#it's a story about a girl who is a ghost and cassandra and sleeping beauty and persephone all at once

[aletterinthenameofsanity]

Amy Pond canon-compliant character study (I will rip your heart out just like I did mine)

You are Amy Pond and your best friend is a man who tumbled into your life when you were a child and turned you into the town’s Cassandra, doomed to never be believed, doomed to believe without salvation, and yet your faith in has never wavered, because what would you be without him? You don't remember existing in a world without your god.

You are Amy Pond and you are kind and you have faith until that faith is forcefully broken to save your life. You become Lucy Pevensie, cast out of your kingdom by the only god you have ever believed in, so you choose to build your own kingdom, to make a life out of the wreckage that he left behind.

But that is not enough. It will never be enough. You are not allowed to leave this story. You are not allowed to grow up in a way that matters, because every time you try to choose, every time that you try to build a life of your own, you are dragged back into this story.

You are Amy Pond and this is a horror story, a tragedy, because you were never allowed to make a choice unless that choice is to die. You are not allowed to choose unless it is to kill yourself. You die on Appalappachia. You die in Manhattan. Any time you get to make a decision, death is there, hand outstretched, ready to walk you off the stage.

You are Amy Pond and you are a ghost haunting other people's stories.

You are Amy Pond and you died before you were born.

You are Amy Pond and you are kind even though the world was never kind to you and maybe, just maybe, this would have been a kinder story if you hadn't believed. If you hadn't held faith. If you had let the memory of your imaginary friend slide away.

The world might have ended earlier. The universe might have been worse off. But would you have? Would you have been happier?

The answer doesn't matter in the end. It never did.

Because there's nothing you can do. No other way this story ends.

You are Amy Pond and you do not get to leave. You do not get to change your story. 

You are Amy Pond and you are Amelia Williams and you are Amelia Pond and your story ends as it began: with a girl sitting in a garden, waiting for a man to pick you up and take you to your death.

(Amy Pond and being trapped within the narrative: aka, the question of narrative framing and the consequences of faith.)

Full version of the poem(? Character study?) here:

@twelvesbian @tenmartha @variousqueerthings @spoofymcgee

(Tagging people whose analysises inspired this)

[cassandra-pentughasst]

Ghosts.

