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stxleslyds · 3 years

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Robin Jason, a friend and ally of the Titans.

PART 2.

Hi! Welcome to Part 2 of this post, as I said in the last one, I will be talking about Robin Jason’s moments and not reviewing the issues from a story point of view but I think I will have to give a little more context in this one because honestly I am a little lost with this particular storyline, there is too much going on and Jason isn't part of many pages so yeah, I hope this post isn't too boring or bad though.

I will link part 1 Here!

Let’s begin!

· NTT (1884) #26-28

In my last post I talked about how Jason would be called by Donna to help the Titans save Dick and Raven from Brother Blood’s people. We start #26 with Mother Mayhem giving a public speech on television. What you have to get from this is that this cult is using the image of the two Titans/Heroes (Nightwing and Raven) that they captured as propaganda for their intentions, their intentions being resurrecting Brother Blood and making the world believe that they are good people. Obviously, Dick and Raven are not there because they are supportive of their cause, they were both brainwashed.

In this issue the Titans team that had fallen apart in issue #19 is back, so we find Donna, Beast boy, Cyborg, Joey and Wally together once more and they are trying to figure out what to do because they have two problems, on one hand Beast Boy’s father is killing people and captured Garth and on the other a whole ass cult is doing cult-y shit and captured Dick and Raven. In the end they choose to go save Dick and Raven first but they do it because Beast Boy says this “I…don’t know. I can’t say what we should do. We need Dick here…he’s a tactician. We need him as out leader”. Never in my life would I have thought that I would agree with beast boy but yeah…hard agree.

Donna understands that even though the team is (mostly) back on its feet they still need more firepower and that’s why she calls Jason. While it was kinda rude of Cyborg to say that Jason is not all that (in terms of firepower) any kind of tension is quicky gone because Starfire comes back (talk about firepower).

We have various moments of Beast Boy being a perv towards Kory (thanks a lot Marv) but that’s not important, what’s important is that now the Titans have to tell Kory that Dick has been captured and they are on their way to save him.

They all leave to Zandia (where Brother Blood’s Church is located) and a fight ensues as soon as they arrive, they fight but their goal is to get to the Church as fast as possible. Jason doesn’t say anything in these panels but he is fighting alongside the others. When things get a bit more complicated Jason starts to feel that maybe he isn’t that capable of handling himself but he doesn’t have to do anything by himself because this time he has a team that can back him up. Kory gives him a lift as soon as Jason is surrounded, he is of course thankful and a little bit pervy (thanks a lot Marv).

Kory is shot just after she gets him out of trouble and Jason as the adorable kid that he is becomes worried for her well-being. After Beast Boy is also injured in the fight the Titans decide to leave back to camp. Thankfully both Kory and BB are okay but they are all still worried about how they will get to the Church. We see here once more Donna being a bit overwhelmed with leading the Titans and beating herself up over what happened in Switzerland (#20 and #21) but Jason reassures her instantly that she did a good job and she doesn’t need to be so hard on herself.

This interaction here is particularly nice because Jason reassures Donna without her asking for it. In my last post Donna looked for reassurance in Robin several times but she didn’t do it because she actually wanted Jason to give his thoughts, she did it because she was hoping Jason would act like Dick and eventually take over the team’s leadership. Here that isn’t the case, Jason just tells her what he thinks.

After Donna talks about her doubts Kory says that she is impatient and worried about Dick but also expresses being unsure because the last time that she saw Dick they kinda left things off on “bad terms”. I say this because just like it happened with Jason and Roy, Jason and Kory also have differences, she is a grown and experienced woman that is going through adult problems and Jason is a kid that is just happy that he was called to join them on another adventure.

If we back a few panels to when Jason said that Kory “was a sight for sore eyes” Kory responds saying “first Changeling, now you. It’s got to be puberty”, she is obviously not pleased about Jason making that comment about her and it’s also made clear that he is just a teenager.

This is where I rant about how different what we see here is from what we get later in New 52. Just like Roy (in New 52) Kory is also seemingly very close or the same age as Jason and she is the one that is written as wanting to take Jason to bed or, at the very least, attracted to him. Kory being an adult in comparison with Jason is taken away from her and she is just transformed into something to fit Jason’s new beginning as the Red Hood. Lobdell didn’t do Kory any favours, he annihilated her character and made her out to be just eye candy that can come off as stupid and way too reckless just to prop Jason up, believe it or not Jason sometimes was the voice of reason to both Roy and Kory’s antics.

It’s even worse when you consider the fact that in this issue Kory is feeling better and more confident because she finally understands what she wants and has accepted Earth as her real home, all of that is gone in New 52, Kory is lost, insecure, she even depends on Jason a bit too much at the start (because she “didn’t remember” her time on earth or Dick) and goes back to killing. All in all, Lobdell’s version of Kory was very damaging and a disservice to her past history.

Back to the issue, as Donna and the others are going to start coming up with a plan (with only two days until resurrection day) we move scenes and find ourselves in a meeting where people are complaining about the Titans messing up their plans, but that is not what matters, apparently the people in that meeting wanted to “summon the Brotherhood” and here is where we are introduced to the person who will make the Titans’ lives a little more complicated…Twister. She is one of the people that were victims to Brother Blood’s brainwashing and experiments.

In the next page we see the Titans resting but Cyborg is awake so thanks to that he hears someone coming straight to them, here Kory takes the lead and she says once more that she will not kill whoever that is, that she can’t and won’t do that anymore…I wonder if Lobdell ever read these issues, maybe not.

The attacker was Twister and in seconds she twists the Titans’ reality and leaves them all incapacitated. She then goes to look for and recruit the Brotherhood of Evil. While she did that though the Titans slowly made their way back to the city and are now getting ready to attack. Donnas plans as we soon find out don’t include Jason as one of their front line fighters, in fact he has to be left behind as back up.

Jason is not very happy about this; he is the boy wonder! But because it’s the plan and the Titans are experienced, he decided to stay put (at least for now). Its funny to me that even Beast Boy calls Jason a kid. What is sad from these panels is obviously the last thing that Jason says “I can’t wait until I am sixteen!”. I mean, this issue came out exactly two years before Jason’s death, there was no way they could have seen that coming but yeah, it’s just sad. Jason really was in a better and happier place around this time, little did he know everything would turn upside down after a while.

The rest of the Titans fight, Donna starts to feel like she is finally in control and that she is doing a great job at keeping the Titans together, Kory is having her inner turmoil about Dick but she is doing her job and when she decides to go help Cyborg and Joey they come across the Brotherhood of Evil. This is where #26 ends.

Issue #27 starts with a very difficult fight for Kory, Cyborg and Joey, it ends with Kory injured, Joey captured and with Cyborg thrown off a window. The only one of them that Donna, Beast Boy and Jason are able to save is Kory.

The Titans that re left have to retreat and find a place to recover, Jason is very silent all the time but Donna and Kory are the ones that are having interesting talks, they have to find out where the Brotherhood has Joey and Cyborg and their time to save Dick and Raven is running out but if they don’t save the others they might die. It’s a complicated situation and they are both impatient but Donna tells Kory this “Dick would be the first to tell you to plan first, attack later”, I bring this up because nowadays its very common for fanon and current writers to think of Dick as someone that doesn’t plan, that doesn’t think before jumping. Even Beast boy called him a tactician, I know this is a Jason post but its also a post about how characterizations are also kinda destroyed. Dick has suffered a lot from mischaracterization so its nice to go back to these stories and see that what we think Dick should be now isn’t something that we once imagined but something that mas modified or taken away from him either by fanon or current writers.

After the Titans decide to wait for the storm to pass to go looking for Joey and Cyborg, we actually see that Cyborg is in the city looking for shelter, he is injured and as he falls unconscious we meet a couple that decides to save him. Back to the Titans once more we have Jason say that the storm that is forming look “like something out of Ghostbusters” its then that the Brotherhood makes itself known, they are taunting them and they have roped Joey to the top of the capitol building and they are asking the Titans to surrender or Joey dies.

Its here where Donna takes full control of the Titans and even though she and Kory have different ideas of what to do she says that she is the leader now and what she says gets done. Donna will be in charge of saving Joey while the others will make their way towards the Brother Blood Church to help Dick and Raven.

Before they go their separate ways Jason says this about Donna “Wow! I wouldn’t wanna be in her shoes for all the garbage pail kid stickers in the world.” I am going to be honest, I had to look those stickers up and all I have to say is what the hell. But I am not here to talk about stickers I am here to talk about how funny its that Jason is being so uninterested about leading a team. Now, don’t get me wrong, Jason has the ability to lead, yes, but he is better at leading himself or an operation, we have all read UtRH, we know how well the Red Hood can handle himself and his plans but a team of heroes? Controversial opinion but I think that Jason should have never been given a team and I am talking about Kory and Roy as well as Artemis and Bizarro. Was Rebirth better than New 52? Absolutely. But I just don’t see Jason as a leader of a team of heroes and it’s also incredibly repetitive, just because he was Robin doesn’t mean that he needs his own team. I know that Robin Jason and Red Hood Jason aren’t the same person and that they might think differently but if Lobdell had never come into Red Hood/Jason Todd’s life when he did we might have never seen Jason lead his own team and that to me is proof enough that it should have never happened. I quite enjoyed the Prince of Gotham storyline in Red Hood: Outlaw, he didn’t have a team but he had an operation going on and people working FOR him not WITH him. In my opinion that’s better for Jason (if you would like to see me review that storyline let me know).

There is a lot happening story wise and I am finding it more and more difficult to continue talking about Jason’s moments here without giving context so I am going to resume what happened between Donna leaving to save Joey and Jason’s next appearance in this issue. Here we go, Brain tells Monsieur Mallah that he decided to “help” Twister take down the Titans because he wants to use Brother Blood’s Blood Pool because he is dying, Twister goes back to her family’s home and we get to see how brainwashed she is, her family is shocked to see her and they are also the ones that took care of Cyborg while he was unconscious, Cyborg leaves to find the Titans but Twister sees where he left to, she tells the Brotherhood where he might have gone to but protects her family by not telling them that they were the ones that protected Cyborg in the first place and Donna was able to save Joey. I think that was everything.

We see Jason again when he is just outside Brother Blood’s Church with Kory (who is giving him a lift) and Beast Boy. But because life can’t be easy for them the Brotherhood of Evil teleports there and a fight ensues. Kory takes the lead and Jason gets to work.

Kory praises Jason for his work here not because she can’t do anything but because she is seeing that a kid is doing an excellent job. Make no mistake, she is the one with experience but she is nice and gives credit when its due.

Cyborg arrives and the fight continues. We see Beast Boy warning Jason about some of the villains’ powers and Jason being the excellent Robin that he is pays attention and escapes Plasmus’ touch.

I might not think that Red Hood is a team player but Robin Jason absolutely is, and the Titans are nice and care for his safety.

While all of this was happening, Cyborg had made his way to the Church and there he gathers all kinds of information including the location of Brother Bloods main Church in the US. He also makes the alarms sound so everyone leaves because he set up the Church to blow up. Somewhere else Monsieur Mallah is threatening to kill Brain after the later insults him again. And there is where this issue ends.

In issue #28 Jason and the rest of the Titans appear after several pages of Mother Mayhem being a creep, Azrael the angel rising and trying to resurrect Brother Blood through the power of prayers, people watching the live broadcasting of the event and Dick trying to break free from his own head but as soon as he does it Mother Mayhem brainwashes him right away.

The Titans are back in their tower where we see Wally again but that is not all, Frances Kane and Robotman come in too. After all the people who are willing to fight get together the Titans make their way to Brother Bloods Church.

It’s in the jet with Wally that we see Jason and this time he gets to talk too! Jason is talking about how much braver the Titans are compared to him but Wally calms him down by saying that even though he has been doing this for a while he is also scared.

The fact that Jason joined the Titans on another adventure without mentioning it to Bruce is funny to me, he was probably so happy that Donna called him again! Maybe Jason was more bored of being with the Bat than he let on and maybe he didn’t feel appreciated enough or heard. I also like to think that Donna got Jason’s number through Dick, like do you remember that Dick gave Jason his number if he ever wanted to talk shit about the Bat with him? What if they did talk and then Dick put Jason’s number on the Titans’ data base? That would be cool and really sweet!

Jason continues to be a team player and being useful during the fights, he has the Titans’ back as much as the Titans have his.

They fight their way in Brother Blood’s Church and once there they find a dude called the Confessor with Arella (Raven’s mother) but he tells the Titans that she is dead. Somewhere else though is where the real trouble is at, between Azrael and Raven, Brother Blood has finally been resurrected.

It’s in the last page where Brother Blood is looking all mighty and powerful that Dick seems to have broken free from his brainwashing once more.

That’s the end of that issue and this part of the post. This one was super difficult to write and it’s even longer than part one, I hope I didn’t make it super difficult to read. At some points I felt like I was explaining too much and in others too little. I guess it’s very difficult to show how one character participates in a story without giving context but I just didn’t want this post to be too plot heavy.

These issues had some cool Jason moments but the ones in issues #29 to #31 are even better!

#jason todd #teen titans #titans #new teen titans #starfire #kory #donna troy #dick grayson #nightwing #brother blood #dc comics #robin jason todd #wally west #red hood

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smalltownfae · 2 years

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2, 9, and 13 for the book recs ask?

2. for a beautiful writing style

We are starting well when beautiful is subjective, but I will try.

The Changeling Sea and Winter Rose by Patricia A. McKillip

It probably comes as no surprise to anyone that I consider McKillip's style to be one of the most beautiful I have ever read. This is the woman that makes me tear up while reading random quotes from books I haven't even read! From the books by her that I've read so far, The Changeling Sea and Winter Rose are the ones with the best prose. Winter Rose is a retelling of Tam Lin and as such it is a bit confusing and all over the place, there is a very dream-like atmosphere through the entire story. The Changeling Sea is more straight forward and very atmospheric. It is about a girl that works in a inn and magical things start to happen and show up around her. It's a tale of greed, self discovery and selfness. Here are some quotes as examples of the writing in both:

"She felt him quiet against her. He turned slowly, shakily, on his knees to face her. He put his arms around her wearily, his hands twined in her hair, his chilled face against her face. He did not speak again; he held her until the tide roared around them, between them, forcing them to choose between land and sea, to go, or stay forever." - The Changeling Sea

“I thought I knew what cold was, before cold stripped me bare of thought, then blinded me and froze my heart. I could not feel such cold and live; cold forced me into something other, something not quite human, who held a dream with bones of ice, and did not remember names, only what we once had been: a flower on a vine, a fall of light.” - Winter Rose

As you can see, her writing is very emotional and some people might not like that and find it cheesy so it's hard to say what everyone considers beautiful writing, but these two books to me are a great example of that.

I also find Robin Hobb's writing to be beautiful, but asking to commit to a series might be too much. So, for those that would want a taste I would suggest the short novella "The Willful Princess and the Piebald Prince", that can be read as an extra for Realm of the Elderlings fans or as a short introduction to Hobb's style.

“A husband I would have to find, eventually. But my heart did not cry out for a man. I drew the tortoiseshell comb slowly through Queen-in-Waiting Caution’s sleek black hair, savoring the soft threading of it through my hands. I had all I needed there at my fingertips, for I loved her with all my being.”

To me, writing that evokes emotion on such a level is the most beautiful, but I do need variety since I can't read the same kind all of the time. I feel like it might lose it's magic if I get too used to it.

9. for an intelligent children's book

If we are talking about really small children, "Oh, the Places You'll Go" by Dr. Seuss. I know he wasn't the best person and he has a reputation nowadays, but I do think this book is very motivational, even if maybe too optimistic. Still, the rhymes and pep talks are smart.

“You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself any direction you choose. You're on your own. And you know what you know. And YOU are the one who'll decide where to go…”

For kids that are more grown up, The Chronicles of Prydain by Lloyd Alexander. I have seen this marketed as YA before, but I think it's also for children and it's one of those series that started as middle grade and then was put in YA because it does appeal to a wide range of readers. There is something so charming and yet familiar about this world. It might be because it takes a lot of inspiration from Welsh mythology or because there are some similarities with Lord of the Rings, but either way it's comforting. I really like the lessons that, because it's for kids, are blatantly stated in the books (but I saw many adults misinterpret the same kind of lessons in adults books so maybe they do need to read these first). Even though the lessons Taran, the main character, learns are stated it never feels like the author is talking down to the reader and his writing style is very immersive.

“In some cases we learn more by looking for the answer to a question and not finding it than we do from learning the answer itself.” - The Book of Three

13. for a book with an unusual point of view

Well, I haven't read many books that aren't from a human perspective (or a human-like creature) and that aren't first or third person perspective.

If it's a matter of perspective, The Broken Earth trilogy by N.K. Jemisin uses first, third and second person brilliantly and I believe there is also an unusual entity telling part of the story at least (I haven't read the third book yet).

"Adulthood Rites" by Octavia E. Butler has the perspective of an half human/half alien child as he explores the different worlds of his parents in a coming of age tale of self discovery. It's unusual because the alien species in these books are quite unique. However, this is the second book in a trilogy. The third book is also from a half human/half alien character's perspective, but that one has the alien third gender, called Ooloi. The first book is from the perspective of a human though.

"Klara and the Sun" by Kazuo Ishiguro is a story from the perspective of an AF (Artificial Friend, basically an AI with the focus on emotional intelligence in order to help kids) that worships the sun.

Those are all I can remember for now. Thank you for the ask :)

#book recs #patricia a. mckillip #robin hobb #the chronicles of prydain #lloyd alexander #klara and the sun #xenogenesis trilogy #the broken earth trilogy #oh the places you'll go #book asks

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moonaft · 3 years

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When Sorrows Come reactions

Spoilers: I did not get bingo.

25 squares, from left to right, top to bottom: 1. Malvic appears at the wedding 2. Sylvester attends the wedding 3. The High King or Queen gets elfshot 4. One of Tybalt's enemies from the short stories appears 5. Hope chests are relevant 6. Something is revealed about the False Queen 7. There's at least 3 Firstborn at the wedding 8. Someone calls Toby a kingbreaker 9. Dianda punches someone important 10. Toby drinks someone else's blood 11. August attends the wedding 12. Hirsent crashes the wedding 13. [Free space] Toby's dress gets blood on it 14. One of Tybalt's friends from the short stories appears 15. Eira is behind the trouble 16. Gillian attends the wedding 17. Lore about the Torquill family 18. Quentin's identity gets revealed 19. Sylvester doesn't attend the wedding 20. Someone mistakes Sylvester for Simon 21. Raysel's plotline moves forward 22. Toby learns about Tybalt's short story past 23. Someone gets elfshot for the second or third time 24. Toby insults nobility we haven't seen before 25. Lore about the Sollys family

Date: April 11, 2015, roughly 6 months after A Killing Frost. No mischief occurred around Christmas 2014.

Are nobles seriously inviting the kingbreaker in order to make contact with her mother who she pissed off during the divorce? Have they been paying attention at all?

Technically, Toby has never committed treason. She definitely didn’t commit treason against Rhys because she never swore loyalty to him.

I think this is the first book that introduced Simon ahead of Sylvester and described Sylvester as Simon’s brother as opposed to the other way around. Sylvester is still on thin ice, by the way. There’s a reason I have both “Sylvester attends the wedding” and “Sylvester doesn’t attend the wedding” on the bingo card.

The Luidaeg denied Sylvester’s request to wake Raysel up - why? Did she want to get the wedding out of the way before Raysel’s trial and October’s next rolling emergency?

Yes, the Quentin problem when getting married at the High King’s knowe. Don’t change his appearance and everyone knows where the Crown Prince is fostered. Do change his appearance and everyone in Toby’s party now knows who the Crown Prince is.

“Dean Lorden is probably technically my brother now” woot.

Toby is voluntarily eating and drinking! After so many books of having food forced of her because she keeps forgetting to do so.

Confirmation that Toby officially owns her place and Luna can’t get Sylvester to reverse that decision.

Dean kissing a strange boy -> ah, they went with changing Quentin’s appearance and bloodline. And they went to the Luidaeg for it. Banshee, huh?

Poor Dean. Toby’s approval means something to him. And Toby continues to eat, good for her.

Yes, I too would love to know more about Sylvester’s Dark Years. Sylvester POV, when?

Dean has now officially heard that Oberon is back, and isn’t reacting. I have to assume the Lordens know the details behind how they broke August’s curse.

Oh Quentin, I love you.

Dean still thinks the Merrow descend from only Titania, but Pete confirmed in The Unkindest Tide that Oberon is her father.

Dean does not understand the value of landlines. Kids these days...

I had not considered that Toby and Tybalt’s wedding would be a historic event.

Surprise wedding date! It really couldn’t have been any other way.

Yes, who would have told Sylvester about the date?

Yep, calling Bridget and Etienne is the best option. And Etienne knows May didn’t tell Toby the date, interesting.

Dammit, Sylvester. I can’t cross that square off yet, he might redeem himself. And Etienne talking sense into Toby!

Did the fae make their kingdoms based on state borders? The West at least was based on SCA kingdoms and principalities. I wonder if Highmountain has a new Crown yet.

Good to know that Oberon can go where ever he wants in Faerie. He could probably bring Riordan back if he wanted to. Is Danny not coming? I can’t say I blame him.

Jazz knows about Oberon too.

I do hope August shows up at the wedding, it’s on my bingo card.

