#inherited firebird powers

[hitlikehammers]

Steddie Post S4: If All That's Left of Steve in the Final Battle is Ashes—

...are they REALLY JUST ashes? 🔥 

The final battle—like the last part of the very final battle—ends with shattering, and with dust.

It starts, the first bad dream and the first bloody nose and the first Code Red on the radios: well, that’s three months into something, for the first time in Eddie’s sorry-ass-but-honestly-actually-since-almost-not-having-any-life-at-all-any-more-and-miraculously-making-it-through-a-night-then-a-week-then-a-month-then-rehab-then-chronic-pain-then-more-friends-than-he’d-ever-had-before-and-frankly-in-the-beginning-more-than-he-could-count-plus-three-new-mother-figures-and-two-maybe-three-extra-maybe-father-figures-plus-one-friend-of-Dorothy-who’s-the-platonic-soulmate-of-maybe-the-love-of-Eddie’s-not-actually-still-sorry-ass-life: he’s about three months into something wild and reeling in his chest, brushing hands and lingering looks and flushed cheeks and little secret smiles ducked in toward shoulders or behind stray curls, or falling asleep pressed arm-to-arm only to wake up in one lap or another, and the whole of it’s shameless and intentional and giddy somewhere low in Eddie’s belly because it’s not uncertain, it’s honestly just fucking bashful, it’s shy and it’s the both of them wordlessly leaning into it, careful but sure, and almost all the more buoyant for it.

It’s three months in, and when they step up to that last battle—that final turn, do-or-die—maybe Steve pulls him behind a truck Eddie doesn’t even know the owner of, where it came from or why it’s there; but maybe Steve pulls him behind and draws him close without a word and kisses him relentless, drags his teeth and draws a little blood for the force and leaves them both raw, and panting, and desperate: it couldn’t really go any other way, like this—here.

Now.

“Live through this,” Steve had breathed against his angry red lips, hard enough that it stung; “so we can pick up where we left off.”

“I will if you will,” Eddie had shot back, defiant; still begging.

And Steve had kissed him again, and Eddie’d watched as Steve walked away with the lightest smear of Eddie’s blood on his lower lip as he’d spoken:

“I’ll hold you to it.”

And they’d parted, to do their fucking jobs, to play their fucking roles. They’re come back together, ready to take the final boss down as a unit, and Eddie remembers that he’d felt hopeful, he’d felt so fucking relieved because this was it. They were gonna nail it, all for one, and—

So it might be near the end, actually—they may have almost done it, finished the job and killed every last bit of this hellscape, every beast big and small, crushed what’s left of the husk of Vecna orchestrating it all: it might happen near the end. Or maybe just shy of the beginning. Somewhere in the middle.

All Eddie knows is that it happens. There’s light, and people floating in the air and then more light, dragged back down by the same lightning-spark power, and it’s back and it’s forth and when it hits anyone, Supergirl pulls them back to the ground and fights back harder, her face blood red dripping to her neck, her teeth bared all wrath and fury, and then—

Then there’s something that shoots different, hits Steve and he doesn’t float. It looks different, so it probably is different, and he doesn’t float when it hits him.

And so: Eddie holds to the bargain.

But Steve.

Steve…Steve Harrington, with the bitchiest glare and the brightest smile and the goofiest laugh and the biggest fucking heart, the bravest of all of them and the best part of Eddie’s whole soul—

Steve gets hit, and disappears from the world in nothing but a cloud of dust.

No one tries to shush Eddie, when he screams, when he wails and sobs; drops to his knees and fucking howls.

No one tries to stop him when he crawls to the space that held his whole heart, and now lies empty, save a dusting of something almost shiny, coarse to the touch but fine to the naked eye, hard to distinguish from the dirt on sight alone—is that him? Is that his Sweetheart, all that’s left of him—

Eddie thinks maybe they try to stop him halfway through the way he starts frantically sweeping, scooping up the ash and filling every pocket he has with as much as he can. He vaguely feels a hand on his shoulder, maybe the sound of his name, but it’s all white noise because Eddie’s picking up the pieces of his heart, here, Eddie’s trying like hell to hold on to something of the man he loves and anyone who doesn’t like it, or thinks he’s crazy, or wants to rush him, ask him to leave any little pouch in any layer of his clothes unfilled, less than overflowing with all that remains?

Fuck them. Fuck them all. Because Eddie kept his side of the deal.

Live through this.

I will if you will.

And now he has to live with the way his Stevie…didn’t.

——

The rest of the Party sticks together after it’s done. Dustin is inconsolable, Erica and Max scowl in each other’s direction but not really…at each other. Mike’s having a weird…frenzy response, denying Steve’s dead at all and demanding Lucas help him get El to look for him, he has to be somewhere, he has be saveable like Max, like Eddie. Robin’s fucking catatonic—the real adults take most of the burden, trying to figure out who to call, because Steve’s their only casualty, the beating heart at the center of all this and it’s gone, no wonder they’re breaking—

The Party stays together. Eddie falls back on what he knows.

He runs.

Specifically: he runs home, carefully though, he can’t jostle his pockets, and he knows exactly where he’s looking when he gets to his room, crawls to the farthest corner of his closet in this still-weird-to-be-so-big bedroom after the trailer: and he finds it.

His mom’s old little hope chest.

There are a million little fake velvet pouches inside, a couple pieces of actual jewelry kept in an empty film canister, and then a smaller jewelry box type thing meant for a dresser or something: Eddie doesn’t think he can fill the hope chest.

But the rest…

He starts with the jewelry box, since it’s already empty, carefully cups his palms to fill it with the precious dust until the lid doesn’t close.

Then he sorts the pouches, puts aside the ones that don’t pull tight enough shut for his liking. The rest…those will be temporary. He’ll find a better home for the ashes soon, but for now they’re safe, and all that’s left is…

The film canister is special.

It’s stupid and plastic and like every other fucking black-and grey tube thingy that smells like vinegar on the inside of you hold it up too close. But this one—

He’s always gotten a little teary-eyed to think that this was the one his mother kept.

Because he’d poked a hole through the rough little peak in the top of the lid with a fork, took a piece of thread from the junk drawer and made himself a necklace to match the one she had and she’d smiled at him so bright, poked another hole next to his, and threaded his string-chain through the back of the lid so it’d close up tight, to keep all your most secret prized possessions, my sugarbean and he had. For years.

Now it held what was left of her jewels, mostly cheap stuff with sentimental worth he couldn’t calculate—but now he has to take the faulty pouches and give the jewelry a new home.

Now he’s never had something more prized and precious to keep.

He finds fishing line in Wayne’s stuff, stronger than the thread worn and aged over a decade and a half, swaps it out with the string. Covers the inside with electrical tape to make sure nothing can sneak out of the holes, even so.

And then he fills it. Last of the ashes, and it all only just fits but the lid pops on perfect.

Then he pulls it over his head, and lies down on his bed.

And fucking sobs when the canister falls to settle right over his heart.

——

Some of the kids try to coax him out, argue grief is better shared or whatever, but Eddie’s deaf to the knocking, the way they try to yell at his window—not even cracked open, he won’t risk a rogue bird or a stray breeze disturbing all he has left of his, his—

The kids go away, eventually.

Wayne finds out through the grapevine what’s happened—he comes into Eddie’s room and holds him even if Eddie doesn’t want it, doesn’t ask. He’s grateful, though, even if he doesn’t say it, and Wayne sheds more than one tear; he’d been warming quick to Steve, called him son.

That wasn’t something Wayne did lightly. Not that anything Wayne did was done lightly.

However many days pass, Eddie doesn’t keep track. He wakes and runs to the little box on his dresser, just to make sure it’s safe, clutching the film tube around his neck while he does, weighing it desperately until he can be sure the bulk of the ashes are undisturbed. The rest of his time is spent lying in his bed and rolling the little canister across his fingers, taking off all his rings so he can just…touch it. Be close to whatever lifeless pieces of Steve—and likewise, then: pieces of Eddie—remain anywhere at all. He passes the hours like that, largely. Sometimes he thinks he’s hungry, like his stomach aches in that pang kind of way, but thinking of eating in a world where Steve doesn’t breathe makes him sick every time, so he doesn’t follow through. Wayne pesters him to at least drink something, so he sometimes shuffles to the bathroom, or the kitchen, drinks from the sink because glasses are for people who make plans for the future, who intend to drink things over the course of a lifetime, a life maybe with a purpose, a purpose that—

Eddie throws himself back into bed again, every time. Presses his film-canister-talisman tight to his sternum until the hurt of the pressure blurs with bigger hurts, and ultimately blurs into black.

Until one day, he opens his eyes. And after he’s done with the subtle disappointment that he had to, that morning came at all; when he gets up and checks the box?

The lid’s flipped off.

And there’s a tiny pile of dusty ash, glittering next to it, when there’s no light in the room to even catch it.

Eddie’s heart drops, then seizes in his chest.

What the fuck. What the fuck.

No one comes in but Wayne, and he just pokes his head in. Nothing can get in, either, unless…but they closed all the gates, there is no Upside Down anymore—

Eddie’s hands are shaking as he tries to brush the little pile into his hands, pulse tripping when the thinks of what it is, inside his hands, and he carefully lets it sift back into the jewelry box, tries to judge if any’s been lost, closes the top when he starts breathing too heavy, when his anxiety threatens to make the situation worse as he tries to bend down and see the furniture at surface level, find any precious speck of—

Not a speck. Not a…mote.

The escaped ashes were on top of something, though. Something Eddie’s never seen before. About the size of a notecard but, kinda like…ancient, weathered; that yellowed look you can never fake just right, traced alone with…some kind of calligraphy out of fucking Camelot or some shit, metallic gold in script:

I cannot let you burn me up, nor can I resist you. No mere human can stand in a fire and not be consumed.  

The…fuck?

Eddie tries to squint, because the text is weirdly positioned; it does look like something’s worn off, and some of what’s actually there is brighter, bolder than the rest, and then there’s a whole other style, almost backward, like a mirror-image of handwriting, and Eddie lifts the card up to the mirror instinctively, only to see…

There’s writing on the other side.