Something a little Halloweeny for the girls because Ellana’s birthday is the Thedas equivalent of Halloween. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Travellers tell of an old abandoned house in a dark and lonely wood. Some say that the house isn’t there. Not really. That it appears to lost and lonely travellers on dark and stormy nights. Others say that it's a broken shell of weathered boards and broken windows. However, it appeared travellers all agreed on one thing. It should be avoided at all costs. Or, if one’s misfortune was dire enough the house would allow you to stay until the first grey streaks of dawn appeared over the horizon. But if you remained when the morning light crept across the cracked and splintered threshold that was where you would stay. Some travellers thought it foolishness, a local legend to keep quiet paths undisturbed. Others heeded the words, days added to their journeys to avoid the place - out of both fear and respect. Every year a few reckless souls took the legend as a challenge. And every year they were never seen again. Though one traveller tells of their time there with fondness. Tells of an old house in a sun-dappled wood, their only company the wind and the birds as they made their way through the quiet landscape. It was chance that they stopped there. A late afternoon autumn storm saw them finding shelter from angry leaves and cold rain. For them, they say, though large the house was quiet and welcoming. The feeling of someone just having left lingers in the air, along with the smell of tea and something they can’t quite name.  Despite the storm that rages outside there was a cosiness within those walls. Though by all appearances it looked like no one was home, fire was burning happily in the hearth, and the unfamiliar smell seemed to linger in the plush armchair they sat in to rest their road-weary feet. A small book rests beside them on a spindly-legged table. Curious, the traveller reaches for the smooth black leather spine, in the hopes of seeing the name. Before they can catch a glimpse of the title they’re interrupted, their hand hovering over the book when they hear a voice. “What are you doing?”  The traveller freezes. “You shouldn’t be here,” the voice tells them impatiently. Now the traveller had seen many things in their time, and compared to most they would consider themselves to be unfazed by most things that they come across in their line of work. But, that isn’t to say that the traveller was unmoveable.  They rise, to greet the voice and apologise for imposing on their hospitality, only to be caught by surprise at the sight before them. Perhaps, the traveller thinks, the woman before them is the most beautiful woman they’ve ever seen. Perhaps it is hard to say. Perhaps, they will spend the rest of their life comparing all others that they meet to them. They don’t know. “This is trite,” Cassandra huffs looking up from the page that she is reading “Varric has almost outdone himself.” “It's sweet,” Ellana laughs softly, gazing at Cassandra affectionately. The weight of her warm, comfortable against her thigh. Like so many nights before Cassandra found herself anchored to the lounge in front of the fireplace, warmed by both flame and the body that rested against her. Reading until she felt Ellana grow heavy, finally asleep despite fighting her tiredness to spend one last moment with her before the responsibilities of tomorrow dragged her away. “‘The Traveller’?” Cassandra groans “Who are they? What are they doing.” “Oh hush vhenan,” Ellana smiles, her eyes sparkling with mirth.  Cassandra rolls her eyes with a snort, finding the place where she left off and continuing to read.  The woman is pale, like the shadow of a moon, with silvery hair that coils around her shoulders. She is small, but there is no mistaking her presence. There is a familiarity that surprises the traveller, something about her feels like they’ve met her before. And maybe they have. But surely they would remember meeting such a woman. But maybe not, considering the tales that lingered about this place. “You shouldn’t be here,” the woman speaks again, this time with more force. “My apologies,” The traveller begins. “I only seek shelter from the storm, forgive me for imposing.” “She speaks,” the woman murmurs, looking at the traveller curiously. As she reads Cassandra finds herself being drawn into the story. A travelling warrior seeking shelter from the storm. A lonely ghost trapped in a house in the woods, cursed to not know peace. The tales are more a defence than a truth. The last wish of a woman gone before her time, burned in the name of a god she didn’t believe in for a crime she didn’t commit. She feels her eyes burn at the thought of love found too late. Lovers that were destined to meet before the cruel hand of fate intervened. Maybe it didn’t matter? Maybe what mattered was that despite everything they met at all. For the ghost the moment of happiness was enough. It was the thing that they were missing, and now that they had found it they were free to pass on to whatever awaited them. But for their love, it was a burden. An ache they had to live with for the rest of their days, knowing that nothing could ever compare. Not really. But despite this there was hope. That eventually the two could - would - be reunited. Somehow Varric managed to weave a bittersweet story that pierced something deep within Cassandra’s heart. Not that she would ever tell him such. It was bad enough she ‘owed’ him after convincing him to write the story in the first place. And she suspected he only did it because of both his fondness of Ellana and his desire to poke and prod at her every chance that he got. At some point Ellana has fallen asleep, her small form heavy as Cassandra marks her page and shuts the book quietly trying not to wake her. It's a testament to how many times she’s done it that Cassandra can lift Ellana without stirring her from her sleep. Or maybe it was because of how tired Ellana always seemed to be these days. Once settled under the sheets and blankets Ellana seems to gravitate towards her even in rest, and Cassandra shifts in the darkness to meet her, tangling her limbs with hers.  “Love you,” Ellana mumbles half awake against her throat. “Happy birthday my love,” Cassandra breathes into the darkness, drawing her closer with a kiss, hoping that if she held her close enough she could keep the ghosts that haunt them at bay. 

[songsofacagedbird]

Is that BALIAN “BALO” DRISKELL? Wow, they do look a lot like EMILIIE DE RAVIN I hear SHE is an EIGHTEEN year old high school SENIOR. Word is they are a REGULAR student at Luxor Academy. You should watch out because they can be NAIVE and SENSITIVE, but on the bright side they can also be BUBBLY and OPTIMISTIC. Ultimately, you’ll get to see it all for yourself.

the basics //

Full Name: Balian “Balo” Grace Driskell

Preferred Name: Balo Driskell

Age: 18

Birthday: February 23rd

Zodiac: Pisces

Gender & Pronouns: Woman (She/Hers)

Sexuality: Balo doesn’t label her sexuality, she’s part of the LGBT+ community (and has canonly dated both girls and boys) but she doesn’t feel comfortable labeling it personally.

Occupation: N/A, she occasionally does commissions though (both art and in like making clothes)

Relationship Status: In a relationship with Cade Carroll (npc) since early May 

Place of Birth: Rochester, New York

Hometown: Saratoga Springs, New York

Country of Citizenship: United States

Languages Spoken: English (first) and French

deeper dive //

Hobbies and Talents:

 ○ Sketching (in particular people and animals, an inspiration board for her sketch book can be found here.)

