#if i was the wizard and i saw people were calling me EVIL and blaming me for FUCKING UP THE SCHOOLS REPUTATION

[extravalgant]

i really think this one deserved its own post. this just in: local journalist gets jumped

[tealincubusspeckles]

Perspective Motivations

⚠️TRIGGER WARNING: desperation, emotional pain, aftermath of “parents”⚠️

➼ Miss Laws once said Mika is supposed to represent us. Hence, why Mika is a blank slate. But "we" have no real backstory except for a strict father who uses corporal punishment, a school bully, and two best friends.

In the Seduce Me series Mika or "we" was/were simply an unfortunate bystander who walked in on the aftermath her grandfather caused when he was exploring the limits of his magic. I firmly believe the Seduce Me series was NEVER about Mika. It was the story of an old human wizard testing his powers, 1 young demon boy who saw an opportunity to leave constant abuse from his father and the castle, 4 demon brothers who went to support and protect said brother in the new unknown environment of the human world, and 1 demon princess who wanted to save her kingdom.

➼ Mika/we are just the camera. We are the side character to a greater story. A story beyond the walls of Seduce Me. But that is the limitation of some dating sims. Probably those who played any of her other games can fill in this

...larger story of a Brute, Incubus, Dragon Demon named Aomaris who manages the demons of the Abyssal Plains with his wife named Mika by his side??

➼ I believe that Mika is a dreamer or adventurer at heart just like her grandfather was. We know from Seduce Me Asks tags that Mika was an A plus achiever meaning she is book smart. We know from the Seduce Me 1 games David Anderson, her father, dislikes Mika having interest in anything outside of academics. The conversations between the family are probably about school or nothing. In Seduce Me 1 Suzu says something that Mika can date if she wants. I am not sure if Suzu means that Mika can find someone new after being out of the dating scene for awhile? Or was Suzu was saying that Mika who never had a partner before should start being open to finding someone? I have a belief that someone raised to focus on academics could have secret boyfriends only their best friends know. But I remember Miss Laws saying that Mika was like pansexual or something? So, I assume that Mika has not met anyone that caught her heart in her life yet. To be honest, if I was to write Seduce Me, I cannot see how Mika could fall for bloody strangers who appeared in her new house. In fact, the only reason I can see that Mika had for simply dating one of the incubi brothers was because the brother/s saved her from Malix twice.

➼ Diana only appears to be the enemy in Seduce Me 1 if you go after one of the boys because you/Mika get in the way of her using a peaceful negotiation tactic. I am not the only one who thinks becuase of an AO3 post called "Mirror" by krys-loves-otome (KrysImeteriHikari). Additionally, Diana has more of an excuse written for her actions than Mika does. Another Tumblr user wrote something about how Seduce Me 2 seemed mainly like a Diana apology.

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 DIANA

Diana was a leader of the rebellion and as a leader people pick apart every move you make. As a leader your choice affects many lives. As a leader you carry the regret, responsibility, and death of others on your shoulder.

Remember, Diana lost her family because the boys did not return with her. Because MIKA got in the way of her original plan to make a peaceful truce with The Demon Lord. But we can't blame Mika for screaming at Diana for breaking in nor can we blame Mika for not asking Diana or the boys to plan against The Demon Lord. Since Mika never truly knew ANYTHING about the boys until Diana showed up. Let's not forget that The Demon Lord is an asshat who will kill everything in his way of getting complete control over the Abyssal Plains! The Demon Lord is true evil simply because he has the strength to do so and what good are morals if you can just kill opposition!

Diana is prideful just like Sam but that just the way of being a demon. Don't forget that humans are merely slaves or food sources to demons in the Abyssal Plains. In Seduce Me 1 K probably told Diana to talk with Mika and not harm her (unlocked in a secret ending I believe in Seduce Me 1). Diana could have easily killed Mika to get to the boys who were being housed in the mansion. But Diana is not evil at least not whole heartedly.

Now the following are just theories why Diana would consider harming Mika. Possibly the magic signature left behind on the portal when the boys crossed over is like the protection spell Mika has on her. If that is the case Diana might believe that it was Mika who helped the boys cross over and who is currently protecting them. Diana's route is probably the first time Diana finds Harold's grave. Maybe Harold's grave has a magic signature on it that ties all the pieces together for Diana. The pieces that Mika is simply a victim of circumstance and not the enemy.

Diana is also a victim of circumstance The Demon Lord is fighting and killing everything in his way of getting complete control. Diana was offering herself in marriage to the sons because in marriage the sons will gain control over the lands peacefully. Diana can't offer herself to the Demon Lord since he has many wives of his own and has already threatened to harm the Lilith Kingdom in the past. In a way by offering herself this way was sort of stupid since the collateral to her leaving means her kingdom is now at jeopardy and we see this outcome in Seduce Me 2. Then again at the time the authority in Lilith was not Diana, but her parents.

Diana did not want war between the kingdoms, so she offered to go after the boys since she want to secure protection of her kingdom through marriage. As a princess, not yet queen, she was already acting on behalf of protecting a bunch of other beings. To her, Mika is in the way of this peaceful plan.

Meanwhile, Mika wants the Love Interest for herself without figuring out why the boys are needed. Without asking the boys why they ran away from the demon world. Without suggesting that the demons stick their prideful heads together and work out a plan. She just screams at Diana to get out of the mansion and threatens Diana back. She does not consider that the boys are all adult men who are 20 and older! She does not consider that Diana is the boy's problem and not her own. (Let's not forget to mention the boys ESPECIALLY JAMES are highly aware of the responsibility they left behind. They are all technically in line for a throne.)

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 SAM

Sam never wanted to leave the demon world because he was a fighter, prideful, and he was confident in how to survive in the demon realm. Heck he even stole food to help others survive in the harsh environment. He only left because Damien and Erik wanted to leave the weight of their reputations. Matthew was on the fence, but he saw an opportunity to spread his wings from taking care of his mother. By Sam saying he wanted to go, he convinced James to go along with them. Sam left everything behind in the demon world. His home, his friends, and his way of life. He left the Abyssal Plains for the unknown in the human realm to be the support for his brothers because he needed them just as much as they needed him. Sam did not gain anything from the human world except a small vacation. Sam had to learn to feed off small fights that barely made him use his powers or making excuses to hold hands or kiss someone.

Sam is like a soda bottle you shake then open just a little bit, the bubbles threaten to spill out, and as you drink the bubbles burn your throat. Sam is used to using his energy around the castle or maybe a nearby forest. But, in the human world he cannot do that. Rather he must learn to go about things differently. Sam regrets coming over to the human world because HIS choice means the brothers are leaving the throne with targets on their backs. Leaving a position of power, say being a King, can have you killed if you try to come back. Meaning if Malix was not after them then at some point The Demon Lord could have sent an assassin after the boys. For something tells me The Demon Lord had not even an ounce of affection for his own sons.

In Sam's past he was a fighter because being a royal to an asshole king makes you a target. As a fighter blind rage does not get you far. This idea is something you either learn from teaching or through practiced experience. Sam although he may seem like the kind of person to ONLY punch things first, he isn't. In Seduce Me 1 Sam is prideful, but we see he does not jump into every fight around. When Erik and Matthew have a little tiff of who cooked the food he doesn't interrupt. He waits to see what happens; he says something after James calms the two. Meaning Sam doesn't egg on a fight just monitors it. Kind of like a referee. But if he feels that his pride is hurt, Sam is quick to threaten to start fighting someone. If you take the bait Sam will carry out his threat IF he deems a fight is worth it. Since although Sam finds it hard to apologize if told what he though was an attack on his pride wasn't, he will back down. As in the scene at dinner table Matthew was probably offended by Mika laughing, so he simply asks Mika why she was laughing to get clarification. When Mika responded Matthew was confused how Mika enjoyed watching them pig out but was glad, she was happy. Unlike Sam who SEEMED to get aggressive and angry to shut her up, so HE did not have to feel embarrassed.

Then again, I am the person on Tumblr who wrote a short were Mika was thinking how Sam only dates her because of obligation. In Sam's route he says something along the lines of 'if it wasn't for us, you wouldn't have been a target'. Sam clearly thinks that if he had not come to the human world and entered the mansion that Mika would be safe from harm. But it was Mika's choice to house the boys because she wanted pass on the kindness her grandfather gave her (and if you choose, Mika can face off with Malix after the House Party). SECOND, if one of the boys gets into Mika's favor, they secure a roof over their heads. Remember that Matthew even tells Sam off by saying "I haven't slept in a bed in weeks". Think about it if someone offers you there home you would try your best to be a good guest. However, what happens if your host starts to view you as more than just a guest? What would you do in Sam's shoes? For Sam Mika's house was just a detour along the way in the human world. Why would he settle for her when with his powers alone he can get anyone? " Leave!Me!Alone!" by AnotherCloudyDay is a fan-fiction on AO3 where Sam tells James that he is was getting bored of Mika as he was using her for energy. Let's be real humans are a food source to demons and Mika is willing to offer the boys energy when she shows interest in them. Making Mika an easier target than casting a spell on a stranger.

Mika had NO reason to house the boys but because of the kindness her grandfather showed her she wanted to pay it forward. The "romance" between Mika and anyone in the Seduce Me series seems forced. Mika was put in dangerous life situations to “bond” with her love interest. Meaning Mika basically "owes them for saving her". The boys probably play nice with Mika because she put a roof over their head in a way. Both situations do not equate to "Hey let's date"! BUT that is the downfall of most otome games.

Demons are powerful. The brothers are sons of The Demon Lord which makes them overpowered in comparison to most demons. Demons use their powers to fight each other to the death or use their powers for convenience. By taking the demon out from the demon realm they lose their way of fighting/releasing stress since humans who fight for no reason are typically arrested. Also, using magic in a place that doesn't have a lot of magical energy to replenish their reserves would drain them and worse can kill them. Meaning instead of snapping their fingers to fold clothes, the demon must now manually learn how to do each task. That's like sending physical letters or washing and hanging up all clothes by hand if technology gives up. It's a hassle because it takes time to do things manually. Demons in the Seduce Me universe who cross over to the human realm get to see the wonders of smelling grass for the first time. Since demons are too busy blasting spells at each other or are at war for territory. Rules of the demon realm are different than in the human realm. For a lot of human rules are based off logic and emotion! Demons CAN feel emotions, but they rely more on instinct, logic, and power. Coming to the human realm means learning new customs in each place you go to, so it's very confusing. Sure, demons will respect whatever they learn. Say you want to be called something specific, done! Demons themselves identify by many things all the time since spells can help them shape-shift for a short while.

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MOTIVATIONS

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James

• Next ruler of a demon kingdom. Brought up in demon ways but is cordial with other beings as a necessity for negotiations. Dealing with humans is mere child's play in comparison. 

• His Father was a person who probably used force more than empathy. If James did respond in kind way to others, he would be considered weak not only by his father but his mother. 

Personally as I said (in past posts) I view James as a bit entitled or rather used to people listening to his decisions. I do agree James has a good head on his shoulders but he was raised in a “household” of cruelty. Meaning if he ever feels that someone is out of line, he KNOWS how to put them in their place by force.

• His mother as we know can learn quickly and passed it on to James. Meaning she would drill her son to know as much as possible, so he did not have time to have dreams.

• 💛 James calculates events based on physical facts/knowledge. Although he knows there are possibilities, he tends not to indulge those thoughts too much (unlike Matthew). 

• James has a stone destiny for the throne. Aka Luck is always on his side because his mother scarified something in exchange for her son to rule.

I believe James gets burned with the cross in his route in Seduce Me 2 because James breaks the stone destiny with Mika. Although, I am not certain if he breaks the stone destiny when he is married to Iridessa.

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Erik

• The second born and probably only a couple of months, days, or maybe even minutes older than Sam.

• Raised to talk his way out of problems.

• People or even his mother probably kept telling him how beautiful he was so his mother pushed him to use his looks to his advantage.

• Erik is not dumb or a dog like rumors say. Those are just beings who felt hurt that Erik either refused to deal with them, felt he cheated even though they clearly had not verbally agreed to date, or people who were just jealous that he got attention by being good looking.

Let's be real if a person looks hot or pretty to some degree people talk and sometimes spread false rumors

• Erik could live apologetically but people would see him as fake. So, Erik had to learn to take all commentary in stride or ignore it. Legit this man has a false reputation, and he really cannot do anything about it. Since if people believe you to be a certain way even if you try and show them otherwise someone else will keep testing you until you snap.

• As a person raised in the public eye Erik learned quickly that even if he were to confide in someone word can spread quickly. He learned to wear masks to hide his true emotions. Probably lies to himself more than others.

• Erik is the loner of his brothers and probably is not really close to any of them. More like they all tolerate him, and he does the same for them. There are SUPER RARE occasions where they back him up though. VERY RARE.

• Erik is the eyes and ears to people who talk about his brother.

James probably uses Erik's verbal intel to his advantage. Sam knows the gist of rumors and hates when Erik or Matthew rubs them in his face. Erik is probably the King of Petty followed by Matthew. Damien knows the mental motivations of all beings so Erik can't really hide from him.

• Erik probably used magic as an escape from his mother's instructions. As she seemed to have other plans instead of having him study.

• ❤️ Erik's mother just wanted him to learn how to be a pretty accessory on the arm of a queen or king. Possibly because she wanted that for herself so why not train her son to do that? Heck she probably considers training her son to be a suave sliver tongue is a gift to anyone in the future who meets him. She never considers how Erik feels and makes him deal with ridicule alone. Probably she thinks it will help make him strong emotionally.

• Erik is part dream stalker demon, but demons rarely sleep in the demon world since the magic is sufficient to keep them up and running for days. Hence Erik’s power (entering dreams) was not used much. As a dream stalker Erik would have the ability to sense when people are daydreaming or when they have premonitions about something. However, I believe his limit is that he must be sleeping and in the same room with them. Miss Laws has stated that ERIK did NOT interrupt Mika's premonition dream (you know the one where Damien wakes Mika and says "You can't control your dreams"). What happened was this was Mika's FIRST Seer ability AWAKENING. Her ability was telling her Erik would "physically" be able to wake her from dreaming since he is able to move independently from the dream sequence. This could also be because Erik is more of the healer and support of the brothers. Aka Erik is not in the front lines so he would be the person to protect anyone who is struggling.

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Matthew

• Written off as just a young guy who probably does not know much.

• 💙 Matthew calculates every move he makes even calculating scenarios that are nearly impossible. Matthew is imaginative and creative. But that does not mean he is unprepared. Legit ask him for something BOOM he got that or maybe a mini version of that. You are goanna do that? Well, what if he throws this? MATTHEW IS THE ULTIMATE PLOTTING MACHINE. 

In Seduce Me 1 Matthew offers Mika a peace offering in the form of making Simon Tabby. However, I believe that Simon Tabby became twisted because possibly the idea of making toys reminds him of his mother he left behind. Secondly, Matthew offers to help Mika with the house party after Mika offers the house. Matthew sees the opportunity to have shelter (he even hushed Sam for it) and seeks to return her favor. On a warped note it is possible that Matthew’s actions are simply getting Mika to give him attention so he can swipe her energy easier. Recall this man in Seduce Me 1 when he is summoned to fight Malix. When Matthew showed up, he blocked his eyes from being seen using his hood so he can scan the room and then targeted the devils with deadly accuracy. 

• *Evil Matthew is just Simon Tabby with the goal of taking over the Abyssal Plains. Meaning he is ruthless, clever, and maniacal.

• Matthew is like Erik in that he is the eyes and ears of the castle. However, he uses what he knows for what most would consider pranks. But truly his pranks are just practice traps for the future. 

• Matthew knows how to hide his true intentions like a pro. It's scary. So long as you are not his enemy you will be fine... probably...

• *In Seduce Me 2 Matthew is written off as plainly insane like My Little Pony Pinkie Pie SMILE version. But Matthew is not. THE effects we see on Matthew is Madness. According to Miss Laws Madness is like a disease in the demon realm that is incurable. Those with madness are mainly driven by bloodlust and throw rationality out the window. Matthew's madness is as far as I know hereditary. Think of Matthew's madness like reoccurring anxiety.

Matthew feels happy in his new life with Mika. He feels regret that he left his mother to (basically) fight depression alone. He left his mother behind with The Demon Lord, HIS FATHER. A father who does not even care for his mother. His mother who gave up pride yet was still cast aside. These thoughts have probably been eating Matthew up for the past 2 years and now the Madness is getting worse. Matthew is getting possessive over Mika because his mother was once thrown away. Why should Matthew let go?

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Damien

• Touch starved and love starved baby.

• He lost his mother because of his innocent remarks about her thoughts. Her thoughts where she recalls every horror the Demon Lord does. Damien makes her relive every moment. Damien blames himself for her death EVEN THOUGH he could not understand the weight of her pain at the time. To convince him he is innocent is highly unlikely...or rather would take a lot of work.

• He does have a level of self-respect for himself. After all his mother did not kill him back then.

• His comfort and worth come from his brothers. James was often busy studying but would step in as the voice of reason and guidance. Erik was probably busy playing pretend and lying to himself that Damien tends not to hang around him much. Sam and Matthew were probably the people he grew up with and hung around the most. Sam being a person who is more likely to react first instead of letting every thought truly sink in. Matthew was probably one of the quickest to adjust to Damien's abilities. Truthfully almost strange how well Matthew could hide things from Damien. Damien would often attribute this to Matthew always having to many thoughts going on or that some times it seemed that Matthew did some actions on autopilot. Regardless, His brothers were kept in check whenever Damien would speak their thoughts out loud. Sometimes it was fun, other times it was a learning experience, and on some days they would attempt to block him out.

• He was not given access to reading or writing materials. So, once he learns how to do these things, he wants to share what he can do to everyone. Kind of like a child who knows how to ride a bike for the first time.

• Damien is extremely grateful for coming to the human world and takes in everything like a kid in a candy store. He knows beings can be bad and situations can be horrible. But his life is JUST NOW looking up so he cannot help but be a bit positive right?

• Damien is truly a man with nothing to lose except if he gains favor with Mika. Then Mika becomes his everything. To even dream of cheating when he saw the effects of abuse on his mother is unthinkable. Why would he put another person through emotional or physical pain? Damien is not like his father. Heck he is pretty sure none of his brothers want to be like their father either, at least he hopes so. Damien is the yandere of the group and loves you.

• Damien is the kind of guy who seems to like the normal things like walking through a crowded city, sitting in traffic, watching scenes pass by in a window, eating food, doing laundry, and wondering what else is there to explore. Let him explore life if you happen to find him somewhere strange just remind yourself, he is a big boy he'll come home. Remember this dude is 20.

• 🖤 When Damien left the demon world, he mostly gave up everything. Except his powers. If there was even ONE chance, he would take it if given the OPPORTUNITY to choose. Damien NEVER ONCE had the PRIVILEGE of having a choice. Who is Mika to take that away? (Diana could have phrased her deal with Damien better not going to lie but hey short time and well idk the writing was weird).

[melisenta]

Savtepi, Erkhan's Daughter

Chapter 1

"It's a lovable animal," Savtepi said. “But you know there's an epidemic around. Why waste magic on creating a new animal if it is doomed to death?”

Aramas laughed and sat down on a chair upholstered in green velvet.

“I, as the chief wizard, can do more important things than the diseases that the irikhs send to you, ordinary people,” he replied, stroking his gray beard.

"But you're a good wizard. You have determined your own destiny – to help people. This is Hilesar's will”.

“I'm not breaking it.”

“Inaction is the antonym of help.”

Savtepi stood in front of the window. Behind the stained glass window could be seen the hospital where the sick were suffering. The symptoms of the new disease were terrifying: first people's hair fell out then their skin began to peel off. In the end, the person died of pain or infection. Sometimes even animals suffered. So in one settlement all cows and chickens died out. No one survived from the people either. Doctors did not understand the cause of the disease and how to treat it. They could only alleviate the suffering with the help of painkillers. The asters– good wizards, were also looking for a way out, but not a single spell or potion blinked.

“They say that in one village people killed all the irikhs...” Aramas whispered, examining the tall figure of Savtepi.

“How could they do that? Can people kill a spirit?”

“Asters and Kele are the same people. We just have a little more knowledge… Someone taught them how to destroy the irikhs.”

Savtepi was looking at one point – a light smoke from the hospital furnace. A thousand thoughts flashed through her mind, like thousands of harnessed chariots. The chariots carried everything at once. She thought about the dying people, the burning forest in Terel, the leaking roof in the orphanage… She had so much to do. It is difficult to be the daughter of Erkhan, the ruler of the state.

“Kesseni," Aramas called softly to her (that's how they addressed Erkhan's daughter), "I feel that an irikh is flying here…”

Savtepi went to the landscape on the wall and pushed it away. There was an iron lever behind the painting.

“Be so kind, give me the allhearing ear.”

Aster held out her the ear, carved from pure transparent quartz, and Savtepi disappeared into the darkness of a secret room.

The guest nervously knocked on the window. Aramas let him in and sat down in the armchair.

“Would you like tea or coffee?” Aramas smiled.

“Help us, aster,” begged Irikh. ”Protect us! People have learned how to destroy us. Someone gave them sandora root. They pour his powder into the corners of the house. The toffees stumble upon it, and dissolve...”

“Oh... yes, I’ve heard about it… But you understand that they do it for a reason.”

“No! Believe me, we are not sending this disease. This is the first time we ourselves have seen such a terrible illness... My innocent friends are dying for nothing!”

"Innocent?" Aramas raised an eyebrow.

The Irikh fell silent. He remembered all the people he had killed, all the epidemics of smallpox and plague that brought the irikhs to villages and towns, dying children and mothers, old men and brave warriors. His gray hands dropped down wearily. It was an old spirit. His claws grew long and twisted. One of the four ears went deaf a hundred and twenty years ago. The fangs turned black and started to fall out. Aramas saw grief, shame and fear in the round black eyes. He felt sorry for the elderly spirit, even though he had brought a lot of evil to the human race.

“What do you want from me?” aster finally asked.

“Tell the people that we are not to blame for their trouble.”

“They may not listen to me... You can see for yourself that people stop believing asters.”

“But they will definitely listen to Savtepi... She is the most powerful daughter of Erkhan in history. People will listen to her and stop killing us. At least for what we didn't do...”

The secret door opened, and Savtepi herself appeared in the shadows.

"Thank you for the compliment, irikh," she said proudly.

The guest bowed slowly.

"It's a brave act to ask for help from enemies," Savtepi continued.

“Irikhs and people are not enemies! Not all irikhs send curses, some just peacefully coexist with people. We have no other place to live except houses. We have nowhere else to go.”

Savtepi sat down opposite Aramas. He looked at her questioningly. Kesseni nodded approvingly–the allhearing ear showed that irikh was telling the truth.

“Fair enough,” smiled Savtepi, “I'll go to your village and talk to the residents...”

Irikhs fell to his creaking knees.

“However,” Savtepi looked at him sternly, “I cannot guarantee your safety. The Irikhs don't obey me. Let Esrel protect you.”

“We do not obey Esrel!” Irikh raised his head, “We do not obey anyone!”

“In any case, the murder of innocent victims is unacceptable. There should be no injustice on my land. And now go to your village, irikh.”