Eddie’s breath catches when he recognizes the handwriting. Small, and more words than should be able to fit but…it fits. It’s dried blood in color, and Eddie’s not convinced it’s just a color for how it’s a little raised and flaky, but it doesn’t come off when Eddie touches it, traces it because the cramped little letters, tall and short all mixed and mismatched, so familiar, so tight in Eddie’s chest—

It’s…Eddie…

Eddie’s eyes skim the first few lines in Steve’s handwriting, and he cannot fucking breathe—

Hey, wow, that’s some crazy shit there on the other side of this piece of paper, my gran says it’s a warning even if I don’t personally get it, but I’m pretty sure it’s enchanted? The paper, I mean. The warning’s probably about being too close to…this, without being prepared. But that’s, whatever. Point is, I don’t think I can make new enchanted paper, so here’s the deal: First, thanks for grabbing the ashes? I didn’t actually expect anyone to do that. I hope it was intentional, like that you weren’t sweeping or the ash got stuck in your shoes or something, because intentional will make the rest of this way easier (hopefully, or like, maybe), and if you’re a part of the bigger Hawkins fuckery it’ll be way easier to believe at the least so, fingers crossed I guess but: I’m kind of a phoenix? Firebird? Thing? It’s a bloodline “curse” but especially since the, umm, incidents with the Lab I’ve been thinking maybe it’s actually kinda cool? Like insurance. But the extra fucked up thing is that someone has to grab the ashes without being, like, told to. Free will or some bullshit. And apparently we’re not a very spontaneously likable bunch of dungeons-and-dipshit-type creatures, because not many of us even get to re-birth ourselves. Because of the ash…thing. But you! You did that! And now I can do the rebirth thing! Which I hope is okay. There are a lot of, like, bond-type things that go along with the person who ‘cares selflessly to gather ash unbidden’—I think that’s what makes someone more than a ‘mere human’ consumed by the Fire and they won’t get burned, they’ll be…well, if they wanted. Bond-stuff. Not important. I’m not gonna hold you to any of that shit, like, nothing you don’t want to happen will happen because of this, I 100% promise. Except maybe I’ll do some over the top gestures of gratitude—and on the off chance you already know me, at all? Over-the-top is kinda how I do most feelings, so. Should not be a surprise. Only thing I will ask, and if it’s too much no worries, the whole resurrection shebang was a gamble from the get-go but, if you can just keep this pile of ashes safe for a little bit? It takes longer to heal based on how old you are when you, y’know. Kick it. So…yeah. I never learned how to come back as a baby because that sounded weird. Quicker, but weird. I only learned the slower way so I can just…come back how I left, like no time passed. But if you can keep the ashes safe until then that’d be totally cool. Anyway, thanks, whoever you are. Kinda owe you my life, here. I’ll show you the appreciation you deserve when I’m, you know. Not-ashes. Once I have opposable thumbs again and stuff. But really. Thank you. See you soon, hopefully (if that’s cool, I mean, I can get out of your hair ASAP too if you’d rather, just say so soon as I pop up)— ~SH

Eddie…falls to the floor at some point, nearly ripping the note, no: no, actually, he should have decimated it, macerated it the with the way his hands clench and his tears have fallen and made not a single mark: enchanted paper.

Ashes that…maybe are Steve?

That maybe mean Steve could come…will come back?

Eddie really can’t breathe, now, and when the black swallows everything, he’s still on the fucking floor.

——

When next he comes-to, Eddie splashes water on his face after he checks on the jewelry box, reads the letter again, clutches the ash-filled pendant in his hand as he drinks, considers eating—no.

No, not yet. His stomach’s still unsteady. His chest is swollen, pressed with something like hope for the impossible because what the fuck, first and foremost, but then, then…

There was a horrorscape under his feet for years before it came for him personally, before he almost died at its hands once, and then again by proxy when, when it took his…

His maybe-love-of-his-life-and-also-possibly-something-like-a-phoenix-who-might-be-coming-back-to-Eddie-which-would-mean-Eddie-could-keep-breathing-and-his-heart-would-be-returned-to-his-chest-by-the-hands-of-the-man-he-loves-because-he-thinks-it-died-with-Steve-but-if-Steve-isn’t-dead—

He basically almost died again when…maybe his Steve—who Eddie fully acknowledges at this point he’s absolutely fucking gone on with his whole heart and soul, because there’s no other real explanation for his total and complete shutdown as a human for the sake of Steve’s loss—when his Stevie died, but maybe didn’t.

But then now, now maybe…

Maybe the impossible could be something that saved them, saved him, instead of something that only sought to ruin.

Eddie doesn’t think he can believe he’s that lucky.

But it’s easier to entertain the possibility, than to continue just…knowing Steve died before Eddie could acknowledge with his everything that he—certified cynic and self-deceiving dumbass Edward Elliot Munson—was ass-over-ankles in love; and more than that: before he could tell Steve as much, because of anyone Eddie’s ever met, Steve Harrington deserves to know how impossible it is not to; how ineffably much he is loved.

“Hey,” Eddie ultimately finds himself curled up back in his bed again, clutching his film canister to his chest, tight enough to leave an impression on his skin.

He wants it to. Right over the way his heart slams against his ribs. He wants a bruise. He wants a scar. He wants inviolable proof.

“Umm, so I don’t know if this is real,” Eddie’s eyes flicker to the jewelry box of ashes, the strange potentially-enchanted note on his dresser; “or if it is, how this works?”

This apparently being talking to the cobbled together film-pendant around his neck, he…he’s so fucked, isn’t he, this is insane—

But it’s not like that’s ever stopped him before.

And before never had love in the mix. So.

“If you can hear me,” Eddie runs his thumb around the circumference of the cap, over and over; “I pretty fucking sure I’m in love with you,” and it’s maybe fucked up, how it feels as nervewracking to say it to a plastic canister of ashes as he imagines it’d feel looking into those stupidly-wide amber eyes, but yep: said plastic ash-pendant’d be fucking bouncing with his heartbeat if he wasn’t holding it so tight to the furious drumming of his pulse.

“I know it’s fast? But,” and Eddie swallows, shakes his head for reasons that are maybe about dispelling the idea that anything’s too fast or too much in the life they’ve led, one where more might be possible, where a future might still exist beyond all possibilities, all hope except for the fragile frail thing in Eddie’s chest written in blood red, in Steve’s hand on Eddie’s fucking bones:

“I don’t think losing someone hurts like this if your heart’s not in it all the way,” and that’s, that is…

That’s the crux of it, isn’t it. His heart is the heart of it.

“Sorry, about that, if you,” Eddie swallows, sour around the idea that maybe, even if the impossible’s possible, this part, where he feels like this, is just…maybe not too far but in the wrong direction.

But he wants to believe. He wants to think Steve saw something pointing in this direction when he told him to survive, so they could have, so they could finish, so they—them, together—could…

“Yeah.”

Eddie’s voice is hoarse enough to hurt, now, so he lifts his little film canister to his lips and presses them hard, sure: it’s weirdly warm against his mouth, held too close to his chest for too long.

Not long enough. Not close enough.

“Be careful about taking care of yourself, about, coming back and,” Eddie grips his pendant of ashes back tight to the center of his sternum;

“I’ll watch over it, watch over you,” he promises; “long as you need.”

And he breathes, holding the canister close before he brings it back to his mouth again and whispers to it like it matters, or…just in case it matters:

“Come back to me,” his words come out in a shudder, all trembling; “I’m just a mere human, maybe less than,” and that’s true, that is so fucking true but:

“But you already consume me,” Eddie speaks it honest, and kisses the rim of the cap— if there’s any chance of getting in, it’s there:

“So burn me up, as much as you need to,” and Eddie means it, he fucking means it with everything he is; “just,” and his voice cracks, and he shoves the canister back tight to his shaking heart when the first tear falls on it, covers it with both hands and cups it safe and damn-near painful as he whispers to whatever might listen:

“If any of this is real,” he barely fucking breathes: “please come back.”

He loses the battle for consciousness to his tears, but awake or asleep: he doesn’t once let go of the pendant pressed to his heart.

——

Eddie’s warm. Like, fell asleep in the sunlight, swaddled in a blanket, embraced and held and wrapped up in pure comfort warm.

“You’re more than a mere human,” a voice exhales right behind his ear: also warm, also comfort, also fucking impossible and he turns, frantic and even more so when he feels the lack of his film canister against his chest, and he tries to scramble for it but he’s…he’s held the whole time in strong arms that he knows, same as he knew that voice, same as it’s clear that he’s warm because he’s wrapped up in a body, tangled from the legs up with, with—

“How,” Eddie barely speaks, more mouths as that chest lifts, those lungs fill, that mouth curls warm and sweet and his Steve is watching him, those eyes so alive and then those strong hands are reaching for him, cupping Eddie’s cheeks and marveling like Eddie’s the wonder, here, like Steve isn’t lying in his arms like a full-on fucking miracle.

“You offered burning, and pledged your heart unasked,” Steve says it in this…this way that is exactly that simple, and exponentially more profound.

“That is some lore shit,” Eddie breathes out almost on instinct because…that’s some lore shit.

And Steve—Steve, his Stevie, wrapped around him and moving and breathing and being and definitely one-hundred-percent naked but that is totally irrelevant right this moment because Steve—

Steve laughs at him, soft and fond and god, god but Eddie thought he’d lost it. He was so sure, and his heart was so broken but now Steve’s heart is strong against his skin and Eddie can, he can…

Eddie can fucking breathe.

“I don’t think anyone expects our kind to be…cared about, like that,” Steve shrugs a little, and Eddie wants to protest because Steve Harrington isn’t only cared about, he is adored, and fuck anyone who says different, who so much as thinks otherwise—he wants to push the point, but Steve’s eyes are so intent, so saturated with feeling.

And fuck, but Eddie missed those eyes.

“Speeds the whole re-personing thing up, apparently,” Steve’s smile is a little wider before he shakes his head with a cute little toss of that hair.

“Old magic things,” he dismisses; “for later,” and then he draws Eddie back down close to his chest and snuggles him in so, so close.

“Tired,” Steve sighs a little into Eddie’s mess of curls; “and you need taking care of.”

And it’s…out of everything, the protective certainty in those last words are maybe the most unshakable proof that settles in Eddie’s chest and reminds the still-reluctant, still-too-scared parts of Eddie’s heart to commit and start back to beating because: only Steve Harrington is protective…quite like this.

“You’re really here?” Eddie whispers, wondering and hesitant all at the same time.

“Thanks to you,” Steve kisses Eddie soft, sure: taste strangely of smoke and cinnamon but underneath—all Steve.

His Steve.

He folds into Steve’s chest and just, fucking, clings.

“So fast,” Eddie mouths against Steve’s skin, because the heartbeat under his lips is almost indecipherable, one beat to the next. “And you’re so warm, are you,” Eddie props his chin up and looks up at Steve, anxious and flooding with worry before he sees Steve’s smile, still sweet and steady.

“Bird,” Steve drums his fingers against Eddie’s forearm, lightning quick; “fire bird, so,” and the heat makes sense then, too, as Steve wraps him up again tighter and sighs, satisfied as he envelopes Eddie’s frame.

“Also extra energy, I think,” Eddie listens to Steve’s words around his heartbeat through his chest; “like, I couldn’t make it past your kitchen but, I don’t know how I know it, but I know I can give some of it to you while it’s settling.”

Magic. Steve. Can share his phoenix magic. To take care of Eddie. Immediately after coming back from the fucking grave.

On brand, Eddie guesses. Jesus fuck.

“I am pretty damn positive I’m in love you with you, too, by the way,” Steve shakes Eddie back to his body, to the moment, to the soft sure way he breathes those words and kisses Eddie’s temple like Eddie’s pulse doesn’t trip around the sentence, the sentiment.

“Also thank you, for,” Steve adds, and drops another kiss while Eddie reels, floats in the moment of hearing the words, of knowing for sure, of feeling it: “for loving me, somehow, enough to,” and Eddie can imagine where that’s headed, the way Steve says somehow like an unthinkable thing.

And there will be none of that, so he stops it and kisses hard, wet, open-mouthed at the center of Steve’s chest, over his bird-flutter heartbeat.

“It broke me,” Eddie breathes there, cracked open and still raw; “I already mostly figured but,” and his voice breaks, and Steve pulls him closer, so warm, and the bird-heart-flutter feels more like full broad wings, majestic, almost embracing and ensuring Eddie of all things is safe, and kept.

And warm.

Fuck if Eddie doesn’t fall into the feeling, full body; whole heart and soul.

“If there was any question whether I already loved you with everything, the way I fell apart,” and Eddie just moans a little because there aren’t…he doesn’t have words for it at all, he—

“Let me put you back together?” Steve murmurs low in a way that’s so soft and gentle but trembles the marrow inside Eddie’s bones.

Timeless. Endless.

Eddie kisses Steve’s chest again and hopes Steve knows that means yes, and please, and forever.

Unequivocally.

“Could we maybe talk about that, um, bond stuff, that the letter…” Eddie eventually speaks muffled into the hair on Steve’s pecs, after soaking in the heat and pulse and realness of him.