 ○ Painting

 ○ Gymnastics (her leg is her left leg! By “her leg” I mean the leg she leads off with / does her split with for her floor routine / has better balance)

 ○ Fashion Design and Sewing

 ○ Cheerleading

 ○ Gymnastics

 ○ Yoga

 ○ Roller Skating

 ○ Scrapbooking

 ○ Dancing (a hobby, not a talent)

 ○ She can touch her nose with her tongue

Favorites:

 ○ Color: The entire rainbow, Balo has issues with picking one favorite color so she doesn’t choose.

 ○ Food: Balo’s not the biggest on food but she has a weakness for popcorn. Extra butter, light on the salt.

 ○ Animal: Cats

 ○ Drink: Hot Chocolate

 ○ Flower: Sunflowers

 ○ Book: a fairy tale collection she got from Zander when she was a child

 ○ Holiday: Christmas, to the point she’ll start decorating as early as she can. (June? Why not!)

 ○ Movie: The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh

 ○ Scent: Strawberries, real a bit more than the artificial but she adores both.

 ○ Place: Her “little art studio” (technically just a corner of her room with her art supplies).

 ○ Quote:

“Butterflies can’t see their wings. They can’t see how truly beautiful they are, but everyone else can. People are like that as well.” - Unknown

Bêtes Noires:

 ○ Color: Dark brown, although she won’t admit to it

 ○ Food: Chicken à la King

 ○ Animal: Spiders, Balo does not like spiders and would like to stay far away from them

 ○ Drink: Matcha

 ○ Flower: Nepenthes peltata

 ○ Book: The Divergent Books

 ○ Holiday: 4th of July

 ○ Movie: Rugrats in Paris, she thinks it’s practically a horror movie

 ○ Scent: Garlic

 ○ Place: The Driskell family home in Saratoga Springs

health //  

Conditions:

          ○ Anorexia Nervosa

          ○ HIV

Allergies: N/A

Sleeping Habits: Balo gets to bed usually at a good time and sleeps 8 hours at a shot.

Exercise Habits: She exercises multiple times of day, between gymnastics and cheerleading, it’s important she’s in prime shape. Dance and Yoga are her go-tos outside of practice.

Addictions: N/A

Drug Use: Very rarely. After a bad LSD trip (when she wasn’t aware she was being drugged until after the fact), she’s very wary of drugs on average.

Alcohol Use: Occasionally. Balo doesn’t have a high alcohol tolerance, she gets tipsy after one drink and if she keeps drinking, after a couple the odds of her stripping are extremely high. (It’s not a sexual thing, she overheats and doesn’t really think about the consequences).

personality //  

MBTI: ESFP

Enneagram: 2w3 (The Helper with The Achiever Wing)

Alignment: Neutral Good

Hogwarts House: Hufflepuff

Percy Jackson Parent: Iris

Pokémon Type: Dragon

Pokémon Subtype: Ghost

Winx: Nature

appearance //  

Height:  5′11” – not at fc height (I enjoy her being a few cm taller than Zander too much to put her at fc now #oops)

Tattoos: One

Scars: None

Piercings: Ears

Hair: Blonde

Eyes: Blue

Fashion:

 ○ link to balo’s closet

 ○ link to balo’s shoes

life at luxor //  

Classes:

 ○ Communications

 ○ French

 ○ General P.E.

 ○ Visual Arts

 ○ Fashion Design

 ○ Human Biology

 ○ Beginner Ballet

Clubs and Activities:

 ○ Art Club

 ○ Cheerleading (Flyer)

 ○  Gymnastics

fun facts //  

 ○ Balo has been attending Luxor since her Freshman year.

 ○ Balo’s kind of a literal ray of sunshine who believes (almost) everyone is truly good at heart.

 ○ Very easy to manipulate, please manipulate her. I’ll literally give you my firstborn.

 ○ Usually you’ll see her running around with a smile trying to brighten everyone’s day. She tries to put everyone’s happiness before herself, however, she’s slowly getting better about forming boundaries.