The guest hastily backed up to the window and disappeared into the starry sky.

Sefi, a new animal created by Aramas, flew out from under the table.

“How ugly!” she squeaked.

It was a miniature purple-colored creature, something like the chimera of a bird and a lizard.

“Yes, my dear,” the creator stroked Sefi, “but appearance is not the main thing. For example, Ashapatman is an old woman with small hair, one eye and one golden tooth. Is she beautiful in your opinion?”

“Nah," Sefi drawled.

“Exactly. But Ashapatman helps to resolve disputes, reconciles people, good and evil spirits. Without it, the world would have been destroyed by a huge number of wars long ago.”

“Hmm,” thought Sefi, “I didn't know about her. This is only my second day on earth. So I was right!”

“How much this creature still needs to learn,” sighed Savtepi.

"No more than you and I," Aramas remarked, "when will you go to that village?"

“Right now.”

“It's the middle of the night. You need to rest.”

“I'll rest when the epidemic is over…”

[runningtwiceasfast]

I’ve Never Not Wanted You

This is my contribution to the Hinny Ficfest organized by the wonderful @clarensjoy - Thank you for organizing and for the fantastic contributions. I haven’t published a fic in awhile and this one is very not proofread and rough but I wanted desperately to contribute something. I hope you don’t mind this one is under the wire! Eventually I will post a cleaned up version on AO3, but in the meantime I hope you enjoy!

Prompt: “I’ve never not wanted you”

“You have to come to dinner tonight. Mum has invited another suitor and we are all going to want to watch the bloodbath.” Ron’s mouth was full of curry, so it was hard to make out exactly what he meant, but the gist was an invite for dinner.

Harry scowled in response and pushed his food away from him, suddenly having lost his appetite.

“When will Molly stop? After Ginny has killed someone?”

Ron gave a barking laugh. “Maybe. It’s hard to stop a determined Weasley though.”

“So, who is more determined? Molly to marry Ginny off or Ginny to resist?” Harry wondered out loud, still staring at his noodles as if they had offended him.

Shrugging, Ron reached over and helped himself to Harry’s discarded lunch. “Mum just wants Ginny to be happy. Wizards marry pretty young in our world and everyone else has mostly coupled off,” Ron pointed his chopsticks at Harry. “Well, except you mate.”

Harry frowned.

“I’ve been busy,” he finally said, and Ron gave a series of nods.

“Of course. Ridding the world of unstoppable evil and what not. I’m sure that’s why Mum is focused on Ginny and not you.”

“That’s a bit of a double standard, isn’t it?” Harry asked, irritated at the way the conversation had changed. The last thing he wanted to talk about was his sorry dating life. Or Ginny’s for that matter.

“The entire wizarding world is a double standard innit? Best to just make the best to just make the best of it and enjoy the show.”

Harry merely gave a small noise of assent, turning back to his noodles to find them completely gone. He looked up at Ron’s sheepish look.

“I thought you were done.”

_*_*_*_*_*_*_

Avoiding the floo network entirely, Harry opted to apparate to the Burrow, pausing outside the familiar door to collect his thoughts.

Using his free hand, he smoothed down his shirt and jeans, his other hand grasping the bottle of red wine Arthur had mentioned he liked the last time they had dined together at Grimmauld Place. He rose his hand to knock, but the door swung open before his fist even made contact.

“Harry! You’ve come to save me!” Harry was rather unprepared for the sight of Ginny, fresh faced and beautiful, greeting him at the door and found himself unable to say much of anything other than a grumbled hello as he shoved the bottle of wine at her.

She was wearing a simple black cotton dress that hugged her waist and flared out at the bottom. Her hair was down and bouncing around her shoulders. He gestured stupidly at his ears.

“You are wearing the earrings.”

She gave a tinkling laugh and pushed her hair behind her ear so he could see more clearly the diamond studs that he had given her last Christmas. “I’ve practically never taken them off. They are gorgeous. Probably one of the best gifts I’ve ever gotten.” She smiled at him sincerely and he felt his heart rate accelerate uncomfortably.

“I’m glad you like them so much.” He smiled back at her and they remained that way, smiling at each other silently before Ginny was called rather abruptly from the other room.

She gave a grimace in response. “She’s invited Ernie Macmillan over can you believe it? Him and Hermione are currently fighting over some horribly boring historical fact in the other room and she expects me to marry this man?” She rolled her eyes and Harry gave a weak laugh in response.

Learning up, she gave him a light kiss on the cheek, her hand resting on his arm. “It’s so lovely to see you, Harry. Please feel free to rescue me from inane conversation as you see fit.”

She floated away and he stood there struck rather dumb for a few moments.

Following the trail of voices from the entryway, Harry entered the living area to various greetings. It appeared he was one of the last to arrive and he grabbed a butterbeer and joined in where Ron and George were huddled together by the fireplace.

“I think the formula is off. People shouldn’t be incapacitated. Just unconscious for a short while.”

George shook his head. “They are fine if you just poke them—Harry! You’ve come to join us!” George gave him a broad smile that Harry couldn’t help but reciprocate.

“Is this for something you’ve already invented, or you have created something else to wreak havoc on the wizarding public?”

“Harry my dear boy, I’m not sure why it can’t be both,” George said sincerely causing Harry to snort into his bottle.

Ginny’s laughter brought their attention to where she was standing in the center of the room with Ernie.

Ron frowned. “Maybe mum actually found a winner.”

They watched as Ginny laughed again at something Ernie said, her hand placed on his arm.

“Apparently he works with Percy. Probably in the Department of who has the biggest stick up their arse,” George laughed to himself.

Harry frowned as he watched Ernie with his patrician features and pedigree push a tendril of crimson hair behind Ginny’s ear causing her to blush.

“What did that bottle do to you mate?” Ron joked and Harry looked down at the tight grip he was maintaining on his butterbeer. He loosened his grip and stretched his fingers.

Molly’s appearance in the room quieted most conversations as she herded everyone into the dining area where amazing smells were wafting. It required gymnastics in order for everyone to get into the magically enhanced room.

“No no Ginny. Don’t sit there. Sit over here by Ernie,” Molly smiled warmly at the tall boy. Ernie smiled back in a way that made Harry’s hand flinch towards his wand, imagining all the new curses he had recently mastered in his second year auror training.

“Mum it took me straining my hop to even get a seat. I’m going to stay right here,” she turned to Harry who suddenly realized how close she was. “You are ok with that right Harry?” Her eyes widened slightly and he managed to cotton on.

“Er yes sorry Molly. Ginny is fine here.” She gave him a brilliant smile and nudged his shoulder with hers.

“I think I’ve lost some of my brain cells.” Harry had to resist flinching as he felt her breath brush his hair as Ginny leaned over and whispered to him.

He gave a tight-lipped smile. “You seemed rather fond of this one,” he whispered in return to her causing her to wave a hand at him dismissively.

“I’m just trying to be nice. If I hex this one she will just bring in someone worse. I heard Malfoy was keen,” she gave a dramatic shiver, her impish smile telling another story.

Harry felt a rush of relief he tried not to analyze. “Molly can keep on bringing by all the unsuitable young men of the English wizarding world if it means I get to sit next to you.” The words are soft and filled with way too much feeling and for one frightening heartbeat he wished he could take them back.

She remained silent, grabbing a dinner roll form the passed tray and fidgeting with it between her hands. “Harry, you shouldn’t say such things to me,” she finally said mildly, refusing to look at him. “I might start getting ideas.”

Impulsively he reached for one of her hands, forcing her to drop the bread. He pulled her hand under the table and squeezed it gently.

They sat with hands clasped under the table, but otherwise ignoring each other, answering direct questions but otherwise staying mostly silent. Harry thought he saw Ginny’s face was rather shiny and he wondered what he looked like. Probably pale white and sickly.

“Ginny, how goes the season? Should I be placing my Harpy’s bets now?” Ernie asked Ginny directly causing her to drop Harry’s hand and inhale shakily.

“Oh, I’m just reserve for now. But a bet on the Harpies is always a safe bet,” Ginny gave a wicked smile causing the table to collectively give a ruckus laugh.

“Ernie, you know Ginny is the youngest reserve chaser in the league,” Molly boasted, and Harry noticed Ginny resist rolling her eyes.

“Mum, I’m so glad you support my career choice now.” The words were biting but the soft look in her eyes made Harry think Ginny actually meant them.

Harry stole a look at Justin. To his disgust the boy was looking at Ginny rather starry eyed. It isn’t like Harry could blame him; a similar look frequently graced his own face.

He was rather sick of it all though. The constant parade of unworthy men being thrust at Ginny.

The rather petulant thought that Molly had never asked him to be one of those unworthy men flew through his brain unhelpfully. Perhaps everyone had given up on the possibility of him and Ginny ever making it work.

They had made it work though. For a few blissful months they had been something new and delicate and untouchable. Frequently Harry thought back to some of those times. Of walks around the school, hands clasped and of breathless goodbyes leaving them both wanting and late for class.

Ever since the war Harry had been trying to pick up the pieces, but it had been hard and often he had found himself rather aimless. Without even realizing it, he had found that he had pulled back on all the ties that bound him-rarely coming by the Burrow, never seeing friends other than around the office and busying himself with work and tracking down rogue Death Eaters.

He had finally looked up and while he had stayed in the same spot, everyone else had moved on. Ron had ditched the aurors and found his calling with George in the joke shop. Hermione had proven herself immensely capable apart from him in the Department of Magical Law Enforcement.

And Ginny had graduated from Hogwarts and immediately absconded to Harpy training camp.

Unfortunately, in all his chosen one lessons with Dumbledore, the wise wizard had never told him what happens after the bad guy has been slain. What happens to the chosen one when he’s done being chosen?

In this instance it seemed as if Harry was doomed to sit there and watch as everyone he loved moved on without him. Bitterly he looked down at the roast on his plate, moving the discarded pees around with his fork.

“You gonna finish that?” Harry looked up to find he was almost done at the table, Ron leaning over him, fork in hand.

Scowling, Harry pushed his plate towards Ron who tucked in happily. “Ernie left a bit ago,” Ron said, in between bites. Harry’s eyes snapped up at that.

“Why would I care whether or not Ernie had left?” Harry snarked at him, frowning when Ron paused his eating to give Harry a knowing look.

“Either way, Ginny is in the backyard if you want to talk to her,” Ron scooped up some mashed potatoes. “Or not.” He shrugged.

Harry pushed away from the table and paused in front of the living room. He could hear the rest of the Weasley’s making their normal noises and he hesitated before joining, his eyes straying to the backyard where Ron had said Ginny was.

Whatever gravitational pull Ginny had made the decision for him as Harry turned and slipped out the door.

She was silhouetted against the starry sky, the light of the moon reflecting off her hair in a way that made his throat dry. He approached her slowly and she turned at his footsteps, giving him a warm smile.

“I came out to get some fresh air,” she told him unnecessarily and he plopped down next to her, his arm brushing hers. “These family gatherings can be a lot,” she said, her voice so quiet he could barely hear her, but that’s probably more to do with the quick sound of his heartbeat in his ears.

Feeling that same impulsive urge he had felt during dinner that let him hold her hand, he lifted his arm up and over her shoulders. They both froze at the contact, but before he could regret it, she leaned in, setting her head on his shoulder.

“Where did Ernie go?” Harry asked eventually, that familiar monster roaring in his chest.

Ginny leaned even further into his side. “He got an owl, had to go into the office.” Her hair brushed against his neck and he caught a whiff of her comforting flower scent that hadn’t changed since sixth year.

“Did you want him to stay?” He asked her, the darkness giving him some sort of courage.

She shook her head. “Not really. He wasn’t as bad as the other’s, but he’s not really who I want,” she said, voice low and husky.

Finally, she sighed deeply and pulled away, pulling her knees under the skirt of her dress and into her stomach.

“At least he seemed to want me,” she mumbled, and Harry took a deep breath, tired of always waiting for the right moment.

“I’ve never not wanted you, Ginny.”

Amazingly, the words didn’t sound weak or pathetic out loud like they did in his head. Instead, all he felt was relief.

The sound of a sharp intake of breath was the only indication that he had been heard. Summoning his Gryffindor courage, he looked up at Ginny. She was staring at him, eyes wide.

“You want me?” She asked finally, incredulously.

He ran a hand through his hair nervously. “Watching your mum parade those boys in front of you has been a special kind of hell for me Gin. I miss you.” They aren’t the most eloquent words, but they are the ones he had.

“Then why didn’t you say anything, you stupid arse?” Ginny finally spit out and Harry let out a choke of laughter.

“I’m an idiot?” He told her helpfully and she shook her head, a fond smile on her face.

“Can you come closer Harry? I need to smack you,” she laughed, and Harry obliged, scooting back towards her until there was no space between them, his body tingling in anticipation.

“So no more set ups from your mum?” He asked, moving his face toward hers so close he could feel each breath she took, could count the freckles on her face from just the soft light of the stars.

“Harry I can confidently tell you I will no longer let my mum dictate my romantic life from here on out,” she giggled and Harry fought the smile that threatened to climb up his cheeks.

“Harry,” she said, drawing his attention back to her and her lips.

“Yes?”

“I’ve never not wanted you to kiss me,” she said before closing the small gap between them, her soft, sweet lips under his. Suddenly all the pining and scowling became worth it as he rolled them over, her body under his, molding to each other as if reminding him that they’ve done this before.

As he kissed and kissed her, lips trailing down her neck, he sent a silent thank you to whatever work emergency had claimed Ernie’s attention. Tonight and forever Ginny was his. And he set about showing her over and over.

_*_*_*_*_*_*_

“Ernie Macmillan? Really?” Ron took a noisy bite of his biscuit.

“I don’t know what you are talking about, Ronald,” Molly tutted, waiving her wand so the corresponding feather duster would wipe down the windows properly.

“I just want you to know that I know what you did,” Ron shrugged, gesturing out the window Molly was cleaning to where Harry and Ginny were clearly engaged in some unwholesome activities.

Molly smiled at the image the pair made before closing the curtain and turning back towards her youngest son.

“Don’t you have your own home?” He lifted his hands in surrender before leaving the room. Molly watched as he disappeared from view. Really, what was she supposed to do? Let them pine away for each other forever? No, she did the right thing. She did feel a little bad poor Ernie would have to go all the way into work to find that emergency cauldron bottom situation wasn’t quite the emergency that ministry owl had made it seem. But the boy had gotten a home cooked meal for dinner so he surely made out alright.

Smiling one more time to herself, a very satisfied Molly Weasley set about cleaning dishes, brainstorming how she might next get Percy to dinner along with that nice young man Oliver Wood.

[jedimaesteryoda]

Brienne’s Off to See the Wizard

I’m feeling a little silly right now, and in that spirit I’ll say that Brienne's journey in A Feast for Crows draws a bit of The Wizard of Oz: a girl dressed in blue travels with three dudes and a dog along a road on a quest to return a girl home. 

Brienne is Dorothy, the protagonist who dresses in blue (armor), and is given Oathkeeper which is sword studded with rubies in place of ruby slippers. At the start, she is accused of killing Renly when she was actually at the wrong place at the wrong time just like Dorothy with her house dropping on the Wicked Witch of the East. Dorothy ends up in Munchkinland of the diminutive Munchkins while Brienne travels through the riverlands which is predominantly made up of smallfolk. Dorothy was brought to Oz by a tornado while Brienne is from the stormlands. Brienne is sent on her mission to return a girl home by Catelyn, the Lady of the North in place of Glinda the Good Witch of the North. 

Professor Marvel: I see a woman. She's wearing a polka-dot dress. Her face is careworn. Dorothy: That's Auntie Em. Professor Marvel: Her name is Emily. Dorothy: That's right. What's she doing? Professor Marvel: Well I, uh, I can't quite see. Why, she's crying. Someone has hurt her. Someone has just about broken her heart. Dorothy: Me? Professor Marvel: Well, it's uh, someone she loves very much. Someone she's been very kind to. Someone she's taken care of in sickness. Dorothy: I had the measles once and she stayed right by me every minute. What's she doing now? Professor Marvel: Well, she's, uh...What's this? Well, she's, she's putting her hand on her heart. Oh, she's, she's dropping down on the bed. Dorothy: Oh, no, no, no. Professor Marvel: Uh, that's it, the crystal's gone dark. Dorothy: You don't suppose she could really be sick, do you? Oh, I've got to go home right away.

Go home, child. You have a home, which is more than many can say in these dark days. You have a noble father who must surely love you. Consider his grief if you should never return. Perhaps they will bring your sword and shield to him, after you have fallen. Perhaps he will even hang them in his hall and look on them with pride . . . but if you were to ask him, I know he would tell you that he would sooner have a living daughter than a shattered shield."

"A daughter." Brienne's eyes filled with tears. "He deserves that. A daughter who could sing to him and grace his hall and bear him grandsons. He deserves a son too, a strong and gallant son to bring honor to his name. Galladon drowned when I was four and he was eight, though, and Alysanne and Arianne died still in the cradle. I am the only child the gods let him keep. The freakish one, not fit to be a son or daughter."

- A Feast for Crows, Brienne VI

Brienne meets people along the way. Elder Brother tells her to abandon her quest, and think of her father who likely misses her while she is away from home just as Professor Marvel told Dorothy to abandon running away and go back home. She also comes across three people and a dog along her quest who end up accompanying her.

Septon Meribald is the Scarecrow. Dorothy meets him in the country where he wants a brain, yet throughout the film demonstrated himself to be intelligent and good on his feet. Meribald is from the country, and at first appears country bumpkin-esque, but actually proves himself to be intelligent with his Broken Men speech. His knowledge of the riverlands also proves to be useful to them throughout the trip.

Hyle Hunt is undoubtedly the Tin Man. Hyle Hunt’s body is covered in the metal of his armor like the Tin Man, and not having a heart appears to describe him pretty well. He calls Brienne ugly to her face when we see him first talk to her. He wants to find Sansa so he can sell her to the Lannisters. When Brother Gillum shows that a horse bit off his ear, Hyle responds by joking about it. When Brienne expresses sympathy for the children at the inn having lost their parents, Hyle’s response is to roll his eyes and mock her for her sympathy. He comes off as an insensitive prick who doesn’t seem very caring towards anyone. However, we are first introduced to him when he defends a smallfolk couple and Brienne from Tarly’s guards, and actually defends Brienne against his boss and liege, Randyll Tarly, which cost him his job. So there might be a heart to him somewhere after all.

Podrick Payne is the Cowardly Lion. Pod served lions, the Lannisters, and with a name like Payne with his distant cousin being Ser Ilyn the King’s Justice one would expect him to be more aggressive and intimidating. Yet, he is described by every POV character that meets him as timid, with Sansa noticing he blushes and stares at her feet every time she talks with him. He is clearly shy, but he rams himself into Mandon Moore just as he is about to kill Tyrion, and then pulls Tyrion to safety from the raging inferno on the Blackwater, saving his life. He later helps Brienne against the undoubtedly dangerous Bloody Mummer deserters. The boy can be shy, but deep inside is brave.

She finally comes across one figure who has gained repute in the land for his ostensible magical ability.  

“Oh, no, my dear, I... I'm a very good man - I'm just a very bad Wizard”

"The pink pretender, rather. I am Thoros, late of Myr, aye . . . a bad priest and a worse wizard."

- A Feast for Crows, Brienne VIII

Brienne eventually meets a man called the "red wizard," Thoros and just as the Wizard was just an ordinary man using smoke and mirrors, Thoros’s magic is usually just pyromancer tricks. Even he admits he isn’t really that much of a wizard or a red priest. But Thoros is a man who spent the entire war aiding the smallfolk of the riverlands, so while not much of a sorcerer, he still is at heart a good man. 

Auntie Em: You just had a bad dream.

Dorothy: But it wasn't a dream. It was a place, and you and you and you ... and you  were there . . . But you couldn't have been, could you?

Auntie Em: We dream lots of silly things when we...’

Dorothy: No, Aunt Em. This is a real, truly live place. And I remember that some of it wasn't very nice. But most of it was beautiful. But just the same, all I kept saying to everybody was, 'I want to go home.' And they sent me home.

“This is an evil dream, she thought. But if she were dreaming, why did it hurt so much?”

. . .

This time she dreamed that she was home again, at Evenfall. Through the tall arched windows of her lord father's hall she could see the sun just going down. I was safe here. I was safe.

. . .

"I saw him. In the woods."

"A fever dream, my lady."

"He said that he would hang me."

"Even dreams can lie. My lady, how long has it been since you have eaten? Surely you are famished?"

-A Feast for Crows, Brienne VIII

At the end, she wakes up from a dream, and while in the film, Dorothy is finally home, and her journey was revealed to be a dream, Brienne is far from home in the cave of the Brotherhood without Banners and she wakes up to a living nightmare. Brienne is reunited with the Lady of the North, though unlike in the film with Glinda, it is not a happy reunion, as she is accused of betrayal and her ruby studded sword given to her is used against her as opposed to helping her. 

“Bring me the broom of the Wicked Witch of the West.”

"She wants her son alive, or the men who killed him dead," said the big man. "She wants to feed the crows, like they did at the Red Wedding. Freys and Boltons, aye. We'll give her those, as many as she likes. All she asks from you is Jaime Lannister."

-A Feast for Crows, Brienne VIII

After finding the titular wizard, Dorothy in the story has to go on a side quest to complete her goal of returning home. Brienne finds the red wizard and is now told to prove her loyalty by bringing to them in place of the broom of the Wicked Witch of the West, Jaime Lannister, the twin brother and Lord Commander of Cersei’s Kingsguard sent to pacify the riverlands.

“I’ll get you my pretty, and your little dog, too!”

The queen regarded him coolly. "I had not thought you so niggardly. The king I'd thought to wed would have laid a wolfskin across my bed before the sun went down." Robert's face darkened with anger. "That would be a fine trick, without a wolf." "We have a wolf," Cersei Lannister said. Her voice was very quiet, but her green eyes shone with triumph.

-A Game of Thrones, Eddard II

As for Cersei, well, she is associated with the color green, is very vindictive and cruel, often associated with wildfire and comes from the westerlands. She also starts at the beginning of the story by having a girl's innocent dog, Lady, killed. Her subordinates are referred to as monkeys with Tyrion, her Hand, being called “a twisted little monkey demon,” Lancel, who served as her sword, is compared to “a mummer’s monkey” and she thinks of Falyse Stokeworth, whom she tried to have kill Bronn, as a “grasping monkey.” Cersei is also looking for the same young girl Brienne is, someone she blames for the death of a relative, and had imprisoned in her castle.

Just who could Cersei's parallel be?

[ask-fantasy-sanders-sides]

Well ain’t that one hell of a wake up call :)

      They all settle into Virgil’s room, sitting on the circular mattress of foreign, soft material. 

      After Roman sets him down onto the bed, Virgil pulls him down by the arm, manhandling him into a seated position so Virgil can drag himself into his lap. This is not the first time he’s done this, but it still makes Roman blush. (And, the whispers taunting him with the possibility of it being a romantic gesture are not helping, in that regard)

      “So, we need to talk about what happened last night.” Logan asserts aloud, knocking Roman back out of his flustered headspace.

      “First, how did you two get so hurt so quickly??” Patton frowns, “I know we were in dangerous territory, but I was only separated from Virgil and Logan for a few minutes!”

