#if I were them I���d miss being Jackie

[too-deviant]

jackie and wilson.

previous | next series masterlist.

summary: you haven’t been given a quest, but you have made it your personal mission to make luke castellan smile.

paring: luke castellan x unclaimed!reader

word count: 4k

content: luke is still a moody teenager, reader is still the fly he cant get rid of. does he really want to, though?

notes: these first two parts feel very introductory but it gets juicy as we dive a little further in the next parts hehe. also who do we think readers godly parent is?

PART II — and lord, she found me just in time 

For a hotshot lawyer, your mom couldn’t lie for the life of her. Every time you brought it up, she’d always quip that she didn’t need to be a good liar to be a good lawyer, since all new evidence is legally required to be disclosed to both parties before they are presented in court. Therefore, there is no lying, only brief twisting of the truth. She was good at that — clearly. 

“You said you didn’t want me to leave you!” 

The wooden floor of Chiron’s office wasn’t the most comfortable of lounging places, but you’d accidentally kicked the radiator after tripping over a horseshoe and Mr. D — who had escorted you there when you’d asked about speaking to your mom — had just sighed and told you to use the mist currently spraying from it as a form of communication. The whole Iris Message thing was still unusual to you, but at the same time, you’d tripped over a horseshoe because the owner of the office was half-horse. Does it get weirder than that? Probably not. 

You leaned back on your haunches, disbelief written all over your face at the scene you…walked in on? Called in on? Iris Messaged in on? Whatever — you were more worried about what you were looking at than the right terminology to describe it. 

“Oh — sweetie!” Your mom was quick to hop down from the kitchen counter, pushing the man who had been standing between her legs away from her so forcefully he fell back into the living room. 

“What was that?” You heard him ask from afar. Your mom chuckled, buttoning up her blouse. 

“The answering machine.” She excused, “I completely forgot I was supposed to call back my daughter. Would you give me a minute?”

The man agreed with a huff and your mom pushed the kitchen door closed with a click before looking at you, narrowing her eyes and crossing her arms, “I didn’t. I sure do now!”

“I’ve been gone for, like, two days!” You exclaimed, “And you’re already inviting your boyfriend over? How old are you?”

“Oh, let it go.” The woman chastised, shaking her head and attempting to push down her amused smile. “I was bored.”

“Bored.” You chuckled, “Of course.”

“But I miss you.” She said then, smiling sweetly and leaning her hip on the island, “How’s camp?”

“It’s great.” You grinned, “The people are great, the food is great. Turns out, I am super with a spear.”

“A spear, huh?” Your mom nodded, “No surprise there, you’ve got a hell of an arm.”

You hummed excitedly, the previous event long forgotten as you filled her in on your first few days at camp, “One of my friends in cabin nine offered to make me a personal one.” Your mom furrowed her brows, “Children of Hephaestus. Blacksmith guy.”

“Right.” She nodded with a click of her tongue. “Well, I’m glad you’re enjoying yourself.”

“I’m glad you’re enjoying yourself.” You smirked cheekily, ignoring the scoff and evil look she sent you in response. 

“Alright. I best go.” She interrupted just as you went to make another comment about her guest, “I will see you at the end of summer. Okay?” 

“Okay. Love you.” 

Truthfully, you were happy to spend the rest of the day talking to your mom — it was so hot that morning that you’d thought about sacrificing your breakfast to Apollo in hopes that he’d ease up a little. You decided against it and just sent your prayers to each of them in general, hoping maybe your dad could fess up to actually being your dad. 

Clarisse had suspected you would soon join her in the Ares Cabin — something about your skills with a spear and the swift right hook you sent Chris when he made one too many comments on your form during your training session with her. You weren’t even sure why he’d been there, but you could probably fathom a guess if you judged by the looks he sent her whenever she wasn’t looking. 

After the exciting discovery that yes, you were good at something, Mr. D had come by to say you could either call your mom now or never. You chose the former option, obviously, and you only regretted it slightly as you heaved yourself up from the ground — already missing the sound of her voice. 

You didn’t let it linger, instead you pushed the creaky door of the Big House open as gently as you could, even though it still swung back against the wall, and nodded at the pair sitting on the porch, currently in a heated card game you couldn’t recognise. They didn’t look at you for long, Chiron muttering something about meeting the Demeter kids by the fields to test your gardening skills before putting down a card that made Mr. D grumble in his seat. 

You were trudging through the grass, huffing when the longer bits tickled your legs and made you go all itchy, when you spotted a body sat by the hearth in the horseshoe of cabins. You lit up, changing course and jogging over to them, “JoJo!”

Luke looked up at you, frowning, “What?”

His curls fell over his eyes and he shook them away, only to squint at the sun that shone into them. You sidestepped, your shadow proving ample shade so he could focus on you, and you stammered a bit when his face fell into focus. He was pretty. 

You let out a breathless chuckle, folding your arms, “From Horton Hears a Who.” He shows no signs of recognition, “You’ve never seen it?” Again, his face did little to answer you, so you shrugged, “Whatever. I’ll get an answer out of you one day, I’m sure. We’ve made steady progress.”

“Have we?” He hummed, picking at the worn sleeve of his hoodie. 

“Of course we have, ya’ nutmegger.” You quipped with a short chuckle, grinning when his eyes snapped back to yours. 

“You still haven’t told me where you’re from.” 

You tutted, “Where’s the fun in that? You gotta find out.”

He huffed, “Whatever.”

Since his outburst about New England the day before, Luke had done a considerable job at avoiding you. Well, you didn’t think he was doing it on purpose — he just wasn’t obligated to spend time with you anymore now that you were cleared to roam camp on your own. You’d seen him at breakfast, perched silently on the end of the bench and staring sadly at his soggy oatmeal, but then Clarisse had whisked you off to the training fields with Chris hot on her tail and you hadn’t seen him since. 

You weren’t completely sure why you were so determined to break his shell. Maybe it was because you knew he never used to be this way — that underneath the deep frowns and annoyed huffs, was a happy boy who would spend days in the sun with his teeth bared in a wide grin — and you yearned to get a peek of who Luke Castellan used to be. To bear your eyes on the side of him he kept away and to find out why he did so, to understand him on a level deeper than anyone around you did, or even deeper than you understood yourself. 

Or maybe because he’s hot. 

Either way, you weren’t letting him slide away that easily. No sir. You straightened your back, “Going to the gardens.” 

No reply, as usual. 

A huff, “Mind walking me? I don’t wanna get lost.”

He looked at you, brown eyes flitting over your expression, before licking his lips and standing, “Fine.”

You grinned then, wide and sunny, “Great.”

You knew where the gardens were — hell, you could see them from where you stood, the two teenage sons of Dionysus chasing each other with sticks while the Demeter kids scowled at them. But you were new, and Luke was ‘the guy’ for all the new campers, so really he wasn’t allowed to say no. 

You were desperate to know more about him; his favourite sport, movie, colour. Anything irrelevant that you could see in public and think: Luke. You just didn’t know where to start — he could shut down at any given moment, so which question was more fitting to ask before he built up his walls and fucked off? 

You settled for something easy — something subtle that wouldn’t hint towards you asking about him. An easy question that any reasonable tour guide would have to answer. 

“So, do you guys host any…mortal activities?” Looking up at him in question, brows raised as he once again made no indication that he’d even heard you speak. 

But he had, “Not usually. Sometimes on weekends we’ll play volleyball on the beach, and I think Lee Fletcher has a soccer ball he kicks around but…” He shrugged, “No. Not really.”

You hummed, “You said we. Do you play volleyball?”

Nice one. 

Luke stiffened a little, sort of appalled that you’d swerved the question on him so easily, but he answered with a grumble, “Not anymore.”

“Why?”

He shrugged, “Grew out of it.”

“Huh.” You said then, facing forward with a nod and continuing your trek through the long grass, occasionally reaching down to scratch your calves, “I don’t think I’ll ever grow out of baseball.”

Come on, Castellan, take the bait. 

“Baseball?”

“Yes!” You exclaimed, a little too excitedly for it to be a simple answer to a simple question. You lowered your volume and gave a more collected nod, “Yeah. Yes. I’ve played since I was old enough…little league.” You let out a weak chuckle, suddenly shy about the subject. 

Luke nodded at you, “First base?”

“Left field.” You corrected with a proud smile, “I got legs.”

“Oh.” He replied, a little caught off guard at that. Although, he was also caught off guard when you said you played baseball. 

You were debating whether or not to press when a gangly blonde boy with dark purple eyes jogged up to you and held out a wicker basket, “You’re the new kid right?” He didn’t wait for an answer before thrusting the basket to your chest, “I’m Pollux. We’re picking strawberries, c’mon, I’ll show you the best way to get ‘em.”

You weren’t sure there was a specific tactic to picking strawberries, but you stepped to follow him anyway. Turning your head to send a thankful smile to Luke for walking you down, you spotted him looking between you and Pollux with furrowed brows — then he noticed your stare and swallowed, nodding, “Uh, see you later.”

“Bye.” You replied, slightly starstruck. He walked off, but he did it slowly as if he was unsure of where to go next. You were positive he had somewhere to be — big shot counsellor and all — but as you stood, one foot in front of the other, face turned back to watch him go, he seemed to stutter in his steps at the top of the hill, deciding where to turn. His beaten converse led him west, and Pollux yelled you out of your stupor so you could help him and his brother pick strawberries. 

As suspected, your strawberry-picking skills were pretty much the same as everyone else’s — really, how can one person be any better at picking strawberries than another? It’s a very simple task. Either way, Castor and Pollux didn’t envision you as their long lost sister, and the Demeter kids apparently couldn’t smell it on you that you were one of them, whatever that meant, so you were back to your search for daddy dearest — at this point, you weren’t even sure if you wanted to find out anymore. All this hassle and for what? It’s not as if he was going to attend the daddy-daughter dance with you, no matter which god he might be. 

“So, do you, like, know Luke or something?” 

Henry Furstatt was a Demeter kid a couple of years younger than you, who had been set the task of walking you to the lake where you would rejoin the Hermes cabin on their canoe lesson. He wasn’t very talkative until you’d put some distance between yourselves and the strawberry fields, where he posed his question. 

You glanced at him with a thoughtful frown, “I mean, he’s been showing me around the past couple days, so…I guess —“

“I meant like,” He swallowed, waving his hands around, “from before. Did you know each other before you came to camp?”

“Oh.” You responded, tucking a loose hair that had fallen in front of your face away, “No. Why’d you think that?”

Henry shrugged, his loose-fitting camp shirt doing wonders to hide the movements, “Dunno. He just hasn’t talked to many people since he got back from his quest…but he’s talking to you.”

“Well.” You were suddenly a little sheepish — were you pushing Luke too much? Was your constant questioning making him uncomfortable? You were only on a mission to find out more about him because he interested you, but did you interest him, or was he ready to boot you as far as you’d fly? “He has to, doesn’t he? He’s still a counsellor, even if he does hate everyone here.” 

“True.” He settled with a nod, fiddling with a daisy he’d picked while you were walking. 

You breathed a content sigh when you finally stepped out of the grass — the summer blooming made it slightly unbearable to walk through, tickling at your legs the whole afternoon. The beating sun didn’t make you feel any nicer, but you just wafted your shirt a little as you walked past the Hermes cabin and towards the dock. 

Camp was always noisy; something you’d grown accustomed to the longer you stayed there. You never really noticed it until you were alone, but the chatter of the kids filled the air the whole day and only really faded out when they all went to sleep. It was slightly unnerving to sit in the silence, and the loud murmurs often comforted you — made you feel less suffocated as the new kid. Less eyes on you, the better. 

You were so used to the noise, in fact, that you almost completely brushed past the argument that was brewing outside the Ares cabin just a few metres away. Fortunately, Henry spotted the commotion, and pulled you to a halt in favour of staring at the ever-growing crowd. 

You followed his eyeline and spotted a burly looking boy with black hair — when he moved his head and the sun hit the right spots, you could see dark red highlights swimming in his locks. You thought that was a little bit much, but you forfeited commenting on it considering the giant machaira that hung on his back. 

The boy in question was sneering at someone in front of him, but the corners of his mouth were perked up in an amused smile that made you think he wasn’t angry yet, but he sure was getting there. You couldn’t see who he was talking to, but as Henry ventured closer, you were forced to follow and eventually his words reached your ears. 

“—big shot golden boy finally got himself a quest and doesn’t fancy sharing the details.” He laughed, deep and low in his throat. 

Henry patted someone on the shoulder, and they stepped aside to let him into the circle. You stayed behind him, watching over his head and finally checking out the opponent. Your eyes stopped on the familiar figure, and his familiar curls that hung over his eyes — eyes that were glaring daggers in the Ares kid’s direction, casting shadows over his cheekbones and making his scar look a little menacing. 

The boy continued after Luke showed no signs of replying, “We get it, Castellan. You failed, but that doesn’t mean you get to gatekeep the whole thing.”

“Dean, man.” You finally noticed Chris, standing off to the side of Luke and glancing at his brother in apprehension at the boy's words. “Back off.” 

Dean just snorted, “Don’t defend him, Rodriguez. We let him mope, now it’s time for him to spill the beans.” He took a step closer to Luke, “What happened on your quest?” 

You had only known Luke for two days. You weren’t sure if he was the type to fly off the handle, swing before reasoning, but you suddenly became aware that neither did anyone else. Sure, these people had known him for years — but you’d heard it from enough people to know that he was a different person these days. After his quest a couple of weeks ago, people had been walking on eggshells around the boy. Maybe a month ago, he would’ve calmly walked away and let Dean simmer in his anger. But now? Nobody could be sure, but judging by the look in his eyes, darkening by the second, you might be able to fathom a guess as to what he’s going to do with his hands now that they were rolled into fists. 

“I mean, is this about glory? Because you won’t exactly be sharing it — ya’ can’t share what you don’t have.”  Dean let out a chortle at his own joke, looking between his friends around him and grinning with them. 

Luke stepped forward. And — you couldn’t blame anyone, really. After that last comment, you were all expecting fists to be swung. It was only reasonable. Maybe the old Luke wouldn’t have done it, but this new Luke was looking increasingly more angry at the world as the days went by, so when he took one measly step forward, the crowd around him let out a collective woah! and put their hands out to stop him from lunging. Including yourself. 

Only he wasn’t about to punch Dean. His hand stayed dormant at his side, the only clear movement was the single step closer he’d taken to match the one the Ares boy had made earlier. He was only really stepping forward so his next words would hit harder — that’s all it was, words. They died on his lips when he realised the implications of his actions, looking between the outstretched arms and tense faces. 

He looked at Dean, “We can discuss quests when you get your own.” 

Then he walked off, past the crowd that didn’t bother stopping him. Looking around, you saw the looks on their faces — shame, from assuming Luke would evoke such violence off the sparring mat. You definitely felt it, but you didn’t stick around long enough to confirm that with anyone else. Instead, you left Chris to berate Dean in place of the head counsellor and followed the boy in question as he huffed up the hill towards the edge of the woods. 

“Hey!” You said, breathless (you were not an uphill climber). “Hey, Luke!”

He hesitated in his steps like he did earlier, but he didn’t turn around. His head twitched a little, like he wanted to look but was holding himself back, but you simply rounded him until you were face to face. The anger had long since dissolved from his expression, replaced with soft confusion. 

“Hi.” You huffed, still recovering from that incline, “Are you okay? That guy’s a dick.”

“I know.” He replied, short as usual. 

You licked your lips, still catching your breath, and nodded. He remained silent, looking around you like he was just waiting for you to leave. You decided to take the hint, muttering lowly, “Okay, sorry for bothering you.” 

But his hand reached out, circling your wrist just as you passed him. You looked at Luke, raising your eyebrows, watching as he stammered on his words, “I, uh, you aren’t bothering me. I just…”

He let go of you and you stepped back to your precious spot. Behind him, the crowd had dissipated, Dean long gone. Chris remained, staring up at the pair of you on top of the hill. You couldn’t pinpoint his expression, but he seemed to hesitate before turning his back. You looked up at Luke. 

“Why did you…come after me?” 

You scoffed a laugh, “What? Anyone would’ve, it’s like…common decency.”

He twisted his expression, looking amused and devastated all at the same time, “But they didn’t.” 

He was right; before you’d set off up the hill, everyone had just been watching him walk off. It seemed a little out of character, but then again, you didn’t know these people as well as you thought. Luke let out a sad chuckle, shaking his head, “Everyone’s sorta given up on me now that I’m…”

“Moody and depressed?” You finished, raising a single brow. You smiled at him, and it lifted into a grin when he smiled back, albeit only slightly. But you’d take it. “I just think that they’re a little unsure.”

“They’re scared, is what they are.” He said firmly, staring at the ground in mirth, “Their precious golden boy won’t clean up all of their messes anymore and they’re scared that they’ll have to start looking after themselves.”

“I don’t think that’s true.” You said, even if you didn’t believe it. How could you? You didn’t know these people, Luke did. “They’re just worried about you.” 

He scoffed, finally moving his head up and meeting your eyes. He went to say something, presumably another quip about the campers, but stopped himself. Backtracked. Instead he said, “Aren’t you angry that you haven’t been claimed yet?”

That was a deep question. You sat on it for a couple of seconds, reeling at the sudden shift of conversation, until you finally let out a low puff of air and shrugged, “I don’t really know how I feel. Why? Should I be?” 

“This camp, it’s —“ He huffed, “It helps you, sure. But it also forces you to…mould yourself into the perfect kid for — for a parent who doesn’t care enough to watch you grow up. Help you live, use their divine powers when a dragon is clawing your fucking face off!” 

He’d stepped closer to you, unknowingly, that final shout making you wince a little at the volume. He stopped then, evening his breaths and stepping back with an apologetic expression. You brushed it off. 

“A dragon clawed your face off?” 

“Yeah.” He chuckled weakly, “Tell anyone and I’ll kill you.” 

You smiled at him, shamefully admiring his face. Now that he wasn’t glaring in anger, and his face was more relaxed, you could see the whites of his eyes. His lashes, unreasonably long, and his lips that were so plush you were close to asking him if he took a trip to see Dr Miami while he was on his quest. 

“Gods.” You murmured under your breath, “You’re so pretty it sorta pisses me off.” 

Luke laughed then — a genuine chortle that shook his chest and made passers by glance in his direction. His grin was uncharacteristically wide and for a second, a brief moment, you saw it. Luke Castellan, the one everyone looks up to. The one they turn to in times of peril, the one they giggle and gossip about under the shade of the fir trees. 

Then you knew your answer to Luke’s question. No — you weren’t angry that you hadn’t been claimed. In fact, you didn’t think you’d care even if you were so long as he was smiling at you like that. 

He calmed down, catching his breath, his face relaxing back into that cool expression he’s always got on. Maybe your eyes were playing tricks on you, but you were sure he looked a little less tense than before. He nodded, waving a hand, “Alright, Sunny. Let’s go canoeing.” 

“Sunny?” You asked, walking alongside him. 

He clicked his tongue, glancing down at you, “If Apollo won’t claim you as a child of the sun, then I will.” 

“Alright.” You smiled softly, looking forward so he wouldn’t see it and run off. You picked at your nails, “So long as I can call you JoJo.” 

“Let’s watch that silly movie it’s from and I’ll decide if you can call me that.”

“Deal.”

🏷️ @katherines-imagines @lovingjasontoddmakemewanttocry @jennapancake @cobaltskiez @loveryoushouldcomeoverr @m00ng4z3r @mischiefmoons (comment to be added/removed!)

[edgeray]

mygod that siren Arlecchino fic you did is *chef's kiss* IMMACULATE!!! might i request a continuation, mayhaps? Arle mentioned that she'd follow the reader as they sail, so maybe she misses them and either tries to climb onto the boat or the pier where they're docked to see them again? either hurt/comfort or fluff, the rest is up to you!!! love your work and thank you for fueling my Arlecchino obsession :] also i might pop back in here once in a while, may i be moth anon?

The Sea's Calling Pt. 2

(Arlecchino x Fem! Reader)

A/N - Part 1 link here. Yes, you definitely can be a moth anon! Hi :D. I already added you to the anon list. To other anons that have requested and I haven't gotten to, I do see your requests and if you gave yourself an emoji/name I already added you ^^. Anyways, back to moth anon. <333 I'm so glad you enjoyed my siren Arlecchino fic! As my first request I was kind of nervous about it but I'm glad that you enjoy! I'm also really glad that you sent this request! I did always want to write a part 2 but didn't have the opportunity until now. Thanks moth anon, for the reuqest and for enjoying my works!!  If you couldn't tell, I love the idea of found family pirates. One Piece did this to me. The ending turned out to be self-indulgent, forgive me moth anon ;) Even though it's short, this ended up being one of my favorites. Hope you like this one! Content warnings / info - monster x human, arle is ooc bc she's a siren, fem! reader bc pt.1 has fem! reader, suggestive at the end, 1.2k words

You used to think that the most beautiful thing out there was the sky and its stars–to you, nothing was more mesmerizing than them. They are so alluring despite holding this mystique, and they've guided humans on their naval journeys and inspired all kinds of stories of their origins. The stars were all that kept you company, even on the lonliest and coldest nights.