 ○ While it’d be easy to assume Balo’s dumb, that’s not quite the case. She only remembers the information she wants to. The issue is... most of the information she wants to learn is relatively useless. Want to know how to sew sutures? She’s your girl. Want to know the definition of cannibalism? Well, ask Jack how that goes.

 ○ She has two teddy bears and an American Girl doll living on her dresser. Duffy, Shelley-Mae, and Robin Banks. They’re decorative, but they make her happy.

 ○ One of her best friends is Logan Keller, the boy who went missing during the summer camping trip. The two are still in touch, and extremely close, so occasionally he gets mentioned here and there, but it’s still a sore spot for her (I am still in touch with the person who played him, so I run stuff by his mun when / if he comes up).

 ○ Jack’s adoptive parents recently adopted her, although she hasn’t said a lot about it. Your muse probably won’t know unless one of the two directly told them (or they heard it from Zander). It’s not a secret, she just didn’t make an announcement or anything.

 ○ In October 2019, Zander had an intervention for her to force her to get help for her eating disorder. She was in inpatient until April 2020, when she returned to Luxor.

 ○ Cheer and Gymnastics team member from Freshmen year until her intervention, and she returned to both teams this fall with the new school year.

 ○ Balo’s left handed (the only one of my muses that is a lefty)!

 ○   I’m aware Balo’s family page can be complicated, please feel free to dm me with questions. Also, please remember Balo doesn’t know she’s Daniel’s daughter, let alone the fact there’s even a chance Lance isn’t her father, which means your muse has absolutely no way of knowing this.

 ○ Befriended a stray racoon on the Lake George campus she named Reese Withercoon.

 ○ Literally only just said her first swear word this June, we’re very proud of her for finally getting that done. (#ThanksAxelAndLeo)

 ○ Balo finds the Winnie the Pooh theme song extremely soothing, which resulted in her naming a certain group chat with a set of friends the 100 Acre Woods - because she finds spending time with them soothing too.

 ○ I’m always willing to discuss my muses, so feel free to hit me up if you have any questions at any point.

a tl;dr history  //  

 ○ Balo’s home life growing up was far from perfect. Her father, Lance - is an abusive alcoholic, and while her mother tried her best to protect her children - she also covered things up without hesitation because she loves her husband. It wasn’t uncommon to see a Driskell in the ER with a lie and people willing to back up the story.

 ○ Balo was conceived during the time Lance and Cassandra were seperated the only time that her mother tried to leave. She’s completely unaware that she’s not Lance’s biological daughter (as is everyone else).

 ○ She’s been attending Luxor since freshman year, although she had to leave in the middle of her Junior year had to leave for a few months to attend extensive inpatient treatment. She came back in April, although she could not rejoin the cheerleading and gymnastic teams until her therapist confirmed she was doing well (so the start of her senior year) because of concerns about her well-being.

 ○ She was disowned following her HIV diagnosis over the fall. Over the winter, the Fieldings adopted Balo.

 ○ I strongly recommend skimming Balo’s timeline page before interacting with her. These are just the bare minimum basics, and there're more things your muse may know on there.

wanted connections //  

 ○ Friendships

 ○ Someone to manipulate her, please I beg you

 ○ Anyone who knows her from the gymnastics and/or cheer teams, or the art club

[acioo]

( PART TWO HERE ) & ( PART THREE HERE ) here are NINE CHARACTER BASES ( label & background & personality ), all of whom i have played out in the past. they expand beyond ‘ the bad girl ‘ and ‘ the prince ‘ because i think as a community we’re all tired of the cliche bull, so have some of my most fun & most subversive times. these are for inspiration purposes as well as admin purposes. if you are going to use these in an rph setting, i request credit, but otherwise, it’s not necessary. ( all details viable to change ; pinterest board links available for all of them - if you are interested in my characters, see my muse page )  TW : death, alcohol, drugs, foster care, gun, blood, abuse, ( parental ) emotional neglect

001.    THE SUFFERING PSYCHIC — your father’s a shadow of a man you see in your dreams and your mother never stopped running. leaving you with relatives is the right thing to do, she thinks. they are the people she was running from, she forgets. you’re just like your mother, but you’re asthmatic and afraid and you won’t get as far as she did ( how many countries ? your cousins count with careless whispers when they think you’re asleep, but you can’t bear to ). you’re just helpless. they can’t see you in the way they see your best friend or older sister, and when they do, they try to ignore the way your eyes pick up the minor details and the power that’s an angry, divine throb in your veins.