Huh, I knew that Ash and Oak aka New York was a place without fae these days, but I assumed some purebloods and changelings could still live there. Uncomfortably, perhaps, and maybe you couldn’t anchor a knowe there anymore, but I didn’t think it was actively hostile to every fae.

Hey, is that Lowri and Nolan? Nolan’s on guard duty, interesting.

Yes, the Ludiaeg could have married you at any time. Should have thought of that before everyone started offering you their knowe for the wedding.

Oh good they’re bringing Walther.

Makes sense Arden can’t come but she is sending Nolan. Nolan definitely is enjoying life these days.

Confirmation that Madden’s boyfriend is human and doesn’t know about the fae.

“I can go order her to arrest herself, if you’d like” Love it.

I have to assume the Tuatha Express is faster than air travel and not as tiring for the people who aren’t opening portals.

Nessa, the Gwragedd Annwn, a new species. As pretty as the Daoine Sidhe are to a nearly human Toby, wow.

And... she thinks the Luidaeg is Toby? I hope this isn’t a calculated insult. I know Quentin grew up with some bigoted people but this is deliberate.

And Oberon is apparently Tybalt?? What is going on her?

Kerry! We haven’t seen you since A Local Habitation. ‘There are no bad Dayes in this week” aww. I love you, Kerry.

Beacon’s Home is actually a Kingdom and not a Selkie-now-Roane holding? Cool.

It seems important that the Maples vs Ash and Oak decision was happening right before/during the American Revolution but I don’t know why yet.

“The ducal consorts are Daoine Sidhe”, yep both of them.

“Sweet Titania, I love that woman [Dianda Lorden]” Still waiting for Toby’s bisexual awakening.

The Luidaeg confirms the Gwragedd Annwn are Black Annie’s descendant line.

Quentin confirms something’s wrong with Nessa, maybe she isn’t like this at all.

Whee, slightly more Stacy weirdness. I think Barrow Wights would be descended from Maeve, her illusions shouldn’t be better than Toby’s.

Tybalt is apparently descended from both Oberon and the Luidaeg, if his line comes from the Cait Sidhe Malvic sired with his Roane lover.

Confirmation that the Luidaeg can see the future, at least some of the time.

At least Aethlin and Maida seem happy to see Toby.

Maida doesn’t recognize Cass’s bloodline - interesting.

“Um, my boss is Queen Windermere, and my [human] graduate advisor is Professor Weinstein, and my parents are Mitch and Stacy Brown” Cass I love you.

Oh, Nessa isn’t Nessa.

Not!Nessa, holding Toby at knifepoint is not the detergent you think it is.

Toby has a new knife now, sweet. Not!Nessa is a Doppelganger, we haven’t seen one of those in several years. The one in Rosemary and Rue, who wasn’t Gillian?

“Archers,” “I was right about that?”

Perhaps Toby shouldn’t be the one giving orders to open portals, but Aethlin clearly isn’t doing it.

“I punched it in the face” Why do I have the feeling that’s going to solve a lot of problems in this book? And hey, this isn’t a Firstborn or Queen, so Toby got her wish of punching more punchable people.

“You don’t have the authority to order an arrest in my knowe.” Well, maybe you should give her that authority, High King of the Westlands who was almost assassinated.

“Purebloods forgot things, quickly, when they can’t see them anymore” Interesting.

“And even in a backwater Ducky run by a politically unambitious man” Shadowed Hills predates the Mists, Sylvester really just went as far as he could. Or maybe settled there once Amandine built her tower.

“Is he going to try to stab me? Is he better at stabbing than the last batch was at shooting arrows”? I love you Raj. I wonder if the local King of Cats will make an appearance.

Ah fuck, first dead body.

Toby having the most sense in this scene, I love it.

Did Aethlin basically make Toby a hero of the Westlands as well? “Our visiting hero”

Aethlin is not showing up well in dealing with security, nor are his guards.

“People who put deadly traps on doorknobs often forget the obvious, which is that it’s a good idea to lock doors.”

Three dead bodies? RIP Aethlin’s guards.

Only two dead bodies so far. Once Broken Faith had 4, I believe, but we’re only a third done. Good job on not dying, Caitir.

Gordon, hello. I thought the reference to ALH in the “books to re-read” was about the nighthaunts but didn’t expect to see her.

Looks like neither Nessa nor Honey are dead.

This poor Ellyllon doctor, welcome to Toby’s world.

Ah fuck, Tybalt’s elf-shot again.

Good thing Caitir’s a Candela. Thank you, Raj.

Jazz is apparently betting that Toby’s getting elfshot before/during the wedding, this is a girl after my own heart. As is May.

Walther has a fan, I love it.

The Bridge Trolls can search for clues if they want, I guess. We don’t need to worry about people messing with the crime scene anymore.

Toby’s sweet talking the knowe, that didn’t take long.

Toby, Quentin is never going to leave you behind even when he’s knighted and moves back home. He would sooner move the capital to SF.

Evening got her hooks into Aethlin back in 1906, huh?

“I am the breaker of the unbreakable” Yes you are, Toby.

Black Annis was originally named Ismere? I love the lore we’re getting in this book.

There are rumors that Quentin is Toby’s squire, probably started after OBF. The Beacon’s Home Selkies knew about him, after all.

All the Maeve descendant lines with dead Firstborn imprint on the Luidaeg, this is so cute.

So many reasons why Tybalt shouldn’t go looking for Toby as she walks up. Tybalt’s back!

Nolan is great, I love him. Aethlin’s reassuring Nessa, glad to see it.

How does Fiac know enough about Simon and Amandine’s marriage to have negative feelings about it? It sounds like he was around them to notice it.

The Doppelganger isn’t bringing the Revolution, what a pity.

Fuck, she can’t kill Aethlin now. Damn.

This is exactly the scene I wanted to see with a different Daoine Sidhe, but fine. The guards need more training.

Eira killed other seers than the Roane, did she? Did she want there to be no one who could guess her plans?

Toby thinks Maida is upset with her, while I think Maida thinks Toby is the only one she can trust.

Why do none of the Daoine Sidhe save Simon specialize in blood magic? They all suck at it.

“We need to interview your entire staff, and by ‘we’ I mean ‘you’, and by ‘you’ I mean ‘someone you trust’“ Toby’s got this under control.

“I’m sorry, was that disrespectful? I meant fuck you, Your Majesty.” Quentin is not holding back. Chelsea and Raj are literally eating popcorn while watching this. Despite what Toby thinks, she has a court of teenagers.

I wonder what the series would have been like if Penny was sent to Shadowed Hills with Quentin.

I’m glad Quentin got the chance to yell at his father, he needed it. Look, family drama that isn’t related to Toby!

Walther: “I carry the base ingredients [of elfshot] whenever I travel with Sir Daye.” I would too, Walther.

...Are the rest of Stacy’s kids also Seers?

Oberon exists to be more than background, apparently.

Confirmation that the Luidaeg is a century older than Eira! And the Luidaeg will know if she wakes up.

Yes, Toby gets her own court with all her squires and also brothers. Quentin, Raj, one day Chelsea, Peter if he can convince Toby to do it. She has two Seers, an alchemist and her favorite aunts and family in Saltmist.

So the Summerlands have suns as well as moons.

Oh hey, Julie, I thought you died off screen. We haven't heard from you in several books. They’re getting the band back toge- the High King got poisoned?!

“For example, it would be really unreasonable of him to die right now, thanks.”

“If this is where you want to suddenly remember the High King’s evil grand vizier who you just forgot to tell us about until now, that would be great.”

I thought Maida’s father was still alive?

Aethlin has survived his third assassination attempt in the past 24 hours, sweet.

Why did the Librarian call Fiac the Seneschal? He’s the Court Seer.

Oh, so Toby did settle her debts with Mag about her mom’s biography.

We’ve met Tybalt the Torquill family historian, now meet Yenay Ng, the Tybalt historian.

OK, I... didn’t see that coming.

I approve of Toby punching former King Shallcross in the nose. She should punch more nobles on screen.

Huh, I guess that’s where Eira was before she showed up in the Mists.

Is this guy Dawn’s father? The timelines sorta fit.

Aethlin has managed to not get poisoned or stabbed again, good for him.

Of course they enchanted the wedding dress to not get covered in blood. Good thing my ‘free’ space on the bingo card was “Toby’s dress gets blood on it” which was technically fulfilled with the first dress.

I assumed “wine-colored” meant white until it was described in more detail. I approve of dressing the wedding party in red - it will hide the blood.

Sylvester?!? Nope, Simon.

Aww, Simon gets to walk his daughter to the altar. He gets to see his daughter married!

“Then go. Get married. Be happy. You’ve earned it.”

And the wedding is finally on! The local Cait Sidhe are here! Surprise appearance by August!

“As did the man who looked heart-stoppingly like Simon Torquill, but absolutely wasn’t” Oh Sylvester, you made it after all.

I think this is the first time Sylvester’s been referred to in terms of Simon rather than the other way around.

Whoops, more assassins.

I see you, Simon, using your blood to fuel your transformation spells, just like your daughter. Followed immediately by Sylvester charging into battle. And Oberon continues to be background scenery.

Another guard’s death - 3 now? Maybe more?

“Now I have a longbow, motherfuckers, ho, ho, ho” Love you, May.

Badly attempted jailbreak is a bust. Toby’s dress remains pristine.

Surprise appearance by Gillian! I assume August tackled her to the ground when the arrows started flying.

Wedding is complete! Reception go!

I assume Etienne was instrumental in getting Sylvester to the wedding, not only physically but also by yelling at him about what an idiot he was.

Etienne is a little younger than Tybalt, good to know.

They’re going to Disney world without the kids, neat. Surprise August again! Good to know Helen’s seeing a therapist.

Galen has a crush on Poppy. I love this man that we will probably never see again.

Why is Simon a Count again? Shouldn’t he also be Duke Lorden? Does he get a lower title because he’s the second husband, like a courtesy title? Also, glad to see him and August being Lordens.

She hugged him!

Oh hey Sylvester. You could have started with “You make a beautiful bride” and avoided a shitton of trouble. You made it all about yourself. It’s better than if you didn’t attend at all, but man, Sylvester. You disappointed Toby and me.

“Once and future King of Cats”

She accepts the Lorden boys as her brothers!

What does Cliff think of Gilly spending so much time at Half Moon Bay? Does he think she’s in a cult?

Aw, May and Jazz are going to get married!

Oh hey Pete. Only two Firstborn at the wedding, can’t mark that one off. Nice blessing!

That cake sounds super delicious. Fuck, did Oberon give his knife to Toby and then not take it back? Toby has a replacement for her iron knife now?

Oh hi, Gilly. Your mother’s really excited to have you here. I love Quentin egging Toby into eating the cake. “Quentin pressed a fork into my hand, trying to urge me to get on with it.”

And the final blessing comes from Aethlin. He has got to do something to thank her for all her help in stopping the assassination attempts.

Afterthoughts: I am sad none of Tybalt’s friends and family from London/Europe attended. Morane was alive as of 1911, with no word on the others. Hermeline, if she’s still ruling in the Court of Fogbound Cats, has been ruling for nearly three hundred years.

On the other hand, we got a ton of Toby feels and secondary characters. Love the reactions of the Teen Squad.

What a good and heartwarming book.

Spots crossed off:

2. Sylvester attends the wedding 8. Someone calls Toby a kingbreaker 10. Toby drinks someone else's blood 11. August attends the wedding 13. [Free space] Toby's dress gets blood on it 16. Gillian attends the wedding 18. Quentin's identity gets revealed 22. Toby learns about Tybalt's short story past 23. Someone gets elfshot for the second or third time 24. Toby insults nobility we haven't seen before 25. Lore about the Sollys family

Spots not crossed off:

1. Malvic appears at the wedding 3. The High King or Queen gets elfshot 4. One of Tybalt's enemies from the short stories appears 5. Hope chests are relevant 6. Something is revealed about the False Queen 7. There's at least 3 Firstborn at the wedding 9. Dianda punches someone important 12. Hirsent crashes the wedding 14. One of Tybalt's friends from the short stories appears 15. Eira is behind the trouble 17. Lore about the Torquill family 19. Sylvester doesn't attend the wedding 20. Someone mistakes Sylvester for Simon 21. Raysel's plotline moves forward

I should note some of these are rather literal - Eira caused trouble in the back story but she wasn’t active in the main story like she was in both The Unkindest Tide (telling Torin to stop the restoration of the Roane) and A Killing Frost (taunting Toby).

#october daye #october daye spoilers

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statticscribbles · 4 years

Text

Sober Up

Summary: Kurtz/Reader, A much longer slightly more in depth backstory for Kurtz TW: Drug use, Smut, Violence

You’re six when your parents first shove you outside pointing to the tree line in the backyard and mumble for you to ‘go explore till dinner’ you know this means there won’t be dinner but you stay quiet content to walk through the patch of trees. You decide since you have hours till it gets dark, hours till they remember where they let you run off to, you’ll explore as far as you can. It takes less than an hour before you reach the edge of the forest, you’re surprised, not by how short the trip was, but that there’s a house in front of you. Within seconds a boy shoves himself in front of you laughing and nodding. “Mom!!! I found a faerie!!! Can we keep her! She’s real tiny; won’t take up much space!” You watch the boy grip your wrist and tug, bringing you closer to the house with the smooth wooden porch and the soft cushions on the rocking chairs.

“Momma!!!” “Conrad, what have I said about-oh, hello, what’s your name sweetheart.” You can her hear voice go soft, you didn’t know mother’s voices could do that, and you stick your free hand out for her to shake like you father taught you. “My name’s Y/N ma’am!” “I’m Conrad, but you’re not supposed to tell the Fae your real name, so call me Kurtz!!” You nod at the boy smiling back. “Well how about you stay for dinner and we’ll call your parents after words. They live across the tree line right?” You nod at the woman letting both her and Kurtz lead you into the house and to a dining table. “Kurtz, what’s a Fae?” You mumble face pink, you’d never heard of them before and his face lights up. “I got a whole book on them!!! I’ll get it!” He rushes off and you stand awkwardly looking around the room, he returns quickly.

“I dunno what a Fae would need to know about- ARE YOU A CHANGELING!!!!” he shouts clapping his hands together, his mother appears and you watch nervously as she beckons him over. “Kurtz, what have I said about shouting?” “That it’s bad for my voice and bad for everyone else’s ears.” He hangs his head and she runs her hand through the faint curls before nodding. “So now we know for next time right?” She asks and he nods. “Yeah of course!! Can Y/N stay the night??” He jumps from the spot he’s in moving back and forth next to his mother. “We’ll have to ask when we call her parents.” Your parent’s don’t pick up and instead of calling the police like your grandma used to do, Kurtz’s mom just smiles and pats your head. Kurtz pulls you back to the table and shows you the pictures and reads some of the stories to you. You nod along as he explains that Fae’s are magic creatures that live in the forest.

“You go wash up for dinner and then we’ll get a room sorted.” You’re not sure what she means by room, you usually sleep on the couch; your parents can’t sleep in the same room anymore. You don’t ask during dinner, or after when Kurtz makes you a brownie sundae that’s so heavy you drop it twice. When it’s time for bed you’re brought to a room with a bed, and a mattress on the floor. Kurtz points to the floor mattress. “You sleep there!” He nods as his mother leaves he leans over to whisper. “You can sleep with me if you wanna, the bed’s huge!” You nod climbing up under the covers with him. This is the first time you stay with Kurtz. ————————————————————————————-

You’re one day away from being eight, Kurtz who’s already eight, insists you’re not missing anything exciting, just an extra finger to hold up. He still calls you faerie sometimes pulling out the mythology and fables book he has pointing out the pictures and nodding. “You’re just as pretty as them, plus you came outta the woods, all faeries do that!” You don’t argue; you’re afraid to tell him you don’t live in a pretty castle, and drink out of flowers. He doesn’t ask ever and you’re relieved when he talks more about his uncle that’s coming over. His mother frowns and he leans over to whisper to you.

“Mama doesn’t like Uncle Malachai cause he sells drugs. But it’s okay cause he’s not really my uncle, my mama just calls him that cause he takes care of us.” You nod, you know what drugs are, it’s all your parents do. You wonder if they know Malachai as well. Kurtz’s mother, she insists you call her by her first name, Sarah, offers to let you have a birthday party at her house. “We can set up a pool if you want.” You hesitate nodding softly. “I’d like that Ms. Sarah, but I don’t wanna trouble you, ‘sides I don’t have enough friends to have a party.” You frown and she smiles. “Well you leave that up to me and Kurtz okay?” You nod confused by what she means, but let her continue on with her plans.

The party is the most fun you can remember having. Kurtz refuses to leave your side rushing you around the other kids and all of his mom’s friends. He pauses his running; letting go of your hand as he flings himself to hug a thin figure. “Hey kiddo, Jesus you’re tall now.” Kurtz returns to your side pulling you along to point at the figure. “This is my Uncle Malachai, Uncle Malachai, this is Y/N she’s an actual faerie, she showed up from the trees!” Malachai nods smirking. “Well nice to meet you Y/N you take care of Kurtz, he’s a handful.” You nod face going serious for a moment. You’re about to run off and follow Kurtz when Malachai’s hand grips your shoulder. “Your parent’s still live cross the tree line?” You nod and he smiles, you rush back off to play with Kurtz. —————————————————————————————-

You frown when the police show up to Kurtz house, hovering behind Kurtz who hovers behind his mother. “Y/N, it’s alright sweetheart, you just have to go stay with your Aunt for a while, okay?” “Can I come over still?” “You have to ask her okay?” “Why can’t I stay on my own? Or with my Grandma?” “You’re only 12, you can’t pay all your bills yet, and she’s too old sweetheart, here, how about we give your aunt all our contact information so you and Kurtz can visit if you want.” You nod smiling at her. She doesn’t bring you back to your house, explaining that the police need to finish up and then you can get all your stuff later. That she’s sure your aunt will have things for you. ————————————————————————————-

As it turns out, your aunt, Penny Peabody wants almost nothing to do with you; she leaves you with Kurtz and his mother as much as she can while you’re supposed to be adjusting. Once everything with your parents settles down; she seems to warm up to you slightly. You know enough to stay out of her hair, but she’ll call you into the living room to spend time with you, and she spends time working on your homework with you.

She lets Kurtz come over as often as he can, which once he gets a bike for Christmas is every weekend and on the days you get out early for school. You spend your summers at his, and he spends the winter and spring breaks as well as other holidays from school with you and your aunt. He watches and listens to her just as much as you do. You know you’re both learning what she does, how she cons people. You don’t want to think about needing to use it. The summers are spent with Kurtz’s mother teaching homemaking skills, you learn how to stitch so tightly that water slows when moving through the tear; you know this is meant for stitches over wounds. You learn plants that can be found everywhere to eat, and heal. When Malachai comes around you learn like you did with your aunt. He teaches both you and Kurtz how to fight with knives as well as your fists; he makes you swear not to tell Sarah. You tell Penny and she laughs and nods, buying you a better set that Malachai has to piss him off.

——————————————————————————— It’s four days into summer vacation before you start high school, Kurtz’s mom is out of town as usual, her work leading to her being away more than she’s home. Kurtz calls and asks if you want to come over. Your aunt drops you off handing you an overnight back and tugging your shoulder. “Y/N, be careful.” “Careful? It’s just Kurtz.” Your aunt nods. “Malachai was telling me-“ “His uncle’s there?” “Yes, be careful.” She warns and nudges you out of the car. You can’t help the nerves that bubble under your skin, why would you need to be careful around Kurtz. You try your best to shake it off as you wait for him to open the door. “Oh hey there little faerie.” Malachai smiles at you.

“Kurtz! It’s for you.” He turns and you step into the hallway watching Kurtz jerk forward and stumble in his socks on the hardwood floor. You pause; hesitating for a moment watching his face, how his eyes look blurry and his mouth hangs open at one corner. “Jangle?” You question and Malachai nods. “You got good eyes kid.” “Just a good memory.” You scowl at him and he rolls his eyes. “Your parent’s chose to do it, can’t help that I was their dealer.” You bite back the comment about him being their murderer instead watching Kurtz smile. “Malachaiiii you didn’t tell me Y/N was here.” “Why you give him Jangle.” “He wanted to try it, he’s a big boy now, fourteen and all that.” You nod, gripping Kurtz’s hand; you watch his face turn bright pink. “Malachai look.” He whispers, holding your hand up looking awe struck.

“Yeah what?” “She’s holding my hand!” Malachai nods and you bite your lip to keep from laughing. “Let’s go sit down yeah?” You nod to Kurtz and he doesn’t stop staring at your clasped hands as you lead him to the couch. He trips twice and you scowl, positioning him on the couch when he flops down, you sit next to him and Malachai nods. “I’ll head out now, you know how to take care of him if goes bad yeah?” “What I did for my parent’s; got it.” He smiles leaving an envelope on the side table next to the couch and walks out the door. Kurtz jerks his head up and frowns as the door clicks closed. “Y/N!” He jumps slightly when you re-enter his field of vision. “Hey Kurtz. You want to watch TV?”