“I meant it,” Steve murmurs straight into Eddie’s skin; “I’m not holding you to—”

“I want you to.”

Eddie did not for a second think or feel otherwise, from the moment he saw the words, before he even started to believe at all: his mind was filled with possibilities by those words. His chest was…

“You…” Steve nudges Eddie’s head up from his chest and studies his face, reads something in his eyes before his breath catches, this time; before his bird-pulse skips, something light and giddy against Eddie’s weight and Steve huffs, disbelieving but…maybe happy for it.

Maybe…maybe overjoyed, even.

“Yeah,” Steve breathes, and leans to kiss Eddie full on the lips again, consuming: familiar for it.

“Yeah we can talk about that. But later.”

And then he settles Eddie back against him and wraps him in his bare skin, the still-radiant warmth.

“Now you sleep, and when you wake up, I feed you, you shower, you put on new clothes,” Eddie wrinkles his nose, doesn’t even know how many days it’s been since he cared for those things; abandons any shame for it when Steve feels him recoil and presses him closer, chuckles once and nuzzles his hair;

“Then I feed you again, and then,” Steve kisses his head once, and then twice, and then three times and Eddie feels it tingle through his goddamn veins like a vow, filled up with promise when Steve whispers, so alive:

“Then, we can talk.”

For @klausinamarink, who requested '"I cannot let you burn me up, nor can I resist you. No mere human can stand in a fire and not be consumed.”' at my HOBBIT-STYLE BIRTHDAY MONTH PROMPT FEST and also for @steddie-week for the Day Seven prompt 'Free Space'

✨permanent tag list: OPEN (lmk if you want to be added/removed): @pearynice @hbyrde36 @slashify @finntheehumaneater @wxrmland @dreamwatch @perseus-notjackson @estrellami-1 @bookworm0690 @nerdyglassescheeseychick @swimmingbirdrunningrock @goodolefashionedloverboi @sanctumdemunson @theheadlessphilosopher @lawrencebshoggoth @mensch-anthropos-human @micheledawn1975 @lumoschildextra @dotdot-wierdlife @imhereforthelolzdontyellatme @grtwdsmwhr @eddie-munson-addict

divider credits here

ao3 link here ✨

[lovemyromance]

So... Lucien being Helion's son is only relevant when it comes to "sunlight"? Even though only Helion is tied to sun imagery, Lucien has never been said to be "sunlight" and he doesn't have any relation to the sun outside of being Helion's son. It's only relevant that he's Helion's son and therefore he apparently is sunshine and whatnot because Elain ... needs sunlight?

Okay. Even if I could get behind that argument somehow...

Then why is it not relevant that Lucien is Helion's son and inherited his spell-cleaving/cursebreaking powers .... and he might possibly use that skillset to break Vassa's curse?

You know, Vasssa, the firebird that he literally lives with and considers a friend? The woman he spends more time with than his actual fated mate?

It is canon that Lucien broke through the KoH's spell and has been compared to "fire/flame" imagery. That's about it.

Flames from his mother. Spell-cleaving from his father. Makes sense.

There is no mention of him as it relates to sunlight in the book. Not even "his smile brightened like the sun" or some shit. Helion is the sun personified, but that does not extend to Lucien just because they're biologically related.

Just because he said "get Elain ouside she needs some sunlight" once, when she was literally a ghost doesn't mean he's suddenly going to become HL of Day Court.

I just find it hard to believe anyone can claim Lucien is sunlight just bc he's Helion's son, without also having to agree that Lucien-baby Spellcleaver-"Vanserra" could potentially also free Vassa..... only one of those things is canon, and it's not the teletubby sun "foreshadowing"

[ablogofsapphicpanic]

humbly asking you to do the rest of the characters’ dnd classes because all of those were so spot on!

Gladly!!!! I have way too much free time lmao

I'll do the ones I can think of and if I miss any that you want, just let me know!

Amren - order of the scribes wizard. I partially chose this one because of the awakened book and her interactions with the book of breathings ngl. Am I hilarious? Yes. But I could also lean into cleric given that SJM has been like she's an old testament angel so I'd do war domain for that but imo that would be like a life she's left behind type thing to favor the wizardry

Mor - Okay Mor is kind of hard for me because I like the eloquence bard a little bit but not as much as I did for Lucien but we don't know her powers exactly so I am just kind of swinging in the dark for some aspects but ultimately I think I'd do that.

And then for the High Lords, I already mentioned that Helion and Beron (and Eris) would be the different subclasses of sorcerer and for the record I think Beron would specifically have gold dragon ancestry

Tarquin - fathomless warlock. It's got a whole bunch of water/sea based powers and also certain weather stuff. The water elemental summoning is giving the water wolves that Feyre makes in Velaris and she definitely stole that from his spell list imo. Also I know you horny bitches would love that the bigby's hand shows up as a tentacle

Tamlin - Path of the Beast barbarian. There's specifically a backstory option about descending from an archdruid and inheriting the ability to change shape which I feel like fits his backstory and how he chose being a warrior over any sort of diplomacy/prepping for being High Lord. I would say generally the High Lord of Spring would be a druid of some sort but Tamlin (and potentially his father bc we know he's not the nicest guy) kind of broke the line on that.

Kallias - Circle of land druid but specifically the arctic one. My man is out here commanding polar bears in his army, no way that's not some type of druid. And the arctic circle is perfect for him because it's summoning ice and snow storms and all that jazz

Thesan - Life domain cleric. That one is pretty simple, that domain focuses on healing and keeping people alive. But I could also see the alchemist artificer considering the Dawn Court is full of tinkerers and not just focus on magic for healing and protection but also actual physical solutions to things.

Gwyn - so I also generally put the priestesses into clerics but I feel like the domain can vary and Gwyn would probably go into knowledge domain but I like @separatist-apologist's paladin path for her. I waffle between vengeance and redemption because Gwyn's path as a Valkyrie seems to be more focused on protection and prevention which the redemption oath fits well. I feel like I'd need to see more of her as a valkyrie to fully settle.

Emerie - also a paladin but oath of glory. I don't say glory in that I think she's self obsessed, but more in the fact that I think she feels like she and her friends are destined for greatness and refuses to settle for less. She doesn't let circumstances hold her back even before joining the Valkyries and this oath fits that well.

Jurian - Battle master fighter. There's something to be said specifically for the interacting with a creature outside of combat and learning something about them for this one because Jurian does his watch and wait pretty much the entirety of ACOWAR and Prythian winds up better off in the fight for it.

Vassa - You know I gotta do the fiend warlock. Gifted magic from a pact with an ancient semi-demonic being? It's right there. Obviously it doesn't include her shapeshifting but so many of her abilities are based around fire that I can't not go with this one. Imagine a giant firebird casting scorching ray at you.

[ladyzirkonia]

My Mage/Shadow Dragons Rook:

Callisto ''Firebird'' Mercar

Background and Early Life:

she was born as the illegitimate daughter of a slave and a Tevinter magister

her father did not acknowledge her, and her mother kept the fact that Callisto’s grandfather was a dwarf hidden

although Callisto is relatively short and has subtle dwarven facial features, she is generally perceived as human, largely due to her magical talents

once it became clear that Callisto had inherited her father’s magical abilities, her mother begged him to free her from slavery

he eventually granted her freedom, and soon after, Callisto was adopted by the Mercar family—a military family seeking to improve their social standing by having a mage in the household

Personality and Powers:

wild and consumed by anger, her magical powers—especially her fire magic—were fueled by her resentment towards her father and grief over her mother’s loss

Callisto brought mostly chaos to the Mercar household, offering them little honor or prestige

as soon as she was able, she left the family and joined the Shadow Dragons, driven by a desire to prevent others from enduring a fate similar to hers

known for her dark sense of humor, Callisto has a habit of turning even the most serious situations into something absurd (purple rook here we come!!), a coping mechanism born from her trauma

she is unpredictable, compassionate, and dangerous, with a chaotic nature that earned her the nickname "Firebird" in Tevinter

Relationships and Connections:

will be paired with Lucanis, shared family trauma is half family trauma or something like that, I'm sure she will drive him absolutely crazy in the beginning

Callisto and Lace Harding are often jokingly referred to as sisters due to their physical resemblance

one of the few people who knows the truth about her parentage is Dorian Pavus, the two share a common goal of improving Tevinter, and Dorian, with his signature wit, never misses a chance to mock Callisto’s father whenever they cross paths at the Magisterium

My rook template.

[apollos-boyfriend]

new life smp: second origins

scott: fungal mage

fwhip: hare

gem: blazeborn

joey: TBA

katherine: TBA

lizzie: TBA

sausage: phoenix

seapeekay: beach crab

shubble: TBA

joel: dullahan

jimmy: monkey

stacy: TBA

strawburry: TBA

oli: TBA

owen: copper golem

scar: human

pearl: star

pix: TBA

martyn: TBA

full origins descriptors under the cut!

scott: fungal mage [impact - •••]

an explorer keen on knowledge and adventure, fit to travel the under and overworlds.

fungal hop [+] *

you can summon clouds below you and hop on them. cost: 10 fungus mana

dash [+] **

you can enter a veil of magic, throwing you forwards and making you invulnerable, invisible, and unable to activate plates. cost: 10 fungus mana

sporous relocation [+]

you can channel and condense warped spored into a magical laser, infusing them with magic. you will be teleported where they land, or where the laser stops. cost: 10 fungus mana

fungus mana [+]

the mystic aura that all fungi contain. you can harness it and use it as magic energy, but without it, you are powerless. gain fungus mana by standing on mycelium, warped nylium, or crimson nylium.

detrimental [-]

the combination of your fungus mana and your body makes food mostly useless to you. while you can still reap the benefits of shimmering foods, your hunger bar has no effect on your health. you must instead rely on your fungus mana to heal you.

magical essence [+]

you are naturally protected from fire and poison, as long as you have fungus mana.

shroom stature [-]

you have only 8 hearts, because you care little for your physical form. you will be reduced to 6 when without fungus mana. berry bushes will not puncture your fungal skin.

bioluminescence [+]

you glow to other players when in a light level of 0.

gaia's frequency [+]

you have mastered way of the earth, allowing you to mine red and brown mushroom blocks when sneaking as if you had silk touch.

bookworm [+]

you can craft mushroom blocks and bundles, ride mooshrooms, and you can brew up a killer mushroom stew.

fungal infusion [+]

you can fuse the magi mushroom with certain item, granting them power. create the magi mushroom by right clicking blaze powder atop red mushrooms in your inventory.