Now, however, the stars aren't your only company. 

“Guys, I'm going to go back to the ship. Don't wait up on me too much,” you to your fellow pirates as you stand up from the stool. You drop off some extra coins on the baa counter, in order to compensate for the plate that you will be ‘borrowing.’ You pick up the plate of your half-eaten slice of meat pie and sandwich and head towards the exit before one of your crew mates stops you, placing a gentle hand on your shoulder.

“Turning in already? C'mon, stay a little bit. We've got enough money for a few more rounds of beer,” he says with a boisterous laugh. You chuckle lightly but shake your head. 

“No can do, sorry. Got something to do.”

“Uh huh, like your little siren girlfriend?” Another crew member states, her teasing smile widening as you flush. 

“One more? Jackie hasn't finished his story!”

“Let the darned woman go see her darn girlfriend, Goldie,” another gruffed with a shake of his head. 

“Fine, fine, go on ahead. Tch, when will I get my own smoking hot siren girl?” Goldie huffs, and you snort. Likely never, but you don't tell him that.  

“Thanks, I'll be back,” is all you say before rushing out of the door, nearly tipping over the plate before you balance it again. You wave them off and you make your way back to the docks. The walk is both short and long, and each step you take is filled with the excitement that buzzes through you. 

Even after these months, being able to spend time with her feels like bliss, like you have just found treasure. Sometimes, you forget she's a siren, she's ever so endearing and follows you around like a puppy. Oftentimes, when you're on the boat, you talk to her as she lingers by. The night after you first met the siren your crew had banned you from jumping into the waters because you had developed a cold which infected a good chunk of the crew; the cold wasn't severe for anyone but still. Since you can't be in the water, you often just talk to her from the railings and she answers. 

It's only when you're docked when you can finally touch her, but those times come rare. It can take days, sometimes weeks to reach an island to dock at, but when you do, you always take the time to sit by the shore. 

Finally, you arrive at the pier. “Arle?” You call out, and you see a ripple in the water. Grinning, you walk to the ends of one of the docks, setting down the plate a bit away from you. You remove your shoes and set them far away. Perching on the dock, your feet dip into the cold waters and you shiver.

You see something gleam in the corner of your eyes, the familiar shine of her scales. You then remember the food, and you start. “Wait, Arle don't splash–”

Too late. Something erupts from the waters and launches into you, a cold, heavy weight thrusting into your body making you tumble on your back on the dock. Pressed between the wooden planks and the creature that straddles you, you can't help but laugh and raise your hand up to her face, the now drenched food forgotten entirely. 

“Hey gorgeous,” you say as you stroke her cheek gently. She's the most beautiful treasure that you found among the seas. Arlecchino gazes down on you, her red pupils glistering as her arms wrap around your torso. She purrs, little fangs apparent as the tip of her tongue peeks out with her open-mouth smile. 

“Missed you,” is the first thing she says, before she leans her body against you, nuzzling her face into your neck. Your clothes get soaked from her, but you pay no mind. You stroke her wet hair, carding your fingers through her strands before kissing the top of her head. 

“I missed you too. Did you eat recently?” 

Sometimes she'd disappear for a few nights to search for another wandering ship for her meals but she never fails to find your ship again. You haven't seen her for a couple days before you docked her. 

Arlecchino nods. “Human food?” She questions. Her tail flicks, thumping against the wood out of eagerness. Although she enjoys the taste of cooked meats, beef especially, you don't believe it's as nutrition dense as… well, the main source of her diet, and it's hard to serve her cooked meat while on sea due to the issue of storing meat on ships. So, cooked meat has always been a treat for her. 

You nod. “You want to try?” 

She lets out an affirmative purr, and you help her sit upright in your lap. It's always a bit difficult considering she has a tail instead of legs, but she maneuvers her tail to encircle your waist, and you support her back with one of your arms. You silently mourn for your now soggy sandwich as you reach for the plate, using her tail as a flat surface. 

“What is it?” 

“Meat pie and a sandwich.” You take the fork and dig out the meat from the meat pie. Balancing the tender piece of beef on your utensil, you carefully guide it to her mouth. 

“Careful, it's hot. And don't bite the fork this time,” you gently warn her as she eats it. She squirms a bit in your lap, an indicator that she's pleased with the taste. 

“More?” You chuckle, adoring the cute plea in her eyes. 

You scrape out more of the meat until she's eaten all of the pie filling, leaving you to eat the pie crust. You're still peckish, so you start eating your sandwich, but not before fishing out the thick slice of ham from it, and giving it to her. If it meant you could watch the way her expression lights up again forever, then you would endlessly eat ham-less sandwiches and savor every cheese and vegetables sandwiched in between wet bread. 

“Did you like it?” You ask in between chews as she leans her head against your shoulder. She nods, and leans up again to place featherlight kisses on your neck. With the cold droplets of water and her frigid lips, it tickles you and you giggle. So adorable. 

You freeze up when you feel her fangs prick your skin and she looks up to you for permission. Another mating bite? You nod, wordlessly giving her permission, and you suck in a harsh breath as you feel her teeth sink in. Purrs vibrate coarse through her mouth as she pulls away, lapping at the mark and the texture of her tongue invokes a throaty groan from you, your body trembling with pleasure. 

Arlecchino leans away, but in her eyes, hunger burns in them. Her hands take purchase on your hips and she pushes your back against the planks. Her tail unwinds around your torso and instead coils around your ankles, securing them together.  

“H-here?” You question, flushing. Her hands wander lower, the sharp nails trailing lower to your thighs, where faint scratches scatter. 

The night that you first met her, she sang so beautifully for you. Tonight, you repay her back, singing out her name so tastefully. 

[bbrissonn]

in which y/n attends the ears tour in detroit with cole and luke

lemon au masterlist

y/nzegras

liked by colecaufield, avazegras and others

y/nzegras best night of my life 🪩🐍🧣(last pic is my live reaction of hearing haunted and i almost do as surprise songs)

also shootout to coley for being the best photographer out there, and to lukey for running to the bathroom to get my toilet paper cause i was crying too much 😗

tagged colecaufield

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colecaufield t swift >> hs

y/nzegras @/colecaufield okay woah now, comparing mother to father is something we do NOT do here short stuff

lhughes_06 why wasn't the fit changed included...?

y/nzegras @/lhughes_06 shhh that's for another post

trevorzegras @/y/nzegras outfit change...???

y/nzegras @/trevorzegras yuh, you would know if you were an actual swifty and came with us loser

colecaufield i can confirm the statement abt the last pic, my ears still hurt from the yelling

y/nzegras @/colecaufield :))

friendsusername can't believe you decided to go to the one in detroit instead of coming with us...

y/nzegras @/friendsusername sorry loves, but mr coley offered me free tickets, can't say no to that <33

trevorzegras @/y/nzegras 1. you're such a fake friend, ditching them like that 2. stop using my friends for their money

y/nzegras @/trevorzegras 1. i was on facetime with them so shush 2. cole offered them to me as an early birthday gift. ur friends like me more than you, stay mad whore 😌

colecaufield @/y/nzegras ur my fav zegras

y/nzegras @/colecaufield this is why ur my fav

jamie.drysdale @/y/nzegras what about me...?

y/nzegras @/jamie.drysdale ur my west coast boy :D

jackhughes why do i have 20 million friendship bracelets in my room with weird letters on them @/y/nzegras

y/nzegras @/jackhughes it's part of my plan to turn you into a swifty

jackhughes @/y/nzegras what on earth does ATWTMVTVFTV mean??

y/nzegras @/jackhughes it's a song duhhh look it up jacky

jackhughes @/y/nzegras ITS TEN MINUTES WTH

y/nzegras @/jackhughes consider it ur song of the day :)

jackhughes @/y/nzegras wait when you'd even go in my room...?

y/nzegras @/jackhughes i have connections, lots of help from the inside

jackhughes @/y/nzegras WAS IT LUKE??

y/nzegras @/jackhughes im not saying it's him, but im not saying it's not him either 😃

load more...

~

y/nzegras

liked by lhughes_06, _alexturcotte and others

y/nzegras twinningggggg

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trevorzegras this is the outfit change??

y/nzegras @/trevorzegras yuh

trevorzegras @/y/nzegras im a little dissapointed ngl

y/nzegras @/trevorzegras idc, go cry about it little baby

_alexturcotte @/y/nzegras i wanna be like you when im older

y/nzegras @/_alexturcotte purr as you should mr cactus 😽

_quinnhughes when'd the outfit change happen exactly...?

y/nzegras @/_quinnhughes i missed the end of cardigan to be ready for the 1989 set

trevorzegras @/y/nzegras isn't cardigan like one of your fav?

y/nzegras @/trevorzegras si, but i was sobbing and i only missed like the last minute of it

lhughes_06 security giving you a weird look when you explained why you had a whole other outfit with you was the best part of the night

colecaufield @/lhughes_06 "it's called an outfit change mister" -y/n zegras, 2023

y/nzegras @/colecaufield he obviously wasn't a swifty, i don't get why they hired him 🙄

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[kevingotabigasschin]

Be a woman in Jackie Chan Adventures, you're either:

Super cool character who's only in one episode and never talked about again (Amber, Vanessa Barone, even though she made a cameo in another episode but she wasn't as prominent so I don't count it, Portia Martindale, Miss Kimber, Sumo Girl etc etc.)

Prominent for a few episodes then slowly gets pushed more and more to the background and loses all character and purpose (Viper, Miss Hartman).

Get dumbed down to being nothing but a love interest to one of the main characters (once again Viper).

Can't be a grown woman (as much as I love Jade, Viper needed more focus and storyline).

Sexist stereotype (Tohru's mother).

Can't be a Dark Hand enforcer (I still have no idea why they never employed one, Viper needs someone to beef with like come on)

Butt of every fat joke (Po Kong)

Women were constantly getting robbed in that show, either they were overshadowed by the men, not focused on enough or just there for background noise.

I know this technically isn't a "girl's" show but come on, the show treated women like they were such an alien concept, I want more women outside of just Jade and Viper.

Like doesn't Viper have any female friends outside of the J-Team, who are they? What are they like? Do they know about her work?

Jackie had a female friends named Amber, she was only in one episode but she was still very interesting to me with the little time she had onscreen.

Like I want to know more about her, what is her and Jackie's relationship, how did they meet, what does she do outside of work?

I would've liked to see her pair up with the J-Team in an episode but nah f**king around with El Toro and El Toro's #1 d**krider is obviously more important.

Seriously, as much as they tried to make El Toro interesting him and Paco just came off as annoying and unnecessary.

The fact that both of them have more episodes than Viper put together is evident of blatant favoritism in the writing room.

Why didn't they ever give the Dark Hand a female enforcer? Was Valmont sexist or something?

If Shendu had a son then who's the mother? What happened to her? Where is she? And do the other demons have offspring too?

Why were there no female Oni generals?

What would a female Dark Chi warrior look like?

Give me something dammit.

[crystalninjaphoenix]

To Speak the Unspeakable

Fantasy Masks AU: Chapter Forty-One

A JSE Fanfic

This is a real doozy of a chapter guys XD A 9000-word whopper. I could have cut it in half, I guess, but I think it's more effective if it's all together. Anyway. Who's ready for Lore?! :D I am! :D I've been sitting on this twist since the start of the series! Alright alright alright. Summary time. The group finally reaches their destination in the Wyldwood. A strange circle where nothing grows. When they reach the center, they realize the true nature of the spirit possessing the King. And yeah! Excited! :D Enjoy reading, everyone!

Previous Part | | From the Start | More AU | Read on AO3: CrystalNinjaPhoenix

Taglist: @brokentimewatch

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

“We’re getting close.”

The group had been walking through the Wyldwood for most of the day when Marvin suddenly spoke up near noon. “Hmm?” Jackie glanced at him. “You recognize this area?”

“I do.” Marvin nodded. “It would be hard to forget it even if I wasn’t trying to remember every little detail.”

The trees nearby had dark blue leaves, their trunks being either white or brown so dark it was almost black. The long, thin grass was a similar, though lighter shade. Draco’s tail was sticking up from the grass as he trotted along. This was an incredibly amazing place, even by the Wyldwood standards. Henrik had stopped to pluck some of the leaves from the branches when they first entered it, and even now Chase was looking around, taking in the depths of the unnatural colors.

Another day longer, then? Jameson asked. You said that it was a week’s walk and this is our sixth day.

Marvin nodded. “Yes, exactly. One more night... and then we’ll be there.”

Chase took a deep breath. His stomach was twisting in knots, knowing how close they were to their destination. To... whatever he needed to see. “I hope...” He trailed off. “I don’t know. I just hope.”

“I think we all understand,” Jackie said quietly. The rest of the group nodded.

They walked for a while more, continuing in silence until the Wyldwood started to grow dim at night again. They were still in that blue-leaf section when they settled down for the night.

Then the next morning, they woke up, packed up their stuff, and started walking again. All in complete silence. It wasn’t clear if they were excited or nervous or just all feeling the pressure of what they would find now that their journey was drawing close.

They left the section with the blue leaves and came into a new section that was almost... normal. The flowers were glowing, of course, but other than that, it could have been the depths of any forest with a thick canopy. Draco looked irritated as he walked, his muscles tense, and Marvin mirrored him. He was nodding slowly.

The trees were starting to thin out for the first time since they entered the Wyldwood, when suddenly—

“Do you all hear a thumping noise or is it just me?” Henrik asked.

 The group paused, listening. There was, indeed, a thumping sound. It was fairly distant, but as they stood there silently, it started getting louder. It sounded like—“Is that a horse?” Chase asked, confused. “Why’s there a horse in the Wyldwood?”

“It’s probably not actually a horse,” Marvin said nervously. “Hurry! But be quiet.”

The group ran forward, going as fast as they could while not making noise. But within just a few seconds, there was something in the distance running at them. A black horse with a cape-wearing rider, galloping right at them! A blade flashed in the air—was that an axe?!

“Run!” Jackie shouted, drawing his swords. He shoved the nearest person—Henrik—forward with his shoulder.

The horse and rider were upon them! And there was something wrong with the rider. The shape of him was—too short? Not like the person themselves was short but—like they were missing something—something from the top—

“Dullahan!” Chase gasped. “Go go go!” He grabbed Jameson by the hand and pulled him along as he lagged behind. These creatures were deadly! He’d heard stories and they never ended well!

CLANG! The dullahan swiped with its axe as it passed by, aiming to lop off Jackie’s head. Jackie quickly raised one sword to defend himself, pushing the axe away, but in the process—“Holy flame!” Jackie gasped, looking down at his sword. The blade had been broken, the upper half of it now glinting in the grass. 

“W-what kind of axe can do that?!” Henrik stammered, looking back at Jackie.

“It had a lot of force behind it,” Jackie said, still shocked. But then his expression hardened and he looked up. “The dullahan is circling back around. It’s going to keep attacking. Keep running! Go! Don’t look back!”

“Come on!” Marvin shouted, already pulling ahead. “We’re so close!”

Chase ran after him, still pulling Jameson along. He caught a glimpse of Henrik running next to him before he started to lag and disappeared out of his eyesight. Marvin said they were close! And Chase knew they were on the edge of something! There were less and less trees around them, their trunks thinner than they used to be. But even so, the hoofbeats were approaching once again. Chase put all his effort into running, pulling ahead of Marvin, his pulse pounding in his neck—

And then he broke out into open air, right on the edge of a sudden drop.

Chase yelped. He wasn’t able to stop his movement in time, so he prepared to roll, ducking his head and protecting it with his arms. He fell to the ground, vision rattling with the impact, and immediately began tumbling down the steep incline. Rocks bit into his back and limbs as he rolled but he made sure to keep himself pulled in tight. Until the ground suddenly leveled out. His movement carried him a bit farther before he finally stopped. He unrolled slowly, groaning as his whole body ached, and looked up.

Jameson and Marvin had also fallen down here with him, their clothes and hair now covered in gray dirt. Marvin was grabbing his knee, hissing in pain, and Jameson stared up blankly at the sky as he lied on his back. Henrik was at the back, so he was able to learn from the mistakes of the others, but even so the slope was so steep that he was practically crawling backwards down it. He reached the bottom and immediately sat down, eyes going distant.

Draco jumped down from the top of the slope—making an incredible leap—and landed on his feet. He walked over to Marvin and looked up at him. Then after a moment started purring and rubbing against his side. Marvin patted him and took a shaky breath. “Is everyone alright?”

“I’m, uh... I’m going to have bruises and scrapes but nothing is broken,” Chase said.

Jameson pushed himself upright. The same, he said. The cloth on his sleeves had been scraped away over his elbows, revealing they got scraped up.

Henrik said nothing.

“Schneep?” Marvin looked at him. When there was no answer, he sighed. “I think Henrik’s untethered. B-but he managed to actually walk down the slope, so... he should be fine. My knee feels strange, I might’ve twisted it wrong. But I think I can still walk. Jackie?” Marvin looked around. “Where... where’s Jackie?”

Everyone immediately looked up the slope again. There was still the sound of hoofbeats, and then another CLANG!

“He—D-did he decide to hold it off?” Chase asked, stomach sinking. “H-he said to—to not look back.” He scrambled to his feet, limbs still aching from the impact of rolling. “D-dullahans are very dangerous! And that one cut his sword in half with its axe! We have to help!”

“No, we can’t all go!” Marvin also stood up, wincing. “Henrik’s untethered, someone needs to stay with him. You two stay here, I’ll get Jackie!”

Your knee, though! Jameson protested.

“Here, I’ll go,” Chase said.

Jameson looked at him. No, you continue forward. I’ll go get him.

“You’re still learning combat,” Marvin said. “My magic can help more.” As if to demonstrate, he leaned over and drew a magic doorway on the steep slope, tracing it with magic from an amulet. Then he leapt through the moment it was finished, leaving it to vanish once he’d disappeared to the other side.

Chase and Jameson looked at each other. “Well... I-I... guess we... trust them?” Chase stammered.

I suppose... Jameson said. He glanced around. I wouldn’t feel right leaving you and Henrik alone here. This place is... eerie.

Chase had been too distracted by the fall and the realization that Jackie was missing to properly look around. He did so now, scanning the environment they’d fallen into. There were no trees around. The sky above was unblocked by branches or anything else, but despite the lack of obstacles, the sunlight seemed... weaker here. Odd. Maybe it was just because of how colorless everything was. Everywhere Chase looked, all he saw were shades of dead gray and black.

They’d fallen down a slope that was about twice Chase’s height, covered in dark gray and black rocks. Around them was an empty, flat field of gray dirt, pebbles, and stone. Nothing was growing here. Not even stubborn weeds. The space was big enough for all of Hilltown to fit comfortably, but there was nothing in it... nothing except for something at the center. A building. The cabin that Marvin had described, surrounded by a ring of gray, dead-looking trees.

“You’re right... very eerie.” Chase shivered. “It feels like... something bad happened here.”

Jameson nodded in agreement. He reached down and helped Henrik to his feet. Henrik didn’t respond but allowed himself to be pulled up. Let’s hurry. I don’t want to spend more time than necessary here.

The two of them glanced back at the forest, back towards where Jackie and Marvin still were. Then they started walking. Draco didn’t come with them. He was too busy picking his way up the slope, going to meet up with Marvin.

The pebbles on the ground crunched beneath their feet. Chase and Jameson were silent as they walked, both their eyes constantly darting around for any signs of threats. After the cover of the Wyldwood, this open heath left them feeling exposed. Henrik didn’t say anything either, but that was to be expected when he was untethering. Jameson tried to gently shake him out of it, but when it didn’t work, he left him alone and continued to guide him along.

Slowly, they got closer to the circle of trees around the cabin, and as they did, Chase realized that something was wrong with them. Besides the gray color. They were... shiny. And... smooth. Were... were these trees... made of metal? But... why? And how? They were so intricate that he didn’t think they were sculptures. It was like... they’d grown out of the ground as metal.

...There was a figure leaning against one of these trees. A figure in green. The figure became clearer as they got closer, but never fully clear. Because after all, they could see through the figure to the tree and sky behind them. The figure raised his head—and Chase gasped.

Marvin had said they’d meet the ghost of King Samuel. He had been very clear on that. It was shocking, but Chase had gotten used to it by now.

But he hadn’t expected King Samuel to look exactly like the spirit.