“No. Want something else.” He crosses his arms and you arch an eyebrow. “Kurtz, what do you want?” He shakes his head laying on his side and staring at the blank TV screen. “Kurtz? Come on use your words.” You try not to scowl already he’s reminding you of your parents. You crouch in front of him and laugh a little when he hides his face in the cushion. “What do you want, come on I can get almost anything.” You think you can make out the word ‘okay’ from in between the mumblings he spews into the pillow. You nudge his chin up. “I wanna kiss you.” He ducks his head back down and you wince when your hands stuck under it. “Can you move your head?” He looks up eyes too wide; you nudge his forehead when he tries to kiss you.

“Don’t move; you have the shakes.” He nods, jerking as he freezes, you can still see his hands trembling. You lean over kissing his lips softly, you pull back and watch his pupils dilate before they shrink back to the usual jangle pinpricks. “I meant the cheek.” He laughs as you smack his arm. “Should we redo it then?” He laughs and smiles sleepily. “You tired now? How much did you take?” You slowly sit him up slightly, and he grabs for you pulling you against him and the couch. “Kurtz, how much did you take?”

“ Um, the uh Washington one.” “A quarter amount?” “Yeah but the silver one. That size.” “So literally a quarter, this?” You hold up the quarter from the table and he nods. “Don’t leave.” You nod rolling your eyes as his arms tighten around you. “I’m right here. Not going anywhere, your death grip is making sure of it.” You laugh and he nods sniffling. “Kurtz? You okay?” He nods and you wipe a stray tear.

“Please don’t leave me. Everyone else does.” “I’m not leaving.” You let him awkwardly curl around you, his limbs uncoordinated and gangly even without the added effect of the Jangle. You wake up to a blanket around both of you and Malachai sitting watching TV. “He asked me to take it, said he wanted to tell you something but he was too scared to do it himself.” Malachai pulls the remainder of the Jangle tube from the table and tucks it into his pocket. “He’ll be fine, just needs to sleep it off.” ——————————————————————————–

You’re nervous about school; you’d never had Kurtz in any of your classes and you’d never been around at lunch the same time. To be fair you’d never been at the same school, so seeing him around is odd and having him in every class is unnerving. He seems unbothered by it, explaining how each of the gangs works, not that there’s many besides the Ghoulies and the Serpents to care about. Kurtz almost corals you over to the Ghoulies, nudging you into their table at lunch. “You stay with them.” You stand intent on following him but he gently shoves you back to the table. “Stay with them.” You watch as the other Ghoulies stare at you almost in awe. “What?” You mumble to them and they laugh.

“You’re that girl Kurtz doesn’t shut up about.” You nod to them frowning when he slides into the Serpent’s caged off area. You grimace when he whoops, fist colliding with one of the other Serpent’s noses. The rest of the Ghoulies leap up and rush towards the Serpent’s laughing and throwing punches. You can’t see Kurtz, and when he appears behind you, you jump slightly. “Look free lunch.” He winks pulling over the trays that the other Ghouls had abandoned. ——————————————————————————–

It doesn’t take you long to officially become a Ghoulie, the other Ghouls bring you up to their base of operations, you’ve only been to the House of the Dead once, but you wonder what the rest of them will say. Malachai is standing at the door watching as Lance, the oldest Ghoulie from Southside High steps forward nudging you and Kurtz forward. “What did you bring this time?”

“Couple of newbies, they wanna work for us and-“ “Kurtz how many times have I told you to stop fucking with the ones from school?” Kurtz just laughs and Lance looks annoyed and confused. “And you brought Y/N too? You guys really need to do more background research when you have recruits. They’re already in.” Malachai shrugs and nods towards the house. “They don’t have the ghoul mark.” “I know; we’ll give it to them now.” “Ghoul Mark?” “To mark you as one of us, for life.”

“Oh like how the serpents have a tattoo?” You ask and Malachai nods. “Yes, just a little more permanent is all.” You grimace at the knife Malachai holds up. “You can’t laser off a scar.” He laughs offering you and Kurtz Jangle tubes. “It helps with the pain.” You shake your head scowling as Kurtz downs half a tube.

“You don’t have to act tough you know. Just take the drugs like everyone else you little addict.” Lance laughs shoving you. You cringe when Kurtz lunges for him. “Kurtz. She’s fine.” Malachai sighs pulling him back. “It’s okay Kurtz.” You nod to him and he glares at Lance. You watch the way Lance glares back, and you can tell Kurtz’s fingers are running along the knife he keeps on himself. ———————————————————————————–

You know Kurtz has been sneaking behind your back more, not that you really watch over him. You can tell he’s drifting from you not just because of the jobs the Ghouls have him running all over the town. “Kurtz we still on for later?” “Course. Wouldn’t miss it for the world.” You know he will, you’re expecting a text, explaining how he has a job, how it’ll have to be a rain check, of a rain-check, of a reschedule. No text comes and you’re still surprised when he tugs you towards his bike, you watch his hands shake and you place yours over them; his face pinks like every time you do this and he averts his eyes. You watch is pupils barely larger than pinpricks. “How much did you take?”

“Full tube.” He shrugs off the concern you know is on your face, shoving the helmet at you. “Kurtz you can’t drive while you’re on-“ “You want to walk.” He bites back and you go quiet swallowing and wrapping your arms around his waist. He hums slightly and you close your eyes the entire ride home. You don’t say anything about him being on jangle as he brings you back to his place, his mother out for work like usual. He throws himself on the couch motioning for you to sit, you skirt the edge, perched on the couch as far from him as you can get.

“Why you hate me on Jangle?” He questions and you can’t help a bitter laugh. “Really? Do you even remember what happened to my parents? That they both OD’ed on it? That they spent most of my childhood so drugged up it was easier to send me outside than to deal with me? I don’t want you turning into them!” “I’m not your fucking parents!” He shouts sitting up suddenly angry. “Really? Cause you sure are acting like them. How are you not them, then?” You snarl. Kurtz jerks up gripping your shoulders. “They never loved you like I do! I’m not them!” He shakes you and you cringe back; swallowing as he registers how afraid you look. “You’re right, you’re not them, you’re worse.” You turn and leave, rushing past his mother who looks nervously at your retreating figure. —————————————————————————————–

A quarter has easily doubled to half, but the jump from half to full is what worries you. The entire idea of Kurtz doing Jangle worries you but you know not to say anything about that after the fight you’d had over it. Well it was more the fight you and Malachai had had. You’d avoided Kurtz for an entire week as the handprints against your throat faded.

You’d never seen Kurtz so out of it on Jangle, you’d never seen it make him angry; the most he got was embarrassed around you for whatever reason. Still upset and trying your best to fix the first fight you’d ever had with him you’d stormed the house of the dead, knowing Malachai would be happy to see you until it clicked what you were there for. “Hey there Y/N what can I do for my favourite little faerie then?” “Don’t sell to Kurtz. Don’t let anyone sell to him.” Malachai arches an eyebrow after he laughs for five minutes. “Oh you were serious, huh, well you don’t get to make demands like that.” “It’s not a demand.” You flick your knife out, nudging it at his throat. “Just like this isn’t a threat.”

“Oh, cute.” You drop the knife instantly, his hands curling around your throat as he presses you against the wall. “Listen, I don’t give a shit what you think you got with Kurtz, you try to cut him off from Jangle I’ll cut off your oxygen permanently.” He drops you to the ground kicking your knife over. “You tell him about this-“ “About what?” Malachai smiles helping you up.

“Evolve or die little Fae, Evolve or die.” You nod. You don’t question when Malachai calls you for a special job, out of town, for an unknown amount of time. He tells you you’ll be leaving in a week. You don’t question him aside from asking him what you need to pack. He says he’ll send Kurtz over later. Kurtz doesn’t bother knocking, cracking open the door and whistling as he closes it. You don’t look up pretending to be absorbed in the cooking show on TV. “Y/N, Malachai told me about the job, it’s long right? That’s gonna get you so much cred and-“ You don’t move on your own, but you find yourself on Kurtz lap. “What’s wrong?” “I have to leave for an entire year at least, I’m sure its one of those long jobs.” You frown.

“Not much here you’ll miss.” Kurtz smiles slightly. “Woulda been better to send you, you don’t have anything you miss here.” “You.” You stare at each other and you watch as his hands hover over you before settling one around your waist and the other on your shoulder. “You don’t want me.” You shrug; he licks his lips. “Who says that?” “The other Ghouls. And that fight we just had.” He glares, and you watch one of his hands curl into a fist, you tangle your fingers in his. “Hey Kurtz, drop it, they don’t mean anything.” He nods still glaring slightly. “Kurtz, what’s going on; you’ve been avoiding me, not just cause of jobs and taking all that Jangle.“ “Malachai doesn’t want me around you.”

“Why?” “Say’s you’re a problem area, for me. He told me if I took the Jangle you’d leave me alone and he wouldn’t have to send you away.” You brush your hand on his cheek. “I’m not angry at you, I’m scared for you, I’ve seen what Jangle does; I don’t want you ending up like my parents.” “Cause you hate ‘em right.” He chuckles dryly. “No because I love you. Can’t let anything bad happen to you.” ————————————————————————————-

Malachai doesn’t keep you updated on anything other than what the Ghouls are doing gang wise; halfway through the second month he vanishes and two weeks go by without any news, suddenly a few of the other Ghouls appear at the house he’d stationed you at. “What?” “Malachai’s in prison. He got caught, there was a race and-“

You return to Riverdale, making your way to the house of the dead surprised to see your aunt in the living room. “Hey kid, good trip?” “Trip? Malachai sent me up to the middle of bum-fuck nowhere cause he thought I was gonna make Kurtz go sober.” Penny laughs shaking her head. “What?” “He doesn’t care about Kurtz being sober, he cares about Kurtz listening to him. He won’t listen if you’re around.” “Why wouldn’t Kurtz listen to him, Kurtz like worships him.” Penny shrugs. “I’ll let you figure that out on your own. Now Malachai’s coming back home in a bit so-“ “The other ghouls said he had years left and-“

“If he doesn’t bribe everyone, which we’re going to do, so; we need to fix this place up, the Ghouls have ruined it.” “Why do I have to clean?” “Because you’re one of the only people I can trust, and Kurtz will follow you like a puppy.” ———————————————————————————

The welcome back party is in full swing, you’re sitting to the side, watching most of the Ghoulies mixing alcohol and Jangle; taking shots of it. Kurtz is across the room, drink less and as far as you can tell completely sober. You’re pretty sure someone slipped something into your water, after the sip you’d taken you noticed the taste changed far too much. Whoever put something in must have assumed it vodka; you pretend not to notice how Lance leers at you from across the room.

“Hey little faerieeeee,” you cringe at the nickname but stand up walking over to Malachai; who sways drunkenly. “Try it.” He smirks holding out a shot of vodka that’s more jangle than liquid. “Don’t.” Kurtz is next to you pulling you back and knocking the drink out of Malachai’s hand. You expect the party to freeze like it does in movies, for everything to stop and everyone to watch you. You feel the slap confused at how fast Malachai moved.

“Oh no, you don’t make demands Kurtz, you follow, and you follow me or I hurt her, remember our deal? That was nothing compared to what I’ll do.” Kurtz seems to hesitate fists still clenched; you shift back, hand brushing against his arm. “Deal?” Malachai turns smiling. “Oh yes. Kurtz made a deal with me when you joined. You want to know what it is?” “He’ll do whatever I want, whatever I say, as long as I; and the other ghouls keep you safe and out of trouble.” You glare shaking your head. “That’s not true Malachai you-“ “I what? You think you know me? I tell Kurtz to jump he asks how high, I tell him to OD on Jangle, he doubles the dose. What part of I own him do you not understand little fae.” “I-“

“You what, you’ll call Auntie Penny to rescue him? You’ll kill me yourself? Come on Y/N how many empty threats can you make?” “Trade; not a threat.” ‘Trade?” “You keep him sober, and you have me.” “What can you offer? That he can’t.” “I’m a teenager girl, I’m sure you’ll think of some use for me.” You spit and try not to cringe at how sober he looks when he smiles holding his hand out. “Deal.”

He appears later in the night; you’re expecting him to bring friends; to pimp you out, he just smiles again. “You live here now. You don’t speak to Penny unless I say it’s okay, understand?” “Yes.” “You can continue normally with Kurtz, as friends, I’d hate for him to worry more. For now at least, you’ll cut off friendship with him soon; it’s safer for the rest of them. God knows he already almost killed Lance.” “Lance?” “Oh yeah, we found out he slipped something into your drink, good thing it was water so we noticed. I may have let it slip that it was Lance who did it. Kurtz must’ve heard. Shame Lance is out of commission for three weeks, Kurtz’ll just have to take his place then. Big job, lots of fighting. You can patch him up when he’s finished.” ———————————————————————————-

You shake your head at Sarah’s offer for her to stay. “Y/N it’s not a problem he can barely see out of his eye, it’s a lot more work helping him around, he keeps running into everything.” “Really it’s okay, I’d hate for you to have to cancel work. I’ll be okay I swear.” You nod sternly and she relents leaving in her car. You climb the steps knocking on the door. “Mom if you- Y/N.” Kurtz stands in the doorway in just sweat pants. The ice pack over his eye is moved and you wince in sympathy, noting he seems to be able to look out slightly. “Hey sorry for just showing up but I was wondering if I could stay over? Things aren’t great at-“ “Of course. Be just like when we were little” He grins and you follow him in. “Since it’s past dinner, brownie sundae?” He laughs a little and you roll your eyes.

“Please don’t make me drop it like the first time.” “I’m the one that’s gong to drop it I bet. Besides the floor dirt is half the fun.” He laughs shaking his head. You sit on the couch eating it, half watching the TV. “Thank you.” He nods as you pull his bowl placing it on the coffee table. He shifts; scooting closer to you on the couch. “No problem Y/N. Anything for you.” “Can we call it a night then?” You say after a yawn, he nods nudging you towards his room. You watch as he doesn’t pull out the spare mattress, instead pulling off his sweatpants so he’s down to just his boxers. “Did you bring PJ’s?” he looks curiously at your bag you’ve brought up and you shake your head.

“Ah, here.” He tosses you one of his shirts and you nod, tugging off yours and your bra to put his shirt over before pulling your pants off. “You can turn around now, you didn’t need to do that you know.” He shrugs and climbs into bed holding the covers up for you. “Come on, we can stay up late telling each other secrets.” You laugh curling into his chest. “What’s wrong Y/N, is it just everything at home?” You shake your head sniffling slightly; you can feel Kurtz tense unsure what to do about you crying. “What’s got you crying hm?” “A boy.” You mumble and can feel his hands tighten on you. “Who hurt you?” “No nothing like that, I just, I have a crush on someone but he pretty much avoids me all the time. We spent like two hours together last week and that was all.” You sniffle more and Kurtz wipes your tears. “Baby don’t cry, anyone who’s making you cry that much can’t be worth it, can you tell him how you feel?” You nod. “Great, then do that, as soon as you can.” You can hear the pain and the hitch in his voice. “Kurtz?” “I’m fine.” He snaps.

“You don’t sound fine.” “You know if that boy hurts you I’ll have to kill him right?” “Have fun killing yourself then.” You laugh a little freezing when you realize what you’ve said. You and Kurtz stare at each other for a moment before you feel his hands shoving the shirt up and off. He pulls you flush against him kissing you. “Kurtz-“ He pauses scooting backwards eyes wide. “I’m so sorry Y/N. I didn’t-“ You bite you lip sighing. “That; uh wasn’t me telling you to stop.” You face is bright pink when Kurtz moves back against you.

“You’re mine.” He hisses into your ear and you nod. He runs his teeth against your throat; tilting his mouth to the side as he bites down. He twists; moving under the covers so he’s above you, tongue running between your breasts and over your nipples, before he presses his lips back to yours. “Mine.” He groans when your hand palms at the tenting in his boxers. He pins your hands up behind your head hesitating waiting for you to say no, you nod slightly and he keeps his hand locked around your wrists as the other rubs over your underwear. “You know you’re mine right? Not Malachai’s; not the Ghouls; not Penny’s. You’re mine. Only mine.” He mumbles between kisses as his head moves downward, biting against your exposed skin. You nod as the hand rubbing over your underwear pulls them off before continuing.

“You’ll be good for me right Y/N?” You stare wide-eyed as he moves his hand away from gripping yours above your head. You watch him as he takes his boxers off; they join your underwear somewhere on the floor. He doesn’t move his hand back and you flex your fingers, before you move your arms out pulling him back towards you so you can kiss him more. “K-Kurtz-“you whine trying to roll your hips upwards, his hand moves from between your legs to press against your hip pinning you to the bed once more. “That’s not my name is it?” He hums, thumb rubbing over you clit. You moan nodding in response. “Can you tell me my name? I’ll keep doing this if you’re good and call me by my actual name.” “Conrad.” You whimper and he stops. Pulling away to sit up slightly, you frown. “Hmm I dunno if I like that. Give me a sec.” He smirks and you don’t respond, just whining. “Aww what’s wrong babe?”

“You’re a dick!” You pout and he returns to his position over you, arm snaking under you as he pulls you up; he sits on the bed as he pulls you against his chest kissing you as his other hand nudges your legs apart so you straddle him. “I have one.” He hums as he drags your core against it. “Can’t you tell?” You nod, grinding yourself over his dick. He kisses you once more, teeth snapping on your lip as you open your mouth to him. “Do you want me to fuck you?” You nod, one of his hands snaking into your hair to tug it slightly, you pull back and he smirks.

“You need help or-“ You cut him off, slowly pushing yourself onto his dick, smiling at how his eyes widen. You watch him blink for a moment, both of you adjusting, before you roll your hips slightly. You can feel his hands on your hips, they’re shaking slightly and you automatically look for the Jangle eye’s you’ve come to associate it with; surprised when his eyes are almost completely black. “You okay?” You mumble, head drifting to his ear and down his neck as you give him a matching bruise to the ones you’re sure you have. He hums nudging your chin up with his finger kissing you as the hand that’s still on your hip moves you slightly so he can move from under you. You moan into the kiss and you move to match his movement humming contently as he starts to move faster managing to keep pace.

“F-Fuck Kurtz.” “That is what we’re doing.” He pants slightly, his mouth moving against yours as he snaps his hips faster, gaining speed. You moan, shaking slightly unable to form any sort of sentence, you can feel his fingers rubbing off your clit as he pounds into you. “You’ll be good and finish with me right?” You nod as he smirks pulling out, you’re about to ask what’s wrong but instead he kisses you. You gasp as he flips you, leaning down as you squirm, now under him, he kisses you once more as he re-enters you keeping the pace he’d set before he’d flipped your positions. You whimper, watching him as he moves inside you. “Kurtz.” You moan and he smirks moving his fingers away from your clit for a moment. “Please touch me, please Kurtz.” “You have to finish with me remember. Don’t you want to be good? Don’t you want to be mine?” He hums into your ear as he rolls his hips against yours. You nod moaning again as he continues to thrust in and out of you. You’re shaking slightly, his fingers pulsing against your clit.

“It’s okay Y/n, it’s okay; let go, it’s okay.” He mumbles kissing against your neck as you can feel the rhythm he’s created dissolving as he draws closer to finishing. You can feel the coil of heat that had been building since you first kissed is finally snapping. You cry out, gasping slightly as Kurtz bites onto the side of your neck when he finishes. You can feel yourself orgasming around him and you whimper as the sparks dancing behind your eyes settle. Kurtz lays next you, you turn to face him and he offers a lazy smile kissing you slowly. You wrap your arms around him curling into his chest. “Was it okay?” He asks mostly into the top of your head and you nod, pulling back. “Why are you crying? Did I hurt you?” He sounds panicked suddenly and you shake your head. “No just;” You shrug keeping your arms around him; you cough awkwardly trying to stop crying. You swallow offering shaky sigh.

“I love you.” You barely breathe it, the way Kurtz tenses you know he’s heard. “I’d let you kill me if you asked.” He smiles softly and you accept this is the closest you’re going to get to him saying I love you back for the moment. “I know, I don’t want to.” “Even though I’m not going anywhere in life and just gonna end up dead in a ditch and-“ “Kurtz, don’t worry about that right now, can we just enjoy this.” You nuzzle his chest slightly and he smiles nodding, pulling the blanket over both of you. You’re drifting off, almost asleep in his arms when he gasps nudging you back to being awake. “What’s wrong?” ‘We weren’t safe.” He hisses at you and you shake your head.

“You weren’t safe, I’m on the pill.” “Oh, um sorry for waking you.” He looks sheepish and you smile. “Not that bad if I get to see you.” His face pinks slightly and you shift up to kiss him before returning to cuddle him as you fall asleep. ——————————————————————————-

With Malachai gone again you’re able to visit Kurtz whenever you want. Not that his ban had stopped you before; but now you didn’t jump anytime you saw someone in black turn to look at you. You let yourself into Kurtz’s house. His mom’s car not back; she’ll probably be back soon, she’s usually home by now; traffic must be bad you reason. You can’t hear the water running and there’s the faint sound of the TV so you make your way towards the living room. Pausing when you hear a soft thumping sound, like someone running. You hate the panic that grips your chest but you turn, automatically heading for the kitchen instead. You’re surprised you don’t scream, scrambling towards him on the ground.