      Then, an onslaught of whispers explaining the situation. 

      Roman catches bits and pieces where he is mentioned, though he wishes he could block his ears to it and pretend the whole thing never happened… 

      “Roman, is that true?” Patton gasps, clutching the sleeves of his cardigan. Roman hates the look on his face — some horrible, gut-wrenching mix of pity and horror — but he doesn’t look away. A Paladin faces the consequences of his actions. 

      Roman nods,

      “It…was my fault. I’m sorry.” 

      Roman is keenly aware of the shift against his chest, of Virgil’s gaze on him, but he can’t look down to meet his eyes. He barrels on, unable to stop his rambling, 

      “I was being reckless and petty. I put all of you in danger, and I nearly got everyone killed. I-…I killed—”

      “Shut the fuck up.” Virgil grumbles, glaring up at him. Roman snaps his jaw shut, surprised. 

      (I mean, he had expected Virgil to be angry with him, but that isn’t exactly the sentence Roman had been anticipating.)

      “Pardon?”

      “I said shut up! Gods, do you actually believe that?!” Virgil frowns, “That wasn’t your fault. You didn’t put anyone in danger.”

      “I beg to differ.” Logan frowns, and Virgil’s icy glare immediately snaps to him while Roman’s heart turns to stone and drops to his stomach. This was a reaction he had been expecting, but that didn’t make it feel any better.

      “If he hadn’t ran off on his own on some ridiculous quest to slay a monster, none of that encounter would have happened. He snuck away in the middle of the night to confront her after repeatedly being advised against it. He shouldn’t be surprised that the situation went downhill from there.” Logan chides, “He was being foolhardy.”

      “Yeah, running off on his own was stupid, but that doesn’t make what happened afterward his fault! It’s not like he could help it!” Virgil snaps, “And he wasn’t the only one being reckless! Don’t think it escaped my attention that you went hunting around for hag’s eyes instead of the rest of the group! —And you voluntarily made a deal with that bitch!” 

      “There were no better ways to resolve the situation at my disposal. Roman had a brainslug!”

      “Yeah, and you sound like you’re blaming him for it!” 

      Logan is caught off guard at that. 

      He turns to Roman, eyes wide, though his frown is still present. Roman shrinks a little under his stare, and Virgil squares his shoulders, putting himself between the two. 

      Roman realizes with a start why Virgil had seated them the way he did; he’s made himself into a barrier.

      “It’s okay. I get it!” Roman interjects, trying to sound less crushed than he is to get Virgil to back down. He doesn’t want a fight to break out here.

      “No, Roman, wait.” Logan pinches the bridge of his nose, swearing under his breath in Elven, “It wasn’t my intention to imply… —You should take responsibility for running off without a word, because that was irresponsible of you!”

      Roman nods, waiting for the kick… But, instead, Logan gives Roman a soft look. Roman is almost certain he hates this pseudo-guilt more than the anger.

      “You put yourself in danger. That is what I was trying to say.” Logan sighs.

      “I am angry with you for that, but I don’t blame you for what happened to you afterwards. Or Virgil. That was not your fault, that was the Coven’s.”

      …Roman isn’t quite sure he agrees with that, but he gets the distinct impression Virgil will yell at him if he disagrees, so he keeps his mouth shut. 

      Patton gives Logan an encouraging smile, then reaches over to pat Roman’s leg, sighing,

      “Roman, I love that you’re courageous and gallant and all, but you worry us to death when you go out picking fights you aren’t ready for! Logan was scared for you. We all were.”

      “I know why you did it, but you can’t do that again, man.” Virgil nods, deflating slightly. He and Logan share an exhausted look, and luckily, neither of them seem to be angry at the other about the miscommunication. (That’s good, because if Roman had found himself secondhand ruining their friendship, he would cry.)

      “I wish I could promise that I won’t.” Roman frowns, feeling ice run through his veins as he awaits their response, “—I mean, I won’t go running back to her any time soon, but if there’s some other menace out there that I am prepared to handle… I mean, protecting people from evil is my duty, I can’t just let those things be! I tried to warn you before, but I really can’t just leave it alone if I know I could solve the problem!”

      “I’m not asking you to leave it alone.” Virgil groans the words like it pains him, (and honestly, it probably does,) 

      “But I am telling you not to go alone. Not again. We go together, so you don’t end up dead and alone in the woods somewhere.”

      “Agreed!” Patton grins, and Logan nods, 

      “If we can’t stop you, at least let us keep you from getting yourself killed in vain.”

      Roman feels a familiar warmth bubble up in his chest, with the two of them smiling at him like that. He’s not sure if he wants them putting themselves in danger to help him, but damn if he’s not flattered by their loyalty; he wants nothing more than to embrace it. 

      So, Roman nods, barely suppressing his own smile of relief.

      “Now, what happened after that?” Virgil frowns, leaning his head back against Roman’s shoulder and closing his eyes. His breathing is deep and shallow; he’s trying to get as much essential conversation in as he can before he passes out again.

      “You revived me. —Are you guys okay?! No one here hurt you, right?”

      “No, we’re fine~! Some dirty looks, but that was it.” Patton smiles, reaching over to hold Virgil’s hand.

      “We were led here by soldiers who recognized you.” Logan explains, “They led us to your Empress, and she and your Lady helped us with the ritual. The Empress called Eilistraee for aid, and we discussed your…situation.”

      Virgil groans and covers his face with his hand, “Please tell me you didn’t embarrass yourselves in front of them.”

      “On the contrary, I think our conversations were very enlightening!” Logan smiles, completely missing the point. “I have a better idea of what you will require going forward, for our classes. …Though, Eilistraee suggested that we should also find you a Sorcerer for mentorship. And, she had implied that one would find us promptly..?”

      Virgil snaps to attention. He uncovers his face and nods,

      “I know a guy. He’s looking for me. If we’re going to be sitting ducks here for a while, while my body remembers how to function, he should catch up to us. I, uhh…” 

      Virgil coughs, his voice quieting slightly, “I think you guys already…know each other? His name’s Dee?”

      Hearing the poorly disguised excitement in his voice at the idea, Patton and Logan both try not to look agitated… Roman seems pleased, though, and smiles,

      “Mama needs me and Remus to meet her in town, so our groups were going to be converging at some point, anyway! —I told you guys it was fate that we should meet~!! Everything’s coming together!”

      “Wait, I thought Dee was a wizard?” Patton frowns, and Virgil shakes his head,

      “No, that’s a cover. —If we’re all going to be working together, you should probably get used to the idea of him being less than honest. Almost everything that comes out of his mouth is total bullshit.”

      “Oh, we are well aware.” Logan grumbles.

      “Wait, before we get too far from the subject,” Patton frowns, and Roman doesn’t like the sad look returning to his face one bit, “…What were you talking about, before, Ro? ‘Petty?’ What made you sneak off like that?”

      Roman blanches. 

      Virgil must feel him stiffen — or maybe he remembers their short, incredibly one-sided conversation in the woods — and speaks up in his stead,

      “That wasn’t his fault, it was mine. We were going to wind up there regardless.” 

      ...And, once again, he has completely astounded Roman. He needs to stop expecting things from this man.

      “How is that possible?” Logan frowns, just as confused.

      “It’s a long story I’m too tired to be embarrassed about…” Virgil shrugs,

      “I made a deal with Granny a few years ago, to save a bystander. She said she would spare their life, but I would owe her one the next time I returned to her wood. The next time I saw her, she would take a member of my party.” 

      “What?!” Patton and Roman yell in unison, and Virgil’s ears flatten to his head for a moment as he frowns in distaste.

      “And you didn’t think to mention that?!” Roman whines, scandalized.

      “I didn’t expect you to run off!” Virgil elbows Roman in return, then looks up at him, “…And…I didn’t want you to think less of me. For taking the easy way out… That was before I got all fucked up. Honestly, I could have killed her if I wanted to, and been done with all of this. But I was too scared. I’m not…like you.” 

      There is an unexpected, strikingly soft tone to his voice as Virgil admits this. He seems surprised by it himself, after it’s out in the air. Virgil quickly barrels forward, waving his hand dismissively, 

      “Honestly, I’m relieved the one she meant was mine. I would have felt bad if I had gotten someone else damned for my mistake. —It doesn’t matter now, anyway. She killed me; she got her reward.”

      “Not quite,” Logan frowns, “We had to break her claim to revive you. Logically, that should mean the deal is broken, but she may not see it that way. In fact, I would bet that she still considers you to be in debt.”

      “Well, good thing none of us plan on going back into her territory!” Patton smiles, with a less than pointed look at Roman. Roman blushes and nods, but Virgil’s gone stock still. 

      Roman hears his breathing quicken, and though he can’t see his face, Roman can see the slight yellow glow reflecting on his white hair. Virgil grips Roman’s arm, claws digging painfully into his skin,

      "Oh my god. Annie.” Virgil whispers fearfully.

      An onslaught of whispers hits them then, warning of some giant wolf called Jasper (Roman thinks he remembers Virgil mentioning someone like that before, but he wasn’t paying attention) who is apparently gunning for their little nereid. Patton and Roman both pale as Virgil starts to ramble,

      “Annie! Oh my god, she’s gonna kill her! Fuck!! No, no—”

      “No, she won’t.” Logan promises sternly, a flash of magic in his eyes when he speaks. He lays his hand over Virgil’s, and Virgil relaxes his grip, but only slightly.

      “I am going to go get her.” 

      “What did we just say about splitting up?!” Virgil hisses, the Calm Emotions charm just barely keeping hold on him. Logan shakes his head,

      “This is different, and you know that. I am not sneaking off without a word, and we don’t have another option. You are too weak to travel, and if we wait any longer to cross back into the Prime Material, we may reach her too late. Besides, I am the only one of us who can ferry messages back and forth, and I can only do that from outside of the city.”

      Roman is aghast at this, and shakes his head vehemently,

      “Then I’m coming with you!”

      “No you are not!” Logan and Virgil both say — or shout, in Virgil’s case — at once. Logan elaborates first,

      “You are also too weak to travel, and you two are the only ones of us who have encountered Jasper! He would sniff you out immediately.”

      “You’re the weakest and slowest member of our party, and he’s a wolf shifter!” Virgil shakes his head, “He’ll still hear you, and he’ll hunt you down like a newborn deer!” 

      Logan smiles at him. Roman assumes he’s trying to be soothing, but he knows that mad scientist glint to his eyes when he sees it…

      “Not if I cast Silence. Besides, he has no reason to suspect me more than any other townsperson, and the Hag only has her power over the town because she pretends to be their protector. He wouldn’t be allowed to kill citizens at random.”

      “Then it’s settled! Me and Logan will get Annie.” Patton nods, and Roman whines. Logan and Virgil look no less pleased.

      “You will be going nowhere!” Logan frowns, “I can’t allow you to put yourself in danger any more than Roman or Virgil. You are still…ill.”

      “Oh, you did not just pull that card!” Patton gasps, slapping Logan’s arm, (He pulls it, of course, but it still hurts a little,)

      “I’ve been doing just fine this entire trip, and I am a grown man! I can handle being ‘a little ill’!“

      “Patton, I didn’t mean to—”

      “You invited me on this whole adventure because you needed protection, and you knew I could keep us both safe!” Patton huffs, furious, “The last time I split from you three, one of you ended up dead. None of us are going on any side quests or rescue missions solo anymore! I’m coming with you, and that’s the end of it!”

      “Yes, fine, alright.” Logan sighs, knowing he isn’t going to win this one. This just makes Roman more upset, and he shouts in frustration,

      “No! You two aren’t going anywhere without me!”

      “That’s rich.” Logan notes offhandedly, and wow, that stings, but Roman doesn’t have time to be sad about it, because they aren’t listening,

      “I mean it!” Roman demands desperately, trying his best to convey how serious he is without giving up his secret, “You can’t go anywhere I can’t follow you— I can’t protect you! You can’t leave me behind, I’m coming with you!” 

      “No!” Virgil demands again, shaking his head and redoubling his grip on Roman’s arm. It hurts a lot, but Roman is suddenly more concerned with the near-delirious look on his face. His eyes are starting to glow again as he works back up into a panic,

      “No, Roman, you can’t! Not ag— Not all of you.” Virgil shakes his head, closing his eyes tight when he feels the sparks starting to build there. His tone is rushed and shaken, like he’s trying to make sense of his thoughts as he says them aloud, 

      “You’re hurt too, and you still don’t know how to use your sword! You won’t make it out there! You can’t leave me alone, If you leave I’ll— I need you to stay here!”

      …Okay, there is definitely something wrong here. But still, Roman feels that all-too-familiar tug at his core at Virgil’s last statements…

      Roman looks up between Logan and Patton for a moment. 

      They look just as confused and distressed as Roman is, but under that, they…really do look well rested. And he’s seen them in action before; Logan is nothing if not a competent magician, and despite how he looks, Patton is even stronger than Roman is. If any of them could make it out on a last-ditch rescue effort, it would have to be them. With his current state, and everything he’s accomplished lately, Roman’s certain he would be more of a hindrance to the mission then anything… It hurts to let them go, but it’s the only thing he can do.

      “Virgil…” Roman sighs, already knowing the answer, “Are you asking for my help?”

      “Yes. —I don’t want to! I don’t kn—…I’m sorry.” Virgil grumbles while shaking his head, the picture of contradiction. He hugs his legs to his chest, and his eyes open again, though his pupils are still yellow.

      “…Virgil?”

      “You have to stay.” He nods resolutely, “…But I still don’t like this.” he growls, letting his head thud against his knees. Either out of frustration, or because he’s gotten too tired to hold it up.

      “I don’t want any of you to go. This sucks ass. I can’t… I just got back, you know?!”

      Patton scoots over and gives Virgil a crushing hug, which he gladly leans in to. 

      “I know, kiddo. But I’m sure it will all turn out fine!” Patton soothes him softly, “Now we know exactly where to go and where to avoid, and Logan can report back to you guys all the time so you know we’re okay! We’ll just run to grab her and be right back, as quick as we can. In the meantime, you two get some rest!”

      Virgil closes his eyes and hums in acknowledgement. After a bit of silence, he grumbles, pushing himself away from Patton,

      “Roman, can you get me my bags from that drawer? The first one.” He flicks his hand roughly towards the entire left side of the room (which, thankfully, has one only one dresser). Roman does as he’s asked, watching Virgil rifle through his satchels. 

      Virgil pulls out two daggers, both wrapped in leather. He unsheathes one of them, to show off the odd violet sheen to the black metal. Virgil nods to himself, then hands one to Patton. He hands the other to Logan, and mumbles,

      “Take my cloak too, teach. You’ll need it.”

      “What are these?” Patton muses giddily, fastening the blade’s frog to his pack. 

      “Poisoned. Heavily.” Virgil snaps sternly, “The toxin will only take on the first use, and it will kill on contact. Use them very carefully, and do not accidentally cut yourself with it.”

      Virgil leans back against Roman’s shoulder, clearly struggling to stay awake.

      “Jasper is the head of the pack, and the one who gives them Granny’s orders. If he falls, they run back home for instruction. He’s grey with red eyes, nearly five and a half feet tall at the shoulder. You can’t miss him”

      Logan and Patton nod. One of Virgil’s eyes winks open, under no small effort, to give the two’s general direction a very serious stare.

      “If you find him?” Virgil muses, more of a statement then a question, 

      “Kill him.”

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Game Start

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Rules

Most Recent Recap, in case you feel like you missed something!

Available for questions: Logan, Roman, Patton, and Virgil!

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Ohh dear, it looks like we’re splitting the party again! I guess it couldn’t have lasted forever...

This time, though, they’re split into smaller parties instead of solo players, so you will get to see both groups’ adventures!

The only question now is...

Who will you follow First?

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((If you missed the blog announcement, check it here!))

[gingersnapwolves]

The Untamed, a brief summary [part 6/6]

Part One: Sword Wizard School

Part Two:  The Search for the Yin Iron and the World’s Worst Summer Camp

Part Three: The Fall of Lotus Pier and the Sunshot Campaign

Part Four: The Downward Spiral

Part Five: Mo Manor, Hungry Sabers, and Yi City

Part Six: The Hidden Room, Burial Mounds Redux, and Guanyin Temple

Ext, Koi Tower [Lanling]

Wei Wuxian, Lan Wangji, and Lan Xichen roll up to Koi Tower. Jiang Cheng is already there and decides to make it awkward for everyone by asking the Lans to introduce the masked Wei Wuxian, even though a) he knows or is at least pretty damn sure it’s Wei Wuxian, b) he knows that they know it’s Wei Wuxian, and c) he doesn’t know if they know that he knows. Thanks for making me type that sentence, Jiang Cheng.

ENTER A WOMAN WHO SHOULD HAVE GOTTEN A BETTER PRE-NUP

Jin Guangyao comes out. He still has a great smile and he and Lan Xichen are still cute together. But it gets really awkward because, if you’ll remember (and I don’t blame you if you don’t), Wei Wuxian is pretending to be Mo Xuanyu, who is Jin Guangyao’s half-brother who got thrown out of Koi Tower for bad behavior. How bad? Well, apparently Mo Xuanyu had a habit of harassing Jin Guangyao’s wife, Qin Su. Whoops.

Of course, it’s difficult to say whether or not Mo Xuanyu actually did this, since all we have to go on is what people say about him, and ‘maybe don’t believe every rumor you hear’ is like the main thesis of this show.

 Int, Koi Tower [Lanling]

Nie Huaisang shows up too, and throws himself at Jin Guangyao and Lan Xichen because “the old problems are solved, but new problems have arrived!” He is a drunk mess and it’s a little embarrassing for everyone.

 Ext, Koi Tower [Lanling]

Jin Ling is being bullied. Wei Wuxian tells him that he should beat the bullies up, because once you’re an adult you can’t just beat people up anymore and it sucks. He teaches Jin Ling some moves and they have some nice nephew-uncle bonding time, even if Wei Wuxian is pretending to be a different uncle from the one he actually is.

 Int, Koi Tower [Lanling]

Wei Wuxian uses a little paper man talisman spell to sneak into Jin Guangyao’s rooms. His wife is there and she’s upset about a letter she got. Jin Guangyao comes in and they argue about it. She keeps asking if what’s in it is true, and what happened to their son. He keeps asking her who wrote the letter and saying whoever it was only trying to upset her. When she won’t back down or answer his question, he burns the letter and then puts some sort of trance spell on her. Then he takes her into a hidden room behind a mirror.

The room is full of all sorts of treasure, including Wei Wuxian’s old sword, and more important, Nie Mingjue’s head. Yeah, just his head, with blinders over its eyes and everything. It’s weird. Wei Wuxian does a spell called Empathy to communicate with the dead guy.

  Int, Nie Mingjue’s mind [currently Lanling]

We see flashbacks to him first meeting and promoting Meng Yao, who was getting bullied by the other soldiers, then to the day he exiled Meng Yao (with slight differences from the way it was presented earlier because unreliable narration is fun). We see them argue a few times over the years, then see Jin Guangyao playing music for Nie Mingjue (ostensibly to keep him from qi deviation). They get into a big fight, Nie Mingjue throws Jin Guangyao down the steps of Koi Tower, but then his brain basically explodes. Jin Guangyao looks pretty satisfied with how things are turning out but then Nie Huaisang runs up, shouting for his brother, and Jin Guangyao switches to looking super worried instead. He keeps Nie Huaisang from running to his brother, saying he won’t recognize him. Then Nie Mingjue is held down in the treasure room we’re currently in, still alive and fighting qi deviation, and Jin Guangyao tells Xue Yang to kill him (with Baxia, which Xue Yang is holding), which he does.

  Int, the hidden room [Lanling]

Wei Wuxian separates his mind from Nie Mingjue’s and says ‘well that was fucked up’.

Jin Guangyao notices the little paper man and starts trying to catch it, or stab it. Wei Wuxian manages to use the paper man to manipulate his own former sword, which is very cool, and get away.

Jin Guangyao is like ‘gee, who could that have been, using Wei Wuxian’s paper man talisman to wield Wei Wuxian’s sword?’

  Int, Koi Tower [Lanling]

Wei Wuxian tells Lan Wangji about all the fucked up stuff he just witnessed. They go to force their way into the hidden chamber. Lan Xichen catches up with them on the way. A bunch of Jin disciples try to stop them, including Jin Ling. Lan Xichen asks Jin Guangyao to let them in if he has nothing to hide. Jin Guangyao tries to demur, but Lan Xichen insists. With so many witnesses, he’s left with no choice.

  Int, the hidden room [Lanling]

Nie Mingjue’s head is gone, but Qin Su is still there. Wei Wuxian goes over to try to talk to her, and Su She (remember this guy? Betrayed the Lan sect way back when, made friends with Jin Guangyao afterwards) says that ‘Mo Xuanyu’ just wanted to harass Qin Su some more. While Jin Guangyao is showing off a knife that’s part of his treasure, Qin Su grabs it and uses it to kill herself.

Everyone is super fucked up about this. (Don’t forget, Jin Ling is there! This 16 year old is having a Time of it.) Lan Xichen is like ‘holy shit my best friend’s wife just killed herself in front of me’ and Wei Wuxian basically blue-screens trying to figure out if she did that to herself because of whatever was in the letter, or if Jin Guangyao somehow coerced her to do it with the trance spell. (Unclear! Draw what conclusions you will.)

Jin Guangyao, who is either really upset or the world’s best actor (or both) asks them why they demanded to come into the treasure hall and what the fuck is going on. People outside, who have heard the commotion, come running in, including Nie Huaisang and Jiang Cheng (who looks at Wei Wuxian like ‘I leave you alone for five fucking minutes and now there’s a dead woman’).

Lan Xichen explains about the sword spirit and the body in Yi City and how they were looking for Nie Mingjue’s head. Jin Guangyao asks ‘did you really think I had our sworn brother’s head in my treasure room?’ Lan Xichen looks at his best friend cradling his dead wife that yes, he was in fact about to accuse of such a thing, and looks like he’s going to be physically ill. (Lan Wangji, however, is staring Jin Guangyao down like ‘listen up you lying asshole’ and Wei Wuxian is just impressed he’s found someone who’s even more shameless about crime than he is.)

Jin Guangyao takes the opportunity to blame ‘Mo Xuanyu’ for everything. He pulls his sword on Wei Wuxian, and Lan Wangji steps between them. Wei Wuxian tries to de-escalate things but it doesn’t work for shit because Su She attacks him, and he grabs his old sword off the display to protect himself. This is a Big Deal because the sword sealed itself when he died, so nobody except Wei Wuxian would be able to draw it. Oops. (Wei Wuxian has a sad moment with his sword for being so loyal, even though he was unable to use it for years before his death, since he had no golden core.) Then they run outside because fuck this shit.

  Ext, Koi Tower [Lanling]

Jin Guangyao reassures Jin Ling that it’s not his fault he got tricked by Wei Wuxian, because Wei Wuxian is so evil and everything. Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji try to get away but get surrounded. Jin Guangyao again calls Wei Wuxian out on being Wei Wuxian, so he takes off his mask. Everyone acts shocked even though 90% of the characters already knew this.