* you can use similar magic to boost yourself while gliding with an elytra, and use fireworks to assist flight. cost: 20 fungus mana

* you can also stop yourself mid flight, by crouching and pressing- cost: 5 fungus mana

** you become immune to fall damage if falling from a height of 5 blocks or more. however, you must have fungus mana.

fwhip: hare [impact - •••]

a race of burrow dwelling rabbits that had attained a level of awareness akin to humans. they inherited their proficient mobility.

bunny hop [+]

you build up momentum while in the air which is added to your movement speed. you keep built up momentum momentarily while on the ground. you may also gain momentum with your active ability.

photophobia [+]

note: fwhip didn’t show all the descriptors for his origin. he has more abilities, but these are the only ones with the official description shown.

gem: blazeborn [impact - •••]

late descendants of the blaze, the blazeborn are naturally immune to the perils of the nether.

fire immunity [+]

you are immune to all types of fire damage.

nether inhabitant [-]

your natural spawn will be in the nether.

burning wrath [+]

when on fire, you deal additional damage with your attacks.

hotblooded [+]

due to your hot body, venoms burn up, making you immune to poison and hunger status effects.

hydrophobia [-]

you receive damage over time while in contact with water.

sausage: phoenix [impact - •••]

flying from the pages of mythology, the phoenix is a legendary firebird that can never truly die.

rebirth [+]

in your normal form, you have more health and can use flight and ascent. if you lose your health, you shrink to your rebirth form. this form is 1 block tall, can use glide, and has low health. you return to normal form upon rejuvenation or death.

rejuvenation [+]

if you were in your reborn form, you will slowly return to normal form provided you are directly under the sun. standing in teh rain or in water will reduce progress towards rejuvenating.

roost [+]

while sneaking and not moving, you will gain progress towards rejuvenating in reborn form, regardless of there being sunlight or not.

radiant call [+]

full heals every player and mob within a 12 block radius. triggers automatically every 2 minutes. if you are in reborn form, regain some progress towards rejuvenation when this triggers.

helios' blessing [+]

when under direct sunlight, you receive a speed boost on land and in the air.

flight [+]

you have wings. only available in normal form.

ascent [+]

you are able to launch yourself into the air. only available in normal form.

fireball [+]

launch a fireball that deals damage and ignites the first entity it hits.

gliding [+]

you gain slow falling and jump boost. only available in reborn form.

fiery death [-]

your body sets the ground on fire when you die.

golden diet [-]

all foods restore very little hunger and saturation, except for golden foods, which function like normal.

water weakness [-]

you have decreased speed in water.

brittle bones [-]

you take more damage from falling and flying into blocks.

fire immunity [+]

you are immune to all types of fire damage.

seapeekay: beach crab [impact - •••]

crustaceans who like to rave, preferably on beaches.

home! [-][+]

beach biomes provide you with immense strength and fortification. you feel weaker outside of beach biomes if you stay in them for over 15 minutes.

rave! [+]

play the song of your people, and rave for your valor!

krusty [-]

you are a bit shorter and much wider than a human. your arms are 35% shorter than a human.

legs n' chelipeds [+]

your legs move much faster when in water, and you deal additional damage when wet.

crawler [+]

you descend down to the water until you stand on and walk on its floor, but move quite fast while walking. you can occasionally muster the strength to swim for a brief period of time.

pincers [-]

melee weaopns are half as effective because of your pincers. you deal more damage with your pincers.

shell [+]

you have a natural layer of armor.

crustacean gills [+][-]

you have a much higher oxygen capacity, but you require moisture to breathe. you lose your breath in very hot climates, including the nether. four levels of fire protection will allow you to remain cool and maintain moisture.

kelpomaniac [+]

you can eat kelp, which empowers your underwater vision, and oxygen capacity.

aqua affinity [+]

you may break blocks underwater as others do on land.

unwieldy [-]

the way your hands are formed provide no way of holding a shield upright.

joel: dullahan [impact - •••]

an accursed headless horseman, who uses their nightmarish powers to trap the souls of their prey in lanterns.

binding chain [+]

you can impale a target with a barbed chain, immobilising them and inflicting wither.

behold a pale horse [+] *

conjure a speedy nightmare steed that will remain for 2 minutes in the mortal world. this has a 5 minute cooldown.

spectre’s dismay [+]

shoot an explosive wither skull projectile at your prey.

cower, run [+] *

even your presence is scary, making enemies blinded with fear.

death’s tools [+] *

you always carry items with you gathered on your journeys as a horsemen.

the pact [+][-]

your contract to hunt souls empowers you under the light of the moon, but during the day you are weskened, making your thirst for souls insatiable.

soul devourer [-] *

food does not satiate your wretched form. as a horsemen, you can't eat anything - only being able to absorb the souls in soul lanterns to give you nutrients.

boned [+] *

when hit, you have a chance of dropping bones.

cursed [-] *

any items imbued with a curse can seal you inside the weapon and kill you.

note: joel didn’t show all the descriptors for his origin. the rest were taken from the wiki here, although the wording of the descriptions he did show differ from the wiki. they're all the same core abilities, just with different wordings, although it's possible there could've been some tweaks done as well. wiki-based descriptors are labeled with a *.

jimmy: monkey [impact - •••]

rulers of the jungle and cousins of the humans, these mammals have a great mobility but not a big brain.

vine hook [+]

you can throw a vine to move around the trees.

master climber [+]

you can climb everywhere by shifting at the cost of stamina. you can also hang up from ceilings

small but agile [+]

you are 1 block and a half tall in order to move swiftly through the jungle.

tailwind [+]

you are a little bit quicker on foot than others.

stamina [-]

you have a stamina bar that runs down whenever you are climbing.

strong body [+]

you take 80% less velocity based damage.

not a good swimmer [-]

no monkey has ever been able to swim.

monkey jump [+]

you can lunge at the cost of stamina.

monkey brain [-]

you are unable to use either a bow, crossbow, or shield.

owen: copper golem [impact - •••]

the copper golems are a curious automaton, designed to improve the lives of others. since they were initially prototyped, they have gained a greater knowledge of redstone components and ways to utilise them.

repairs available [-]

your body cannot be naturally or magically mended. you instead repair by consuming copper ingots.

oxidation [-]

your copper body makes you susceptible to the elements, oxidising you over time. oxidation can be removed with an axe.

galvanise [+]

honeycombs allow you to wax yourself, staving off the effects of oxidation for several minutes.

lightning rod [+]

while in thunderstorms, you’re much more likely to get struck by lightning. you are immune to lighting, and de-oxidize when struck.

copper plating [+]

your chassis is made out of copper. as a result, you passively have resistance.

local area networking* [+]

you have modified an antenna to fit to your head permanently to recieve radio signals.

micro machine [-]

you are only one block tall, and your maximum health is reduced.

automaton [+][-]

your body doesn’t experience hunger, and you don’t benefit from natural regeneration.

button masher [+]

your programming gives you an overwhelming urge to press buttons. every time you press a button, redstone dust will drop.

tinkerer [+]

you can quickly convert a redstone component into its similar counterpart.

transmute [+]

you are able to transmute copper into other metals, allowing you to craft more metal items.

toolsmith [+]

you can also use this skill to create various metal tools.

circuit corrosion [-]

being submerged in water will damage your internal circuitry. your plating will protect you from rain, however.

heavy metal [+][-]

you don’t need to breathe underwater, but your dense body holds you down.

* active ability. when standing within 5 blocks of unwaxed copper, emerald, or diamond ore and blocks, you will beep. you oxidise faster while this is active.

scar: human [impact - •••]

a regular human. your ordinary minecraft experience awaits.

pearl: star [impact - •••]

you are absolutely glowing!

luminant glide [+]

you are able to launch up into the air, and will slowly glide until you reach the ground.

luminant [+]

you light up the area around you.

starlight [-][+]

you’re smaller during the day, but larger at night.

gravitation [+]

the gravity of the earth is less taxing upon you at night.

immaterial [-]

you have 2 less hearts.

[black-rose-writings]

Okay, grishaverse people, I have plotbunnies and need these questions answered:

So, Mal's supernatural tracking abilities come from the fact that he's a Morozova's amplifier. Something which he inherited from his ancestors.

So, it only makes sense that if he had a bio child prior to losing his amplifier status, that child would also be an amplifier.

So, here come the questions:

A) Is there only ever one "Firebird amplifier" at a time, or B do all of descendants of the Younger Daughter have a piece of it?

If option A is true, at what point would Mal lose his amplifier staus and would he lose his tracking abilities along with it? (I am assuming he would)

If option B is true, could the reason Mal actually works as well as he does as an amplifier be because he's the last remaining descendant of her (the power is equally divided between all descendants and since he's the only one left, all the poweris concentrated in him. Which would require some kind of metaphysical way of sharing that power, but it is Merzost, so it's not out of question)

If the power is equally divided between the descendants, would that mean that Mal's tracking abilities would weaken if/when he had children?

If the power is equally divided between all descendants, does Mal only work as the third amplifier BECAUSE he's the last remaining member of that line

Is the amplifier lost or could Mal's child post-R&R still be an amplifier? (This is not as important for the plotbunny, but it feels relevant to the discussion as a whole)

Both headcanon and canon-supported answers welcome.

Please, no discourse on Mal's quality of character(from writing or personal perspective), we're objectifying today :-D

No, seriously, I just want to discuss the lore and mechanics around him and his amplifier status, take your arguing about who's a better character or who Alina should bang somewhere else. If you do like him, be warned that I don't and normally post a lot of critical stuff, so probably don't venture onto the rest of my blog.

[kaliade]

KHRxTwisted Wonderland Idea

Why will my brain not stop with the ideas?!  Why?!

*Sigh*  Ok, so I need to get this down on something so I can go back to ignoring it because I have one too many irons in the fire already.  I do not need another.  So here, have an idea that is free to anyone.  I’m not going to be writing more of it most likely.

The MC in this idea is Tsuna’s daughter, his 3rd or 4th child.  She knows she likely not going to inherit, not with her siblings in front of her and her father being very, very protective of them all.  That’s fine with her.  More time to explore her own interests. 

Now, this MC, who I’m going to call Miku, gets yeeted into Twisted Wonderland as per canon.  But, the Dark Mirror doesn’t say she’s magic-less.

Miku:  I’m Miku.

Dark Mirror: The nature of your soul is....unclear to me.

Crowley:  What did you say?

DM: The magical power in this one...it both is and is not of color or shape that matches any of the dorms for it fits all in some ways.  Therefor, no dorm would be appropriate.

There is an uproar over this announcement.  Someone who cold fit ALL the dorms?

To explain, because a Sky (that is the Flame Type I’m giving Miku) is harmony, her soul would automatically fall into harmony with those around her.  Thus the mirror cannot pick one dorm to suit as they would technically suit all of them.  This means Miku still gets shunted to Ramshackle but Crowley, and the campus as a whole, is a lot more interested in just what this young woman (and wasn’t  that a kicker.  The first female student in over a century) can do.

And then the reveal that she uses Soul Fire (TWST term for Dying Will Flames).  And they are at a usable level for combat!  Most other Soul Fire mages can barely make their Soul Flame visible, let alone fight with them.  Just...what is this woman?

Further, I can see Miku developing a trick for Dying Will Mode that gives her fiery wings to fly on.  She looks like a firebird!  (Just to tie Ramshackle further into Fantasia as its inspiration)

Just think of the shenengans that can come up.  Like her critique of how the Monstro Lounge in run and how the tweels are not subtle at all.  Jamil reacting to her because she gives off assassin vibes from having been around the Varia when she was younger. Idia being fascinated with how Blot reacts to Soul Fire (I headcanon Soul Fire destroys it fast because Flames are about surviving but it could go the other way).  Ace and Deuce and Jack...actually, ALL the freshman squad, even Sebek(boy is a Lightning, obviously), bonding to her as Elements and the angst that gives Sebek.  Malleus being fascinated with her “firebird” wings and abilities Lilia has only heard of in stories. 

Someone, please take this child.  Please.

[richincolor]

Most Anticipated Reads in April

It’s almost but not quite April yet, which means it’s time for me to totally ignore the books I should be reading from March and look ahead to my most anticipated April reads. Here’s what’s on my list...

A Whole Song and Dance by Sarvenaz Tash [Out 4/4/23!]

