#i'm not sure if we're spelling it with or without the e

[thestormlightnetwork]

“This is one of those Orpheus and Eurydice moments” let me feed you to my friends. As in I will never shut up about this show.

[thinking-emoji]

While we're at it. Here's the Radio Adelaide interview!

Transcript under the cut!

Interviewer: What's been going on with me earlier today was I spoke with Dan and Phil, who are on their Terrible Influence tour at the moment. I think they're in Sydney right now. Even though I had to call them on the phone via England, they're going to be on at the Adelaide Entertainment Centre next week, Monday the 16th of December. And these guys, they're a British internet- YouTube- radio hosts. They're critics of games. They're book authors. Dan and Phil, they're currently in Australia having their Terrible Influence tour which lands in Adelaide at the Entertainment Centre next week. And it's attempting to take back what the internet took from them. So it's allegedly a screamingly hilarious live stage show. I have no doubt that it is hilarious. They're older, gayer. Phil's gone blonde evidently and nothing is off limits. Now I was brought to the attention of them by some younger folk, who asked me to ask them some certain questions and throw some sort of slightly strange questions at them. And I haven't got time to include all of those questions. And also I had a call after the interview from one of the duo suggesting that “ehh, you might get trolled if you ask a question like that and people misinterpret it” because I was asking- I believe they've become a couple. I'm not sure if they've got married but they may have got married or they may just be, like, going steady but they're a terrific pair of comic lads. In the- in the vein of Kenny Everett, sort of. They don't have a TV show as such. They were both YouTubers, which means that they had little YouTube shows and then they started guesting on each other's show and then they eventually started doing stuff together. Very interesting lads. And I just really want to play the interview now.

Dan: I've got a mullet now that I'm in Australia because apparently that's what the people do. I just think Australians have more fun. So I wanted to appropriate a bit of the culture while we’re here doing the show.

Phil: I think it's more of a micro mullet, Dan, though. You know, you haven't gone full mullet, it's more of a micro…

Dan: It's a mullet without the T. It's just a mull-e.

Interviewer: (laughs) Mull-e. All right. Just with that sort of hard...

Dan: Without the T, yeah.

Interviewer: Hard E on the end. How has your tour been going so far, gentlemen?

Dan: It's been amazing to be in Australia. No offence. We loved having a great time in America. But we're very happy to be in Australia. Although – I know it's summer. Why is it so hot? Nowhere on Earth it should be this warm.

Interviewer: You haven't reached Adelaide yet, have you?

Dan: No, God. Don't tell me it's warmer.

Interviewer: Yes, yes. We're in the middle of a very dry, arid area. Very isolated. A long way from anywhere. But there's only about maybe 30 or 40 tickets left at your gig here.

Dan: We're happy for the people of Adelaide. You know, they're out here in that dry, arid desert. And there's nothing to do but come to the Dan and Phil show. And we love them for that. They're all making responsible financial decisions. So we're very grateful for all the people that are coming to the show.

Phil: And if there's 40 people listening, come hang out with us. It's going to be a fun time.

Dan: Yeah. What else are you doing on that night?

Phil: We're going to be pumping the air con out.

Dan: Yeah, just come to have somewhere cool to sit in the theatre. You know what I mean?

Phil: Yeah.

Interviewer: Are you collecting things from your hangouts that you're going to discuss at the next show? Like before a show, if people hang out with you, give you a piece of artwork or a little letter or a note, something like that. Do you then discuss it in front of the next...

Dan: Oh, a big trendy thing these days. Yeah. Taylor Swift has started this trend of the bracelets that people spell out things on. So people would make like a little bracelet that says Dan or Phil in beads. And the other day I had someone that gave me a bracelet that said Vegemite on it. (Interviewer laughs) And I was like, what the heck? And they said, you don't understand. This is incredibly culturally important. So I was like, okay, thank you. I will cherish this Vegemite bracelet.

Phil: Yeah. I got one that said Koala Daddy. I'm not sure what that meant, but-

Interviewer: Koala Daddy?

Phil: Yeah. I think that's what they were calling me.

Interviewer: Have you actually dipped your tongue into any Vegemite as yet?

Phil: I have. I would have to say it was one of the most horrific experiences of my life. I'm sorry.

Dan: What, Phil, you don't like a yeast-based condiment?

Phil: No.

Dan: How dare you.

Phil: Dan loves it though. He's a bit of a…

Dan: I'm just a yeasty kind of guy.

Interviewer: Yeah. It's kind of up there with Marmite, isn't it?

Phil: It is, but I only eat sweet things, so I couldn't handle it. But Dan was eating his second portion of toast this morning. He loved it.

Interviewer: Yeah, yeah. It's good for you.

Phil: And last time we were in Adelaide, we did a vlog where we explored the town, didn't we? We got some Tim Tams. We did a Tim Tam slam.

Interviewer: Fun!

Dan: Yeah, the national sport.

Interviewer: The national sport, sucking coffee through a Tim Tam.

Dan: Hell yeah.

Phil: I can get down with that.

Interviewer: Yeah yeah. It's a lot of fun to do. You realise that our Premier is the one who started the ball rolling with the social media ban for under 16-year-olds? You're lucky that you're here now at this stage of your career rather than at the beginning of your career because there's a lot of young people who have grown with you who will be able to come and see your show.

Dan: Yeah, absolutely.

Interviewer: Are you relying on them sort of moving forward with you?

Dan: People have been with us for a long time and people tell us some things and it's very disturbing.

Phil: Yeah, we've had some people meet us that are like, I watched you 10 years ago, I'm still watching you now. I've got a whole child now and it's like, what is happening? (Interviewer laughs) Time isn’t real.

Interviewer: It's kind of a historic moment. You're probably the first English lads to have linked in to YouTube and the internet and gone off the way that you have.

Dan: No, we were, well, we come from an early generation. Phil has been doing it so long that you couldn't even make a career off YouTube yet. There was no monetisation. He was just doing it out of boredom. That's how terrifying it is.

Phil: I'm a YouTube dinosaur, so yeah, I think definitely I was one of the first ones to do it. And it's crazy that we're still doing it now, 15 years later.

Interviewer: It's basically become a career for you, hasn't it?

Dan: Absolutely. And none of it was planned. It's been a constant, you know, runaway train since day one. And the emergency brake’s gone off a long time ago.

Interviewer: What kind of experiences are you getting to have in your downtime while you're in Australia this time around?

Dan: Well, I wanted to go to the beach and then Phil said there's a high chance we're going to get eaten by a shark. And I was like, a high chance? I don't know about that. And then we asked a guy and he was like, oh, no, they're out there. I see them every week, so...

Phil: I'm hoping to look into the eyes of a wombat and have an emotional connection.

Dan: A deep spiritual moment, ok.

Phil: My favourite animal.

Interviewer: A wombat?

Phil: Yeah, I love a wombat.

Dan: Underrated.

Interviewer: Do you like the hairy-nosed wombat or just the plain old brown one?

Phil: I'm not sure of the difference. Maybe I need to find that out. Maybe that's going to be my quest in Adelaide.

Dan: You need to meet both and make a decision.

Phil: Yeah I will.

Interviewer: Yeah, if you come face-to-face or nose-to-nose even with a hairy-nosed wombat, he's more likely to roll over and let you cuddle his tummy. The other ones have got a wet nose -

Phil: Okay, good to know.

Interviewer: -and they're a little bit more aggressive.

Phil: Okay.

Dan: Sounds like me.

(Interviewer laughs)

Interviewer: Have the audiences been laughing at all the right spots so far?

Dan: Definitely. And they've been laughing at all the inappropriate spots where they're not supposed to as well. So we'll take it. You either have an audience that laughs all the time, even at inappropriate moments, or a quiet one. And I don't want a quiet one.

Phil: Also, the good thing about our show is we try to give everyone a recap of everything that's happened in the last 15 years. So if you're like, oh, I used to watch Dan and Phil a while ago, you can still come along and you're going to get right up to speed.

Dan: We know that people are dragging their husbands, their mothers, their older sisters to the show. And these people are like, what the heck is going on? So don't worry, we covered the base.

Interviewer: Sounds pretty darn good to me. I hope you have a fantastic time in Adelaide and you continue to enjoy yourselves.

Dan: Thank you.

Interviewer: Ride the wave. Don't worry about sharks.

Phil: Excellent. Well, yeah, we're looking forward to it. Thanks. Nice to speak to you.

Interviewer: You too. Cheers, lads. Dan and Phil.

Phil: Cheers!

Dan: Bye.

Interviewer: They'll be at the Adelaide Entertainment Centre next Monday coming on the 16th. So if you are keen to see them do their thing live on stage, go and join the masses that have already bought their tickets. Get in while you can.

@dnp-described

[aita-blorbos]

AITA for accidentally getting someone kidnapped?

I [child M] am a magician. One day, I'm just, you know, at home, and all of a sudden this... thing shows up in my crystal ball, falling out of the sky. I assumed the thing was a monster and went to go check on the people at this one café. On my way there I spot the owner of the place [Adult F] who I'll call A, picking the thing (turns out the "monster" was actually a person [Child M] who I'll call C, but I didn't know that yet) up and taking it with her back to the café. I am horrified by this and decide then and there that C wants to hurt everyone and has to go. I follow A and C back to the café and watch through the window as C is introduced to the others, M (Child F), CH (Child F), CA (Child... M? NB? Not sure), E (Child M), and MI (Even Younger Child M), named, and immediately accepted. Thinking that C is evil and tricking everyone, I start casting spells to try and either cut the problem off at its source (ie: kill or otherwise defeat C) or get everyone to kick C out. The first two are dealt with like it's nothing, and I start getting frustrated. The third spell... goes very wrong. The ACTUAL monster I created with it doesn't stop when A gets between it and C. I get in there as fast as I can and yell at the thing, and when that doesn't work, I cast another spell to try and get rid of it, which goes EVEN WORSE SOMEHOW. So now the room's filling with smoke and everyone including me passes out.

I wake up before the others, and immediately notice that 1: We're in some messed up forest now, and 2: A is gone. I start crying, realizing this is my fault, and eventually the others wake up, have their own reactions to the situation, and then notice me. They instantly come over and start yelling at me and reiterating that this whole ordeal is my fault. (Aside from C, who is just confused and has no idea who I am) M is the most hostile, saying I'm a terrible magician (excuse her, I'm a GREAT magician) and demanding that I get them out. I start looking through my spellbook, and I'm honestly kind of panicking at this point, And E says that I can't do it. I retaliate, but promptly notice that, uhh... the trees are moving. I freak out and run off, but trip and fall. Everyone else except CA, who's already been grabbed by now, trips over ME, and we all get picked up by the trees and eaten by one of them and basically are just falling down some weird glowy bottomless pit now?? M tells me to cast something again, and i do, but then the smoke-passing-out thing happens again.

We wake up in what I can only assume is Candyland-- deceptively innocent. Everyone else is ooh-ing and ahh-ing over, you know, Candyland, while I try to figure out what's going on. C calls the others to action, reminding them that A's still missing, and notices some big castle, which we hear A screaming out for help from. We set off to try and save her, but almost die like 3 times because, turns out, Candyland is Not Fun And Kinda Hates Us. Finally we get inside the stupid castle and promptly find out the monster I summoned has turned into some knockoff of me and is trying to marry A against her will, which, weird, she's way older than me that's kinda creepy even without the forced part. M starts yelling and saying I did this on purpose (despite me telling her i have NO idea what's happening during one of the near-death things) and that the knockoff IS me. We get into a screaming match and alert A and the monster and after a while of me yelling at it A finally calls it out and it??? MELTS? not what I wanted to see but okay. It turns back into the original monster but bigger, breaks out of the castle, and takes A with it. We climb our way out and start throwing stuff at the thing, and it eventually slides down the castle some and we almost suffocate in icing, fun fun. (sarcasm) CA creatively destroys the pillars holding the castle up and the monster falls off a cliff, but now A's hanging onto the edge and about to fall. The monster starts crawling back up, C jumps down there and long story short, saves A and now I'm wondering what on earth he is because how did he do that. We get sent back to the cafe and everyone except C, A, and MI starts saying it's my fault and asking why I was casting spells. I tell em it's because something (C) fell out of the sky. A hits the nail on the head and asks if I was trying to protect everyone, and when I admit it, everyone says It's okay. Then everyone gets distracted and I go to leave, but C stops me. Everyone says that I'm their friend and I'm gonna be honest I still don't get why, but I am glad! I.. may or may not have started crying. So I guess I'm their friend now? But still, I feel like it's my fault.

[wannabemasterofwindintraining]

In loving memory

Chapter 3/?

(This is a story about the events of Clay's death from the perspective of Aaron)

"I live to serve my master, Monstrox"

It's usually pretty hard to scare me, I'm basically fearless

But right now seeing Clay come back to life and side with the bad guys? It terrifies me

That thing I said about it being cooler if clay could talk? Yeah I take that back

I like Clay being alive again but not when it has a being evil side effect

"Attack!"

Oh no he's running straight at me

His hit is so strong it sends me flying away

Before I can get up he's already knocking Axl back

"Alright mister 'Grey Knight' i think I've had enough of this!"

Lance no!

"You can't hit Clay with combo nexo power"

Luckily Macy jumped in to stop him

Who knows what will happen to Clay if we hit him with our nexo powers

He's a statue! We'll smash him into pits and he'll go into the cloud

Then we'll really lose him forever

We have to defeat these monsters without hurting Clay

"What do we do?"

I wish it was a simple answer Macy but all the questions I'm getting lately are harder than any exam I've ever had

We can't hit Clay but by not doing that we're risking the lives of everyone in the village

As a knight, the safety of the people is my main priority

But as Aaron, I don't want to lose Clay again

"We got no choice"

We have to get the people out of here

"Merlock get the fortress out of here we have to withdraw"

Sorry guys but we can't take the chance on losing Clay

If he wasn't a bad guy now, he'd be furious at me for this

He was always ready to risk his life if it meant he could save others and in a way he did

But I'm not about to risk anyone's life, especially his

.

.

.

.

"Well, we could look on the bright side"

"What bright side?"

Don't make this so hard Macy I'm already not convinced of what I'm saying

"Clay is alive again!"

"Alive yes, also an evil granite-covered destruction machine that we can't touch!"

Gods damn it guys how am I supposed to be positive when you're all acting like this

"Baby steps, Lance. baby steps"

Come on! Clay is back to life, that's a good thing! We just have to de-evilify him or something and he'll be back to normal

See even Merlock agrees he's talking about a spell to do that right now sounds like a really powerful spell

It's all going to be fine

So

Why am I still nervous?

I'm probably still shaken up from that fighting, nothing like a good battle to get my blood pumping

I just have to step away for a while till I calm down

Yeah I just need a little rest that's all, I'll go back when I'm feeling better

I'm fine

I'm fine

I'm

"Aaron?"

WHY DO THESE GUYS KEEPS SNEAKING UP ON ME I'M GONNA HAVE A HEART ATTACK

"Um, yeah?"

"Are you ok?"

"Of course! Why do you ask?"

"Well, how do I put it, you seem more... jumpy? Than usual?"

"What does that even mean?"

"It means you don't look ok, Aaron. Are you sure you're fine?"

"Yeah! Why wouldn't I be?"

"Um, hello? Clay?"

"Oh yeah! Clay! Man, how could I forget about that? Thanks for reminding me, Macy!"

":|"

":)"

Why is she staring at me? I don't like this

"Aaron I don't know what you're going through but I know this whole thing is definitely impacting you just as much as me"

"Nope you're wrong I am totally A-OK"

"You can talk to me if you're feeling down you know?"

"Macy, I told you, I'm fine, f, i, n, e, fine"

"But-"

"Sorry, I really need some rest rn, battling those monsters is tough even without Clay there trying to stop us"

"..."

"Well! Nice talkin' to ya bye!"

Since when did conversations drain so much energy

.

.

.

.

I rest my back against the door as soon as it closes

I don't have the power to stand anymore, slowly sliding down till I'm just sitting on the ground

What's wrong with me? I'm supposed to be the happy one, this is exactly the situation where I come in and make everyone feel better

So why can't I do it?

Why can't I keep it together

I'm not just another knight I'm the leader now how can I cheer up the others if I can't cheer myself up?

Oh no, here comes the tears

Why now

Why

Why why why

Why is this happening

I just want everything to go back to normal

I want Clay to stop being evil I want to go back to being a regular knight I want everyone to stop being sad and miserable

Is that too much to ask for?

I cover my face with my hands trying to block the sound of my crying

I don't want anyone to hear me cry

What would Clay think of me right now? Crying cause I can't handle the responsibility

I can imagine the disappointment on his face, the thought of it makes me want to cry even more

I'm sorry Clay I'm really sorry, I know you trust me but I'm not strong enough

I'm not the brave and fearless knight you think I am I'm just a loser who can't do anything

You shouldn't have trusted me on this

I just want you back

Suddenly I feel a strong force shake the fortress

Break time is over I have to go make sure the fortress is safe

I wipe my tears and take a few breathes I can't go out looking like I just cried even if I did

I'm still trying to convince Macy that I'm fine

.

.

.

.

Whatever higher beings are in charge of this world, they must really hate me

Bet they're sitting with bags of popcorn like "oh boy can't wait for even more bad stuff to happen to that Aaron guy" "yeah I really wanna see him holding back evil Clay from trying to destroy the digital wizard"

As if enough stuff didn't happen already apparently I can't even sit down for two minutes anymore because even worse stuff keeps happening

Like that Clay thing!

Even with the four of us together we still can't beat him that's how hopeless we are

We have to hold him back until Merlock finds a spell and he sure is taking his sweet time with that spell

"I will destroy you all!"

Yeah yeah heard that before try being original won't you?

I've been through enough stuff this month alone the least of my concerns is wheatear you're gonna "destroy me" or not

Merlock is gonna find a spell and you're gonna be fine got it? So shut up and slow down a little

"Here goes!"

A strong wave of nexo power comes crashing through the door it felt like an explosion

Is this what the monsters feel when we use nexo powers on them? Cause it really hurts it must suck to be a monster

I get up and make sure everyone is ok

We're all beat up pretty badly but we'll live

"Where's Clay?"