The Jin cultivators surround him. Wei Wuxian pushes Lan Wangji away and says to tell them that he didn’t know who Wei Wuxian was and that he was tricked by him. Lan Wangji refuses, immediately telling everyone he knew damn well that Wei Wuxian was Wei Wuxian and what the fuck are they gonna do about it? Wei Wuxian still tries to get him to leave, and Lan Wangji runs up to the line of what the Chinese censors will allow in terms of declarations of devotion between two men and plays gay chicken with it. He and Wei Wuxian smile at each other. Jin Guangyao has a ‘really? Right in front of my salad?’ look on his face.

Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji fight off the Jin guys but then Jin Ling stabs Wei Wuxian in the stomach. It sucks for everybody. Lan Wangji grabs him and they run away.

 Int, Cloud Recesses [Gusu]

Lan Wangji has taken Wei Wuxian back here to heal. Lan Xichen is there, too, and says that it was with his permission. But he’s clearly pretty upset about what happened at Koi Tower, since he’s the one who forced Jin Guangyao to open the treasure room on Wei Wuxian’s word, and now he kind of looks like an asshole. He and Lan Wangji come as close to a fight as they’re capable of getting in. Lan Wangji thinks Lan Xichen should believe Wei Wuxian. Lan Xichen points out that he’s known Jin Guangyao for nearly 20 years at this point and he trusts him. Since neither of them saw Nie Mingjue’s head with their own eyes, they cannot know which of the two (Wei Wuxian or Jin Guangyao) is lying. It’s frustrating, but Lan Xichen has good reason to be wary, considering that witch hunts are what led to everything that happened to Wei Wuxian in the first place. In fact, Wei Wuxian is much less upset about it than Lan Wangji.

He tells Lan Xichen what he saw while using Empathy, and plays the Song of Clarity (the qi-deviation prevention music that Jin Guangyao was playing in the memories). Lan Xichen said he played it wrong and Wei Wuxian said he played it exactly as he heard it in the memory. They realize Jin Guangyao altered the song to cause qi deviation instead of prevent it. Lan Xichen still finds this pretty hard to believe, but he says he’ll test the version Wei Wuxian heard on himself and see what happens.

Lan Xichen walks Wei Wuxian back to where he’s been stashed, and Wei Wuxian takes the opportunity to ask him why Lan Wangji has so many whip scars. Lan Xichen explains that after Wei Wuxian died, Lan Wangji flipped his shit a bit and prevented all the other sects from sacking Wei Wuxian’s cave of neat stuff. It’s a bit vague but you get the impression he might have beaten up some important people. So Lan Qiren punished him with a whipping and three years of seclusion in the back hills of Cloud Recesses. Then they show him being beaten because sometimes this show’s continuity is not great.

(Lan Xichen is like ‘hey, you know my brother’s in love with you, right? I mean, only an idiot could not know that. But you really seem to be an idiot. Let me tell you a story about how our mother killed a guy and our father insisted on protecting her anyway. Please use your lone brain cell to connect the dots.’)

Lan Wangji comes back with booze for Wei Wuxian. They talk a bit about Lan Xichen, and Lan Wangji asks if they should tell him about the second flute. He talked to Wen Ning, who told him that he heard two flutes playing at Qiongqi Way. Wei Wuxian says he wanted to know at first, but now he’s not sure it matters. No matter what, people will always say he’s evil, but at least Lan Wangji still believes in him. He says to Lan Wangji ‘I’m sorry, and thank you’.

  Int, Cloud Recesses [Gusu]

Jin Guangyao has turned up, and says he definitely believes Lan Xichen that Wei Wuxian isn’t there, but maybe they could take a look anyway, to reassure the other clans? Lan Xichen doesn’t even dignify it. Then Jin Guangyao says that they’re all going to band together and do a siege on the Burial Mounds because strange things have been happening there, fierce corpses are roaming, and obviously Wei Wuxian is there and up to no good. Obviously Lan Xichen knows that this is not true since Wei Wuxian has been convalescing at Cloud Recesses. He is fucked up by the fact that Jin Guangyao is lying straight to his face and he really can’t deny it. Jin Guangyao leaves, and Lan Xichen says he’s going to go to Koi Tower, while Lan Wangji and Wei Wuxian plan to go to the Burial Mounds.

  Ext, some random cabin [somewhere]

They meet up with Mianmian. She’s got a husband and a daughter and is a badass rogue cultivator. There’s really no point to this scene but it’s nice to see that at least one female character got a happy ending.

Then they meet up with Wen Ning, who’s been trying to scare people away from the area so they don’t encounter the fierce corpses that Jin Guangyao has raised with the yin iron (to make people think Wei Wuxian was doing it). They head to the Burial Mounds together.

  Ext, the Burial Mounds [Yiling]

Wei Wuxian and company find all the juniors tied up in the cave, and they say they were abducted but they’re not sure who was behind it. Then an absolute fuckton of cultivators show up, including Jiang Cheng, Lan Qiren, Su She, and Nie Huaisang (who says he’s just there to make up the numbers). They’re all shouting about how they want Wei Wuxian dead for all the crime he committed last time around. Jin Guangyao’s not there because ‘someone tried to assassinate him’ that morning, and Lan Xichen is tending to his injuries. Wei Wuxian looks extremely skeptical.

Then they get attacked by fierce corpses. The gathered cultivators realize that they’ve all had their spiritual power leached away by ill-gotten means. Ruh-roh! They all end up hiding in the cave.

  Int, the Burial Mounds [Yiling]

Wei Wuxian sits everyone down for an Agatha Christie reveal. He deduces that Su She is the one who took away their spiritual power, by playing malicious music on their way up the mountain. Su She denies it but Wei Wuxian tricks him into revealing that his own power is still intact.

Su She ruins the protection seal and then uses the teleportation talisman and bounces. Wen Ning tries to fight off the horde with some help from the juniors, who still have their spiritual power, but there are too many. Wei Wuxian paints a lure flag on himself and uses himself as bait, with Lan Wangji killing the fierce corpses, so the others can escape. When he catches up, he half-collapses into Lan Sizhui’s arms and Lan Sizhui is really worried about him. It’s cute. Wen Ning looks at Lan Sizhui and realizes he’s actually Wen Yuan.

  Ext, some docks [Yunmeng]

They’re heading back to Lotus Pier to figure out what to do. Wen Ning comes over to talk to Lan Sizhui. The juniors are scared of him but decide he seems harmless enough, and he did just help them fight the horde, after all. He tells Lan Sizhui that he looks like a cousin of his.

The parents tell their kids to stop associating with evil, and the kids tell their parents to get a grip, and it’s beautiful.

  Ext, Lotus Pier [Yunmeng]

Jiang Cheng won’t allow Wei Wuxian in, so he and Lan Wangji hang out on the steps. Wen Ning tells Lan Sizhui stories about the little boy that Wei Wuxian used to plant in the dirt.

  Int, Lotus Pier [Yunmeng]

Some mysterious ladies show up. Jiang Cheng talks to them for a while and then gathers everybody together (although he still makes Wei Wuxian basically stand in the doorway).

Mysterious lady A is a prostitute who was there when Jin Guangshan died. Basically Jin Guangyao had his father fucked to death. It’s gross, although to be fair, couldn’t have happened to a nicer guy. Then all the prostitutes except her were murdered. (Why she was spared is actually never explained in the show. It’s because she was friends with Jin Guangyao’s mother and was nice to him when he was a kid.)

Mysterious lady B is a maid who worked for Qin Su’s mother. She tells everyone that she wrote the letter to Qin Su, telling her that her mother had a secret. Qin Su is not the daughter of the man she always thought, but was actually conceived during an act of rape by Jin Guangshan. She and Jin Guangyao were half-siblings. It’s strongly implied (although never outright stated if I recall correctly) that their son had some developmental delays because of this and Jin Guangyao had him killed so nobody would find out. He then blamed his son’s death on a sect that was opposing him on some political stuff and wiped them out.

Everyone is Big Time Shook over all this news. They immediately begin calling for Jin Guangyao’s head.

Wei Wuxian is frankly disgusted. Because sure, he thinks Jin Guangyao’s evil and everything, but it’s sickening to him how quickly everyone turns against him, just based on a few rumors – so much like what happened to him. He wants to know where the ladies came from, and why they came forward after so much time has gone by. But in the end he acknowledges that the gathered cultivators being against Jin Guangyao helps him, and he can’t convince them of anything anyway, so whatever.

They go to the ancestral shrine so he can pay his respects to his parents. Jiang Cheng finds him there and picks a big fight. It’s really painful for everyone. After the first couple minutes, Wei Wuxian tries to leave but Jiang Cheng won’t let him go. Wei Wuxian ends up passing out. Lan Wangji tries to leave with him but Jiang Cheng is using the lightning whip to try to stop them.

Wen Ning shows up and he’s pissed. He tells Jiang Cheng the truth about his golden core, in basically the meanest way possible, directly targeting his insecurities with dead accuracy. It’s fucking brutal. Was Jiang Cheng being a dick? Yes. Did he deserve everything that Wen Ning said to him in this scene? Not really, given that it wasn’t his fault he didn’t know. (Does Wen Ning have a right to be pissed at Jiang Cheng on general principle because Jiang Cheng didn’t help him and his family back then? Now we’re getting into the reams of meta that are written about this show.)

Anyway, in telling Jiang Cheng, Lan Wangji finally finds out, too. He’s clearly horrified to find out that Wei Wuxian went through something so awful and he didn’t even know. He picks Wei Wuxian up and they leave.

  Ext, a boat [Yunmeng]

Wen Ning gives Lan Wangji the details about the golden core swap. Lan Wangji looks like he wants to cry for an hour. I feel you, Lan Wangji.

Wei Wuxian wakes up and tells Lan Wangji not to be mad at Jiang Cheng, he’s just a jerk sometimes. He wants to pick lotus seeds but Lan Wangji reminds him that the lake they’re on belongs to someone and so the lotus seeds are private property. Then he picks some and gives them to Wei Wuxian anyway. It’s super romantic. Wen Ning pretends he’s not the world’s thirdest wheel.

  Ext, Yunping City [Yunmeng]

So while Wei Wuxian was in the hidden room, he saw a deed for a temple in this city. They figure it has to be important since it was in Jin Guangyao’s safe, so they go to check it out. It has a weird vibe.

  Ext, Guanyin Temple [Yunmeng]

Literally so much happens in this scene you guys. It’s almost 4 entire episodes long. Let me try to sum up as quickly as possible.

First of all, the show never actually bothers to explain why Jin Guangyao is even here. It’s actually because this is where his mother is buried (and he had the temple built just for that). He’s planning to go on the run because the jig is obviously up, and wants to bring her remains with him. He also wants to get one last date with Lan Xichen in, possibly apologize for ruining everything, et c. Lan Xichen was with him in Koi Tower, and Jin Guangyao tricked him and sealed his spiritual power, then carted him off to the temple. Romance!

Anyway Jin Guangyao doesn’t get that date because literally everybody in the damn story shows up. First Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji, for obvious reasons. He has Lan Xichen as a hostage so it’s pretty easy to catch them. Then Jin Ling shows up. Then Su She shows up, which is less problematic since he’s a henchman, but he brought Nie Huaisang with him because he found him passed out in a gutter or something. Jin Guangyao can’t just kill Jin Ling and Nie Huaisang because he still has feelings I guess.

Then Jiang Cheng shows up! He makes a grand entrance and then promptly gets his ass kicked. This is partly because Jin Guangyao tells Wei Wuxian that Jiang Cheng found out about the golden core thing, which upsets him. Lan Xichen tells everybody not to let Jin Guangyao talk because he’ll manipulate you and get the better of you. Everyone proceeds to let Jin Guangyao talk for the next forty-five minutes.

At some point during all this they confirm that yes, Jin Guangyao sent Jin Zixuan to Qiongqi  Way to get him killed, and that Su She was his accomplice playing the evil music. Su She is also the one who cursed Jin Zixun. Jin Guangyao’s basically like “whatever, I said what I said”.

They finally get the coffin dug up, but instead of Jin Guangyao’s mother, Nie Mingjue’s body, complete with head, is inside. Jin Guangyao has no idea how he got there and he freaks out, which seems reasonable.

Wei Wuxian points out that while Jin Guangyao has been so impressed with himself and neatly manipulated everyone around him, someone has been pulling his strings as well. He points out the letter sent to Qin Su, the emergence of the mysterious ladies at Lotus Pier, the release of the sword spirit at Mo Manor, even his own resurrection. Jin Guangyao freaks out more.

At this point they’ve dicked around long enough for Lan Xichen’s spiritual power to come back. He puts his sword at Jin Guangyao’s throat. Jin Guangyao makes sad ‘you don’t like me anymore?’ eyes at Lan Xichen. Lan Xichen responds ‘dude, you killed, like, everybody’. Jin Guangyao admits that this is a fair rebuttal, but begs his forgiveness and pity anyway. Lan Xichen seems to forget that he literally just told everyone not to let Jin Guangyao talk because he’ll manipulate you.

Then Wen Ning shows up, and he’s been possessed by the sword spirit. He chops Jin Guangyao’s arm off. Ouch. Then he attacks Jin Ling, because the sword is just pissed off about everything, which seems fair. Wen Ning manages to fight off the possession and not kill Jin Ling, so good for him. Wei Wuxian gets the sword suppressed using his awesome mojo.

Lan Sizhui shows up at some point. I really don’t remember why the hell he’s there. Late night field trip?

Nie Huaisang screams that Su She attacked him, and his leg is bleeding. The sword springs right back to angry spiritude and murders Su She. Wei Wuxian is like “wtf I just put you to bed” and has to do it again.

Lan Xichen patches Nie Huaisang up. Everyone else sits around thinking about how truly fucked up the last 2 hours have been, especially Jin Ling, who is really having trouble with realizing one of his uncles was evil and not the one he thought. He is going through it. Meanwhile Jin Guangyao is kind of slumped against a pillar behind Lan Xichen because somehow he is not dead after losing an arm, which seems kind of whack when you consider what killed some of our other characters.

Then Nie Huaisang shouts, “behind you!” and Lan Xichen, assuming that Jin Guangyao is about to attack him, whips around and stabs him through the chest. Double ouch. Jin Guangyao is, understandably, upset at being run through. Nie Huaisang says he had a knife but Jin Guangyao calls bullshit (yes, while being run through, I don’t even know), saying even though he’s done tons of terrible things, he never once hurt Lan Xichen. Meanwhile Lan Xichen is having a complete mental breakdown, standing there with his sword in Jin Guangyao’s chest. Jin Guangyao realizes that Nie Huaisang is the one who orchestrated all this, in revenge after Jin Guangyao killed his brother. Also the angry spirits are back. A lot is happening. The temple starts to collapse. Jin Guangyao asks Lan Xichen to die with him, and it looks like Lan Xichen is going to do so, but then Jin Guangyao pushes him clear at the last second. Lan Wangji grabs him and gets him out of the temple before it collapses.

  Ext, Guanyin Temple [Yunmeng]

Everyone is injured and in various states of shell shock. A ton of people show up and start fussing. Wei Wuxian reveals that the last curse mark from Mo Xuanyu is gone, indicating that Jin Guangyao was the last person Mo Xuanyu was holding a grudge against. (Presumably for throwing him out of the Jin sect and back to his abusive family, which Jin Guangyao presumably did because Mo Xuanyu found out about Qin Su’s parentage, which presumably Nie Huaisang told him. I know, it’s a lot of presuming. I’m trying not to be biased and pass judgment lol.)

Lan Xichen asks Nie Huaisang if Jin Guangyao really had a knife. Nie Huaisang prevaricates rather than answering.

Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji are leaving. Jin Ling asks Jiang Cheng if he doesn’t want to talk to Wei Wuxian before he leaves. Jiang Cheng says everyone is going back to where they belong. He flashes back to just after his parents were killed, when he vanished from the inn, and we see him realize Wei Wuxian was about to get caught and lure the soldiers away. All this time we thought he just wandered off and got captured like an asshole, but no, he was saving Wei Wuxian and never told anybody. In the present, he says ‘take care’ to himself as Wei Wuxian leaves. Five thousand ‘Yunmeng bros reconciliation’ fics spring into existence.

  Ext, the forest [presumably still Yunmeng]

Lan Sizhui approaches Wei Wuxian and tells him what little he’s remembered about his childhood, and that he’s realized his family name used to be Wen. Wei Wuxian realizes that he’s Wen Yuan, and that Lan Wangji saved him back then. It’s super touching and I happy cried, like, so much.

  Ext, Cloud Recesses [Gusu]

Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji are standing around by the waterfall acting married. Lan Wangji is chief cultivator now. Wei Wuxian has finally figured out how Lan Wangji recognized him even though he was wearing a mask when they first met up again – it’s because the song he was playing is the same song that Lan Wangji sang to him in the cave of the murder turtle. Lan Wangji actually wrote that song just for him and has never played it for anybody else.

Nie Huaisang comes for a visit. Wei Wuxian asks him if he wants to be chief cultivator. Nie Huaisang tells them that no, he was really only in it for the revenge. It’s awkward, especially given all the morally questionable choices Nie Huaisang made while on his revenge quest and the fact that Lan Xichen is super fucked up about everything, but we all hope that they’ll eventually work it out. Or at least I hope that. Your mileage may vary.

  Ext, a mountain [the world]

Wei Wuxian goes off to wander for a little while. The show really makes us think that it’ll end with the two of them splitting up, but then at the very last second they meet again. We all collapse into sobbing, emotional heaps.

 ~end of part 6~

Characters/naming notes, as promised

I use the Mandarin for names and titles in fanfiction because it just reads better. Some of these don’t have an exact translation, so, the original is better, here are the basic terms you need to know:

Zongzhu = sect leader

Gongzi = young master

Furen = madam

Guniang = maiden/miss

Ge = older brother

Jie = older sister

Xiong = kind of like “bro” in a friendly sort of way

Da, Er, San = first, second, third – these are used in conjunction with the above, so “da-ge” is “oldest brother”, “Lan-er-gongzi” is “second young master Lan”

A- = an affectionate diminutive

Wei Wuxian (courtesy name)

Birth name: Wei Ying (only Lan Wangji calls him this)

Title: Yiling-laozu (used mostly in the second half of the show)

Also called: Wei-gongzi (by Lan Xichen, Wen Ning, and assorted others), Wei-xiong (by Nie Huaisang), A-Xian (by Jiang Yanli)

Lan Wangji (courtesy name)

Birth name: Lan Zhan (only Wei Wuxian calls him this)

Title: Hanguang-Jun (by the juniors and various others)

Also called: Lan-er-gongzi (by various characters)

Jiang Cheng (birth name)

Courtesy name: Jiang Wanyin (Lan Wangji calls him this)

Also called: Jiang-gongzi before he’s sect leader, Jiang-zongzhu afterwards, A-Cheng (by Jiang Yanli)

Jiang Yanli (only name given, not specific if birth or courtesy)

Also called: a-jie (by Jiang Cheng), shijie (by Wei Wuxian), Jiang-guniang (by pretty much everyone else)

Lan Xichen (courtesy name)

Birth name: Lan Huan, but nobody uses this

Title: Zewu-Jun (most people use this)

Also called: Lan-zongzhu (I think a few people use this instead of his title), xiongzhang (by Lan Wangji, this is a formal word for older brother), er-ge (by Jin Guangyao)

Wen Qing (only name given, birth)

Also called: Wen-guniang (by Jiang Cheng), jiejie or just jie (by Wen Ning)

Wen Ning (birth name)

Courtesy name: Wen Qionglin (used very rarely)

Title: Ghost General (never used to his face, I don’t think)

Also called: A-Ning (by Wen Qing)

Nie Huaisang (only name given, courtesy)

Also called: Nie-xiong (by Wei Wuxian), Nie-gongzi (by assorted others)

Nie Mingjue (only name given, courtesy)

Title: Chifeng-Zun (called this by many people)

Also called: Nie-zongzhu (by Meng Yao and others), Mingjue-xiong (by Lan Xichen), da-ge (by Nie Huaisang, then later by Lan Xichen and Meng Yao)

Jin Zixuan (only name given, courtesy)

Also called: Jin-gongzi (by most people)

Meng Yao (birth name)

Later in series, courtesy name: Jin Guangyao (used commonly)

Title: Lianfang-Zun (used occasionally)

Also called: A-Yao (by Lan Xichen), Xiandu (after he becomes Chief Cultivator), Jin-zongzhu at some point probably

Hoo boy all. That was a lot, huh? “I’ll write a brief summary,” she said. 20 thousand words later ... but this was as condensed as I could make it without it reading too disjointedly! So I hope you’ve all enjoyed and that this will help those of you who want to plunge into the fandom but didn’t have the time or the spoons for the show itself. 

If you have any questions about something that wasn’t clear or a part of the story you want more detail on, feel free to ask me anything!

Love y’all!

[boop-le-snoot]

PARTY FAVOURS I A VENOMOUS INTERLUDE

Did y'all know symbrock is canon? Well, now you do. Reader's favourite deadbeat surrogate uncle is in town and he brought a... Friend. No warnings, just a boatload of crack and fluff, as usual. Reader being mouthy. Takes place a little bit into the future - around after chapter 32: spoiler alert is useless because we already know a tonybrucestrange/reader quartet is the endgame. 💖💝✨

"What," I had to pause for a second for my brain to catch up with my eyes. "The fuck?!"

It was truly a miracle I could say anything out loud, at all. Words weren't valid enough to describe my shock and confusion. The scene unfolding in front of me resembled and unholy cross between a B-rated horror movies about demonic possession and some deep-sea Eldritch monstrosity.

The eight-feet tall black, oozing dude in front of me? Yes, you, with the teeth. Ctulhu called, he wants his tentacles back.

The creature honest to god rippled, like some nightmare-fuel goth Jell-O, rapidly shrinking in size within seconds. As more of the black tar-like substance receded, a much more human form started to appear under it. Worn jeans, leather jacket, ungroomed beard and the look of a biker gang member coming off a serious bender.

"Uh, Princess?"

"Eddie. Fucking. Brock. Uncle Idiot." I punctuated each word with an increasing widening of my eyes. The world was fucking nuts. Two and two did not compute - Eddie might have looked threatening to some people - like white suburban Karens - even without the... Gooey squid-on-steroids thing he had going on. The man was built like a fucking brick shithouse, but I knew him way too well. Eddie couldn't be that badass to save a life.

"You two know each other?" Tony shrieked indignantly, a coarseness in his voice that indicated only one thing: my boo was well into his third drink. Hell, I didn't blame him - that gaping toothy maw was fucking gnarly.

Hands on my hips, I caught myself slipping into a mute rage, storming over to the 200lbs worth of pure dumbass and knocking him right in the face. "You! Didn't tell! ME!" A black tendril wrapped around my wrist, carefully but firmly securing it and preventing me from causing my non-related uncle any more physical damage. Although I must admit, my knuckles probably were more affected than his jaw. "You! Are! A MUTANT!!! HOW COULD YOU?! How could you NOT tell ME?"

I trusted the man with my soul and most embarrassing drinking stories. Hell, I called Eddie in a stoned haze the very same night I lost my v-card. I just thought we were bros, you know? I saw his whole fucking life implode more than once and personally flew to California to ice his injuries and his hurt ego countless times. I was done dirty in the worst way.