Nasrin Mahdavi is a Broadway triple threat—but she’s living a double life. A freshman in NYU’s prestigious musical theater program, Nasrin spends her days prepping for auditions, sweating through dance classes, and belting her heart out for the viral streaming show she’s been cast in. But on calls with her maman and baba, she’s their jigar talah, the golden child who put her theater dreams aside to follow in their entrepreneurial footsteps as a business major. At least her whole life isn’t a lie—she is taking a single business course. Except she’s kind of failing it. Cue jazz hands? Nasrin needs to bring her grade up fast if she’s going to keep her parents in the dark, so she grudgingly signs up for tutoring with the infuriatingly smug and annoyingly attractive Max. And yet...as the semester rushes by, the sparks of anger that first flew between them start to turn into a very different kind of spark. The kind she definitely does not have time for. Except when Nasrin’s charming though devious cousin takes an interest in Max too, Nasrin has to figure out exactly what has been an act—and what’s for real. Can Nasrin decide what—and who—is truly worth fighting for, and find a way to step into the spotlight as her full self?

Firebird by Sunmi [Out 4/4/23!]

Sunmi's gorgeous two-color teen graphic novel debut examines the power of resilience and reinvention, following the lives of Caroline and Kim, two queer, Asian American teenagers growing up in the suburbs of the San Francisco Bay Area, as they forge an unexpected connection. Caroline Kim is feeling the weight of sophomore year. When she starts tutoring infamous senior Kimberly Park-Ocampo--a charismatic lesbian, friend to rich kids and punks alike--Caroline is flustered... but intrigued. Their friendship kindles and before they know it, the two are sneaking out for late-night drives, bonding beneath the stars over music, dreams, and a shared desire of getting away from it all. A connection begins to smolder... but will feelings of guilt and the mounting pressure of life outside of these adventures extinguish their spark before it catches fire?

Throwback by Maurene Goo [Out 4/11/2023!]

Back to the Future meets The Joy Luck Club in this YA contemporary romance about a Korean American girl sent back to the ’90s to (reluctantly) help her teenage mom win Homecoming Queen. Being a first-generation Asian American immigrant is hard. You know what’s harder? Being the daughter of one. Samantha Kang has never gotten along with her mother, Priscilla—and has never understood her bougie-nightmare, John Hughes high school expectations. After a huge fight between them, Sam is desperate to move forward—but instead, finds herself thrown back. Way back. To her shock, Sam finds herself back in high school . . . in the ’90s . . . with a 17-year-old Priscilla. Now this Gen Z girl must try to fit into an analog world. She’s got the fashion down, but everything else is baffling. What is “microfiche”? What’s with the casual racism and misogyny? And why does it feel like Priscilla is someone she could actually be . . . friends with? Sam's blast to the past has her finding the right romance in the wrong time while questioning everything she thought she knew about her mom . . . and herself. Will Sam figure out what she needs to do to fix things for her mom so that she can go back to a time she understands? Brimming with heart and humor, Maurene Goo’s time-travel romance asks big questions about what exactly one inherits and loses in the immigrant experience.

[marvelgirltm]

“Dreams are sometimes windows…to other realities. And waking doesn’t always make things better.”

Abilities: Rachel is what is known as a “Class Omega“ mutant, according to The Avengers. Since she is the daughter of the Phoenix, Rachel inherited a great deal of psionic powers from Jean, but has limited control over them; she is still learning. Her biggest issues lie with her telepathy and telekinesis, sometimes the developments of her attempting to control them result in piercing headaches, migraines, that are so overpowering she can gather a nosebleed or worse. She could begin convulsing in a slight seizure. Currently, when she utilizes her powers, since merging with the Phoenix force, a bright blue Phoenix symbol appears over her left eye. She has learned lock-picking from Logan {Wolverine} and Storm, as well as hand-to-hand combat from Nightcrawler, her father, and a smattering of other sources/mutants. Strength - Rachel is otherwise a normal human female. But her physical shape is petite and fit, with regular exercise and physical training. She loves to run and often goes on long jogs to clear her head, quite literally, and tune the world out. She uses physical fitness as a way to steady her powers and keep the rambling thoughts at bay. When possessing the Phoenix Force, however, she contains superhuman strength with an unknown limit. Weaknesses - Even with the power of the Phoenix, magic and magical objects prove to be an enigma among Rachel’s capabilities. If her abilities become too overwhelming, she has a tendency to have a complete mental shock, creating migraines and an extensive nose bleed and potentially a seizure. 

Mutant Powers/Capabilities:       Telepathy - Rachel can read minds and project her thoughts into them. She can do so within a vast, potentially limitless radius, much like Xavier can when utilizing Cerebro. Though, Rachel has continual difficulty honing her craft with continuing mental blocks. However, even when she utilizes her telepathic abilities the residual energy provided is neigh indestructible.  

Astral Projection  - In an “astral plane” Rachel can project her ‘astral form’ from her body. She can also do so on physical planes, however, she can only do so over short distances, whereas in the ‘astral plane’ she not only harbors no limitations but she can create psionic objects and manipulate her surroundings. 

Mind Alteration  -  Ability to alter the minds of others by force of will, whether changing their personality entirely, partially or altering their perception.

Mental Amnesia  - Rachel can erase any particular memory, or provide full-on amnesia, wiping the brain entirely. 

Mental Paralysis -  Ability to produce/induce temporary mental or physical paralysis. {Which is, an involuntary loss of function/movement. In other words: if she is not careful, she could induce brain damage}.

Mind Control - With a purer form and great deal of concentration, Rachel can control the mind of another. 

Mind Detection - Ability to detect when another superhuman/mutant is present or nearby, or headed in her general direction. She can sense and decipher the distinct mental radiations emitted by the other being.

Mind Possession - Ability to mentally posses another, and use their body in a controlling manner. In essence, she can use their body as if it were her very own.

Mind Transferal - If for some reason her physical form were to die {her body}, she could then transfer her mind into another living being. She is able to transfer both her mind and powers and abilities into another host body.

Psionic Blasts - Rachel can project a psionic bolt which really has no physical effects, but can render a victim’s mind slightly hindered, causing them great anguish/pain or sending them into unconsciousness, or otherwise causing them to become brain-dead. These blasts can be as mild or lethal as she so desires. 

Psionic Firebird - Rachel harnesses the ability to manifest her telepathy in the form of a psionic firebird, like a Phoenix, whose claws and beak can inflict both physical and mental damage. 

Psychic Shield - The ability to create a psychic shield for protection of herself, her mind, and the mind of others. 

Telepathic Cloak & Shadow - Rachel can mask her presence, and the presence of others if so desired, from being detected by others — even telepaths. Her abilities can at times go undetected or be counteracted by other powerful telepaths depending upon their level of skill in using their own psi capabilities. So far, the only two people who are genuinely well educated at this would be Xavier and her mother since they know her well and have helped her hone her craft {But even unto them, she can cast said shadow}. Rachel can also mask herself and others around her from those near or far by telepathically disguising them/making them disappear or appear as a shadow.

Telepathic Illusions - The ability to create illusions to make herself seem to be invisible, look like someone else entirely, or make others experience events that are not truly happening — in essence to create a world full of emotions and render someone’s reality void, and make them see something that is not actually there. 

     Telekinesis - Rachel possess telekinetic power that allows her to exercise control over objects, including herself. The exact measurements of her limitations as far as weight and mass with respect to her telekinetic capability have yet to be defined or discovered.

Concussive Blasts  - Rachel can project telekinetic energy as a powerful blast that beams directly from her brain, and can affect any given matter with concussive force {much like her mother/Phoenix}. Think of it as a big shockwave of energy, almost like an atomic bomb but of course not nearly as lethal. 

Force Fields - Rachel harnesses the ability to create protective force shields that could deflect even the most powerful of attacks. This power can even go into the depth of filtering bacteria from the air and repel nuclear weapons. Rachel has displayed a capability of being able to shape the fields perfectly and precisely, even to conform very closely to the shape and form of her body. 

Intuitive Aptitude - The ability to disassemble complex devices, explosive or otherwise, explosively or otherwise {separating and severing every last component, such as screws, bolts, nuts, wires, components of a circuit board, etc. etc. etc.} She can dissolve them just as quickly as she can re-assemble or assemble them. This particular skill has created Rachel’s awareness and control over very tiny objects such as individual electrons in an atom. For example, Rachel was able to detect whether or not a seal was hermetic by checking for the presence of penetrating oxygen molecules. She can even discern particular oxygen molecules and determine the atomic weight of said molecules by the amount of atoms that are present.  

Matter Alteration - Since Rachel has merged with the Phoenix force, her capability spans beyond that of a generic telepath. She can alter molecular and atomic structures, even alter the molecular valences or rewrite her own genome. At one point as the Phoenix, she was capable of creating a micro black hole. This power is particularly disturbing to those who can control matter such as metal {particularly for Magneto} as it gives her the ability to melt said metal, and utilize it against him.

Psionic Spikes - The ability to create destructive psionic spikes that can destroy the physical object that the spike comes into contact with.

Telekinetic Flight - By using her telekinetic abilities she can levitate and “fly” at various speeds and lengths/heights.

Time Travel - Rachel possess the unnatural ability to displace herself and others at almost any specific point in the timestream and then reemerge back into the physical world from as much as a few minutes to years by generating chronal energies. She can travel in astral form as well, and can travel to points well into the future; hence Days of Future Past.  In conjunction with other her other powers, Rachel can combine her telepathy with her abilities to manipulate time. She can temporarily transplan a person’s mind and send it through time into a younger/older version of their self, or a close ancestor/descendant or disembodied astral form. {This is accomplished when combining her telepathy and chronokinesis; this is also referred to as “chrono-skimming”}. Rachel combines her telepathy, telekinesis and varied effects to create other abilities such as a “chrono-shield” which is an unconscious emanation of a fourth dimensional pulse which creates a “chrono-shield” protecting her from changes in the timeline. As well as “psychometric projections” in which she encapsulates the ability to mentally project past events.

[captain-of-the-gwynriel-ship]

Everyone in the IC has one thing in common- they have all suffered under the hand of a parental/authority figure. Cassias was left to fend for himself at a young age and his mother was killed. Because he was a bastardized he was harassed and looked down upon by the males of his community. Azriel was beaten and locked up by his father and physically tortured and maimed. Mor was sold by kier to eris and then when she slept with cassian he nailed a note to her womb. Rhys was molded by a cruel father who left him in amarantha’s war camp as a punishment for getting captured. Feyre was neglected by her mother and was forced to take her father’s place as head of the household. I can’t really say much about a ten but she is the cranky aunt of the group. They all had to grow up too young and suffered at the hands of the people meant to take care of them, which is why together they are dreamers of a better world than the one they inherited.

The Valkyrie also all have one major thing in common- all of their bodies had been violated against their will by men in power. Emerie was a victim of child abuse and domestic violence. Then her father forced her to go through a wing clipping. Gwyn’s sister was beheaded in front of her and those same soldiers sexually assaulted her. Nesta was forced into the cauldron and changed into fae and she is a victim of attempted SA. All of them find healing with each other and they learn how to be strong so no one could ever overpower them again.

Everyone in the band of exiles has one thing in common. They have all been physically changed against their will and they were the people who weren’t saved in time. And they all live as something they never wanted to be and taken out of the lives they knew. Julian was an eye in Amarantha’s ring for 500 years, unable to speak or escape his torment. Vassa was sold off by her fellow queens to koschei and is forced to live her days as a firebird and her nights as a human. Lucien was born as a lord in autumn and was exiled from his family for loving a lesser fae. He then lived with tamlin where he endured more domestic abuse. Leaving Spring in ACOWAR guaranteed he would never truly have a home there again. Lucien’s eye was removed by Amarantha and was replaced with something artificial and changed him physically to always be other. Elain was forced to change into a fae against her will and she had the most to loose out of all three sisters. She was engaged to an anti fae human lord presumably out of love. Once she was forced to be fae her entire world crumpled around her and she was forced to leave her life behind and was thrust into a world she hated and didn’t know.