His mind flashed to the last draísling he had, the one he had right before leaving to go to the Wyldwood. The spirit had shown itself there—as much as someone could “show themself” while in a dream, of course. Chase had seen how its features were slightly different from Jack’s. He’d thought that the spirit had chosen that form to make it clear that it was different from Jack, than the body it had been possessing for years. But... this couldn’t be a coincidence.

King Samuel bore a strong resemblance to Jack—which made sense, he was his ancestor. But why did the spirit look identical to Samuel?

...Chase was getting an idea. But... it didn’t make any sense. So... he couldn’t be right.

{It’s nice to meet you, Chase,} Samuel said, his voice echoing in Chase’s thoughts despite his mouth not moving. His green eyes looked to Jameson. {And Jameson Jairsolas, nice to meet you too.} Then to Henrik. {I think... you’re Henrik Schneeple, right?}

Henrik flinched slightly.

“Um... m-maybe don’t—maybe don’t make a voice in Henrik’s head?” Chase said, stammering slightly. “H-he—he doesn’t like... doesn’t like that.”

{Oh. I’m sorry, I didn’t—I’m sorry.} Samuel gave a small bow. 

Chase laughed nervously. A legendary king’s ghost was apologizing and bowing to him and his friends. This was more dreamlike than any draísling he’d had so far. “Um... it’s an honor to meet you, King Samuel.” He bowed deeply, and next to him he saw Jameson do the same.

{You can just call me Sam,} the ghost said, smiling. {Everyone did when I was alive. It’s only now that the legend has spread that everyone speaks of me with this... reverence. Though, I guess there was some legendary status while I was alive, too. Hard for there not to be when you set out to unite the island.}

“...I see,” Chase said slowly. This was... very strange. He didn’t even have words for it, that’s how strange it was. And judging by Jameson’s wide-eyed expression, he felt the same. “Well... I’m here now. I’m... supposed to learn something here, aren’t I?”

King Samuel—Sam nodded. {Did Marvin tell you that something unspeakable happened here?}

“He did... He said that nobody could speak of whatever happened here because there’s some... magic preventing it?”

{Good, he remembered what I told him. Yes, that’s true. The only way to figure out what happened here is to put the puzzle together yourself.} Sam stood up straight and folded his arms behind his back, looking around. {So... what do you see, Chase?}

Chase blinked. “I see... strange metal trees.” He reached out and lightly knocked on one with his knuckles, listening to the sound. “Solid metal trees. They look... they look like real trees, except that they’re metal.”

Sam nodded. {What else?}

“Well...” The only other thing of note was the cabin. It was small, clearly only one room. The walls were essentially logs stacked on top of each other, some of them still with small branches attached, giving the whole building a strange... thorny appearance. Even the roof was the same, branches and logs piled up to form a slope. And all of the logs that had formed the cabin... they were also metal. Similar to the trees, they looked natural, but they were gray and shiny. There were no windows, but there was a chimney on one side, made of stacked stones. The door was an empty square opening. Inside, it was dark. “Do I... need to go inside?” Chase asked nervously.

{If you want to know more,} Sam said. {It’s dark in there. Do you have a lantern?} He glanced around. {I’d have thought that Marvin would be able to light the way with you—though magic does work strangely in the heath.}

“Marvin and Jackie—o-our other friend, Jackie, they... they stayed back,” Chase explained. “Th-there was a dullahan, it attacked us—”

Sam’s eyes widened. {Oh no. I’ll go help them out.}

“Help them out? You’re a ghost.”

{That doesn’t mean I’m powerless.} Sam walked past the three of them, and Chase noticed his feet weren’t actually touching the ground. {You go explore on your own. I’ll answer any questions I’m able to when I get back.} He took a few steps away, then faded from view.

Chase stared at the spot where he vanished. Then he looked at Jameson and Henrik. Jameson looked shocked, still trying to understand that they’d just spoken with a ghost. Henrik’s eyes were still distant. “Well... into the creepy dark cabin, then?” Chase asked.

Jameson nodded. Of course. Hold on, there’s a lantern attached to my pack, I brought it just in case.

The two of them removed the lantern and lit the wick. Chase carried it in one hand and held onto Henrik with the other, since Jameson needed his hands to speak. The two of them peered into the doorway, and Chase took a deep breath. He stepped forward. Something crunched under his boots, and he looked down. It looked like some sort of woven cloth that had fallen down... woven from thick plants of some sort. Except for the fact that, judging by the crunch, it had also been transformed into something inorganic. Strange. Either way, it had once been hanging up in the doorway to block it off, but was now on the ground, where it had been transmuted.

The interior of the cabin was, just as Chase thought, only one room. The walls were undecorated, the bare logs that built the cabin still exposed here. In one corner there was a square that might’ve once been a mattress with blankets, but was now a lump of stonelike material. Around the edges of the room were... words? They looked like words scratched into the ground, concentric circles of them all surrounding some lump in the center of the cabin. But Chase couldn’t read them. He looked down, squinting at them. Maybe he just didn’t know these words? “Jameson, do you know what these are for?”

Jameson didn’t answer. He was staring at the center of the cabin.

“Jameson. Jair!” Chase nudged him. “What is it?”

He gasped and looked back over at Chase. Isn’t it... That’s a... He trailed off, looking back at the center.

Chase glanced at the lump. And... then he realized what it was. The lump was something partially hidden underneath a blanket. Unlike the cloth by the door and the blankets by the mattress, the blanket in the center was still flexible, though it seemed to be covered in gray dirt and dust. Beneath the blanket... was a familiar shape.

“...a person,” Chase whispered. “No... a body.” Because the person’s chest wasn’t moving. Of course it wasn’t. With how much dust was on the blanket, there was a clear way that the body hadn’t moved for a long time.

Jameson shuddered. I think this is a good time to use that potion Henrik decided to give you.

“Right. The... shialeora. That’s... that’s in my bag. Hold on a moment.” Chase slowly set the lantern on the ground and let go of Henrik’s hand, taking his bag off and rummaging through it. The whole time, he stared at the body in the center of the cabin.

It took him a while to find the bottle Henrik had given him. It had sunk to the bottom of his pack over the journey, and he really didn’t want to look away from the body even to find it. Luckily, the bottle was a distinct square shape so it was easy to find by touch. He quickly pulled it out, looking at the liquid inside. The leaves or petals were still suspended inside, unchanged. 

What did Henrik say it would do, again? Jameson asked. He looked at Henrik, then reached out and shook him slightly, but Henrik still didn’t react.

“I think I remember,” Chase said. “This shialeora potion is supposed to... sharpen my senses. And speed up my thoughts?” He hesitated. “But I can only use it once... And Henrik didn’t mention how long it will last...” He looked at Henrik. “Do you think we should... try harder to bring him back? No, no. He said he didn’t want us to do that. So... maybe we wait?”

Jameson nodded slowly. I suppose we can, for a bit. We should wait for Jackie and Marvin, too.

Chase tucked the potion into his belt. “In the meantime... what do you think this writing is?”

I’m not sure. Jameson stared at the markings on the ground. I don’t think these are words. Maybe it’s another language? Or... maybe it’s an old version of our language. Words change over time, you know.

“Hm... And what do you think it’s for?”

Clearly nothing good, Jameson said. But I think it has to be some sort of witchcraft ritual, doesn’t it? Something... involving the body...

The two of them fell quiet for a while, not wanting to move, not wanting to get closer to the body in the center of the room. But eventually, they heard a sound. Footsteps approaching. They quickly spun around to look—and Jameson gasped and ran forward. Jackie and Marvin were alright! There was a tear in Marvin’s shirt and Jackie was missing his swords, but other than that, they were alright! Jameson rushed forward and wrapped his arms around Marvin in a tight hug. Chase was quick behind to do the same to Jackie. “Whoa!” Jackie laughed. “You missed us? We weren’t gone for that long!”

“You were gone fighting a dullahan!” Chase said, pulling away. “Do you know what that thing can do to you?! There’s a reason they’re omens of death!”

“Well, I just thought that was because they showed up in graveyards,” Jackie said awkwardly. “And, uh... had no head. I didn’t realize the fight would be so... difficult.”

“It sliced your sword in half! Your sword!”

“I just... wanted to make sure the rest of you made it,” Jackie said quietly.

Chase sighed. He leaned in and squeezed Jackie in another short hug. “Thank you. But don’t do that again.”

“So... this place is... odd,” Marvin said, looking at the metal trees.

Jameson, having pulled away from the hug, nodded. Wait until you see what’s inside the cabin. And it looks like Draco doesn’t like this place. He pointed at Draco; the cat’s fur was standing up along his back, tail puffed and raised straight in the air.

“I think... I think something’s different here.” Marvin pulled out his focus. The amulet had been constantly glowing the whole time they were in the Wyldwood. But now it was dark again. “The magic of the world feels... distant. Where’s Henrik?”

“Inside,” Chase said. “Come on.”

They went back into the cabin. Henrik noticed Jackie and Marvin, eyes focusing on them for a moment before drifting away again. Jackie quickly walked to his side, gently grabbing his hand and squeezing it. Marvin stared at the interior of the cabin and quickly noticed the body. “What the fuck?!”

“I-I was going to use the shialeora potion Henrik gave me to find out more about this,” Chase swiftly said. “To find out... why that’s here.”

Jackie stared at the body. His hand went to his hip, but there was no sword there. “I don’t like this place. But... I think this is what the shialeora is meant for. This is where you’re supposed to use it.”

Chase nodded and took it out, unstoppering it but still hesitating. “Do you know how long it’s supposed to last?”

“No, sorry,” Jackie said. “I don’t think Schneep ever said that. Right?” He looked at Henrik, but received no response.

A figure formed in the doorway. The ghost of King Sam, lingering on the threshold but not stepping inside. {A shialeora will be perfect for here,} he said. {Go on.}

Chase jumped in surprise a bit as Sam appeared, but quickly recovered. He looked at the potion bottle and steeled his resolve. “Bottoms up,” he said, then tilted back the potion and tried to drink it all in one gulp.

The liquid was viscous. Not quite a syrup, but clearly not just water. It would have been hard to swallow down if it didn’t taste surprisingly sweet. Chase closed his eyes, focusing on drinking as quickly as possible. His throat tickled as the leaves brushed against the inside, but he kept going until there was nothing left. Then he lowered the bottle, straightened, and looked around.

The cabin was dark. But as he stared, he heard a rushing sound in his ears, and the room seemed to get... brighter? No, it wasn’t actually getting brighter. His eyes were just adjusting to the dimness until he could see as clear as day in here. He could hear some thumping noises—heartbeats?! Everyone’s heartbeats?! And their breathing, too. Those were the only sounds in the nearby area. Chase could smell the dust and metal all around them as strongly as if he put his nose right up to them. And his clothes were rough against his skin, his belts and packs heavy on his body. This all should have been overwhelming, but somehow, it wasn’t.

“Whoa,” Jackie said. “Your eyes... They’re really—”

“Wide?” Chase interrupted.

“Well, yeah.”

“Of course they are, your pupils widen in the dark, that makes sense. I think it’s to take everything in.” Chase looked around the cabin. His eyes were immediately drawn to the floor. Not just to the writing, but to the rocks. They weren’t actually rocks. He walked over to the nearest one and bent over to pick it up. This had been some sort of plant once. A fruit, maybe, though not one Chase had ever seen before. These not-rocks were piled up around the edge of the cabin, and Chase quickly circled around to examine them. All of them had been plants of some sort. “Marvin? Can wizardry change one thing to another thing? I mean—change the material it’s made out of?”

“Um... I don’t think so,” Marvin said, looking around.

“Could sorcery do it?”

“Maybe? But I’ve never heard of such a thing.”

Chase’s mind leaped to something else. He was suddenly remembering the huge doorway that opened up while he, Jameson, and Marvin were in the town of Miryfern. The one that let Thalia and all the soldiers suddenly travel to Wyvernlair. Marvin had reacted similarly to that, saying it seemed impossible.

And then he remembered something else, too. At Marvin’s execution. The perfectly placed lightning bolts that had destroyed the house he was hiding in, as well as the houses the other archers were in as well. That hadn’t been natural. And that huge doorway had been created by lightning.

“There are... impossible acts of magic here,” Chase said slowly, trying to put words to his rushing thoughts. “This circle of words, the metal and stone plants, the lightning, the possession—it’s connected. The spirit—it’s magic.”

Well, all spirits are magic, Jameson said.

“Unnatural magic. The spirit also looks like Sam,” Chase added, pointing at Sam’s ghost. 

“It does?” Jackie was clearly confused.

“It showed itself in some form in the last dream I had,” Chase said. “And that form looked like Sam. That’s not a coincidence. It can’t be.”

Marvin frowned. He looked over at Sam. “Is that... important?”

Sam pursed his lips. {It’s important,} he said slowly. {You have an idea, Chase, don’t you?}

“I... I do, but... I’m not sure how it could be possible,” Chase said. His eyes drifted to the blanket-covered body in the center of the room. There was no use putting it off, was there? He took a deep breath and walked towards it, carefully stepping over the words scratched into the earth floor.

The blanket did not fully hide the body. As Chase circled around it, he saw one hand extending from underneath. One hand that he expected to be just bone, but which instead looked like the person had been dead no more than half a day. Its fingers were still curled around a weapon. A seax. Beneath the gray dust, its copper blade was stained red.

Part of the person’s head was also exposed, hair poking out from under the blanket. Brown hair. But that... didn’t mean anything. Brown hair was the most common shade in Glasúil. Still, Chase was getting a sinking feeling. He crouched down and reached out. It felt like ages before his hand met the edge of the dust-covered blanket. He heard the others all cluster closer together, heard his own heartbeat pounding faster, but he couldn’t stop now. He lifted up the blanket and pulled it away from the body’s face.

A face with bright green eyes.

A face identical to the face of King Samuel’s ghost.

Chase stared at it. This man was clearly dead. But even though he must have been dead for hundreds of years, the body was not decayed. Everything was perfectly preserved. Those bright green eyes stared up at nothing. Chase’s thoughts whirled as he put the pieces together, but he forced himself to keep looking at the corpse for a bit longer. 

The cause of death was clear. The man’s throat was slit. Dried blood trickled down the neck to the ground, but surprisingly, there was not a pool of dried blood beneath him. Had the blood been absorbed directly into the ground? Like water into dry earth? 

The man’s other hand was near the edge of the blanket. Like the last thing he’d done had been to pull the blanket over his head.

Jackie edged forward. He inhaled sharply. “S-Samuel? Is this... you?”

“What?” Marvin also walked over, and Jameson and Henrik followed close behind. “Wait—what?!”

Jameson gasped. Is this what happened to our first King?

“No, that’s impossible!” Marvin insisted. “There are records of King Samuel living a long life! This body—it’s barely thirty, if that. And they say King Samuel is buried in Suilthair...” He shook his head. “I don’t understand.”

“...I think I do,” Chase whispered. “Or... I have an idea.” He looked over at Sam, still hovering by the threshold of the cabin. 

“What is it?” Jackie asked. “There can’t be any explanation for this!”

“They were twins,” Chase said softly.

The other four all stared at him. Even Henrik stared, latching onto the statement as he started to come out of his untethered state. But over in the doorway, Sam smiled proudly... and a bit sadly.

That... doesn’t make sense, Jameson signed shakily. The stories have never said anything about King Sam having a brother.

“They wouldn’t... if the brother was unspeakable,” Chase said. “If this strange magic that Sam’s told us about prevented anyone from speaking about him.” He paused, looking at Sam, who just made a ‘keep going’ gesture. “I think something very bad happened here.” Chase looked back down at the body. “Look, this man is holding a bloody seax. His throat’s been cut. The body is surrounded by witchcraft and unnatural metal and stone plants, in the middle of a blasted heath, a place where Marvin said that the magic was farther away despite us being in the Wyldwood, the most magical place in the kingdom.”

“Whoa, slow down, Chase, remember to breathe,” Jackie said.

“The man... did it himself,” Henrik whispered. “And it... caused everything to die? Or... change?”

“That’s what I think.” Chase nodded.

“But—but—” Marvin stammered. “What happened?!”

“I don’t know! No, wait, I think I do.” Chase hit the side of his head. His thoughts were moving so fast. “King Sam’s brother—I think he became the possessive spirit. Jack’s eyes were blue, but now they’re royal green, just like this body—just like the man’s eyes would’ve been while he was alive.”

“You can’t just become a spiolash!” Marvin shouted. “That’s not—that’s not natural!”

“Well none of this is fucking natural, is it?!” Chase snapped. “Also—that spirit has powers that normal spiolash do not! Remember, the lightning?”

“Ah... that is the name for possessing spirits, yes?” Henrik asked, still mildly confused from missing some things.

“Spiolash? Yes, sorry. We don’t use it often, remember?” Chase shook his head. “In any case... I think this is what happened. King Sam had a brother. He killed himself as some sort of ritual to become a spirit. That spirit is now possessing Jack. But... the only thing I don’t understand is why.”

“Does it matter why?!” Marvin’s face slowly dawned with horror as he began to accept the truth Chase had discovered. “This man—he’s the cause of all the suffering in the kingdom! The reason we’ve been fighting for years! He’s using the King’s enchanter powers to control people.”

“And he might be planning something more,” Jackie muttered. “There are rumors that he’s trying to build a navy.”

Marvin trembled. Not with fear. With rage. He clutched his focus in a white-knuckled grip. Light flickered around it, but steadily grew as Marvin forcibly drew more magic forward. He pulled the light away and raised his hands as the light transformed into bright blue flames—and then he threw the fire at the body. Chase quickly leapt away as the blue flames grew brighter, consuming the blanket and the body... but then it faded away. The edges of the blanket were a bit charred, but other than that, everything was undamaged. Marvin stumbled back, shocked and confused.

{It’s hard for things to change in this circle,} King Sam says. {And the magic of the world shies away from it.}

Jameson shook his head, at a loss. What happened here? What was so horrible that fire wouldn’t dare to burn?

And then, Chase heard noises outside. Faint, distant. Definitely too quiet for him to hear normally, but with the shialeora potion still affecting him, he not only heard it, but was instantly able to identify the sound. Cloven hooves stepping on the rocky ground.

Chase immediately spun around and ran outside, passing by King Sam as he did—maybe partially passing through the ghost as well. But he didn’t stop. “Chase?!” Jackie gasped, but he didn’t turn to look or stop at all.

There was something in the distance, something getting close. Chase ran towards it, and he heard the others running behind him as well. They got closer to each other, until Chase could make out the details of the form. He knew who it was immediately. He skidded to a halt, and the others did too. He heard someone inhale sharply.

A deer was walking towards them. A tall deer, its fur dark, and its antlers gilded, reflecting the sunlight. Everywhere its hooves landed, small green plants sprouted, struggling up from the rocky ground. But only a few steps later, the stone curse of this heath would consume the new plants, turning them gray as well. “E-Elder!” Jackie gasped. He fell to his knees, and Jameson knelt down as well, but Henrik and Marvin stayed standing, though they were still shocked.

“You’re... here...” Chase breathed. “A-are you... are you here to help?”

The deer—the Elder tilted their head to the side.

<Curiosity. A request.>

Chase inhaled sharply. That feeling—that’s what it was, a feeling. Not a voice, not spoken out loud or in his head, it was an emotion that he felt, but knew came from elsewhere. The Elder was asking him something. Asking if... they could... do something? “Y-yes. Of course.” Chase nodded. “G-go ahead.”

The Elder stepped forward. Their head lowered towards his. Chase felt the urge to back away. Not because he was threatened—well, the antlers were pointed, that made him a bit wary—but because it was too much. Like staring into a bright light. Still, he held his ground. The Elder’s snout tapped against the center of his forehead.

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

Two young men were sparring on a small beach. They were dressed almost identically, in loose tunics with narrow sleeves, beneath dark leather armor. Behind them, there were buildings in the distance, closer to the center of the island. Because yes, this was an island, out in the middle of the Emerald Lake. The buildings were small, made of mud brick and light wood.

They fought over and over again, one with a sword, another with a seax, several bouts. Each one ended quickly, as the two young men were really familiar with each other’s moves by now. After all, they’d been sparring with each other for years now.  The one with the seax was better, though, winning most of the matches. Until the other one narrowed his eyes in concentration—and the knife wielder suddenly dropped his blade.

“Ha!” The swordsman pointed the blade at the other.

“Hey, no fair, Sam!” the knife wielder said, laughing. “Improper use of magic!”

The swordsman—Sam sheathed his weapon. “Well I need to practice using it as well. I thought it would even the odds. And if anyone would understand that, it would be my own brother, wouldn’t it?”

Sam’s brother bent over and picked up his seax. “That’s true, that’s true.” He spun it, then also sheathed it. “Part of me says it’s not honorable to enchant someone in the middle of a bout, but a greater part of me says to do what you can. Especially if this was really a life or death battle.”