"I'm not-" Eddie's sigh was long-suffering. "I, uh, I have a parasite..." He sounded meek, in the same way he used to describe his drunkenly misconduct when I made our family driver bail out his ass outta jail in the morning.

"TAKE THAT BACK!" A deep gravelly voice thundered, seemingly coming out of his chest?

"Okay, okay," Eddie smiled. It was strangely soft and un-eddie-like. The only person he smiled like that was... used to be Anne. "This is Venom. They're an alien and we're, uh, a thing. It's a recent development." The tentacle unwrapped itself from me as I took an involuntary step back.

Even barring the fact that Eddie was dating an alien, this was way too fucking weird for 3 o'clock on a Sunday. I always knew the reporter was, for the lack of a better word, a little weird but he really took it to new heights. With Thor and Loki looking... Like that, I could see a human dating some sort of a hot alien. But with Ctulhu looking the way he did just minutes ago? Did Eddie seriously let all of those teeth in close proximity of his dick?

I had a "ERROR 404, common sense not found" hanging over me for the longest time. The others were quiet behind me, too, even Tony - one of my boyfriends, the most likely to cause utter chaos, was hanging back and expecting me to do something.

"Venom," I clarified, just to fill the silence with some noise while my brain processors re-synced.

"WE ARE VENOM." The tentacle that was sleek and black now had two completely white eyes and a smaller-scale version of the toothy grin that had drooled all over the common room carpet. Their voice had an interesting effect: it was so deep, the air around them vibrated slightly when they spoke.

I tilted my head examining the appendage. It was considerably less terrifying when it wasn't five times my size. "What are you?" And most importantly, are you a threat to my favourite non-related family member? I left that statement unspoken although it was obvious I was ready to fight it? Them? If need be.

"A SYMBIOTE," They replied, swaying the head-tentacle slowly. "WE LOVE EDDIE AND KEEP HIM ALIVE AND HEALTHY." So, they understood the actual question.

"Which is fucked up because Klyntar usually behave in the opposite way." Hearing Thor swear was, perhaps, even more unsettling than finding out about the symbiote-alien-boyfriend thing my uncle had going on. The thunderer himself was nursing a jug of golden liquid. The good Asgardian stuff, he must've been really fucking bamboozled.

"Okay. So anybody wanna fill me on the details before I beat up my favourite idiot?" I sighed, pointedly looking at Tony.

"I thought I was your favourite idiot!" He immediately retorted, hurt, but nonetheless opened his arms to give me a grounding embrace. We may have sucked face for a few seconds, because why the hell not, Tony was an amazing kisser and his tongue down my throat was very calming.

"Hold up, what the fuck?" Now it was Eddie's turn to act all offended. "Aren't you a little too young for him?"

"You and your most likely carnivorous goth space pudding can fuck right off if you're not going to be supportive of my very inappropriate, very polyamorous relationship with three incredibly hot boomers," I shot back, slipping into some resemblance of normalcy. Me and Eddie go way, way back and shitting on each other's bad life decisions was the founding stone of our bromance. Hell, he was the guy who showed me the wonders of sarcasm at an early age! Wonderbaum!

"There's three of them?" Eddie's voice pitched and he gaped, palming his face.

"SHE HAS A POINT, EDDIE. WE EAT PEOPLE. BEING UNSUPPORTIVE WOULD MAKE US LOOK LIKE AN ASSHOLE." Eddie's buddy stated, sounding almost fed up. So, they were sentient enough to recognize how much of a pain in the ass Eddie could be. I could work with that, disregarding the cannibalism comment, of course. What the fuck was up with that?

"Yes, Eddie, I also periodically bump uglies and trade disgustingly sweet text messages with the Hulk and a badass wizard," I rolled my eyes at the reporter's following gasp and angry muttering. "Venom, I like you."

"WE RETURN THE SENTIMENT. YOUR CHOICE IN MATES IS VERY WISE, CONSIDERING YOU ARE A WEAK MORSEL. THEY CAN PROTECT YOU."

"Shut up, Squid. I'll still kick your motherfucking ass if you hurt Eddie."

The emo space goo laughed, a terse scratching noise, showing way, way too many teeth for me to feel comfortable but I allowed myself to be placed on the couch between Tony and Eddie nonetheless. The initial shock of seeing a talking octopod with fangs passed quickly - I've seen Stephen's "trophies" he brought from his otherworldly journeys and Lovecraftian horrors were, honestly, pretty low on the gross/creepy scale.

"Both of you, explain. For the love of fuck," Tony sighed, emotionally exhausted and drained of his usual bravado.

"Eddie was my dad's friend until he moved to Cali, I've know him for fifteen years, give or take. He taught me how to ride a bike and bake the best pot brownies," I shrugged. There wasn't much to say. "I visited him whenever I could but you know, with school and then you guys, there wasn't that much time to iron out the details." I have Eddie a death glare, pointing to Venom's floaty head with my eyes.

Eddie nodded. "What she said..." And then launched an elaborate tale about some company called Life Foundation, some evil dude named Drake and his own alien pudding named Carnage, who was one ugly motherfucker judging by Eddie's and Venom's combined "ew" face, their aching need for human brains to survive and other, more trivial things, like mental breakdowns in a lobster tank and getting dumped by a fiancé and eating their way through a HYDRA base after being captured and tortured. What a wild fucking ride.

"Sounds like you had a rough year," Everybody's dumbfounded silence was ended by Tony who took a slow swig of his whiskey before speaking.

"Yeah, no shit," Eddie muttered, twisting his black coated fingers in elaborate but frankly pretty shapes. His alien wrapped around his neck like a tube scarf and additional tentacles appeared between Eddie's hands, gently prying them open and enveloping them in a sort of a hug? It was hard to compute, the black mass appeared to be totally amorphous.

"How's your anxiety?" I asked, damn well knowing Eddie's mind tended to run like Tony's: zero to sixty in point five with no clear destination. Having an alien inside of him must've really thrown Eddie for a loop.

"It's, uh, better. Venom helps," The reporter admitted, still staring at his hands but the crease between his brows had disappeared and the expression he wore was kind of fond.

"Good. You know, Venom," I thoughtfully addressed the definitely sentient creature. "Eddie is a bigger dumbass than me, which is saying something. You ought to keep a really close eye on him. If not for me, he'd probably be dead from alcohol poisoning, like, years ago."

"WE ARE AWARE. WE CAN ACCESS EDDIE'S MEMORIES." A head manifested itself on a thicker tentacle, floating over to look me in the face but maintaining a respectful distance and staying out of my personal space bubble. "AND WE ARE THANKFUL. EDDIE IS THE PERFECT HOST. WE LOVE EDDIE."

I felt the corner of my mouth tilt upwards at the alien's proclamation. It was child-like in its blunt honesty but carried a certain weight with it. It told me whoever tries to separate those two in any way would get eaten faster than they could say "SIKE!". And honestly? I would help Venom hide the evidence.

"I literally had you for thirty minutes but I would kill everybody and then myself if you two got hurt. This is too soft, I can't." I snorted, extending a curious hand towards Venom. They looked so shiny. I had to touch them.

And they let me. Venom butted their head into my palm and let me gently run my fingers over their slightly cool, slippery flesh. It felt like putting my hands on a surprisingly sturdy yet bouncy piece of flubber. I purposely avoided the small maw and the endless rows of sharp teeth but managed to accidentally brush against something rough and scratchy - as it turned out, the Symbiote had a very long, very dexterous tongue. And didn't that give me a bunch of interesting mental images.

"Oh my God, NO!" Wanda moaned from somewhere, the voice mortified and disgusted.

"Why are you touching the people-eating alien?" Bruce yelped, entering the room with several people in tow. The scientist looked worried, a little bit green around the edges. The tablet in his hands beeped periodically, signifying the ongoing sciencing bender he was in process of.

"WE WOULD NOT EAT THIS HUMAN. WE ARE FOND OF THE MORSEL." Venom defended, well, venomously. Eddie wisely choose to stay silent, trading a knowing look with Tony.

Stephen Strange sighed, briefly closing his eyes and pinching the bridge of his nose with a jagged movement. "One day, Princess, one day you will stop collecting people that are obviously bad for your health and your future. That, or space in the tower will simply run out." With a deeper, calmer sigh, the sorcerer landed in front of me on the floor, sitting cross-legged and subtly begging for a head scratch. Which meant just placing his always neatly trimmed curls under my free hand. His jealousy was about as subtle as a foot in the face.

"I'll just ask Tony to build more floors, duh," I rolled my eyes with force at the obvious solution, giving into Steph's demands, beginning to card through his hair. It was calming both of us, really.

Bruce came over to give me a kiss and my other boyfriends didn't even grumble about the scientist placing himself in my lap, crawling over both Tony and Stephen to get comfortable.

Our dynamic was unconventional and more than a little weird, but it worked for us and the rest of the team most certainly didn't complain about the vast decrease in conflict that came with the territory. Come to think of it, all of us were more tactile than just a group of friends sharing a house and I was very much on board with that. None of us except select few (looking at you, mister doctor) were hugged enough as children and we were making up for it in spades right fucking now.

"Girl has a type," Wanda remarked, like the messy little shit she was. I stuck out my tongue in retaliation.

The Avengers' brain trust began talking about Venom's slightly inconvenient diet that directly resulted in multiple felonies for one Edward Brock, and as much as I tried to follow the flow and make my own, however feeble, contributions to the scientific side of the conversation, the new life form was much more interesting. I asked Venom several questions and they deemed them acceptable enough to answer - which evolved on both of us absolutely geeking out over the differences in our physiology. The space pudding didn't hold back one bit, insulting the inferior human biology with gleeful gusto.

"They need a chemical called phenethylamine," Bruce sighed, having deduced it through discussion since Venom and Eddie both protested aggressively against any kind of invasive testing. "I can synthesize it. No more head-chomping, no more murder."

It made perfect sense. Except it didn't. "Brucie-bear, you're a brilliant fucking scientist but a shit psychologist." I interrupted whatever came next. "Venom is a person, like me and you and, yes, even Hulk. Tell me this: if you found a way to get rid of Hulk, would you stop sciencing in the gamma radiation field?" I looked my boyfriend straight in the eyes, hoping for a spark of common sense. "Do you see my point? You science, Tony engineers, Steve draws and Clint bakes. Venom hunts. It's who they are, you can't give them a pill to make it go away."

The weight of my word landed in the room like lead, heavy. The only source of sound was the TV, playing the news quietly in the background for the longest time. Those few minutes felt like hours until Thor expectantly turned towards Eddie/Venom.

"IT IS SO. WE ARE AFRAID WE CANNOT INFLUENCE OUR INSTINCT TO HUNT PREY. KLYNTAR ARE APEX PREDATORS." The little black goop sounded almost apologetic. It was hard to hear undertones with their voice being so deep and grating. "BUT WE CAN TRY." Okay, I could totally hear the hope. Finding out the Eldritch horror could make puppy eyes was... Terrifying, to be honest, because they fucking worked.

"Got any better ideas?" Tony asked me sarcastically.

"I do, actually." I leveled a look with Natasha. She understood. "HYDRA goons. The aliens that, for some reason, keep invading New York every month or so. Stephen's adventures in Hell. Do I need to continue?"

"Wait, hold on," Steve raised his palms. "We don't kill HYDRA, we deposit them in SHIELD custody."

I snorted at the naïve Captain. "And what do you think happens to them there? Did you honestly think they just let torturing, murdering, world-domination planning psychos back on the streets?"

Steve frowned in confusion. "They go to prison?"

Natasha choose that moment to step up. "It's not uncommon for them to possess certain enhancements to be deemed too dangerous to be released back into society. Some of them are low-tier mutants and inhumans. Trust me, Steve, the lethal injection is a much more humane treatment than solitary life imprisonment in a ultra-high security prison." Romanoff stated with a trace of compassion. "And some mutants, we can't contain for prolonged periods of time." She added quietly, looking away.

Rogers was staring blankly into the wall, mulling over the information in his head. His intensive thought process was plainly visible on his face. I heard about some kind of fiasco with HYDRA agents suicide-bombing a city in Europe few years ago and Steve was there, along with Wanda and Sam.

"Venom is a whole person, and even if they look like they could be the main character in Call of Ctulhu video game, we can't just disregard them like they are some kind of badly behaving pet. They're my honorary uncle's boyf-sorry-significant other, for fuck's sake," I threw my hands up in the air in exasperation. "Y'all should know I don't fuck with people who give shit to one of my own. Don't disappoint me like that." I finished, feeling more tired than I had in months. I didn't regret giving into the found family dynamic, however I didn't exactly sign up for hard choices like them vs my long lost uncle, y'know?

Great, now I had a headache and three very concerned boyfriends glaring at me for unknown reasons. The urge to pace always manifested strongly within me as the emotional atmosphere rose in the room. With Bruce dangling off my lap, I couldn't do even that and I felt the restlessness blossom into irritation more and more with each passing second of my existence.

Eddie remained silent, looking down. Venom had mostly receded into the reporter's body, save for a few tentacles tightly wrapped around Eddie's palm.

"Alright," Steve suddenly said. "We can work with that."

"Princess, you look like you're either going to cry or yell any second," Bruce said softly, squeezing my shoulder and pulling me closer.

I immediately hid my face in his chest, taking several deep, shaky breaths. "Eddie is family. Y'all are family. It's terrifying to have to choose between the two." I said, after a brief moment of hesitation.

The reporter made some sort of a choked gasp, quickly masking it with a cough - I knew him way too well to miss the way he was fighting back tears of his own. Bruce understood, he really did understand me - hopped off my lap and let me hug Eddie properly, my happy-sad tears soaking through the collar of his tee.

"You're, uh, welcome to stay. I'll have a guest room prepared." Tony cleared his throat, passing his half-finished glass to Stephen who swallowed the liquid in one gulp. My boyfriends were so fucking emotionally illiterate. Disaster humans.

Huh, I really did have a type.

Later that night, I made the mistake of barging into Eddie's room with a bottle of really fancy whiskey I liberated from Tony's overstocked liquor cabinet. Visiting my uncle and boozing and smoking on the balcony, for old times sake, was my plan and...

I failed the mission successfully.

I didn't bother knocking. As soon as I saw a pair of bare feet, my eyes traveled further up on the couch on their own volition. There were so many tentacles, a writhing, oozing silky black mass and Eddie was making sounds, unmistakable noises-

"UNSEE. UNSEE. OH MY GOD, UNSEE, UNSEE." I stumbled back into the common room shivering.

"What happened, is everything okay?" Bucky stood up as soon as he saw me enter the doorway with my face scrunched in a grimace of regret. I felt like I've gone through the five stages of grief in the shortest time possible for a human being.

Somwhere, I heard Wanda's sudden moan full of pain and misery. "Please, stop THINKING about it!"

"Brain bleach, oh my God," I cringed. "Where's the Clorox?! I have decided I don't need my eyeballs-"

"Oooh," Tony's proverbial lightbulb lit up. The engineer sounded like he was about five seconds away from building a space ship and permanently moving to another planet. "They're together-together..." Tony intercepted me nonetheless, doing the most effective thing to make me stop speaking and thinking bullshit. He kissed me. With lots of tongue.

THE TAG LIST IS NOW OPEN! @another-stark-sub ​ @mostly-marvel-musings  @vozit ​ @littlegasps ​ @pilloclock ​ @shereadsinquiet @downeyreads ​ @hermione-grangers-wife ​ @individualistfem ​ @sleep-i-ness @capbrie @lillsxd @agustdowney @dee-vn @justanotherblonde23 @fanngirl19 @persephonehemingway @softie-socks @schemefrenzy @letsby @cutenessloading @romeo-the-cactus @jelly-fishy-babie @mikariell95

[harrysweasleys]

seekers keepers // h.p

Summary: Hi lovely! I'm not sure if request are still open but would you write a Harry Potter x reader where the reader is a Weasley and is Fred and George Triplet? reader has a crush on harry so they tease her about it (with him being younger and that) but she doesn't know that harry also has a crush on her and is just a cute oblivious mutual pining until they realize their feelings for each other? i really liked this idea in my head and i hope you liked it too, send you my love and best wishes!

Warnings: language? idk

Word Count: 3.6k

A/N: requests are still closed but will eventually reopen! (sooner rather than later, don’t worry!) enjoy. xoxo

———————————

Being a triplet was hard. So very hard.

You loved your dear brothers, they were quiet a blast to be around, but there was just one tiny problem. People quite often never saw you as you. They saw you as Fred, George and Y/N. Your name always came with theirs, just like you did. You’d spent most of your life surrounded by these two boys — so much so that every friend they had was a friend of yours.

Not that you minded, especially when that friend was Lee Jordan, who was quite possibly the most optimistic, bubbly person you had ever met and easily became your best friend as well. No, that you didn’t mind. But what you did mind was that when your younger brother Ron befriended Harry Potter, Fred and George decided to pal him up as well.

Harry was lovely. Awkward, intelligent, and quick on his feet. Always had been, even as a young wizard with little to no knowledge of the magical world.

You had met him in your third year, when he was in his first. Ron had talked about him non-stop since then, really, so when Harry himself reached his third year, Fred and George decided the three of you would take him under your wing and pass on the legacy of the Marauders Map to the adventurous dark haired boy.

And in that moment, when Harry thanked you with everything he had, you knew you were done for. What was it that made you fall for him, you can’t pinpoint. But as the years progressed, Harry just got more and more intriguing. You had nearly lost your marbles completely when he was chosen for the Triwizard Tournament. When he had given your brothers his winnings, your heart completely forgot all the worry it had experienced in the past year and became filled with adoration.

But in your final year, when Harry had founded Dumbledore’s Army to retaliate against Umbridge’s evil reign, you knew in that moment that there was no chance you’d ever find someone as kindhearted as him. And if it was even possible, you feel for that boy even more.

The only thing holding you back from confessing to him was the fact that you were a triplet. Would Harry see you as just another Weasley? Would he see you as just Fred and George’s triplet? Was that all you were? He was the Chosen One, the boy who lived, quite possibly one of the most famous young wizards of all time. How could you be good enough for that?

Fred and George, naturally, knew about your crush from the get-go. Just like you knew about all of their crushes from the moment they bloomed as well. As a triplet, being so connected to your siblings creates this mental and emotional bond — you can easily tell how the others are feeling just by being near them.

They took every chance they could get to tease you about it. Like right now, for example, as the three of you walked down to the Quidditch pitch on a cloudy spring afternoon.

“Oi, there’s your man,” George nudged your shoulder, an annoyingly teasing grin plastered on his face as the three of you entered the Gryffindor tent, “You gonna go tell him you love him and all?”

“Shut your trap, George,” you snapped, glaring him down as you walked to your cubby, “Or should I tell a certain someone about your feelings? No? Don’t want that? Then shut it.”

George raised his hands in surrender, narrowing his eyes at your comment, “Fine, I’ll stop.”

Fred reached your other side, opening his own cubby and grabbing his robes, “Oi, Harry!” he called out, eyebrows raised and a smirk on his face, “C’mere.”

Your heart sunk as you glared at Fred, who was glaring right back at you with an unreadable expression. He was obviously doing this to rile you up, and you’d be lying if you said it wasn’t working.

“What is it?” Harry jogged over, already donned in his Quidditch gear.

Fred looked between you and Harry, placing his hand on your shoulder and giving you a sarcastic smile, “Lovely sis here wanted to tell you something.”

You glared daggers at Fred. If looks could kill, you’d happily be watching him lying motionless on the floor right about now.

“What’s up, Y/N?” Harry asked, clearly nervous. You figured it was just due to the upcoming match. After all, it was for the Quidditch Cup. And it was against Slytherin.

“Uh—” you completely blanked as you turned your attention to Harry, “Just wanted to say good luck. The usual.”

Harry grinned, but it didn’t meet his eyes, “Right, thanks. You too.” He continued to look at you, nodding awkwardly as silence filled the tent.

You had never wished to be further away from the tent than in that moment. You could hear Fred and George stifling laughs in the background. Oh, how badly you wanted to turn around and jinx them.

“Uh, anyways,” you broke the silence, clearing your throat, “See you on the pitch.” Harry bid you a good game once more and took off in the opposite direction. You spun on your heel, turning to face your brothers with pure frustration.

“You two are right gits, y’know?” you glared, storming over with your hands placed on your hips.

“C’mon, we reckon you two just need a bit of a push,” George smirked, motioning a slight push with his hands, doing a terrible job at trying to pretend he was no longer laughing.

You shook your head, turning to your cubby and grabbing your robes, “Don’t blame me if I give you a slight push off a cliff, dear brother.”

They continued laughing as you walked into the changing booth, switching your comfortable, warm clothing for your Quidditch robes. You loved them, you really did, but they barely did the proper job of keeping you warm.

After changing and neatly folding your clothing, you exited the booth and stuffed your clothing in your cubby. You could hear the loud audience starting to fill the Quidditch stands, the heavy footsteps above echoing throughout the tent.

“Big game,” George leaned in beside you, a grin on his face, “Last chance to win the cup.”

“I know,” you grinned, forgetting your previous anger towards him and focusing on the game ahead, “We bloody well better win.”

“Why wouldn’t we?” Fred appeared on your other side, also grinning like an idiot, “We’ve got your boyfriend on the team.”

Your eyes shot in his direction, throwing your hand over his mouth to prevent him from saying anything else. Luckily, you noticed, Harry was too busy talking to Angelina to notice the commotion.

“Oi, what did I say about pushing you off a cliff?” you spoke through gritted teeth, Fred’s wiggling eyebrows only adding fuel to the fire bubbling in your belly. You couldn’t stand them sometimes.

“Freddie, let her be,” George snickered, trying his best to be the better brother in the current situation, “Sometimes, you can’t help falling in love.”

“I’m fed up with you two,” you groaned, slapping a hand to your forehead and glaring back and forth between the two of them, “Not a word, you hear? I’ve had enough.”

They both nodded understandingly, “Fine, we’re sorry.”

You didn’t believe them, but you dropped the subject and focused on the sound of the cheering audience above you, Madam Hooch calling for the teams to join her on the field.

You followed Angelina out of the tent, the deafening cheers being amplified now that you were out in the open. Much to your pleasure, the clouds seemed to have vanished and the bright sunshine was beaming down on the pitch.

Angelina and the Slytherin Captain shook hands, and the match begun.

You flew up to your goalposts, taking your position as Keeper and letting your eyes rapidly scan the field in order to prevent Slytherin from getting on up on you.

Nearly half an hour into the game, Gryffindor was up by seventy points. It was thrilling, but you were beginning to get anxious. Harry was zooming around rapidly, stopping ever so often so scope out and search for the flicker of gold. But it didn’t appear as if he had seen it just yet.

You had found yourself struggling to focus, despite the pressure and weight that this particular match held. You could see Harry zooming by your goalposts out of the corner of your eye, smiling at your whenever you made eye contact. It was pleasantly frustrating, but you knew that the team would have your head on a stake if you didn’t stop Slytherin from scoring.

“Keep your eye on the Quaffle,” Fred’s voice nearly scared you off of your broom, zooming by you to knock the Bludger in the opposite direction.

You scowled, “And you keep yours on the Bludger, you bloody wanker!”