002.   THE GHOST — you are the royal child who flourishes in the light. you look just like your mother, a golden beauty, but you speak and all they hear is your crisscrossed father. morally questionable at best, but no one can notice. have they seen the way you glitter in the light ? the sparkle in your smile ? they heard from a friend who heard from a friend that your magic is a beautiful white. all you were was good, but now everyone speaks of you as the ghost in the room. at least you died doing what you loved, which no one will talk about because it’s not something that a royal does. now that you’re back it’s hard to see anything but the haunted look in your eyes. you still love to smile. you just won’t smile for them.

003.   THE PRINCE OF HIS OWN MAKING — you’re the richest kid in town and you act like it. your father built the house you and your dozens of friends party at on the weekends and your mother’s shady mafia ties are something you and your first ( and only ) girlfriend ( now best friend ) are the only ones that know about. you’ve hooked up with half your small town and your fists have callouses from long nights outback the local convenience store because you never learned to think before you speak. no one cares that you speak four languages or that your stanford acceptance letter is on the fridge because they just want to know about where you got those pretty green eyes from and how you learned to look so good in dark clothes. and you’re fine with that. aren’t you ?

004.   THE UNWILLING VICTOR — you live in the shadow of your older sister, but you’ve never minded. the light blinds your eyes and you crack, finely and an ugly shade, when people look too closely. you’re barefeet on grass and bubblegum chapstick. and maybe you don’t know what’s under the cracks, either. but even though people would love you peel you apart like the wrapper on a piece of candy, you’re used to avoiding the spotlight and you’ve never liked surprises. because outside the peach sweet softness and perfectly white smile, the truth is that you’re not so pretty underneath it all. your fingers know how to load and unload a gun from muscle memory and the things you say have a sad song playing under them. maybe that look your older sister gives you isn’t pity. maybe it’s something else, something scary that you can’t look in the eyes.

005.  THE PUNK — you’re born with fire in your blood. you’re not the first in your family to be great, but rather one of the many, and isn’t that worse, somehow ? knowing that you never really had a choice in this life ? knowing that your story was already written and played and annotated ? they speculate that maybe you’re like this because of it all. the pressure made you a diamond and you hate that. you drink like you’re dehydrated and vodka’s pedialyte but you’re always awake for six am ballet and ready for 12 pm ice skating. and, hey, you might scare off the press with your loud mouth and your angry curses but they’re still going to follow you from apartment to liquor store to your fwb’s house because you’re the prettiest face they’ve seen in a while and you’re lightning on your feet. all you want is for it to stop but your family raised you to skate, not to live.

006.   THE CASSANDRA — you’re an accident. the sixteen-year-old heiress can’t be having a child. especially not with all the nights she spends out with her friends drinking like her life depends on it. you’re raised by your grandparents and all you know is their strict, unloving voice. you learn what it’s like to be a pawn. you can’t make them happy but you will try with all your might. from the ballet lessons to the ballet recitals to the ballet rehearsals, you’ll crack the code to their affection somehow. when you start having the visions, you don’t tell them the truth. they blame it on that time of year where all the recitals line up, leaving you an irritable, sleep-deprived mess. when you breathlessly pant about death and blood with words that aren’t yours, they turn elsewhere. but when your mother who was not your mother dies they look right at you. the foster system is a dark place until you walk with a compass based on that thing inside you into your new parent's upper east apartment. you grow up there. learn to laugh again, learn soft hands and a gentle heart, but the rooster of lovers and paint stains can’t hide the fact that you don’t know what to do with all this power that’s thrust itself onto you. you know the truth. this power is going to swallow you whole.

007.  THE ACCIDENTAL PROTAGONIST — you’re the baby of the family and by the time you’re born, your parents are out of love to give. your older siblings try their hand at raising you but the truth is they’re babies too, and they don’t know how to handle you. you with the different eyes and the different, quiet temperament and all the different problems. you don’t talk a lot but your eyes are big and wide and they see too much. you spend your days going from your fancy school to your fancy penthouse to your fancy therapist until your fancy parents uproot you to a new town. you don’t do feelings and you don’t do bonding, but when people look past everything that other people made you into, you feel like you’re finally starting to be someone and it’s freeing in the best way. you have something underneath all that. you like to yell sometimes. and you can snap. and that’s okay too.