“Kurtz, Kurtz can you hear me? Of course you can’t; okay hold on. This is going to hurt me way more than you.” You nudge him slightly, he’s convulsing in short bursts all of his muscles trying to fold over themselves. You wait until they seem to shift under the skin seeking relaxation but his brain refusing to send the signals, you twist him to his side, fingers tugging and pulling at his eyelids to try to see his pupils, no luck, simply the bloodshot whites glare back at you. You already have a timer going, if it gets above a minute you’ll call the hospital you assure yourself. You sit in front of him as his body seems to spasm endlessly; it’s been fifteen second when he stops. You wait, carefully positioning a dishrag under his face; he vomits moments later and you cringe at the mixture of frothy bile and jangle. You keep a faint pressure on his shoulder so he doesn’t move as you switch the dishrag for a clean one, grabbing a towel from under the sink to cover him as he trembles. “Y/N?”

“Shhh, just sleep, just sleep.” He doesn’t nod just stares blankly at his eye level not even bothering to try to lift his head. He falls asleep in seconds his face almost the most relaxed you’ve seen. You slowly move around the kitchen, throwing the vomit-covered rag away and grabbing spare pillows and actual blankets to put on the couch. “Kurtz, hey babe, you threw up, do you remember?” You ask softly as he wakes whimpering. “No, just feel floating.” He mumbles and you nod carefully supporting him under his arms as you half drag him towards the couch. You assure him all that happened was that he vomited, and curl next to him despite his protests of you getting sick from him.

His mother comes home within the hour, scolding Kurtz for not calling her; you apologize saying you’d made him sleep as much off as he could, nudging her into the kitchen to talk away from him. “What actually happened Y/N?” “He had a seizure. I don’t know how long it lasted, at least thirty seconds, but he was unconscious and-“ “Sweetheart.” She speaks; you didn’t realize you were panicking or how short your breaths were until she places a hand on your shoulder and has you take a deep breath with her. You try your best not to cry, and to stop yourself from trembling but you can feel Sarah step to the side slightly, a heavier, clumsier hand taking her place. Kurtz evidently heard some of the conversation and as he pulls you into a hug you can tell he’s trying to say something, slurring slightly as his muscles are over relaxed. You wait for a moment, as he seems to prepare himself for what he wants to say.

“I love you.” He doesn’t smile just presses his face into your hair. “I love you too.” You respond automatically and you can feel the smile on your head, he laughs a little before you realize he’s actually crying, Sarah’s retreated up to her room as far as you can tell so you walk back towards the couch. “Ghouls said you left, said you left cause you hated me.” “So you tried to OD on jangle?” “Didn’t mean it, just wanted to forget for a bit.” “Why would I hate you?” “Lance said it was cause I forced you to join the Ghouls, and made you get with me and kept you from your friends; that I was gonna end up hurtin’ you.” “Kurtz you could never hurt me.” “Just did.” He rubs his thumb over your cheek. “You were screamin’ and crying cause of me.” “Because I thought you were going to die.” He cringes as you scowl. ———————————————————————————-

You manage to find a couple of the ghouls sitting outside at lunch, they don’t run from you but you can tell the way fear bubbles under their skin as you sit next to them. “You can’t. Ghouls don’t exist anymore.” They hiss and shove you away. “Don’t touch her!” One of them looks fearfully over and you catch the black leather of the serpents, of course you notice the studded jacket right after, logo-less but unmistakable. You turn about to stand when one of the ghouls pins you down hand over your mouth. “If he comes over here-“ He starts. “Hey!” You can hear someone shout but you slam your head as hard as you can into the ghouls throat hissing as you stomp on his hand shoving him off you as he howls.

“Fucking christ.” You turn, one of the serpents standing a few more running up. You don’t get much of a chance to see anything else before Kurtz is pulling you into his arms. “Kurtz I’m fine; I’m fine I just got shoved to the ground, I’ve gotten worse on jobs.” You assure him muffled into his shirt. “What happened? Which one of you did that.” Jughead asks. “Well obviously the one in pain.” Kurtz nods hauling up who you recognise as James. “You’re a snake now, what we do with other Ghoul’s isn’t your business.” He laughs and Kurtz cuts it off hitting him square in the jaw. “What you do with my girl sure as hell is.” The rest of them pull James away and you turn to Kurtz. “You’re a Serpent now?”

“Sort of; Ghouls disbanded while you were up with your aunt. She didn’t tell you?” “Do you really think I would’ve stayed up with her if I knew that?” Kurtz nods. “So you into G&G then?” “Into what?” You turn to Jughead and Kurtz’s hand on your shoulder makes you hesitate. “What’s up with-“ “It’s called Gryphon’s and Gargoyles, it’s a roleplaying game, you get to pretend to be fantasy characters and-“ “Oh that sounds fun! Can I-“ “If you so much as sit in on a game I’ll take so much G that my blood will turn to powder. You stay the hell away from it.” Kurtz hisses into your ear, you know no one else heard him. “So you joining Kurtz’s game, with him being the Game Master and all.” “Game Master?”

“He basically tells all the quests.” “Oh wow sounds important.” You smile as Kurtz pulls you away from the Serpents. “Game Master?” “Listen, please just; I have to keep you safe. This was the best way.” “So joining another gang under my nose while I can’t contact you is the best way to do it?” “It’s-“ You turn from him to smile at Jughead.

“I want to join the Serpents. How do I do that?” Jughead exchanges a look with Kurtz and you stomp on Kurtz foot, he cringes you step forward closer to Jughead. “I keep him in line, if you let me join.” You hiss to him and step back smiling. ————————————————————————————-

The Serpent trials are almost painfully easy, memorization and knife grabbing is nothing compared to looking after a high Kurtz, and the dance is mostly hand movements and skimpy clothes. FP asks about your tattoo placement and you point to your side. “How good are you at cover-ups?”

“Your ghoul mark? I’ve always been curious how Malachai chose to mark his Ghouls. Guessing it’s a skull right?” You laugh shaking your head and he smirks.You’re not surprised when the other Serpents and Kurtz seem to hover as you get your tattoo. Kurtz seems annoyed you’re going to try to cover up your ghoul mark, and everyone else just wants to see it. When you tug off your shirt you can hear a few of them gasp, the scar carved into your side, notching over your ribs and sliding into your back is almost an indent; as if something had been removed. “Fucking hell. He does this to kids?” FP glares and you hear the door shut knowing Kurtz has left; his scar is worse.

“How did he decide this? There’s no way I can cover that I’m sorry you’ll have to pick a different spot.” FP shakes his head. “The closer to Malachai the more pain you have to take. The worse your scar; it’s how it is. Okay, my hip then.” The Serpent leave after that and Kurtz slinks back in, silently holding your hand.

—————————————————————————–

You’d been shunned in the Serpents, most of them not trusting you; a fact which you weren’t bothering to change. It gave you a much easier way to look after Kurtz and Jughead never bothered you unless he needed your help wrangling Kurtz to class. “Y/N.” He looks nervous and you nod for him to speak. “Kurtz is gone.” “Gone as in off his rocks on G or?” “Gone, as in he ran off.” You scowl nodding. “He’s probably out in the forest with the Gargoyles, I’ll go check on him. “No, he told me-“ You snarl shoving jughead against the wall.

“If he talked to you then what you need me for?” He frowns shoving you back. “He told me not to involve you, that I was supposed to keep you safe, that the Gargoyle King and him had a deal; he said you’d understand?” “Son of a bitch.” Jughead arches an eyebrow. “So you do know what that means, care to let me know?” You nod sighing and sitting nervously in front of the rest of the Serpents. “When we worked for Malachai, Kurtz made a deal with him, he’d do whatever he asked as long as I was kept out of the messy stuff. I’m guessing he made the same deal with the Gargoyle King, so I’m sure I’ll have to rescue him from whatever he- what?” You trail off as the serpents look away from you. “You know what happens in the game right?” “No Kurtz didn’t tell me anything.” “When you level up, after a certain amount of time, you ascend.”

“Oh so you get extra powers and-“ “In real life, you can ascend too.” “That sounds vaguely cultish.” “It is.” “So what he ascends and joins the gargoyles for good?” Jughead doesn’t meet your eyes. “Jones, what happens.”

“You die.” “Kurtz wouldn’t do that.” You try to reassure yourself. Jughead looks unconvinced but nods. —————————————————————————-

You’d heard about Jellybean’s kidnapping, about Ricky bringing her to somewhere in the forest. You knew because Kurtz had whispered it to you when he thought you were asleep, mumbling the Gargoyle King’s plans and the new game he was playing, how Kurtz fit into it. You pretended to be asleep still knowing he wouldn’t say anything otherwise. He tells you how he has to lead the Jones family through a quest then he’d finally be able to ascend, he pulls you against his chest cuddling you. You can feel him shaking. “I have to ascend he said you’d be safe if I did, he said.” He mumbles kissing your hair and tightening his grip on you, you pretend to wake. “What’s wrong?” “Nothing love, nothing, just got back to sleep; I’m gonna be gone for a little while,I have a big job coming up.” He kisses you moving the pillow back under your head as he faces you in bed. —————————————————————————————-

You’re sitting watching the gargoyles moving around in the shadows. You’re watching the way your aunt hesitates, the eyepatch you’d given her gleams and you wait wondering if you’ll have to bury her as well. You can see the Gargoyle King moving through the shadows as well, you nod to him and he moves forward, hand running through your hair. “Not you, you’re the snake’s one.” He hums muffled under the skull he wears. “What about a trade?” You can hear the crackling of bone as he turns, tilting his head. “Trade?” “Me, for Kurtz, you can do whatever you like to me, just leave him alone.” You hear more cracking and an almost chittering laugh before a breathy hiss fills your ears. “I don’t make trades.” You swallow, hearing your Aunt scream; morbidly you wonder if you’ll have enough to cover both their funerals

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kaiju-z · 3 years

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Seon Adventures Episode 38: Bathhouses and Bonds

After a month of travel, successfully retrieving the King’s Blade, Ena, learning who their client is, i. e. Akar’Niel and choosing to learn more about the circumstances of the mass elimination of dwarves and dragonborn on Seon, the party have reached Guan.

And straight off the bat, no pun intended, the group discover they are followed by an imp. After a quick discussion on whether to take it down or not, Malak stils his hand from sending the denizen of Hell back home, as it approaches the group.

Through a quick inspection of the party, the shape changing critter flies over to Mournimar and delivers the Tiefling Ranger a Sending Stone, of a blue diamond make. After which it does a JoJo pose and poofs.

As stated previously, this was a Sending Stone, allowing someone to cast 2 sending messages a day. But only to the person that has the other one. Rocky Talkies, as Malak puts it. (Or Hayden, I’m not sure. They’re both wholesome and we love them).

Mournimar gets that explained to him and calls the person that gifted it to him. And he hears a familiar voice from the other end say " Well you are alive, then!”. Much to the tiefling’s frustration, he recognizes the voice as that of his ex-boyfriend, Lazarus, follower of Potencia.

Mourni tries to ask what he wants, but instead Lazarus does the “kh-kh” noise (you know the one, where someone does a double pistols and a wink???) and that’s about all the messaging that goes on for that day.

Again. Much to Mournimar’s frustration.

Malak suggests getting rid of the stone. But Mournimar wants to keep it.

Luck suggests flipping a coin and he even brings one out from his journal bag. But Jun suggests Mournimar hold onto it and in the end, they agree on that.

(Also Mournimar gets a praise from Jun, which makes him feel validated).

The rest of the day passes uneventfully and they carry on, as the ground beneath their feet becomes more and more rocky. WIth the most perceptive in the party taking note that there’s a slight silhouette in the near distance of a town.

During the night, Belli receives a dream, like everyone else, but Mournimar, before her. As everyone had kept their dreams to themselves, for the following day, the group find themselves walking into a small and cozy town, which Arryn guesses would be Sodinvorg, most likely.

Very different from what the group had been used to so far. In a wasteland such as this (which funny enough is the right temperature for Luctan to feel at straight up at home?!) Sodinvorg’s constructed of tall buildings made out of clay, all painted red, white or red and white. Most split in multiple flats as they can tell from the windows. A variety of people in the windows, mostly Yuan-Ti, Kobolds, Tabaxi and Lizardfolk.

People here know each other and are close, mingling with each other.

Notable locations are the bathhouse, the tavern and the marketplace.

Luctan makes a b-line for the bathhouse, all excited and swept under the positive nostalgia of the enviroment he find himself in, with Jun joining him, all the while Belli would go and buy certain supplies. Cement included for some reason?! And then go to the apothecary.

A pair of young lizardfolk women run the bathhouse, which the pair of Jun and Luck can discern is constructed very intricately and with a style to it. (The place is essentially a roman bathhouse.)

Mournimar woud go to the Rolls and Scrolls place, where one could buy spell scrolls and delicious breads, as advertised, while Malak would check with the antique shop.

Inside the bath house, Jun takes on her mask of a beautiful Drow woman, named Valencia, having noted that there aren’t really any humans in the area. Valencia is a bit posh. Long white hair in a bun.

As they score themselves a place in the bath, The Disguise Duo enjoy a relaxing bath, unbothered by the cramped and crowded enviroment, as they are confident about themselves and their bodies.

No juicy gossip in the area and even if there was, a loud comment about Mommy Milkers from another of the patrons would distract the duo.

Arryn eventually joins the two, but after an unfortunate bomb dive goes wrong, he leaves, as the pool was too shallow for any acrobatics. Luctan’s Healing Word aids him in recovering from at least the physical pain, at least.

The duo have another talk, where Luck learns of Jun’s origins. Though she began her careers in Sa Doma, she was originally from Elmeria. Which, to say the least, was a neat coincidence, as the party had gotten their initial name there, when asked by Morticia.

Jun would share that, given her race as a Changeling, few doors were truly open for her, as a Shapeshifter in a world that had a bias against them, and so, the bounty hunting life and that of an escort were ones that she could slip into easily. Luck would bemoan her fate, how opportunities were taken from her due to things she couldn’t help. But was glad for her being able to make the best of it.

“When one door closes, another opens”, the two would agree.

Luck would tell her his story, in turn, being candid about the facts, though, naturally, given they were speaking around others, he’d of course avoid using the “H” word as to where he had come from. Besides, the yalready knew about that from the fight at the barn.

Luck would come to a point, admitting that he was unsure what to do with himself now. He was content helping people, but he had no plan on what to do with himself now, when he didn’t take on the rest of his revenge quest.

Jun encourages him to take the time and consider. And she’d admit that conversations weren’t generally something people would approach her for, given her non-violent work ethic.

But Luck would compliment her for her talk, appreciating being able to talk openly with her on matters. Jun would note that he was about the 3rd person to praise her for that.

Meanwhile, at the Rolls and Scrolls, Mournimar spends big money on several rolls and scrolls, making Matiro, the Yuan-Ti’s day with all the cash that comes his way.

Feather Fall, Aid, Calm Emotions and Find Steed are all bought and paid for by the Ranger, with the latter three being bought for a collective 500 gold.

Furthemore, the tiefling buys 7 loafs of bread, for the party and Arryn.

And then. Before he leaves, Mournimar leaves the man a tip of 5 platinum. And upon leaving, he can distinctly hear the Yuan-Ti scurry off, screaming to a friend: “PHILLIP! I’M IN LOVE!”

At a convergence point, Mournimar gets a gold piece from Jun and a pat on the head. Getting validated by an older female figure boosts his morale. Quite evident from his tail wagging like crazy.

From the calico Tabaxi, Jolly Sunrise, proprietor of “ Happy Belly Rubs “, Belli gets a healing herb, a root that healing potions are made from.

(It is at this point that we spend 10 minutes on Tabaxi bathroom name jokes. It’s just-you had to be there.)

Jolly makes a “Jolly Secret Rub”, which gives the party 1d8 Temp Hp. Gives special smelling salts, which are used as Spare The Dying as a bonus action. 165 worth. And lastly, upon Belli’s request, she delivers onto the Half-Orc Bard a pair of extra spicy peppers, referred to as “Dragon’s Breath”.

“Don’t give it to halflings. It could genuinely kill them.” she would note.

Also Belli learns that Jolly has a tiefling brother. Due to his fire resistance, she had learned that these could kill anoyone, without fire resistance. (Though that could’ve been a joke0

After the bread, the party go to the Cozy Leaf. An older tabaxi man, orange and graying around the nose, heads the place. He has a menu. There’s coffee, milk, honey milk. Maple Milk! The man’s name is Leaf On The Water. He has a strange clockwork device playing relaxing music nearby, giving the place a wholesome atmosphere.

His Grandson, an Artificer, built this contraption. Travels and sends new stuff to the old cat. There’s a stick figure drawing at the counter, drawn by the youngest in the family, his granddaughter. The grandson is taller than him. Grandson is 30. Grand Daughter is 3.

There’s even a portrait that gets showcased of the family. One big orange family. Himself, his three kids and his two grandkids.

Most of the group, but the bearded ones, get themselves a warm beverage. Honey Milk and Maple Milk.

While the patrty slowly unwind for the day, Belli asks Jun if she has any expertise with chemicals. Interesting enough, the Bloodhunter does have skills with alchemy supplies. And the two work on making pepper spray. Super. Spicy. Pepper Spray.

Malak find himself buying several items from the antique shop, run by the kobolds Zett and Nix, Red and Bronze respectively.

From the items presented to him, he takes what he could consider lucky charms.

Among them a coin of a strange material, a stone figurine of a snake, as well as a small silver rod with no decoration. It makes a harp noise. Notably, the rod gives off faint evocation magic.

Before purchasing these, he asks the Kobolds, just to be sure, that they hadn’t pilfered these from any gravesights and the like. They specify that any item they have in their shop has been brought in from families, who found no use for them.

They are established businessmen here. And the price for the collection of items bought is 25 silver. Enough to cover rent for the month.

Malak thanks them in Draconic and leaves after the monetary exchange.

At the end of the day, as everyone prepares for the night’s rest in the tavern, Jun keeps an ear and eye out for gossip, while Mournimar takes a single room for himself (and Morgan).

One, where he has himself his own little dream.

End of Episode.

Previous Episode / Next Episode

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originalcontent · 4 years

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Oooookay. Welcome back. Posting about pathologic part 4 I think? Part 4. We just reached Act 4 too, so everything’s going according to schedule. This gaming session had some ups and downs. Ups: That good good lore, and a lot of quality time spent with my good pals Daniil and Changeling and also Clara apparently, although she might not be my good pal after all, but w/e. Downs: FUuuuUUUUCKkkk we are so bad at video games, and also the kin folk have become A Lot, holy shit. Where to start.

Okay so this time the game wasn’t actually super stressful for me personally bc this time I kind of just handed off the controls to my sister every time shit got dangerous. She’s a lot better at video games than me. Shoutout @akpaley for keeping me from dying from stress in real life.

The drawback of this is that since she’s a lot better at video games she’s also a lot more willing to actually take risks rather than just running away from literally everything. Which I won’t deny, has gotten us a lot of much-needed money and resources but also.

WELCOME TO THE FUCKING DEATH SPIRAL PART OF THE GAME. I guess it had to happen eventually, right? Fuuuuuuuck us, do you have any fucking idea how much shit you have to redo when you’re randomly shanked by some dude every fifteen minutes? And they’re harder to fight every time we come back, apparently, and also our health is like permanently half gone? Fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck why are there not more clocks.

Victor Kain, you were the one who made the clocks?? I could fucking kiss you. I owe you my life. Or like, six hundred of my lives. Hhh.

Okay, seriously though, the clock lore is actually kind of sick. Victor told us that they’re smaller versions of the cathedral, and we were like “!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! THaT’S WHerE wE RESET THE GaME IN THe PROLOGUE!!!!!!! METAPHYSICS!!!!!!!!!” The Kains are so cool.

(Maria Kaina got infected tho. Sorry, you. :( Although technically that happens later.)

Um, we gave the rest of our shmowder to Khan. We’re out now. We’ve been looking for more but haven’t found anything.

Also we made a random potion, and the plague showed up and was like “fuck you,” and I was like “damn, calm the hell down, you’re the one fucking killing people.”

Met with the Saburovs more. They were like “we have another suspect!” and I was like “yeah they probably don’t but w/e” and my sister was like “they’re in an infected land and we should probably save their lives” and I was like “why do we care about helping the Saburovs again, literally all they do is accuse random people of killing my dad, the Kains are obviously the best family, we should just be throwing in with them” and she was like “that’s not all they do, they also run the guards, you know those guys who patrol plague districts?” and I was like “okay fuck you’re right let’s visit them” and it turns out that that there was actually some super cool lore pertaining to the town’s mistresses. Also, god if they don’t have some cool reflections. I love everything about this town’s history.

Afterwards we randomly decided to visit Yulia for literally no reason, and she was like “I’m glad you’re here, I have a lot of super heavy important shit to discuss with you about the Inquisition that will be here tomorrow, it sure is convenient that you’re in my neighborhood for some reason even though I live in an incredibly inconvenient location?” Also she knows something about the nature of Artemy, Daniil, and Clara-or maybe the Changeling but she called her Clara? Oh yeah, Daniil was there too for some reason. Poor guy, I don’t think he’s okay. He cried on my shoulder a lot, he was endearingly open and earnest and for once I felt bad about the dialogue options wherein Artemy throws shade.

And then Clara happened to be standing outside literally right then? I wonder if that was going to be a big quest location and we just happened to arrive right before the game told us to go there anyway. I think that’s it actually. We’re so good, damn. Clara keeps pulling shit and then immediately trying to reconcile and asking for help. I really like her, but we really shouldn’t be trusting her right?