He chuckled as he flew off, leaving you be to continue your duty. Quidditch games were usually nerve wracking, but cup games were a whole new level.

You had won the cup back in your fifth year — one of the highlights of your time at Hogwarts — and you wanted nothing more than to complete your time here with another victory.

“Gryffindor scores!”

The crowd cheered, causing you to grin widely, shooting a thumbs up to Alicia Spinnet who was boasting proudly about her goal. You watched as Harry went over to congratulate her, wishing that you could fly over and be a part of the fun as well, but you sat by your goalposts and celebrated by yourself.

The game started up again, your team up in a decent lead, until you noticed Harry zoom down towards the ground in a determined dive, Malfoy following his move to try and catch the Snitch before him.

You had been so distracted by the neck to neck fight that you nearly let in a goal, luckily stopping it a second before it went in. You tossed the Quaffle to Angelina —

“Harry has caught the Snitch! Gryffindor wins the Quidditch Cup!”

If the audience was loud before, it was nothing to how loud it became after the announcement. Your heart did a gleeful summersault and you left your post, rushing to join your team on the pitch grounds to celebrate.

Harry was beaming proudly, holding the Snitch high in the air. You couldn’t help the smile that rose to your lips as well as you watched him in his element, the pride radiating off of him and becoming contagious.

You felt someone nudge you from behind, causing you fall into Harry’s body with a slight ‘oomph.’

“Blimey, sorry, Harry,” you mumbled, pulling yourself off of him and hiding your face, knowing damn well it was either Fred or George who had knocked you over.

He grinned, clearly unbothered by your fall, “It’s no problem, Y/N. Congrats on the win!”

Your previous embarrassment faded quickly, “Yeah, same to you.”

Before you could register his movements, he pulled you into a bone crushing hug. All the coldness you had felt out and about in the chilly spring air completely vanished, warmth surrounded your body. Whether it was from your flushed state or his body, you couldn’t tell. But it was comfortable and you didn’t want him to pull away.

“Where’s our hug, mate?” Fred smirked, opening his arms wide and facing Harry, who pulled away from you hastily and flushed a light pink.

“He’s only jokin’,”George knocked Fred’s arms down, “How are we going to celebrate?”

You pursed your lips, narrowing your eyes and trying to think of something, “We could just do a small party. The common room couch is calling my name.”

Harry nodded appreciatively, “I’m not in the mood for anything too big, guys. Common room party sounds brilliant to me.”

“Lame,” George scoffed, “But if it’s what our star wants, it’s what our star will get.”

Harry chuckled awkwardly at George calling him a ‘star.’ It took everything in you not to smack your brother over the head.

Sometimes, they knew just how to push every last button.

——

The Gryffindor common room found itself incredibly packed that evening. People were scattered across the couches and the empty corners, practically shouting to their friends over the blasting noise coming from all directions.

Mellow music was playing, curtesy of Lee who had stolen the record from McGonagall’s office that afternoon. Groups of friends laughed and cheered as more and more members of the Gryffindor Quidditch team piled in, each looking as pleased about the win as the rest of the House.

“Oi, Y/N, get your arse over here,” Lee shouted at you from the corner of the room. You groaned, walking over and raising an eyebrow. You loved Lee, but you were currently searching the room for any signs of Harry.

“Yeah?” you asked, not focusing on him.

Lee seemed to notice your distracted state, “Am I not interesting enough for you?” There was no hint of offence in his voice — he seemed intrigued by what you were focused on.

“Huh?” you turned your attention back to him, blinking rapidly to clear your mind, “No, sorry, I’m paying attention.”

He cocked his eyebrow, “Sure. You’re looking for Harry, aren’t you?”

Your eyes shot open and you were nearly certain your face was now completely drained of colour, “Bloody hell, how do you know about that?”

“Fred and George, of course,” he shrugged as if it was no big deal, “Those lads tell me everything.”

“Oh, I am going to jinx them into next year,” you grit your teeth, anger overpowering the embarrassment you were feeling, “They had no right—,”

“Hey, if it makes you feel any better,” Lee cut you off with a chuckle, “They only told me so I could help set you up with him.”

You gaped at him, suddenly rendered speechless, “They — you — what?”

He placed his hand on your shoulder before pointing to where Harry was standing in the corner talking to Ron, “They wanted to set you two up.”

You turned away from Harry and faced Lee with wide eyes. You couldn’t believe that after all their teasing about your crush on Harry and the fact that he was both famous and younger than you, they still tried to set you up with him. And they had even gotten Lee involved. You weren’t sure if you were flattered or pissed off.

“Well, their plan hasn’t worked, has it?” you muttered quietly, “Pretty sure Harry just sees me as Y/N Weasley. His best friend’s older sister.”

Lee shook his head, “Do you not see the way he looks at you when you’re not looking?”

You furrowed your eyebrows, turning your head back in Harry’s direction. You immediately locked eyes before he turned away quickly, cheeks becoming tinted light pink.

“Point proven,” Lee smirked, crossing his arms and leaning up against the wall behind him, “Oh, here they come.”

You were about to ask who he was talking about, but your question was answered when Fred and George appeared at your side, holding a box of products that they were bound to test out on unsuspecting students.

You grinned to yourself, already excited to see if the products would go as planned. The three of you wanted to open a joke shop after graduating. However, you felt yourself too occupied by Harry’s presence to want to be involved with their shenanigans tonight.

“So, dearest sister,” Fred winked at you, “Charming young Harry is sitting there waiting for you, why don’t you go join him?” He nudged you in the ribs, causing you to glare at him.

“Sod off, would you?” you groaned, nudging him right back, a lot more forcefully. The last thing you wanted was Harry to overhear. Sure, it was loud in the common room and you could barely hear Fred who was right next to you, but maybe he’d hear. You could never be too safe.

“Y/N,” George placed his hands on both your shoulders, turning you to face him, “Go speak to him. We’ve been watching you pine for the lad nearly two years now. It won’t do you any good to sit back and let him be. Just go chat with him, yeah?”

You thought over his words, hating the fact that he was right. You wanted to leave Hogwarts with no regrets, ready to live your life to the complete fullest. You wouldn’t be able to do that if you regretted never speaking to Harry when given the chance.

On one hand, if Harry felt the same, you’d get to spend your last month here with him. On the other hand, if he didn’t feel the same, you’d only have a month left before you’d only get to see him on the rare occasion.

The pro’s outweighed the con’s, really.

“Fine,” you gave in, ignoring how the two boys grinned knowingly, shooting each other a thumbs up. You glanced back in the direction that Harry had been previously standing, only to notice that Ron and Hermione were the only ones there.

You walked over, collecting your nerves, and tapped your other brother on the shoulder, “Ron, where’d Harry go?”

Ron shot you a quizzical look before pointing right behind you, “He’s right there.”

You spun around on the spot, heart caught in your throat as you stared into Harry’s eyes. He was awkwardly smiling at you, fidgeting his feet and looking between you and Ron.

“Hey, Y/N,” Harry nodded, rubbing the back of his neck with his hand. You thought he looked nervous, but you couldn’t figure out why he would be. If anything, you should be the one nervously looking down at your feet, not him.

The only reason you weren’t feeling overwhelmed was because of what Lee has just told you. Maybe, just maybe, there was a chance Harry was attracted to you as well.

“Hiya, Harry,” you grinned, pushing your hopeful thoughts out of your mind, “Having a good time?”

You flushed at your embarrassing question, but he seemed to slip right past it, “Yeah, I am. I hope you are too.”

“Oh, yeah, it’s great,” you nodded, pursing your lips. The tension was unbearable. You could practically feel Ron and Hermione cringing behind you, and if you weren’t staring dead on at Harry, you’d probably be cringing too.

“Do you uh, want to go somewhere more quiet?” Harry asked, his eyes darting back and forth between your eyes and his own feet.

Without thinking, you quickly replied, “Yes.”

He seemed taken aback by your speedy reply, but he brushed it off and nodded his head up the stairs, starting to walk up. You followed suit, still ignoring the grins that Lee and your triplet brothers were shooting your way.

Once you two reached the opening at the top of the stairs, where it was still loud but reasonably easier to hear properly, he took a seat and motioned for you to do the same.

Under the light of the window, Harry’s eyes had never looked so blue and it was taking your breath away.

You sat next to him, eyes practically glued to him, and smiled nervously, “So...” you trailed off, unsure of what to say.

“I actually want to talk to you about something,” he sighed, looking at you so intently you swore he could probably see into your soul, “I uh, have heard that you may or may not take a fancy to me.”

You had never wished to be dead more than when he said those words. Had your two idiot brothers spilled to Harry how you felt about him? Had they told Ron — who couldn’t keep a secret for life of him — that you had a crush on his best friend? You didn’t think you were that obvious. How could he know?

You ducked your face, hiding the growing blush, and cursed everyone you knew. The pounding in your chest picked up exponentially, uneasiness settling through your whole body.

“Uh — I’m sorry,” you said the only thing you could think of, wanting to smack yourself over the forehead.

Harry’s eyes widened, “No, don’t be sorry. I only brought it up because I—,” he stopped to take a deep breath, closing his eyes, “I actually fancy you too.”

Your heart suddenly stopped completely. Was Lee right? Had Harry actually felt this way about you the whole time?

“You — you do?” you asked, clearly starstuck. You didn’t know what to say. What did people usually say when their crush told them they liked them too?

“Yeah,” he chuckled nervously, running his hand through his hair and shaking it slightly, “I couldn’t find the right time to tell you and I thought I might as well just do it.”

It was as if your entire body had gone numb. It made no sense, but at the same time, you didn’t want to overthink it. He liked you back, and that was the best news you could have received. Despite winning the Quidditch cup, this here was the best feeling.

“I’m glad you did,” you grinned, your voice coming off shaky as the nerves continued rambling through your body, “I probably wouldn’t have said anything, to be honest.”

He chuckled, “So, uh, do you want to go to Hogsmeade together next weekend?”

You nodded before you could even properly process his words, “I’d love to.”

If it was any quieter, you could have sworn you heard George’s forced whisper from down the stairs saying, “We’re the best matchmakers.”

Grinning like an idiot, you rested your head against the wall and continued to gaze adoringly at Harry, who you were now going on a date with next weekend.

There could be no better feeling.

[zarcake-writes]

The Witch King- Part 1

Hello! Yes, the title was hella inspired by the Lord of the RIngs. But I’ve only seen the movies and never read the books, so it’s mostly just the name and cool castle/fortress design.

Anyways! This is a Choose Your Own Adventure Story. I meant to post this ages ago, once I got 3000 followers, but life got in the way. And life kept getting in the way. Now! I have some time. So, I figured I would start this!

At the bottom of the story is a link to vote on what the reader should do next. You will have a full 24 hours to vote! I will then I will write the next part. So give me time lol.

Hope you all enjoy! Thank you all for the support and love, you all are sooooo amazing. 

Story warnings: mentions of slavery, mentions of abuse

Nestled deep in the mountains is a fortress that looks like it was carved from green quartz. Some people say the fortress is actually a castle or a palace. Others say it is a massive city of green buildings that take up the entire mountain range. The only consensus among people is the color, an unnatural green that makes a person’s skin crawl, and the unending silence. Even when the wind blows, the rain falls, and the snow rages, the entire area surrounding the fortress is silent.

Thousands of rumors fly back and forth when it comes to this place. Some people say the castle is empty, that it was abandoned long ago by an unknown being. A king of a realm lost to time. Or a wizard that none seem to remember. They insist it is in ruins now, lost to the ravages of time. Forgotten and empty, save the ghosts that linger in the weathered halls.

Yet, some say that castle is still there. Still standing tall and strong in those mountains, with the unsettling green walls and the unending silence, with a single inhabitant. A man or creature who is so evil that none dare speaks his name. Just his title, the name given to him by those who feared him. The Witch King.

As a child, your mother told you the stories about this evil entity. The Witch King would take bad children who didn’t listen to their parents and eat them. He would pull them out of bed by their toes and fly to his green castle, laughing at the crying children. The stories worked, they scared you so bad that you were afraid to do anything wrong. You were so terrified you didn’t even sleep with your feet hanging off the bed.

It’s been years since you last thought of the Witch King and his green castle. Years since that familiar fear crawled up your spine and wrapped its hand around your heart. Years since you’ve last seen your mother. But now, as you look up at the massive green fortress, that familiar feeling crawls up your throat. Whether it because all those stories are true or because of the man currently pulling you towards the fortress, you don’t know. Maybe it’s both.

The man, who is holding your arm in a firm grip, did not give you his name. He never bothered asking for your name and he hasn’t bothered renaming you. For that, you are happy. Ever since you were taken from your home and sold into slavery, you’ve had several different names.

This nameless man bought you a month ago from a woman named Lady Argent. She owned you for about three years and bought you the first man who truly broke your spirit. She had named you Pretty Girl. Lady Argent wasn’t the cruelest woman, at least to you, but she wasn’t kind. You saw the beatings and whip marks on her other slaves. Heard the stories about what she did to those who truly angered her or tried to escape. You saw the pit, heard the howling of the beasts. So, you behaved.

You were surprised she sold you. She always said she preferred when you brushed her hair. Apparently, you have a gentle touch. But she sold you to this nameless man without batting an eye.

This man is tall and strong. He’s covered in strange, twisting, and intricate tattoos that glow and shimmer when he practices magic. He barely feeds you or speaks to you. You’ve noticed he barely eats himself or bothers to speak to anyone.

Since he bought you, he’s done nothing but travel. He walks and you follow. In the evenings, when he allows you to rest, he looks through a massive book and practices his magic.

When he practices his magic, the tattoos glow and spark. It terrifies you. Yet when he fails a spell, his anger terrifies you more. It’s either loud and explosive, with him storming off and shouting. He always returns later, calmer and quiet. When his rage is silent, that’s when you fear for your life. You don’t sleep those nights; too afraid he’ll blame you and kill you while you sleep.

Despite his rage, you consider the man to be kind. He never raised a hand against you or yelled at you. He doesn’t demand you do anything to him or for him. He’s definitely kinder than the other people who owned you in the past. Yet now, as he pulls you towards the entrance of that terrible green castle, you think differently. He’s probably the cruelest man you’ve ever met.

As the castle looms closer, the pounding in your ears grows louder and louder. You’re shivering, from a combination of fear and the cold wind that cuts through the rags you wear. The man who holds you is warm, his skin is always burning hot, but it does nothing to alleviate the shivers that wrack your body.

The double doors are massive, made of black metal with twin snake-like creatures engraved along the front. Hanging next to the doors are sconces, burning with an emerald green fire. The man holding your arm stops before the doors and waits. After what feels like an hour, but is really only a minute, the doors creak open.

The man steps forward, pulling you with him. You attempt to resist, pulling away and digging your heels into the stone, but it does nothing. The man grunts, one of the only noises you’ve ever heard from him, and yanks you through the doors with him.

Through the massive metal, doors are a large entrance area and a wide staircase. The interior walls are the same unnatural green as the outside, while the floor is black and cold. It shimmers like metal, but it’s rough, like stone, against your bare feet. A huge chandelier hangs from the ceiling and numerous braziers line the walls; an emerald green fire burns bright on the chandelier and in each brazier. The fire does nothing to warm to the area, and there’s no crackling or popping.

It’s beautiful. Sickly beautiful. But you want to cry out of fear.

The man doesn’t seem impressed by the architecture or the green fire. His scowl deepens and he pulls you down a hallway to the left.

You try to memorize the path he’s taking, but you lose track after the fourth left. Somehow, the man knows where he’s going. You assume he’s been here before or maybe something magical is calling to him. Something dark and magical leading him through the twisting and turning green halls.

Eventually, he pulls you into a large study. A single brazier sits in the middle of the room, next to it is a large table; it’s covered with loose papers and many opened books. Along the wall, directly left of the brazier, is another table full of vials and bottles. The liquids shimmer unnaturally. There’s a bundle of red flowers and some kind of glowing rock beside the vials. Across from the brazier is a large window, partially hidden behind a tattered curtain. Natural light seeps in, mixing with the green light from the brazier.

A rickety wooden door is opposite the window. A strange white light seeps out from beneath the door and through the wooden slats of the door. It sounds like someone is talking to themselves, followed by the rustle of pages and the clinking of glass and metal.

The man pulls you towards a chair and points at it. “Sit. And do not move.”

You do as he says. He gives you a hard look then turns away. You watch as he approaches the wooden door. He knocks, then pushes the door open, vanishing inside. A voice greets the man, and there’s the sound of conversation. You’re left alone in the study.

You wonder if you should stay seated. If you disobey, the man might hurt you. Course, there’s the chance he might hurt you anyways. A part of you is screaming to run, but run where? You’ll get lost in this castle. And even if you manage to find the exit, what then? You’ll die in the mountains. No, staying seated in the better option. Much safer. Or is it?

Perhaps you should investigate the room? But investigate what? The table full of papers? The strange vials? The window? No, he said to stay seated. And if he catches you out of your seat, gods know what he’ll do to you. Stay seated.

The glowing light behind the wooden door catches your attention. The conversation is too low for you to make out what they are saying. However, there is the occasional rustle of papers followed by the slamming of a book. Maybe you should peek through the door? Try to see who or what the man is talking to. Do you dare?

Click here to vote on what should happen next! 

[jelloopy]

Moonlighting Notes

Previous: Character Creation, HtbG

Moonlighting Ch 1

Boys are dizzy upon entering moon base (Why exactly was this a thing? Like was it because Lucretia made it so the bureau couldn’t be remembered/ comprehended by anyone not inoculated?)

AAVVIIIIIIII!!!!! He is from Brandybuck and gives them some brandy to ease the dizziness (Team player, I want someone like Avi in my crew.) 

JOHAAANNNNNN!!!! Half elf! v v sad boy. So talented!!! (I kinda forgot how mopey he was since I’ve been catching up with the rest of TAZ )

Magnus why you tickling a grown-ass man? (This is so funny and weird considering how their relationship grows later on?)

Best god damn musician that ever existed. Plays violin like a mad man (He plays the Violin… I feel like Lup would have challenged him so god damn fast. But still, is he the legit best Violinist in Faerune?)

Magnus drinks the Ichor first. Remembers everything that was static before now being clear as day. Months and years ago there was a war that ruined and killed entire towns, loved ones, and people he knew. (Juliaaaaaa! God that sucks realizing that tbh. But also later on Travis says that Magnus was the leader of a Militia going against Governor Kalen. So what was that about exactly? They might actually explain that later on so I gonna wait and see.)

”You have never seen anything like this”~griffin about Fisher (Oh, how incorrect that statement is. Especially for it to be Magnus he’s talking about.)

Taako drinks next then Merle (Ahh, Taako the trust issues are showinggggg! But I don’t blame you it’s okay you have full right to be sus)

Taako has a memory of working on his grandpa’s farm where he leaves the milk out too long and remembers sour cream (he was 65yrs old) (God, does that mean Lup was there too? )

Johann came up with the name “voidfish”? (To be fair the IPRE gang only called him Fisher so it actually is pretty neat if Johann really was the guy to come up with the name.)

Magic Brian was 121yrs old and a drow elf (A young man just looking for mischief)

Magnus tries to tickle Johann again bit he smacks his hand away (YES JOHANN Stand up for your self!!!!! What a king.)

Johann is in the “gamekeeping” department? (I mean he is the guy that feeds and takes care of Fisher by means of feeding him information that needs getting rid of. So it kinda makes sense.)

Moonlighting Ch 2

They meet Lucretia!  (I want to punch her so bad. I’m sorry if yall like Lucretia but she infuriates me. She actually is a really cool character with a complex personality that I can actually appreciate but I still hate what she did and I will go much deeper into it later on.)

Griffin makes a joke about having to “create a new monster that takes away memories” so that he can get Taako to unlearn some of the components to making a taco (Good god. That came back to bite us in the ass didn’t it? Huh, JUNIOR. Didn’t it? That hurts a lot too.)

Lucretia doesn’t know” what the umbrastaff is (I saw a post with some Lucretia angst which I can appreciate because she could have been “in denial” about it being Lup’s umbrastaff but I got angry nonetheless.)

She believes that they are much more capable than they believe that they are (YEAH HUH? Its almost like they have less faith in themselves because someone took away their memories and the knowledge of their powers or something and they had to start all over. Wild.)

The Bureau of Balance has only been in operation for less than a year and they were not able to do anything until they discovered the Voidfish (More like Lucretia had only then figured out the logistics of her organization enough to introduce Fisher to everyone. Which in retrospect is very smart and it’s the same thing I would do at that point in time but anyway.)

Magic Brian was a wayward seeker who worked for the bureau of balance (aHA! So technically in the Graphic Novel, he should have had a bracer on unless he used a spell to conceal it which is reasonable (I won’t hate on Carey I just remembered it and noticed he didn’t have a bracer on. it’s nothing wild))

CUE TRIAL OF INITIATION! (Ngl I forgot this was a thing because of how little attention I was paying at the beginning.)

Magnus is the strongest, Merle is the smartest, and Taako is the bravest. (In all aspects, I would have switched Taako and Merle but considering at this point Taako really was a dullard I can agree with their placements.)

The smallest ogre is blue the middle ogre is green and the big ogre is red (Awe I think Griffin used all of their fave colors to Mirror the three of em. <3)

Magnus’ first blood with ripping arms off (And so it begins. God, I love that Lil character detail in Magnus. It’s so frickin funny.)

”I thought I knew him! he’s an animal!” ~Taako (I mean in The Stolen Century he waaaas taught by a bear so… not far off there bud.)

Taako falls back and breaks his wand and in return, the umbrastaff begins to shift and wiggle in his bag until he gets it out. (It never clicked that this was the time that Griffin listed in Lup’s return in the finale. Until now… That’s so cute and so sadddddd)

Moonlighting Ch 3

Magnus got to keep the robot arm(s?) (Yay! Sadly he will give them up later on :( but it is for good reason so :) )

Lucretia came up with the name “Bureau of Balance” (Why? Like why Balance. I would name it Justice or Equity or something else but Balance doesn’t seem right in line with what they are doing.)

Lucretia treats davenport as her charge or ward (Rude. For one. It also hurts a lot more when you realize he is her superior. I hate it so much.)

”We very quickly cut your hand off take the bracer then reattach the hand so its no big deal” in reference to how they’ll get the bracers off after they find all the relics. (1- I forget how they get the bracers off in the end but did Lucretia really not plan for that?) (2- heheh *cut to Merle in three Arcs*)

The seventh relic is love “after we find the sixth item we’ll come back here” (She has the 7th in her hand actually so yeah you’re only gonna need to find six. But also it kinda was Love. The bonds they all had together helped Lucretia do what she needed in the end with the help of Taako’s idea and together they ended the Hunger’s reign over Faerune.)

”who called themselves the Red Robes- are all gone- most of them killed in the hunt for their relics- bring them back here if you find one” (Uh. Lucretia really named her family the “Red Robes” and made them sound evil because they did what they could at the time. Also they aren't “all gone” the only one(s) you don’t know their whereabouts of yet are Barry and Lup. AND YOU PUT ANTI- LICH WARDS ON THE DAMN MOON DUDE. If you really wanted to find Barry to talk then you would have not done that.)