Clay!

That explosion, it was a spell for him but where's he?

Is he back to normal now? What happened? He's not dead again is he?

I stare out the open garage door trying to find him

It looks like that explosion knocked him all the way to the other side of the kingdom

The others get up and stand next to me

We're all looking outside hoping to see Clay but no one sees him he's too far away

What if we lost him again? What if that spell just destroyed him? What will I do now?

All this thinking makes me tear up and the others are looking at me

But I don't have the energy to keep hiding it anymore

I fall to the ground and start sobbing

I'm tired, I'm just so tired

Tired of all those monsters tired of that stupid cloud tired of whatever is going on with Clay right now

My sobs become full on cries

I feel someone wrap their arms around me, it's Axl he's also crying

No no no I'm supposed to make them feel better not worse

Lance joins in on the hug crying as well

Hamletta's here too trying to comfort him

Macy joins the hug too we're all crying on the floor now and it's my fault

If I held it together until I was alone none of them would be crying right now

I can never let them see me like this again

< | >

[7-ratsinatrenchcoat]

RATS I FOUND A THING

after north-sta informed me that the demon realm doesn't have a sun (now I HAVE to give the demon realm its own species of miasma-producing carnivorous (?) plants. MAYBE THEY GLOW. That would be cool as hell) I decided to google that information and found out that nanatsu no taizai has A FANDOM WIKI and YOUR OC IS THERE?

SHE'S HERE

SHE'S RECOGNIZED BY THE PEOPLE

(as she should be. but omg I did not expect that?)

and SHE'S SHIPPED WITH THE SUPREME DEITY. This being here gives that scene where she calls the supreme deity by her name and is so salty and disrupts the ENTIRE peace summoning by arguing with her SO MUCH OF THE FUNNY. so much so that I am willing to set aside my disbelief that anyone would put up with the supreme deity for more than five seconds. like the "I'm so done with you" energy has even more possible layers now. EX-LOVER QUARREL!

this might not be fanfiction canon but Artoria dating TWO gods and breaking/divorcing up with both of them after they start becoming toxic? yes.

there are other OCs on here too. they're so detailed I am dying. THEY GAVE MEL AND ZEL MORE SIBLINGS. now Mel can be the greatest and worst big brother to all of them😭 Can you imagine the CHAOS they'd get into? I'm a little scared. People gave them SPECIAL ABILITIES that sounded so much like they exist in canon. Like I couldn't tell this wasn't the real wiki and was like what??? is this character from grand cross?? thanks everyone for submitting the ocs to the public for infinite daydream potential. where can I read this absolute glorious mess.

I sure hope the people who put all these ocs find your fanfiction because they would EAT UP that world-building and character detail SO fast. I should know, I share the same screaming excited brain with all of them. I think.

Now to discover the answer to an important question: is Zeldris STILL the "youngest sibling" in the aus where he has more siblings?

no. but the littlest sibling seems to be genderfluid. love to see it. she's also an amnesiac. more funny potential. "What's your gender?" "I don't know :/"

"I just woke up here one day and I can't remember where I came from, who my family is, or even my own pronouns. luckily I'm good with all of them"

she's got Mel's bangs 😂 hide them eyes in a serious moment

@ the girl in this fanon page. girlie are you really going to try to date derriere? I... I think she and Monspeet would end up adopting you along the way...

I don't... I don't think just one person did this. Did like 20 people collab on this. The spelling of names is inconsistent, THERE'S ONE PART JUST CASUALLY IN A DIFFERENT LANGUAGE

"a monster without pity" NOT FANFICTION CANON. plus it also said Artoria taught her children kindness like a page ago?

also g o w t e r

well. I'm losing my mind.

TLDR: girl googles something. accidentally discovers that fanon wikis are a thing that exists and proceeds to lose her mind. hope this was entertaining!

Have a great day rats!!!

THAT'S WHERE I STOLE HER FROM. I was trying to look up if Meliodas' mom had a name and she was the first result?? If I knew she was an OC then I would have changed her name ngl I like Lilith better, but we're 70 pages in ok it's too late. All those siblings were too many to keep track of so I said fuck it, real demons only.

gowter

[donatellarose]

— wolf heart

Astarion x f!reader

rated e - 634 words

tags: speak with animals spells, descriptions of the aftermath of a fight including blood, let me know if I missed any please.

prompt: You're a ranger who's party is almost downed by a hellbeast, but you accidentally cast a "speak with animals" scroll and find that the beast's mentality is little more than a frightened puppy - writing-prompt-s

dividers: saradika graphics

notes: I did change hellbeast to gnolls because they almost ended my duo run in BG3 and I'm still processing the insanity that was that fight. I thought Astarion and Lae'zel could waltz right through but boy was I wrong. Next time, it's on sight.

Exploring the Risen Road, you and the party hoped to find treasure and camp supplies. Not chaos.

The day had been going so well. The pesky goblins in the Blighted Village proved no match for the group of you. While Shadowheart and Lae'zel had decided to return to camp to rest after an unfortunate incident with a grease bottle and a series of flaming arrows, you decided to press on a bit father with Wyll, Gale and Astarion. Your familiar, a wolf you called Lupus, trotted faithfully behind you.

Wyll was keeping his focus on tracking down some horned beast in accordance with something that he was tight lipped about. But alas, what would a good traveling party be without secrets. Well, secrets that even the mind flayer parasite you all were infected with couldn't dig out. Surely, all would be revealed in time.

After all, last night Astarion's secret had. The pale rogue was actually a vampire. And you have sated his desire. You did need him strong, and he seemed to fight better, almost happy. On the other hand, you were woozy from the blood loss. Arrows that once seemed to strike true were missing their mark. A good nights rest and it will pass. That was what Astarion had said.

You all jumped over a broken bridge to where the road split three ways. To the immediate right, you saw utter carnage. Crimson stained the dirt, bodies strew about. Gale recoiled at the sight ahead while Wyll quickly identified the creatures before you.

"Gnolls. Savages who eat others. Barbaric."

Wyll muttered under his breath before readying his weapon. You nodded your agreement, as a ranger you were no stranger to the wilds.

What should have been a straightforward fight turned into madness. Gale's spells, Wyll's bladework and Astarion's sneak attacks did damage, but not enough. Especially when reinforcements arrived in the form of hyenas for the gnolls. It seemed like you blinked and your entire party was downed.

Your hands move quickly, trying to cast a Hunter's Mark spell. One target to choose as your quarry to deal extra damage to it. In your pained and bloodless state, your mind muddled and instead you cast Speak with Animals instead.

A breathless, terrified voice filled your head. Begging you to stay back, you hairless goblin!

"It's okay. We're not goblins. We're humans. Well, three humans and one high elf. We don't like the goblins either actually. We need to fid better equipment before we take on the entire camp though."

You rambled on, hoping to appease the creature towering over you with greenish-gray skin and their furry hide a light brown hue dotted with spots. The creature's dirty yellow mane stood straight up as it studied you. Finally, it spoke. Or rather you understood it. It called you friend.

"Yes, friend! If you would like to help us, I can promise you all the Goblin meat you could ever dream to taste. The camp is just over that hill."

You pointed over to the distant, shabby camp you'd previously spotted. Once a temple of a goddess, now it housed ruckus and drunk goblins. The creatures immediately took off, your own fight forgotten. Shoulders relaxing, you helped Wyll and Gale up before moving to Astarion.

A spare healing potion tipped lightly into his lips from your slightly trembling hand. His red eyes met yours as your free hand carded through his messy white curls.

"You know, darling. I think from now on we shouldn't call you wolf heart because of your furry friend. How about gnoll tamer?"

You laugh softly at his jest, hauling him to his feet. You blush from his teasing, his hand darting out to catch your wrist. His voice is a low purr only for you to hear.

"Here's my little treat with their cheeks all flushed. You will come to my bed tonight, won't you?"

[hineini]

come write right

I don't have it hard saying I will sometimes misprint something, putting extra letters inside something or denying letters' inclusion inside the term I'm seeking to put to paper. If somebody should always expect me to do something, it's that I will honour Canadian spellings at all times since, God help me-something I don't say lightly since I'm not unaware some rights of mine probably have decent if not higher potential to disappear if a certain politician's picked as our new PM-I'm a proud Canadian.

So.

During the game of scrabble I just finished playing against my mother I had to give her some gentle shit since she tried to put gray on the board as her inaugural word. I gently told her we're here rather than inside the USA so she had to put its proper vowel in. She tried to tell me they're both right; didn't have it hard retorting that right's relative to geography and as Canadians it's our obligation to throw e centre stage rather than a if we're writing grey. Sure, I didn't hesitate to second that gray's right too...it's simply according to the context we're in.

Grey or gray?

Gay or lesbain?

Dyke or lesbian?

Difference or disability?

Depending on the context I'm in, I will definitely adapt the one I use when choosing between the second, third and fourth pairs put to virtual paper above. Hope my mom was able to feel some level of reassurance, no matter the strength it had, when she put everything into Google and came to something that talked about grey being preferred in Canadian English and gray receiving recognition as preferred in American English.

Others can dub me a stickler all they want. It won't suffice to change a core belief of mine: words are supposed to be respected and thus written right. Sure, I'm not ecstatic when I have to set people straight about certain kinds of shit but it has decent if not higher potential to prove an unpaid job I have without regard to the topic involved.

[romilly-jay]

In Praise of Short Stories

A perfect match to my shortened attention span and a merciful way to respond to my sudden, panicked feeling that I've been a Big Fraud when it came to claiming an identity as a reader because - hadn't really been doing all that much reading as it turns out...

This is also In Praise of Library Books and - not unrelatedly - In Praise of Those Emails That Warn You Just Before Those Library Books Fall Due For Renewal. [Today, they are due back - today.]

Used to think of myself as not especially interested in short stories. Did I think you couldn't get enough of the key details in before the wordcount ran out? I was wrong. I'm astonished how wrong I was.

(And I think that's because I'd completely under-estimated how much the reader's mind contributes - how many details we colour in for ourselves, how attuned we are to taking gestures and hints and making worlds from them...?)

Also, I now know that I love a *collection* of short stories - as in, by a number of different writers - and that's because // probably relevant in part to why I am less able to consider myself "a vociferous reader" than I imagined myself to be // - I'm PICKY. Meg-Ryan-ordering-lunch-In-When-Harry-Met-Sally levels of picky...

I want my stories to be comforting but not at the expense of intelligence... having room for ambiguity and spikiness without actually being gross or mean... not needing to spell everything out but also having coherent and discernible internal logic... with characters who have lived a little and who don't need to be likeable exactly but who also aren't AWFUL, because, my g*d, we're hanging out here voluntarily so it needs to be at least a little bit fun.

There were two stories in this collection that especially hit the spot for me - and that's great, isn't it, because now I can go and look for their longer works*. Roadside Attraction by Alix E. Harrow and I Remember Satellites by Sarah Gailey. Even better, I probably wouldn't have picked up a story called Roadside Attraction and more fool me because it was the absolute BEST.

This is not - NOT! - to diss the other authors. I'm sure the other stories are also excellent, if perhaps slightly better attuned for different readers, or myself in another moment/version of self. (Happens that the story by Catherynne M. Valente was actually set as one of our texts for my genre fiction class in the City MFA and - I really liked it at the time and if, this time, I found it hard to re-read that is no question a matter for me and late night reading and reaching the end of the day's allocated attention span...)

After all, they have in common the same editor and all of them also comes with Verified Publishing Track Record.

But Alix Harrow and Sarah Gailey won the rosettes from me, this time... so much so that in playing the little True Reading Name game with my occasionally-local bookstore, my mind bent from the overall collection to the first story within it and I borked the assignment.

Quite liked both the resulting name-smashes, though, if I'm honest...

*Which BTW is **precisely** how I found author Charlie Jane Anders (the first story from Even Greater Mistakes is *chef's kiss* IMO).

PS I was super happy to swing by the library and find that this book was out on the "just back" table of tempting offerings... I'm projecting, of course, but it feels slightly like an endorsement of my good taste in picking this collection to borrow (and my innate decency slash fear of consequences that had me return it... ;) )

[benefits1986]

The Fault in Our Starts

Let's kinda dig up more Zodiac-slanted shizzumz and do some auditing, shall we?

Slept better but again, woke up at around 4 AM. As I was scheduling a meeting next week, I realized that there are two holidays. WHOA. Biking szn na talaga ito, again. YAS.

So, Zodiacs. Let me be clear that this is but a curation of my lived truths as we try to debunk the myths that go with it. Mother dragon gauged all XX and XY based on their signs and birth years. This workflow covers all people I interact with. Friends, family, and ahem, landi tribe. She truly believes that there's bearing in these even when she is a Marian and a devout Catholic. Must be because my godparents are 99% Fil-Chi, but heck, she didn't have a single lucky charm except me, her baby donut. CHZ.

This is the first time that I'm counting whether or not I've dated all the Zodiacs, so I'm not so sure how this will pan out. To add some twist, I'd also try recalling their birth order. Not sure though if I can actually retrieve them from my defunct memory bank. Let's go. Baka may tama na naman mother dragon ko sa deep-ish dive na 'to.

Aquarius. Damn. We're actually starting strong. Only child. Silent but selos levels 10000000000. Creative-ish and thinks too deeply. Will make the effort to be with you wherever and whenever you go. Kaya kang hanapin sa Raon-Quiapo 'pag ayaw mong sagutin phone mo. Borderline stalking which appeared sweet at first, but, fuck. I cannot. Holds back feelings a lot, but had many outbursts, especially when selos levels hit home.

Pisces. Ohhh. This one's interesting. Apart from checking the spelling right now, this one's really devoted. As a Water sign, the emotions are intense; but I guess, more than the zodiac, it's because of being a middle child. We actually started with small talks, that escalated real quick to deep and dark and delulu conversations. Probably, one of the most dedicated ones; but blinded dedication is crazy. How crazy? Willing to wait even when all signs say unavailable.

Aries. OWEEEM. Middle child ulit. UGH. Very, very strong personality and dominant... but hey, it's me! The chaos, the ego battles, the non-stop banters. Magaling mamikon. Once the ego is tamed and vanquished, this Aries will be loyal but will appear distant. Badly put, ayaw umamin ng tama at mali niya. Will show you grand gestures but without the words to back it up. One of the most intense and life-changing encounters I've had, because Aries people are not backing down when they say that they are dead serious. Note: Mom said, Aries is my most ugh ka-sign. :D But hey, dad ko is an Aries. Hahahahaha. Just saying.

Taurus. The zodiac I am staying away from. Hear me out, first. My twin Taurus towers are my strongest and most meaningful connections in my entire herstory. LOL. And, look where it got me... they died too early. I always feel bullied ng Bulls, as in. :( Why so? Give na give na give na give na dinaig pa pagiging self-giving ko.

One of the most graphic date-hiritan-habulan in my book is with Taurus. Bunso, so pabebe matic naman na. Taurus e. Kinda like Aries but in terms of hambog, mas less ng slight. Won't keep up with BS. Won't mince words. Won't back down. Aggressive but with preno and buga na laging pang-gulat. But, very, very, very devoted and has a really, really kind heart and strong spirit. Ilalapag lahat sa harap mo. Ikaw na lang bahala paano mo i-take. Misjudged malimit kasi parang walang pake, pero meron, meron, meron. Also, this Taurus is sakitin kaya no choice but to be maselan. Dahil yata sa Taurus na 'to na 'di nag-reveal ng birthday niya until sa kalagitnaan na ng kaganapan, stress levels 10000000000. I even asked kung talaga bang birthday niya is ____ a few times. Then, ekis na agad. Sorry na kasi. Tinanong pa ako kung anong problema, sabi ko fuck off. Never again. Made up elaborate excuses, too, kasi maka-debate, akala mo Miting de Avance. Hayup.

Note: While I steer clear of Taurus, 2023 has been a Taurus town in my book. FUCK. So 'pag may birthday greetings ako ng Taurus szn, I freeze and retreat, a lot. TBT, though, Taurus may be one of my most intentional signs to date. FML. So, iwas-Taurus szn continues. Hahahahaha.

Gemini. Wala akong matandaan. Sorry. Baka walang nag-stick. Hahahahaha.

Cancer. HAHAHAHHAHAHA. Bunso. May pattern ang sign na 'to. Falls in love easily and gets bored a lot. Shemay. Emotions are spot on. Akala mo may Netflix series kang aabangan. Stubborn and will try their best to win you harapan most of the time. Sentimental, homebody and romantic. Very easy to please. UGH. Very interesting din kasi Cancerians are deeply rooted sa family but appears to be lone wolves. Delulu levels 10000000000. Gusto ka ng patirahin agad-agad sa bahay awardee kahit saglit pa lang kayo magkakakilala.

Note: This is the reason why I CTRL + ALT + DEL my feelings and feeling ko talaga Aries-Taurus with sprinkles of Cancer akong nilalang. Ayokong maging tulad ng mga 'to 'pag tanda ko. LOLOLOLOLL.

Leo. Quick one lang 'to kasi cutie kagulo szn, so parang not counted. Bunso, if I remember it right. Hahahahahaha. Though date is full of adventures and misadventures. Ma-ego ang Leo, 'yun lang.

Virgo. SHET na malagkit 'to. Panganay. Vindictive levels 100000. Too traditional that's too boring for me, pero naman, 'wag ka, when no one's around, wagas maging aggressive. Obsession levels 1000000. Buntot levels 100000000000. UGH. Sensitive but will appear independent and unbothered. Likes overhearing conversations online and offline, a lot. So kung gusto mo 'yung "you and me and only us against the world" partner, baka pang-Virgo ka. Try mo.

Libra. Pang-balance talaga. Only child. Hmmm. Another interesting one kasi super calculated ang risk ng Libra na 'to. Kung baga, gusto niya sigurado. Walang mintis. Too peaceful borderline timid but there'd be times na the scales are off. And when that happens, lagot. LOL. Silent snob geek. Pero, what I like best is we had the craziest laughs and I was able to cry din naman because Libra is a good listener. Less doer lang o baka siya lang 'yun as a sedated soul.