“Yes, that’s a good point. Well. Let’s get some supper, why don’t we?”

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

“You are challenging me?”

It was another day. Sam and his brother stood in the middle of town, on a square paved with mud bricks. Surrounding them was a group of people—familiar people, people they had grown up with. And before Sam, looking at him with a mix of amusement and shock, is an older man: the clan chief.

“Yes,” Sam said calmly. His green eyes glinted in the light from the high sun.

The chief looked at the others around. “Do you all hear that? The older faeborn thinks he could run the clan better than me!” Some of the onlookers chuckled, but most seemed curious, interested. “Very well, boy. I assume your brother will speak for you once the duel is done?”

“Yes,” Sam said. But there was a barely-perceptible tensing in his muscles. Duels like this ended with one participant at the other’s mercy. If the chief so chose, he would be well within his rights to kill Sam. And the chief had just implied he would be doing that if he won. There would be no room for error. He was risking his life.

His brother reached out, gently taking his hand and squeezing it supportively. He nodded, showing his belief in him. Sam took a deep breath.

“When will you be doing this, then, boy?” the chief asked.

“Immediately,” Sam said, and the onlookers stirred as the chief’s eyes widened. “Unless, of course, you need time to prepare against me.”

The chief’s eyes narrowed again. “I need no time.” He drew his sword. The onlookers and Sam’s brother backed away, leaving the two of them in a circle of empty space. “No mind tricks in a duel, boy. The others will know.”

Sam nodded as he drew his sword. He would be honorable. The two of them stared at each other, then at once, lunged forward—

But the outcome didn’t need to be shared. It had already been recorded in history. 

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

Another day, another time of year. Sam and his brother were surrounded by trees, their leaves orange and red with autumn. They were not alone in the forest. Sam sat on one side of a crude table, made by balancing a stone slab on four stone bricks. On the other side of the table—another clan’s chief, as well as her various advisors and attendants. There was only Sam’s brother on his side of the table, standing next to him with one hand on the seax blade at his belt.

“And why would we agree to such an alliance?” the chief asked. “It sounds to me as though you want to set yourself up as some sort of leader.”

Sam shook his head. His hair had grown longer in the time that had passed. “On the contrary, I don’t want to be a leader,” he said. “But I don’t believe the separation of the clans helps any of us. We are more similar than we are different, and it does no good to have so many skirmishes on such a small island. Of course, those differences are still there. Which is why you will still be there to lead your people. You know them better than I ever could. I only ask that we cooperate with each other. We could trade goods. For example, here in the mountains you are known for your witchcraft talismans. Our island can provide you with fish or animal pelts that you couldn’t get up here.”

The chief tilted her head, interested, but one of the advisors stepped up. “Remember, this man has the magic of the mind,” he whispered. “He could be making you in favor.”

“I can hear your whispers,” Sam said. “And I promise, there is no magic at work here. I am coming to you with—”

Suddenly, something moved  in the trees. Sam’s brother dove at him, knocking him to the side as an arrow embedded itself in the ground right where he’d been sitting. The chief shot to her feet and the advisors shouted in surprise, but Sam’s brother moved quickly, leaping to his feet and throwing a blade through the air towards the movement.

Thunk! A person fell out of the tree, painfully getting to their feet. “Death to the mind magicker!” they shouted, reaching into a quiver for another arrow.

Sam’s brother ran forward, moving incredibly quickly, forcing the assassin to drop the bow and draw a knife. The blades clashed one, two, three times—and then the assassin fell, leaving Sam’s brother still standing, breathing heavily. He spun around and quickly ran back over, helping Sam up. “Are you unhurt?” he asked.

Sam nodded. “Thank you,” he breathed.

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

The two brothers walked through a field, packs of supplies on their backs, leather armor over their clothes. The sun was setting, but they had to keep walking if they were to reach their destination at the promised time. Or... did they? “We need to rest,” Sam said quietly. “It’ll be no use if we arrive there too tired to stand.”

His brother’s eyes darted around, taking in the details around them. “Sam,” he said. “I was... wondering something.”

“Yes?”

“You... you have your magic. It’s strong magic, very strong magic. But you... rarely use it.”

“What do you mean?” Sam looked at him. “I use my magic all the time. I’m using it right now, expanding my senses to make sure that there are no human minds approaching.”

“That’s not what I—” His brother shook his head, sighing. “You... you wanted to do great things with your magic. And I agree, uniting the clans is a great thing. But... you don’t really use your magic to do it.”

Sam’s eyes narrowed. “What are you saying?”

“I’m saying... would it not be easier if you made them listen to you?” His brother suggested. “With your power—you could do that. They would listen, they would do as you say, and they would be happy about it.”

Sam stopped walking. “That’s not... that’s not...” He paused, trying to find a way to put his thoughts into word. “Yes, I could do that, in theory. But I won’t. For several reasons. Doing something like that would make me feel... make me feel like I am as tricky as they say. And I do not want that.”

“They will say it anyway,” his brother whispered.

“Perhaps that will change with time. And also, making them do what I want is not my goal. Not really. It’s not true unity, if it’s forced.”

“Why not? The results are the same, aren’t they? We could do great things. I thought that’s what you wanted.”

Sam shook his head. “I don’t want to speak about this. Not right now. Let’s focus our energy on finding a place to stop for the night.”

His brother dropped the conversation, but as they continued to walk, he stared at Sam’s back with narrowed eyes. The seed of a bitter flower began to take root in his mind.

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

“Is this true?!” Sam pushed open the tent flap, heading into the round tent without so much as a greeting.

His brother looked up from where he was sitting sharpening his seax. “Is what true?”

“This.” Sam threw something down on the ground. A bit of animal skin, writing dyed onto its surface. “You sent a threat to the people of the Fíornear clan before our arrival.”

“What? I’m hurt, Sam.” His brother stood. “You don’t even know that this is my handwriting. And my choice of weapon is not the bow and arrow.”

Sam narrowed his eyes. “I didn’t mention that the message was tied around the shaft of an arrow. Are you... even trying to hide it at all?”

“Samuel,” his brother said. “Let me speak plainly. The Fíornear clan is the most powerful one we’ll face. They need to know that we are powerful as well, or else they won’t listen to us at all.”

“And you think that leading five other clans isn’t a sign of power? You think it’s a better sign of strength to challenge them? I was going to negotiate! You know my approach by now, that is always how I start this. We only challenge them if negotiations fail. But you—you go behind my back to—you go behind my back?!” Sam shook his head, stunned. Betrayed.

“They were not going to listen to negotiations,” his brother said stubbornly. “I was saving us the time.” His green eyes lit up with excitement. “If you’re so opposed to it, I could go in your stead. We do look the same, after all.”

“No.” Sam shook his head. “I have to do this myself.” He stared at his brother, unsure what to say in his anger. Then he spun around, cape flying, and stormed out.

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

They were on the beach again. Time had passed. Their beards were longer, and Sam’s hair had grown to chin length. But they still looked so much the same in their green capes. Behind them, the buildings of the village were being built up, made of stone now. A tower was beginning to pierce the sky. A palace.

“Can you believe this is where it started?” Sam asked, looking up into the clear sky. “Us sparring on this stretch of sand for so long, telling each other we’d do incredible things? And now... now look where we are. The Green-Eyed twins, Kings of the Island.” He laughed. “It’s hard to believe.” Then he looked at his brother. “But things worked out, didn’t they?” He couldn’t keep the last two words from being pointed. 

His brother stared at the lake waters. “Samuel,” he said quietly. “I was wondering something. You know of the lands beyond the island.”

“Of course I do. The Trábh i Dte clan spoke highly of their visitors and their boats.”

“What if we united them under us as well?”

Sam looked away from the sky, staring at his brother in shock. “You mean... leave the island?”

“We have done great things already,” his brother said steadily. “But you know we could be greater. If we could do this, what else could we do? Of course, they won’t speak the same language off there, so we must make them listen to us through means other than words.”

“You... want to...” Invade. Sam couldn’t say it out loud. “Have your senses taken leave of you?! No!”

“What do you mean ‘no’?!” His brother asked. “With our power—”

“No! I do not want to unite the lands outside the island. The clans here are similar to each other, but outside—outside they have their own ways of doing things. They wouldn’t be happy with us trying to make everyone like this island. We need to leave them be. Perhaps in the future we could come to some trade arrangements, but—”

“You could make them be happy with us,” his brother interrupted.

Sam put a hand on the sword dangling from his belt. “I don’t want to see you right now. Go.”

“But—”

“Go!”

His brother’s face twisted, and he stormed off.

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

There were cliffs at the south of the island. Sam remembered them well. They’d made camp here once while on their journey around the island. But now, there was trouble gathering here.

...or so he thought. He and his brother had traveled here, along with a small group of warriors, but they found nothing. And yet, one of their messengers had delivered a strange report.

Perhaps it was magic. Sam told the warriors to camp far away, out of the range of his magical sense for minds. They were also far, far out of earshot. And too distant to be seen.

“Sam?” His brother called, peering over the edge of the cliffs. “I see something down there! Come, tell me if that’s a person.”

Sam hurried to join him. He leaned over the edge—

And in an instant, he caught a glimpse of his brother’s thoughts and intentions.

Quickly, Sam leapt back, avoiding the flash of movement as his brother lunged at him. His brother recovered, hurrying away from the edge of the cliffs, and drew his seax. “Aneirin!” he gasped. “You would betray me?!”

His brother, Aneirin, said nothing and swiped at him with the blade. But Sam drew his sword to block the strike. They dueled on the edge of the cliff, dancing closer and drawing away. Aneirin was still the superior fighter, but Sam knew that he couldn’t hold back his magic any more. He tried every mind trick in the book, distracting his brother, trying to make him drop the blade, and gradually, their fight moved away from the edge.

“Tell me why!” Sam demanded, putting some magic behind the command.

“You’re wasting your power!” Aneirin shouted. “You could be so much more! But you’ve squandered your strength away, and now you are weak. But I’m stronger.”

“So you push me off and take my place?!”

“We look the same, don’t we?!”

“What of the message of discontent? Of people gathering at the cliffs who are not happy with our reign?”

Aneirin laughed. “Not untrue, is it? I am at the cliffs now, and I am very discontent. You have no idea how much I had to threaten that messenger’s partner to get her to deliver that false message to you.”

Anger surged in Sam’s heart. They fought fiercely, sword swinging wildly as his magic dug into Aneirin’s mind, trying to make him surrender. Against all odds, he still did not want to kill this brother who’d betrayed him.

Their fight reached the edge of the forest, and Aneirin began to lose ground rapidly. Sam sliced through the armor on his arm, and then the armor on his legs, and then the leather covering his chest, leaving long bleeding scratches behind. Aneirin’s eyes widened with fear. His energy was draining. Sam wanted to push him down, to make him collapse. But he would not surrender. Instead of continuing to fight, he used the last of his energy to turn and run.

Sam pursued, but Aneirin lost him. So he was forced to return to his camp. He had a duty to his new kingdom, he couldn’t run into the forest... or into the Wyldwood beyond.

When he returned, he let the whole kingdom know of what his brother had done.

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

Aneirin wandered through the forest and into the Wyldwood beyond. There was great danger here. Creatures and living plants that attacked him. But he fought. He grew strong, learning and living off the land. Several times, though, he came close to death. And every time, he gritted his teeth and forced himself to hang on. He would not let Sam win. He would not let his legacy be Sam’s weakness.

But time would claim everyone eventually. Even the trees of the Wyldwood fell on occasion.

No. No no no, he would not die out here. Not unknown, not scorned, not without the position he deserved.

And so, a thought came to him. Magic was plentiful in the Wyldwood. There were fruits that healed wounds, and creatures that lived for many hundreds of years. Magic could keep one alive.

He began to plan. He tried several things, using plants and small animals for things he didn’t want to test on himself. A body would always fail eventually. But what if there was no body? Spirits were said to roam the land. How long could these spirits live? Forever, maybe? But spirits couldn’t do much on their own. He needed form. He needed magic. He needed a perfect vessel, and he needed to last long enough until one came along.

As he delved deeper into this darkness, the plants around his makeshift home began to wither. More creatures tried to attack him, but others ran at the sight of him. The roots of the Wyldwood seemed to rise up and trip him wherever he went.

But he would not be denied.

He would not be denied.

Until, finally, it was time to leave this body behind for his new form.

Aneirin clutched his seax in his hand, staring up at the ceiling of the cabin, glaring as the bitter flower consumed him.

And...

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

Chase gasped and fell to his knees. What had that been? Visions? Knowledge? He’d felt as though he’d been there, as though he’d seen it all.

“Chase?!” Henrik called.

Jameson and Jackie hurried over, helping him to his feet again. Chase waved them away. “I’m fine,” he breathed. “I’m fine.”

The Elder looked at him, their black eyes reflecting his face.

“I... I understand,” Chase said. “The spirit... Aneirin. He did something that defied nature. And you Elders, you’re the guardians of the natural world. That’s why you’ve been involved in trying to stop him.”

“Aneirin?” Marvin asked. “That’s the spirit’s true name?”

Chase nodded. His eyes were still locked on the Elder. “But... What I don’t understand is... W-why me?” He whispered those last words, swallowing a lump in his throat. “I’m a normal man. Any one of these four would be better suited to defeating the spirit, I’m sure. So... why?”

The Elder bowed their head. <Compassion. To reach out to a stranger.>

“H-huh?” Chase blinked. “I... I still don’t... H-how is that... going to help?”

<Reassurance. Belief in your strength.>

“You... trust me?” Chase’s eyes welled with tears. He didn’t know why. “I... I-I... Th-thank you. I... I won’t let you down.”

<Warning. Time is of the essence.>

<Reassurance. Belief in your strength.>

<Hope.>

And then, between one second and the next, the Elder was gone. In their place on the ground was Chase’s Phantom mask. He blinked, confused, then reached up. He’d been wearing it pushed back on his forehead the whole time, but now it was gone. On the ground. So he bent down to pick it up again.

...Something was slightly different. There were markings on it now. Little yellow circles in lines along the left and right edges, and the nose and inside of the ears were filled in with orange. And the antlers... as he tilted the mask back and forth, they glinted, faint golden sparkles catching the sunlight.

Chase looked at the other four. They stared back at him. All of them were speechless.

“What... just happened?” Jackie asked weakly.

“Let’s... let’s get out of this circle of dead earth,” Chase said. “Then I’ll tell you everything I saw.”

[blindrapture]

SUNDAY JULY 24TH, 2011 (Sanctuary Francisco)

8:42 AM groggy. "You're awake. Good." hi Donnie. :) "Hi. Wow, you really are quick with that thing." what? oh, the journal. I've been doing it for two months now. Kinda got a good system going. "Cody wonders if it's a good idea." Does he, now? "I told him it's part of the package. I think it helps you stay aware in the rabbit holes." Part of the package. So you guys have been talking about me. "He's... ugh. He's so paranoid. I think I dodged a bullet with him." What else is he saying? "He doesn't like new people. He says he's alright with me, because he 'knows' me. But he doesn't know what to think about you. I think you should talk to him today. Spend time with him." I mean. I can... but how long are we planning on staying here? I want to search for Bones. "Well, help him out, maybe he can help you in return. I want to stay here for a little longer." Heaven has that plan, doesn't she? Apparently we'll be hearing about it in a few days. We could stay to find out what it is, at least. "A few days? Sure. That works." Okay. You going out? "I'm going to have a look around the area, now that it's daytime. You go find Cody, okay?" kiss "Love you." I love you too. :D

9:50 AM ...FUCK I FELL BACK ASLEEP okay okay, I'm getting dressed. Hat, coat, scarf, pants, velcro shoes. San Fran, here we go, baby!!!

9:51 AM Tiger's here. Cody's eating cereal. Morning! tiger waved. What's. What's going on? "Winston's missing. I came around to get a search going." cody "I'm on it. Gotta eat first." Can I come?

10:03 AM Walking in a pack!!! cody "Do you really expect to do much with a piece of plastic?" tiger "Oh, you should have seen him last night. He took a zombie's head clean with it. It was swag." You can doubt Tiger Stripes all you want, but this thing came from the sky. It's built to last. cody "The sky?" Yeah, on the first day of all this. I took my guitar controller out and lost it pretty quickly, and then that night, this thing fell from the sky. "Sounds like a lot of horseshit to me." Have you. Have you seen what's happening? "I've seen plenty enough. The walking dead. A dog that takes people's skin. Moving shadows. Those damned sirens…" Sirens? "They looked like speakers on legs, but they were tall enough to be tripods from Mars." "Like in that movie." "I saw them towering over Lincoln before I made the decision to come to California." That sounds like Legsteps. You saw them in... Lincoln? "Nebraska." On Earth. Huh. "You've never seen them on Earth?" Only ever in Xanadu. The, uh, the other world. "Oh yeah. Donnie tells me you guys have spent a lot of time over there." Is that weird? "...a lot about you is weird, kid. That one maybe more than most." But. But it's another world, accessible just by walking through a door. What's not to be curious about? "It's a danger. Bad things are coming out of there. We don't know how it works. We don't know for sure how to come back out." They're. They're doors. You just.. walk back out. "Do you ever wonder if maybe you got lost in there long ago, and this thing that's come back out isn't even you?" Well, then I'd be the one talking to you right now, so, no, I wouldn't really wonder about that. tiger "I like him, Cody. He's seen things." cody "We're not here to like people. We're here to stay alive." looking at me. "If you can protect people and keep them alive, then you're alright." But you're still unsure? "I think being unsure is the right move in all this." Alright, I can respect that.

10:07 AM Met up with Jackie, Tiger's friend. She's helping look for Winston. She says he was last seen in John McLaren park. That's where we're going now.

10:25 AM At the park. Cody's putting a backpack on the ground. Looking at the rest of us. "Alright, McLaren's not a small place, so we're going to need to split up, cover more ground. I'm pretty sure Jordan is the second-oldest, so he and I can take separate groups. Jackie, Tiger, you.. pick who you're going with. Jordan, you go north" pointing "and loop around the paths up there. It'll take you some time, but I'm giving you the easier task, as you're new here. I'll go south, where most of the land is off the trail. I'll head to the soccer fields first, then cut back and hit Visitacion, then head back here to meet up. I put that at about... 2, 2:30. Understood?" Understood! "I'm actually glad you wrote this one down. Alright, if you find Winston, or if you run into some serious trouble, I want you to send a signal. Why don't you... hit that guitar of yours against something metal? Hit it as hard as you can, and keep hitting it; hit it to a pattern. Meanwhile, if I run into anything…" pulled out a pistol. "..I think you'll know."

10:27 AM Tiger's with me. Jackie's gone with Cody. Tiger, can you lead the way? "Yeah, no problem! Just keep your eyes peeled, okay?"

10:44 AM Been walking at a somewhat slow pace, shouting for Winston. "I hope he's okay. He and I went to the same school, y'know. I did everything with him." Do we have reason to believe he's not okay? o: "Well. He's been saying some things lately. I think he was already not okay." What kinds of things? "That the Fears are talking to him in his sleep… That I should just let him die." ...ah. Yeah, that's cause for concern. .........does he ever specify which Fears? "I don't like to listen to it when he talks about that kind of thing, but.. I think he said there were two different voices." I like to think I know at least a little bit about some Fears by now, is all. So if there's a Fear I recognize, then I'll have an idea of what to do, or not to do. "There was a. There was a Ruin. God, I hated when he went on about the Ruin. It wasn't his friend. It wanted him to stop trying. It wanted him to grow up with it. Grow up and get used to the cold…" The cold. Was this a little boy? "It's not a little boy, it's a monster." No, I mean. "I know what you mean. It.. looks like a little boy. Yeah." I've.. run into it before. I've never tried to do anything with it, but. Well. I can try, can't I? I'm the White Jester. All I can do is try.

11:16 AM God, these trails are thick with foliage. 'Cause it's a... it's a park. Not a big wide open play-sports-on-a-hill park, but winding trails and sprawling trees and tall shrubbery. Like. Like Marble Hornets. "Yeah, I don't actually know why Cody sent you this way. It'd be way easier to search the south side. That part has fewer trails because it's so much more open." ....what. Were we duped? "By.. Cody? No, he knows what he's doing." But Winston could be in any of this tall grass. There's no way we can search it all. "We still have to try. If Winston's alive, he'll hear us. Searching through all the grass is only if he's...…" ...right. Yeah, that's.. that's right. Sorry. "It's okay. You're new here. And you're helping."

