection. If this guy is affiliated with Lumiere, who's apparently affiliated with some sort of secret conspiracy that's affiliated with some sort of deific usurpation... he maybe doesn't want to have that conversation in front of a cleric.

Looseleaf:"Okay, Orluthe, uhm. Sorry, so," Looseleaf whispers into Orluthe's ear. "Long story short, turns out my sister, who left my village way before I did, ended up falling into some kind of magical secret society. The kind of secret society with Hal Lumiere, i.e. 'the torture wizard who came up with all those pain knives that we all got stabbed a lot with', was apparently a very active member of." Benedict I. (GM):Oh my god, um. Looseleaf: "So, uh, I'm kinda freaking out about that, right now, but if my hunches are right then I'm the sister of someone important in their organization?" Benedict I. (GM): As you start whispering, he tries to interrupt. "Please do not say things to him!" "Please let us speak in private!!" Looseleaf: Oh he's freaked out now huh. "Anyways that's why I am actually indeed going to speak, with this guy, in private," Looseleaf finishes. "And if I don't show up in a half-hour or so, then things have probably gone lopsided." "In which case you should find everyone else and tell them to, I dunno, come save me or whatever." "You got all that?" Benedict I. (GM): The rock man looks distraught. Orluthe Chokorov: "I, uh... think so? This is really... I'm not sure it's safe..."

With a good Persuasion roll, Orluthe agrees to stay behind, and the rock man leads Looseleaf into a backroom whose doors and walls seem warded heavily with some sort of abjuration magic. A secret saferoom.

The man describes the problem: the gods don't know that they exist, or didn't until Looseleaf went and told a cleric of Diamode that they existed. Clerics, in this setting, channel divinity literally- their gods come into their heads to do magic for them, meaning anything a cleric knows is something a god can know, if they care to check.

Benedict I. (GM): "Because if the next time Diamode is in that kid, if she goes looking for that memory..." "I mean, she might not. And you didn't mention anything about our aims, so she might consider it beneath her notice." "But that, right there? That was nearly game over." "And I can't just kill you, because if I did, Yomi would end me." Looseleaf: "Yeah, I'm not incredibly foolish, I haven't actually shown anybody else Yomi's letter." "Nobody knows that Lumiere was involved with... deicidal blasphemy." "That's what this is about, right? Thereabouts, in terms of sheer magnitude and hubris?" Benedict I. (GM): He sighs. "It's not like that." "At least, it's not all like that." "The Project is... fractious." "The less you know about the project, the less you're able to carelessly blurt out about the project your cleric friends, or to anyone who tries reading your mind or tricks you into a Zone of Truth..." "The safer we all are." "With as much as you know, you're already dangerous. It'd be best for us- and you- if you dropped this. Never spoke of it to anyone."

Looseleaf points out that it's good that she found the letter, because that tower was sitting abandoned for a year- anyone could've walked in and read it, since it was lying on a bookcase in the open.

This is somehow not taken as good news- when he finds out that the letter could've potentially been read by anyone, that there was a security breach for a year...

Looseleaf: "Look, my man, next time you want to send a letter, by the way, use... use some encoding." "Don't just write things in plaintext like a chump, by the gods." Benedict I. (GM): "He was supposed to burn after reading." Saelhen du Fishercrown: he's too dead for that! Benedict I. (GM): "Wait, you said it was... out in the open?" "But he's dead?" "Either he was an idiot, or... someone else opened his mail." "Except... Yomi should've hand-delivered it, so..." "...well. We'll definitely look into it."

He brings up sending for someone to do memory magic to handle the breach- but he realizes he can't have that done to Looseleaf, because Diamode would notice if someone tampered with her cleric's memories, and someone needs to still know what's up so they can keep Orluthe away from the truth. (Plus, she figures she'd notice the inconsistencies and end up sleuthing it out again.)

Looseleaf asks if Yomi is doing well, and gets... that she's intense, and powerful, and she probably thinks she's "doing well", but... he doesn't know about happy.

Lastly, he shows Looseleaf a symbol- a blank circle, with the elvish character 人 drawn underneath. The symbols of gods are typically circles with a design inside- so the meaning of this and its relationship to the nature of the Project is fairly easy to infer.

Benedict I. (GM): "If you need to prove to someone you're in the know, without blurting out a bunch of dangerous details, this is the mark." He then eats the paper and the graphite stick he used to draw it.

Next time: Saelhen and Oyobi grill the guard Mags for information on the Deathseekers, and connections are made with powerful individuals.

[loser-62]

first dph trip

trip report.

I've been looking into dph for a while now and finally decided to give it a shot last night. Keep in mind that I am just under 100lbs (approx 96lbs) and do not have any prior experience with any other hallucinogen/deliriant. Spoiler alert: I fucking loved the trip and will definitely try it again soon at a higher dose. This trip is a memory that I will cherish and hold onto for the rest of my life and I am so glad I did it. I want to go back to that world.

Ok, now for the actual trip:

26/9/19

3:30pm - Initial dose: 150mg

I decided to start off with a low dose because of my weight and then increase as the day went on. I didn't feel different until after about an hour and a half, which is when I started to feel kind of drunk and dizzy (pretty sure it took that long because I had just eaten a lot of food). It took some effort to walk completely straight and I was getting really drowsy. I started seeing little movements in the corners of my eyes and faint shadows that weren't there.

When I would stare at the wall it started shifting and moving around; it looked almost like it was breathing. After a few seconds of staring, I started seeing little creatures in the wall (they kind of blended into the wall but were definitely discernable). At first, I saw a tiny dancing skeleton (it was dancing very aggressivly, like flailing its arms quickly), and then I saw a bull trying to ram itself into the wall repeatedly; it looked angry and like it wanted to attack me. I came to the conclusion that I was looking into an alternate dimension (the wall dimension) and that the creatures I was seeing were trying to escape it and get through the wall.