Scorpio. Sizzling. Feeling only child. HAHAHAHAHHAHA. Sexual tension is off the roof. And they're not afraid to showcase their goodies even when they're fully clothed. Ganun. Very sentimental and 'yung pagka-deep, madalas 'di ko maarok. Too indie also. LOL. Craves and carves their own space as they wait for the deadly sting.

Sagittarius. I think wala pa rin kasi feeling ko lang naman, kawawa sila since same lang Xmas gift and birthday gift nila. LUH. Anong connect?

So, buti naman, hindi tayo naka-12 out 12 for today's kagulo sa utak session. Reading the stuff above, pare-pareho lang din kasi mga tao. I argue with mom a lot na, kesa i-box 'yung mga tao based sa sign nila, bakit ba hindi na lang maging fair game for all? Lahat naman kasi talaga may flags -red, beige and green, right? Also, as a Cancer myself, while I may have qualities of the Crab, it does not mean that I am all that. Nature versus nurture pa rin talaga. And, I think, zodiac dating is but a grand alibi. Mala-Fallacy of Love. LOL. Hala.

Habol muna sa mga trabahong bahay na tambak because I'm nursing a broken nail na sumagad sa laman nung kuko ko. Pointer finger pa 'to. :( Plus work and hustles weekend because it's a long weekend. I will try my best to down so much work para sa Japan trip kong may 1% chances of winning and winging it. Pampagana forda bonus and bills and bahay in 2024. Plus, really, really excited sa mga kaganapans and at the same time, may halong takot of the unknown as a people watcher. Sigh. Though I'm not part of alignments na pangmalakasan. Start up girl ako, kaya I'm but trying my best to make the most out of what's on my plate as I try to break down silos kahit sobrang daling maging aggressive-aggressive mode because, the silos are thin and shaking. 'Yung pitikin ko lang, giba na; but, iba na ako ngayon. Hahahahahaha. 'Wag lang sa core values ko. Ako lang naman 'yun. Sa tingin ko lang sa takbo ng mga ganaps. PS1: I was backreading posts and my oh my, I realized na this thought fart corner has been evolving. Mas maganda structure ko the past years to be honest. BUT, I do this style because I'd like to keep up with slang and para ma-practice ako mainam for work and life after work. ALSO, mas wala na akong subtext ngayon compared noon na hindi ko na rin malaman kung ano 'yung imagined and ano 'yung reality. Mas buo na rin ako ngayon. Mas hindi takot kahit takot much pa rin. SKL. Bye for now.

[imhereforscm]

The gods if they ever went to an escape room

Warning: Dirty joke ahead, if you see any grammar/spelling mistakes... *Sobs into pillow* I tried.

(I love all the gods, so don't come at me for bullying your babes. I'm only joking.)

Leon

Orders Karno around to find the clues.

Keeps making Zyglavis angry and now the workers have the entertainment of their lives.

Karno abandons him.

The people working there have to take him out by the end of this, because boi is STOOPID.

"Karno, I want you to- Karno? Karnoooooooo!"

Scorpio

Curses.

Screeches.

BEGS Zyglavis to let him sacrifice Ichthys.

"Zyg, look at me. This will solve all of our problems."

Teorus

Even if he finds a clue, he'll get lost, so what's the point?

Dui has to hold his hand the entire time, so he doesn't get lost.

"Weird. I remember seeing the EXACT same room 10 minutes ago. Why would they set up two identical rooms?"

Dui

They DID get lost and now the escape room people have to get them out.

Shadow Dui is punching the air, wanting to come out and break his way through the walls.

Or Teorus' face.

He wants to break something. Anything.

"Teorus... How do I put this...? We're lost." —Dui

"We don't need a key, we can use the bull's face and break down the door." —Shadow Dui

Huedhaut

He's the reason why they all managed to get out.

Is tempted to leave their butts there to suffer.

100% sure he says some top of the line roasts, which end up in "Things players have said during escape rooms" tiktoks.

"I was never friends with any of them, so I'm not betraying anyone."

Ichthys

Oh boy, when he finds the cameras.

Surely this evening has led to many ideas for pranks for the very very near future. (Like, the second they get out.)

100% breaks something.

"Scorpy broke it! Come to think of it, he's always angry, right?👀"

Karno

Feels refreshed once he abandons Leon.

But that doesn't mean he can relax. No.

He still has 9 more children (because Hue can manage) that need to be kept alive.

Tries to look for Teorus and Dui, but gets sick of it soon enough and turns his back on them, like "fuck them kids."

"Maybe if Leon never gets out I'll get a promotion. I deserve it after all."

Zyglavis

Is in the brink of allowing Scorpio to sacrifice Ichthys.

Probably actually allows it, but the cameras provide way too many witnesses.

Finds out about Leon's hopeless ass and praises the escape workers, because "bless them."

Constantly stressing out about the possibility of Ichthys breaking anything.

"Ichth-... What's that in your mouth...? Don't make me come over there! Show me. What's in. Your. Mou-"

Aigonorus

Is sleeping the entire time. (They brought him along though, because "Ohana means family family means nobody gets left behind or forgotten.")

The only thing that got him out is Tauxolouve, who carried him.

Probably fell asleep on a button/pushed something and ended up solving a riddle by pure accident.

With the way he F E L L down to hibernate, the workers thought he fainted or even died.

*snores loudly beside Tauxolouve's ear*

Krioff

Keeps pressing the help buttons, because "What is that circle on the wall?"

Also brings his face REALLY close to the cameras and stares at the souls of the workers without even blinking.

(He's adorable through the whole thing though. Let's face it.)

"So humans like to decorate their walls with pushable buttons? Nice."

Tauxolouve

Tries to flirt his way out, but let's face it. Trying to be smooth and sexy with a sleeping man on your back, is not very feasible.

Ngl, kinda helps with the clues. (But that's still not even to escape Huedhaut's big revenge.)

"Aigo, I don't know if you're hurting my back or my ego more right now."

Partheno

Also flirts with everything in his way.

Forgets they have cameras and makes pervy comments to Zyglavis and Scorpio.

Once he finds out about the cameras, he does it even more.

"I sure can push the button, but I would prefer pushing you against the wall and-" "Partheno!"

Results

Hue makes the final decision and traps everyone back in the room.

Now he sits with the workers, enjoying the show of everyone trying to get the fuck out without him.

"Wine anyone?"

(Lol, what if the MC worked at an escape room and the gods were players.)

[randomshyperson]

The Scarlet Witch Prophecy - Chapter 13 - The Sixth Year (Part Three)

My dear friend @abimess, I keep stealing your gifs and making updates without telling you. I hope you never get tired of it.

Summary: As the youngest daughter of Howard Stark, you have ordinary expectations for your years at Hogwarts. Little do you know what adventures await you when your destiny is intertwined with the legendary Scarlet Witch.

Warnings: +16. Adaptation of the Harry Potter Saga, Magical Thematic, Prophecies, Mentions of Violence, Torture and dark magic, Language (swearing and minor/major offenses), manipulation of will, Underage kissing, insinuation of smut with minors, Smut (overage), descriptions of death, aggression, obscurity, angst, fluffy, soulmates analogies. || Chapter Warnings: Magical torture with minors, cursing, angst, ptsd, derogatory thoughts and behavior, dark magic.

Chapter Words: 8.486 K

A/N> Yes, I've gone for a month without warning anyone, and yes that might go on, but at least i'm near ending this (I'm already writing chapter 21). Once I'm finished, I'll just programe tumblr to upload them all for me because i'm lazy. I hope anyone like this yet, i don't even know what i'm doing anymore. Good reading!

Series Masterlist ||  Read on AO3 || All Works Masterlist

Chapter 13 - Part XIII - The Sixth Year (Part Three)

Gossip really starts to irritate you when you go to lunch after potions.

"You want to say something to me, girl?" You charge impatiently when you hear the giggles behind you again, coming from a group of students sitting at Ravenclaw's table.

The group turns around with wry smiles on their faces, and you notice the editions of the Daily Prophet in the hand of one of the boys. It is Hope Summers, your classmate, who speaks first:

"We're just sharing some theories, Stark." She says in a provocative tone. "Some of us find it an interesting coincidence that just now that Mephisto is back, you and Maximoff are losing control of magic."

You frown.

"What are you talking about?" you ask in surprise, referring to Wanda, but Hope thinks you want her to keep mocking you.

"It's just suspicious that no one knows what happened to you in that dungeon, or at the ministry of magic." Hope counters. "And now you two are blowing things up, and we have a dark wizard on the loose."

"Fuck you, Summmers." You curse as you stand up, leaving the girl in shock at your aggressiveness.

The same auror from the first day stands in front of you as you try to approach Slytherin's table.

"Students must respect..."

But you interrupted his speech with a loud shove that sent him staggering backwards, and drew the immediate attention of several people.

You were seeing red by now, the man's wry smile only making you more irritated.

He drew his wand, but so did you. And the room held its breath.

"Put your wand away, Miss Stark." Warned the auror angrily, but you didn't.

Wanda stood up as she noticed the confusion, rushing to reach you, but the auror put his arm in her way.

"Now, miss." He warned again, and you grunted in irritation.

"Get your hands off her." You retorted, feeling your body fever with hatred.

"Stark." The man said, his arm reaching down to push Wanda back, and you exploded.

You didn't even finish thinking about the spell, the magic exploding out of your wand.

The auror masterfully blocked it, and you dropped your wand to jump on top of him.

It was a confusion of shoving, other bigger students pulling you away from the man and he away from you.

" Never fucking touch her again!" You warned snorting in anger, Thor Odinson stopping you from jumping on the man's neck.

"I just pushed her away from the line of fire, you crazy bitch!" The auror retorted indignantly and angrily. "Go to the headmaster's office now!"

"Fuck you!"

Thor pulled you out of the hall as the crowd of students whistled in celebration, excited about the whole fight. The auror was too busy dissipating everyone to follow you.

"Hey, hothead, calm down." The blonde warned as he released the grip of you by the courtyard. You grunted angrily, wishing you could break something.

"Fuck this school, fuck that asshole." You complained aloud, as Thor looked at you curiously.

"You have quite a rage, Stark." He comments, and you grumble in irritation.

But Wanda catches up with you the next moment, and she looks even angrier than you.

"What the hell was that?" she asks and you roll your eyes, running your hands through your hair.

"I think you are going to be fine for now on." Thor comments, smiling at the thank you Wanda says to him before leaving you two alone.

"So?" Wanda insists, arms crossed. You bite the inside of your cheek as you look at her.

"What do you want me to say?" You retort angrily.

"You just started a fight for no reason! Again!" She accuses. "Only this time it was with a wizard who could kill you. I want to know what's going on!"

"I don't know, Wanda!" You exclaim angrily. "Why does everyone expect me to have answers? I don't know! Do you understand that? It feels like I'm going to explode in frustration any second, neither you or Gamora seem to get it. I don't understand what's happening to me!"

"Because you won't talk to us!" She shouts back, just as annoyed as you are. "You're pushing everyone away! Even me! We can't help you if you don't talk to us!"

You grunt impatiently, turning around. There was a strange throbbing in the back of your head, a strange whisper. Like a voice telling you that no one was telling you the truth, that your friends expected too much of you, that Wanda didn't care...

This last thought made you sob. Wanda softened her expression immediately, taking a step toward you and touching your shoulder, but you pulled away from her touch as if burned, wiping your tears away quickly.

"Leave me alone, Wanda." You mutter between teeth. She hesitates, raising her hand toward you again.

"Please."

"I need some time from you." You insist, pushing her hand away, and walking away.

A part of your brain is begging you to go back and make things right, but there is a cloud of anger and irritation that keeps you walking.

//-//-//-//-//

You roll over in bed in discomfort.

Nightmares. Again.

It has only been five days since you had your fight with Wanda, and you are getting worse every day.

With Summers' teasing, you end up noticing other things too.

How the school really found the theory that you and Wanda were somehow related to Mephisto, because the minister had covered up what happened in the dungeons and in the ministry, and everybody thought it was strange that two students were showing an increase in magical potential with the return of a dark wizard.

Unlike you, who were failing considerably in any simple execution of spells, Wanda was demonstrating exceptional abilities. Kaecilius was more than willing to make her the face of progress at Hogwarts, you heard the gossip about bringing in reporters to share the news of the new direction.

You know that the only reason Wanda hasn't come after you yet was because you're running away from her like the plague.

And you couldn't even explain why.

You were also blocking out your real health condition from her. Just like you two practiced during the summer.

Besides hiding this from Wanda, you have kept your friends away too, isolating yourself from everyone else in search of a little rest, only succeeding in taking a nap when you are running away between classes.

And the detentions with Kaecilius keep increasing as you skip classes.

You begin to consider learning to write with a different hand, just so the bruise has time to heal, but at this point you don't even care about the scar anymore.

"You really must like pain." Loki teases wryly as you sit in an empty room, waiting for the aurors' shift change again after your detention.

You don't ask him what he's doing on that floor again, and he doesn't ask why you haven't spoken to your friends in two weeks.

"Sure, that must be it." You joke back, massaging your injured hand.

He assumes a pensive expression for a second.

"Are you sure you haven't been cursed by someone?" He asks, causing you to frown in shock and confusion.

"Excuse me?"

He gives a little chuckle, settling himself better against the wall.

"Everyone's been talking about you being sick." He says. "I heard some of the Ravenclaw people theorize that you became a werewolf over the summer."

You laugh helplessly, massaging your temples lightly.

"I guarantee that's not it." You say making Loki smile.

"If you are sick for no reason, it could be a curse." He says. "I wouldn't be surprised, the way things are."

"But how do I find out if I've been cursed?"

Loki takes a thoughtful stance.

"I don't know." He says. "But I'm sure you can learn that in the no longer reserved session of the library."

You laugh at the joke, but soon you both return to silence. When that hallway's shift ends, Loki sighs, getting up and helping you to stand.

"Still can't perform spells?" He asks, already drawing his wand.

"Only if I want to blow things up." You scoff making him laugh.

"Fine, I'll enchant you." He says. When you are transparent, he looks at you with an amused expression. "See you next Saturday, troublemaker?

"Don't worry, I plan on skipping DADA, maybe I'll be here tomorrow." You retort in the same tone before turning to leave.

//-////-//-//-//-//

It takes three more days for Wanda to finally corner you.

You are skipping class in an empty room on the seventh floor, trying to doze off, and almost fall out of your chair with fright when the door opens and Wanda comes in, looking annoyed.

You grunt impatiently, without lifting your face from the desk.

"I told you I needed time." You complain, but tense up when you notice the tears in her eyes as she moves closer to sit at the table next to yours.

" You want to break up with me?" She asks in a whisper and you raise your head immediately, feeling your chest tighten.

"What? What are you talking about?"

Wanda gives a humorless laugh at your expression. "Why are you acting like this is an absurd idea? You've disappeared. You've been avoiding me, not even talking to me anymore."

You shake your head quickly, feeling the urge to cry.

"I don't want to break up with you." You say. "I..I would never want to be away from you."

"You just said you need time away from me." Wanda retorts with annoyance, and you feel your stomach clench as she sighs. "I don't know what's going on with us. And I miss you, but you won't let me near you."

You are exhausted. So you cry.

You rest your head on your arms, and let your sobs fill the silence, hoping that the tears will take this bad feeling away.

It's Wanda's gentle touch on your back that helps.

"Babe, tell me what's wrong." She whispers to you, her tone concerned.

It takes many minutes for you to calm down. But when you do, Wanda holds your hand, kneeling on the floor beside the chair you are in.

"I can't do magic." You breathlessly tell her from crying, "And I can't sleep. I've been sick for weeks, and I'm angry all the time. Healer Cho doesn't know what's wrong with me, but everyone at school seems to have a theory about it. I think I'm going to suffocate, Wanda. I'm messing everything up. Between us, between my family, and at school." You sob as you finish and Wanda shakes her head, her hand coming up to your cheek.

"Don't say that." She urges. "You didn't ruin anything. Hey, look at me. I love you. Your sisters love you, your friends love you. We'll figure out what's going on."

Wanda hugs you tight, and you sob, shaking.

You want to believe her words, so you push the intrusive thoughts away, and believe it.

//-//-//-//

Wanda takes you to a door in that same floor you two were before, but you have never seen that door until that moment.

And you are very surprised to realize that it is a bedroom.

"How...?" You ask confused as she closes the it.

"Welcome to the Room of Requirement." She says with a smile, pulling you by the hand around. "We hold our Avengers meetings here." She counters and you frown.

"In a bedroom? Interesting choice." You comment and she giggles.

"No, my love." She says. "That's how this room works. It is charmed to meet your needs. That's why I asked you to come in first."

"Oh, that's pretty cool." You say looking around. Wanda smiles at you, and then you both reach the bed. "The room thinks I have to sleep?"

"I do too." Wanda retorts, pushing your shoulders gently for you to sit on the bed. "Go on, nice dreams."

You hesitate. "You gonna leave me here alone?"

Wanda denies with her head, pointing to the chair that probably just magically appeared next to the bed. You frown.

"Can't you sleep in the bed with me?"

She giggles. "We don't have much time for you to sleep. If I lie down, you'll want to kiss me. So I'll be sitting in that armchair, studying as I should." She explains seriously, and you pout.

"Stupid rules." You grumble moving your hands up to her waist. "Lie down with me."

"Babe..."

"Please."

Wanda sighs, then nods. You smile, quickly removing your shoes as she does the same. You quickly adjust yourself on the bed, opening your arms for her to lie on top of you, and she gives a little giggle before doing so.

"Are you cozy, sweetheart?" You murmur against her hair, and Wanda squeezes her arms around you.

"Yeah, your boobs are good pillows." She teases, making you laugh with reddened cheeks.

Your eyes begin to heavy quickly, fatigue catching up with your body relaxed by the comfort of the moment.

"Go to sleep, babe." Wanda whispers. "I'll be here when you wake up."

You smile with your eyes closed, surrendering.

It's the best sleep you've had in weeks.