Oh Murky was also there and she set up a meeting between us and her “friend” and that night we went and Clara and Changeling were both there and I’m so confused???? What is her deal? But!! Changeling facilitated a deal between me and the plague! And Murky is now off the hit list!!!!!!!!!! Does this mean she’ll live? Anyway the plague started talking to us, and our infection rose a bit in an unhealable way, and, dumbasses that we were, said “wow this is probably all just the natural consequence of the bargain we made. Guess there’s literally nothing we can do to address this.” (Spoiler: That is not the case, the cost of the pact was literally just that we became infected and would have to cure it with fire before it killed us. We figured that out eventually, I promise.)

Fast forward to the next day after we finish the day’s entire fucking plotline, when we have done literally nothing so our infection’s increased a shit ton and it starts actually killing us. And since we only have like half our potential health bar from getting killed so much, we literally can’t survive long enough to treat it. We run around trying to cure ourselves and die like ten more times before we finally accept that we just have to go back in time to before the infection was this bad, try to get cured immediately, and redo the whole day. There’s a whole fucking skeleton out by the theatre by now btw. Fucking death spirals. This play session took a long fucking time okay?

Alright, flash backward again. After talking with Changeling, we visit Stakh because after rescuing him twice in a row he promised we could talk. We go to his house and he’s sleeping, or maybe just pretending to sleep, but either way Artemy has the absolute sweetest little monologue, just talking to him, and so much has happened but I can tell there’s still a lot of tenderness there between them even if it’s buried deep, and it’s just such a soft scene against such a harsh story.

Guess who’s dead by morning.

The next day Aglaya showed up and was like “see me immediately,” so obviously we visit Capella and then town hall first off. Daniil’s there, he bitches to me about Aglaya for a bit. So cute, we really are friends. I promise to help him with corpse duty bc Capella wanted me to visit Grace anyway. We talk to the official people at the official desks, one is collecting babies, one is giving me some lunch money as a very good reward for being a very good little surgeon, and one is telling me that actually money is illegal now but here are some free coupons that actually are too cheap to buy anything with.

Aglaya is the woman from the prologue! Hhhh things are really building to a point, aren’t they. I wonder how Yulia knows her. But damn, the whole village was out there waiting to meet with her weren’t they.

I made a deal with the rat prophet to clear some space in the graveyard so Grace would be okay. Dunno what will come of that. I’ve been seeing him everywhere lately though.

I met with Oyun and gave him my dad’s house. I met with Aspity and was like “did you kill Stakh” and she gave me some vague shit, and in general I am very upset at the kinfolk right now but I tried to save them anyway. Went to the termitary and did the whole termitary thing. Wow that sure is a place, right? God, have I ever mentioned how much I love all the screaming soundtracks in this game.

Damn, Taya’s whole child queen vibe is unsettling.

The whole termitary is horrible, and what the kin folk have been put through is horrible, but their obsession with blood and strength legit terrifies me. I’ve spent all my time until now trying to convince everyone that they aren’t bad, and that they aren’t to blame for the disease, but now they want to kill? And they really really really want me to be a killer too. And the whole thing with Taya is creepy as fuck too, she’s just a kid. Anyway, we’re sending Vlad the older to them, I don’t know whether he or his son deserves to be torn apart more, but Changeling was really upset at the idea of Vlad the younger going there, so I guess we’re backing her. We run all around town making sure the right Olgimsky is going, and then we realize we actually have a few hours left so we take a hospital shift too! And then we die of disease like six times.

Okay, flash forward again, we’ve gone back, gotten some guy to molotov cocktail us, redone the entire termitary thing, saved the game on Vlad’s clock after sending him to his doom (sorry dude). That’s where we’re at currently.

(Only it’s not actually, we went back and spent like an hour going back and forth between the termitary and Oyun again trying to deal with their shit, and everyone was like “murder all dissenters :D” and I was like “what the fuck” and the day was almost over but then a dude stabbed us and we randomly died, and none of these places had clocks, so at that point we were basically like “yeah it’s after midnight, let’s just call it quits.”)

Anything else......oh, the warehouses are at risk again. Notkin and Sticky, what would I do if anything happened to them. I hope my medicines are good enough, I gave some to Bad Grief too but now all there really is to do is wait. :(

Oh, I once again have thoughts on how fucking theatrical is it that everything in the game is simultaneously literal and metaphorical, it’s gorgeous, and have I mentioned the costuming choices for the Orderlies and the Plague, hhhhhhhh, not to say anything nice about Mark fucking Immortell, but he knows what he’s doing with this thing. Listen if this post weren’t already way too long I would just gush about the theatrical elements again, but sadly it is too long.

Okay, that was our latest session! We’ll be back either very soon or in like three weeks.

#kj plays pathologic #pathologic #pathologc 2 #this got so fucking long holy shit #also: can anyone tell me how old clara/changeling is?#teenager? twenties?#i initially guessed the latter but i'm growing unsure #theorizing that if clara's a teenager she might be the eighth? bc i still have no clue who that is and clara doesn't appear on the character #screen #but if she's an adult then that wouldn't make any sense

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harmonytre · 4 years

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Comic Plans

Current Projects:

Prismtale (Mondays): An Undertale AU involving NPCs and multiverse travelling. Multi-chapter comic and ongoing.

Mistbreak (Tuesdays): A Steven Universe AU with about 5 pages left of the comic. Then it will become an ask/drabble/design blog.

Flicker of a Neon Soul (Wednesdays): An Undertale AU where monsters have colored soul traits and humans have white soul traits. 10+ chaptered comic with many plans and plot.

Taffy and Steven (Thursdays): A Steven Universe where Steven and his gem are split into different people and Taffy is a wholesome boyo. One page left of the comic, then will become an ask/edit blog with occasional comics.

Future Fandom Projects:

Pokemon Nuzlocke Comics: Multiple regions and an overarching plot. I need to finish playing and writing the first arc before starting the comic. (long term)

Who I Am: A Pokemon comic where James from Team Rocket is a were-pokemon. I need to rewrite it first. About 7 to 8 chapters. (medium length)

Other Undertale AUs: Certain AUs will be revealed in Prismtale and turn into side blogs, and others will be one time comics. (varies)

Future Original Projects:

(One of these I want to make extremely interactive. Like the audience makes choices for the characters.)

Phantulfurs: A comic about teens with powers to see creatures no one else can. I’ve rewritten the first chapter multiple times, but I need to really write it out before starting the comic. About ten arcs. (long term)

Skryculars: A sequel to the above story. (medium length)

The Journeyers: A multi-book series with my cousin. About ten books. Involves animals, powers, and romance. Won’t give information beyond that. (long term)

Unnamed Animated Series: Still need to design the two main characters, but they’ll travel through many worlds from my dream world. (long term youtube series)

Unnamed Wings Story: Decided many many characters for a high school story with wings. Lots of diversity and LGBTQ. Problem is I don’t like writing high school stories and have no plot. ;^; (medium? short?)

Unnamed Long Term Comic: A story about a space girl with wings, a nonbinary person that can shapeshift and communicate with animals, twins with water and plant powers, and an angsty wholesome skeleton bean. No plot yet. (long term)

Short Term (below the cut, any catch your interest?)

(keep in mind many of these I wrote the descriptions for years ago or based off of dreams.)

“Orphan Dog” and “Martha’s Pack” An orphan finds out she can talk to dogs and realizes they are the key to finding her missing parents. (Wrote when I was 8, rewrote partially when I was 13. So very cheezy. Would be even cheezier if I didn’t rewrite it, but still drew quality serious art XD.)

“The Agency” A girl named Jill has secrets. Major secrets. For one, she can turn into any animal at will including extinct, Fantasy, or hybrids. Don’t forget that she can also turn invisible and do telepathy. (Not to mention she runs an entire secret animal spy community…) When her best friend and spy ally, Izabella the opossum, goes missing, she must find what it means to be a true friend and showing that it’s what’s inside that counts. (Actually liked this one too. Even if it’s also cheezy.)

1. “Moos” A boy is adopted by cows and is granted the power to understand animals and turn into a cow.

2. “Moos: Vile Meat” Hoover is back and he must defeat the evil Haystack, a human entrapping calfs in little domes for eternity.

3. “Moos: Cold Cuts” Hoover finds a new ally, one who creates...snow?

4. “Moos: Wakey Wakey Eggs and Bakey” Haystack is back and Hoover and his friends must defeat him before he turns all pigs into stone. (Cheezy series?)

“Extraordinaries” Emma, her friend, Millie, her brother, Clark, and her dog, Charlie, have to travel to a faraway land to save Emma’s mother, who has been poisoned. Along the way Emma and the team must find how to deal with their newfound powers of Imagination. (This one was also pretty good! A story from Nanowrimo a few years ago.)

“The Hummingbird Did It” A hummingbird turns a lazy boy into a dog. The boy must venture across country to find the cure. (Was kinda boring and just me having fun with google maps lol.)

“Sunshine and Rainbows” A girl is taken to another world by rainbow dust and must find her way back to Earth. (Can’t actually remember this one.)

“Nature’s Lifeforce” A boy and girl are given the power to turn into any woodland creature and talk to trees. (Also can’t remember, but sounds cool.)

“Ravens” A girl named Hannah, a boy named Billy, a boy named Cameron, a girl named Lyla, and a boy named Clark, among other students, have their wishes come true. This creates a problem as Cameron becomes a dog, Lyla becomes a cat and Hannah and Billy become ravens. They fix the problem for everyone except Hannah and Billy, but embark on an adventure to find the scientist who can help them. (Based on a dream, I think.)

“Dragon wings” Hiccup and Toothless accidentally sit down someplace weird. They switch bodies and Toothless claims to have heard someone press a button. (ASDFGHJKL WHAT?! HTTYD short story)

“Melody Dreambubble” A weird new pony arrives in Ponyville. Twilight is curious to find that she has no Cutie Mark, was raised by wolves, and bears mysterious powers. (My Little Pony, kinda self insert, short story)

“Eyes of Gold/The Tower” A Fan Fiction based on The Ever Afters series and two stories rolled into one. Rory finds that her two best friends have been poisoned by a new dragon species/As Rory is about to enter a tower to save Chase a random girl shows up out of nowhere and has a weird habit of annoying Adelaide. (Was my first ever self insert? And based on a book series unlike the rest? Cool! Oh I even wrote ten whole pages! Neat. Featuring a girl chasing a dragon with a bedpan!)

“Roadkill” A man purposely runs over a deer on a freeway. The deer’s best friend curses the man, later to regret it because he has to undo the curse himself. (Lol, this was interesting.)

“Melissa and Steven Started a Food Fight” A completely random book that takes the characters through an adventure of explosions, unicorns, and talking squirrels. (Used a random prompt generator. Very random. And funny.)

“Before it’s Gone” A snooty teen crashes in her car and finds a surprise when she wakes up. (Oh yeah, another old story. She turned into a dog and none of the other dogs believed her.)

“The Unicorn Killer” A short story about poachers and Julia. (Yep. Short story.)

1. “Feathers of Gold” A logical young bird griffin, Gabriel, wants to find a way to stop to war between bird and lion in his land, Genetica.

2. “Scales of Emerald” A shy young dragon, Emmie, tries to keep her land, Reptilia, from destruction.

3. “Hair of Crystal” A brave young unicorn, Crystal, tries to find a way to join together the leaders of the land of Equinsta.

4. “Flames of Ruby” A vain young phoenix, Flaxter, tries to capture the eyes of girls. Taken place in the land of Flamia.

5. “Gems Unite” Gabriel, Emmie, Crystal, and Flaxter find out they are The Gems, the only ones who can save their world, Animagicia, from the beings, called Humurns, that are trying to destroy it. They must come together and find who they truly are. (Might have fun with this series. I’ve always loved mythical animals.)

“The Distance from Sam” An 8 year-old St. Bernard named Barry, a 3 year-old Golden Retriever named Mick, and a 1 year-old Sheltie named Sandy set off to return to their owner Sam, after being kidnapped and sent across country. (Kinda like Homeward Bound. Came in mind when I saw these three dogs alone by a street, no humans around.)

“The Skilled” Andy and Ashley(both fifteen) and their eight year-old siblings, twins Alex and Alexa, gain powers from the sewers. All: understand animals and fly, Andy: talk to toys, Ashley: speak to plants, Alex and Alexa: psychic powers. “I used to think my toys would come to life when I was gone. I guess I was right.”-Andy. Based on a dream. (Too many “A” names, oof. Also, toy Story much?)

“The Moon’s Eye” A teenage girl named April gets trapped under a snow drift and wakes up to be a wolf. A nearby wolf pack needs her aid and calls her The Mooneye, a changeling. (Cool. Cool.)

“Unusual Forces of Omnipotence” A woman and her horse are supposedly crushed by a U.F.O. When Tanaya wakes up she finds out she has super strong senses and can run as fast as her horse. Pluto the alien knows he’s going to be in trouble if his planet finds out he crash landed and accidentally gave a human the powers of her horse. He tries to fix it. Told from Tanaya, Sunray (the horse), and Pluto’s point of view. Based on a dream. (Sounds interesting! Title came from before I knew UFO was an acronym lol.)

“The Lawn” Unknown to humans, a yard full of statues come alive at night. There is an elk, two bears, four buffalo, a wolf, an eagle, three horses, a small boy, a moose, a bighorn sheep, and a rabbit. (Based on a real lawn I’d see on the way to school.)

“Dragon Eyes” Max has an ordinary life, until his family, him, and his three friends, Alice, Peter, and Samuel, are transported to another world. His parents are then kidnapped and they have to fight against an evil Mother Nature. Based on a dream. (Interesting. The dream was freaky.)

“Sweet Treat” Emily’s dad works at a candy factory, and one day she visits him and realizes his work is not all it seems… Based on a dream. (What? I don’t remember what was different about his work???)

“The Flight of the Supernatural” Randy thinks he is mostly a normal kid. Sure, he and his dad live inside a mountain, and sure, some flying species of human killed his mother, that doesn’t mean he can’t live normal life homeschooling and watching TV. But unfortunately, Randy’s life turns around when he finds out he can fly. Is his father telling the truth? Did his own species kill his mother? Based on a dream. (Actually REALLY loved this story.)

“Whispering Willow” A girl named Willow helps 20 wolf cubs escape a pet store and then is recruited by a zoo. Pretty soon all of the animals know her as Whisper. Based on a dream. (Cool. another animal whisperer.)

“The Invasion of Our Minds” Little black aliens invade Earth and only one person can stop them: Julia. Based on a dream. (Oh RIGHT! Yeah I remember that.)

“The Marble Island(Possibly a short story?)” Julia goes on a trip to a new marble island only to find the owner turns people into stone figurines. Based on a dream. (Links to the previous story, I think.)

“Have some candy!” Violet, an expert on strange occurrences, needs to help a group of people who mysteriously turned into animals after attempting to grab candy bars from a bin in a local store. Based on a dream. (More animal transformation.)

“The Guide to Mythical Creatures I Made Up” A guide to everything from the Mystic Melody to the Gollan. (I don’t remember either of their designs! :P )

“Trying to Get Back to Mom” Michael and Annabelle meet new friends, while they frantically try to reunite with their mother. (Don’t remember.)

“Surprise of the Future” Pearl travels to the future and has to fight her now-evil brother in his stone mansion. (Not Pearl from SU. Based on a dream.)

“All for You” A man has to overcome many obstacles, such as mermaids, yellow smoke wolves, and magic maps, to save the world and his girl. (Oh yeah, this was a cool one. Based on a song, but I can’t remember which one.)

“The Stranger at the Door” Keith and Amber have lived with their grandmother for many years, but now they live alone and nobody knows. Then a strange girl arrives at the door. She claims they will have to leave town within 2 hours or risk being stuck in a quarantine zone. There will be traffic jams and other hindrances, so it's best to leave right now without taking anything with you. Unsure about everything, including this strange girl, the teenage boy disagrees to the proposal, if all this turns out to be true, this choice will seem foolish. His younger sister does agree. But what if this strange girl can't be trusted. Or what if all this is an elaborate trap. How could an ordinary teenage girl and boy end up in a situation like this. Time to find out. (Oh, a quarantine story? How long ago was this? 2017 I think.)

“The Beginning of the Hybrid Brothers” A backstory that shines a light on how Ralph the Rat-Man and Dr. Discord came to be evil. (YES, MY TWO VILLAINS NO ONE KNOWS ABOUT BUT ARE STILL DEAR TO MY HEART HNNNNNNNG.)

“Unnamed but same as the blank” A girl named, _____, lives in a family of nine. She and her mother are the only ones who aren’t “Morhumals”, or people who can turn into one animal. After the twins mess-up and send a “Morhumals” hunter after them, it is up to ___ and her sister, ____ to rescue them.

“Song of the Siren” ____ is back after her fourteenth birthday. She finally has received her animal and must follow her family to the mythed Siren hideout.

#story #comic #HarmonyTRE #comic plan

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thetravelerwrites · 5 years

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Cetzu (Part 4) Lemon

Rating: Explicit Relationships: Male Changeling/Female Human Additional Tags: Exophilia, Lizardfolk, Changeling, Interspecies Romance, Monster Boyfriend, Sex, Double Dicks, Hemipenis Content Warnings: Assault, Bandits, Injury, Field Surgery, Blood, Poisoning Words: 5211

Part 4 of 5 generously commissioned by @ivymemnoch! Feeling guilty for killing a man in self defense, Cetzu turns himself in to his brother, the local sheriff, but when it's determined he's committed no crime, Cetzu has a crisis of conscience that the reader tries to help him through. Please reblog and leave feedback!

The Traveler's Masterlist

Cetzu slept for four days.

He healed quickly, just like Declan said he would, though he didn’t eat or drink anything while he slept. Lymera, his faun sister, assured you that was normal. The wound had closed and was nothing more than a dark red line on his shoulder, and the scales that had died and flaked off were beginning to regrow.

His gnoll sheriff brother, Feera, came down for a couple of days to check on him, and reassured you that Cetzu would be alright. Apparently he’d gotten his share of horrible injuries from hunting large game throughout his life, and the only reason this particular wound was so severe was because of the iron, which was now cleansed from his body and not poisoning him anymore.

You spent some time by his bedside every day, hoping to be there when he woke up. Otherwise you spent time with his family members, hearing stories of his childhood among the family and learning all their tales. Sad, indeed.

One afternoon, you were dozing in the chair next to Cetzu’s bed, a book from Toklo’s vast collection dangling from your hand, when you heard Cetzu snort and cough. Snapping awake, you stood and lay the book down in the seat, sitting next to Cetzu on the bed.

“Hey,” You said softly, patting his covered chest. “How are you feeling?”

“Cold,” He said roughly. “And my shoulder’s a bit sore. But I’m alright.” His eyes focused and he moved his head to look at you. “Are you alright?”

“Yes, I am,” You replied. “You saved my life.”

“I’m glad,” He said quietly. There was a pause before he said, “You know what I am.”

It wasn’t a question. “Yes, I do.”

He draped his arm over his eyes and sighed. “Damn it.”

“Why does that bother you?”

“Two different sets of parents threw me away because of what I am. Wouldn’t that bother you?”

You chewed the inside of your cheek and was silent for many minutes. “Can I tell you something? About my mom?”

He removed his arm from his face and looked at you keenly. “Yes?”

You took a large breath, held it for a second, and exhaled sharply. “My mom… was not my birth mother. My mother wasn’t the maternal sort, you could say. She told my dad early in their relationship that she didn’t want kids, so when she got pregnant accidentally, she was pissed. She wanted to get rid of me, send me to an orphanage or something, but my father begged her not to. My mother basically told him to choose between her and me… and he chose me. A week after I was born, my biological mother left us.”

He frowned seriously, but he didn’t interrupt.

“We all have our sad tales, don’t we?” You said, smiling morosely. “My dad knew he needed help, since I would starve to death if he couldn’t find a wet nurse. As it happened, there was a woman one town over who had given birth to a stillborn son. Her husband had died in an accident while she was pregnant and she had no means to support herself. In her grief, she made the kind and selfless offer to be my wet nurse in exchange for food and a place to sleep, and my dad took her in. Over time, they became close and fell in love. By the time I was a year old, they had married. She raised me as her own child. In fact, I didn’t even know she wasn’t my birth mother until two years after she died. She was more my mother than anyone ever could be. I loved her very much.”

You felt a tear slide down your face, and you dashed it away with your fingertips.

“Sometimes, family chooses itself,” Cetzu replied softly. “That’s what Mama and Papa say. If it hadn’t been for them, I’d have died in a gutter when I was a babe. I hope I can be like them someday.”

“You want to have a big family?” You asked, smiling. “Lots of kids?”

“Someday,” He said, matching your smile, but his face fell immediately, his eyes going unfocused and looking past you. “Perhaps I don’t deserve it. I’m a murderer.”

“You are not a murderer. It was self-defense,” You told him, patting his hand. “They could have killed us.”

“They couldn’t have killed me,” He said dismissively. “I was much stronger than them.”

“They almost did kill you, Cetzu,” You reminded him. “An arrow is pretty humbling, strong or not. They attacked us first; it was justified.”

“It doesn’t matter,” He said, moving to sit up. You moved off the bed and back into the chair. “I took a life. There must be balance.”

“So what do you plan to do, then?” You asked him.

He held his shoulder with a grimace of pain and stood up gingerly. “I’m going to turn myself in.”