Leon the artificer! (He is trying his best and I love him)

The umbrastaff is a magical umbrella created by the Umbrawizards “very few” of them exist (Boy HUH? Did Lup like… start a gang of wizards? Or did Lucretia feed Leon false Information?)

Taako being inept at the gashapon (My favorite thing. He is played as stupid at the time but if we consider his character, in general, knowing everything we do he is just fucking with Leon and I love him for that.)

RAILSPLITTER!!!! Phantom fist!!! Wand of switcheroo!! The X-treem teen bible and SCUTTLEBUDDY!!!! (Pay close attention! These Mousekatools will be useful later on!)

Awe Magnus got everyone the stones of far speech 

They are moving to Level 4!!!

Next: MotRPL, Lunar Interlude I,

[meganlpie]

Partnered Up part 2

This was requested several times between here and Wattpad! I still do not own ANY Harry Potter characters. They belong to Rowling. 

Part 1

Warnings: angst, fluff, violence? Mix of book and movie!verse. A couple time skips.

Pairings: Neville Longbottom x fem!Malfoy reader

You felt your heart pounding in your chest as you let another curse fly from your mouth. No matter how long you had been looking you had yet to find the two people you wanted to most. Your brother and Neville. You had been separated from them both when the Death Eaters started trying to attack Hogwarts and you felt terrible. You knew you could die at any moment and you didn't want the last thing you said to be words of anger. Nor did you want to die without telling Neville that you loved him.

         When you and Neville had finally confessed your feelings for one another in fifth year, it was the happiest day of your life so far. The two of you had started seeing one another behind you family's back. And now you were certain you loved the boy, well man. The only spot in your otherwise bright relationship was the fact that you had to hide. Your family, especially Draco, would never approve. Something Draco proved when he caught you and Neville locking lips, thus the fight.

         You stopped short, hearing the screams of your brother. You could feel the heat before you saw the fire. "Y/N!" Draco cried, causing you to look up. He was dangling from a broom flown by Harry. He dropped down and gripped you tightly. "You're alright," he said softly and you could hear the tears in his voice. It was the most vulnerable you'd seen him in a long time.

         "I'm alive. And so are you." Draco nodded against your shoulder. "C-Crabbe isn't." You gripped him tighter. "I'm sorry, Draco." He didn't say anything. You held him for a moment longer, but you could still hear the sounds of the battle raging on all around you. "Come on, Draco. We have to go. We can't stay here." Draco loosened his grip and the two of you stood up.

         "Draco…you didn't see Neville by any chance?" His grey eyes narrowed a bit, but he shook his head. "I haven't seen Longbottom since, well since-" he cut off, unsure of how to continue. You smiled, but didn't say anything. Instead, you chose to race off before the real battle began. You had to find Neville. You just had to.

*short time skip brought to you by Buckbeak*

         You were covered in dirt, blood, and sweat as you stared at your father. "Draco, Y/N. Come here," he hissed at you. Draco looked reluctant, but slowly made his way over to your parents. He stopped only to glance back at you before Voldemort gave him an awkward hug. "Well done, Draco. And what of your sister?" Voldemort's eyes met yours and you suppressed a shudder. Your father hissed your name softly once more. You glanced at the body of Harry Potter that Hagrid was holding in his arms and then you let your gaze wander over to Neville.

         You had never seen Neville look so frightened before and yet so brave. He was moving between glaring daggers at Voldemort and gazing at you. It was that gaze that froze you in your spot. No matter how much you loved your family, you couldn't join them. Not when everyone else that you loved was in danger. So you stayed still and silent, choosing to raise your head high and glare at Voldemort.

         You were locked in a staring contest with the evil wizard until movement caught your attention. Your eyes widened when you saw that it was Neville. "And what is your name, you brave boy?" Neville gave his name and stepped further forward. You were staring holes into his back and not listening to word he was saying until he turned back.

         "Harry might be dead, but he lives on. In here! In all of us. His death will not be in vain!" Neville declared before turning back to Voldemort."But yours will." Then he pulled out a sword you hadn't even noticed he'd had. And before you even had time to react, all hell broke loose.

         "Potter!"

         "Neville!" you cried at the same time Draco called Harry's name. Neville turned to you just in time to catch you as you launched yourself at him. "Neville, you mad, stupid, brave, selfless man! You might have gotten yourself killed! Why would you-" Your voice was cut off by Neville's lips on yours.

         You pulled away with a smile. "What was that for?" Neville grinned, his one arm still wrapped around you while the other hand held the sword. "I thought for a minute you might have gone with them. I wouldn't have blamed you. They're your family. But I couldn't let you without telling you that I love you."

         "I love you too, Nev. So very much. And if we live through this, I look forward to a very long conversation about this. But first, we have a war to win and I believe you have something to do with that sword of yours." Neville chuckled before pecking you on the lips again. "Together then. After all, we are partners." You beamed and followed after him as he went to cut the head of that damned snake.  

*19 years later*

         "Aunt Y/N!" You turned slightly and smiled. "Hello, Scorpius! Excited?" You hugged the boy close before hugging his parents. "I am. I hope I make friends fast." You laughed a bit. "I'm certain you will. Although you should remember to call me 'Professor' when we get to Hogwarts." Scorpius nodded. "Yeah, I know. Doesn't it get confusing though? Having two 'Professor Longbottom'?" You let out a little laugh as you glanced over to where your husband was talking to Ron and Hermione. "Maybe, but you'll get used to it." Neville looked over at you and waved. "I love you," you mouthed. "I love you too."

(a/n: I hope you like it!)

Forever Tags: @fizzyxcustard​ @brewsthespirit-blog​ @esoltis280​ @lady-of-lies​ @aikibriarrose​ @sirkekselord​ @sdavid09​

HP Tags are still open!

Partnered Up Tags: @my-current-fandom-is​ 

[erudite-rebel]

AU: The Dresden Verse

Characters marked with a * are referred to as they are in the verse I made with @littleblackqrow in regards to his background, and with @hvithale in regards to the synesthesia ability (rights to it are respectfully hers). If another mun who plays with these muses wants to RP with me in the Dresden Verse, I'll be happy to adjust and fix what HC's are there to suit the new mun and their personal interpretation of the muse within that verse. Have no fear, I force headcanons on no man or entity.

Until Bartholomew Oobleck came into his magic at the age of thirteen, Barty was an unusual, precocious child. Initially expected to be mostly non-verbal and diagnosed with autism, he began to speak in full sentences at the age of three and advanced past his academic level rapidly. He was wont to ask questions and get into trouble, and his parents made efforts to curb his hyperactivity with sports and classes to wear him down.

A more accurate diagnosis was made when he was nine, with ADHD, low spectrum autism, and synesthesia. Barty reportedly 'saw things' all his life, and in art class and occasionally in creative writing or when he'd speak to his parents they pieced together he could see things that others couldn't. Without a reasonable explanation, the doctor supposed it was a type of auditory synesthesia.

Bart was subject to his share of bullying as a child. When he was thirteen and trying to avoid being caught by a particularly nasty group in Edinburgh a gust of wind pushed on him hard, sending him sailing well out of reach. Stumbling and knowing they could still catch him up, and panicking over the freak occurrence in the weather, he ducked into a side shop. No one noticed him come in, and even when the bullies had looked in the windows they hadn't seen him clearly there among the racks of clothes.

He didn't know yet how, but he'd managed to turn himself invisible. After the bullies had moved on he'd been left unsure of what to do and in a state of minor panic, especially as the blurry colours of his synesthesia had seemed to get far brighter than they'd ever been.

After the incident he hid at the house, nervous to be around people and afraid he was the cause of all the shorted out light bulbs. Approaching him generally resulted in magical misfires (and a few real fires).

While his parents were mundane, his mother recognized magic when she saw it. At first she thought about trying to help him hide it, let it fade out. Her mother had never trusted the White Council, after all, but Bart seemed to have more talent than she'd had. After some deliberation, she had her husband call in their family friend, Ozpin*.

Rather than sending a lower level wizard to look at Barty, Ozpin himself came to assess his magical talent himself after hearing a bit about him. He found Bart to have a good deal of raw talent and power within him, as well as an unusual and rare gift he'd seen only a few times before. Barty's synesthesia was in fact the reflection of seeing magic present in day to day life, wispy and out of focus, and weaker than his Wizard's Sight would be. Knowing Barty was at risk for driving himself mad using it, and from there becoming a Warlock, he took him directly into his care and apprenticeship from his parents estate.

Barty was trained and schooled under the watch of the White Council. He grew up around Wizards and their dealings, excelled in his academics and began to get control over his synesthesia, though it was a struggle. When he was old enough he equated it to being made to walk around without his glasses in his hand, and being forbidden to put them on.

When he was fifteen he met the Branwen Twins*. Not much was known about them, other than the fact he knew Ozpin had fought to take them on as apprentices and argued with the Wardens over them. Both of them spoke strangely, edging on riddles, and were next to feral. Excited to have friends, though, Bart had done his best to gain their friendship. Eventually the three were inseparable.

Bart graduated high school several years early and went on to post secondary at the University of Edinburgh. He took archaeology and history with the intent of working eventually in an archival position within the White Council once he was of age, and in the mean time work as a professor once he'd received his doctorate. When Qrow and Raven had moved to the states he decided to move over with them, landing a job at Harvard, which was within an easy train ride to his friends. The job went more or less smoothly and he helped Qrow out with his duties as they came.

Everything came to a head when he was applying for tenure. While he'd grown capable of resisting his synesthesia and keeping his name out of the potentially reputation damning tabloids, during a black tie fundraising event he'd spotted something wrong moving in the gallery. Without his Sight he only had the inkling that something was evil, shifting the energy around. Just being near made his stomach twist.

He'd lifted his Sight to get a look at it and formulate a plan when he was confronted with a person possessed by an Outsider. He'd had no choice but to act, even without his things, and the scene caused had been devastating. Blame thoroughly placed upon him after it had gotten away, and struggling with panic attacks over what he'd seen, Bart had been placed into psychiatric evaluation, where he'd remained until Ozpin was able to take him out.

His disgrace at Harvard left a stain on his reputation and blacklisted him from much of academia. He eventually resigned himself to a low position teaching basic history in a community college and began to devoting more time to his spellcraft and helping Qrow travel and take out potential threats.

Bart has several specializations in magic, particularly thaumatergy and kinetomancy. He also has a talent for shielding and fire magic, and thanks to the nature of his Sight has a near eidetic memory for most things. He is the walking Cliff Notes for anything he's studied before.

He has also only Soul Gazed with a handful of people - his mother, accidentally, after his powers had unlocked, Ozpin, and the twins.

[carib0us]

Harry Potter and the magical academy 01

Harry Potter's adventures continue at a magical school in England where he rescues a girl named Hermione from a troll. But no one is what they seem, including Harry him/herself.

A School of Magic! Harry Meets Hermione

As Harry Potter ran to the unused classroom where the sounds of a struggle were coming from, she didn't have time to ponder where she was or why. She really, really hoped this would work, and she only had a few seconds to fret over what would possess a girl to be so stupid as to wander off where a troll could get her. A revelo wouldn't work here. As a boy (and, in his own estimation, a very handsome one) he'd gone through all of Jeanette's naked rituals by various kinds of trees to "build up magical potential" but despite being a nymph, she hadn't taken any liberties as he'd rather hoped she would. On paper, conturbabimus would work long enough to drag the idiotic girl away before the troll could gather its wits and start serious spell-casting.

She kicked the door open and yelled the incantation without even looking around. Both figures struggling on the floor suddenly went slack and stared around them.

Harry dragged the girl (not bad looking but very dowdy) through the dusty, nondescript door and cast adfigo on it — another first attempt that worked. She owed Jeanette a debt of thanks. Eunice St. Clair, too. From the pounding the door was now taking, it was more than holding up. The girl was coming to her senses, so they dashed toward where she told Harry her room was. When they reached the section, the girl first made a complex gesture and said, "Nuntius Amelia Cackle hazardous being in the North Tower corridor, last room!", causing a white bird to appear and fly off with a scrap of paper in its beak, then spelled Harry in, and they ended up sitting on her bed. The girl was still shaking a bit but she smiled at Harry.

"Thank you for saving me from .... was that a troll?"

"A troll wizard, I guess you'd call it."

"That's supposed to be impossible, you know. But in any case, thank you ... "

"Harriet Potter. Named after my father, Harry Potter, senior. I go by Harry preferentially."

"Ah, I am Hermione ...... " the girl paused. " ... Grant. Hermione Grant."

Harry had never prided himself on his intellect. When it came to the things that interested him, like friends, girls, girlfriends (you get the picture), he'd seen that having a pretty face was far more important than whatever you had going on behind it. Not that that applied now. He'd barely had time to see his new form in a mirror, and had wasted that having a breakdown (what Madame St. Clair called 'throwing a tantrum', in fact). But who would blame him? He'd been a 15-year-old boy, his family's weirdness behind him, his little sister in one place for once, and nothing to worry about in the future but juggling phone numbers from hot girls. Now, thanks to what Eunice St. Clair had had Jeanette and the other Fae do to him, he was a dowdy, four-eyed eleven-year-old girl. Moreover, he wasn't in San Francisco anymore. He was in Wimbledon, and not here as a tennis champion, which would have been hot and garnered abundant female attention. He - or rather, she — was at a crazy school of magic the other people in Wimbledon could not even see.

All that said, even someone like Harry could tell the girl was lying.

"Umm, haven't you even checked in here?" she said. "I hope you were able to remember your name a bit better then, if so."

"Well, then, Harry Potter, if we're talking about not being what we seem?" she responded, looking her in the eye. Somehow, she knew. Maybe not everything that was up with Harry, but some of it, for sure. She decided it was the better part of valor to drop the subject. But that led to a different one.

"You are certainly powerful and educated in spell-crafting for an eleven-year-old, I have to say," Harry began.

"Oh?" asked Hermione, raising one eyebrow. Really, she could be actually cute if she'd taken the least little care for her appearance. Her dark, bushy hair was medium length, but cut as if someone had brushed it all out then cut it all off at the same length, then done for her bangs with a mixing bowl and a fabric shears.

"I almost am surprised you didn't overcome To .... the troll," Harry continued, catching herself.

"Your friend To the Troll has magic I've never encountered. That did not seem to be the case for you." Once again, she met her eyes, and Harry had to look away.

"Well," Harry responded clumsily.

"Well, indeed. Let's go have some tea and something to eat, shall we?"

With that, Hermione turned to bend over her bed and reach her bag. She came up smiling for some reason, and then they left, with Hermione spelling them out of the common area.

En route to the dining hall, she pulled Harry to a halt. "I realize we have a sort of detente going on, Harry, and I am genuinely grateful, but we must talk. You were staring at my breasts — what little I have — more than meeting my eyes when we were talking. When you did meet my gaze, you were thoughtful, as if evaluating how much better I might look if I fixed myself up, and paused when you got to my lips, at which point you licked your own. When I bent over to get my bag, in the mirror I saw you were drooling over my bum." She had her hands on her hips and a satisfied expression on her face. "I am sorry if I was short with you when you pointed out my mistake. It's elementary that you pick a name, stick to it, and say it automatically. The answer to your question is that nervousness such as to make you stammer out your name is quite expected here at Miss Cackle's, and in fact, the faculty and other students find it endearing. But I wished to return the favor, if your goal is to be discreet."

When they got to the dining hall and summoned tea and a small lunch, Harry and Hermione sat away from the others. Hermione said, "murmurati" as they sat down, which she explained would not silence them, just make it tricky to make out anything they were saying. Then she asked Harry, "Would you agree both of us have secrets, and our own agenda, here at Miss Cackle's?"

Harry nodded.

"And am I correct in saying you are lamenting the fact that your social life will be somewhat truncated? I honestly suspect you are a bit older than you look, probably in your prime dating age."

Harry looked at her, astonished.

"Well, if that surprised you .... Harry, we are going to have to be allies. If you did not mean me well, you could have let that troll you know finish me off, for one thing."

"Well ..." Harry interrupted.

"Well?"

"He doesn't do that. He's evil, all right but he thinks killing is a waste."

"Oh? So what was my fate to be?"

"He would put you in a glass coffin, probably. It's what he did to my sister, Wendy. And then assume your form and wreak havoc."

"And what's preventing that now? Well, Amelia will probably sort him out."

"Uh." Harry looked a little ill.

"What?"

"Well, he can expand a room like that until it's so big he won't be found easily. It's one of his spells."

"So, regardless of my plans, I have to help deal with a shape-changing troll wizard who could be anyone? Am I hearing this correctly? And of course you are aware that trolls are mostly resistant to magic — here in an academy devoted to nothing but?"

Harry could only nod.

"Does he take liberties with the girls? Or are there some small mercies here?"

"I think he's still obsessed with my little sister ...  Or, well, now she'd be a bit older than me, wouldn't she? He wanted her to be his consort in his dark kingdom, after all."

"At any rate, Harry, if you wish to keep me company here, I would not mind. My own experiences at girls' academies have made me open to such arrangements, and I can be very discreet, and instruct you as well, if it comes to that. But, hmm... okay, enough secret-sharing. Let's get you up to speed about Miss Cackle's Academy, shall we?"

She paused. "My true surname is actually Cackle. Since I share that with the headmistress, Amelia Cackle, and her twin Agatha - who is, I assure you, quite the piece of work - and since my existence has been heretofore absolutely unknown, you can see how that could be confusing at "Miss Cackle's Academy of Magic?"

After Harry nodded, Hermione gave her a brief overview of the school. She encouraged Harry to meet a few of the students over lunch and meet up with her afterwards. Since it was, after all, an all-girl school, Harriet had no objection to that plan whatsoever. It was time to see if girl-Harry still had game.

[spacesuitsforemergency]

The Rise Of Iron Maiden

Chapter 1: A Wizard, a Guardian, and an Avenger Walk Into a Bar

Word Count: 3.3k

Original Request by: @amateurwriterbigdreamer

Next Chapter: So, You Want to be an Avenger?

A/N: this ones Tye and Jaime heavy but I promise the next chapter is more centered around Y/N and Eduardo

“Lalo, did we really have to go all the way across town for coffee?” You asked as your boyfriend, Eduardo Dorado Jr led you into a small coffee shop.

“Trust me, princesa.” He grinned as he opened the door for you, before adding sarcastically, “It is worth the treacherous, enduring limo ride.”

You roll your eyes, but let him lead you inside. You both get coffee and pastries, then sit in the back table together. Ironically, L-O-V-E is playing softly from the little radio the barista had set behind the counter. You swear, Eduardo probably paid for them to play the song, it was such an Eduardo thing to do.

He rambled on about some petty argument he got into with someone at S.H.I.E.L.D, but you were busy thinking about luck. Specifically how it was on your side all those years ago.

When you were 13, some workers in Stark Industries’ science department had been testing a teleportation device, and somehow they teleported Eduardo Dorado Jr, Tye Longshadow and Jaime Reyes from another dimension. They tried for months to get them back to their reality, but it was no use. You were always around the lab, since it was owned by your father, Tony Stark. You had grown close to all 3 of them, being the only one in the building their age. You grew up together, becoming best friends. When they developed powers, and you were finally given a suit, Director Fury agreed to let you be an official team.

You and your father argued for weeks about it, but you won every single time. You pointed out that Spider-Man was your same age, so it wasn’t any different. He would say it was different cause you were his daughter, but thankfully you had inherited his stubbornness, so you became the rising hero, Iron Maiden. And yes, he totally helped you pick out your name.

You and Eduardo fell in love with each other, and had begun dating when you were 15. You were both charming and suave people, so at first you both thought that it was just all meaningless flirting. You had developed feelings for each other, and everyone saw it but the two of you. Rhodey and Pepper noticed first, Tony didn’t realize it until he found out you two were secretly dating for 3 months. It was quite sad really, he claimed to be the smartest man alive, and yet he couldn’t see his daughter completely head over heels for her best friend.

Your thoughts are interrupted when there’s a weird hum in the air, then suddenly the windows shatter. Eduardo jumps in front of you, shielding you from the broken glass. You both watch with your eyes wide as a giant ring shaped UFO lands in the middle of the street, causing clouds of dust to flood the streets. You quickly activate your iron suit, holding up a shield for you and Eduardo, the barista safely behind the counter.

“What the hell is that?” Eduardo shouts over the screams of people on the street, car alarms, and what seemed to be engines of some sort from the ring.

“I don’t know! But we need to go help!” You grab his hand, and he teleports the both of you out of the shop. You scan the streets, calculating how many people were around.

“F.R.I.D.A.Y, what is that?” You ask your AI system.

“Not sure, I’m working on it. Iron Man has landed in close proximity.” She responds in her strangely humanly robot voice.

“My dads here!” You yell into your com, Eduardo teleporting people away from the wreckage.

“Well where is he? A little help would be nice!” El Dorado says as he helps up a lady that fell.

You both shield your eyes as a strong gust of wind knocked into you, and you peek through your fingers to see men in blue and red robes. You spot your dad standing behind them, along with...Dr. Banner?!

“Lalo! Let’s go!” You activate your thrusters and fly over to join your father and the strangely dressed men.

“Y/N! The hell you doing here?” Your dad asks in surprise when you land next to him, El Dorado appearing on your other side.

“Doesn’t matter! What’s going on?” You ask, waving off the question.

“Yeah, what’s with the magicians?” El Dorado asks as they let the wind down.

“Or y’know, the giant ass onion ring blocking the road.” You gesture to the ship, then turn to your left. “Also, Dr. Banner?!”

“Hey Y/N.” He smiled awkwardly.

“Hear me, and rejoice. You are about to die at the hands of the Children of Thanos. Be thankful, that your meaningless lives are now contributing to...” a tall, pale blue man with no nose glides down the steps of the ship.

“I’m sorry, Earth is closed today.” Your dad calls over.

“Stonekeeper...Does this chattering animal speak for you?” The man gestures to your father.

“Certainly not. I speak for myself. But you’re trespassing in this city and on this planet.” The ‘stonekeeper’ says, before glowing oranges disks appear around his fists.

“Means get lost, Squidward!” Tony quipped.

“Wait, you guys are actually magicians?” Eduardo whispers to the Chinese man in robes, in awe of the orange shields.

“Shut it, kid.” The guys snaps as he copies his friend, and summons his magic.

“Bring me the Stone.” The man snaps his fingers, and a giant alien walks up behind him, dragging itself towards you.

“Banner, anytime now.” Tony mutters.

“I’m trying.” Bruce squeezes his eyes shut in concentration, only getting green up to his chin.

“Bruce, where’s your guy?” You ask, keeping your eyes on the aliens coming towards you.

“I don’t know, we’re having a thing.” He squints harder.

“We don’t have time for a thing, amigo!” Eduardo snaps, all of you stepping back cautiously as the giant alien gets closer and closer.

“Dude, you’re embarrassing us in front of wizards.” Your dad mumbles.

“Sorry man.”

“Kids, watch him?” Your dad glances at the both of you, before stepping forward and activating his armor. He grows a set of blasters, sending the big alien back to the tall and skinny one.

It steps forward, and motions upwards. A spike of the earth sends your father upwards, and the ground beneath you trembles as trees uproot from the pavement.

“Dr. Banner, if the rest of your green friend won't be joining us....” the blue robed magician turns around and creates a portal, you and El Dorado also falling through it.