The problem is that as soon as you start to wake up again, you are feeling sick.

You touch the emptiness in the bed, mumbling softly. When you open your eyes you find Wanda sitting in the armchair, the darkhold in her lap.

"Damn it, Wanda, this book again." You complain in a hoarse voice, but she just sighs.

"Why the attitude?"

"I hate that book." You grumble sitting up in bed, massaging your face lightly. "Why do you keep reading it anyway?"

"It's interesting." She says, closing the item to look at you. "Agatha really told me a lot, but there are also things I didn't know."

"For example?"

Wanda bites her lips, appraising you.

"Scarlet witches are forged, for instance." She says and you frown in confusion. Wanda sighs. "Many powerful witches, born scarlet witches, never got to fulfill their destiny because the forging didn't happen."

You straighten your clothes uncomfortably, pensively.

"What exactly does that mean?"

"What the headmistress did last year was my forging." She clarifies and you swallow dryly, feeling your stomach turn. "I'm sorry."

"For what?" you ask confused.

"Everything." She says upset. "I know we've talked about this, but it seems like all I do is cause you problems. With the bond, and with the forge. If Agatha didn't want my powers, she wouldn't have taken you to the dungeon and you wouldn't have suffered."

You poke at the knot of your tie, feeling yourself suffocate slightly. Wanda is speaking, you blink to focus on her words.

"I'm sorry, could you say that again?" You ask out of breath, sweating. You blink to find Wanda's concerned gaze on you.

"Babe, what's wrong?" She asks worriedly, her hands around your face.

You feel your head spin, and everything goes dark before you can answer.

//-//-//-//

You smell the scent of grass when you wake up.

Then you blink in confusion, getting used to your surroundings to realize that you are in what looks like a ward bed.

"Hey, all right, take it easy getting up, Miss Stark." Asked Professor Strange with one hand on her shoulder. In the other he held a potion that you imagined he had given you.

"W-what happened?" you mumbled confusedly, sitting up in bed. Only now did you notice Professor Munroe and Wanda standing in front of the bed, both with worried expressions.

"You passed out, but you're better now I imagine." Stephen explained gently, but you were still feeling very weak.

"Professor, she simply blacked out." Wanda commented in a tearful voice. " Don't you have any idea what's wrong?"

Stephen sighed, and then pointed at the chair, the darkhold.

"Where did you get that book?" He asked, and Wanda frowned, taking a step toward the chair in a defensive posture.

"What does that have to do with my question?" she retorted dryly, and Stephen looked at you one last time before standing up.

"There's a reason it's called the Book of the Damned, Miss Maximoff." He says."It damns its readers."

"That's ridiculous." Wanda retorted, crossing her arms. "I've been reading it for weeks and nothing has happened."

"Not with you."

Wanda hesitates, widening her eyes. And then she takes a step back, swallowing her cry as she reaches out to grab the book and hand it to Stephen.

She turns her gaze back to you, and lets the tears fall.

"I am truly sorry." She says with a mixture of guilt and shame before turning to leave the room.

You call out to her about three times, but she leaves and you don't have the strength to go after her.

"Damn, couldn't I have said that in a different way?" You complain angrily to Stephen, who just sighs, exchanging a look with Professor Munroe. "How come you two are here anyway?"

"It was Wanda." Professor Ororo replies. "She asked the room for someone trustworthy to help her with you. Then there was a door opening in the potions room. Stephen was there with me, and we both came."

"Great." You mutter annoyed, thinking about how you are going to talk to Wanda and convince her that you were not angry with her. "Would either of you happen to know how to make me better now?"

"Sure." Stephen comments by raising the book in the air, and with a wave of his hand, the item dissolves into several pieces until it is gone. "I didn't destroy it, if that's what you're thinking. I just put it away, to prevent something like that from happening again."

"Congratulations." You grumble wryly as you straighten up in bed, the same migraine from before is now weaker, but it's still there.

"You know, you had a better attitude when you didn't have a magical doom on your spirit." Stephen complains, causing you to frown, but Professor Ororo gives a chuckle.

"Thanks professor." You comment wryly, making him laugh. He sits back down beside your bed, and pulls out of the cover a small notebook.

"Now that Miss Maximoff has stopped reading the book, I suppose you will get better." Stephen says, making you sigh.

"You suppose? That's encouraging." You say moving to stand up.

"Where are you going, Miss Stark? You need to rest." Warn the professor, but you ignore him, and ignore the weakness in your body as well.

"What I need, Strange, is for people to stop lying to me."

"No one is lying, Miss Stark." Professor Ororo states next. "We really don't know the extent of the magic the darkhold carries."

"And why is that I imagine?" You sneer. "Because someone omitted the truth from you, and it's been passed down for generations, isn't it? Well, that's over now. Because we've finally studied everything in this place, including a book that condemns anyone who reads it." You exclaim impatiently, stooping down to put on your shoes. "If you two will excuse me, I'll figure out how to get better on my own. But first I'm going to explain to my girlfriend that none of this is her fault."

Ororo and Stephen are silent, but you wouldn't have been paying attention to anything they said anyway.

Soon you are up and out of the requirement room looking for Wanda.

//-//-//-//

She seems to have disappeared from the castle, so you must concentrate to use your instincts.

The hardest part is dodging the aurors, but you finally reach the astronomy tower.

You're a little out of breath from the run, but it's the image of Wanda standing on the edge, the sunlight in her hair that leaves you breathless.

"Hi." You say in a low tone, your hands in your pockets as you approach. She startles slightly, wiping away tears as she keeps her gaze forward.

"What do you want here?" she asks in a husky voice. You sigh.

"That you stop hating yourself and listen to me." You say and she lets out a short laugh.

"And what do you think you can say?" She questions turning her body toward you. "All I do is hurt you."

You shake your head, but Wanda lets out a tearful laugh.

"No you don't understand." She says. "Since I met you, you have only brought me good things. Affection, happiness, hope. You've been that kind warm feeling that I need on my worst days. Hell, you're even the memory for me to cast a patronus." She confesses with emotion, her face wet with tears. "But me? All I bring you is pain and suffering. And now I even bring sickness. This is wrong, I hurt you. You need to see this, and understand that we can no longer happen."

"Don't say that." You ask, reaching up to touch her face, wipe away her tears. "That's not true, Wanda. I love you, you make me..."

"Stop it." She interrupts with a sob. "Don't make it any harder than it already is."

"Please, Wanda, listen to me." You plead, resting your forehead on hers, your hands on her cheeks. "You make me happy, you are the only thing that makes me happy, I love you, please..."

Wanda kisses you hard, and you respond with the same intensity, both of you gasping into each other's mouths.

But then she is pulling away, thrusting you farther apart.

"I'm sorry." She cries, taking a step back. "We're over."

And she's running away again, and this time you don't go after her.

//-//-//-//-//

Without Darkhold's being consumed, you really start to improve in terms of physical health.

The only problem is the emotional ditch you find yourself in.

Gamora, Nebula and Mantis find you, again in the Room of Requirement, skipping class.

"My god this is worse than last time." Gamora remarks as she looks around at the mess of junk food and pillows. The room had been transformed into a "comfortable place", which basically had the appearance of a living room, with several soft armchairs, and lots of unhealthy food. "Why did you guys break up this time?"

"Please don't talk to me." You grumbled, your voice coming out muffled because you were lying on two soft puffs, your face buried in the pillow, your hand inside a bag of muggles snacks.

"I bet you five bucks they'll be back together before the end of the month." Nebula commented and you sniffled against your pillow, hearing a noise that sounded like Gamora hitting her sister.

"We talked to Wanda." Mantis said. "And with Professor Stephen, too. We're sorry about everything, but have you decided you're not going to study anymore?"

"I don't care about school." You grumble against the pillow. "Leave me alone, I want to cry."

Nebula gives a short laugh, and Gamora elbows her.

"Stop hitting me, you crazy." Nebula complains loudly, moving away from her sister to approach you, taking the bag of snacks you have, and making you complain softly. "And you stop being such a drama queen. Aren't you two like soul mates or some shit? It's just a fight, you'll work it out. You're acting like you've never broken up before."

"Your sensitivity is admirable." Gamora scoffs, pushing her sister away to sit next to you, stroking your back until you look up at her. "Do you want to talk about what happened?"

You feel the urge to cry arise again. "Wanda thinks she is bad for me." You say. "And she doesn't want to be with me anymore, and I want to die."

You start crying again, stuffing your face into the pillow as Gamora strokes your hair.

"How did this happen anyway?" Nebula asks, confused, chewing on salty snacks."You barely slept at home over the summer to be with her, and now you guys are breaking up. It's hard to keep up with this relationship."

"Merlin, Nebula shut up." Gamora asks impatiently, and her sister raises her hands in surrender with an ironic expression. You want to scream against your pillow, but all you do is try to control your crying.

"You can't keep disappearing, sweetheart." Gamora says as she runs her hands through your hair, trying to calm you down. "Kaecilius has already noticed. He's trying to figure out where you're going, and eventually he'll figure it out since you can't stay here forever."

"Maybe I can." You mumble making Gamora laugh softly.

"Come on, I'm sure you miss a decent meal." She says. "Why don't you join us for lunch?"

"I can't sit at your table."

"Who said anything about a table?"

This is how you end up on the edge of the great lake, at a picnic.

Mantis gets several dishes from the house elves, and since lunch is a free social hour, nobody seems to mind that you are eating outside.

Your sisters are not the only students who, over time, have learned ways around school rules.

You grumble slightly as you feel the sun on your face, but lie back on the grass, closing your eyes.

Your mind wanders back to last summer immediately, the memories of Wanda, and you feel horrible. You just want her back. And then you swallow the urge to cry again to accept the juice Mantis offers you.

"We wanted to tell you that we've found a way to help you, too." Gamora says after a moment, causing you to raise your eyebrow. "About the darkhold, and the eternal damnation thing."

"Light topic." You sneer, throwing your arm over your face. The day is hot. "I appreciate the help, of course."

Gamora giggles. "Merlin, I had forgotten how grumpy you get when you're upset."

"I'm not upset, Gamora." You retort angrily. "I'm frustrated."

"Sexually." Nebula sneers, making you grunt in anger, but Mantis holds back a laugh.

"What's your problem with my feelings lately?" You accuse the girl with irritation.

"Not everything is about you, you know." She retorts and you sit up quickly, looking at her with a raised eyebrow.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

Nebula laughs, rolling her eyes. "In case you haven't noticed, there's a war going on." She says. "We're all stressed and scared. And the three of us have been in the same classes as you, having to watch the same things. But you only have time for Wanda. And now you've broken up, again, because there's some mortal danger, again, that she's caused for you. So, I don't know, but maybe she is right to break up. Ever since you guys started dating everything has been about her, and the trouble she causes!"

"Fuck you, Nebula!" You exclaim angrily, advancing against the girl in front of you. Gamora and Mantis quickly separate you.

"Hey, what's wrong with you?" Gamora shoves you. "Were you really going to hit her?"

"Fuck this." You curse angrily, taking a step away. "I didn't ask any of you to come after me. I don't need you. I just need Wanda. Fucking leave me alone."

You turn back to the castle, cursing the wild on your way.

//-//-//-//

Loki is the only friend you have now.

You wouldn't call him a friend exactly.

Kaecilius has put you in detention for three days a week, including Saturday, but mostly you just clean the castle. But when he takes you to the seventh floor, and makes you scrape sentences against your own skin, you don't worry about being alone anymore, because Loki is always on that floor.

It takes a week for you to tell him about the requirement room.

" You could have mentioned it earlier, we would have stuck around here." He comments without sounding upset.

Soon it doesn't take long for you two to start seeing each other even when you're not in detention.

You are not surprised that Loki also skips classes, he has always been quite mischievous, but the reason is different from yours.

He knew dark magic. Much more than you or your classmates. And he has no interest in practicing it in class.

"It's stupid." He comments as you are sitting in the armchairs. "Most people will never have the courage or willpower to cast a death curse. It's useless to learn."

"Is that the only reason you don't agree with the teaching at Hogwarts now?" You ask in surprise, setting up the chessboard for yourself as Loki shrugs his shoulders.

"I feel like you're judging me, Hufflepuff." He sneers but you smile, rolling your eyes.

"Honestly, I don't give a damn."

And you really didn't care.

Wanda was avoiding you in the halls, and you were doing the same with your friends and family.

When Iron delivered the mail to the Slytherin table, including Nebula's birthday presents, you wanted to throw up, but all you did was walk away from the Hufflepuff table toward the requirement room.

Without the darkhold, you didn't feel sick, but the anger didn't go away.

Your magic hadn't stabilized, and you were failing at everything, but you couldn't bring yourself to worry about it.

Erik wrote to you, commenting on the importance of you and Wanda practicing magical balancing together, and you burned the letter while crying on the carpet.

And at this rate, time went by.

It was almost the middle of the school year when things started to take a turn for the worse at Hogwarts, and in the wizarding war as well.

Mephisto is getting stronger, and the order is losing. And Kaecillius must be under some pressure from the ministry, maybe for answers from organizations like the Avengers, which are forbidden, because his detentions get too horrible.

It is Saturday again, and you drag yourself to the room where you are supposed to fulfill your detention, but unlike the other days, Kaecillius locks the door.

You only notice because he seems tense and distracted, and there is no feather or book.

"Professor, what will my punishment be today?" You ask confused, and he is nodding to the center of the room as he stands in front of the desk, a few feet from you.

"Miss Stark, today I want to ask some questions and I expect honesty." He declines as he turns to you.

You hiss softly, putting your hands in your pockets.

"Shoot."

Kaecillius doesn't even mind your lack of formality, looking at you with an impassive face.

"What is Mephisto's location?"

You choke in surprise and disbelief. "Excuse me? Why do you think I know that?"

"The ministry has reason enough to suspect that the Order of the Avengers is nothing more than a cover for the death walkers.Your brother, whom I had suspected of being part of that order of delinquents, is no longer at Hogwarts, but you will have to serve." He speaks and with each word you become more outraged. "Now answer me, where is Mephisto?"

" Did you just fucking call my brother a delinquent?" You mutter incredulously. "I have no idea where Mephisto is, what's your problem?"

But you widen your eyes when the professor draws his wand, and you barely have time to swallow dry before the spell hits you in the chest.

It's the cruciatus curse. You know the second it hits you. The sharp pain fills every cell in your body and you scream, not having the strength to stand or with your eyes open, hugging yourself.

"We must not tell lies, Miss Stark." Kaecillius says as soon as he stops enchanting you, the pain disappears in the same instant, but you continue to tremble.

In complete shock and fear, you sob.

"I will ask you again, where is Mephisto?"

You let the tears flow, and shake your head. "I don't know, professor."

Kaecillius lets out a sigh of disappointment. "Some cases are more difficult than others." He comments somberly, taking a step toward her. "Did you know that the record for enduring the Cruciatus curse before madness is six hours? Incredible, isn't it? It happened during the first war, with a muggleborn. You're a half-blood, maybe you can take longer"

He has a devilish grin as he finishes, and you clench your jaw at the threat.

"I don't know where Mephisto is." You repeat, but the professor points his wand at you again.

"My bet is seven hours."

And then the pain returns.

You don't know how long you stay in that room.

But it is long enough for your consciousness to begin to fade. The pain gets so severe that it gradually fades away. You begin to gasp breathlessly, not even able to scream anymore.

Someone help me. Please, help me. Help me. Wanda.

Between the tears you see the floor of the room, and between a twinge of pain, a red light. And everything is dark again.

//-//-//

“Headmaster of Hogwarts School of Warcraft and Wizard is arrested in flagrant by aurors from the ministry of magic this week, full coverage on page..."

You blink confusedly, your eyes getting used to the clarity, while the headline of the Daily Prophet was the first thing your vision caught.

And then you shifted in bed, realizing that you were in a hospital room , and whoever was reading next to you put the paper down when they heard you, and you could behold the curious look on your brother's face.

"Tony?" you whispered confused, and he smiled as he stood up quickly, the newspaper forgotten on the armchair.

"Hey, how are you feeling?" He asked as his hand reached for the loose strands of hair on your face and put them back. "You scared the hell out of me."

"What happened?"

"What's the last thing you remember?"

You thought, and then sighed, closing your eyes for a moment.

"Kaecilius."

Tony bit his lip nervously before speaking.

"I'm sorry." He said, lowering his hand to his own. "I came here as soon as I got the howler from Professor Strange, but honestly, I didn't even need it, because all the newspapers are talking about it."

"What...?" You started in confusion, but Tony hurried to explain.

"Wanda found you, Y/N." He told. "She, well, wasn't exactly happy about the whole thing. I think she lost control. Kaecilius is lucky to be alive if you ask me. She almost destroyed the seventh floor, it was a huge mess. And then the aurors interfered, and soon there were reporters everywhere. I guess now everyone knows she's a scarlet witch."

You widened your eyes, straightening to sit up and grumbling a little in pain. Tony looked at you with concern, asking you to take it easy, but you were already asking about Wanda.

"She's at the ministry of magic." He clarified. "Kaecilius is going on trial for torturing a student, and she will answer for putting everyone in danger."

" What?" you ask incredulously, and Tony sighs.

"Yeah I know it's unfair." He says. "But the minister of magic seems to be looking everywhere for people to blame for his lack of control. The problem is how much of that information will get to Mephisto. The whole ministry seems to be full of walkers."

You ran your hand across your face, frustrated.

"I'm so tired, Tony." You confess in a whisper. "It feels like everything is falling apart around me, and things are only getting worse."

Tony squeezes your hand. "I'm sorry, I really am. This whole situation sucks, and I wanted to help you. I'm trying, sister. I haven't been talking to you as much as I should, but I didn't want you to think you're alone. I'm working on breaking the bond. To free you and Wanda from the prophecy, and the wizarding world from dangers like Mephisto. I'm sorry I haven't been by your side."

You swallow your cry, and nod, trying to smile at Tony. He reaches up to hug you, and you gasp softly, taking a few seconds to relax and let the tears flow.

When you calm down, Tony tells you that he is going to get a Mediwizards to check your situation.