Elain has never fit in with the IC completely, and part of that may be because she never truly trauma bonded with them the way the other two groups have. Not to mention all of the reasons the NC in general is wrong for her. She will only truly find healing when she is surrounded by those who know what she has been through and lived through it themselves.

Welcome to my Ted talk

New to the fandom and Elucien and I just want to say how much I love your takes! Truly some logic and reason amidst some vitriol.

What I’m most curious about for Elain’s future is what role she’ll play among the Band of Exiles. Obviously we have her arc with Lucien to look forward too, but she’s more connected to Vassa and Koschei than anyone in the Night Court. She’s had an interaction (not a great one) with Jurian. How do you think Elain will fit in with that dynamic?

Happy Sunday and thank you for your message! 😊

It seems SJM creates found families with characters who are different from one another but still connect on a deep level. For example, Feyre might have a strong personality but it's not even close to the intensity of Amren and though Mor is Rhys's third in command, I'd say she's the most gentle of the group.

You find similar variation between Nesta, Gwyn and Emerie with Gwyn being the "softest" and Emerie a combination of the two.

Those groups work well because, with their differences, they bring out other sides of one another. Gwyn brings out a sense of calming in Nesta and Nesta brings out a little of the warrior and curiosity in Gwyn.

I think what I like about the BOE (especially Jurian and Vassa) are they are two bold personalities in comparison to Elain. That's not to say she's not going to find her voice in her book but I don't think she'll ever be quite as abrasive as some of the other characters. But I do feel it means Elain will finally have people who push her to do more and don't look at her like she's incapable. And what I love about Elain is we've already gotten hints of her being a bit sassy / humorous so I don't think Vassa and Jurians bold delivery will cause Elain to bristle in the way it did Nesta and Feyre. If anything, I think she'll be amused by it all.

[rhysanoodle]

Between Light and Shadow

(Banner by the lovely @sncinder​ 💕)

Elriel’s story after ACOSF

Word Count: 1841

AO3

Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3 | Chapter 4 | Chapter 5 | Chapter 6 | Chapter 7 | Chapter 8 | Chapter 9 | Chapter 10 | Chapter 11 | Chapter 12 | Chapter 13 | Chapter 14 | Chapter 15 | Chapter 16 | Chapter 17 | Chapter 18 | Chapter 19 | Chapter 20 | Chapter 21 | Chapter 22 | Chapter 23 | Chapter 24 | Chapter 25 | Chapter 26

Chapter 27

The next morning, Elain found herself sitting across from Rhys in his office, Lucien occupying the seat next to her as the Scythe lay ominously on the desk in front of them.

“Mind telling me what exactly happened in Lake Orel?” Thankfully, they had all been left in peace last night, but when Elain had emerged with a grumbling stomach after bathing this morning, she had seen the worry in their eyes and hadn’t objected when Rhys asked if she and Lucien would mind debriefing him.

Azriel could survive another few minutes without food. She had already given him one potion and changed his bandages this morning, so he likely would be napping for a while longer. She was sure everyone was aware that she had spent the night in his room—in his bed—but no one was mentioning it, so she certainly wasn’t going to bring it up.

Elain and Lucien shared a glance, and at his continued silence, Elain launched into the tale, elaborating on how Koschei had trapped them, had lured her and forced her to break her own mating bond, had used her to begin to weaken his own curse’s hold on him.

“It’s truly broken?” Rhys’s eyes flitted between the two of them, as if inspecting them for any remnants of the bond they had shared for the past couple of years.

Lucien nodded. “Whatever it did … worked.” Elain could still feel the tatters of the bond inside her, like a missing limb she didn’t even realize she’d had.

“And it worked on Vassa too?” Rhys wondered aloud. Elain’s head whipped to Lucien. She hadn’t done anything to Vassa. The firebird had arrived too late in the battle, and Elain hadn’t even gotten the chance to consider using the Scythe to free Vassa from her captor.

“I think … I think that was me,” Lucien admitted. “I have no idea how, but when he was reeling her in, I just snapped. Something happened to my fire, and I could just … feel the moment her bonds broke.”

“Ah, that,” Rhys nodded knowingly. “I think we owe you an explanation.”

Feyre entered the room, smiling sheepishly at Lucien. “We think you’re Helion’s son,” she admitted, wincing as her blow landed, Lucien’s good eye widening in shock.

“But I can wield fire magic,” Lucien said disbelievingly, summoning a bit of fire in his palm for a split second as if to prove it to himself.

“So can your mother. You inherited it from her line.”

“But … This power …”

“Surely, you’ve noticed your powers growing stronger as of late, signs that you might in fact be the heir. But we’ve also noted this change with Eris as he prepares to take the Autumn throne. How can there be two heirs to Autumn? Unless …”

 “Shit,” Lucien cursed, his face falling into his hands. “How is this possible?”

“You’d have to ask your mother for the specifics, but before she was sold to Beron as his bride, we believe she was in a relationship with Helion. Perhaps those feelings never faded, and—”

Lucien growled, and Feyre had the presence of mind to blanche. “I’m really sorry for keeping this from you, Lucien. It was never the right time, and we weren’t even one hundred percent certain until now.”

“Cauldron dammit, Feyre. All this time, you’ve let me keep thinking I was related to him? You’ve left me in danger in the case that any of my brothers noticed this shift?”

“We haven’t suspected for long, and would it have been worth knowing if it turned out not to be true? To give you that hope and snatch it away?”

He stood, pacing back and forth. “I don’t know, but it’s better than being blindsided like this. If I had known, I could have figured out how to use these powers. Cauldron, I could’ve freed Vassa ages ago, and none of this would’ve happened.”

“Well, that’s not what happened, is it?” Rhys countered. “So you need to decide how you’re going to live with it now. Even Helion struggled to figure out how to free Vassa from Koschei. I’m not sure it would have been that easy.”

“What are you going to do?” Feyre probed, voice cautious.

“I have to go back home. To Vassa. I don’t know what comes next.”

Elain stood, taking his arm as he stood, unhinged in the doorway, laying a calming palm on his bicep. “I know a bit about learning some things about yourself which are difficult to accept,” she murmured, low enough that only he could hear. “I’m always here if you need to talk.”

If someone had told her even mere months ago that she would be comforting him so, she would’ve accused them of lying, but in the past few weeks she had grown a soft spot for the male who had the misfortune of being tethered to her. He wasn’t so bad after all, especially after he had made the difficult decision to let her go.

“Thank you, Elain. I won’t be a stranger.” With a soft pat on her hand, he extricated himself, strolling out of the office.

“You’re really in the interest of keeping secrets about others’ lives, aren’t you?” Elain could feel her original anger at Rhys flaring up as she turned back to her sister and her sister’s mate.

“Perhaps it wasn’t in my best interest,” Rhys admitted sheepishly.

“It wasn’t in anyone’s best interest,” Elain countered, folding her arms across her chest and staring him down.

“I’ve already said I’m sorry, Ellie, but I truly mean it.”

“And he’s never going to do anything that is controlling and invasive which affects other people’s personal lives without their consent again,” Feyre added, cutting a glare at her mate, who affirmed her.

“You made me think he couldn’t ever love me. Do you know how much that hurt?” Now that the initial shock of the revelation had worn off, her anger had stepped aside in favor of the sadness of what she and Azriel could have had. “I’d already gone through that once, and it almost killed me.”

Elain could see the moment that Rhys’s heart broke. “I didn’t mean to cause that. I thought … I thought he was merely lusting after you, using you for some reason to distract himself from whatever was bothering him. And I couldn’t afford him invoking Lucien’s wrath—or Beron’s wrath, if he chose to invoke the Blood Duel on Lucien’s behalf.”

“But you didn’t take into account my feelings either.”

“I was trying to protect them.”

“I am no one’s to protect but my own. I can handle the shadowsinger. If we were just having sex, it still would be none of your business.” She knew that the hardness in her eyes could cut through him like a knife, as intended.

“Please forgive me. I promise. Never again.” And Elain could feel the defeat resonating from the High Lord. He had made many mistakes, but at least he did feel some remorse for what it had cost her.

“In that case,” she murmured, eyeing the Scythe, laying on the desk. “I would like to see something.”

Rhys tensed as she reached for the piece of the Trove, but Elain didn’t falter. She gripped the handle tightly with both hands, allowing the otherworldly power to come over her, as she heard the gasps from Feyre and Rhys as they beheld her. Powerful. Unearthly. And … beautiful, she somehow knew. Perhaps it was the omniscience of the Cauldron flowing through her.

The room became flooded with color and light as she took in all the magic surrounding them. All the invisible lines which tied the universe and their fates together.

There was no mistaking their mating bond, a brilliant sapphire, thicker and more vivid than any other bond she had ever witnessed, but that wasn’t what Elain was interested in. She let herself look past it, at a much smaller thread, tying Feyre’s left hand to Rhys’s. Their bargain.

“I can break it,” she told them. “I can break the bargain which troubles you.”

“I was wondering,” Rhys murmured. “Are you ready, darling?” He turned to his mate. “I’ll still mean it in spirit, but maybe next time one of us is on death’s door we won’t be so frantic about leaving this world—leaving our son—so abruptly.”

“It’s the right thing to do,” Feyre admitted, but Elain saw the gleam of a tear in her eye. As ill-advised as binding their lives together was, there was still something reassuring about knowing they would go together and never leave the other behind.

She couldn’t help but feel the same way about Azriel. She had been willing to sacrifice herself for him. Perhaps Koschei might not mean her mortal harm, but she was still offering up her life as she knew it to be owned by him. And considering how many of her choices had been taken away from her in her life—how she had struggled and suffered because of them—it was the ultimate sacrifice for her. But he was worth it.

Just then, a glimmer struck her from the corner of her eye. That bond which had appeared a dim gold between herself and Azriel last night pulsed—lighting up and letting off a burnished glow. Even more radiant than her severed bond with Lucien. She could feel him—a dull whisper as he slept on another floor—but she could feel him deep within her.

She froze, unable to proceed, as she attempted to process what this could mean. Because that bond with him, it had been there, lying dormant while she had been bonded to Lucien. Could it be?

“Elain, dear?” Rhys cocked his head, a glimmer of worry shining in those sapphire eyes.

Right. She owed them a broken bargain, and being very careful not to touch any of the other many magical threads running rampant through the room, she cleaved through the problematic one.

The other two stumbled, appearing to have blacked out for a split second before they regained their bearings. “It’s done,” Feyre murmured, looking at her bare left arm with a hint of regret.

“If it’s the ink you’re missing, I can certainly help you there,” Rhys crooned, and Elain knew that it was time to leave as Feyre ran into his arms. She set the Scythe quietly back on the desk, but not before feeling a familiar itch running along her shoulder blades from her own tattoo.

She could sever it if she wished to, be free of her duty, but …

No, this was not just for Elspeth. She could free everyone in that cursed mountain, send them all to a peaceful afterlife and spare so many. Just as she had once been trapped in a prison—in a life—not of her choosing, these souls did not deserve their fate.

But that was a problem for another day, as she made her way back to Azriel’s room and all the uncertainty that lay waiting for her there.

***************

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[houseofhurricane]

Unpacking the Vassien Dynamic

(Vassien Week | Day 1 | Dynamic)

The Vassien dynamic, to me, is all about easy love in difficult circumstances. From the first time we see them together, Vassa and Lucien seem smitten. They’re laughing, a hallmark of all the ACOTAR OTPs, and they both express their admiration and respect for each other as quickly as they can. Unlike many other ships in this series, there’s no struggle for either Vassa or Lucien to recognize how incredible the other person is.