“What?” You exclaimed, shooting to your feet. “Where? To who?”

“Feera,” He replied. “He’s a sheriff.”

“He’s your brother, though,” You said, crossing your arms. “Aren’t you worried about nepotism?”

Cetzu stopped for a moment. “Good point,” He mused, then shook his head. “No matter. I still have to report this.”

“Then I’ll go with you,” You said, grabbing your bag.

He turned to look at you, surprised. “Why?”

“I’m a witness,” You said simply. “And a victim of a crime. They’ll want to interview me.”

“Oh. Right,” He replied, and waited for you to catch up. After informing his mother of his intentions, and despite her protests, he set off down the road to town with you following in his wake.

The walk to Willowridge was a quiet one. You felt like there was a wall between the two of you now, and it was painful. You thought the two of you had gotten so close, and now these bandit thugs had ruined everything. Even if he didn’t have the same crush on you that you had on him, the two of you had been friends. Was that over? You hoped not. He was the only real friend you’d had since you were young. You weren’t ready to let that go.

Cetzu was on edge when the two of you arrived in Willowridge, though he raised a hand in greeting when a few people when they called hello. The jailhouse was situated on the other side of town, right on the edge between the town and the woods. Beyond it was the orc-run horse ranch, and beyond that was the stronghold, Willowshield. It was from this stronghold that Feera’s head deputy, Padcha, was from.

Both Feera and Padcha were sitting on the front porch of the jailhouse, playing dominoes, when they saw you approach.

“Cetzu!” Feera said, laying his tiles face down on the table. “It’s good to see you up and about. How are you feeling?”

“I’m fine, brother,” He said shortly. “I’m here to turn myself in.”

Feera and Padcha exchanged a confused glance. “For what?”

“Murder,” Cetzu said grimly. “I killed one of the men who attacked the wagon.”

“Cetzu, that was self defense,” Feera said. “They shot you, you defended yourself.”

“I already told him that,” You said, scowling up at Cetzu. “He won’t listen to anyone.”

“I didn’t kill the man who shot me,” Cetzu replied. “I would have, but I was stopped.” He gestured to you. “I killed the other one. He was no threat to me. I was angry and I killed him.”

“Did he have a weapon pointed at you?” Padcha asked.

“Well, yes,” Cetzu admitted. “But--”

“Did you attack before or after you were shot?”

“After, but--”

“Was your intent to kill, or subdue?”

“Well, I only wanted to subdue him, but I’ve never been in a fight with a human before. I underestimated my strength, I guess, but that doesn’t…”

“Cetzu,” Feera said, putting a hand on his brother’s shoulder. “Face it. This was clear-cut self-defense. You didn’t do anything wrong.”

“Yes, I did!” Cetzu exclaimed, shrugging off Feera’s hand. “How can you say such a thing? A man is dead because of me!” Cetzu scrubbed the scales on the back of his head with the claws on his hands, making a strange rattling sound. “Can’t you at least do an investigation? Go out and find the man and examine the scene. Look at the evidence.”

“If you want me to, I can--” Feera said, but Cetzu stopped him.

“Not you,” He said. “You’re family. I don’t want favoritism. Padcha and the other deputies should do it.”

“Cetzu, you’re being ridiculous,” Feera said in exasperation.

“Actually, boss,” Padcha said, rubbing the back of his neck. “He’s got a point. It’s not proper for a sheriff to be part of an investigation of their own family member. Conflict of interest.”

Feera sighed. “Fine. Where did this happen?”

“Halfway between Coleville and the farm,” You piped up. “About five hours from here by cart.”

“I’ll take Victor and Louie and we’ll go by horseback. We can get there just after lunchtime,” Padcha said.

Feera nodded curtly. “Get on it, then.”

Padcha nodded and went off to find his deputies.

“Well, since you’re here, want to go to the tavern for some ale while we wait for news?” Feera asked the two of you.

Before you could speak, Cetzu shook his head. “No. Put me in a cell.”

Both you and Feera rolled your eyes.

“If you don’t do it, I’ll do it myself,” Cetzu said, crossing his arms.

“By all means,” Feera said sarcastically, stepping aside. “Pick one. They’re all open right now.”

Cetzu stepped past him and walked right into a cell, closing it behind him, and sat on the cot. “Are you going to lock it?”

Feera scoffed. “No!”

Cetzu scoffed in return and lay down on the cot, his arms still crossed as he stared at the ceiling.

“How are you doing?” Feera asked you.

“I’m fine,” You replied. “Really aggravated at your brother, but fine.”

“I’m with you there,” Feera agreed, staring his brother down. Cetzu ignored the two of you.

“Has he always been this obstinate?” You asked in a whisper.

“As long as I’ve known him,” Feera responded. “He’s as stubborn as a mule when he gets an idea in his head. There’s no compromising with him when he gets like this. You just have to let him burn himself out.”

“I can hear you,” Cetzu grumbled, turning to face the wall.

“Good!” Feera called back. “I’m going to tell your girlfriend all your awful habits so she dumps your pigheaded ass!” He chuffed out of his nose and jerked his head at the door. “Come on,” He said to you. “I’m going to sit down with Eris and the boys for a while. Kurran has a stomachache and I want to check on him. Have you had breakfast?”

You followed Feera back to the home he shared with his wife, Eris, and his two boys, two year old Kurran and six month old Declan. You held the wiggling, giggling bundle of fluff that was his youngest son while Feera cradled his older boy, consoling him through a tummy ache while Eris went out to buy medicine from the apothecary.

You had heard Eris’s horrible tale from the family, and that in the attack against her that led her to first meeting Feera, all of her hair had been cut off, but it had grown back into a beautiful river of gold cascading down her back. Eris was a kind but shrewd woman, and you guessed by her cautious demeanor that some cuts don’t heal as quickly. Feera was gentle and affectionate with her, and watching the two of them together made you pine a little for something you hadn’t yet experienced.

The day wore on. Eris returned with the medicine and made lunch for you and Feera before putting both of the boys to bed for naps. Feera escorted you back to the jailhouse, where Cetzu had fallen asleep.

“Play a game with me?” Feera asked. “It’s been slow around town, but spring’s a slow season. Everyone’s working. People are more likely to start trouble when they’ve got nothing to do.”

“Sure,” You said, sitting out on the porch with him. He set up a game of dominoes and you arranged your tiles.

“The boys will take time looking at the scene, so they may not be back until tomorrow,” Feera said, placing a tile. “This may be an obvious cut-and-dry case of self-defense, but we still do our job properly. I trust Padcha to be thorough.”

“What if Cetzu doesn’t accept your conclusion?” You asked. “He’s convinced he has to atone for killing that man.”

“I don’t know,” Feera sighed. “He hasn’t broken any laws. If we determine he’s not responsible for a crime, and I’m sure we will, that’s the end of it. I’m not going to imprison him to assuage his personal guilt. It’s something he’s going to have to figure out himself.”

You sighed too. “I don’t know what to do. He’s shut down and won’t talk to me.”

“Yeah,” Feera replied. “As much as he tries to deny his nature, he’s just as tight-lipped and secretive as any fae I’ve ever met. He’s still young, though, by fae standards. Maybe he’s just not old enough or strong enough to control his natural tendencies, just like when he was little and couldn’t control his magic. Restraint is just as much a necessary skill as any other.”

“How do you mean?” You asked.

“Well, take gnolls, for example,” He said, holding his arms open and gesturing at himself. “We have a reputation for being aggressive and brutal. Hell, my parents sold me and my brother because we were runts and therefore useless to them. People expect us to be… well… animals. I don’t know if it’s because that’s how we actually are or if that’s how people perceive us and we changed to match, but that’s the way it is. Same with orcs.” He gestured toward the north, where the stronghold was. “Everyone thinks orcs are bloodthirsty raiders, rapists, and murderers. Maybe that’s the way it used to be, but it isn’t anymore. We all fight against our nature and our history in some way. Cetzu is no different.”

You thought about your birth mother and your true mother and contemplated what part of your nature you fought against.

Feera had been right; the deputies hadn’t returned by nightfall. Feera invited you back to the house for dinner, and you brought some food back to Cetzu. Despite the invitation to room at Feera and Eris’s house, you decided to stay at the jail. There were beds, after all, and you didn’t want to leave Cetzu alone.

The next day, the deputies returned mid-morning.

“Well, we found the scene,” Padcha said. “We found the dead man just laying in the road. His friends couldn’t even pull him out of the way. We also found their camp abandoned. It was clearly a bandit operation and it looked like they’d been there for a while; there were horse carcasses and bits of wagons they’d likely couldn’t sell and chopped up for firewood. You scared them off, though. They left their tents and such, but took whatever valuables they managed to steal.”

“So… what now?” Cetzu asked.

“Nothing,” Feera said. “You killed a bandit that tried to kill you. No crime was committed, by you at least. You’re free to go.”

“No!” Cetzu said, slamming a hand against the wall, making you jump. “This isn’t right! There has to be balance!”

“There is balance!” Feera replied exasperatedly. “They committed an offense against you! You defended yourself! What else do you want, man?!”

“You don’t understand anything,” Cetzu growled, pushing past his brother.

“Where are you going?” Feera called after him.

“I’m going home,” He said. “This was a waste of time.”

“You’re telling me!” Feera shouted back angrily.

Cetzu began stalking down the road and you had no choice but to run after him. It wasn’t more than a minute before he had made his way out of town and down the road, starting for the farm.

“Cetzu!”

He was a good ten feet ahead of you when he stopped, looking back. “What is it?”

“You’ve barely said two words to me this entire trip.”

“You didn’t have to come,” he replied shortly.

“Are you angry with me? Have I upset you?”

“I’m not angry with you,” He said, though his brow furrowed. “Don’t worry about it.”

“What are you talking about, ‘don’t worry about it’?” You exclaimed. “You’re obsessed with punishing yourself for something that’s not your fault, how can I not worry?”

“I’ll have Kurra escort you home. I need time to think. You should have stayed at the house.”

“I came to help you!”

“I didn’t ask for your help!” He snapped, stopping and turning toward you, his body tense. “My job was to protect you! I almost got you killed! This is why I should never have left the farm! I’m only good for planting and harvesting! Kurra should have been the one you hired to go with you. I’m nothing but a liability!”

“That’s not true!” You argued. “I’m not hurt! You did protect me! You did your job! I don’t regret hiring you and I don’t think your brother could have done anything differently! Do you regret being with me?”

“Yes!” He shot back.

You were stunned to silence and fell back a step, your heart dropping into your stomach. He backed up a step as well, looking immediately remorseful for his response. He scrubbed his eyes.

“I don’t… regret the time we’ve spent together,” He clarified. “I regret not being as effective as I should have been. I failed.”

“Cetzu,” You said, walking up to him and taking him by the shoulders. “You haven’t failed. I don’t know what to say or do to make you believe you’ve done nothing wrong, that you saved my life. I hired you to protect me, and you did that. What more can I say to convince you?”

“You can’t,” He said. “I’m a murderer.”

“Stop saying that!” You shook him a little. “You’re not the only person who’s had to kill someone! What about your father? He killed a man to save your mother’s life! He told me so! Is he a murderer?”

“...no,” Cetzu said, looking away from you.

“What about your brothers?” You asked, advancing. “They were forced to fight in the gladiator ring as children. If they didn’t fight, they’d have been killed. Are they murderers?”

“No!”

“Then why is this different? Why are you holding yourself to a different standard than them?”

He refused to meet your eye, his jaw clenching. “We should get back to the farm and hitch up the wagon. You’re overdue to return home.”

“Is this what it’s going to be like from now on?” You asked, feeling upset and on the verge of tears. “You ignoring me and treating me like cargo to be delivered? Is that all I am to you now? Are we no longer friends? Do you plan to quit? Because if so, I’ll go back home and find another bodyguard and you’ll never have to think of me again!”

“That’s not true!” He exclaimed a little loudly, making you step back. “I’m always thinking of you. I never cease thinking of you!”

You sere silent for a moment, processing what you’d just heard. He turned his back to you but didn’t continue walking. He just stood there, silent.

“What are you talking about?” You asked quietly.

“I…” He took a deep breath and sighed. “I think about you all the time. You’re the first thing I think of when I wake up and the last thing I see when I fall asleep. I dream of you. I see you dancing when the wind blows through the high grass. When I feel anxious, I hear your voice, and it calms me.” He bent his head, still turned away from you. “I… don’t want to quit. I want… to stay with you.”

“Why aren’t you looking at me?” You whispered.

“Because I’m afraid of what I might see,” He rasped. “I have hurt and worried you over the last few days, and I’m sorry. I know you’re angry with me. I know what I am, and you may not want… what I want. I am… still your friend… but…”

You walked forward and pressed your hand flat against his back. “I never told you… I’ve always thought you beautiful.”

He spun so quickly that dust and rocks flew from under his feet. He almost smacked you with his tail, but he snapped it out of the way at the last second.

��What?”

You gulped but continued. “You… look like you’re built of onyx and silver. When you stand still, you look like one of your lovely carvings. I don’t care that you’re fae. It wouldn’t matter to me what race you were. You’re kind and selfless and I feel safe with you. I don’t want you to quit either. I want...” You gulped again. “I want what you want.”

“I… I want you.”

You nodded. “That’s more than alright to me.”

He, disbelieving, tentatively reached for you, but you jumped at him, putting your arms around his neck and kissing his leathery lips. He hesitated for only a few seconds before reciprocating, kissing you back and wrapping you in his arms, lifting you off the ground. You ran your fingers over the scales of his head and he gave a purring sort of growl.

You wrapped your legs around his waist and he put his arms under your rear, holding you up as the two of you snogged like teenagers. You weren’t sure how well you were doing; you’d never actually kissed anyone before. He seemed to be enjoying it and showed no sign of wanting to stop.

You were the first to break away. “I don’t want to go back to the farm yet,” You said breathlessly. “Is there somewhere we can be alone?”

He swallowed hard and nodded. “There’s a place I go to. It’s safe.”

“Safe?” You echoed.

He nodded again. “I’ll show you.”

He set you down on your feet and took you by the hand, leading you into the forest. After about ten minutes, he lead you to a clearing. It was the most beautiful place you’d ever seen. It was a perfect circle, perhaps thirty feet wide, with soft clover and moss blanketing the ground. It was surrounded on all sides by wisteria, cherry, and maple trees. Looking up, you could see a bubble of the blue sky lighting up the space. Everything glowed luminously.

He led you in and said, “Wait for a moment.” He let go of your hand and pressed his to one of the trees. A shimmer spread from his hand and extended outward, encompassing the circle. “There. Now no one can find us. It’s completely safe.”

“How do you mean?” You asked.

“It’s a shield,” He replied. He pointed upward. “Watch.”

You looked up and watched a cloud pass over the opening in the canopy. Suddenly, rain fell, but not a single drop entered the clearing. Everything around you was dry.

“It also hides us,” He continued. “We’re invisible to anyone passing by.”

You turned to him in shock. “You can control your magic?”

“Not as much as I’d like,” He said. “But I’m learning. I created this place to practice in peace and secrecy. You’re the first person to ever see it.”

“I thought you hated magic,” You said.

“I do,” He replied. “But if I don’t learn to control it, I’m more likely to hurt someone on accident.”

“It’s beautiful here,” You told him. “Everything you touch becomes beautiful.”

“That’s not true,” he said, smiling. “You were beautiful long before I ever met you.”

You blushed and looked down. He put his claws hand under your chin and lifted your head to look at him. He bent and kissed you again, slower and deeper. You touched the muscles of his stomach, working your way up his chest, then back down and around his back. Your fingers touched the waistband above his tail and discovered the buttons that secured his pants around his waist that allowed his tail to stick out of the back. Without thinking much about it, you undid the first button.

His arms tensed around you and he pulled back. “I… um… I’ve never…”

You nodded before he could finish. “Neither have I. It’s alright. Do you want to stop?”

He shook his head fervently, tugging at the laces of your bodice. “No. I want you.”

You finished unbuttoning his trousers and they fell away, leaving him naked. You couldn’t see his… parts, but there was a slit between his legs, swollen and puckering. Cautiously, you touched it, and he gasped, his legs shaking.

“Does that hurt?” You asked in concern.

“Uh… no,” He said with a laugh. “It’s nice.”

“Sit down,” You told him, and he obeyed, propping himself up against a stump in the center of the circle, likely were Cetzu sat to practice his magic. You began to undress in front of him slowly. You felt a little awkward and unsure, but his eyes never left your body. As you watched, the slit opened a bit wider and you saw something bright red beginning to poke out. Your heart began to race.

When you were fully nude, you knelt in front of him and reached out to touch the pulsing slit, stroking it and teasing it a little. Cetzu groaned and his head fell back. His breathing was heavy and uneven.

“Tell me if I do something wrong,” You told him.

“What you’re doing is great, please keep doing it,” He begged.

As you touched it, it opened like a bloom, and not one but two thick, sharp-tipped members slid out of it, slick with his own lubricant. You felt your slit dripping as well, pulsing and throbbing. As you took one of his cocks in your hand, pumping it up and down, you reached between your legs and stroked yourself at the same time. The both of you moaned breathily and moved your hips in time with each other, completely in sync though you had yet to join together.

He reached out and cupped your cheek with his claws, pulling you forward to kiss your mouth and face and neck. He was doing that purring sound again, and it sent a tingle through your skin. He was now fully extended and erect. You pressed your body forward against his, your breasts pressed against his chest, and used him as leverage as you swung your right leg over his hip, and then the left, and pushed yourself up. Reaching down, you took the lower of the two and pushed it to your entrance.

“Ready?” You asked. He nodded wordlessly, petting your hair away from your face.

You lowered yourself down slowly onto him, feeling a little pop, though it wasn’t painful, and slipped all the way down the shaft. He gripped your hips, applying gentle pressure until you were flush against him, then held you close to him so that his free cock was pressed between the two of you. Slowly, you began to move, rocking against him. His hips moved at the same pace, pushing up into you as you rocked into him.

You raked your nails against his shoulders, speeding up as the throbbing got more intense. His purring became growling, but you weren’t afraid. His claws tightened around you, but you weren’t afraid. He thrust up into you harder, taking more control, but you weren’t afraid. Even when he grabbed you and flipped you onto your back on the ground, looming over you, kissing your bare breasts as he thrust, you felt a thrill, but no fear.

You reached between the two of you and took the second member in your hand, and he thrust against it, his body taut and trembling. He was close, you could feel it. With your other hand, you reached down and rubbing your pearl furiously, bringing yourself to that crest as well.

His back arched and he grunted as he came. You could feel the release inside you as well as painting your stomach and chest. Another few flicks of your fingers and you came after him, crying out against his shoulder.

He collapsed on top of you, and you wrapped both your arms and legs around him, holding him against you. The both of you gasped for air and lay in the soft clover, safe inside his magical shield.

He rolled on his side and kissed you. “I don’t know what to say now.”

You laughed. “It’s okay. This was a little… sudden.”

“Do you regret it?” He asked.

“No, of course not,” You said. “But I do think we should talk about what this means for us.”

“How so?”

“Well…” You sighed. “I’m all my dad has, and I know you don’t want to leave your family.”

Cetzu frowned. “I don’t know. I still feel an imbalance. I want to find a way to fix it.”

You sighed again but nodded. “I know, and I don’t know if I can help you. It’s like Feera said: it’s something you’ll have to figure out on your own. As much as I want to help, I don’t think it’s my place to assist in that.”

“Maybe not,” He said, taking your hand and kissing your palm. “Should we… stop this?”

“No! I mean, I don’t want to,” You said. “I care for you very much, but we both have responsibilities we can’t ignore.”

“So what do we do?” He asked, holding you closer.

“Perhaps we should slow down,” You replied thoughtfully. “This is new for both of us and we should take time to explore it. There’s no reason to jump into a life-long commitment right away. We could court each other, visit each other, still go on the merchant trips together. A long distance courtship could be… romantic. And it would give us both time and room to figure things out. What do you think?”

His grip around you tightened again, but he nodded. “As much as I’d like to be with you all the time, I think you’re right. There are factors in our lives that we can’t brush off. Your father needs you, and I need to find what it is I can do to feel like myself again. It may take time.”

“I know,” You said sadly. “It frustrates me, but it’s part of who you are, and if I’m to love you, I must love all of you, even the frustrating parts.”

He smiled at you fondly. “Heaven only knows how you put up with me.”

“It’s not easy,” You teased. He tickled you breathless.

You stayed there for the rest of the day, making love again, and when the temperature began to drop, signifying the coming of nightfall, the two of you cleaned up and dressed. He dismantled the shield spell with a wave of his hand and the two of you began the walk back to the farm, holding hands.

Thus began your new and uncertain courtship.

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trollhuntersshardborn · 4 years

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Forged in Darkness summary

Forged In Darkness was going to be two backstories that I felt couldn’t be squeezed into Act 2. And because these backstories are important and FiD is short, we’ll start with that before jumping into Act 2.

The first backstory is Alora’s, because in original planning of this story, Alora was going to be the main character.

So, a girl was born to two peasant folk in the year 1000 AD. The mother died of childbirth, and the father had no money to feed him and the baby. So he sold the baby to the nearest castle for coins to feed himself, convinced that a life of servitude would leave her housed, fed, protected and cherished. Well, he was right about the first two. The girl, who grew up with no name, was made the scullery maid of the castle kitchen, where she did dishes and the cleaning and made sure there was always hot water available. The kitchen cook would routinely check if the water was hot enough by dousing her with it, overtime leaving her with severe scars on her back. The girl was resentful and bitter, but powerless to even speak her frustrations else she become further abused or worse kicked out of the castle.