You lie down again, sighing softly. The memories come back with full force, and you choke softly, feeling your body tremble.

It's as if you can feel the curse again, sense the pain on your skin. Opening your eyes and shaking the memories away, you swallow dryly and reach for the glass of water on the nightstand.

You just want Wanda by your side telling you that everything is going to be okay.

//-//-//-//-//

You stay under observation for two days.

Doctor Hank makes a joke about you enjoying St.Mungus more than you should since you keep coming back, but Tony doesn't laugh.

Then you' re going back to Hogwarts by train, because the doctor thinks you shouldn't use magical means of transportation for a few days, and it's weird to take the empty express, but as soon as you arrive at the station, Gamora and Nebula are waiting for you with boxes of candy bought in Hogsmeade, and tight hugs.

You are not surprised by the stares you receive from the other students, but you ignore them as your sisters escort you around the castle to the Hufflepuff communal hall.

"Did you get to talk to Wanda?" Gamora asks as soon as you sit down on your bed, sighing with exhaustion from the train ride. The mention of the other sorceress' name doesn't help.

"Not yet." You say. "And I wouldn't be surprised to hear that she's ignoring me."

Nebula exchanges a look with her sister before sitting down on Mantis' bed, who is hugging her knees and looking at you.

"Honestly, I just want to finish this year without any more problems." You confess as you take off your jacket. And there is a moment of silence before you swallow dryly. "I also wanted to apologize to you guys."

Gamora frowns slightly, but says nothing. You take a deep breath.

"I know I was under the influence of an evil book, but that was still no excuse for treating you guys like that." You begin. "Tony told me about how things are in the wizarding world. Everyone is going through something, and it was selfish of me to think that only my problems matter. I'm sorry."

"Really, Y/N, it's okay." Nebula says, surprising you a bit. "We were all stressed, and well, I think an evil book is a pretty fair excuse." She jokes, making you smile. "Maybe things will get a little better now that Strange is the director."

"Oh, that's right" You comment just then remembering the things Tony updated you on while you were at St.Mungus. Like Kaecillius' resignation, and the position being passed on to Professor Stephen. "But honestly, I won't be at peace until I hear from Wanda."

"The trial isn't until Friday. And the way things are going, we won't get any news until it's over." Gamora warned as she sat down on the bed next to you. "I think the Maximoffs are probably too busy to write."

"What do you think will happen to Wanda?" You ask as you tug at the loose strands of the comforter. Mantis sighs lightly.

"I don't have a good feeling about things, Y/N." She confesses and you frown in concern. "And the stars never lie."

"Thank you, Mantis." You mock softly, and Gamora runs her hands through her hair.

"Let's not be pessimistic, okay?" she says. "Maybe the predictions are about, I don't know, the school finals? It doesn't mean something bad is really going to happen."

You grumble unhappily, grabbing a pillow and sinking your face into it. Gamora strokes your back.

"I'm sure things will work out, Y/N." She says. "Wanda will write as soon as she can."

"Do you guys think Kaecilius will be sent to Azkaban?" Nebula asks next, making you raise your head curiously.

"I wouldn't be so sure." You grumble. "I was actually surprised that he was put on trial at all."

"Well, with the whole mess that happened, it was bound to happen." Gamora said. "More than half the school became aware that he used the cruciatus curse on you, and then the daily prophet. And I didn't even know they were in the castle."

"It was because of Wanda really, wasn't it?" Mantis added. "Kaecillius caused his own ruin. He called the journalists to show what he called progress and decided to torture a student while they were in the castle. Then Wanda destroyed the entire floor and the next morning his arrest was all over the pages."

"I'm just really outraged to know that if no one had seen it, he would probably still be at Hogwarts." Gamora says angrily, and you sigh, agreeing as well as the others.

"Well, you must be hungry, shall we go to the great hall? It's almost dinner time." Gamora comments next, pulling you by the hand. You grumble softly, but agree, and soon you are leaving the communal hall to join the rest of the students.

//-//-//-//-//

You are tapping your fingers gently against the desk as you wait for the History of Magic class to begin.

It is Friday, finally.

You have barely slept because of anxiety about news of Wanda's trial.

Things at Hogwarts have changed a lot this week, all because of Strange's administration.

He restored the old classes, banned the teaching of dark magic, the scandal at the Daily Prophet being enough of an argument that the Minister of Magic no longer had a defense over this kind of teaching at Hogwarts. The restricted session of the library was also put back, and the seventh floor was off-limits because of the destruction Wanda caused, and you unfortunately lost access to the Requirement room.

Mantis was writing what looked like a lunar calendar for the divination class while Professor Okoye didn't arrive, and you started whistling distractedly.

And then Thor Odinson was poking you in the back to get your attention, and you turned around in your chair.

"Hi, Stark, what's up?"

"Fine." You grumbled suspiciously. "Can I help you with something?"

Thor looked almost unsure. "I was just wondering if you know of anything going on with Loki."

You frowned. "Excuse me?"

"I mean if you know if he's sick or something." He explains. "We had a fight, and well, he's not talking to me. And I've noticed that you guys have been kind of close lately, and I was curious if you knew anything and..."

"No, Thor, I'm sorry." You interrupt with a sigh. "Maybe you should ask him that."

Thor assumes a sad expression. "I would, but he's ignoring me. I think it might be about our mother."

You make a confused expression, and Thor looks surprised.

"Our mother, she...died earlier this year, Y/N." Thor counters, and you widen your eyes. "Our family is a name of reference against Mephisto. With the war, the walkers came to our home. She was there while we were here, and Dad was at the ministry."

"I'm so sorry, Thor." You whisper to him, still shocked by the information. He shrugged.

"I thought Loki told you."

"We don't talk about things like that, I guess." You say. "Sorry, I wish I knew how to help you."

"No, it's okay." Thor says with a sad smile. "You being his friend this year is more than enough. I don't like seeing him all alone out here."

You nod lightly, settling into your chair as you notice the teacher entering the room.

Mantis exchanges a look of understanding with you, having overheard the conversation even if accidentally, but she says nothing, and soon you are hearing about the witch hunt in the United States, and you try to focus on that rather than curiosity about how Wanda's trial is going or Loki's current emotional state.

//-//-/-//-//-//

As soon as lunchtime begins, you join the Slytherin table, where some of the students have placed a radio on the table, equally with other students from the other houses, to listen to the trial.

You are not surprised that a student's trial is such an interesting topic for everyone, but after the school started talking about Wanda being a scarlet witch, and the theories circulating around the halls, it was to be expected.

So you sit back while biting your fingertips and listening.

"And now directly from the Ministry of Magic, the trial of seventeen-year-old witch Wanda Maximoff, daughter of legendary witch Erik L-"

Your attention is slightly diverted from the narrative when loud laughter catches your ears.

They are Gryffindor and Slytherin students, exchanging coins. You don't need to hear the conversation to know they are gambling about the trial, the mean laughter and glances in the direction of you and your sisters are enough.

And as if she could feel your growing fury, Gamora touches your shoulder gently.

"Just ignore them, Y/N." She urges and you clench your jaw. " Everything is going to be okay with Wanda."

"I hope you're right, Gamora." You grumble, turning your attention back to the radio.

The narration of the newspaper is generic, and you discover that the audience has been closed off to the reporters.

You take a deep breath, concentrating.

No strange feeling, so Wanda is safe.

You wonder if Erik and Pietro are by her side during the whole thing.

It is only at the end of lunchtime that you have the result.

"It's amazing how things unfold in the ministry this afternoon." Counted the reporter with almost excitement. "After a unanimous vote, the witch Wanda Maximoff was found guilty of endangering her fellow students by not registering as a scarlet witch to the ministry of magic, after it was proven that her father, the sorcerer Erik Lehnsherr knew of her condition, as well as the affiliation with the criminal, Agatha Harkness was also mentioned. The ministry finally decided on Wanda Maximoff's expulsion from Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizarding"

You felt your stomach plummet.

And everything became a little muffled around you, a soft whistle in your ear. You think Gamora and Nebula were calling for you, but you were getting up, feeling the room getting too small.

Stumbling out, you loosened the knot of your tie, finally stopping in the courtyard as you leaned your body against a pillar.

Wanda had been expelled from Hogwarts, publicly exposed as a Scarlet Witch, and tried as a criminal. You wondered if they would break her wand. Banned wizards led horrible lives.

Your sisters and friends caught up with you quickly, and you let them hug you.

In a few minutes Director Strange is catching up with you as well, and you release Gamora's grip to talk to him.

"Professor, I need to..."

"You cannot leave Hogwarts, Miss Stark." He interrupts with a wave of his hands and you frown in confusion, ready to protest but he is already speaking. "Tony sent a patronus as soon as the results came out, he already figured you'd want to see Miss Maximoff. The ministry is a mess, and Wanda will be staying with her father there for the minister's final decisions. You should stay here, where you are safe."

"That's not fair!" You squawk angrily. "Wanda needs me, I must-"

"She needs you to be safe." He interrupts again seriously, and then lowers his tone slightly as he notices the curious looks of the surrounding students. "Be rational, Miss Stark. Now that the Wizarding community knows the nature of Wanda's powers, how long before Mephisto has enough information and discovers your identity as protector."

You swallow dryly, clenching your fists begrudgingly. Stephen is right. You look away, and he sighs, placing his hand on your shoulder.

"Wanda will be fine, even without her NEWTS, she is an extraordinary witch." He says. "And the year is coming to an end, soon you will be able to see her again."

"She needs me now." You grumble annoyed, turning away from the professor's touch. He looks at you for a moment and then clears his throat.

"I'll see what I can do, Miss Stark." He says."In the meantime, focus on your studies, and be careful."

You frown at Stephen's words, but he is already turning and leaving before you can ask.

As you turn to your friends, Gamora has a worried look on her face.

"Are you okay?" She asks, and you sigh, agreeing to hug her again as you mumble no.

"I can feel how upset she is, Gamora." You grumble against your sister's shirt, wishing you could hug Wanda now. Gamora squeezes you against her arms, and you thank her for her intention even if it isn't enough.

The next few days are like a blur for you.

Many letters arrive, as do many editions of the Daily Prophet.

When the picture of the day Wanda's wand was broken comes out on the front page and you see her tired face, you have to run out of the common room to keep from crying in front of your colleagues.

Everyone writes to you, even Carol, everyone but the Maximoffs.

It is frustrating, and honestly, it breaks your heart in many ways.

The news of a Scarlet Witch after a century is almost as bombastic as Mephisto's return, and you're not surprised that many of your colleagues would start to comment on the possibility of Wanda working with him or against him.

It's overwhelming how everyone talks about her, but all you can feel is how much you miss her around the castle, around you.

You couldn't even remember that your magic is stable, and with everything that has happened, you haven't had time to figure out how to fix things.

Stephen tried to help, but he didn't know what was going on. At least the theoretical part of magic you were able to master, and you hoped to get at least an acceptable score in some subjects.

Only almost a week and a half after the trial, Professor Strange interrupts the potions class to talk to you.

Ignoring the curious stares and whispers of your classmates, you ask Professor Munroe to excuse you, and leave the room.

"What is wrong, professor?" You ask curiously as you close the door, watching Stephen with his hands in his pockets.The dungeons feel emptier without the ministry aurors around the castle.

"Saturday, in the Astronomy tower, nine-thirteen at night." He says as he hands you a small gold key, causing you to frown in confusion. "You will have exactly one hour, Miss Stark. Not a second more."

You stare at the object in your hand, and understand. A portal key. To Wanda.

"Thank you, Professor." You say, and Stephen nods before leaving.

You turn back to potions, the object in your pocket. You could barely contain your anxiety.

//-//-//-//-//-//-//

Tag list> @imapotatao / @aimezvousbrahms/ @ensorcellme/ @helloalycia || @mionemymind / @abimess / @stephanieromanoff / @yourtaletotell / @tomy5girls / @justagaypanicking / @thegayw1tch / @idek-5 // @myperfectlovepoem // @helloalycia // @ENSORCELLME // @AIMEZVOUSBRAHMS // @drpepperobsessed // @sighsam // @olsensnpm // @sxfwap // @table57 // @madamevirgo // @causeitswhatjesuswouldfreakingdo // @emptysince18x // @xastrydx || @yuhloversxx || @ymzki-haruki || @wouldirunofftheworldsomeday || @lostandsearching || @lezzzbehonesthere || @musicinourlips || @chaekhan || @diaryoflife || @nervoustrack || @aquamarinescarlet || @cristin-rjd || @idamaemann || @fortunatelynerdylight || @iliketozoneout || @blackwow34 // @tiny--freak || @spongebobtentacles || @cyberbonesworld ||

A/F/N> Place your bets for my next comeback (a week, a month or tomorrow?). If I delete the blog, and you're in love with this story for some reason I don't know about because there are so many better things to read, know that I'll post everything on AO3 if I ever do.

[crazyk-imagine]

Sacrifice - Original Ending

Pairings: Damon Salvatore x Female reader

Characters: Female reader, Bonnie Bennett, Elena Gilbert, Damon Salvatore, Stefan Salvatore (mentioned)

Warnings: character death, complusion, angst

Word Count: 1,301

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

'There is one way I could help Elena and protect everyone before they get themselves hurt. Should I? I mean it is risky and dangerous. But if I can save everyone then it'll be worth it even if I-’ Your thoughts were interrupted by Bonnie.

“We’re gonna go check on Elena, make sure she’s okay. Are you gonna be if I leave?”

You smiled, nodding, “Of course, I’ll be okay. You go make sure she's okay. She's gotta be freaked out by this whole thing." Bonnie nods. "I'll be fine, go check on Elena but don't forget to take care of yourself. You take care of everyone else even when it's not your job. Sometimes it's okay to be a little selfish and want to take a break to take care of yourself, don't forget that." You pushed yourself off the couch, hugging her.

Bonnie tightened her hold on you before letting go.

Once Bonnie went out of the door, you started to feel the insides of the couch, searching for the piece of paper you need. Realizing it wasn't where you put it, you removed the couch cushions to find... nothing.

Standing up, you rubbed your face in frustration. "Where did I put it?"

“Looking for this.” You looked up to see Damon waving the paper you needed.

You gasped.

“What the hell are you thinking?!” He stomped towards the table with the bourbon, pouring himself a glass, taking a sip.

“I-I don’t know what you're talking about? Please explain.” You said, putting the couch cushions back into the correct spot.

He walked behind the couch, taking a quick peek at his drink before throwing it at the wall. “You know exactly what I’m talking about! What makes you think this is okay?”

You pick up your bag, placing it on your shoulder, you head for the door.

“Where the hell do you think you’re going?” Damon used his vampire speed to step in front of you.

“Get out of my way Damon.” You pushed him out of your way, grabbing the spell from his back pocket, placing it in your bag without him noticing.

He grabbed your arm; your bag fell off your shoulder. “No, you’re not gonna go out there so you can do your witchy woo and die. You’re staying here with me.”

You pulled your arm out of his grasp. "Why do you care so much about me right now? You barely bat an eye in my direction but now that you know what I'm about to do you're suddenly concerned. Why?"

"I care about you."

You scoff, "that's hard to believe."

"Why is that so hard to believe?"

"Oh, I don't know her name starts with an E and ends with an L, E, N, and an A. Now, what does that spell? Oh, yeah, Elena?"

"What does she have to do with this?"

"Everything seeing as her life is in danger again. Shouldn't you be more concerned with her life, since you're in love with her."

"I'm not in love with her."

"Why do I find that hard to believe?"

"I'm not. I don't love her, I love someone else!"

"Who?"

"You."

Your brows furrowed together, "I'm sorry, I think I misheard you, could you repeat that?"

His eyes softened when he took a step closer to you, cradling your head in his hands. "You. I'm in love with you. I'm not letting you go."

"You just had to make this harder." You whispered.

"What-"

Your vision blurred as tears pooled in your eyes, bringing your hand up, resting it on top of Damon's. You leaned in, staring him in the eyes, as you said, "I'm going to leave here. You're going to forget that we had this conversation. You're going to forget you love me, you think we're drinking buddies and that's it. The only person you love is Elena, you believe she's your one true love, your happy ending." You sobbed while grabbing your bag before speeding out of the house, going into the woods, near the Lockwood estate.

-

You opened your bag, pulling out the spell, and the other ingredients you need. Wiping your face, you set everything up, and began to do your work.

-

Bonnie and Elena were eating dinner talking about anything they could think of. Only to be interrupted by the doorbell.

"I'll get it," Elena told Bonnie when she pushed her chair back, walking out of the kitchen to open the door.

-

You started chanting.

-

Bonnie followed, she had a feeling something might happen and was worried about her friend.

"Oh my god." Elena gasped, slamming the door shut. "Bonnie! Run!" She yelled, running towards her friend, pushing her up the stairs.

The vampire kicked the door open, walking towards the two, he grabbed Elena’s ankle, pulling her down.

Elena lets go of Bonnie when she's pulled down. "Keep going Bonnie." Elena looks over her shoulder and kicks the vampire in his face before she pushes herself up the stairs.

Bonnie bent down, grabbing her arm, pulling her up.

After they made it to the top of the stairs Bonnie gave the vampire an aneurysm, giving the two enough time to back up, closer to Elena's room. Bonnie stopped to close the door.

-

You could see Elena tell Bonnie something but you couldn't hear what she said.

-

"I need to call Stefan." Elena said, grabbing her phone, dialing his number. She didn't get to talk to him because the vampire broke her bedroom door, grabbed Bonnie and slammed her head against the wall before he grabbed Elena.

-

The wind blew out the candles you were using, breaking your concentration, you disappeared.

-

"What do you want?" Elena asked.

"Do you really not get it?" The vampire tilted his head. "I want the Salvatore’s to hurt like they hurt me. I'm going to kill the girl they both love." He sped in front of her and bit into her neck.

She thrashed in his hold but with his supernatural abilities, he easily had the upper hand.

-

After relighting the candles, you returned to Elena's house. You watched as the vampire dropped Elena's body, staring at her, blood dripping down his chin.