Their personalities complement each other beautifully. Vassa is strong, willful, and courageous, already a rightful queen. When she meets Feyre and the other High Fae, she does not show the smallest hint of fear, but instead demands her freedom. Despite this bold and memorable request, the High Fae’s inability to break Vassa’s curse keeps her from her court, and Vassa remains a firebird by day, trapped in Prythian in order to stay out of Koschei’s clutches. However, between his golden eye and the abilities he’s inherited from Helion Spellcleaver, Lucien is well positioned to help break the curse on Vassa. By acting as her emissary, he can help Vassa reclaim her rightful throne in Scythia if all the other human queens initially refuse. Lucien can make it possible for Vassa to reclaim what is rightfully hers.

Meanwhile, Lucien is an observant schemer and strategist, seemingly unaware of the fact that he could be the heir to at least two different courts. He is wracked by guilt over betrayals that are not his fault (the death of Jesaminda, much of what happened with Tamlin). While Lucien takes ownership of his misdeeds in a way that nobody else does in ACOTAR, a testament to his strong character, he also gets locked into second-guessing and guilt. Vassa’s strong will is bound to show Lucien that there is nothing wrong about claiming an earned position of power. And no matter what happens within the courts of Prythian, Vassa has already changed Lucien for the better: transforming his disdain for humans at the beginning of the series into a deep respect and admiration.

While I love the way both Lucien and Vassa can impact each other’s stories, I think my favorite thing is imagining their dynamic as a couple. Think about it: there’s plenty of mutual pining and mutual snark.

The mutual snark, because can’t you imagine the joy Lucien takes in getting a rise out of the Queen of Scythia? I’m imagining Vassa taking the time to come up with her own witty comebacks, practicing raising her own quizzical eyebrow. We know she is argumentative and that Lucien can hold his own, so can you imagine their back and forth? Although Lucien mentions that Vassa and Jurian are at each other’s throats, I can see Vassa and Lucien having “discussions” that get awfully heated but always remain just this side of constructive and respectful.

The mutual pining for Vassien will be epic. There are all kinds of external reasons why this couple should not get together. Lucien has a mate. His great love was killed because she was not a High Fae and therefore “beneath him”. Vassa, a young queen, should use her marriage to make a strategic alliance and cement her rule, and that’s not even getting into the fact that she’s a cursed human queen and that Lucien ostensibly has all kinds of obligations in Prythian. She’s a human with a limited lifespan, and Lucien has already lived for centuries.

But if in the face of these shoulds, they still love each other? Then this love story is about choosing each other, respecting each other, helping each other grow, laughing and arguing and loving each other in spite of all the obstacles arrayed against them. It’s about them realizing that even if they only have a little time together, it is worth it to both of them to make the most of each moment.

And because of what Lucien and Vassa are to each other, who they could be to each other, I will be rooting for them to overcome everything that stands in their way, and cheering for every second of what I think will be a truly gorgeous love story.

@vassienweek

[demifiendrsa]

Final Fantasy XVI details the world and characters

■ Key Visual

—Protagonist, Clive Rosfield, on a dark and dangerous road to revenge.

Final Fantasy XVI brings players into a world where Eikons are powerful and deadly creatures that reside within Dominants—a single man or woman who is blessed with the ability to call upon their dreaded power. The story follows Clive Rosfield, a young man dedicated to mastering the blade, who is dubbed the First Shield of Rosaria and tasked to guard his younger brother Joshua—the Dominant of the Phoenix. Unexpected events set Clive on a dark and dangerous road to revenge.

■ World

Valisthea―A Land Blessed in the Light of the Mothercrystals

The land of Valisthea is studded with Mothercrystals—glittering mountains of crystal that tower over the realms around them, blessing them with aether. For generations, people have flocked to these beacons to take advantage of their blessing, using the aether to conjure magicks that let them live lives of comfort and plenty. Great powers have grown up around each Mothercrystal, and an uneasy peace has long reigned between them. Yet now the peace falters as the spread of the Blight threatens to destroy their dominions.

Eikons and Their Dominants

The Eikons are the most powerful and deadly creatures in Valisthea. Each resides within a Dominant—a single man or woman who is blessed with the ability to call upon their dread power. In some nations these Dominants are treated as royalty in admiration of this strength—in others they are bound in fear of it, and forced to serve as weapons of war. Those who are born as Dominants cannot escape their fate, however cruel it may be.

The Realms of Valisthea

—The Grand Duchy of Rosaria

Long ago, a group of small independent provinces in western Valisthea found strength in unity, and formed the Grand Duchy of Rosaria. After years of relative prosperity, the duchy now finds itself threatened by the spread of the Blight—a threat that, left unchecked, would doubtless usher the realm to ruin. Rosaria draws its aether from Drake’s Breath, a Mothercrystal situated on a volcanic island off the coast. The Dominant of the Phoenix, Eikon of Fire, is enthroned as Archduke when they come of age.

—The Holy Empire of Sanbreque

Sanbreque is the largest theocratic force in Valisthea. The Empire’s holy capital Oriflamme is built around Drake’s Head, the Mothercrystal that blesses the surrounding provinces with abundant aether. The people happily take advantage of this, living in comfort and security under the watchful gaze of the Holy Emperor, whom they worship as the living incarnation of the one true deity. The Dominant of serves as the empire’s champion, taking to the field in times of war to rout its enemies.

—The Kingdom of Waloed

Waloed claims the entirety of Ash, the eastern half of Valisthea, as its dominion. The kingdom’s control of the continent has oft been tested by the orcs and other beastmen who make their home there, but the current ruler of the realm—Dominant of —has succeeded in quelling their rebellions. Using the power of the kingdom’s Mothercrystal, Drake’s Spine, this new king has built up a mighty army, with which he now seeks to test the borders of his neighbors.

—The Dhalmekian Republic

The Dhalmekian Republic is made up of five states, from which the members of its ruling parliament are drawn. Its Mothercrystal, Drake’s Fang, is half-hidden in the heart of a mountain range—the republic’s control over it, and its aether, securing the obedience of the large part of southern Valisthea. The Dominant of Titan, Eikon of Earth, is installed as a special advisor to parliament and has a significant say in its decision-making.

—The Iron Kingdom

A small group of islands off the coast of Storm, the western half of Valisthea’s twin realms. Here the Crystalline Orthodox, an extreme faith that worships crystals, reigns supreme. The Iron Kingdom controls Drake’s Breath, the Mothercrystal that sits at the heart of one of their islands—long a source of contention with neighboring Rosaria. Isolated and aloof from the mainland nations, the Ironblood speak their own language. Orthodox doctrine judges Dominants to be unholy abominations, and any unlucky enough to be born on the islands are executed.

—The Crystalline Dominion

The Crystalline Dominion sits at the heart of Valisthea, built around the tallest of all the Mothercrystals, Drake’s Tail. Many bloody battles were fought for control of this small plot of land due to its strategic importance, till the warring realms finally agreed to an armistice. As part of the peace treaty, the islands around Drake’s Tail became an autonomous dominion led by a council of representatives from the surrounding nations—each realm enjoying equal claim to the Mothercrystal’s blessing. No Dominant makes their home there.

■ Characters 

character artwork by Kazuya Takahashi

Clive Rosfield (age 15)

The firstborn son of the Archduke of Rosaria. Though all expected him to inherit the Phoenix’s flames and awaken as its Dominant, destiny instead chose his younger brother Joshua to bear this burden. In search of a role of his own, Clive dedicated himself to mastering the blade. His practice pays off when, at just fifteen years of age, he wins the ducal tournament and is dubbed the First Shield of Rosaria—tasked to guard the Phoenix and blessed with the ability to wield a part of his fire. Alas, Clive’s promising career is to end in tragedy at the hands of a mysterious dark Eikon, Ifrit, setting him on a dangerous road to revenge.

Joshua Rosfield (age 10)

The second son of the Archduke of Rosaria and Clive’s younger brother by five years. Joshua awoke as the Dominant of the Phoenix soon after his birth. Despite his noble upbringing, Joshua treats all his father’s subjects with warmth and affection—none more so than Clive, whom he deeply admires. Joshua often laments that it was he, the frail and bookish younger son, who was granted command of the firebird’s flames, and not his stronger, braver brother. While Clive will gladly throw himself into any danger, Joshua quails at the sight of a carrot on his dinner plate. But carrots become the least of his concern when he, too, is swept up into the tragic events that change Clive’s life forever.

Jill Warrick (age 12)

Born in the fallen Northern Territories, Jill was taken from her homeland at a tender age to become a ward of Rosaria, securing peace between the two warring nations. The Archduke insisted that she be raised alongside his sons, and now, at twelve years of age, she is as much a part of the Rosfield household as Clive and Joshua. Ever kind, gracious, and unassuming, Jill has become a trusted confidant to the brothers.

Final Fantasy XVI is in development for PlayStation 5.

[pookaseraph]

I think LB may have been planning either bittersweet or darklina endgame.

DONKEY DREAM!!: Alina is strongly implied to need to embrace her powers to rise above the common life (and misogyny) inherent in the dream.

Nikolai is not confirmed alive until R&R, ergo he could have been dead. (Leigh confirmed Nik was originally meant to die, even) With Vasily dead this means there are functionally zero royals who aren’t total cocks who can inherit, even if you keep Alexander/Pyotr in power.

Mal is not confirmed to be the firebird, meaning Aleksander is still open to possibly being the firebird (or Baghra but dead and transferred) and thus ‘has to kill her soulmate to win’ opens up the bittersweet ending.

Malina is super fucking mega toxic in S&S all the way to denying her agency at the last minute to kill Aleksander (and herself) in the chapel.

A lot of Aleksander’s truly reprehensible behavior doesn’t arrive until R&R

Alina ‘violated’ Aleksander at the end of S&S, functionally ripping a part of his soul out forcibly. Although this doesn’t fix the collar, it does even the playing field of wronging each other. Alina also firmly cements the tether as two way, aka equal.

All of that is to say I see two potential ‘original’ endings: darklina rule with focus on the balance that Aleksander harps on in S&S or, imo more poignant, Alina kills Aleksander to tear down the Fold and becomes queen and starts to realize the pain of eternity.

Please keep in mind all original promo material had the tag ‘A dark heart, a pure soul, a love that will last forever’, this is printed on the first two editions of the British S&B book. The book trailer also exclusively featured darklina quotes.

I do not think LB would ever admit this at this point because of the absolute moral outrage around darklina among some fans, but I consider ‘LB may have intended darklina but chickened out’ to be basically proven.

Zlatá Malina (Golden Raspberry), pt. 10

Siege and Storm- Chapter 20

The confrontation after Alina witnesses Malyen's newest hobby of beating up male Grisha and kissing female Grisha that aren't her., pt. 2

Yeah, I'm not sure if this was supposed to be hot, but it feels more threatening.

Am I the only one to see an undertone of aggression again?

WHAT THE HELL was that?

Why does it read like "What did YOU do?!"?

While Alina tends to jump to conclusions, this time I have to agree with her. Malyen's "us" sounds very much like "YOU".

Another point Alina should've used as a stepping stone for further development.

This is rightfully among the most hated exchanges.

Malyen wants to carve out what makes Alina herself.

Even if he didn't know about the connection between Grisha and their powers, he DOES know she's healthier and closer to thriving than ever. He wants to take away that one thing that makes her shine- both literally and figuratively- regardless of what impact it might have on her. He correctly recognizes "it" stands between them, because this way they're incompatible, and he already made a half-step to change, but didn't like it, so something has to give.

Something obviously being Alina.

Supportive boyfriend of the year.