After this I decided to take a walk to try and get less tired. It was pretty uneventful. All I saw were little shadows on the ground and I kept seeing a fluorescent blue dot (like an orb) flying around in front of me. At some point during the walk I started seeing floaters VERY visibly everywhere I looked, and I could control where they moved with my eyes. I moved a floater next to me and pretended that it was my ghost friend and that we were taking a walk together.

(Floaters):

After this I went back home and just chilled out. I saw a few rainbows which was pretty cool but I was just really drowsy and I was starting to get a little bored/disappointed at my trip.

Forgot to mention that throughout this whole thing I felt butterflies in my stomach and very nervous, but I'm really used to paranoia and just ignored it.

7:00pm - Added 100mg (total dose - 250mg)

I took an extra 100mg and waited for about an hour and a half. While I was waiting for this dose to kick in I took my dog on a walk. At some point during the walk I looked at the sky and saw a bat flying around and then disappearing. I saw this around 3 times and everytime I would try to follow it but it would just disappear into the mist. I'm not sure if this was a hallucination or not but I could see the "bat" outline very clearly and proportionately if it was real it would have been a huge bat, so I'm pretty certain it wasn't real. Otherwise, the walk was pretty boring.

When I got home I decided to try and eat dinner. My parents had bought sushi. I tried eating it but my appetite was completely gone and I had to go outside to spit it out. Swallowing felt very weird since it felt like my mouth was completely numb.

10:00pm(ish??) (at this point I really wasn't paying attention to the time)

Now I just felt really drowsy and like the force of gravity was ten times stronger, very similar to being on xanax. I didn't really feel anything kicking in so I decided to go outside and listen to music. While I was outside I took two hits off a wax pen and got very high (felt like being cross-faded, I usually dont get that faded off two hits). I felt like it had gone away in a few minutes however and I started to feel very clearheaded/lightheaded. This is when the visual and audio hallucinations REALLY started kicking in. The first thing I saw was a lamp shift into a little person, but it turned back into a lamp when I blinked (I was still outside at this point). Then, on a wall, I saw hatman. I had been reading about hatman earlier so I think my mind was predisposed to the idea of seeing him. His face was completely black, as was his hat, and I wasn't really scared (moreso interested) because I kept telling myself in my head that it was just a hallucination.

I started walking around my backyard and slowly things began appearing. It got to a point where I just saw random people laying down/sitting on the ground just chilling. The first actual entity I saw was a skeleton. It was sticking out of the ground and only its upper body was visible. It was moving its arms around really fast like it was trying to dance. It kind of spooked me but I thought it was cool. After this I approached a plant and saw a plant creature. This actually terrified me. I walked toward it and it slowly turned its head to look at me, to which I responded by turning around and noping the fuck out. After that I just kept telling myself "It's just a hallucination it's just a hallucination" over and over again in my head which really calmed me down. Even if I was kind of scared (and the paranoia started up again) I was honestly having a good time because I thought the hallucinations were really cool.

I saw a little girl and I got a strange feeling that she might be a demon. It reminded me of the little demon boy from The Conjuring that was just happily running around the house. She was sitting down and I tried talking to her. She turned her head toward me then disappeared.

After this I kept walking around and in between two plants I saw hatman again. I only saw his head, which was now a skull, and his hat was still all black. The more I stared at him the more real he looked. At first I just saw his head floating but after a few minutes his whole body had manifested in front of me and it looked so real, like an actual being was just standing in front of me. He was wearing a really big jacket and black pants. He was very tall. I asked him questions like "Why are you here" and we began having a conversation. When I turned around and looked back at him his head was now that of a human boy (not a skeleton), so I just said "Oh, so you're a shapeshifter then," and he began explaining that he was from another dimension and had many forms. I said "so this is your human form," to which he just shook his head no. We talked for a little longer and he actually turned out to be a really nice guy. I hope I see him again the next time I trip.

I went over to the plant creature I saw earlier (I'll just call her plant girl) and decided to try and talk to her. She didn't really respond but looked really sad, so I asked her if she was being held captive (I don't know why). I don't remember her response but I remember seeing a tiny pitch black wolf with glowy red eyes right behind her and looking very angry with me, so I assumed she was being kept by him. I walked off.

Throughout this whole time I had been seeing a large fluffy duck walking around my backyard, but when I tried getting close to it it disappeared, and eventually it turned into a young boy laying in the grass (who eerily looked like me). I went back to see hatman and he was still there, so I had another short conversation with him but I don't recall what we said.

Then I saw a pitch black figure with a black hat (it wasn't hatman though) and this is the only hallucination I actually got scared of and thought was evil. It was just standing there looking at me and was very unsettling, even if I knew it was just a hallucination.

I saw a few more things, like when I looked over the fence into my neighbor's backyard, I saw a white man in a white suit and white hat (and white hair) looking at me and then slowly walk into their house. I just remember flipping him off. I knew it wasn't anyone that lived there because the people living in that house are an Indian couple. At some point I was near the back door to my house, and when I looked at it I saw 3 fingers reaching in from the other side of the door, but they suddenly pulled away and I didn't see them again.

Oh yeah, I also saw a bunch of insects. Mostly what looked like mosquitos or flies or just little dots flying around, but no spiders.

12:00am(ish)

After a while the visions kind of subsided, so I decided to go back inside. When I got to my room I got into bed and watched The Office for a little while before trying to sleep. I heard a few voices calling out and my mom saying my name but nothing too extreme. I'm pretty sure I fell asleep at around 1am.