-

He stared in disgust, shaking his head. You took a step forward causing the vampire to look up, "who are you?"

"No one that concerns you. Why did you do this?"

"I couldn't- I-"

"revenge."

"What?"

"You wanted revenge, right?" The vampire nodded.

You walked around Elena's body, standing in front of him, you placed your hand on his chest, "I'm going to help you."

"H-how?"

"I'm sorry," you shoved your hand through his chest, lightly squeezing his heart before pulling it out.

He fell, turning grey as his veins appeared.

You dropped his heart, turning around you studied Elena, her wound, having an inner debate with yourself. Shaking your head, you brought your arm up, your hand hovered over Elena's chest. Closing your eyes, you muttered another spell, shaking your head when you feel yourself losing your strength.

Bonnie groaned, holding her head, "what happened?" She turned to see Elena and you.

Turning you gave Bonnie a smile.

Bonnie's eyes widened when she saw the blood drop from your nose. She called out for you but you disappeared.

A phone ringing made Bonnie pause, she reached for Elena's phone, answering it, "hello."

"Bonnie? What're you-," Damon groaned like he was in pain.

"Damon? Damon?"

"No. No. No."

"Damon, what's wrong?"

"Where is she?"

"I don't know."

"What do you mean you don't know."

"She- she was here but she-"

"she what?"

"I think she saved Elena." Bonnie whispered as she began to cry.

Elena woke up, gasping for air, reaching up she felt her neck.

You traded your life for hers.

[misslilli]

Happy New Year guys 🥳

Felix Felicis

MSR. AU. E. | tagging @today-in-fic | read on AO3

Chapter 67 - Be My Valentine

The week that follows our adventures at the Beach House drags by so slowly and to be honest, I'm torn if this is a good thing or not.

On the one hand, at the end of it twinkles the promise of a great first Valentine's Day date.

I have absolutely no idea what Mulder's got planned, he's secretive about it and changes the subject smoothly whenever I ask too many prying questions. Not even Felix, who's bursting at the seams with the secret he's keeping, has let anything slip.

On the other hand, the end of the week also marks the start of spring break. My kids are wearing my patience thin with their barely contained excitement mixed into the exhaustion from working hard, report cards need to be written up, parting gifts need to be bought and wrapped and the classroom mess needs to be tidied.

What puts quite the damper on my vacation spirits is the fact that the boys will be gone for a whole week, visiting Sam in LA.

The girls have scoffed and rolled their eyes at me more than once, until Holly finally has had enough and suggested I just fold myself into a tiny ball for them to stuff in their hand-luggage so she doesn't have to listen to my whining on her spring break.

"You'll see them again on your birthday, D, maybe a little time apart is not such a bad thing, you know?," Alex has offered her perspective with a pat on my arm and Sarah has added her two-cents with a wink to "give him a good send-off he won't be able to keep off his mind until they get back."

The outfit we've picked up at La Perla will certainly do its part in that, I think with a tiny tingle of anticipation.

If and when I've managed to get through Valentine's at school without losing my mind, that is. Oh the drama… some kids are giddily reading their cards, showing them off to their friends in fits of giggles, others are glumly staring at theirs because it's not from the person they had hoped for but I did make sure they each get one. Nothing worse than the disappointment of not receiving one at all.

A few cards have found their way to my desk too, anonymous of course, can't betray their coolness with a signed card to their teacher. More or less, they're quite similar, only one of them stands out, the writing a little wobblier than the others, more spelling mistakes on it and I smile at it a little more affectionately.

I display them all proudly on the wall behind my desk, but that special one gets a special spot and the anonymous sender gets an extra tight hug as a thank-you at recess.

It takes a few hours of prep-time for us to get ready in my crowded bathroom, a closely avoided burn mark from the curling iron in Sarah's hand and additional helping hands to fasten clasps and zip up dresses in the back.

Not one of us has any idea where our date will take us and while we're getting ready, we're spit-balling the most outlandish ideas where we'll end up tonight. Everyone except Alex, who has been boycotting Valentine's Day on principle for as long as we can remember.

"I bet Tom's reserved a table at some restaurant, like every year - not to be ungrateful or anything but I wish he'd plan something else for a change, something more exciting than dinner…," Sarah sighs her dismay that her boyfriend doesn't have a romantic bone in his body into her powder puff.

"Well maybe you should plan Valentine's Day for a change, if all you do is complain about his choices, missy, we gave you plenty of good location ideas for next year!"

"A spaceship is not a good location idea, Holly…" I hide my grin into my own powder puff, someone I know would think this to be the utmost perfect location for a date.

Alex answers the doorbell that startles us out of our discussion while we put on the last finishing touches and make our way downstairs. Three gentlemen in their finest suits await us downstairs, though only the one in the middle and his awestruck clean-shaved face makes my heart flutter and beat a little bit faster.

"Miss, I was blinded by your beauty, I'm going to need your name and phone number for insurance purposes!," he grins into our soft kiss hello.

"You're so handsome, I completely forgot my pickup line. Nice touch." I smile up him dreamily, touching a finger to the daisy tucked in next to his pocket square.

"You're disgusting, both of you… Let's go before they can think up more cheesy lines." Holly teases from her boyfriend Rick's side with a tug on his hand.

"You know, we could've walked here from the house, Mulder…," I remark on our stroll along the harbor, decorated with glowing hearts in the trees that line the walkway that add a romantic feel to the Christmas lights twinkling between them.

"No? It's cold and you're in heels that are far too nice to ruin on the long walk down the dirt road!"

"So it's only a short walk huh… we're going to Mamma Mia's!"

"No."

"The Cabby Shack?"

"Nope."

"Oh please, I'm dying with curiosity over here! Where are we going?" The. impatient tug on his hand only puts that secretive smile on his face again and he only lifts his shoulder in response… What it he up to?

I'm almost a hundred percent sure we're headed to the overly fancy restaurant right next to the Cabby Shack but I'm dead wrong again.

Instead, we turn to walk down the dock where we shared our first kiss, only now it's not as deserted and at the end, a two-story boat bobs up and down, festively adorned with more lights and a warm glow coming from the windows on the bottom deck.

Squinting, I read the sign draped across the starboard side.

"Star-Gazing Cruise… Stargazing cruise? We're going on that??" Glancing up, mouth caught between gape and smile, I almost squeal out my delight at Mulder's slow nod.

"Mh-hm. But wait, there's one more surprise at the end of the dock." I don't think my heart can take more surprises tonight.

"You bunch of sneaky bastards!" Holly gives a smugly grinning Rick a swift punch to the arm as we join them at the end of the dock.

"You really had us, I can't believe you planned a triple date for us! Star-Gazing, no less. Kudos to whoever came up with that idea!"

"Thanks Shorty, we thought we'd shake things up a bit tonight, to save Tom from complaints about his lack of imagination." Sarah only laughs airily at the jab, thanking Rick profusely for saving her the effort.

Tom's shoulder sag a few inches before he gives a half-shrug and forces a cheerful smile onto his face.

"Let's get inside, guys, I'm freezing and hungry!"

It's fairly easy to sit on my moral high horse right now, in my contempt for Sarah's laugh, fully convinced my partner is the best thing since they invented sliced bread, has absolutely no flaws and is practically perfect in every way.

Scarily perfect. With his steadying hand on my back, taking off my coat to check it at the door, pulling out my chair at our table and warming my cold hands between his own under the table.

"How in the world did you guys come up with this? Thanks babe!," Sarah glances around at the guys, accepting the champagne flute Tom's filled up with a small smile.

"Well… I got the not-so-subtle hints that you'd like to do something special on Valentine's so I asked around a few of my construction site's for ideas - I own a construction company," he adds as an explanation for Mulder's benefit, placing a glass in my hand. "but they were just as clueless as I was. On one of our Friday poker nights, the topic came up and Rick here suggested we could go somewhere together, to shake things up a little."

"And so you'd only have to come up with one idea instead of two." At Holly's interception, Tom lifts his shoulders again, grinning a little guiltily that she hit the nail on the head.

"Yeah, pretty much. We were still hopelessly lost though, so Simon brought his Alex in to help us out. It was also her who reminded us that there's a new addition to our group and that he might have some great ideas up his sleeve. We were pretty impressed by the Winter Carnival idea, I gotta say!" He hands the final glass to Mulder, who reluctantly lets go of one of my hands to accept it.

"Thanks, although, full disclosure, that's the only one I didn't plan, that was Scully's idea." The memories of that afternoon lights up both of our faces and I give our interlaced hands a little squeeze.

Our conversation is interrupted briefly by the waiter taking our drink order and distributing this night's special menu. It's a mouth-watering four course dinner, started off with little appetizer plates for each couple to share, perfectly fit to eat one-handed. Or feed each other half when we've picked a particularly good one.

"So all this was your idea, then?" Mulder shakes his head no at my question, distracting me from the conversation momentarily with a quick swipe of his tongue across that bottom lip of his. Oh Lord, is it just me or did someone turn up the heat in here?

"I wish I could take the credit for this one. I had a little helper with a vast amount of information stored in his mind from your talks at recess." The mention of Felix reminds me to stop staring at those damn lips my eyes are glued to and force my mind to focus on putting thoughts into words and words into sentences. My dry mouth fails me miserably.

"You okay over there, Shorty? You look a little… distracted…," Tom teases me from across the table, sending an embarrassed flush up my neck. Shit, for how long was I staring?

"Uh-huh…Uhm…Our talk about constellations and star-gazing with my dad as a kid. I can't believe he remembers that, that was months ago!"

"Can't remember where he put his homework or his second sock but that he remembers…," Mulder's deadpan earns him a chuckle around the table. The water glass he pushes towards me with a knowing grin and a wink earns me a blush a shade darker.

We raise our champagne flutes in a toast to great ideas, clinking them together in the middle. I only take a small sip, champagne goes right to my head on an empty stomach and my mind is already plenty fuzzy around the edges from the absent-minded thumbstrokes of Mulder's hand on my thigh. How am I supposed to sit through three more courses and star-gazing without losing my mind?

From the appearance of the entrees to the end of the main course and during the easily flowing dinner conversations, the hand leaves its resting spot only for a total of five times - yes, I counted - until the table is cleared and the waiter steps up to inquire if we’d like to order dessert. I can barely manage to bite back my vocal reaction to Mulder's quiet whisper of what he'd like to have for dessert so very close to my ear, his warm breath sends shivers down my spine.

Leaned back after dessert, Tom's entertaining us with a story about one of his new construction workers, a young guy who always misplaces his tools, has no idea how to handle a hammer or a wrench, can't drill a hole to save his life and is in general a real liability to have on a construction site, but he does make for a funny story.

During his story, Mulder's leaning over every now and then, privately adding his own gleefully delivered dirty twist to 'handling hammers' and 'drilling holes'. Tears in my eyes and pressing my lips together tightly, I'm shaking from the effort to keep my laughter in, it's getting real difficult with each new comment.

"…and I got so frustrated with him fumbling around with a fucking screwdriver, I said Jesus Christ, if you can't get it in, put some grease on it and just screw it, it's not that hard!"

I try to confine my laugh into a snort but I absolutely lose it at this point, bursting into an uncontrollable giggle fit, waving my hands to get Tom to stop. He's so oblivious and confused as to why I'm crying laughing, hiding my blushed face into my hands. "What?? Screwing is not that hard!"

That's all it takes for Mulder to lose his composure as well and he barks out a laugh that only adds to my own amusement and we end up giggling like little children, leaned together for support until we're holding our sides, gasping for breath.

"For crying out loud, you two are so immature," Sarah sighs into her glass and rolls her eyes at us, her annoyance betrayed by the grin tugging on her lips.

I'm trying to catch my breath between residues of laughter, wiping my eyes. "I'm sorry… oh God… that was a good story, Tom, really." Even after the giggles subsided, I can't even look at Mulder, if I do, I'm sure I'll lose it again.

"Hey Richard, you wanna put that down for just one second to participate in the conversation?" The edge in Holly's voice and the use of his first and full name gets Rick to snap his head up from his phone and effectively puts an end to my amusement.

He places the phone face down back onto the table and throws Holly a guilty look.

"Sorry, doll, work stuff…"

She opens her mouth to fire back a nasty comment but thankfully, she's interrupted by the maitre d' clapping his hands for attention, announcing it's time to head onto the upper deck for the star-gazing part of the evening. I breathe a sigh of relief.

Bundled up in our coats, the six of us separate into different sections of the deck for some alone time, Sarah and Tom choose the front to listen to the astronomer pointing out constellations, Mulder and I huddle underneath a blanket in the back to people-watch in peace. Holly and Rick are at the starboard railing, still arguing with hushed voices and flailing hands.

Head tilted back, I search the night sky for a shooting star and name a few constellations I can make out. It's suspiciously quiet by my side and when I glance over, Mulder's not participating in the star-gazing at all. Instead, he's watching Rick and Holly, worrying his bottom lip between his teeth. I can practically see the profiler wheels turning in his sideways-leaned head.

"Penny for your thoughts?" My gentle nudge into his side pulls his attention away from the fight, clearing his mind with a little shake of his head.

"I'm sorry, got lost in my thoughts…"

"Care to share?" I'm curious and also a little worried he think this'll be us in a few years, ruining a perfect evening with an argument instead of enjoying the moment.

"I'm not sure if you'll like what I have to say… and I don't want to overstep…"

"You think this will be us in about two years?" He only snorts in response, tugging me closer with his arm draped across my shoulders.

"Don't be ridiculous, no." Oh the sweet naïveté of the first few months of a new relationship. Closely snuggled together in our bubble, we're apparently both still fully convinced that we'll solve all of our arguments calmly and end up laughing in the end or maybe we'll never fight at all - we're such a perfect match and with all of our rules and good intentions for open communication and honesty, what could go wrong?

"Mhkay good. So pray tell, what's on your mind?"

"Two years, you said? I really hope I'm wrong, but I don't think Rick will be around that long…" Surprised at his words, I pull back a little to glance up at him, eyebrow raised.

"What? Why?"

"Because they speak different love languages. Judging only from tonight, hers is possibly quality time and his is receiving messages from other women to answer during dinner with his girlfriend." My face must register my shock and confusion.

"Come on, work stuff? On Valentine's Day? Phone face down on the table? Phone at the table at all? Again, I really hope I'm wrong but either he's just a dick or he's texting with other women. Maybe both."

To fight the sinking feeling in my stomach and to save our own evening from drifting off into Depression Land, I desperately need to change the subject and let future me worry about whether he's right in his assessment or not. Subty, I push my own phone a little deeper into my coat pocket.

"I hope it's neither and you're dead wrong about this… Hey, is it time to exchange gifts yet?"

I'm the absolute worst at keeping gifts to myself, the envelope in my purse has been screaming for attention the whole evening and now that we're finally alone, I think exchanging gifts are the perfect way to refocus our attention to what's really important. If it weren't for the wide-eyed, slow-blinking expression on Mulder's face.

"Oh no, I was supposed to bring a gift? I'm sorry, I thought this evening… was the gift…" I wave my hand at him with a quick shake of my head. Since it brings me a lot more joy to give gifts rather than receive them, I whip out my envelope and present it to him with a flourish and an elated grin on my face.

"Here. I wasn't sure if it was something you'd enjoy doing so I employed the services of a little someone who does know and he signed off on it. Open it!" Envelope in hand, Mulder throws me a dubious look.

"I really hope for him Felix didn't rope you into giving me something only he'll enjoy." Giggling at the thought - that actually does sound like something Felix would do - I shake my head again, nudging him to finally open the stupid envelope.

"If this is tickets to the Trolley Museum or something, I swear to God…" He's trying my patience on purpose and I watch him pull out the contents of the envelope with an open-mouthed expectant grin. Completely taken by surprise, he glances from the tickets in his hand to me and back again several times.

"Are you insane??"

"Yes.," I nod gravely. "Although I'm surprised it took next year's Super Bowl tickets for you to realize that…" Far too slowly for my liking, he fans out the tickets in his hand, staring down at them for a while to keep his emotions in check. Oh stop it, if you cry, I cry.

"I… That's… There's… three tickets here."

"You think I want to get murdered in my sleep?"

My attempt to lighten the mood is met by a hug so tight, it momentarily takes my breath away and a watery laugh that warms my heart and has my eyes brimming with tears too. Crap, I swore to myself I wouldn't cry tonight!

"It's too much, Scully, I can't accept that… these tickets must've cost a fortune!"

"Oh I know a guy, who knows a guy…"

————

[ FM ]

Pulled back from our hug, we wipe our eyes chuckling at ourselves and share a salty kiss I try to put all my thankfulness for her very existence into.

I'm absolutely awestruck by her gift, not only by the fact that she picked something I've been thinking about doing for a long time and what must've cost a small fortune, guy or no guy.

The biggest gift for me and the one that transforms me into a blubbering, emotional mess is that she has included Felix. Simple as that, no questions asked, no "Oh what can we do to get rid of that kid?".

Integrating my child so effortlessly might as well be my secondary love language.

Caught up in my emotional turmoil, I almost forget that I was only joking about not getting her a gift, although it pales in comparison. It's also an envelope to shyly present to her surprised face, but it contains a weekend getaway for only the two of us, to spend a few days away from the day-to-day grind, wrapped in fluffy robes the entire day and with someone else to make us breakfast in the morning.

"Oh my… Thank you, I love it! We'll go at the end of the school year, it'll balance out the funk of saying goodbye to my kids after four years together!"

Gifts exchanged, we return to what we're actually here to do, searching the night skies for stars and she quietly admits she's never seen a shooting star before. After a while of silently gazing upwards, a streak lights up the darkness and we each make a secret wish on the shooting star that makes its way across the sky.

I can hardly wait to get her home and upstairs, to really show my appreciation for her incredibleness and to finally get a glimpse of what she's been hinting at, another surprise, just for me. Oh please let it be La Perla.

[grailfinders]

Fate and Phantasms #204

Today on Fate and Phantasms we're building the second greatest musician in the spirit origin list, Antonio Salieri! Tony-O is a Spirits Bard to pull up a variety of musical numbers, as well as a Great Old One Warlock because he hasn't quite been feeling himself lately...