Her fortunes took a turn for the better and worse eighteen years later, when gumm-gumms took down the castle, killing and/or eating everyone inside. The girl was found and eaten by Gunmar himself. Then she woke up in his own castle keep twenty four hours later. Turns out she’s a Shard, resurrected by her now immortal soul. Yay? Well, now that Gunmar has himself a Shard to craft a massive army, he’d be able to take over the surface lands much faster now. But before that, he requests from her a son. It takes the girl time to get used to the idea that this is her life now, but she accepts this under the condition that she be treated better than when she was in the human castle (exact wording: “Don’t give me kindness and be cruel. Don’t give me cruelty and be kind. Be consistent with your treatment. Do not deceive me.” “Is that all? You don’t ask for much.”). Two months and two days of intense magical labor later, the Maiden has given Gunmar his son, Bular. The child is very small and weak, practically a runt, and while Gunmar is overjoyed to finally have kin, he’s apprehensive of the child surviving at all. Turns out that Maiden’s Life Magic is not particularly strong and it’s doubtful that she can churn out an army quickly. This would make her pretty useless, but since the other option is to toss her out and potentially give the enemy a Shard of their own, the gumm gumms opt to keep her. If only to raise the child.

Maiden loved Bular dearly, but having never cared for children and being a human raising a troll, she couldn’t give him a good upbringing. And terrified that he could be killed easily, once he started getting the hunger for battle, she tried to toughen him up and train him herself. Which meant she needed to be trained to fight as well. But a soft, fleshy human doesn’t last long in a sparring match with a troll. She was killed often, and soon brought back to life. She also eventually discovers the power to summon the swords she was training herself to use whenever she gets extremely pissed off or overprotective of Bular. These two discoveries cement that Maiden was immortal, and couldn’t die no matter what, which gave her the now trademark smart mouth, fiery temper and ignorance of high risks and deadly situations. The Maiden is now stricken with Deadpool Syndrome and quickly gets on the nerves of everyone in the Keep, including Gunmar. But again, they can’t toss out the firecracker or else she could become the enemy’s Shard. Also, Bular is rather attached to his completely erratic and insane mother, and she’s become rather good at fighting.

Determined to now become her own person and stand by Gunmar and Bular’s side as someone to be respected and feared, she goes to Gunmar and demands a rite of passage. All trolls go through a rite of passage to be considered adults, and once complete have the opportunity to choose a new name for themselves (this practice is now out dated and trolls in the modern day don’t really do this anymore). Gunmar is reluctant, but when she challenges him with a rite that “even Gunmar would not be able to do,” he tells her to go slay a Nyarlagroth Queen and bring back its skull. It takes her a goddamn MONTH, but she does it. Now, while she’s gone, a couple of changelings are putting a strategy in motion to keep themselves alive a little longer as well as put Maiden to better use when she comes back. They convince Gunmar that the Maiden will get stronger and stronger willed and possibly revolt against him, and if she does, Bular will most likely follow her. This isn’t good for anyone, so they convince Gunmar that the best and fastest way to tame her is to tie her down with the one thing that ropes in humans: love. “Give her what she wants most,” Corvis tells Gunmar, “a family.” Gunmar reluctantly agrees to play along, if only to keep civility and to reign in his own son. So when the Maiden comes back, and chooses the name Alora Darren (a combination of two troll queens from the past), Gunmar greets her with what will be a pet phrase to come:

“Alora. My wife. My queen. My one true love.”

This... works. Its awkward for the two of them at first, but now believing she’s won Gunmar’s adoration, she feels officially a gumm gumm and part of the pack. And it is so for three hundred years. Alora soon makes her name as a fieresome, deadly general among both trolls and humans. The trolls call her “Gunmar’s concubine” or “Gunmar’s human whore” while the humans call her “the wife of the devil himself.” But despite the new status, she’s still at the bottom of the family totem poll. And still as arrogant and wild as ever. Gunmar often sighs and groans at her antics, but there’s little else he can really do. She’s as reigned in as can be, but overtime, she does grow on him as his mischievous other half, though he rarely supports her schenaniganary.

This backstory actually ends just before the end of Act 1. Having lost the survivors of Royal Troll market, everyone is moving to head out to China to track down this Heartstone growing there. Alora is rather salty after her battle with Nakrik but won’t say why. This is when her own right hand, Skeeziel, who had been by her side as basically her only friend and supporter, admits that he’s been madly in love with her this whole time and goes to embrace her. She quickly pushes him away, not sure what’s caused this confession and not feeling the same way. However, Gunmar has seen this, and he calls Skeeziel to him, and promptly beheads the wizard troll. Alora is... devastated by these turns of events and it leads to a massive fight with Gunmar. This is basically going back on the agreement of giving kindness and being cruel. It then comes out that Gunmar didn’t even love Alora back then and was just doing this to reign in her wild side. Both are hurt and heartbroken, Alora so much so that she just... sits down and refuses to move. Gunmar won’t stay for any temper tantrum she may have and calls his armies to march east immediately.

Bular goes to his mom’s side, not having seen this fight at all, to urge her to come with them. It takes all of her energy to bring him close and touch foreheads, eyes heavy with tears, trying hard not to cry in front of her son. Bular catches on that something is wrong, and wants to stay with her, but she urges him to go with his father, scared of what would happen if Bular was no longer on Gunmar’s side. Bular reluctantly goes, angry with his mother staying behind and follows Gunmar east.

And so falls the Gumm gumm queen, into mortal despair. We’ll come back to this scene in Act 2.

The second story in Forged In Darkness is called Paika, and it follows the villain to be introduced in Act 2.

The story takes place in Bulgaria (because GODDAMN IT RICHARD ASHLEY HAMILTON WHY DAMN IT WHY FUCKING GOD DAMN IT ALL!),circa 1121 AD, in a tiny village called Anka, which sits on a mountain. This village is a combination village where humans and trolls lived together side by side in peace. And Gunmar’s conquering and rampages are driving trolls to seek solace in places he would have trouble reaching or not bother with, including this very out of the way village. Making their way here is a group of refugees hoping to find safety for themselves and several orphans they picked up along the way. One of these orphans catches the eyes of the human elder of the village, Kohsena Radulova. She spies a troll toddler born with no eyes and is a species of troll she’s never seen before. Taking pity on this little one, she takes him in personally and through magic, gives him his own eyes to see the world through. He says his name is Paika and she raises and loves on him as a son of her own.

Now, Kohsena isn’t your average hedge wizard, she’s also a Shard (whoa!)! She was born in the year 1000 AD, and had no idea of her powers until she passed away in her old age at seventy. Having come back to life, she discovered she can retain any and all knowledge she learns and uses it to memorize books of magic the trolls have on hand, easily harnesses the power of magic and brought stability to the harsh mountain they live on. She went on to continue being a granny to her kids, grandkids and great grandkids as they grew, and is the undisputed wise woman of Anka. When she adopts Paika, she quickly notices his talent for magic and takes him as her apprentice to pass on her teachings.

Paika is incredibly gifted in magic, using it in ways never seen before. But he’s a rather small troll, so he’s often bullied by both the troll and human kids growing up. But he’s also rather fast and limber, so he’s able to outrun, out jump, out climb, and stay hidden from any trying to pick on him. Noting how he navigates around the village and nearby forest with ease, one of Kohsena’s grandsons teaches Paika how to hunt and he’s rather good at that too. He seems as in tune to the mountain as Kohsena and has good potential to be a village elder. It’s not long after Paika reaches adulthood that he accepts his rite of passage. It comes in two stages: to make a tool he will use for the rest of his life, and to bring back a rare flower that grows inside the mountain. Paika makes a hardy hunting knife and uses his own talents to bring the flower back. Now an adult troll by rite, he can chose a new name. He decides to name himself after this troublesome flower, the Ingoret, which is a poisonous flower but when used correctly can be a life saving medicine. The name Ingoret is a troll word for “the very fine line between life and death.” But Paika has never been able to pronounce this word, so his official adult name is Angor Rot.

Skip to 1297 AD, Gunmar and his troops are making their way up the mountain. There is almost nowhere else for the people living on Anka to flee. Some are preparing to fight, and Kohsena promises to protect her home to the best of her ability. But Angor believes they aren’t enough and wants to go search for help. When asked who could possibly help, he says the witch in the black sea. In the least, she can grant him greater magic than he can wield on his own. Kohsena viciously shuts this idea down, since the witch is extremely dangerous and fickle. But Angor doesn’t see any other way to fight off Gunmar and keep his home. He sneaks away to the rocks in the sea to strike a deal with Morgana. We all know how that went.

Angor, sans one soul, instead of going off to fight Trollhunters rushes home to mom, hoping maybe she could fix this. He comes back to a village in ruins and the mountain barren of life. Gunmar, Alora, and the gumm gumm armies have laid waste to it all. Kohsena clings to life by the village center tree, unwilling to move in her grief, and seeing Angor return after selling his soul for magic makes the grief worse. She tells him that some of the villagers had escaped and she did what she could to protect the village but almost everything is gone. Angor insists that she come with him to find the others, but she refuses. She’s heartbroken that he left, but she says outloud “I’m glad you did. If you stayed, you would have been killed.” And this cuts him deep. He leaves her behind to pack what little of their things survived, and when he comes back, he sees that she’s died. Figuring that she’ll wake up on the way, he starts to take her body down the mountain. After several days, she doesn’t wake. An immortal Shard has permanently died. Angor, devastated, takes her back to the village and buries her. And now, with no emotional tethers, becomes a hunter to all Merlin had created. This also includes Shards, creatures of Merlin’s creation.

((Side note: Nadia was born the exact moment Kohsena died. Coincidence? To be addressed in Act 2))

In 1300 AD, Angor locates another Shard. This one is a rather young woman who’s ability is seeing the future, and her title is the Blind Seer (I think I had a name for her, but it’s lost to time). She had evacuated the troll village she lived in, prepared for Angor to come here. He came seeking knowledge of how a Shard can permanently die, and she was willing to give it to him. Why? “Because I have seen this moment. You come. I tell you the secret. You kill me, and go on to kill the other Shards. This is both our destinies, and there is nothing to be done to stop it.” With this, she tells him:

A Shard is only immortal when she wants to be. When she decides she no longer wants to live, the soul becomes mortal for as long as this wish is present. And the Seer, knowing this is her final moment alive, accepts this and relinquishes her will to live. And so Angor kills her to test this theory, and it is so. She never revives. And now, with this knowledge, he gains a title other than Hunter of Hunters. He’s also the Shardkiller.

Aaaaaand, that’s Forged in Darkness. I had thought of giving Grim a backstory here too since so little is written about him, but I honestly don’t have a good backstory to tell about him.

#Shardborn summary

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recentanimenews · 4 years

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Bookshelf Briefs 9/30/20

Accomplishments of the Duke’s Daughter, Vol. 6 | By Reai and Suki Umemiya | Seven Seas – Another series down to “once a year” release—I had to jog my memory at the start to recall what had been happening. Many things are going wrong for our heroine, who is trying to be strong and tough but is also starting to break down, and I felt that the scenes with her and Dean struck just the right balance of comforting and letting the heroine cry without making her seem weaker. This sets the stage for her comeback, which is extraordinary. (And also has a corrupt Church, a constant in Japanese light novels, though at least here there are also honest and good religious people in it.) That said, eventually Dean’s identity will come out, and I do wonder how this very good “villainess” isekai will handle it. – Sean Gaffney

The Ancient Magus’ Bride: Jack Flash and the Faerie Case Files, Vol. 1 | By Yu Godai, Mako Oikawa, and Kore Yamazaki | Seven Seas – A faerie switched at birth for a human child, Jack never fit in in either world. Only in the mortal realm could she earn money for anime collectibles, however, so she decided to make herself into a tough, capable woman like her literary heroes and set up shop as a detective. Together with her fellow changeling, Larry the werewolf, Jack takes on supernatural cases in New York City. In this volume, Lindel tasks them with tracking down a missing dragon egg. I liked the resources Jack uses to obtain information, which include a dapper theatre ghost and a spell with components of rat whiskers and taxi tires because “Nobody out there knows this city better than them.” I still found this a bit hard to get into, though, especially the parts involving a perpetually tearful off-off-off-off-Broadway actress and her pickpocket boyfriend. Still, I will check out volume two! – Michelle Smith

Black Clover, Vol. 22 | By Yuki Tabata | Viz Media – At long last, this interminable arc comes to an end. I enjoyed a lot of it, but I cannot deny it should have been about two volumes shorter. Most of the book is taken up by shonen battles, with the villain being nigh unkillable, the heroes almost breaking themselves to stop him, etc. Fortunately, the day is saved, and even the Wizard King turns out to be… sort of alive again? Shota fans should be happy. Asta fans perhaps less so—the sheer amount of damage done to the kingdom in this arc means someone has to be blamed, and give Asta has the “dark evil magic” it’s gonna be him, especially when he takes the incredibly obvious bait they use to get him to fight. Oh well, if Asta were smart, this wouldn’t be Black Clover. – Sean Gaffney

Don’t Toy with Me, Miss Nagatoro, Vol. 3 | By Nanashi | Vertical Comics – Part of the problem with titles like this and the other teasing works (Takagi-san less so as Nishikata doesn’t fall into the category) is that they are, at heart, the classic “extroverted girl acts overtly extroverted to bring introverted guy out of their shell,” and that’s not really a plot that feels comfortable in the Gen Z days, where you’re more likely to say “why doesn’t she just let him be in his quiet, safe space?” And by she I mean they, as Nagatoro’s two friends appear far more often here, which offers some good two-way teasing action, as they clearly see her crush on him, if not why. It’s still sort of hard to read, but if you pretend he’s more OK with it than he actually is, this is cute. – Sean Gaffney

Failed Princesses, Vol. 1 | By Ajiichi | Seven Seas – The concept of “popular girl meets unpopular girl” is a common one in yuri manga, and we do indeed hit several of its tropes in this first volume. The amusing thing is that Kanade, the shy outcast girl, is perfectly aware of how things are supposed to go, and keeps pulling back a bit to try to save Nanaki from, well, making herself an outcast by associating with the wrong people. The best part of the volume is that Nanaki really doesn’t give two shits about any of that, and seems set on making Kanade her best friend… and also making her over, which backfires a bit as Kanade cleans up nicely. I hear this gets a bit dramatic later, but for the moment it’s a cute and fluffy proto-yuri story. – Sean Gaffney

In/Spectre, Vol. 12 | By Kyo Shirodaira and Chashiba Katase | Kodansha Comics – The first story in this volume is another “Rikka tries to make people understand Kotoko is an evil Machiavellian schemer,” this time with one of her ex-classmates, but again the response seems to be “we know she’s a manipulative bitch, but she’s a good person anyway.” The larger story, which will continue into the next book, seems to be a chance to write Kuro and Kotoko as an actual romance, as the man we meet here and his relationship with a yuki-onna… as well as his penchant for attracting misfortune… very much parallel them. That said, they’re very cute together, which is why I hope he avoids the murder charge he’s now being investigated for. Still a favorite. – Sean Gaffney

Interviews with Monster Girls, Vol. 8 | By Petos | Kodansha Comics – The author knows what people want to see, but also knows that the best way to get readers is to drive them crazy by not showing it. We finally get what we’ve been begging for here, as Tetsuo asks Sakie out on a date. (This is after rejecting Kyouko’s love confession, both because she’s his student and also, as he is forced to admit, as he likes Sakie.) The stage is set for the date… and the rest of the book is thus spent with the three main student girls going to Kyouko’s for a fireworks viewing and meeting her family. They’re good chapters, and I really liked showing how difficult Kyouko has it as a dullahan in terms of everyday life, but GOD, please get back to the teachers, I beg you! – Sean Gaffney

Kaguya-sama: Love Is War, Vol. 16 | By Aka Akasaka | Viz Media – The series has gotten to the point where the more rewarding chapters are the ones as part of a larger arc. Not that the one-shot chapters are bad—though Maki’s journey to India may be the most pointless thing in this entire series to date, we do get Chika’s iconic “shut up or I’ll kill you” here. But the larger arcs, featuring Miyuki and Kaguya attempting to date without interruptions, and setting up Ishigami and Iino for a romance—though given the number of limbs broken in this book, and Iino’s own horrible lack of self-awareness, it may be a ways out—are better. This series is still hilarious, but we’ve come to read it more for the heartwarming moments. Heck, there’s even some serious drama here. Very good. – Sean Gaffney

Nineteen | By Ancco | Drawn & Quarterly – Although it was translated and released second in English, Nineteen is a precursor to Ancco’s internationally award-winning manhwa Bad Friends. The volume collects thirteen short comics originally published in Korea over a decade ago which absolutely remain relevant to today’s world. While understandably not as polished as some of Ancco’s later work—one can observe her style evolving and growing over the course of the collection (which is fascinating)—the comics still carry significant emotional weight and impact. Nineteen includes diary comics, which tend to be more lighthearted, as well as harder-hitting fictional stories, many of which also have autobiographical inspiration. As a whole, the collection explores themes of young adulthood, growing up, and complicated family relationships. In particular, there is a compelling focus on the relationships among daughters, mothers, and grandmothers. Some of the narratives can be rather bleak, but a resigned sense of humor threads through Nineteen, too. – Ash Brown

Ran the Peerless Beauty, Vol. 8 | By Ammitsu | Kodansha Comics (digital only) – Shoujo manga that has couples getting together BEFORE the end of the series is inevitably going to have an arc dealing with how far the lead couple should go now that they’re dating, and this is Ran’s turn, as she and Akira and their friends go to a beach house Ran’s family owns and have some beach fun. Unfortunately, the cast gets winnowed down one by one until it’s just the two of them… and her overprotective father, who arrives in time to provide the cliffhanger and no doubt ensure that nookie does not ensue. Not that I think it should—these two kids are even purer than the couple from Kimi ni Todoke, and I think they should mature a bit more before going further. Plus, watching them blush and kiss is wonderful. – Sean Gaffney

Spy x Family, Vol. 2 | By Tatsuya Endo | Viz Media – Having spent our first volume establishing that our found family can really come to love each other deep down, this volume shows off how they are also, at heart, fundamentally awkward and unable to socialize normally. This is unsurprising—hints of Loid’s life we’ve seen show him as a war orphan, Yor is a contract killer, and Anya basically grew up being experimented on by bad guys. As the school soon finds, this leads to issues. The second half of the book introduces Yor’s sister-obsessed little brother Yuri, who turns out to be a torture expert for Loid’s enemies. As always, half the fun is that everyone except Anya has no idea who their real selves are, and the cliffhanger tells us we’re in for some hilarious family fun. I love this. – Sean Gaffney

Spy x Family, Vol. 2 | By Tatsuya Endo | VIZ Media – After a brief spell atop the waiting list, Anya officially makes it into Eden Academy. Loid is anxious to progress to the next stage of his mission and, believing there’s not much chance in turning Anya into an elite scholar like his agency wants, focuses instead on having her befriend the younger son of his target. It does not go to plan, of course. Anya is very cute in this volume, and I also really appreciated how Loid genuinely listens to Yor and values her input. The arrival of Yor’s brother, a member of the secret police, is going to be a fun complication, and another cast member with a secret, but my favorite part of this series is probably always going to be how much love these three are already feeling for each other. So unique and good! – Michelle Smith

Sword Art Online: Hollow Realization, Vol. 6 | By Tomo Hirokawa, based on the story by Reki Kawahara | Yen Press – The weakness of this manga is the same as always—it’s written to tie into the games, and features several characters I just don’t recognize, which can be a problem given this is the big final let’s-save-the-world ending. That said, this is still a decent SAO title. Kirito gets to be cool and badass, but because this isn’t written just by Kawahara others do as well, and it’s a nice balanced effort that focuses on heroine Premiere. I also really liked the point where all the NPCs are worried when everyone has to log out for several days for maintenance. While I’ll still remember this as the “SAO only everyone is alive” manga, I enjoyed reading it, when I wasn’t confused. – Sean Gaffney

By: Ash Brown

#Anime #News #Manga Bookshelf

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stattic-writes · 5 years

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Sober Up

https://statticscribbles.tumblr.com/post/639099629845233664/masterlist

Support My Writing?

#Kurtz #riverdale kurtz #kurtz imagine #jonathan whitesell #Jonathan Whitesell imagine #riverdale #riverdale imagine #riverdale fandom #riverdale fanfiction #written #i'm sorry this is long but i'm also not sorry #honestly this wasn't gonna be a reader insert just like throwing my hat in the ring for kurtz backstory #the opportunity was too good not to make it a reader insert #enjoy #female reader #female reader insert

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thiscrimsonsoul · 5 years

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Not to mix up lores, but what would Wanda do if she could visit Stephen King's "Pet Sematary" and she still had Pietro's/Vision's bodies nearby? (Although I don't think it would work with Vision because... He's a super complex being! And I'm assuming you know what happens because you write so well, I'm sure you read a lot) Would Wanda try to bring them back despite the warnings? Or would she let them rest?