Alina finally manages to tell him, so he literally turns his back on her and goes get drunk.

Over and over.

Alina taking the first step for reconciliation.

Alina apologizing.

Alina taking on the blame.

Alina trying to lift him up on her level, when he's more than happy with her in his shadow.

Alina's desires shrinking to be whatever Malyen wants... and she's sorry it might no longer be possible?!

(Da tag)

[satoshi-mochida]

Square Enix has launched the teaser website for Final Fantasy XVI, which features the key artwork and information on the game’s setting and main characters.

Get the details below.

■ Key Visual

—Protagonist, Clive Rosfield, on a dark and dangerous road to revenge.

Final Fantasy XVI brings players into a world where Eikons are powerful and deadly creatures that reside within Dominants—a single man or woman who is blessed with the ability to call upon their dreaded power. The story follows Clive Rosfield, a young man dedicated to mastering the blade, who is dubbed the First Shield of Rosaria and tasked to guard his younger brother Joshua—the Dominant of the Phoenix. Unexpected events set Clive on a dark and dangerous road to revenge.

■ World

Valisthea―A Land Blessed in the Light of the Mothercrystals

The land of Valisthea is studded with Mothercrystals—glittering mountains of crystal that tower over the realms around them, blessing them with aether. For generations, people have flocked to these beacons to take advantage of their blessing, using the aether to conjure magicks that let them live lives of comfort and plenty. Great powers have grown up around each Mothercrystal, and an uneasy peace has long reigned between them. Yet now the peace falters as the spread of the Blight threatens to destroy their dominions.

Eikons and Their Dominants

The Eikons are the most powerful and deadly creatures in Valisthea. Each resides within a Dominant—a single man or woman who is blessed with the ability to call upon their dread power. In some nations these Dominants are treated as royalty in admiration of this strength—in others they are bound in fear of it, and forced to serve as weapons of war. Those who are born as Dominants cannot escape their fate, however cruel it may be.

The Realms of Valisthea

—The Grand Duchy of Rosaria

Long ago, a group of small independent provinces in western Valisthea found strength in unity, and formed the Grand Duchy of Rosaria. After years of relative prosperity, the duchy now finds itself threatened by the spread of the Blight—a threat that, left unchecked, would doubtless usher the realm to ruin. Rosaria draws its aether from Drake’s Breath, a Mothercrystal situated on a volcanic island off the coast. The Dominant of the Phoenix, Eikon of Fire, is enthroned as Archduke when they come of age.

—The Holy Empire of Sanbreque

Sanbreque is the largest theocratic force in Valisthea. The Empire’s holy capital Oriflamme is built around Drake’s Head, the Mothercrystal that blesses the surrounding provinces with abundant aether. The people happily take advantage of this, living in comfort and security under the watchful gaze of the Holy Emperor, whom they worship as the living incarnation of the one true deity. The Dominant of serves as the empire’s champion, taking to the field in times of war to rout its enemies.

—The Kingdom of Waloed

Waloed claims the entirety of Ash, the eastern half of Valisthea, as its dominion. The kingdom’s control of the continent has oft been tested by the orcs and other beastmen who make their home there, but the current ruler of the realm—Dominant of —has succeeded in quelling their rebellions. Using the power of the kingdom’s Mothercrystal, Drake’s Spine, this new king has built up a mighty army, with which he now seeks to test the borders of his neighbors.

—The Dhalmekian Republic

The Dhalmekian Republic is made up of five states, from which the members of its ruling parliament are drawn. Its Mothercrystal, Drake’s Fang, is half-hidden in the heart of a mountain range—the republic’s control over it, and its aether, securing the obedience of the large part of southern Valisthea. The Dominant of Titan, Eikon of Earth, is installed as a special advisor to parliament and has a significant say in its decision-making.

—The Iron Kingdom

A small group of islands off the coast of Storm, the western half of Valisthea’s twin realms. Here the Crystalline Orthodox, an extreme faith that worships crystals, reigns supreme. The Iron Kingdom controls Drake’s Breath, the Mothercrystal that sits at the heart of one of their islands—long a source of contention with neighboring Rosaria. Isolated and aloof from the mainland nations, the Ironblood speak their own language. Orthodox doctrine judges Dominants to be unholy abominations, and any unlucky enough to be born on the islands are executed.

—The Crystalline Dominion

The Crystalline Dominion sits at the heart of Valisthea, built around the tallest of all the Mothercrystals, Drake’s Tail. Many bloody battles were fought for control of this small plot of land due to its strategic importance, till the warring realms finally agreed to an armistice. As part of the peace treaty, the islands around Drake’s Tail became an autonomous dominion led by a council of representatives from the surrounding nations—each realm enjoying equal claim to the Mothercrystal’s blessing. No Dominant makes their home there.

■ Characters

Clive Rosfield

The firstborn son of the Archduke of Rosaria. Though all expected him to inherit the Phoenix’s flames and awaken as its Dominant, destiny instead chose his younger brother Joshua to bear this burden. In search of a role of his own, Clive dedicated himself to mastering the blade. His practice pays off when, at just fifteen years of age, he wins the ducal tournament and is dubbed the First Shield of Rosaria—tasked to guard the Phoenix and blessed with the ability to wield a part of his fire. Alas, Clive’s promising career is to end in tragedy at the hands of a mysterious dark Eikon, Ifrit, setting him on a dangerous road to revenge.

Joshua Rosfield

The second son of the Archduke of Rosaria and Clive’s younger brother by five years. Joshua awoke as the Dominant of the Phoenix soon after his birth. Despite his noble upbringing, Joshua treats all his father’s subjects with warmth and affection—none more so than Clive, whom he deeply admires. Joshua often laments that it was he, the frail and bookish younger son, who was granted command of the firebird’s flames, and not his stronger, braver brother. While Clive will gladly throw himself into any danger, Joshua quails at the sight of a carrot on his dinner plate. But carrots become the least of his concern when he, too, is swept up into the tragic events that change Clive’s life forever.

Jill Warrick

Born in the fallen Northern Territories, Jill was taken from her homeland at a tender age to become a ward of Rosaria, securing peace between the two warring nations. The Archduke insisted that she be raised alongside his sons, and now, at twelve years of age, she is as much a part of the Rosfield household as Clive and Joshua. Ever kind, gracious, and unassuming, Jill has become a trusted confidant to the brothers.

Final Fantasy XVI is in development for PlayStation 5.

View the artwork above in high-resolution at the gallery.

[talesfromthebandgeekmafia]

I wanna hear abt ur ocs owo 👉👈🥺

AAAA omg bless u you’re a peach <3

I would love to tell you about my OCs I’m like Charlie It’salwayssunny over here I’ve got boxes full of OC stuff I’m just dying to talk about. I’ll put everything under a read more so anyone that’s not interested can just skip past here cause I’m about to get RAMBLY okay let me tell you about my beloveds

Okay so by far my favorite creative project right now is my novel that I’ve been planning on & off since January of 2019, the working title is Villainous, it’s like the most refined and likely to actually go somewhere of all my story ideas and I swear this thing holds my entire soul

The actual story is a play on the classic Career Woman RomCom setup except her name is ~Magnate~ and her big city career that never gives her time for love is ~Supervillain~

unfortunately I don’t have any art of her or any of the other characters yet because good super designs are difficult to nail down, but I’m working on it!

Anyway Magnate is amazing and a bit of an ass and I like her so much <3 She’s a big time supervillain that uses the high tech gadgets she creates for your standard robberies heists kidnapping the mayor the usual. Her parents were shitty white collar criminals that on top of being totally uninvolved in their daughter’s life embezzled from their numerous charity organizations, leading her to be suspicious of anyone that calls themselves a hero + giving her a whopping case of trust issues and a loose grasp on ethics, cuz hey, morality may be a ruse but the power and prestige sure aren’t. She's worked hard and climbed the ladder and made a name for herself as a kickass supervillain, and she plays cool and dramatic but underneath all the bravado she’s just an endearingly awkward nerd who wants a friend, which is where the next character comes in~

So for plot reasons Magnate joins up with another even more infamous supervillain to get a spot as his right hand woman in his plan for world domination, and she’s fine and everything’s business as usual until she’s told that she has to work with another person he’s recruited for her part of the plan to do biochemistry stuff synthesizing the compounds they need while she engineers the tech components, and so enters best boy Dr. Bodhi Bright who crashes into her carefully curated life and ruins everything in the nicest way :)

listen, I LOVE this guy he’s weird he’s a weirdo, just a chill funky lil dude with the most incomprehensible moral compass on Earth. Because of their job he and Magnate have to spend a lot of time together forcing Magnate to actually socialize for once beyond hurling quips at her nemesis, and right of the bat Bodhi completely throws her off her game vis a vis her supervillain image with just his whole deal. He’s this sweet polite guy who’ll talk about a death ray in the same casual tone as the minutiae of city parking, he’s new to the villainy thing and he just thinks Magnate is cool. Bodhi thinks he’s just good at reading people but he actually has minor latent empathic abilities which let him pick up on Magnate’s bravado and so he’s just...not intimidated by her at all. He completely circumvents the whole ‘big evil supervillain’ thing and just talks to her like they’re normal coworkers. And it’s not like they can just find somebody else to replace him so Magnate’s forced to respond and build an actual relationship and rapport with someone for the first time in ever. So they get closer and become actual friends, Bodhi starts calling her ‘Meg’ because Magnate kind of sounds like Margaret, and she lets him. Meg shows him the ropes of villainy, and just sort of learns to be a person again through working & developing this friendship with him, remembering what it’s like to be genuinely happy and excited about her everyday life and care about more than just her job, to open herself up to care about other people at all, and this is a romantic comedy so of course as the story progresses they fall in love and just—GAH I love their relationship so much they're so good for each other I could talk about them forever and I’m literally writing a book about it so like yeah they’re great. my darlings <3.

Here I’ve got some memes to give a better impression of their dynamic

I've only really got one other important character left to talk about aside from Meg & Bodhi's boss (he's literally the worst & the major antagonist for the book that's all that needs going into for now otherwise this thing is just going to reach unwieldingly more rambly and specific heights) and she's the secondary antagonist, superhero extraordinaire and Meg's nemesis AmaZing (get it? like amazing? except it sounds like amazon? cuz she's a lady superhero—) in a shocking turn of events this woman is the best person out of any of the people here and also the most well adjusted, she is also a very interesting character to me and I could probably pull a whole other book out of her character if I wanted to. AmaZing’s real name is Zoe Amison, before she was a hero she was a professional ballerina with a kickboxing hobby that she used to keep in shape, her first night out I think she was just straight up dressed in her costume for Firebird or something. She has superhuman strength and agility, her powers manifest with these bursts of golden sparks and arcs of electricity which she can direct as a close range weapon, basically she’s very good at the big punchy aesthetics. She’s known as one of the best superheroes in terms of like who they are as people, she tries to help rehabilitate the supervillains she fights, including Magnate, even though most of them have none of it, any money she gets from her hero work she donates back to the community so she can contribute more than just punching muggers, and she does a lot of activism and charity events on the side. She makes most of the money she needs to eat and whatnot in the cornerstore she inherited that her family’s owned for generations, and she lives in the apartment above the store with her girlfriend because YES she’s a lesbian YES her girlfriend is trans YES they are disgustingly in love and YES they own a cat named Petal together. (Her girlfriend’s name is Callie (short for Calliope) she’s a nurse and patches Zoe up when she gets hurt on the job)

And there is so much more I could say about this thing but that’s about all I can muster right now in terms of like a basic overview of these characters. Thank you so much for this ask dude this was so fun to do!!