Check out his build breakdown here, or his character sheet below the cut!

Next up: Look alive, creme de la Kremlin's arriving.

Race and Background

Antonio's a human. Or at least he was, before the collective consciousness of humanity got a hold of him and turned him into an unholy avenger of darkness. That's... kind of a Fallen Aasimar, I guess? He gets +2 Charisma and +1 Strength, Darkvision to help with the russian nights, a fancy outfit that gives you Celestial Resistance against radiant and necrotic damage, and the Light cantrip thanks to being a Light Bearer. Darkness is more your style, but you're anime. I'm sure some part of you lights up when you have a big attack coming. You also get Healing Hands for a pool of 1 hp of healing per level per long rest, but that's not really in character. I guess this is your Self-Restoration, as long as you only use it on yourself.

Like your rival you're also a Guild Artisan, giving you Insight and Persuasion proficiency as long as you keep paying your dues.

Ability Scores

Make sure your Charisma is as high as possible. You're the best musician in the world. Now. Second highest should be Constitution, you play violin on your own tendons and come out ok, I can't even use the computer too often without messing those things up. Your Dexterity is also pretty high. I don't care what the rules say, you can't play the piano if you're clumsy. You're also pretty good with a shortsword. This means your Strength isn't quite as high as I'd like, you don't use it normally, but you can turn into a dragon, so I'd like it to be better. Wisdom is a difficult one to place. Why they made "is emotionally stable" and "can hear good" a single stat I don't know, but it averages out to here. That means we're dumping Intelligence. You know who Mozart is and how to play the piano, and that's about it by now.

Class Levels

Bard 1: We're starting off with the bard because you do play music to kill things, but also to get three skill proficiencies from the bard list, which is to say from the entire list of skills. Grab Performance to perform, Intimidation to be absolutely terrifying later, and Perception so you can appreciate the true beauty of music. You also get proficiency in Dexterity and Charisma saves. As a bonus action, you can give a creature a d6 of Bardic Inspiration which they can add to their attack roll, save, or check once before expending it. You can do this Charisma Modifier times per long rest, and a creature can only have one inspiration at a time. Finally, you learn some Spells which you cast using your Charisma. Grab Blade Ward to power up your dragon fursuit a bit more, Mind Sliver and Dissonant Whispers for your wildfire rumors, Thunderwave for more typical weaponized music, Disguise Self for the visual effect of your costume change if your DM is a stickler, and Sleep to keep the Tsar happy a little while longer.

Bard 2: At second level, you become a Jack of All Trades, adding half your proficiency bonus to all checks you're not proficient in. You also get a Song of Rest, healing your party for an extra d6 if they heal on short rests. Not in character, but the rest works, so w/e. Finally, you get Magical Inspiration, so your inspiration dice can now help people by adding to their magic damage or healing. Your spell this level is Bane for a more mechanic-friendly wildfire. Makes a bunch of enemies a little bit worse at skill checks for a while.

Warlock 1: Before we get your usual stuff, let's pop over to warlock real quick for some bonus goodies. Your extra powers are technically from the Man in Grey, but more literally they're from the grail forcing you into an Avenger typing. That means just like Artoria Alter you're a Great Old One warlock, which gives you an Awakened Mind. This lets you telepathically speak to anyone within 30', as long as they understand at least one language. Wildfire is all about spreading rumors, and now not even the language barrier can stop you from doing so. Since you're an Aasimar, you also get your Necrotic Shroud this level. By using your action, you can force nearby creatures to make a charisma save (DC 8+ proficiency + charisma mod) or they're frightened of you for the round. Once per turn, you can add your level in necrotic damage to an attack or spell. You can don your costume once per long rest. Finally, you get Pact Magic. It's like magic, but not. You get new spell slots that don't mix with the others, but they recharge on short rests! You can use warlock slots for bard spells and vice versa. For warlock spells, grab Eldritch Blast for those guys you summon to shoot people, Sword Burst to summon guys with swords to whirl around you real quick, Armor of Agathys for actual protective armor with your dragon transformation, and Hex for more curses and the like.

Bard 3: Going back to bard gives you your college, the college of Spirits. With the grail's Guiding Whispers you'll learn the Guidance cantrip, adding 1d4 to a creature's next skill check for up to a minute. By combining this with your jack of all trades, you should be good enough at deception to trick that Mozart into... wait, no, that's not you. Right? Anyway. Your Spiritual Focus. You can cast spells through extra kinds of focii, and if you cast spell this way and you've got six or more levels in bard, they deal or heal an extra 1d6 to one target. Finally, you learn how to conduct Tales from the Beyond. You can spend a bonus action and an inspiration use to roll on the Spirit Tales table, using the inspiration die. You hold onto that effect until you use it, or you take a rest. You can use the tale by targeting a nearby creature as an action. Currently, your d6 lets you re-enact several of your operas and songs, like the Tale of the Clever Animal, giving the target inspiration on all intelligence, wisdom, and charisma checks for 10 minutes; Tale of the Renowned Duelist, a spell attack dealing 2 inspiration dice + your charisma modifier; Tale of the Beloved Friends, which gives the target and another creature of its choice temporary HP; Tale of the Runaway, which teleports a creature and can teleport others of their choosing; Tale of the Avenger, which makes every melee attack against a creature deal an extra inspiration die in force damage; and the Tale of the Traveler, giving a creature temporary HP, and while having that HP it moves faster and has a higher AC. You also get Expertise in Performance and Intimidation, doubling your proficiency in those skills. Finally, grab Phantasmal Force for your first long-term summon. Now your little grey guy can hang around for a bit. He technically isn't real, but if someone gets too close he can still poke them for some psychic damage.

Bard 4: Use your first Ability Score Improvement to bump up both your Dexterity for better swordplay and AC and Charisma for stronger spells. We actually won't be maxing out your charisma this build; you need to be worse than Mozart, after all. To drag him down to your level, grab Vicious Mockery for your cantrip and Shatter for your spell. Vicious Mockery is almost literally how Wildfire should work, and now that you can speak directly into people's minds it should be especially effective.

Bard 5: Fifth level bards get a stronger inspiration; now it's a d8. That means you unlock two more options on your spirit table, the Tale of the Beguiler to deal psychic damage and incapacitate a foe, and Tale of the Phantom to turn a creature invisible. The invisible creature adds necrotic damage to their next attack, and frightens the creature it hits. Helping you play even longer, you become a Font of Inspiration. Inspiration dice recharge on short rests, not just long ones. You also get your first third level spell, Intellect Fortress. Turns out avengers are almost as hard to faze as berserkers.

Bard 6: At sixth level, you can perform a longer musical called a Spirit Session over the course of an hour. By performing a ritual with a number of willing creatures, you temporarily learn a divination or necromancy spell from any spell list of a level equal to the number of creatures in the ritual. The upper limit is based on your proficiency bonus, and you can do this once per long rest, which is the same amount of time you'll keep the new spell for. Learn Animate Dead, and you'll suddenly have plenty of people willing to help with your next session! Boom, now you have long term versions of those little grey guys. They can probably use a sword if you ask them nicely. You also learn how to inspire Fear in creatures. More routinely than your dragon onesie does, anyway.

Warlock 2: Speaking of your dragon onesie, let's make it better with some Eldritch Invocations to spice things up. Armor of Shadows lets you cast Mage Armor at will for an AC of 13 + your dexterity modifier. I don't know what your third ascension is, but it's probably not armor. You also get Beguiling Influence for proficiency in Deception and Persuasion. If you talk up your project well enough, I'm sure people will work themselves to death to see it happen! Also, you can Cause Fear. It's not as good as Fear, but if you only need to hit one person you'll save a spell slot.

Warlock 3: At third level, warlocks get a fancy new gift from their patron. You're getting the Pact of the Chain, letting you cast Find Familiar as a ritual with a few extra forms and the ability to attack with your familiar by not attacking with your you. Put him in a fancy robe, boom, a chorus you don't have to keep control over with magic. You also learn how to make a Shadow Blade so you can summon a fancy magic violin bow.

Warlock 4: Use your next ASI to bump up your Dexterity for more finesse in your music and a higher AC. You also get the Friends cantrip to make fooling Mozart even easier, and Mind Spike for more mental anguish. This one has the added benefit of making it impossible to hide from you!

Warlock 5: Fifth level warlocks get third level spells, like Summon Lesser Demons. These chorus members won't listen to anything you say, so... keep your distance. Your curses are also Maddening Hexes now. When you curse a creature, you can use your bonus actions to deal psychic damage to that creature and everything within 5 feet of it. Perfect for those pesky teleporting enemies. Set it, and then there's nowhere in the world they can run to escape your pain.

Bard 7: Going back to bard gives you fourth level spells, like Ego Whip. Fill a creature with your despair, giving it disadvantage on attacks, checks, and saves, and prevent it from casting spells.

Bard 8: Use this ASI for even more Dexterity. You're as good at playing a fiddle as you are at composing, which is almost amazing. You can also create a Phantasmal Killer to stalk down a targeted creature, frightening it and dealing damage each turn it can't pass a saving throw.

Bard 9: Ninth level bards get a stronger Song of Rest, as well as fifth level spells. I wouldn't say you can cast this one, but Modify Memory has certainly been used on you a couple times.

Bard 10: Tenth level bards get a lot of cool stuff. Grab the Thunderclap cantrip, because it's the most straightforward part of this level. Aside from another round of Expertise doubling your proficiency in Insight and Perception, of course. Your inspiration die becomes a d10, so you get two more options on the spirit table. A Tale of the Brute lets the targeted creature try to knock over every creature they want within 30' of it, dealing thunder damage and knocking them prone if they fail a strength save. A Tale of the Dragon deals a bunch of fire damage in a cone, forcing a dexterity save. You also learn Magical Secrets, two spells from any spell list without restriction. Aside from being at a level you can cast. Conjure Barrage brings down your very own gunline on a poor sap, and Animate Dead makes that gunline in the first place. I know I suggested grabbing this with your spirit session, but you need to recast the spell over and over, so this just makes sense.

Bard 11: Eleventh level bard, meet sixth level spell. Psychic Crush might come from an Unearthed Arcana, but it's still a nasty little number. Your despair crushes the mind of a target, forcing and intelligence save. On a failure, it takes quite a bit of psychic damage and is stunned for up to a minute, with more intelligence saves each turn. The really nasty part is this spell isn't concentration based, so you've got plenty of options to abuse that.

Bard 12: Use your last ASI for more Constitution for better concentration and health.

Bard 13: Thirteenth level bards get seventh level spells, like Mordenkainen's Sword. Only the best for your chorus. It's a big sword that floats around for a minute. You can use your bonus action to move it around and wallop people. Also, your song of rest is a d10 now.

Bard 14: Your final goody from college is a Mystical Connection with your Tales from Beyond, letting you roll two dice and choose which one you take. If you roll the same number twice, its dealer's choice. You also get another round of Magical Secrets. Grab Crown of Stars for a slow burn barrage from the chorus, and Tenser's Transformation for your latest and best mystic code. You gain temporary HP, permanent advantage on weapon attacks, extra damage on those attacks, proficiency with all weapons and armor, proficiency in Strength and Constitution saves, and can attack twice per turn. Afterwards you have to make a constitution save or get some exhaustion, but that makes sense. Being the man in grey really takes a lot out of you.

Bard 15: Ok I might have lied about last level being the last things you get from your college. Fifteenth level bards get a d12 of inspiration, meaning you get your last two options on the spirit table. The Tale of the Angel gives a target 2d12+4 HP, and ends a basic status effect on them. The Tale of the Mind-Bender forces an intelligence save or deals 3d12 psychic damage to a target, stunning them for a round.

Pros and Cons

Pros:

Bards are great at variety, and you prove that. You've got enough health and AC to be a melee fighter, plenty of spells to deal damage, and just enough healing to help the more dedicated party members.

You're also great and dealing status effects to creatures while dealing damage at the same time. These go beyond just fear, with nastier effects like reduced checks and saves, up to a full minute of being stunned. Free advantage for everyone who wants it is a big drawback.

To further push this advantage, you have plenty of ways to hand off responsibility to your chorus, further compounding your advantage from status effects.

Cons:

While you have a lot of options, you're not the best at any one of them. Also, it's hard to control your abilities sometimes, since your spirit table is literally random.

A lot of your spells also use concentration, so you have to be careful how you go about destroying people's minds.

Keeping uncapped charisma is funny for the character, but it's a big issue for your actual strength. Just max out your charisma if you play this build, it's fine.

[wistfulrat]

this week’s fics! feat. bakeries, bookshops, bisexual awakenings of the angsty and fluffy sort, wolfstar goddads being tender as hell, desi harry reconnecting with his culture, domestic drarry, a lap dance set to akon’s smack that, and more!

But That’s History by @ebbet - 54k - T Harry Potter starts his first year as Muggle Studies Professor only to find that Draco Malfoy has been hired to teach History of Magic.

listen to me. this is one of the funniest drarry fics i've ever read. i was cackling in my bed at 2am because harry’s internal monologues throughout this fic are unhinged. insanely quotable. “what was he, a lothario” and “you were crushing me with your muscular thighs!” are lines that live rent free in my empty head. harry has never played anything cool a day in his life. there’s a faculty meeting where the teachers are planning the yule ball and debating the merits of a DJ when harry decides he must defend his muggle-music-loving honor by dancing seductively to akon’s smack that while a blushing draco loses his mind. i fucking screamed. and the best part is that in between the comedic scenes threading the overall story, you have extremely tender moments of like, padma patil helping harry become a more rooted desi by sharing their cultural traditions, harry proudly donning his sherwani. draco wrestling with his past, going to harry’s lgbtq+ club for students, being sheepish with ron and hermione. ugh, comedic writers with emotional depth are clever and talented as hell!!

Realities, Unfurling by @ebbet - 45k - M Draco Malfoy is released from Azkaban into a changed world.

incredible collage-fic told from multiple povs. 8yrs post-war and everything’s changed. the current state of the magical world unfolds via slice-of-life snapshots from a truly stunning cast. non-binary harry whom is running a non-prof org dedicated to building tolerance and establishing equality for marginalized identities. post-prison-release draco whose life will be changed by the internet. neville’s tender relationship with blaise. andromeda’s fiercely protective mothering. remus and sirius being alive and very hot and just, the tender goddads harry deserved. cho chang being brilliant. baker pansy’s softened edges. found families abound. harry being flustered by their crush on draco and making personalized playlists on an iPod nano.

that all might sound narratively cluttered but the author more than pulls this off. glorious, start to finish.

Knead by @jovialobservationanchor (an @hd-erised​ fic) - 83k - E This is not a story about Harry renovating Grimmauld Place. This is a story about coffee shops and brewpubs, about Ginny and Luna on a farm with creatures, about magical Oregon, coastal road trips, flying, friendship, and Draco Malfoy's lean arms.

cinematic. a love letter to oregon’s expansive landscapes and lively cities. it’s harry finding home in unexpected places and people. in the vast silence of rolling fields, endless coasts, and starry night skies big enough to feel like you’re adrift in space. and it’s also the lingering, intimate quiet of early mornings in a bakery, sitting on a park bench overlooking the city as you eat ice cream next to your crush. it’s harry watching ginny and luna dance and work around each other like bees. it’s the slow unfolding of harry and draco’s relationship as they fill each other’s quiet. finishing this fic is like waking from a good dream. transporting, immersive, lovely. 

Harry Potter and the Bisexual Awakening by @writcraft - 20k - E Harry is perfectly content being single, heterosexual and living in Godric's Hollow with his very clingy rescue dog, Snitch. When Draco Malfoy turns up on Harry's doorstep demanding that Harry teach him how to drive, things quickly become a lot more complicated.

first of all, i feel very seen by draco being a gay-who-can’t-drive. it’s called representation. but mostly i love the ease of harry and draco’s banter, a flustered harry discovering his sexuality, and the way this fic addresses biphobia. also very emo over this exchange: “I think I might be scared of you, but probably not for the reasons you think.” “Yes.” Draco stares at Harry. “I think I might be scared of you too.”

Forged through flowing water by @tedahfromtayla (an @hd-erised​ fic) - 40k - E When Hermione sets up a diplomatic mission to begin repairing the damage British colonisation did to Indian magical communities Harry isn’t going to pass on the opportunity to visit and help his family’s home country. Maybe he should have asked a few more questions about the personnel she had recruited for it before signing on because Malfoy surely has an ulterior motive to be there.

so much to love about this fic. the beautiful settings, from kolkata to mumbai, to the holi festival and colorful lively streets, to remote cave settlements and old intricate temples. it’s harry in the homeland, reconnecting to his family’s heritage and confronting the weight of imperialism in his history. it’s nipping the white savior complex in the bud. this part: That is what England left behind. That is what it still stands for, despite whatever mask of respectability and honour it presents. . .You don't get to step aside and let someone else deal with the mess. You have to listen and learn and then act, Malfoy, you need to learn how to fix your own mess. This is why we're here. my indigenous ass cheered. HP certainly sells the british fantasy but HP fanfic?? fuck jkr, fuck the crown. i love that this fic doesn’t romanticize england’s history. i love that we get to see the vast resilience and beauty of post-colonial india.

Purity Control by yrfrndfrnkly - 28k - T In which Harry tries to ignore his trauma with fantasy Quidditch but Malfoy's Thereness™ is distracting and all his classmates want to talk about are unicorns, virginity, and Muggle music.

tender 8th year fics where they go from bristly as fuck to understanding and soft 100% guaranteed to make me emo as hell. all the teens have traumas and no one wants to talk about it but eventually Things are Talked About. it’s good of the adults to finally notice. everyone just wants someone to hold their hand. and this part: “You’re the only person around here who’s a bigger mess than I am.” “I thought maybe we could be a mess together,” pls don’t look at me as i weep over their gentle empathy.