[if you want this string of binary, you'll have to get it from the Website, as it's too big]

11:54444444444444444444444 "Why won't you just play with me? You never wanted to play with me." and there he is. skin blue as laura palmer, hair black as ice, eyes open and black too. red and yellow striped shirt, he looks like he belongs in a time that never was, except for in our fiction. and today he wears a red glove on his right hand that is too big for him. he's the cold boy, and he's called the Ruin. "No matter where I find you, you're always the exact same. You're no fun." I'm inoculated. "You're antisocial." You prey on the social. "What do you know about it? You're not supposed to know anything." In my loneliness, I write. It makes me feel not so lonely.

(Attached: "The Ruin is a sad one. He was always aware of the red glove. And no one was around to stop him from listening to it. But how could anyone be? He was always alone. He thrives when alone. That red glove is the thing that makes these early Ruin passages so strange. That red glove doesn't talk to us. It talks to... you. And that red glove is playing a long game.")

11:56 AM We found Winston. He's sitting on a park bench. He looks completely spaced-out.

12:24 PM Okay, we've been waiting here at the center of the park for a while now. I banged my guitar, we shouted for Cody and Jackie, and he's not showing up. Are we gonna have to wait for 2:00?

12:25 PM At least Winston has been talking. He's been seeing the Ruin for years, he'd play with him during his lonely childhood. High school has been better for Winston, so for a while the Ruin had gone away. Then the Rapture started. And Winston started hearing voices in his room at night, when he'd try to sleep. Not every night, but usually when he was sleeping alone. One voice was the Ruin, urging him to leave his shelter and come and enjoy the apocalypse. The other voice is a name I don't recognize, Grendel, just saying "Let me in. Let me in." The Ruin said not to listen to Grendel, that Grendel would "take your face." Evidently, today Winston did go with the Ruin. They had been playing in the park, waiting for Thursday. Because something's gonna happen on Thursday. And Winston says I came and talked to the Ruin? And that's what caused him to let Winston go. I don't.. remember that. But my journal has a new passage in it, just like last time I felt really cold. There was no lost time this time, though? ...questions for later. For now: WHERE ARE YOU CODY????

1:10 PM There he is. With Donnie! o: "Hi, Jordan!" Hi, Donnie! :D "Hi! I was on my way into the park and I found him. He says you guys are searching for someone?" We found him! Winston's right here. cody "Oh, good job! You are a help." ..where's Jackie? cody "Jackie was getting sick, so I sent her home." ..tiger and winston are a little confused, but they'll go and see her when we get back. Tiger's telling Cody that I dealt with a Fear. He sounds dubious, but he's holding that back. Donnie, though, Donnie's beaming. :3 That's what I do it for.

1:14 PM Cody's putting his backpack back on, slipping the gun back in. "Well, now that Winston's safe, I've gotta go. Got secret work to do." tiger "Ah, your big secret project with Heaven!" cody winked at him. "Are you and Jordan gonna stick around until Wednesday?" donnie "I think we can make the time for that." Wednesday. Huh. Uh, yeah! We'll make time for it. Good luck! "See you guys." … Well! What are we doing now?

1:18 PM Tiger's taking us to a restaurant. He's treating us. Hi Donnie. :) "Hi! So, you scared off a Fear?" I don't actually remember it happening, and my journal... doesn't really answer anything. But it was the Ruin. That.. coldness we felt, back in St. Louis? "Ooh, that. Look at you, saving people!" >w< What did you get up to? "Well, I met some of our neighbors. They're really nice. They're really glad the RAF moved in; monster attacks have gotten rare. And plus the blue sky is a great touch. I did actually go looking around to try and look at the Ants of the Sky, but they're.. really high up. They don't come close enough to the ground to give me a chance." Do you think we should be wary about that? Something up above, changing the sky? "Until we actually see them for ourselves, we're just going on speculation, aren't we?"

1:33 PM Here we are! Restaurant! The Bold Lioness. Yeah, that sounds like California. Sounds really indie. It's packed full of people. It's.. nice to see. It does feel normal.

1:35 PM Got a table. Jeez, look at these prices. Yep, this is California… "Don't worry about it, I've got money." Thanks, Tiger. :) ...these prices. donnie "Yeah, you said, they're high." No, not that. These aren't dollars. This is... Z? "We've.. seen that before." donnie's tensing up. In Xanadu. Yeah. Uh. Tiger? Where do you get your money? "I steal it." says with a mischievous smile. "The RAF believes in sharing the wealth; we're against the rich, after all. And the few times I've been caught, people didn't even care. I don't think people want money so much anymore." No one except, evidently, the restaurants. Huh.

1:47 PM Well, I can't say no to a good burger.

3:23 PM We passed a lot of zombies on the way home, and I got to observe much closer their docility. We also saw a big black dog-- I think the black dog, the Fear, what was it called?-- but we just.. avoided that street. At one point I saw a patch of red bleed through the blue sky above, and a fluttering of black dots made it blue again. Yeah... can't say I get the best vibes. Isn't the blue sky just.. making people forget?

5:08 PM We dropped off Winston and Tiger at the, uh, Party House, then Donnie and I scooted on back to our cots... <3 But I think tonight I want to get started on why I came here in the first place. I'm gonna go asking around about Derek.

5:32 PM Well, going door to door was way too slow, so I came over to the Party House. There's a lot of people staying here, and I don't know if many of them are permanent residents, I think mostly this is just a gathering-place for young people. And that's perfect. I can spread the word of who I'm looking for.

5:39 PM Yeah, uh. His name's Derek Taylor, might also respond to 'Bones.' I guess I don't know for sure what he's wearing, but I wanna say he dresses a little like me? Coat, hat. We were like the Blues Brothers. ..dark hair, last I saw he has a mustache. And this is kinda important, because he's been leaving graffiti calling for me to meet him. "Oh, is that what JORDAN IN THE TRILBY HAT means? I thought it was a song!"

5:42 PM The kids are alright. c: They'll spread the word, as I hoped. ..and I guess, as long as I'm here, I'd may as well hang out some more. C'mon Donnie! They're playing fun music today! We can dance! :D

5:49 PM wheeeeere did all the looooove go I don't know, I don't know

6:30 PM Donnie's gone home. It has been a longer day for her than for me. .w. C'mon, play Free Bird! Do Stonehenge!

7:13 PM Gone to the gamer corner. Nice and chill here. Mood lighting. Everyone's got their PSPs and their DSes and their... is that a Game Gear? "Atari Lynx." It's a what? I didn't even know that was a thing. "It was my uncle's, before all this started."

7:14 PM Tiger? You.. you okay? "Jackie never got home." Fuck. Okay. Do you want to go look for her? Is there anywhere else she'd have gone? "No... she lived here with me. This was our home. She was my sister." Shit. Okay. It's okay. Then she'll still be in the park, or on the route between there and here. It's okay, let's go look for her.

7:16 PM A whole crowd of kids are coming. When the party house owner needs help, everyone listens. This is good. With a group this size, we'll find her.

7:39 PM The park. Sun's going down. But some people have flashlights.

7:40 PM "Listen, Jordan." Yeah? "Cody said he was going to the soccer fields and then to Visitacion. He meant the middle school, it's just on the edge of the park. It's where Jackie went to school, before this summer. And I'm wondering if she found her way inside for some reason. So I want to check that place out. Will you come with me?" Absolutely. o:

8:05 PM Found an open window. It's just the two of us as everyone else sweeps the park. Tiger's got a flashlight. Window leads into a classroom. Should be able to get to the hallways. Break down doors if we have to.

8:07 PM These doors are unlocked. "JACKIE? JACKIE, ARE YOU HERE?"

8:10 PM Darkness. Empty classrooms, everywhere. Not even any cryptic messages written on chalkboards. Can't hear a thing, no footsteps, no growling, no clear threat. Do you know what classrooms she had? "Yeah, we're heading there. I really don't know why she'd have gone here, but, like. Maybe she just needed to reminisce." I'd have done the same. Probably. Or maybe she had some.. notes... written down.... that she left here, and.. forgot??? "Maybe! God, JACKIE? WHERE ARE YOU?"

8:13 PM "TIGER! YOU IN HERE?" that's one of the other kids from outside. "YEAH?" "TIGER, WE FOUND SOMETHING! WE FOUND HER BACKPACK!" "Oh man. OKAY, I'M ON MY WAY!" tiger's running back. but. it's strange. there's a faint light in this classroom. the one tiger was taking us to. I'm gonna peek.

8:14 PM ...it's Jackie. Lying on the floor, next to a candle that's nearly burned out. She has a bullet hole in her forehead. ...… sigghhhhhhhh.

8:20 PM We got out of the school. Her backpack was caught in some tree branches a little distance from the school. It had some fidget toys in it and an iPod, cushioned in colorful cloth. Tiger's sure she won't have gotten far. I.. don't... want to.. tell him. What would I say? How would I break that to him? Even if I just told him that she's dead, he'd want to go and see. And how would he take... that? ...I mean, who else could it have been? So. I might just... look into it myself. Maybe I should tell him. Maybe...

8:55 PM Home. In bed. Heaven's making some dinner for us all. I'll eat that and then sleep. I… Why do I get the feeling I'm on my own for this one.

(Attached: “If the Omen could write, I bet it’d write the most beautiful thing in the world. Originally so affixed with Hertelap so as to be one and the same, when Hertelap committed his atrocity and brought about the extermination of an entire people all over the morbid roots of vanity itself, a part of him broke free of his body and became the silent god we know today. Over the many years, Hertelap ceased to be and all we were left with were a few figures who we’ll meet eventually. Before we get to any of that, though, let’s end this episode of History Dubious and just shut up about the whole thing.”)

[PREV LOG] [TABLE OF CONTENTS] [NEXT LOG]

[volt-race]

Hey, I actually wrote something!

I wanted to d a comic for Primrose, Jackie, and Keyson but that clearly wasn't happening, so it'll just be text.

If you wish to read these or any future ones, they will be under Read More blocks as they have a very real chance to be long (oops?)

With that said:

Still nothing.

A lone slime shuffles through the field under a starry night sky. Too far from home to wish to make the trek back, and so she settles upon just looking for somewhere to rest till the morning. Anywhere would do, so long as it was shelter, she thought to herself. She grumbles to herself, cursing the hero's name as she’s gotten into the habit of doing so. It’s been a year since said hero caused everything she knew to be turned on its head, disbanding the group she was part of rather forcibly by slaughtering their leader. Left adrift, trying to reestablish contact with the figures above. They never answered anymore.

The slime spots a farmstead in the distance. It’ll work.

She looks towards the farmstead’s house, the lights dark within and no signs of activity within. Sleeping, unsurprisingly. Instead of the house, she turns and makes her way to the barn. Easier to slip into for the night and be gone without anyone but the animals noticing. It’s not breaking and entering if it’s just for a nap overnight. She cracks the door enough that the broken mask hanging on her belt can fit through the gap, and squeezes herself inside before closing the door again with a gentle thunk. It’s dark, but her eyesight is decent enough to make out the bales of hay on the ground, and pens in the back with sleeping animals. The hay will do. Sitting herself down on a pile of hay, she throws herself back, staring up at the roof of the barn until eventually… she shuts her eyes waiting for tomorrow.

Morning comes a lot more abruptly than the slime anticipated, the hood of her robes being pulled upwards by a less than impressed farmer. Snapping awake, she pulls herself away with a star-bound hand, staring back at the farmer.

“Causing trouble again, are we?”

“You are mistaken sir. I simply  came here to rest.”

“That’s what all you cult members say.”

She glares at the farmer with enough intensity it could slice him in half, when her attention shifts to the barn doors. Another figure stood behind them, mostly obscured other than their head and a pointed ear. Were they there before? From what little can be seen they look to be injured in some form, as bandages are wrapped around their face on one side.

“I’m not fond of being awoken by something other than the birds, missy, and your stunt bothered everyone else in here. Snakes shouldn’t be tryin’ to take a roosters role y’know”

They must’ve been in the barn too. How did she miss them? Stupid, stupid. The slime tries to relax as much as she can.

“Well, since it’s morning, you won’t have to deal with it. I’ll head on my way, you can tend your farm or whatever, and we forget about this.”

The farmer simply stares Keyson head to toe, before finally letting go of her robe. He points to the doors.

“Take her with you.” The farmer’s tone is cold, as he points to the figure at the door.

“WHAT?” Both the slime and the cowering figure exclaim in unison.

“You heard me. You and your cult caused everyone enough problems. It’s about time you started reaping the consequences of your actions.”

Well this day has already gone from bad to worse. Staring down the farmer, and then the figure at the door, the slime snorts, and heads for the door. “May the stars fall on your head.”

The figure that was hiding behind the door recoils as she comes outside. Seeing them in full, the slime understands more how they could’ve been missed in the darkness of the barn. A lamia, darkly coloured from hair to tail and covered in worn bandage wraps. The only articles of clothing being a worn out cloak and various cuffs. They don’t look like any you’d see on a farm however, so how or why she bore them was a mystery. The look on her face was one of fear, their one exposed eye darting between the slime she’d just been handed off to, and the farmer who is casting her away the moment he can. Neither of them like this arrangement that's been forced upon them. The slime groans with a sigh, and starts making her way back to town, motioning for the lamia to follow. She’s hesitant, but follows after the farmer pushes her in that direction, almost pressing into her back, she follows behind the former cult member.

What a bout of bad luck, the lamia thought to herself. She’s being recaptured.

[disregardcanon]

a few yellowjackets relationships i feel are underrated

shauna and javi. i wish we got more of that before things went to shit :(

adult timeline misty and tai. like... guys. adult! misty knows what she’s about (at least pre season 2 finale). she’s brutal and efficient and cheerful about it. and tai is also brutal and trying to remain cheerful about it, both consciously and unconsciously. misty is actually the one of the group who had her shit together best despite it looking like it was tai. and that is something i would LOVE more of :)

sammy and simone and existing within the narrative! i miss them :(

teen van and travis. like i’m sorry, you expect me NOT to be obsessed with the idea of a weird friendship between the team lesbian and the very awkward straight guy who both make awful jokes and also at different points were drinking ALL the cult flavoraid? not a chance

i really hope we get to see teen! shauna being very visibly jealous and bitchy to nat about being the antler queen and nat bringing out some of her Worst Fights With Jackie energy :3

coach ben and javi! i know it’s not super plausible because of how ben spent a lot of season 1 bedridden from Misty Poisoning Him All the Time, but i want to see ben trying hard for this awkward little guy whose older brother is trying his best but really is not in a state to help much.

teen shauna and travis because, like, i’m sorry. the bond of Taking the First Bite Out of Your Loved One runs strong

adult misty and jeff. jeff’s like “i don’t think shauna even likes me that much” and misty’s like “lol yeah. no one ever liked me much, but they NEEDED me. that’s what you’re going for, jeffy boy”

lisa and callie! like... please. for the love of god, let callie have some influences in her life that aren’t just her family and her clueless friend and that pedo cop. lisa would be a really good influence on her and it might help lisa deal with her loss

there are many reasons we can’t have this, but i wish that crystal got to hang out with van. they would have had fun, i think

all of the ghosts with more screen time! give me ghost crystal and ghost nat and ghost javi and ghost travis and MORE ghost laura lee and ghost jackie. love me some ghosts :D

[piperslovebot]

https://www.tumblr.com/hydesjackiespuddinpop/735071324305833984/could-we-get-some-more-angst-in-here-please

Hiya, Poorni ❤! Could I please request prompt 28 with Eric telling off the '70s basement gang when they bash him for hanging out with the 'moron' friends?

(This takes place in s5. Eric and Donna are just friends here though and Hyde isn't an asshole.)

Eric begins to pack up his stuff to hang with the gang. Things had been pretty good with them all lately: Caroline was getting treatment for her bipolar disorder, Buddy was planning on getting his GED, Mitch has a new boyfriend, etc. Things were all going well.

He missed hanging out with Hyde and his heart ached not being with Donna. But he definitely did not miss Jackie's snide remarks about his physique, his relationship with Donna among other things. And he certaintly did not miss Kelso's gross and dumb comments. Not to mention the amount of times he offers to 'pleasure' Donna.

"You know Big D, I can do things to you that Eric never could've. Well I mean, it's not like he ever did anything worth mentioning." Kelso winked, attempting to grab Donna's breast only to be met with a slap on the face by the redhead.

And the way Fez would judge him and his relationship with Donna. Like he was one to talk. This was the same guy who groped Rhonda and spied on Donna and Jackie changing. Yet Fez wonders why he's the only virgin in the gang.

"Hey Forman, headin' out?" Eric turned around to see Hyde and Donna right behind him. At least some people aren't assholes.

Eric nodded, "Yeah. And Donna, I'll be at counselling, don't worry." Donna smiled, "Never had a doubt in my mind." The exes shared a tender look, smiling at one another.

Jackie walked in, rolling her eyes. "God my eyes are burning. Donna, can you and your sister stop making googly eyes?" Eric crumbled his fist. Jackie was really getting on his last fucking nerve. He let her into the basement and the circle, yet she can't even show his some respect? He knew he wasn't perfect but at least he made an effort, for Donna and now Hyde. But she never did the same.

"Jackie, do you ever just shut the fuck up for once in your life?" Eric scoffed, lightly punching the table. It felt so good to let that out. He looked at Donna and Hyde, who seemed to be completely shocked.

Kelso and Fez, who were walking into the room, looked completely dumbfounded. "Woah, easy Eric. Go easy on this beautiful lady." Kelso wrapped an arm around Jackie, who just pushed it off. Fez chimed in, "Yeah, it's probably Crazy Caroline and those goons making him say that. He knows that Donna is lucky to be with-"

Before Fez could finish, Eric punched him in stomach. The chestnut haired man exhaled. I deserved better. I still deserve better.

Fez fell flat onto the ground, wincing while holding his stomach. Eric stood tall and high in front of them. "You guys are lucky I never kicked you out my basement. Especially you Fez. Yeah, I know what you did to Rhonda. And that you spy on Jackie and Donna changing. So I suggest maybe shutting the fuck up about my relationship."

[elvenbeard]

12, 25 and 27 for the ask game please!

Thanks so much for asking!!! :D

12. Do they have any sense of style? Regardless of the answer do they believe they have a sense of style?

Oh hell yes! You can't commit crimes if you don't look cute, right? XD But no honestly, he loves clothes, it's his biggest guilty pleasure if he had to name one.

I think he knows what goes well together and keeps up with trends - even if he doesn't follow them or actively breaks them. Is his sense of style everyone's taste? Nah, definitely not. But he likes to stand out when he gets the chance. At other times he also just enjoys putting on a really well-made, tailored suit and looking a bit more subdued but really fine still. He definitely gives Kerry's wardrobe a bit of an upgrade too xD

25. Do they have a daily/nightly routine?

Somewhat! During his time as a merc it always depended a bit on the gigs he got his hands on and whether or not they went according to plan. I feel like as a fixer later on he has an easier time even building a routine again (and for a while he missed his Counterintel job most for the routine it had given him for a while).

The bare minimum of what he strives to achieve though is going to bed and getting up at the same time roughly each day. He is more of a night owl and likes ot sleep in, so he usually gets up between 9 and 11 am, depending on how late the night was. Coffee and a small breakfast are a must, and Kerry gets him back into yoga, so that is often also part of his mornings. His days depend on what he gets to do, if he's at home or at the Afterlife planning things mostly, or if he's out and about, so there is no real consistent structure or schedule that's the same every day. Sometimes Kerry is home with him, sometimes he's at the stuio all day, sometimes they meet at some point during the day here or there. With their days being a little unpredictable sometimes, it's important to V to have at least somewhat of an evening routine of winding down. Before he knew Kerry he aimed to be home at the latest at midnight and then spent an hour or two just chilling, having a shower, playing a game, tinkering with something, things like that before going to bed. After moving in with Kerry at the villa and the penthouse he tries to be home a bit sooner whenever possible so they can do something together, go eat out somewhere, or just spend some time at home together, but it is an adjustment that really takes V some time and effort to make, because he's a workaholic at heart.

27. Has a chance encounter ever had an unexpected effect on them?

Absolutely! He's taken on some random gigs that affected him for much longer and much more profoundly than what he would've expected initially. Many of the cyberpsychos' he neutralized for Regina, their stories in particular, still haunt him, increased his already existing wariness towards getting cyberware installed, and made him aware of just how diverse and yet similar all their lives were. Full of betrayal and neglect, how many of them were veterans, too, that never received proper care after returning from combat. He never gave any of this much thought before encountering them and learning their stories, because they were all just numbers, "another cyberpsycho going on a rampage and killed by MaxTac" on the news broadcasts. Not anymore, and he sincerely hopes that maybe things will get better for them in the future.