{out of paprikash} Oh, this is such a cool question! Lots to discuss here. I’m a big horror book and movie buff and I love both for “Pet Sematary.” So... I think it would depend on Wanda’s mental state at the time, and exactly how much she was told about the results of burying someone at the “Pet Sematary.” Let’s do a best case/worst case scenario thing, shall we?

Best case scenario, Wanda is of relatively sound mind and is shown or told pretty compelling stories to make her think twice. Maybe she was shown a news article of what happened to the Creeds or some other family affected by the place, or she had someone explain to her in gory detail what happened. Hmm... I guess for the benefit of my followers who may not know the story, I should explain a bit so that everyone understands. You know what? Under the cut because I ended up rambling on FOREVER with this ask, haha...

“Pet Sematary,” spelled incorrectly because it was supposed to have been written on a sign by young children, was a place where you could bury the dead and have them come back to life. Sort of, heh. Started as a graveyard where kids buried their pets, it was an evil place that twisted whatever was buried there. It was located on an Indian burial ground (very trope-ish, I know), and basically the premise was that the ground had “gone sour.” Whatever you buried there would come back to you, so I mean it did work, but there were consequences. There was one iconic line in the original movie, I forget whether it was in the book too, I read it so many years ago, but it was, “Sometimes, dead is better.” In other words, as painful as it is to lose someone, it’s even more so to have their memory twisted or overwritten by some perversion or obscene likeness of them. It’s also even more painful to deal with all the other associated consequences, of which there were many...

The first initial moments of the animal or person coming back to you might be nice, only because it takes a while for the full evil to set in, and of course you wanted your loved one back, so seeing them again makes you happy. But pretty soon you would notice them having some weird behaviors. They might stare at you creepily, might want to eat raw meat, might be angrier or crueler than you remember them, might be obsessed with weapons or sharp objects. And the more you either question the behavior or try to correct it, the angrier and more frustrated the person or animal becomes.

The next stage is them trying to harm or even kill random people and animals around you or even people in your family or your friends. The resurrected person or animal becomes more and more violent and murderous, and less like the loved one you buried. Their actions become more impulsive, less rational, and more instinctual, like a crazed animal more than a healthy one or a sane person. They might drool, growl, hit their head against the wall... just really strange things, even as they harm or kill everyone around you.

The last stage is them hunting and killing you, the person who buried them. In fact, there was a rule for this. “You bury your own.” It’s kindof like well... if you want this done, if you want this person or animal to come back and are basically willing to spit in the face of the laws of nature to make it happen, then you have to take responsibility for the associated consequences. And it becomes really cruel and heartbreaking because they will try to lure you to them with false kindness and love.

So... at the point at which they’re trying to kill you, you’re probably on to them by now and wanting to re-kill them to get them to stop killing your family and friends. But they’re a loved one too, and they know it, and they’ll use it. So if it’s a cat, it’ll mew softly or purr at your leg before jumping at your throat. If it’s a spouse, they’ll try to hug you or kiss you as they’re raising a knife to your back. if it’s a child, they’ll cry for mommy or daddy as they conceal a scalpel or some other weapon to harm you with as soon as you pick them up. They might ask you, “Why are you doing this to me?” while looking super sad, and the second you start to break down and regret things, they’ll move in for the kill. So they really use your love for them as a weakness to get to you, which is a very sad concept.

The premise is a lot like, for those of you who love the horror genre, the second story of Trilogy of Terror II (1996). A woman whose son drowned in the ocean near their home performs an occult ritual to bring him back. The boy does come back, and he seems confused, disoriented, cold, but otherwise fine. Very quickly, however, he becomes mouthy, demanding, disobedient, destructive... and eventually he ends up trying to kill his mom. The punch line of the story is that the boy didn’t drown accidentally, but rather he jumped off the cliffs and into the water to get away from his controlling and abusive mother. The boy’s soul didn’t want to come back, so something else came back instead. Something evil. Well Pet Sematary is the same kind of deal. It’s almost like Celtic stories of changelings, how it looks exactly like the person you know, but doesn’t act like them at all.

The upshot is that anything buried at the Pet Sematary would come back in the body you buried (which had it’s own downsides if the body was badly destroyed during the person’s death, and the person/animal would smell really bad, because they are in fact still dead) but the soul of the person you loved wouldn’t be inside. Instead, there was something else, soulless, evil, demonic, whatever you wanted to infer it was. And it was always just... utterly remorseless, entirely without empathy, and would always just tear apart the life of the person who buried the body before actually killing them too. I think there was a lesson here, or maybe a few lessons, something to the effect of, death is permanent and there’s not coming back from it. But also... there are consequences for imagining yourself above the laws of nature. And also... shame on you for disturbing the rest of a person who may not want to come back. Whether they wanted to die or prefer to remain dead now that they are, it’s seen as total selfish hubris on the part of the person burying their dead loved one because it’s about easing your pain instead of letting your loved one rest in peace.

Okay so now that I’ve blabbed on and on about that... the best case scenario for Wanda is if she’s fairly mentally stable, maybe just grieving but has not lost touch with reality yet, and that she is swayed by the stories she reads/hears. Wanda does believe in demons, she is superstitious, and she is very fearful of things like damning souls for eternity. It’s why she is so disturbed by what she feels when Pietro dies and interprets it partially from what she actually feels but partially out of fear and grief as him ending up in some sort of hell or place where his soul is being tortured in some way. So she does believe in such things and Pietro and Vision both are two people she loved so fiercely that if she is in her right mind, she would not play around with anything that might damn them, punish them, torture them, or twist their natures at all.

With Pietro and his love of running and athletics and with Vision and his unique body, Wanda would not be attracted to the idea of bringing them back in bodies that are falling apart, rotting, or otherwise continuing to die even though they are animated. That’s... perverted to her. It’s a perversion of nature and of their bodies which she values because they were important to them, so she would never want to bring them back in any condition that would upset them or be anything less than the ideal they would want to live in.

But I think the real kicker that would really drive home for her that this is a bad idea and something she wouldn’t mess with is if someone explained to her that it wouldn’t be the soul of the person she actually loves being brought back. It’d be their body, but something dark inside them. That would really both scare her and turn her off to the whole idea.

Also, something I just thought of... is that if Wanda actually went to the Pet Sematary - and this is my own headcanons to some extent - she might be able to read the land? Wanda reads minds, yes, but she is also attuned to certain energies and very empathetic. She might either sense the evil of the land, the “sourness,” as it were... or she might maybe pick up on residual emotions from people who had been victimized by the land. That would also be a huge deterrent to her actually going through with anything.

NOW... heh... WORST case scenario. So let’s say this is a post-Endgame Wanda who did not adjust well and is now grieving Vision along with Pietro and her parents and Natasha and Tony and anybody else she’s lost. Maybe she tries to use her own powers to bring Vision back and it doesn’t work. She’s getting exhausted, run down, frustrated, more grief-stricken, and now she’s losing touch with reality. She’s seeing things. She’s sleep-deprived. She’s not eating well. And all of that is making her so desperate to just have somebody come back to her. That version of Wanda might actually go through with it. Although at that point, she’d have to do Vision because there wouldn’t be enough of a body left from Pietro to try it with him. I don’t see Wanda doing it with Pietro after Ultron, I just don’t see her being that mentally unstable yet at that point in her life to make such an unwise decision. But after Endgame? Yeah. Maybe. But for now we’ll assume she buries Vision there.

So... this is actually gonna get real sad, real fast, heh, because there’s no happy ending here at all. One outcome is that Vision goes on a rampage and starts killing people and other Avengers have to find some way to kill him, in which case Wanda would seriously lose her shit to see Vision killed a third time. I think if she’s mentally unstable enough to bury him in the sour land after all those warnings, then she might actually be able to look past whatever evil he was doing and just be utterly delusional about it and insist that he’s fine. So... seeing him killed again would really unhinge her and she might start trying to kill people... at which point... the remaining Avengers would have to either kill or subdue her.

Another outcome is that Vision stays around Wanda for a most part or at least doesn’t draw too much attention to himself and goes right for her, of course with the intent to kill her. But I think at this point Wanda would be so happy to see him in any form that her reaction would be similar to that of Louis Creed when he buried his wife Rachel. For those who haven’t seen the movie (the 1989 version, anyway, I haven’t seen the 2019 one yet), Louis by this time had lost the family cat, his toddler son, his neighbor, and then his wife. Well... the toddler son killed the wife, heh, because he was buried first. But yeah. By the time his wife is killed and he’s forced to re-kill his toddler son, Louis is pretty freakin’ unhinged mentally, heh. He’s just broken by his pain and when Rachel comes back dripping with goo and just her face is falling apart and it’s just nasty, haha... he doesn’t even see it. He only sees his wife, and he’s happy, and he hugs her and kisses her, and she stabs him in the back, heh. It’s gross but it’s also really just heartbreaking to me because he’s so broken by that point. I think a similar situation would happen with Wanda, where she would just be so far gone mentally that she would just be happy to see Vision and would go to him, not knowing or caring that he is pretty much just going to kill her. And that.... gosh, that thought just breaks my heart to pieces.

Thank you so much for sending this in, this was a really fun hypothetical, fictional exercise for my brain, haha. Like... I really had a lot of fun writing this and imagining all the possibilities. If there’s anything I didn’t cover or you think of other related questions, feel free to send them in, because this was a really interesting rabbit hole to go down! =)

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iamnotbrianmay · 5 years

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shamed the king (in all his pride)

Hello Loves! Do you remember the summer reading assignment I told you I had to finish? Well, I’m 1/3 through and I wanted to share it with you! It’s a Queen fanfic as well as Homework, ‘cause I can’t do anything unless I’m truly interested in it.

It is a piece shamelessly inspired by @waywardrunawaycherryblossom‘s own work, I hope you like it!

♖♜♖

It was a sunny day when the Fae walked out of the forest. It was not unheard of for nymphs like him to step into civilisation; however, this particular creature was a little bit more dangerous around humans than any other Fae.

It seemed as if with every step the critters around the forest would fall silent, weary of the soul walking amongst them, as would every bug and insect that roamed the area. No animal wanted to have a run-in with this particular forest dweller, and it showed in the eerie silence that surrounded him.

As he got closer to the edge of the woods, he willed his inhuman beauty to tame down, and for clothes to appear over his naked body. If anyone were to see him now, he would look like any other human. One or two blemishes were covering his skin, a little fat in his abdomen and waist, and small flaws in his face that made him look human. That wasn’t going to last long, however.

All that it would take for his otherworldly beauty to shine through would be to find his next prey. The next unsuspecting human that would fall victim to his charms and fall helplessly in love with him, granting him another child amongst the humans, another changeling that would make their binding amongst the world, doing and undoing to the Unseelie Court’s demand.

Once he stepped out of the forest, he looked around. It had been a few years since he had been out of the Canaan, and he noted how changed the Irish lands were. At the edge of the forest was a quaint little town that had been nothing but a few houses the last time he had been around.

Two massive stone churches rose above the rest of the buildings. Woods and mountains surrounded the village, creating a stark contrast with the different coloured houses that composed the settlement. A sly smile crept upon his features as he looked around. Cyan coloured eyes taking in the landscape as he decided where to start searching.

Maybe he could find an old bookshop with unsuspecting and lonely bachelors. Or, he could hunt for younger girls, fresh out of school and naive enough to have a one night stand. But as he decided, something in the air changed. Something that made the animals in the woods come out if their hiding and the bugs around the area to buzz again. For nature was the wisest of them all, and she knew that something unheard of was about to happen.

♖♜♖

The day was bright as he walked through the city streets. The sun is shining down from the sky, making his skin glow and golden hair glimmer. People looked at him whenever he passed beside them. Gaggles of girls whispering amongst them about his beauty while the rest of them just seemed awestruck. The fae walked down the street, letting his senses guide him to the closest changeling he could find, and found himself standing in front of a Real Estate agency minutes later.

The bell rang as he walked inside the old shop. Shutters letting the evening sun stream into the room, lighting up the cosy insides. The walls were with pictures of different houses, both old and new, as well as books and posters about architecture. The grey carpet had the odd stain here and there, as did the brown leather couches that lined the waiting room, giving the sense that they had been used for a very long time.

And on the farthest wall was a door, behind which his senses were telling him the changeling was, were several potted plants are lining the wood. Flowers bloomed, casting what he recognised as a protection spell. Heather and Begonia are guarding whoever was behind that door from other less pleasant creatures.

“Come on in!” The fae let himself wander in when he heard someone shout back to him from the back room, “I’ll be right out!”

The door shut behind him as the creature walked close to the picture lined walls. He looked at the dozen or so little houses and apartments that the agency had to offer; they ranged from whimsical looking homes to awfully ordinary flats. None of them appealed to him; however, he knew that if he needed to stay in the human world for more than a few hours, the fae would have to choose a home, least he arises suspicion.

The back door opened, letting in a soft stream of summer air and the most beautiful woman the immortal had ever laid his eyes on. Her hair was long a curly, coils of bronze framing her thin face, long nose, pretty hazel eyes, and dark skin. As she met eyes with the blonde, she tilted her head to the side, making the teal colour earrings she was wearing glitter in the light, “Good afternoon, Joanna will be with you in a moment. Would you like anything to drink?”

The second of astonishment passed and the blonde’s usual charms came back full-on, he smiled at the girl, then scanned her fingers and wrists for any sign of the brunette being married, then took a step closer when he noticed nothing, “Just your name will be enough for now.”

Something like a dark shadow crossed over her face, and the smile she had been previously showing him turned bitter and angry, “I know what game you’re playing.”

For a second, the Faerie frowned, reaching out to confirm that the woman was indeed a human, that he hadn’t been mistaken when making his judgement. Once he did confirm the woman’s parentage, his frown deepened, “Whatever do you mean?”

The human scoffed, as she leaned against the wooden frame, “People like you come in here every day, following the stories about the gipsy — ” she spat out the word as if it was poison, “Well, I’m not giving you my real name. I know you’ll make fun of it.”

At that moment, the one he had been waiting for walked into the room, placing a hand on the girl’s shoulder and glaring at the fae. That is until she realised who he was, “Bry, dear, you don’t have to worry about him; he is a friend of mine.”

It was only then that Bry blushed, looking sorry for what she had just done. The Changeling, an elvish looking girl with long brown hair and porcelain white skin, looked back at the Fae and smiled, “You have to forgive her, Meadows, people around here are not kind to women like Bryony.”

Meadows. Interesting choice of name by the Changeling. The fae accepted the name graciously, with a smile and a slight bow of his head, as it is customary, “No worries, I know how others can be.”

The Changeling, Joanna, smiled, “Good, now come; we have a lot to discuss.”

Bryony was ushered out of the room, told to bring them two cups of coffee from the bakery down the street, as they discussed their family matters.However, as soon as they were behind the closed door, in a room even lovelier than the one before that they used as a waiting room, Joanna bowed.

“My Prince,” she swept a lock of hair behind her ear, “it’s an honour to find you here.”

The room was thoroughly decorated with all kinds of beautiful flowers, buds of all types, shapes, and colours. Set up in patterns that Meadows, he had to start using that name if he wanted to fit in, recognised as wealth, prosperity, and luck spells. It was lovely, an almost reminiscent replica of their home back in Canaan.

“I’m terribly sorry about Bryony’s behaviour; she hasn’t had the best experiences with the men around town.”

Meadows frowned, “Is it that common for people to mock her?”

“More than you think,” Joanna walked over to a machine set up on the corner, “humans can be so cruel when they want to be. I’ve tried to help her, but I’m afraid the world is just sometimes too terrible for souls like her. Coffee, Your Highness?”

“Isn’t Bryony bringing some?”

Joanna bit her lip, “Yes, she is, I’m sorry if I offended you.”

Meadows waved her apology off, beckoning her to sit beside him, “Forget about Rules of Hospitality, I’m not your prince while I’m on Earth. I’m— what was the name you gave me? Oh yes, Meadows. ”

“And you are here on business, I presume.”

He nodded, “My father asked all of our siblings to come to Earth, says this place requires Changelings.”

“Dire,” Joanna agreed, “I’m the last one in this town, and please don’t even get me started on London. I think Madam Thatcher's power has come to an end.”

Meadows shrugged, “She was warned of the risks, now she has to live with the consequences.”

“Well,” the changeling said, as she settled on the couch stiffly, “I suppose I shouldn’t derail you from your orders. Has anyone caught your attention yet?”

Meadows thought about it. He had seen one or two girls who looked gullible enough for him to take, as well as women who, regardless of being attached to their boyfriend’s arm, couldn’t stop looking at him. He had even seen the odd loner who looked like the kind of person willing to have a good time with anyone. However, none had caught his eye in the way that Bryony had.

“What about your assistant?” He asked, “Do you think she would mind having a Changeling running around?”

“Mmm?” For the first time in their meeting, Joanna seemed not to be focused on the conversation they were having, “I mean, I don’t think she would mind, per se. Even less with my help to take care of the imp, but— Meadows you have to understand, that you might have chosen the only woman on this town who won’t fall for your charms.”

Meadows frowned, “Why? Is she only attracted to women?”

“No,” Joanna said as she toyed with the hem of her t-shirt, “She can’t have kids, and you can’t charm anyone who can’t have kids. That’s how your Magick works.”

Before Meadows could ask another question, dive deeper into the story of the girl, a knock came on the door, “That’s Bryony.”

“We’ll keep talking about this later,” he said, “Now let her in, I really do want some coffee.”

♖♜♖

After Bryony had given them their coffees and Joanna had given Meadows the keys for one of their rental houses and the directions; the blonde had headed off. He had walked down the quiet streets of the town. He could see people here and there, chatting or eating, playing with their kids and even kissing in the faraway corners of the parks. For one second, he was reminded of home, but not because the human world was any similar to Canaan, but because it seemed so dull in comparison to his birthplace.

Where he was used to seeing a constant parade of street dancers and muses, he saw groggy businessman and pretentious women. Where he was used to seeing familiar faces, he saw con-men trying to rip off poor families of their last pounds. Where he was used to seeing beauty, he saw people laughing for something as innocent as a name.

Bryony had been something else. Even though Joanna had popped his bubble by telling him that Bryony would never fall for his charms, that he wouldn’t be able to enjoy a few weeks in her presence at least before he would have to leave her, he couldn’t get her out of her mind. He couldn’t stop thinking about the spark of defiance in her eyes, the way she had been so ready to fight for the respect of something as simple as her name with every inch of her will even if it meant losing a potential customer.

There was something about her that was driving him up the wall, even if the only exchange of words they had had had been a series of insults. Maybe that’s what had him thinking about her.

The house Joanna had given him was quite lovely. It was this small, two-bedroom, house in the outskirts of town with a backyard facing directly into the woods. Painted blue and white, it gave the impression of being the kind of cosy cabin he would read of in the children books when he was younger. The ones that naughty fairies would peak into only to drive the humans insane. It made him feel right at home.

The floors were wood, the plumbing system quite old, and it smelled of moss and water leaks. It was bearable, would even get to be incredible if he got up to make sure the house was fixed up, which he would do if he decided to stay awhile.

He plopped himself on the old couch of the living room, action that sent dust flying all over the place. He coughed and sputtered, then decided that he needed to at least clean the old thing, even if he wasn’t staying for more than a few days. That’s how he spent the rest of the evening, cleaning up the house methodically with every single tool he conjured up. He was well aware that he could simply will the dust and muck away; however, cleaning was much more calming and gave him the time to think about the day.

He found himself scrubbing an old stain from the Kitchen isle when the knock sounded all over the house. He frowned, wiping his hands on his pants and hoping for the best when opening the door. On the other side was Bryony, in the same clothes he had seen her in, holding a bottle of something in one hand, while looking sheepish, “Look, I’m sorry I reacted that way. I’m just used to people not—”

The brunette looked down, then met his eyes, “I’m sorry. That’s what I am trying to say.”

Meadows pursed his lips, “I’m the one that should be sorry.”

“What?”

“I’m the one who should be sorry,” he repeated, “It’s just I’m used to—”

“You are used to women falling at your feet every time you meet them?” For a second he worried he had somehow offended the human, then he noticed the mischievous smile and the glint in Bryony’s eyes.

He chuckled, “I like you.”

“Well, I can’t say the same,” she raised the bottle, he knew it must have been cheap wine, at best, but he couldn’t bring himself to care, “Yet. But what do you say we start over? A bottle of wine, a reintroduction, maybe I even get to hear some embarrassing stories of my boss?”

His heart dropped to the pit of his stomach when he realised what this meant. It meant that somehow, someway, his Magick had worked on Bryony and that she was here like every other girl had ever been. Ready for the best night of their lives, and the worst nine months after that. He should have been happy, but instead, it filled him with something akin to disappointment.

He opened the door further, “Alright, sweetheart. In you go.”

The brunette stepped inside and looked around the house, “I must say, you’ve done quite a good job with the place. Last time I came in this was a complete dumpster.”

He closed the door harder than he should have, “Yeah, I guess I was hoping to bring someone here one of these days.”

She turned around, narrowing her eyes at Meadows, “Oh no, you don’t, mister, I’ve got a boyfriend. Now, where are the glasses?”

“I wasn’t going to do anything, I swear,” He felt a smile spread over his face, “Besides, I would much rather have a friend right now.”

♖♜♖

Also available in AO3!

#Brian May #roger taylor #John Deacon #freddie mercury #maylor #My writing #fanfic

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