Advent, a comic by dustmouth - WIP - T It's Harry and Draco's first Christmas together and Draco is determined to live his full yuletide fantasy, come hell or high water.

dustmouth, patron saint of whimsical drarry. whose illustrations singlehandedly reinvented wizarding fashion. whose cheeky and tender comics are like a soothing balm to the utter depravity of this carnal world. harry and draco being domestic, draco’s xmas spirit brand being “traditional unhinged”!! extremely my shit. we’ll absolutely be reading this all december.

Little Spaces by @dracoladon and @lazywonderlvnd​ - WIP - E Draco's back from France and working on the spell damage ward at St Mungo's with Hermione, who invites him over for dinner. Without telling Harry. This is a roleplay, which means Harry is written by one author (lazywonderland) and Draco by another (dracoladon).

the switch in distinct character voices works so well for this fic!! tonally i feel like i'm watching an episode of the office. i personally love harry and draco being Pissed Off at how much they want to bone each other. the battle of the tapenade was the most riveting dinner scene i've read in a minute. clever, hilarious, emotionally tense. can’t wait until that inevitable moment post hate-sex when they’re gonna be like “oh noooo it’s a Heart Boner as well!! >:((” hell ya we’re subscribing for chapter updates.

Dragons Don’t Know Paradise by @teacup-tai​ - WIP - E In 2004, when Remus spends two scary weeks in the ITU due to complications of pneumonia and his HIV condition, Sirius walks around the house like a ghost and Harry finds comfort and strength in Draco through a chat in an online LGBT forum. Harry falls for him, but Draco has a lot of secrets and, before long, will need to come clean—even if he believes that no one is able to understand a dragon.

non-magical bookshop AU. remus and sirius’ relationship is a marvel. the ease of their affection with harry makes me so emo. draco’s friends being insistently present even as he tries to isolate himself. this is a story about acceptance, found families, and falling in love at a distance. the intimacy, the longing, the tenderness. what a fic!! i keep coming back to this part:...he looks at ease, inside his body, a body he needed to fight for. He’d made peace with his struggles and his scars. And Draco realises he wants that. He wants to be at ease inside his body, the body that now carries a virus. He wants to be at peace with his own existence. you hurt for draco so deeply but you get moments like these where he affords himself a kindness that feels foreign and it’s just!! the boys navigating grief and learning to be vulnerable. so good.

[ussygussymy]

Found You || Euntae Lee (I)

"Poredge”

Every bend and curve of a letter elicited the screech of chalk to accompany it. The woman put the chalk before clapping her hands and that was it for Jihyun.

There was a stagnant irritation she felt watching the woman spell out every word, and it at last came to life.

"So children, as you can see the-"

"Ma'am that isn't correct"

It wasn't the outburst but the lack of hesitation in Jihyuns voice, complete confidence unsettling for a child. The teacher watched the student with disbelief, that a child could be so uncouth.

"The correct spelling is p-o-r-r-i-d-g-e."

Every letter pronounced correctly, the teacher had begun to become irritated by the child. The woman kneaded her eyebrows together. 

"And pray tell, how would you know that?"

"I read it in a book, I read lots of books."

Again it was that confidence, the teacher had had enough.

"Jihyun, go to the office."

— —

"I'm Hero Man, standing for justice!" So you dare to bully the weak!"

Jace got into Hero Mans iconic fighting stance, the beaming red cape flowing behind him.

"Bring it on! I will never back down."

Jihyun overheard the conversation from the swing she was sitting on, away from the rest of the children on the playground. She'd found that she never really was one for playing with other children, finding them too childish for her standards. At least that's what she told her mother in lieu of telling them the other children that she was an annoying know-it-all, to be fair she kinda was. Yet, these were two new faces on the playground, which is why her interest was piqued.

"...Jace. Is it wrong if Hero Man doesn't help others?" What if the villain is too strong? Why does he fight for others?"

Jihyun felt her eyes begin to sparkle, the kid surely had an unique personality. So, she really could not help herself to intervene.

"Morally speaking, it would not be wrong if Hero Man were to not help others out. However, it would be contradictory of his character, since he is meant to be good and therefore by our society's defining features of goodness, help others out. Hero Man wouldn't be much of a hero if he couldn't fight for other people, that'd make him a bad character."

Visible confusion was on the faces of the boys, a flood of questions swimming in their heads. Jihyun had begun to feel awkward as the silence permeated, it would happen alot where she would accidentally join a conversation without knowing if she belonged there or not. Right before she was gonna turn to run away and never look back, the boy with the red cape smiled at her.

"Exactly, what she said."

He turned back to the other boy before throwing punches at him.

"Dummy! What kind of superhero thinks that way! Take this super punch!"

"Don't it hurts"

Jihyun smiled at the duo, this was the first time she ever felt like she belonged.

Afterwards the newly formed trio got some candy to nom on.

"By the way, what's your name?

"Jihyun."

"I'm Euntae."

"Nice to meet you."

Jihyun grinned to herself, here were her first friends.

Jace looked back and forth between the two, he couldn't place it but there was a tingling feeling in the back of his conscience that the two would know each other for a very long time.

— —

"It's great we're all in the same class, even you Jihyun, you crazy genius. You guys are happy right." Jace inquired, the trio were sitting side by side. Ever since that fated day they had remained inseparable.

Jihyun merely gave a nod, she was too busy taking a look at the syllabus for the year.

"Yeah. Of Course." uttered Euntae, next to her.

"Guys.. Have you played phone games?" Jihyun glanced at the boy beside her, he really hadn't changed, even now. At times it was quality that irritated her and at times it was a quality she really liked."

Jace, always the Euntae whisperer, knew what to say, "Um.. so Euntae. How about we play too?" Euntae's face lit up, "Yeah. Sounds good." Jihyun couldn't help but smile, his change of expression was little but she knew it was a lot by Euntae standards.

Now the trio was distracted, the boys engrossed by the phone game in their hands and Jihyun caught up reading to the teaching plans in May. They didn't notice the clashing trio who'd come up to them.

"Hey big ears."

The presumable leader had spoken, before the entire flock spoke.

"What elementary school you from?"

"He wants to be friends with you."

"Your ears are huge. Wow."

"You guys wanna go to the snack shop?"

Jace looked at the two of them with pleading eyes. Jihyun could already sense it, a shift in their dynamic, she sighed but agreed begrudgingly. Jace grinned before turning back.

"Hm? Oh yeah. Euntae, Jihyun, why don't you come to."

Vasco merely replied, "Sure. Buy me chocolate milk."

— —

Jihyun found herself going up and getting chocolate milk herself, the chatting from the new trio had begun to irritate her. There was a small panging feeling of worry within her, something had changed in Jace the second they got to middle school. She was fortunate that Euntae was still there at least.

As she made her way back to their table, a third trio had shown up to the snack shop. Jihyun felt a feeling of dread climbing along her back, 'What the hell is up with all these trios,' she thought. Watching them move through the crowd, she could only knead her eyebrows in annoyance. It was another group of gangster wannabes.

"Move the line!" one the lackeys called as the leader moved smugly behind them.

"Ah! If there are no dumplings, you're dead!" the other lackey called.

Jihyun moved her eyes to the other trio, she could see their eyes light up, here they saw opportunity. "Hey, say hello to the scariest senior." One of them whispered, referring to the middle schooler with badly side swept hair. It seems their stares caught their attention as the trio came up to the group of freshmans.

"You guys have smokes? Got 'em or not?" one of the lackeys hassled them. 'This guy definitely breathes through his mouth.' Jihyun thought to herself, cringing slightly when his breath wafted into her face.

"Oh sure! Here!" the leader of the freshmans said immediately. Jihyun rolled her eyes, the desperate attempts to appear tough were causing her enough cringe for the day. Jace looked visibly surprised by the omission.

"Do you have a lighter? Oh you've got sense. Follow us. Let's light up."

"Yes okay!"

That response did not surprise Jihyun too much, but Jace's actions did.

"Let's go! Jace, do you smoke?"

"If we get close with them, it's like hitting the jackpot."

The freshmen looked back at Jace with the hungry eyes of greed, looking to get some status.

"Umm.. yeah, sure I smoke."

The answer got Jihyun off guard, she knew it, they were doomed from the start of entering middle school. All good people are lost to power.

"Don't go, Jace." reasoned Euntae. Jihyun glanced back at Euntae sadly, he'd yet to see that Jace was changing.

"Mom said smoking was bad. She said don't even touch it. She also said that smokers were losers."

Euntae's words had stung the seniors. They were evidently pissed at him and his self righteous attitude.

"Hey, who's this dick? Is he stupid or something?"

One of the lackeys began to laugh before smacking Euntae in the face.

"Fucking arrogant."

That was enough to get Jihyun fuming, she stood between the two, "Who the fuck do you think you are?"

The senior turned his eyes from Vasco to Jihyun, before he started chuckling, "Who the fuck is this chick? Get out of the way bitch." One of the lackeys stepped in to push Jihyun away, blocking her from getting to Vasco. Jihyun felt her insides start to boil over, soon enough there'd be steam coming out her ears. Yet, in this moment she felt helpless to do anything.

The lackey who'd slapped Vasco stepped back up, "This punk! Not moving?" he accused.

"If you are rude to your seniors, you have to say you're sorry." the senior waited a moment, hearing only Vasco's deafening silence.

"Huh? You won't" Thud, the senior began to kick Vasco.

"Euntae! Stop! You're hurting him!" Jihyun yelled, trying to force her way through to stop the brutal assault. Instead she got knocked back, "Stay put bitch."

"You won't? You won't? You won't? You won't?" With every repetition of the word, the senior kicked Vasco, the force behind the kicks growing greater after every time.

"This ass doesn't even make a sound! Wanna challenge me?" the senior laughed, taking glee in assaulting a freshman.

Jihyun looked on in horror, partly because Euntae was getting viciously beaten before her but also because Jace had done nothing to stop it. With pleading eyes she looked towards her only other friend for some aid, and in them she saw cowardice. Jihyun scrunched her nose up in disbelief as he averted her gaze.

"He's a fucking joke, I will beat you till you talk." the lackey laughed, allowing their leader to step through.

"You embarrassed me in front of everyone, you fucking little punk..From today we're gonna spend some time together."

— —

Euntae walked into the classroom with bloodstains marking his pristine white shirt. Jihyun knew exactly who she'd gotten it from, and she'd had enough of it. Today she would confront them about it. He always disappeared around lunch time, that was when she'd follow him.

As the clock turned, the class turned in for lunch, subsequently Euntae got up to leave as well. Glancing at her surroundings, Jihyun got up as well, stalking behind Euntae. Suddenly, he made a turn around a corner, Jihyun sped up her pace in order to catch up with him. However it wasn't long before he turned again, Jihyun found herself running to catch up before she headbutted right into Euntae.

Jihyun backed up, red stained her cheeks feeling embarrassed that he'd caught her in the act of spying on him. "Hey Vasco, I didn't see you there. I was just heading to the bathrooms."

Vasco stared back at her blankly, "This hallway leads to the boiler room." Jihyun started to feel sweat dripping down her forehead, she was caught, "there uh, a special bathroom in the boiler room." Euntae's eyes lit up with intrigue, "Really, I didn't know there was one."

Jihyun sighed with relief, Euntae sucked at detecting lying. "Right yeah, I'll be going then."

Vasco continued to move and Jihyun continued to follow. She'd followed them all the way to an abandoned part of the playground, from ahead she could see the group of seniors as well as a boy wearing glasses attached to the pole.

The leader grinned when he saw Vasco approaching, "The other cicada has come to play." He approached him before jabbing him straight in the stomach. This made Vasco keel over, yet he remained as stoic as ever. "Fuck took you so long? Huh?" Just as he was about to land a kick on Vasco's head, Jihyun emerged from the bushes.

"Stop, I caught everything on video. Have fun smoking when your ass is expelled." Jihyun spoke, holding the evidence in her hand. The phone was quickly snatched away by one of the lackeys, "It's this bitch again."

The leader came up to her, evidently finding the situation amusing. "Are you his girlfriend or something?" He came close enough to feel his breath fanning against her face, Jihyun stood with a hard expression, refusing to back down. "Actually she's kinda cute, you don't mind if I steal her do you?" The senior inquired, looking back at Vasco.

Before Jihyun could make a snappy comeback or the senior could reach for her face, Vasco stood between. "Don't touch her." The senior snickered at his words, before smacking his face hard enough to send him falling.

"Vasco!" Once again the lackeys were holding Jihyun back, she felt tears welling up in her eyes this time from the frustration she'd begun to feel. Once again, Vasco refused to make any noise or provide any reaction. He stared defiantly up at the senior, this served to only piss him off more.

Sending a kick flying right into Vasco's stomach, the senior yelled, "Who the fuck do you think you are? Huh?" The senior continued kicking at Vasco's stomach as Jihyun struggled to fight out of the arms of the two lackeys.

After thoroughly beating Vasco, the senior turned, making hungry eyes towards Jihyun. She felt her eyes widen, a new sense of fear began to envelop her. Just before he could take his first step, Vasco managed to croak out, "..Do whatever you want to me, just don't touch her."

That sent the senior over the edge, "What the fuck did I tell you about talking back? Are you disobeying me?" From his pocket, the senior brought out a box cutter, approaching Vasco with it. "I'll teach you about disobeying."

Jihyun watched in horror as the senior brought the boxcutter down against Vasco's skin before red beads of blood stained the metal. In this moment, Jihyun felt both the most helpless and the most shameful, because she could not break out. So, she stood there and watched as her friend got mutilated by a boxcutter.

Even through that, Vasco did not allow them the pleasure of his screams. "Fuck, whats up with this ass! Think's he's so tough!" The senior huffed, writing out grotesque images on Vasco's skin. After finishing he sneered at them with his friend, "Let's get out of her, I'm hungry."

Just like that they left, as if Vasco's life was worth just as much as a stuffed animal or object. As soon as the lackeys released Jihyun, she ran to Vasco, "Vasco! Are you okay?" She questioned, looking at the bleeding wounds on his chest. Vasco grit his teeth, "Jihyun.. Please don't let my mom see these."

Jihyun looked towards Vasco hesitantly before nodding and helping him get home.

— —

It wasn't the first time Jihyun was in Vasco's room, but it was the first time without Jace by their side. Jihyun took the warm wet cloth before placing it against the wounds Vasco had acquired. Vasco made an attempt to sit up before Jihyun pushed him down. "You need rest, I'm not gonna bother you with questions right now but you better believe I'm gonna talk to Jace."

"No, Jace doesn't need to know." Jihyun scrunched her face in frustration. "Vasco, why do you insist on going through things like this alone? You don't have to, you have us!" Vasco stared at Jihyun with widened eyes, she'd had outbursts in the past before but none as passionate as that. "What are you even trying to prove by not telling anyone?" Jihyun spoke, lowering her voice as she felt bad for yelling at him.

Vasco looked up at her with pained eyes, like he knew exactly what to say but couldn't muster up the strength to say it. "Jihyun, promise you won't leave." Jihyun was taken aback, this was completely out of left field. "What?"

"Jihyun." He paused, allowing the silence to take hold of the moment, "Promise you won't leave." Jihyun stopped, staring down at Vasco, before opening her mouth to speak.

"I promise."

Vasco mustered up a grin, "good."

— —

The next day, Jihyun came to class fuming. The second she entered the classroom she sent a slap across Jace's face that was deafening before sitting back down. Jace held his face, yet his face conveyed that he knew the reason behind the slap. Looking ashamed he sat back in his seat, Jihyun spent the rest of the period glaring at him.

As the school day neared its ending, the classroom emptied quickly, just as Jihyun turned to leave as well the gang of three seniors stopped her in her tracks. They ignored her this time, it seems they were here for Jace. Yet some panging in Jihyuns heart stopped her from running out the classroom, she stayed back watching the trio.

"You're fucking joking, we told you to bring him, not to decide yourself."

"Say it again."

"What did you just say?"

Jihyun looked with intrigue now at Jace's quivering frame, "Euntae is really hurt...So you should stop and.." Before Jace finished his sentence, a punch came flying at his face. Jihyun was up on her feet as she witnessed it.

Jihyun came running towards the lackey, using both force and time to create momentum, she slammed her body against the lackey to get him away from Jace. The leader looked on, pissed off. "This fucker again? Hey you guys keep watch in the hall" The senior called towards the other freshman.

Turning back, the senior began to approach Jihyun, "Hey, your stupid boyfriend stopped my yesterday so today you're gonna play with me."

Even the lackeys looking on with terror as the senior brandished a tatoo gun, "This is for eyebrow tatoos. But it works well on belly buttons as well." Just as the needle was about to prick Jihyuns skin, a presence made them turn.

"..Stop." Vasco.

"I'm here" The lackeys began to laugh at his entrance.

"'I'm here?'"

"How arrogant."

"I see he hasn't changed."

"Your friend is a really bad dick."

"He promised to bring you here."

The senior grinned, "If you report to me or something annoys me...your friends are going to get drawn on too."

His actions surprised Jihyun, Vasco stood in front of Jace and Jihyun in that iconic pose, heroman. The pose made Jihyun remember that fateful day, Vasco was her Hero Man.

"It's natural to help the weak. Those..are my friends."

The senior sent a kick to Vasco's head, throwing him off balance. Despite this he got up and continued to make weak attempts to fight, always getting thrown down, one way or another. Yet, his will to protect never changed. As long as there was someone to protect, he did not stop, no matter how battered he was. Blood was dripping down his nose and mouth now and his eye was squinted.

Jace got down on his knees to plead for mercy from the senior while Jihyun made her own attempts to fight the lackeys. The big one pushed her into a wall instead, bashing her head against the hard concrete. Vasco stopped momentarily to look at her with concern.

At this point, all three of them were getting their asses beat, bad. Seemingly out of nowhere, one of the lackeys was thrown into the air and Jihyun got a glimpse of blonde hair before the dark circles in her vision began to get bigger and bigger. Jihyun found her body getting heavier before she submitted to the darkness and gave way to the floor. With a thump, she was on the ground, sustained head injury.

— —

Waking up, Jihyun found she was in a completely different place in a completely different school. After her parents found out about the situation, they moved her out of the district and sent her off to a gifted school for young geniuses. There she was the top of her class, but she never did forget about Vasco, and she would find her way back.