The most profound chance encounter that completely changed his life though was definitely meeting Jackie. Had he not met Jackie he would've had no one to turn to after running away from home, he would've never met Viktor, he would've just been completely alone and lost and would've probably either died, slipped into a life of gangs and crime, or returned back home into a world that sucked all life out of him and become a completely different person if he'd made it out of there alive somehow a few years later. So yeah... unknowingly parking his mother's "borrowed" car in the Valentino's turf, getting in a fight with them, and Jackie being among them to deescalate the situation and saving his life for the first of many more times to come was definitely an insane but insanely important chance encounter in his life.

[v0lumnius]

For the writeblr ask game:

💢

💯

🗑️

I crave the characters' embarrassment >:D

Caster! *shakes fist at you but appreciatively*

Gods I have to keep referencing a screenshot of the original post to remember what these were supposed to be XD

💢 Ok, so this scene...it honestly killed a lot of momentum for me. Hal goes deep into the ruins of the previous civilization to both explore and look for a missing Scouter (in world term for professional Ruin explorers), and... I hate it! I keep falling back to these issues of "but what was the purpose of this ruin", and "it makes sense for it to be a bunch of empty rooms, but that's boring!!! Ugh. I'm probably overthinking this, but I feel like I don't really understand how to make a Ruin exploration scene visually interesting

💯 Ok this one I'm a lot happier to talk about. So there's a scene where Hal wakes up on board The Lazy Sunfish, and it's just a calm morning. They're getting ready for the day (to go explore the Ruin mentioned above) and making breakfast. They chat with Porter, and commiserate with Jackie (who just pulled an all nighter to help Hal out), and it's just...nice. I feel like I have a good understanding of the mutual relationship dynamics (Porter and Jackie are siblings, Hal is a childhood friend) and it just flowed. The emotional support, the light teasing, it felt good and correct and I loved writing it.

🗑️ The mayor had put out a call for anyone able to go and investigate the light, determine if it was dangerous. Hal picked up the first test; a big rock. They walked it to the ship’s edge, only a few feet from the mystery dome, and heaved it overboard. The stone flew through the air, meeting the light and...vanished with a slight zzzt sound. Hal blinked, and looked down to check for a splash, finding none. They grabbed the intercom.

“Hey uh...Porter?”

“Yeah buddy?”

“Test 1 is...incondusive”

“Inconclusive?”

“Yeah, that. Uh, it vanished the rock”.

“Look Hal, I’m gonna need you to make a little more sense, sorry. What happened?”

“I threw the rock, and as soon as it touched the light it...died?”

“The rock died?”

“I guess? It just disappeared!”

“Hrm. Initiate test two?”

“Roger that” Hal said, setting the intercom down again. 🗑️

^trashcan to indicate the end of the quote. Hal has amazing instincts, and is very good at being kinetic, but... they're a little bit of a trainwreck on their reading and vocabulary (I love Hal so much). The foil for the Crew are waiting at the ready to lambaste them for their "scientific method" XD

@castershellwrites thank you for poking me, I've been gearing up to dive back in on this WIP for NaNoWriMo! <3

[frenziedslashers]

Ayo! Ima be honest there, this fic with wounded Handsome Jack x Reader was the first one where I didn't skip a single word, like aaa u did it so great!

I had a thought about something oppsite - where it is the reader who gets hurt, and HJ is the one saving them and taking care... likeeee AAA.... it could be fluff, or something more dramatic and bloody, whatever you thing would be great :D I just can see it written great by your talented hands

This literally made me smile so much??? I am so scared to post Jack content because I always feel like I butcher his character (I have a couple drafts that I have been working on. They are pretty much ready to post, I'm just a little scared. I swear I am not ignoring the Jack asks 👹). I am honored that you liked it that much though! As someone who has read nearly all the xReader Borderlands content on ao3, I totally get that... Some nice I had to skip paragraphs because it was either too ooc or just... Odd... I forget how scary some borderlands fans are 😟 There are a lot of pics on there that I adore, but I feel like every fandom has those pics that you just physically cannot finish. So I am glad that my Jack was good enough 💪💪 ALSO thank you for the love homie. glad you sent in a request! I love me some angst that leads to fluff 😌

Flying Bullets:

"More incoming!" Jack screamed over your com, a grunt leaving your throat as you slammed your body against a crate in a poor attempt to avoid the bullets that flew overhead. You had no idea how you got yourself into this mess. Let alone with Handsome Jack. You knew he was bad news. Everyone despised him, but you still saw him as John, who simply worked with you for Hyperion and was incidentally your best friend as well.

You saw him as the guy who you would sit with alone for lunch break. The both of you talking and laughing over nothing. The friend that would take you out for drinks after a hard day of work and even hit on you here or there. Though, nothing serious ever happened between the two of you.

"Kiddo, answer me!" You snapped out of your thoughts when you heard Jack's voice screaming into your ears. It made you flinch, a cringe settling on your face. "I hear you, Jackie." You responded, shooting a couple times at the Raiders that ran out into your line of sight.

"Are you able to get to where I'm at?" You huffed a bit. As if you would know exactly where he was without him sharing his coordinates. "Where's your location?" "I'm up near the front gate. If you get here we can get to a ship out of this shit hole and back to Helios!" He spoke, and you groaned again. Your shield was low and broken. It wasn't recharging anymore. A problem that you were almost scared to tell Jack. The confrontation would go either one of two ways. He'd freak out, worry, and throw himself into the line of fire to make sure you were safe. Or he'd freak out, worry, and then yell at you for being so stupid and agreeing to go with him to Pandora with a shitty shield.

"Can you do that?" You pondered, "I can try."

It was a hard task to complete. You figured if you did die in this fight you may as well go out guns-a-blazin'. Shooting round after round into the Crimson Raiders that tried to take you down. You nearly made it to Jack, too. If it weren't for a Raider you missed shooting you once, breaking your shield. Then twice, a fatal shot to your back.

The scream that ripped from your chest had your head pounding, and Jack's heading whipping towards you.

"Kid," He stammered, "Kiddo? Pumpkin?" His voice wavered, and then something clicked in the guy. If your vision wasn't blurry from the pain as you lay on the ground. You would have seen the glint of rage behind the mans eyes. The way his face shifted from concern to pure rage. It made the few remaining Crimson Raiders freeze up. Knowing Jack was going to be putting up a hell of a fight.

Screams and gunfire were all you could hear in your ringing ears. You could hardly decipher the screams of the dying to Jack's war cries. If you weren't dying yourself, you might actually feel a bit scared, but right now you could hardly care. Gasping and wincing while lying helplessly on the ground. You could hardly move without your whole body sending shocks of pain through itself.

"Hey, hey," His hand on your back made you cry out again. You hadn't even noticed that Jack was at your side now. Attempting to tend to your wounds to get you back home. Back to Helios where you would be safe and someone could save you. "I know, I have to look at it!" He snapped, but quickly cleared his throat. "Dammit, sorry. I just need to see it. I'm not trying to hurt you, pumpkin." He told you, trying his best to be careful while he moved your clothing up so he could see the wound a bit better. Your cries making him wince himself. You'd think he would have been shot, too. Just from hearing the pathetic noises you were making.

"Oh shit, God this is bad. Why didn't you tell me your shield was low? I could have came to you!" There it was. Option one of how you expected him to react if you would have told him your shield was down. You wanted to smile, laugh a little at how well you knew your friend, but your thoughts were quickly pushed aside when Jack decided to apply pressure. A scream left your throat, and your vision went blurry. It was too hard to stay awake no matter how much Jack pleaded with you to keep your eyes open. You hadn't realized how much he really cared for you until you were nearly meeting your Maker. Vision finally blurring enough that all you could see was black. Your senses dulling, succumbing to the darkness once you passed out in his arms.

Jack had no idea that you had just passed out, though. He thought you died, but that didn't stop him from picking your body up from the ground to carry you back to the ship. He was just thankful that he had people on there to pilot it for him, and some health to at least give you a slight boost until the two of you made it back to Helios.

He refused to let you go until those doors opened. Continuing to apply pressure after he had wrapped his belt and one of his jackets awkwardly around your middle to help stall the bleeding. There was so much blood. His clothes were soaked. His skin was sticky with sweat and blood. The thing of it is, he didn't even know if it was all your blood. Some of it had to be from the Raiders he killed after you were shot. His anger getting the best of him like it regularly did.

"Sir, you need to let them go." He looked up at the nurse in front of him. "What?" His voice was shaky. "I need you to let them go and put them on the table now before they lose any more blood. I need to get them into the infirmary, now." They stated sternly, and Jack nodded with understanding. Laying you reluctantly on the bed. These were his own men and women working for him, but he was so scared to trust them with you. You were the only good thing he had left that was connected to his old life, rather than Angel. You were almost a better memory holder than she was, though. With her being the reason her mother died and all.

It wasn't until later that night, nearly five hours later that Jack was informed that you were in Critical, but stable condition. He knew you wouldn't be able to help him with his plans for the next coming weeks, and honestly, he was glad. Not that he didn't enjoy your help, he just always worried about your safety. This call was too close for comfort. It nearly made him postpone his plans of finding the Vault, too. If it weren't for the fact that he was literally the man's most wanted by the Vault Hunters themselves. That didn't stop him from trying to take care of you to the best of his abilities, though. Even going as far as sending people to check up on you when he was away from Helios.

"Jack," you would say his name, and he would be there. Holding your hand, offering food, water, entertainment, whatever it was you asked. He was giving it to you. You were his light after all. The brightest star in his galaxy. Even if he didn't show you how much he cared, often. He truly did.

It was almost weird for you. He was always so snarky and rude with you. Even if you knew that was just how he showed his affection. How he told you that he loved and appreciated you as a friend without telling you those exact words. You almost weren't sure if you liked how nice he was being with you.

"Why haven't you called me an idiot." He looked up from the book in his hands over to you with raised brows. "Excuse me?" "When I nearly got myself killed. I expected you to at least call me stupid for it. I didn't tell you my shield was broken and not recharging, and yet here you are. Being all sweet and nice to me. It's kind of scary, honestly... You aren't a doppelgänger, are you?" Jack smiled as he placed his book down in his lap. "Well, now that you say it. I did forget to tell you how utterly idiotic that stunt was and if you ever go pulling it again I will personally revive you just to shoot you again." Jack told you, and that caused a smile to form on your own features. There he was. "Oh, so I should have just ignored direct orders?" He rolled his eyes with a sigh. "No, you should have told me what was happening and I could have come to help. You really think I like putting you at risk?" Well, it seemed like it. With the number of close calls you have had, and then this.

He sighed at your lack of a response. "I don't. I really don't. I only take you along because I know you'd find a way fighting those assholes without me or with me. I may as well be there to revive you when you decide to do something stupid." You rolled your eyes this time. "Didn't realize you actually cared about me." He froze up when you said that. You were only joking, and you thought that he could tell, but obviously that seemed to strike a chord with the man before you.

"Oh, so you think I don't care about you either? What the hell has the past few weeks been? I've laid off finding the fricken Vault for you! I've been by your side, making sure you don't die on me and you think I don't care about you?" He shouted, tossing his book to the side while standing to his feet. "Why don't you fill me in on what it is I feel about you then. Why every time I see you I want to blow my brains out because of how much I care about you. Shit, it's annoying, honestly!" Jack started approaching you. Slight more weight to his steps than usual. Obviously pissed and growing more so by the second. "I could have left you to die." He told you, a slight grin on his face as he laughed out of disbelief for himself. "Hell! I would have left any one of my other employees or skilled assassins there to die! But I just couldn't fricken leave you there, now could I? Not when you're the one real thing that I have anymore."

Your eyes were wide. Staring up at the man who was looming over you as you lay on the bed. You looked a little scared, but you were more so taken aback by his words. Yeah, he was basically saying he would have left you for dead if the two of you didn't have a connection, but he was also admitting things that you never thought you'd hear from him.

"I don't mean to yell," Even though that seemed to be the only thing he knew how to do. "I just... I hate that you would even suggest that I don't care about you. I mean, c'mon! Look at everything we've been through!" He exclaimed as he sat on the bed beside you.

Yeah. Everything the two of you have been through. Working together. Getting fired together. Jack gaining power. You gaining power through Jack. Late nights together. Even an attempted date before his ex had come along. It was a lot, and you regretted making him think that you thought he didn't care.

"Jack, I'm sorry. I was just joking around." You admitted, reaching out to grab his hand. His eyes darted down and then back up to study your face. "Could you ever forgive me?" He pondered, a smile creeping on his lips. "Oh, I don't know. I guess I could forgive a cute thing like you." A sigh left your lips, tapping the top of his hand. "If I didn't know any better. I'd say you were flirting with me, Jackie." The way you purred out his name in such a teasing way made his blood boil. Out of annoyance at the nickname, and slight excitement from just the sound. "Well, I could be if you wanna interpret it that way, pumpkin." His hand reached up to brush your chin with his thumb. "I think it's your turn to be called out for your ignorance of my own emotions." His brows furrowed, sighing at his dumbfounded expression.

"So... Was that a yes?" "Jack," "Huh?" "You're as oblivious as the day I met you." He stared at you for a moment longer. "I'm saying yes, Jack. Jesus Christ and you're supposed to be the flirt of Helios?" He let out a groan of his own before carefully maneuvering himself over top of you so he could lay on the other side of you on the bed. "Oh shut it, you're the one overcomplicating shit." He huffed, carefully pulling you close to him to hint that the both of you needed a nap. Whether you wanted one or not. "Just shut up and sleep. We can talk about our stupid emotions later. You ruined the moment by calling me an idiot." "Oh, like you haven't been calling me one for the past 10 minutes. Plus I didn't even call you one!" "Well, that's different, and yes you basically did. I'm not arguing further." "Fine."

[band--psycho]

Chibs Telford x Reader-Taken (Part 1)

So I decided to make a little series based off of this request , there will be about 3 (maybe 4) parts to this series and I hope you all enjoy them!💛

Part 2

SOA Masterlist / Chibs Telford Masterlist

Warnings: Brief mentions of post natal depression, fighting, blood, attack, child being kidnapped (please don't read if this is going to trigger you)

“Seriously? Baby you’ve only just come back!” Y/n sighed, the frustration clear in her voice.

“I know, it’s not exactly a decision I’m happy with, but Jackie boy needs me-”Chibs ran a hand through his silvering hair, letting out a sigh of his own. Part of him wanted nothing more than to stay with his girls. Two of the most important people in his life. As he looked at Y/n, he couldn’t help but think about Kerrianne and Fiona, the other two most important people in his life. He’d missed so much of Kerriannes life; he’d missed her growing up and he didn’t want the same to happen with Y/d/n. And he missed Y/n, so much while he was away.

He knew that Jax needed him on this run, and not just Jax, the Club was important to him too, which is why he needed to go.

“A few days..” Y/n mumbled under her breath, her eyes locked onto the carpet, avoiding Chisbs gaze “..that’s what you said last time and you were gone for the best part of a week,” although her voice was quiet, it was full of annoyance and the look in her eyes showed her frustration and anger.

“Ye knew the life ye were marrying into, the club is ma life, that’s not gonna change, Lass,” Chibs retorted, although his heart was torn on what to do, he knew he needed to go with Jax, not just for support, for the money that he’d get from it. Money which they needed, especially with Y/d/n now here. He wanted to be able to support them, to be able to give them a good life, and if that meant taking a few more risks to make some extra money, he was going to do it, although he couldn’t deny the look on Y/n's face broke his heart, he needed to go.

“Lass-”he began, not wanting to leave things like this; he didn’t want to leave her when she was angry and upset.

The cries of their daughter echoing down the stairs halted both of them in their words. Y/n took a deep breath, quickly trying to calm herself down so that Y/n wouldn’t sense her anger and sadness. Chibs was right, she did know the life that she was marrying into, she knew what the club did (and although she didn’t necessarily agree with everything they did, she understood it), she understood that this was Chibs’ life and the money he got from deals that were made via the club were definitely helpful, especially whilst she wasn’t working.It didn't mean that she was happy about being away for as long as he was. She missed him. Y/d/n missed him. And Y/n was worried that if he spent much more time away from them that Y/d/n would forget him and that was the last thing she wanted...and she knew it was the last thing Chibs wanted. And as much as Gemma and the other mothers helped, it wasn’t the same as Y/d/n having her Da there to look after her.

“Y/n-” Chibs said, lightly grabbing her hand, caressing the back of it with his thumb.

“A few days...promise me it’ll only be a few days,” She said, her eyes finally meeting his.