You grunt as you land on the ground, and you recognize a park that was near by. Part of a car falls through the portal after being sliced off, and you catch it before it lands on all three of you.

“Catch us up, why don’t you?” You turn to Banner after tossing the car aside.

“Uh, the wizard with the necklace is Dr. Strange, the other is Wong. Don’t know who the aliens are. I’m back, long story.” Banner rambles. “Oh and there’s an evil overlord called Thanos coming for us.”

You all duck when something is thrown at you at full speed, and wince when you realize it was your dad. He plows into the ground, crashing into a tree and effectively knocking it clean over.

“Dad!” You zoom over, helping him up. “Are you okay? How we doing?”

“Good. Really really good.” He says sarcastically. “Banner! Do you plan on helping out anytime soon?”

“I’m trying, man!”

You see the big alien throw a hammer towards Bruce, so you catapult yourself over and knock both him and Eduardo out of the way, and the hammer splits a tree. The alien then runs over and picks up the hammer, going for Iron Man. It’s about to deliver a blow to your dads head, but thankfully a familiar spandex wearing nerd blocks the hit.

“Hi Mr. Stark!” Spider-Man says happily.

“Kid? Where’d you come from?” Your dad asks him.

“Field trip!”

You watch as the alien flings Spider-Man around, as your father tries to give him instructions. You notice a slab of concrete float past on the street, Dr. Strange passed out on it. The alien followed close behind, clearly controlling the ground.

“Guys there’s the wizard!” You alert them, already flying towards it. Spider-Man swings his way behind you, and Eduardo teleports along the street.

The alien begins to throw billboards and rubble at the three of you, which you easily dodge thanks to your training. Spider-Man gets knocked down, El Dorado quickly helping him up before continuing to follow your lead.

Suddenly a blue beam shoots to the ground, and the alien starts to float upwards, along with Dr. Strange.

“Aw shit!” El Dorado yelps when he realizes he’s also being pulled up.

“Uhh, Iron Maiden? Mr. Stark? We’re being beamed up!” Spider-Man says, as if you couldn’t see it.

“Hang on, kid.” Your dad says through the coms. “Y/N, think you can get them?”

“I’m on it!” You nod, blasting yourself into the sky after them. They thankfully don’t get beamed inside the ship, Spider-Man was able to swing them over to a flat part of the ship.

You rocket yourself up to them, seeing El Dorado press his com, and a mask wraps around his face. You curse to yourself, knowing Peter didn’t have one of those. You shriek when he falls, but see something fly up and hit his back. You look down, seeing Iron Man in pursuit of you guys.

“Guys, get back to earth.” He orders.

“But the wizard!” El Dorado protests.

“Yeah, we’re already all the way up here.” You say, using F.R.I.D.A.Y to check their vitals.

“Y/N Stark, get your ass back home right this second.” Your dad snaps at you.

“Oh, fine.” You grumble, then grab Eduardo. Peter webs onto the back of your suit, and you start to fly back down to earth.

“Wait, you’re actually listening to him?” Eduardo asks you.

“Of course not.” You scoff, watching and waiting for the perfect time to go back up to the spaceship.

You watch your dad cut a hole and go inside, then follow him in. You all sneak behind him, staying near the back. Peter looks back to a window, eyes widening instantly.

“Oh my god! We should’ve gone back to earth!” He whispers to you and Eduardo.

“Shh!” You both hiss at him.

“If we get caught, we’re blaming it all on you.” El Dorado shrugs.

•

“I am never listening to you ever again.” Tye kicks his friends shin.

“Ow!” Jaime swats his arm in retaliation. “This isn’t my fault!”

“Mmhmm.” Tye raises an eyebrow.

“Sing along boys! Come on!” Star Lord calls from the captains chair, bopping along to some song from like, the 60s or something.

“No thanks, Mr. Quill!” Jaime said politely, while Tye openly rolled his eyes.

“Please, no formalities.” Star Lord laughs. “It’s Star Lord.”

“Oh give it a rest, would ya?” Rocket shakes his head.

“I am Groot.”

“That’s so uncalled for! I don’t call you that!” Quill stares at the talking tree, offended.

Okay, so maybe this was Jaime’s fault. Him and Tye got a distress call down on earth, so they suited up and rushed to it. They didn’t expect to see a spaceship, or aliens wreaking havoc by smashing buildings and killing people. The aliens kidnapped a few people, so Jaime didn’t hesitate and grabbed Tye, flying after them. Despite Tye’s screaming and threats to murder Jaime, he boarded the ship in attempt to rescue the people. Then the ship got way too far away from earth when it went through a jump point.

Thankfully though, the Guardians of the Galaxy happened to be prisoners on the ship, and they helped bust them out. In return, Quill helped his fellow earthlings out by agreeing to fly them back to earth. But first, there was another distress call nearby.

“We are arriving.” Mantis alerts the rest of the team.

“All right, Guardians. Don't forget, this might be dangerous, so let's put on our mean faces.” Star Lord says as the Milano decelerates once they reach the coordinates.

A sea of bodies floats around, making Jaime and Tye momentarily forget about their petty bickering.

“What happened?” Mantis asks.

“Looks like we’re not getting paid.” Rocket mutters.

There’s a loud thump, Tye and Jaime’s eyes widen when they see the body of the mighty Avenger, Thor.

“Wipers! Wipers!” Rocket waves in disgust. “Get it off!”

The gods eye opens, everyone yells in surprise.

“Dude that’s Thor!” Tye shouts in disbelief.

“Who the hells Thor?” Gamora asked.

“That!” Tye and Jaime gesture wildly.

“Alright, Alright!” Star Lord stands up. “Let’s get him inside.”

Star Lord and Blue Beetle fly out and grab the god, dragging him into the ship. Drax and Tye (in his astral form) haul the heavy man onto a table that Rocket and Mantis cleared.

“How the Hell is this dude still alive?” Star Lord asked.

“Bro, he’s literally a god.” Jaime scoffs.

“Yeah, the guy cannot die.” Tye crossed his arms as they all stare down at Thor.

“Actually I think he can-“

“Nobody asked you.”

“Children, please.” Star Lord held a hand up to silence them. “We need to help this dude.”

“He is not a dude.” Drax piped up. “You're a dude. This... this is a man. A handsome, muscular man.”

“I’m muscular.” Quill says, clearly offended.

“Who are you kidding, Quill? You're one sandwich away from fat.” Rocket stares at the leader.

“Yeah right.” He scoffed.

“You have gained a little weight...” Drax says, before gesturing to his chin and belly.

“Gamora? Do you think I’m...”

“He is anxious. Angry. He feels tremendous loss and guilt.” Mantis informs the team.

“It’s like a pirate had a baby with an angel.” Drax says, almost dreamily.

“What is happening?” Jaime whispered to Tye.

“I’m still not talking to you.” Tye mumbled before sitting with Groot, and pettily glaring at Jaime from across the room.

The Guardians continue to dawn over Thor, bickering all the while. Mantis finally wakes him up, and he violently sits up and looks around. Jaime activates Blue Beetle, standing defensively with the others (besides Tye and Groot, who hardly even care to notice).

“Who the hell are you guys?” Thor asks, as everyone exchanged glances.

Jaime joins the other teenagers on the ship and watches as they establish who they are, then listen in horror to the stories of Thanos. He was headed straight for earth, their home.

Thor then shoved Tye and Jaime aside to get to a number pad near a door. They watch as he manually tried to figure out the code.

“What are you doing?” Quill asked.

“I’m taking your pod.” Thor says casually.

“No, you’re not.” Quill clears his throat, deepening his voice and suddenly having an accent.

“Uh...Quill?” Rocket stared at Quill in a teasing manner.

“Dude, did you just deepen your voice?” Tye snorts, him and Jaime laughing as Quill tries to make himself look bigger.

“No.”

“You are. You're imitating the god-man. It's weird.” Drax blinked in disbelief.

“No I’m not.” Star Lord put his hands on his hips.

“He just did the again!” Mantis gasped.

“This is my normal voice!” Quill protests.

“Are you mocking me?” Thor steps up to Quill, leaning down to glare at him.

“Are you mocking me?” Quill squeaked out.

“Stop it. You did it again.” Thor narrowed his eyes in annoyance.

“He’s trying to copy me.” Quill turned to Tye and Jaime as if to say ‘can you believe this guy?’.

“Sure, man.” Tye pat his shoulder.

“Enough!” Gamora snapped at the men. Her, Thor and Quill argued back and forth, trying to decide their next move. Finally, Rocket and Groot decide to go with Thor to Nidavellir.

“Boys, go with them.” Gamora orders.

“What? No way!” Tye immediately glared at her.

“We need to stop Thanos!” Jaime stands with his friend.

“Go with them! You’ll be safer than with us!” Gamora yells at them.

“No way, lady.” Tye crosses his arms and stood up to Gamora.

Everyone watched in tense horror as they had a stare down, nobody knowing who would strike first.

“Fine.” Gamora said through her teeth. “But don’t blame me if you get killed.”

“Whatever.” Tye grins in victory as she steps away.

“I bid you farewell and goodbye, morons.” Thor smiles before the pod takes off.

The Guardians break to plan, Tye and Jaime sit in the front chairs, after promising not to touch anything. It would be bad for the two inexperienced children to drive them into hyper space.

Tye ignores Jaime, still kinda pissed they were in the middle of space instead of at home at Stark Tower. They wondered if Mr. Stark had issued a worldwide search for them yet, or if Y/N and Eduardo had started threatening people to find them. This Thanos guy was coming right for their planet, which only added to their anxiety.

“I’m sorry I got us all the way out here, hermano.” Jaime sighs after awhile.

Tye raises an eyebrow at looks at his friend, seeing guilt evident on his usually happy face. Tye rolls his eyes and sighs, finally giving in.

“It’s fine, man.” He says. “I’m not really mad.”

Jaime raised an eyebrow.

“I am a little.” He shrugged. “But I’m not as mad as when Eduardo got us stuck here.”

“You’re still mad about that? This dimension is great.”

“Don’t you miss your family?”

“Obviously I do.” Jaime nodded. “But we’ve got one here, too.”

Tye nodded, and they both turn back to stare at the passing stars. They’re left alone for a long while, until the Guardians kick them out of their chairs when they arrive at Knowhere.

“You two stay here.” Quill orders Tye and Jaime.

“Man, we’re not useless children.” Tye rolled his eyes as he grabbed Jaime arm, following them anyways.

“You kid, are a stubborn little punk.” Quill balled a fist up in anger.

“So I’ve been told.” Tye nodded as Jaime activates Blue Beetle. “Chillax grandpa, we can take care of ourselves.”

“Grandpa?”

“Shut it!” Gamora hissed as they see some people up ahead.

Star Lord holds up a fist to signal for them to halt, but nobody pays him any attention and just walks past. Jaime follows Tye as they duck behind some rubble, and Star Lord gives them all orders. Drax becomes very angry very quickly, and starts to pursue Thanos. Quill motions for Tye and Jaime to grab him, but the destroyer is twice the size of both of them combined, so it was no use. Mantis reaches over and puts Drax to sleep, causing him to fall and alert Thanos of their presence.

“Gamora, Mantis, you go right. Boys, stay here. I’ll go left-“ Star Lord watches as Gamora charges at Thanos head on. “Your other right!”

Gamora stabs Thanos twice, then falls to floor in sobs. They watch as Thanos dies, but Tye senses this wasn’t the end.

“That was quick...” Quill says, surprised.

“Too quick.” Tye mumbles.

“What?” Jaime asks, but is interrupted by Thanos’ disembodied voice.

They watch as the scene bubbles away, and it’s revealed that the Collectors room is destroyed and on fire. Drax and Mantis leap at Thanos, but are disassembled. Tye and Jaime jump at him, but Thanos uses the power stone to knock them into a display case. Blue Beetle activates a blaster and shoots at the glass, but it bounces back and nearly hits both of them.

“Watch where you point that!” Tye yelped, shoving Jaime.

“Dude! Focus! Can’t you bust us outta this thing?” Jaime asked.

“If you can’t what makes you think I can?”

They look out to see Gamora in Thanos’ hold, Quill pointing an elemental gun at her. Thanos pushes her towards him, he shuts his eyes and pulls the trigger. Bubbles shoot out of the gun before it melts away, then Thanos and Gamora are gone.

[sasuhinasno1fan]

The Elf Prince?- Adrien AUGreste Day 31

Here it is, the end. I didn’t do as many prompts as I had wanted orginally. A lot of stalls and getting blocked. I know this one was mostly refered to what Marinette’s name for Adrien in the alternate timeline was, but I wanted to do something different. Not that the angst level isn’t any lower and I left it on a clifhangger, mostly because it’s getting close to 12 am and I wanted to post this. If it gets enough love, I might continue it. Anyway, thanks to @adrienaugust for making this event. I’m getting more into writing ML fics and hopefully I can continue. I’ll be on the lookout for other events. Also, thanks to @write-it-motherfuckers for the prompt I used, which is the first chunk of this fic. My Prince

Adrien knew he should have fled the moment he heard them arrive, and usually Adrien did, but something about this time made Adrien linger.

Though people were generally a mix of nervous and excited when they came through town, his grandparents were downright paranoid and almost aggressive. Adrien had grown up hearing tales of their beauty and power from other townsfolk, but his grandparents themselves, outright forbid the topic at home, except for the time they would spend obsessively reminding Adrien to stay hidden from them, as the time of their arrival drew nearer.

Whilst everyone knew that they could be incredibly dangerous, they also knew that they could be incredibly kind, in a way most humans failed to master. Adrien always found it strange that his grandparents were so insistent on telling him that they were just plain evil, and would do terrible things if they ever saw him specifically. 

There was always fear and paranoia when they talked about them, but somehow Adrien knew their fear wasn’t because of what they claimed it was. Their fear was fuelled by something else, he was sure of it, though what that something was, he didn’t know.

Adrien knew he was different to everyone else in the village, both in appearance and in nature. There were things he could do that he knew the townsfolk couldn’t, things that he was never to show anyone, lest he “risk his safety”. It was the same reason he was always told to keep his hair and eyes covered, as they gave away how different he was quite easily.

The older Adrien got however; the less things seemed to add up. 

Adrien was always coaxed into using his abilities to help his grandparents around the place, something that Adrien did happily as it made life so much easier for them, but the older he got, the more he noticed that their honeyed words tasted foul in his mouth, something about their “Loving” words and affections making his stomach curdle, though he was always careful to hide such reactions. More and more, their excuses and reasoning seemed to sit poorly within him, his faith in them growing weaker with every word, much to his distress.

It wasn’t the first time they had been away while the others were due to pass through town, nor was it the first time that Adrien had been in town so close to the time they would be passing through. It was however the first time that both of those things coincided.

He had intended to be quick in town, gathering what he needed before he would hurry back home to safety. Being in town was usually something he could handle, but with everyone eagerly flooding the main area of town, his shy nature was sending his anxiety into overdrive.

Unfortunately, he had no choice but to wade through the crowds, as most other shops would shut during this time, only the shops and stalls along the main road remaining open and active during the celebration. Every three months this would happen, and the whole town never failed to go overboard with excitement each and every time. 

It was as Adrien was weaving between bodies, headed for the little bridge off to one side that led to his grandparents’ house, that he heard the people cheer excitedly, heralding their arrival. For once he found himself hesitating, listening closely as he heard the faint march of the others growing closer. 

Giving into his desire finally, he turned back towards the main street, peering around the corner of one of the stalls hesitantly. As covered as Adrien always was, it wasn’t like it would be hard to vanish into the crowd and run home if he was spotted somehow.

It couldn’t hurt to stay a little while….right?

From the stories he’d heard, most elves were haughty and didn’t care for humans. Their village was on the edge of the forest that made up home of the elves they lived with. They traded with them and since he was a child, the elves protected them from fearsome creatures. Normal bandits and such, they could take care of, but creatures that were turned into stories to teach children to behave, those where the ones the elves protected them from. There was one particular one, one they called an Akuma that was constantly plaguing them. this creature would spirit away someone, be it human of elf, and pray on their worst emotions. The one they felt the strongest at the moment would be at the forefront as their whole appearance changed and was corrupted. The elves would send out a group that he heard were called the Miraculous, to use their abilities to release the person from it’s hold. They told the village that the creature was under the control of a dark wizard who called himself Hawkmoth. There’d been few times when the group faced him directly. The village was always tense when those fights happened. His grandparents always seemed tense but in a different way. Not worried about the group not coming back, worried that they would. It made the feeling in his stomach worse when that happened.

“Manon!” a cry echoed. He watched as Nadja, the human who had the most interaction with the elves, ran towards one of the horses. Her daughter was sitting in front of an elf girl, maybe about the same age he was, who was dressed in ladybug colours. “Are you alright?”

The girl carefully let Manon down into her mother’s arms. Children where always more susceptible to an Akuma’s lure.

“She’s alright. She said she wanted to spend more time with you.”

Adrien could hear Nadja apologizing to her daughter.

“I wonder if they found out anymore about their prince’s whereabouts. These attacks have been going on for 16 years now, but they’ve gotten worse in the recent years.” He heard a villager asked.

“You can’t help but feel for them. elf prince just disappeared when he’s a year old and before they could even go and try to look for him, these attacks start up. They could have blamed us, you know, but they didn’t.”

Prince? He didn’t know the elves were missing a prince.

“Yes, it was all thanks to me that she was saved.” A blonde elf sat upon her golden horse, looking proud of herself, even with her companions shaking their heads and hiding their faces in their hands.

“There goes Lady Chloe again.”

“Oh, be nice. You know she has the most to lose when they don’t find information. She was apparently very close to the prince. She was with him when he disappeared. I know it must be hard for her, knowing she was there and knowing there was nothing she could do.”

He’d really never heard of the missing prince and watching the blonde elf preach on her greatness, it almost seemed impossible to believe. But he’d do that, the whole acting a certain way to hide what he was really feeling. He decided it was time to go when he bumped into the edge of the stall he’d been hiding behind. Produce fell from their carefully constructed towers and caught the attention those standing close.

“Hey!”

He didn’t stick around long, taking off for the bridge to home.

“I’ve got him!”

“Chloe, wait! That’s just a villager!”

He took a quick glance to see the blonde elf chasing after him on her horse. He ducked through the trees, letting his hand brush against one of them. he only looked long enough to see a stream of black spread where he was touching and heard the tree groan as it started to fall. He heard the elf let out a yelp before he started to hear her yell at someone called Marinette.

He used his magic in public, in front of elves. He hoped they didn’t come looking for him. They wouldn’t be able to anyway. The villagers didn’t know where his grandparents’ home was. He hoped.

                                                  __________________

Luka watched Marinette go chasing after Chloe. The villager she’d gone after didn’t have the sound of deceit or anything worth really chasing after in their heart. They did have fear. Fear of them? he knew few of the villagers weren’t trusting of them, but they never came out to these processions.

“Should we be worried?” Nino asked.

“Not about them. What Chloe might do to them, maybe. But Marinette will catch up to her, don’t worry. Who was that anyway?”

“No one really knows what his name is.” Nadja said, stilling holding Manon close. “His lives with his grandparents. He never really leaves the house except to come get things from the market. His grandparents are very protective and they never seem to like elves very much.”

“How does a whole village never see a person?” Alya asked, “Is he sick?”

“I don’t believe so. Just probably listens to the warnings to not be around you.”

Before anyone else could say anything, Pollen, Chloe’s horse came riding up without her rider. She did follow, on Tikki with Marinette.

“Guys, we have a situation. This villager, did you know he had elven abilities?”

That question seemed to stun the whole village.

“But you just said his grandparents didn’t like elves.” Nino said.

“They don’t! they seem to hold very old tradition looks about you. that can’t be right. Their grandchild couldn’t be an elf.”

“Not according to we saw.” Chloe said, pulling herself back onto Pollen.

“Luka, Alya, Nino and Chloe, we’re going to find him. Everyone else, report back to the Master. Where does he live?”

“Across the bridge and go straight. His grandparents aren’t here.”

“Good, then let’s hope we can get answers before they get back.”

                                             ________________

Adrien closed the door, and pulled off his hat that hid his ears and hair. His hair was as blond as that elf’s but when he used his abilities, it started to fade into white and his eyes would turn from green to icy blue. His pointed ears were the same as an elf. His grandparents never said that he was an elf, but it had to be true. But with how his grandparents were, he never felt like he could ask. To use his abilities like that out in the open, he was putting so much at risk. He had the ability to destroy something, like it was rotting at his touch. He could do other things, but that was the one he was always told to never use, because he’d be killed if he was caught. He had no choice then. If he hadn’t blocked that elf, she would have found out who he was. He focused on putting things away, not wanting to risk a lecture if things weren’t perfect when his grandparents came back.

A knock on the door stopped him as he put the rest of the vegetables in it’s bowl. With caution, he put his hat back on and went to the door.

“Who is it?”

“Members of the Miraculous scouting group. You aren’t in any trouble, could you open the door?”

His grandparents were going to kill him. He decided to use his abilities again. He placed his hands on the floor below and watched as a black hole appeared under him and swallowed him. He appeared outside the cottage, hearing the door being knocked on again. He peeked to see 4 of the elves from the procession. He had to hide until they left.

“Are you going to go somewhere?”

He let out a shriek as the voice suddenly spoke in his ear. He spun around to see a dark-haired elf with a snake broach keeping his cloak on. How did he miss him?

The rest of the elves quickly found them.

“Ah ha! We thought you were up to something and we found you.” the blonde one said, reaching up and snatching his hat from his head.

“Chloe! We’re just here to ask questions, not throw accusation around.”

“Gods above. It couldn’t be.”

He realised they were all staring at him, in disbelief. He was about to ask what was wrong when all of them, except the blonde one who kept staring at him, kneeled.

“My prince.”

“Prince?”

“Adrien?” the blonde one asked before throwing herself at him. “Oh Adrien! You’re alive! I can’t believe you’re alive.”

He felt bad for pushing her away but they weren’t making sense. “Wait! How do you know my name and why do you think I’m a prince?”

They all looked surprised at that statement.

“How can you not know? Have you never talked to another elf?” the one in green and with glasses asked.

Right, his ears were showing. “No. my grandparents tell me not to.”

The one in orange, with the flute attached to her back, pulled out a folded piece of parchment. It looked heavy and expensive. She passed it to Adrien who unfolded it and started at the drawing on it.

“Every year on the day of his disappearance, a drawing of Prince Adrien Graham de Vanily is created to show what’d he’d look like.” She touched the top of the parchment and he saw her hair turn orange and her eyes gold. The picture of the Prince, of Adrien, stayed the same but their hair and eyes changed, to white hair, blue eyes and around his hands seemed to glow black.

Just like him. When he used his abilities, usually his hands glowed black. His hair turned to white as snow and his green eyes turned an ice blue.

But he couldn’t be their prince. His grandparents would have told him, wouldn’t they? Or was this the reason they didn’t like elves? Because they thought they’d recognise him?

“I know it sounds strange now but we have full belief that you’re our prince. If you could come to this castle, the Queen would know and could tell us. Please, you have to come with us.”

Go with them? to the home of the elves? He couldn’t.

Then why was his heart aching to accept?