“I promise,” He cooed, giving her hand a light tug before placing a quick kiss onto her lips. And just like that, the two broke apart,Y/n headed up the stairs to comfort Y/d/n and Chibs left just almost just as quickly as he arrived. The quieter the sound of his motorbike got, the more Y/n's heart ached. As much as she loved the little bundle of joy she was holding in her arms, it was hard, the sleepless nights, the stress and anxiety of being a first time mother, mixed with the fear of Chibs getting hurt or worse, was just something that was beginning to get on top of Y/n. As she calmly shushed Y/d/n she couldn’t think how easier life would be if Chibs wasn’t part of Samcro...how normal their life might be compared to the chaos it seemed to be, yet she also knew that without the club, Chibs wouldn’t be the man same man she fell in love with.

~~~~~~

The days passed by slowly for Y/n, her sleeping pattern was a wreck, Y/d/n was certainly a night owl and made sure that Y/n didn’t spend much time asleep in the evening. To say that Y/n was exhausted was an understatement; it was times like this that she missed Chibs more, not only because he could look after Y/d/n so she could actually have some sleep, but just because all she wanted right now was one of his hugs. There was nothing quite like a hug from him; it was like he possessed this magic touch that just made her feel okay and she definitely needed that today.

So of course, she couldn’t help the beaming smile that came onto her face when she read ‘on ma way home’ from Chibs number. That message was enough to change her entire mood. She was finally going to be able to spend a night in her husband's arms for the first time in so long and Y/d/n was actually going to be able to spend time with her Da.

It got to about mid-day when the exhaustion caught up with Y/n, she ended up putting Y/d/n down for a nap, Y/n knew that she was probably going to regret doing this later, Y/d/n probably wasn’t going to want to sleep tonight because of this nap but Y/n was exhausted and just needed a little nap to recharge. Just as she Y/d/n drifted off to sleep, Y/n heard the doorbell ring.

“Shit,” she muttered under her breath, expecting the sound to wake her daughter, much to her relief though, Yd/d/n remained fast asleep, completely unphased by the ringing echoing throughout the house, a sigh of relief left Y/ns mouth as she quickly but quietly made her way down the stairs to open the door. She hoped that it was Chibs, although she knew it wouldn’t be because she would’ve heard the all too familiar sound of his bike echoing through the streets. The only other person she really expected was Gemma, who being the ‘mother hen’ of the club liked to check up on Chibs’ family regularly, to make sure that both Y/n/ and Y/d/n were okay. Gemma knew how difficult it could be being a mother and wanted to help as much as she possibly could.

Much to Y/n's surprise though, when she opened the door she wasn’t met with the familiar face of Gemma. Instead, she was met with the face of a stranger. Y/n didn’t even get a chance to properly look at him before he threw a punch at her, knocking her to the ground with a thud. She tried to get back up but the guy just punched her again and again...and again. Her vision began to blur as blood trickled from her mouth and nose; she tried again to get back up, her mothering instinct kicking into action. She knew she needed to protect Y/n and that she wasn’t going to stop. Although between the mixture of exhaustion and the amount of punches she’d just taken, she could only throw a weak punch, one that had absolutely no effect on the man attacking her. The intruder threw another punch, sending Y/n back down to the ground. This time though he got on top of and continued to hit her, it didn’t matter what Y/n did, she kicked, she hit, she screamed, she tried to move but no of it worked the man just continued to beat her until she was left an unconscious bloody mess on the floor.

A proud look came over the intruder's face as he rose to his feet, heading up the stairs to Y/d/n's room. He didn’t care for the cries that left the infants mouth as he picked her up and left the house.He’d had a job to do and now it was done.

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[crystalninjaphoenix]

Down the River

Fantasy Masks AU: Chapter Thirty-Six

A JSE Fanfic

I took a break from writing for a week, but now I return! And that break was really good for me because I flew through writing this chapter. After escaping from Suilthair, the guys travel down the river on a boat. Marvin has something to tell Chase and Jameson, and the guys make a plan from there. Meanwhile, the kids adjust to their new surroundings after following their dad, and Henrik has a moment. Enjoy reading! I won't delay you any longer :D

Previous Part | | From the Start | More AU | Read on AO3: CrystalNinjaPhoenix

Taglist: @brokentimewatch

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

The sun beat down from the sky. The boat coasted down the river, Suilthair having disappeared from sight by now. Sailors on the deck ran around, checking the mast in the center. Chase hadn’t expected a river boat to be so big. But then again, the Muinra Avon was a large, deep river. Maybe it needed to be big to stand a chance against the current. Or... the waves? Did rivers have waves? Chase hadn’t spent much time around them in his life.

And neither had the kids. Amabel and Quentin stood at the side of the boat, leaning over and looking down at the water. Chase wanted them to get away, but... they knew how to be careful. He had to trust that. He settled for calling out a “Be careful you two!”

“We will!” Amabel shouted back, while Quentin leaned forward and started kicking his legs.

“I’m serious! Neither of you know how to swim that well.”

Quentin slowly lowered himself back down to the deck.

Jackie walked over to where Chase was, sitting pushed up against the wall of the cabin. He crouched down so the two of them were level. “How’s the injury?” he asked.

“It’s alright,” Chase said. “Henrik really bound it up tightly, though. It’s almost hard to breathe with the bandage.” He twisted his torso around, wincing a bit as the movement aggravates both his arrow wound and the bandage around it.

“Careful,” Jackie warned.

“I’m being careful.” Chase sighed. “How’s Jameson?” He had gone below deck as soon as his cuts and bruises were checked out and Suilthair was out of sight.

“He’s resting,” Jackie said. “They have a couple hammocks down there. Not enough for all of us, to be honest, we mostly stop for the night and camp on the riverbank. But still. Enough to take a nap in.”

“Good to hear he’s okay,” Chase said. “What about everyone else? Marvin and Henrik?”

“Marvin’s also taking a nap,” Jackie said. “Recovering from all the magic. Henrik is... inside the cabin, I think.” He gestured back to the nearby door. “Um... once everyone is well-rested, Marvin has something he needs to tell you.”

Anxiety immediately filled Chase’s heart. “About what? Is it bad?”

“Uh... I don’t think so?” Jackie said slowly. “It could be good. If you look at it a certain way? ...This isn’t making it sound not bad.”

“It really isn’t.”

“Look, it’s all okay,” Jackie said. “Marvin should explain, but essentially... it’s something we need to do.”

Chase nodded slowly. “Okay... I see. I hope it’s not something... too dangerous.” He glanced over to the kids.

Jackie followed his gaze. “They’ll be safe,” he said quietly. “We can leave them at camp. They’ll be well-protected there.”

“Yea...” Chase whispered. “I... yea.” He wasn’t sure what to say beyond that.

“Hey.” Jackie put a hand on his shoulder and smiled. “Every single Phantom here will take care of them. They’re in good hands. And they seem like pretty capable kids. I mean, they managed to find us while we were running around trying to get out of the city.”

“You’re right,” Chase said, more trying to convince himself than agreeing with him. “I just hope they won’t miss their mom too much.”

“It will be okay,” Jackie said quietly. “I promise. We’ll all watch over them. And clearly, they really want to be here with you. They love you. Trust you.”

“Is that trust worth it?” Chase breathed.

“Of course it is!” Jackie said firmly. “It would have been really easy for them to stay in the city. They’d only need to stay home and not go looking for you. And I know you’re probably going to say something about worrying that they’ll regret this. They won’t. I promise. If they love you enough to come running after you like that, they won’t regret anything as long as you’re close by.”

Chase felt a lump form in his throat. His eyes welled with tears but he quickly blinked them away. “Thanks, Jackie. I-I feel a bit better now. And I’m not going to lie... I’m really happy to have them back. Even if their mom is still enchanted. Even though I miss her, and I’m worried about her, at least they’re here. And safe.”

Jackie nodded, smiling. “We’ll get Stacia back, too. It might be a bit more difficult, but we’ll get her back. And you’ll all be okay.”

Chase laughed. “I’ll do anything I can to help her out. And in the meantime, I’ll make sure the kids are okay.” He looked over to them. “Seems like they really like the river. Quen! I said be careful!”

Quentin was lying on the wall again, and he quickly lowered his feet down to the deck again.

“Well, looks like you’re doing good so far.” Jackie started to clap him on the back, then stopped. “Ah, probably shouldn’t do that while you’re injured.” He settled for a gentler pat.

“Thanks, Jackie.” Chase grinned. “You’re really good at reassuring people.”

“I’ve had a lot of practice. You think running an organization is easy?” Jackie laughed. “Back in the early days, when it was Schneep and Marv and me gathering a following, and we were more familiar with a lot of individual Phantoms, if anyone had troubles we had to soothe them over.”

“Huh. I never thought of that.”

Jackie patted his shoulder again. “I do it for you because you’re my friend, though. Not just to smooth things over. And because it’s true. The kids love you, and you can really take care of them.”

Chase gave him a softer smile. “Thanks.” He chuckled. “That’s all I’m saying in this conversation, is thanks.”

“Well, it’s not a problem at all,” Jackie said. “Now. Are you alright sitting here on the deck or do you want to go below or something?”

“I’ll stay here. Keep an eye on the kids.”

Jackie nodded. “Of course. I’ll just sit here with you, then, if you don’t mind.”

“Of course I don’t mind.”

“Great.” Jackie sat down, crossing his legs and leaning back against the wall of the cabin.

Chase smiled at him one more time, then turned to watch the kids. They seemed to be having fun. And it was good to see.

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

As soon as he was sure Chase and Jameson were okay, Henrik went into the cabin. He felt a little bad about not spending more time with them, but he couldn’t focus. There’d been a buzzing noise behind his ears ever since Jackie and Marvin left to go rescue them. An annoying buzzing. He thought it was a bug at first, but the fact that it was always there, no matter where he turned his head, meant that it was another symptom. And over time, the buzzing had turned into sounds. Like whispery voices speaking nonsense words, muffled and out of earshot. He couldn’t focus. He couldn’t focus. Not when part of his mind would be constantly disrupted by the sounds, instinctively trying to figure out what they were saying.

The cabin of the boat was pretty small, certainly smaller than the captain’s cabin on The Serpent’s Wake, but not quite as small as the guest cabins on that same ship. There was enough room for a bed, a desk, a wardrobe, and a table with chairs, but not much room beyond that. The back of the cabin had a window looking out. It even had glass. Fancy. It was on the back of the ship, so though Henrik could see out, nobody on the ship could see in.

And he was very glad for that. He kept pacing across the floor, back and forth, back and forth, wearing a pattern in the wooden planks in between the desk and the wardrobe. He wasn’t feeling restless. The mind soother tonic had helped with those feelings. But he had to do something to distract himself from the sounds. “What do you want?” he whispered in Alterdan. “What do you want?” They didn’t respond, of course. He knew the question would do him no good, but he asked it anyway, repeating it over and over again.

Maybe he should try to sleep. Maybe he should take a nap. That would be good, wouldn’t it? To drift off and not hear these annoying sounds. But then he’d have to tune out the sounds for long enough to fall asleep. And that would be difficult. Did they have sleeping tonics on board? If he drank an entire bottle would it just knock him out? No, no, that might not be safe. But he wanted it to work right away. What if—Was there a sleeping potion? Maybe he had ingredients for that? Maybe he should go look?

Henrik turned back around and started walking towards the door—but he only took a few steps before he stopped.

There was someone in front of the door.

He knew immediately that this wasn’t a normal person. They seemed to be cloaked in shadow even as light from the window fell directly onto their body. “...nein,” he whispered. “Nein nein nein. Th-this is not really happening.”

The shadowy person just stood there. Staring at him.

He closed his eyes, but then fear immediately shot through him and he opened them up again. What could this shadow do when he wasn’t looking? What if it attacked him?! No, wait, that’s impossible. This is clearly another symptom. But what if—what if it wasn’t? What if this was some sort of spirit? What if it was a spy?!

“Nicht echt,” he whispered. “Nicht echt. Nicht echt.” It’s not real it’s not real it’s not real—

The shadow moved.

Henrik shrieked, staggering backwards until he hit the edge of the bed and collapsed back onto it. The shadow hadn’t moved towards him, just a strange shuffling, but even so, Henrik felt his heart pounding out of his chest with fear that this thing would get closer to him. “Get back!” he shouted. “Get back!”

The door suddenly opened up, passing right through the shadowy person, and someone rushed in. “Henrik, what’s wrong?!” Vsevna asked, eye wide as it scanned the cabin. He held a weapon in one hand—his usual choice, something called a boarding axe. It had a long handle and a head that had an axe blade on the left and a spike on the right.

“A-ah...” Henrik paused, unsure what to say. The shadowy person was still there, right behind Vsevna, though they were a bit faded now, more like an actual shadow. “I-I am... fine. Nothing is wrong.”

“Nothing is wrong?! You do not shout out ‘get back’ when nothing is wrong!”

“Well, ah, nobody is here, as you c-can see,” Henrik stammered.

Vsevna scanned the room again. He relaxed slightly, leaning the axe against the wall of the cabin. “I suppose there is no space to hide in this room. Everything is too small. But... still. You do not shout like that when nothing is wrong.”

“I... I was trying to take a nap...” Henrik said slowly. “A-and as I was drifting off, I... must have had a nightmare. I-I thought someone was... coming to get me. But I-I am fine. See?” He smiled weakly.

“You look... shaken,” Vsevna said slowly.

Henrik nodded slowly. “W-well I am.” The shadow was still behind him. “It feels... so real.”

“Is there anything I can do?” Vsevna asked.

“No, it is fine,” Henrik insisted. “I would hate to keep you from important ship business.”

Vsevna tilted his head. “I would not be able to focus on the boat if I knew you were upset in here.” He walked over to the bed, sitting down on the edge next to him. “So, is there anything I can do, sova?”

Henrik was quiet for a while. He stared at the shadow in front of the door. “I... am not sure,” he said quietly.

Vsevna hesitated. “Well... I am not sure, either. But I can stay here, if you would like. You said you were taking a nap?”

Henrik nodded slowly.

“What if... what if we lied down together?”

Henrik felt his face getting hot.

“Still nervous, Henrik?” Vsevna asked, grinning a bit.

“Oh, shut up.” Henrik reached out and shoved him a little. As the captain of the voyage, Vsevna had the claim on the cabin in the boat, but he said that Henrik could stay with him. Henrik had agreed, but he felt that sharing the bed was a bit much, so he volunteered to sleep on the floor. 

“Alright, alright, we do not have to do that,” Vsevna said. “But anything else I could do... hm...” He frowned and shook his head. “I am sorry. All I can think of is to stay.”

“That is enough,” Henrik said quietly. “Maybe... maybe we could... try.”

“Are you sure?”

“It is just a nap.” And the shadow was still there. Staring at him. He knew it wouldn’t do anything, given how Vsevna had walked through it easily enough, but... he couldn’t help the fear. It told him that if either of them got close again, something bad would happen. So... he wanted him to stay close.

“Well, if you are going to sleep, it would probably be best to close the curtains,” Vsevna pointed out, standing up and reaching out for them.

“N-no!” Henrik snapped. “I—I do not want—” The shadow would blend in. It would disappear, it could go anywhere.

Vsevna jerked his hand back and looked down at Henrik with concern. “Henrik? Is... something else wrong?”

“No, it... is just... the nightmare has still unnerved me,” Henrik said haltingly.

Vsevna nodded slowly. “Alright. I suppose that makes sense.” He sat down on the bed again. “So... please try to relax, then?” He laughed, glancing around a bit. He must have been just as nervous as Henrik was. After all, he had been fine with Henrik sleeping on the floor.

Henrik nodded.

The two of them laid down next to each other. It was a bit awkward. They were both unconsciously staying as far as possible from each other. Henrik kept his head tilted to the side, looking at the shadow. But then his position started to get uncomfortable. He shifted slightly, and his hand landed on Vsevna’s. After a moment of hesitation, he grabbed onto it, squeezing it gently. Vsevna squeezed back. And almost as if that gave them permission, they both relaxed. Henrik couldn’t help but move a bit closer. And Vsevna put an arm over him. And eventually Henrik felt his eyes finally slip closed.

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

The sun was starting to dip towards the horizon when Marvin and Jameson climbed out from below deck. Chase and Jackie had stayed in pretty much the same place all day, though Jackie had gotten up to help around the ship. Chase merely watched, trying to figure out what the sailors were doing. Amabel and Quentin ran around a little, asking the Phantoms questions. Or, well, Quentin asked questions. Amabel just stuck by his side and listened. But by now, the kids had both been tired out. Now they sat next to Chase, one on either side.

“How are you two doing?” Chase asked. “It was a busy morning, wasn’t it?”

“Mm-hmm,” Quentin said. “So much...”

Amabel nodded.

“How are you, Amy?” Chase asked softly. “Are you feeling overwhelmed? You’ve talked to a lot of people and it’s sort of noisy.”

She nodded again.

“Do you want to go down below decks? It’s probably darker and quieter down there.”

After a moment, a third nod.

“Alright, let’s go.” Chase stood up. “Quentin, you want to come, too?”

“Mm-hmm. It’ll be boring without Bellie.”

Chase helped the two kids to their feet and walked over to the grate in the center of the deck that led down into the space below. It was open, and the three of them walked down the stairs into the small area. This was mostly filled with supplies for the Phantoms. Crates of food and barrels of water and all sorts of miscellaneous supplies. Apparently they had weapons on board, too, but those were mostly kept in hidden compartments up on deck, beneath grates and trapdoors. So they could be easily accessed in case of a sudden fight. Hanging between these stacks of supplies were hammocks.

“Oh, Chase.” Marvin was down here, holding Draco in his arms. “Here you are. I wanted to go see you, actually.” Jameson peeked around from behind Marvin and waved.

“Hi Marvin, Hi Jameson.” Chase waved. “Yea, Jackie told me. Something we... have to do?”

Marvin nodded.

“Alright, just let me get these two into some hammocks to rest,” Chase said.

Amabel was already trying to climb into one herself, but it was hanging a bit high for her small ten-year-old build. She gave up and looked over at Marvin and Jameson, waving at them. Then she gasped. Nudging Quentin, she pointed at Draco. He gasped as well. “Kiiiitty,” he said.

Marvin blinked, then gave an awkward little smile. “This is Draco,” he said. “You both saw him earlier.”

“Can we pet him?” Quentin asked. Amabel raised her hand, ready to pet but waiting for permission.

“Gently, alright? Only along his back.” Marvin bent over so the kids could have better access. They carefully started running his hands along Draco’s back. Draco’s eyes squinted in response and he started to purr. “Aw, he likes you guys!”

“I liked when he got big!” Quentin said excitedly. “How did you do that? With magic?”

“Uh… yyyyep.” Marvin nodded slowly.

“I didn’t know you could do that, by the way,” Chase said. “When did you figure that out?”

“I was talking to Jameson about that earlier,” Marvin said, and Jameson nodded in confirmation. “I... didn’t really figure out how to do that. I remember reading theories about spells that would do that, a long time ago when I first summoned Draco, but apparently the exact ways of using those spells had been lost. But back then, I just... reacted instinctively. I reached out to Draco with my magic, and... we started... sharing magic? I think? I fed him some of mine, and it made him bigger.”

Amabel’s eyes widened. She whistled and balled her hands into fists, shaking them around.

“That means she’s really interested in this,” Chase explained, smiling a little.

“R-really?” Marvin’s eyes widened in turn, and he laughed. “It is interesting, isn’t it? When I was little, I did that fist-shaking thing too. I, uh... stopped, though. My parents said it was disruptive.”

Amabel looked up at Chase, a bit concerned.

“Well, it’s not,” Chase said firmly. “As long as you were careful and didn’t hurt anyone or break anything.”

Marvin shook his head. “I didn’t.”

Amabel smiled. She turned back to the hammock and started trying to get in again. “Here, let me help you, Amy,” Chase said, giving her a little boost.

“Help me, too, Dad!” Quentin said, grabbing the edge of the neighboring hammock.

“Alright, alright.” Chase grabbed him by the waist and lifted him up into the hammock. “If you guys need help getting down, shout for it, okay? Someone will come running. Or they’ll get me if you’re not comfortable.”

“Thanks, Dad.” Quentin smiled. And Amabel did, too.

“Okay.” Chase took a deep breath, and looked at Marvin and Jameson. “Let’s go upstairs to talk about this.”

Marvin nodded. As the three of them walked up the steps, he said, “Apparently on a boat you say you’re going ‘topside.’ Different terms.”

“Really? Strange.”

As the three of them reached the deck, they saw Jackie talking to Henrik, who looked... a bit shaken. His eyes darted side to side, and Chase briefly wondered if he was okay. “Hey!” Marvin raised a hand for attention—or tried to, at least, since he was still holding Draco.

How do you manage to hold him for so long? Jameson asked, looking at the cat. Cats are smaller than dogs but they’re still fairly heavy.

“Practice,” Marvin said.

Jackie gestured for the other three to come over and join him and Henrik by the side of the boat. They did, and Draco finally had enough of being held and wiggled out of Marvin’s grasp, trotting across the deck over to the mast, which he immediately started scratching. Marvin gave a little “heh” of a laugh then turned to the others. “Alright. I’m going to tell the two of them about what happened.”

“O-of course,” Henrik said.

“What happened?” Chase repeated.

He told me that something very unusual happened to him after we were separated, Jameson said. But he didn’t explain beyond that.

Marvin nodded. “It was... surprising. And... a lot. I’ve already explained to these two.” He gestured at Henrik and Jackie. “But I think it’s more important that you know. Especially you, Chase.”

“Um... okay.” Chase couldn’t keep the nervous edge out of his voice. “What is it?”

“I-I didn’t leave you guys in Suilthair intentionally,” Marvin said. “I-I really didn’t! I wouldn’t have!”

We know, Marvin, Jameson assured him.

“So... why did you leave?” Chase asked.

“Because of Draco.” Marvin pointed to the side, where Draco was still scratching the mast. “This is going to sound unbelievable. But it’s all true.” He took a deep breath, and started telling his story. About appearing in the Wyldwood, trekking through it, reaching that blasted heath, and having a conversation with the ghost of the first King of Glasúil.

“He... S-Samuel—K-King Samuel—” Chase stammered. “He—wants me... to see something in the Wyldwood? A-and he’s—the Elders, they’re—they also want that? Wh-what?”

I had no idea my vision would attract so much attention, JJ said, a look of awe on his face. I knew it was important, but... the Elders? A spirit? They’re getting involved?

“I-I can’t believe—” Chase shook his head. “Th-this can’t be—”

“Sam was very clear,” Marvin said. “Jameson’s vision has to come to pass.”

“Why?” Chase whispered. “I know that defeating the King is important for the kingdom, but... the Elders only get involved if something is serious. Have you heard that old story? From back before the kingdom was united, about the clan chief who... did terrible things to the people he was supposed to protect.”

“Terrible how?” Henrik asked, morbid curiosity on his face.

Chase shook his head. “Along the lines of torture. I-I don’t want to get any more specific than that. I heard that story when I was ten and it scarred my mind for life. But the point is, the Elder In The River ended up getting involved. They waited until the chief was crossing a river, and then made the water rise up around him, grabbing him and drowning him.”

“Holy flames,” Jackie said. “No, I’ve never heard that story.”

“Look, my point is that the Elders only get involved when something is very wrong,” Chase said. “When there’s a great affront to the world. The King is a tyrant, but why is it important enough for the Elders to guide me all the way across the island?”

Jameson’s eyes widened. He looked over at Chase. It’s not about the King.

“Huh?”

It’s about the spirit possessing him, Jameson said. After all, that’s the one being the tyrant. That Jack you know is the true King, and he’s trapped. Didn’t we agree that the spirit was unusually powerful?

Chase inhaled sharply. “Yes... we did...”

“The Elders are stepping in to stop this possessive spirit?” Henrik asked. “Ah, what is the word for one of those? There is a name for them, yes?”

“Spiolash,” Chase said. “But we don’t usually use their name. It might draw their attention. Possessive spirit is fine.” He paused. “Those possess people sometimes, but... they don’t usually give them magical abilities. W-we saw the King control lightning. That’s not something a spirit can do. This one... is unusually powerful.”

“Unnaturally powerful,” Marvin agreed. “You’re sure about this, right? The possession?”

“I am absolutely sure,” Chase confirmed. “It’s the only explanation.”

“I suppose it would explain why the King suddenly changed...” Henrik mused. “It seemed like one day, not too long after his coronation, he started enacting harsher policies quite suddenly. If he truly was possessed... it would...” He trailed off, eyes wandering over to the side, like he was following the path of a bird through the air.

“Schneep?” Jackie prompted.

Henrik snapped to attention and shook his head. “It would make sense, that is all I am saying.”

Chase glanced at Henrik, concerned, but decided to brush it off for now. He probably just saw something in the sky. Back to the current business. “So... I-I have to... go into the Wyldwood... journey for a week... a-and eventually learn something to help defeat the King?” he asked, his head spinning just hearing this.

“And I have to take you there,” Marvin confirmed. “I know the way. It’s burned into my mind. The rest of you—”

“What, you think we’re just going to let you go into the Wyldwood by yourselves?” Jackie asked. “Just the two of you? What if something happened?”

Chase tried to remember everything he’d learned about the Wyldwood from stories. It was a place where the magic of the world rose up, like water forming a well. The Fair Folk and other magical creatures were said to reside there. He vaguely remembered a theme of trickery in the stories about the place. Things not being what they seemed, but in an ordered sort of way. An organized chaos. “Y-yeah... that... that seems like a bad idea, to just go there alone.”

Marvin frowned. “Sam said to keep the group small. That it would be easier to pass through that way. To keep from... attracting attention.”

Then only a handful of people will come with us, Jameson said.

“Jair? You want to come too?” Marvin asked, surprised.

Jameson nodded. This is about my vision. I want to know what’s so important in that blasted heath. What could possibly help Chase make that vision a reality.

Chase laughed, staggering backwards. “I—I can’t believe this. I-I just can’t believe this. I—I—” He shook his head. “The dreams—The Horned Elder One really is guiding me. Guiding me to... to defeat this spirit inside the King. I...” He could only laugh again. “Why... me? I-I’m nothing special.”

“There must be a reason,” Henrik said. “There must be something about you that the Elders saw promise in. Some reason you will be the one to defeat him.”

“I... I guess.” Chase sighed. “But I... can’t see it.”

“You’re a good man, Chase,” Jackie said gently. “Maybe that’s all that’s needed.”

“Maybe...” Chase said, not bothering to hide the uncertainty in his voice. “Well... in any case. What are we doing now?”

“We’re going back to the new main camp,” Jackie says. “It’s on the Cliffs of Feall.”

“Really?!” Chase raised his eyebrows. “You forgot to mention that. Isn’t that place bad luck?”

“I... never heard anything like that,” Jackie said slowly.

“Me neither,” Marvin added.

I vaguely remember hearing something along those lines... Jameson said, brow furrowing in thought.

“It must be a legend local to the mountainous areas,” Henrik said. “The Jairsolas family had their claim at the base of the Northavens, yes?” Jameson nodded in response.

“If I’d known the place was bad luck, I wouldn’t have told everyone to camp there,” Jackie muttered.

“Vsevna said that the word ‘feall’ is a word that once meant betrayal,” Henrik said.

“Well it’s too late to move now,” Jackie said. “Everyone is settled. Anyway. We are going there. It’ll take about four days... or technically three and a half, since we’ve already been sailing for a while. Once we get there, we will set off for the Wyldwood. A small party of us, I can imagine we wouldn’t want more than seven or eight. Definitely less than ten. Marvin will lead the way.”

“We might need to prepare for that,” Henrik said.

“Whoa, hey, we can’t have all of you head into the Wyldwood!” Chase protested. “You three are the leaders! You can’t all go on a dangerous mission!”

Henrik, Jackie, and Marvin exchanged glances. “Well... we’ve already done that, coming here to rescue you two,” Jackie said. “What’s a bit longer? I’m sure the Phantoms are functioning fine without us.”

Chase shook his head. “We’ll talk about it more on the way. Sounds like we have a bit of a journey. But really, only four days? It’d take a week or more across land.”

“That is the power of the waterways, I suppose,” Henrik said, shrugging.

“I guess.” Chase stood there, looking out at the passing bank. “Uh... now... what?”

“I, uh... don’t know,” Marvin said slowly. “We talked about the quest we have to go on. That’s... all I wanted to say.”

“The quest.” Chase laughed. “That makes it sound so... official.”

“I don’t know a better word for it,” Marvin said, shrugging.

“We just go about our business until dinner, I guess,” Jackie said. “We’re still pretty close to Suilthair so I don’t think we should stop to camp for the night on the bank. So we’ll sleep on the boat. But there aren’t enough hammocks below, so some of us will have to sleep up on the deck in our bedrolls...”

As Jackie continued, Chase’s mind slowly drifted away, thoughts returning to what he just heard. The legendary King Samuel, the Green-Eyed King, the one who first united the island and founded Glasúil... still existed as a spirit. And wanted to speak to Chase. And the Elders... they’d been guiding him towards this the whole time, hadn’t they?

...Why?

He wasn’t anything important. He wasn’t a hero. He was just an average man. Anyone else on this ship would probably be better for this quest than him.

But here he was. Stuck in the middle of all this. It felt like so much. 

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

Chase managed to claim a spot in the hammocks below deck by virtue of his kids not wanting to move from the hammocks they’d gotten into earlier. The others all stayed up on the deck. Well, Henrik got to stay in the cabin with Vsevna, which caused Chase to raise his eyebrows. He wanted to say something like “oooo, what’s that about?” but Henrik looked... bothered by something. So he thought it was better to leave it alone. He went below deck and chose a hammock by the ones Amabel and Quentin had claimed earlier, and slowly drifted off.

When he next opened his eyes, he was having another draísling.

It seemed the garden was a thing of the past. He was back in that regal-looking hallway that he’d been to last time. The one that looked like it belonged in the castle when it was normal. And at the end was that pair of heavy-looking grand wooden doors, open and waiting for him. The deer with the golden antlers stood in the doorway. It looked at Chase, tilting its head. And then it turned and pointed into the room with its antlers.

Chase nodded back and walked forward. He knew what to expect.

The throne room was the same as the last dream. Tall stone pillars and a green carpet that ended at the dais at the far end of the long room. On the dais was the carved wooden throne with green cushions and three gems at the top. And in the throne, Jack. Slumped over, chained to the chair. He looked up as Chase approached, blue eyes brightening with some emotion. “Chase. I-it’s... it’s good to see you again. You got out of the city, didn’t you?”

“Y-yea.” Chase walked up the dais, kneeling next to the throne like he did last time. “How did you know that?”

“Thalia told the King,” Jack said. “And... I saw.”

“Wait... y-you saw?” Chase’s eyes widened. “Do you mean—you still see everything that the King does? Everything that your body goes through?”

“I experience it all,” Jack confirmed. “I just don’t have any control over it. I’m like... a passenger in a carriage.” His eyes glazed over slightly. “I can look out the window, but someone else has the reins of the horses.”

“Elders,” Chase whispered. “I... I didn’t realize... i-it didn’t... really sink in until now. That’s... truly horrifying.”

Jack smiled darkly. “You get used to it. But... it is.”

Chase shook his head. “I-I swear, Jack, I’ll help you. I’ll find some way to get rid of that spirit. I-in fact—”

“Don’t say anything,” Jack snapped. “He can hear everything in here, remember?”

“Right.” Chase had reached that realization at the same time. “I’ll just say... we’re working on it.”

“Thank you.” Jack hesitated. “Chase, you have to know something,” he said hurriedly.

“Huh? What?”

“He’s coming after you,” Jack said. “He’s coming after you personally.”

A sudden burst of wind pushed Chase backwards. He cried out and grabbed onto the armrest of the throne.

Jack grabbed his hand, squeezing it tight, eyes wide. “He’s coming after you now, Chase! He’s following you! He’s going to—”

And then the wind kicked up again and Chase fell back, his hand slipping out of Jack’s hand as he fell off the dais—

And then he was awake again, gasping for breath in the middle of the night. Jack’s warning echoed in his head. Jack knew everything the King did. He knew what he was planning.

Chase scrambled out of the hammock, falling to the ground with a yelp. He got up as quickly as possible and ran for the stairs leading up onto the deck. It was still dark. He had difficulty finding the others, but eventually spotted them, three bedrolls in a cluster by the cabin door. “Guys!” he shouted, bolting over, nearly tripping over others on the deck. He knelt next to Jackie’s and started shaking him awake, and then Marvin and Jameson.

“Hmmwha?” Jackie blinked.

“What’s going on?” Marvin mumbled.

Chase? Jameson signed sleepily.

“I know it’s the middle of the night, but this is important!” Chase said. “The King is coming after us.”

“Of course he is,” Jackie said, confused.

Chase shook his head. “No, he’s doing it himself. Right now.” He could see the others’ eyes widen in the hint of light on the boat. “He’s going to personally make sure we don’t get far.”

Jackie sat up straight. “Well... we’d better move fast, then.”

Chase nodded. They had to get to the Wyldwood before the King could catch up. Before the King could stop them from learning whatever it would take to defeat him.

The race was on.

[ongit0]

Could you please do headcanons for Tso Lan please?

Hi and of course I will! However, I’m not sure what kind of headcannons: general head cannons on Tso Lan, platonic, family/stroge, etc.

Maybe it was just me overthinking but um, i wrote them all. I am so sorry 😀

🌕 He lives on the moon, or at least once lived on the moon. The most isolated demon among his siblings.

🌖 He gives me eldest/ first born siblings that are so tired of the family. Or whatever you can call a “family”from those demons. He doesn’t live on the moon to be isolated. Oh contraire, he doesn’t mind company. Unlike his brethren who all work solo, Tso Lan will not be bothered to who accompanies him as long as they share the same wavelength or intellect. He will question yours or others but never question him. The insectoid demon’s ego isn’t as large in size to his 16 feet stature but he is considered to be the wisest. It’s nearly impossible to get on his bad side.

🌗 He doesn’t see Jackie Chan as someone to take seriously compared to how strong Tso Lan is to mortals. He only sees a thorn at his side. None of the other Chans mean anything to him. He seems neutral to the idea of sharing; whether it be defeating Jackie with Valmont alone or not or the idea of ruling Earth with his siblings.

🌘 He doesn’t dislike humans, he doesn’t seem to want to kill them – he’s more into watching them run like ants as their world shrivels or floods. He doesn’t insult Shendu’s host but insults Shendu. In kinder words he stops Shendu from talking any further and just wants to bypass him. The man just wants the moon and see Earth crumble or be left in ruins for his siblings to toy with – doesn’t seem all too interested in killing them though.

🌑 Back on the idea of company, Tso Lan would most likely be keen on the idea of having human servants much like Shendu when he has his palace in China. However Tso Lan would only choose highly respected individuals or at least smart or fond of his field of interest. He has seen the stars pass by the moon, watched asteroids almost collide with Earth. He will gladly answer any questions you ask him of the moon, what he could gain from staying there and all the folktales he laughed at such as the man in the moon being kind when kids were unknowingly stare at a demon. He doesn’t seem to care who his followers or company may be – child, elderly, demon, human, he doesn’t judge as long as you don’t say or act foolish in order to annoy him much like Shendu.

🌒 His robe reminds me of a Confusion Robe with the dark blue-indigo trim, the visible overlapping red layers. He might have been into Confusionism:The long hair of respect and honor to the family, especially as the eldest sibling, the robe, doesn’t seem to be as murderous as the other demons.

🌓 However his views on Confucianism are rather tilted. He seemed interested in the view of what little “morality” these humans speak of yet oppressed their people. He would probably poke fun at them but chose it for status. He only has 2 sisters who are more than capable to defend themselves, possibly defeat Hsi Wu, Earth or Wind Demon. He’ll turn the other cheek when it comes to the less fortunate humans that are forced into foot binding and servatitude to appease others.

🌔 He won’t hate you for tagging along but just don’t stand too close to him. Unless you are in one of the 5 relations to him then consider yourself lucky to even be noticed by him.

P L A T O N I C - B o n d

🌕 I’ll start off with the Confucianism part from earlier. If you are a woman/transitioning/nonbinary who is going through the harsh treatment but managed to strike a conversation with the Moon Demon then consider this offering. He will always be looking forward to make an empire on the moon for himself with human servants – join him and be bound to him and his empire for all his eternity to leave these conditions. Consider yourself a missing person, an entity long forgotten or never even existed once you live on the moon. Any human essentials you thought you would need would disappear so you’re duty 24/7 and any waking hour is purely devoted to serving the demon. Prove your undying loyalty to him.

🌖 Regardless of your gender, you and the other servants will be treated the same, never referred by name but as a head count. His punishments don’t have any warnings, prepare to be tossed out the empire to suffocate in the freezing silent sky around you with no one to hear your gasps or screams, or be fed to Po Kong or Dai Gui.

🌗 If you happen to be pleased enough to listen to or answer your questions about the moon, perhaps the stars during his strolls through the moon or occasional walks to Earth then he will view you more than a servant. You will be his minister, a jump much higher than you expected from being what you were once. He still believes in the Confucianism beliefs; servant/ruled, minister/ruler and friend/friend. You are by his side through every change and discussion to change the moon in larger capacity or just to enjoy strolls together. Maybe even see Earth in ruins or venture to another section of a library. In any case of danger one of his 4 arms will drag you away, scolding you later when you two are alone to be more aware of your surroundings.

🌘 He’s still the serious demon you met him as but he isn’t as uptight as he was.

🌑 He will take hide and seek a bit too seriously and make the whole room float just to find you. Last time it took him too long to find you under a bed, holding onto the frames. He jokingly blames you for being smaller than him which makes it difficult.

S T R O G E - F a m i l y

🌕 Maybe you were a younger forgotten demon, easily sealed away. You are weaker. You might have been created before one of the many demons before you but you will be considered the youngest for being weaker.

🌖 Being Confucius to some degree, Tso Lan will always keep you in check so you never cross the line with him or any of your brothers. His view to you will be of what an older sibling sees the youngest; annoying, unbearable but protected. His beliefs stad with the “elder/younger sibling” category. He will expect high respect and obedience on your part. His only role is to tutor and put you as a priority. If you piss off Bai Tza or annoy Po Kong then that’s on you. He can do so much. He is willing to share the world with his siblings so he will most certainly do the same for you.

🌗 He will call you a fool for playing hide and seek but still look for you no matter how many times he will find you annoying.

🌘 Any mistake you make he will lecture you along with the other Demon Sorcerers who will all compare you to Shendu. It’s best to just do as they all say and avoid any idea of betraying them. He and the others will keep you away from Po Kong to avoid being eaten. Also from Xiao Fung because you’ll easily be blown away.

🌑 He’ll keep you around until you are strong enough to take a part of earth – a way to say “waiting for you to row up and fly the coop”. Tso Lan and Tchang Zu take turns “babysitting” you – pushing you away at a distance but also trapping you in his hair so you don’t run out of sight.

He’ll most definitely leave you upside down for being disobedient, maybe even just for fun because how small of a demon you are compared to him.

(I’m sorry if I overdid 😭 I wanted to mention Eros or maybe Pragma but didn’t bc I wasn’t sure what head cannons would be okay

[gldenhrs]

                                (—) ★ spotted !! ALANA BISHOP on the cover of this week’s most recent tabloid ! many say that the 23 year old looks like MADELYN CLINE , but i don’t really see it. while the  HEIRESS / DANCER  is known for being  ENCHANTING  my inside sources say that they have a tendency to be  MANIPULATIVE i swear, every time i think of them, i hear the song SUGAR BY ROBIN SCHULZ .

*   ◞  ╰   general   .

full name : alana grace bishop . nicknames : lana , lani birthdate / zodiac sign : somewhere in september during libra season . birthplace :  los angeles , ca . sexual orientation : heterosexual . family : sienna rossi ( mother , deceased )  &  elijah bishop  ( father , 54 years old ) siblings :  aiden bishop ( brother , 26 years old ) pets : four months old labradoodle named harvey occupation : heiress / dancer . life goal : idk , she doesn’t really have any she got it all fnerhfbd . love language : physical touch . + traits  :  enchanting , confident , coquettish , high-spirited , passionate , affectionate  &   courageous . - traits  :  vain , manipulative , stubborn , abrasive , selfish , hypocritical   &  dramatic . aesthetic :  lip gloss , long hours at the dance studio , blowdried bouncy hair , lipstick stained coffee mugs , matte nail polish , satin sheets , impulsive shopping sprees , romantic comedy binge watches , day drinking , lingerie as outerwear , chanel eau tendre perfume sprayed at the nape of her neck and wrists , hardwood mahogany floors , bubble baths , half naked pictures , rose water , iced matcha , laughter floating through a room , missed calls , diamonds , getaway vacations . muse inspo :  andie ( how to lose a guy in 10 days ) , brooke davis ( one tree hill ) , rachel green ( friends ) , buffy summers ( buffy the vampire slayer ) , cher horowitz ( clueless ) , stassi schroder ( vanderpump rules ) , jackie buckhart ( that 70s show ) , lorelai gilmore ( gilmore girls ) , blanche devereaux ( the golden girls ) , phoebe halliwell ( charmed ) , gabrielle solis ( desperate housewives ) , cassie howard ( euphoria ) , maddie perez ( euphoria ) , hanna marin ( pretty little liars ) 

*   ◞  ╰   quick history   .

the bishop’s have been a name in the world for decades now , after grandad bishop started a company back in the early 20s ,  &  all the way now to elijah bishop who after co-founding one of the  ( now world famous )  best computer softwares out there ( think microsoft )  , became the youngest billionare at just the ripe age of 22. 

at the time , during during one of his business trips in europe , elijah fell in love with an italian beauty named sienna  &  nearly renounced his business altogether for her if she hadn’t moved to the states back with him . a couple of years later , the pair welcomed their second child  &  according to press at the time , the moment elijah held his daughter he called her  “ the most beautiful girl in the world “ .

if it weren’t for their very public life  &  elijah’s area of work , they could’ve been considered a normal family , after all , alana was spoiled rotten  &  adored by both her parents .  ( tw: death )  but it all changed following the fatal car crash which made sienna tragically pass away ( think princess d kinda accident )  . alana was only a toddler when the accident happened , but even to this day she can almost distinctly remember the media coverage following it  &  the relentless paparazzi .  

frankly , losing her mother left a huge mark on alana’s life , because no matter how big of a daddy’s girl she was , or how she had a great older brother to grow up with , or how many greats nannies she had , nothing  &  no one could’ve replaced that void . perhaps , the same could’ve been said about elijah , who since never remarried . sure , he dated a few women over the years but none of them were serious enough to be officially led into the family .

as alana goes , being the youngest  (  the most resembling their late mother ) definitely had it perks. she was spoiled rotten since day one from both her father , learning at a very young age that manipulation was the greatest art of them all   &   how a few tears on her face can weaken the man’s heart .

by the time she was 5 years old, alana was already a face almost every household had known. after all, she was gorgeous little kid with locks of beachy blonde hair that accompanied her father on many social events. so it came to no real surprise that she grew up to become one of the typical  “ daddy’s trust fund baby “  out there. 

but , something that  did  shock the world was the fact she was actually v v gifted when it came to dancing, something her father picked up on v early on  &  decided to enroll her into the best schools money could buy so by the age of 7, she was also a competitive dancer ! 

by the time she was 16 , she was already featured in a few music videos !  ( think maddie ziegler in sia’s music videos ) 

at 18 , she finally landed her big break ever when j.lo asked her to be her backup dancer on tour .  her dancing career sky-rocked at that point  &  later on went on to perform for many famous musicians including britney spears , drake , rihanna , justin bieber  &  more !   

right now , she’s in the process of filming another season of dancing with the stars ( her star partner is a wc plot idea !! )  !  

*   ◞  ╰   personality & dating life   .

generally speaking , alana is a v v charismatic person . she can light up any room she walks into with her smile  &  it’s something she fully takes advantage of .

loves being around people  ( read : social butterfly )  ! !  she thrives on companionship  &  often surrounds herself with people she deems interesting who can introduce her to new  things .

when it comes to her friends , she’s extremely loyal  &  9/10 times would do absolutely anything for them . like you need a place to stay ?  you need money ?  your rep is going down the toilet ?  you need someone to pick ur drunk ass at 4pm ?  she’s ur girl .

stubborn as a mule  &  very passionate about the things that interest her .

great listener  ( read : gossip queen )  but for the love of god do not tell her your secrets bc she will spill  ! !   although , people do because she looks trustworthy but … like … nah …

extremely coquettish  &  a big attention ho. 

 loves beautiful things  ( read : vain ) including herself ! !  you can catch her posing for pictures anywhere she goes or spending lots of time pampering  &  showering herself with beautiful clothes , accessories  &  other  “ beauty accouterments “  that catch her eye .

known for being flighty ? ?  while she’s lots of fun to be around because she will make you think you’re the most beautiful , loved  &  special human alive …. when it comes to actual commitment she’s not exactly the most reliable person around ? ?   so she dates  A LOT  but the second things get too serious she’s like  “ lol bye “ esdfnsjfg .

another one of her downfalls is that she’s definitely a little too much self-absorbed ? ?  like when things don’t go perfectly right for her she feels as though the world’s ending  &  everyone is against her ? ?

hates being alone - likes to do everything with someone by their side, and ideally that someone is an object of affection aka she LOVES being loved .

*   ◞  ╰   connections  .

childhood best friends , best friends , ex best friends , friends through association , friends only for the cameras , enemies , exes on bad terms , exes on bad terms , someone she’s currently “ dating “ aka wrapping around her finger ,  etc ! !  

also let me just add some actual plots that i have written  HERE  .

tbh this list was extremely vague bc i’m down for anything so just hmu or like this so i can come bug u  :~)