008.   THE JERSEY DEVIL — you’re the cool kid. your cool house. your cool name. your cool parents. but it wasn’t always like that. your biological parents can’t handle one child, let alone the baseball team they have. your twin sister who you never know has your same warm brown eyes, but you find that out later, older, a pack of files in hand. and you think that’s when you first learn heartbreak. when it settles into you a cold, unruly presence. you don’t know how to get it out so you learn to adapt to it. your adoptive parents like to gloss over all the things you picked up over the years. your diagnoses, your bloody fists, your knack for troublemaking. besides, when you get arrested it’s forgotten about a news cycle later. the rumors still stay there though. about all your conquests and about all your foster homes and how your friends all have that same dirty designer look to them. you’re happy the way you are even if your pr team isn’t.

009.   THE MIDDLE CHILD — you’re the poster child for middle child syndrome, even if it’s only by eleven seconds. you aren’t like your siblings, princess and basket case. you’re angry in a way they can’t be. you like classical music at prolific volumes and you like driving your car too fast and you like making people regret believing in you. your mother scoffs. says you’re just like your grandmother who she moved countries to get away from, who drank vodka like orange juice, who never could stand the way her daughter liked to lie to herself. your father glances away. asks you to please turn that down, or please show your ‘ friend ‘ out, or to please stop ruining dinner. when you’re home alone again at age fifteen you make them regret treating you like this. and when you’re seventeen when they leave the keys to the porsche in your eyesight. and when you’re eighteen and you and your siblings can’t even make it up the steps in the penthouse because you’re so wasted new years eve. you’re angry and vicious and that makes you really fucking happy in a way that nothing else does.

[superspoonie24]

Bathed in her Brokeness

This one is Rapunzel fresh out of the tower and adjusting to castle life. My roomie @kacchansass gave me the idea and I ran with it. It is very strongly inspired by Taylor Swift’s “Why She Disappeared”. I claim no rights to her poem, only used it to cause my favorite character pain. Also this one is a little longer at 1134 words. Hope you like it!  💛

https://archiveofourown.org/works/26967406

Rapunzel's barefeet echoed off the castle's walls as she padded down the hallway. She peered around corners and into different rooms, trying to find some sort of landmark to help her be not so hopelessly lost. She was about to give up hope when she heard voices coming from down the hall.

"... Her kindness is fake. It has to be." "And that story about being trapped in a tower? Who does she think she's tricking with that?"

Rapunzel turned and left, desperate to find her foreign room. The snotty voices echoed in her head as she finally found her room and layed down to sleep.

The next few weeks, she heard all sorts of strange and painful words coming from all different types of staff. Each insult stung, but she didn't dare tell Eugene. He would go and make a big fuss about it, and Rapunzel didn't want to make anything worse. Plus maybe they were right, maybe she was "fake".

Another week passed and Rapunzel was able to brush off most of the repeated taunts. Some of the new ones got to her, like how she doesn't care about people as much as she says she does, but soon even that one rolled off her like water on a duck's back. While she was able to brush them off in the moment and keep her head held high, at night the voices echoed in her mind and it felt like the words seeped into her skin. In the morning she expected her skin to be spattered with ink, repeating the same words she heard as she slept.

After a particularly busy day, Rapunzel was anxious to just go to her room and lie in bed. She was walking down the hall when she heard the same group of maids talking about her.

"...She's so annoying." "And who does she think she's fooling with that smile? So snotty."

Rapunzel was about to head off, when she heard one of the maids ask "What do you think Cassandra?"

"Oh. Me?" "Yea. You know her best, miss lady-in-waiting." "Yea! Tell us what the lost princess is really like."

Rapunzel knew she shouldn't, but she stayed and listened to what her best (and only) friend had to say about her.

"Well..."

Rapunzel felt her breath stop.

"She is a bit sloppy. She just doesn't seem to know any table manners. And no matter how hard I try she just won't wear shoes. I have to explain to people why she's underdressed all the time."

Rapunzel gripped the books in her arms a bit tighter.

"And she's immature, never knowing how to talk to people. Not to mention clumsy. You should see how many vases that girl can break in a day! Spinning and dancing around the halls, not caring about who or what is around her."

Rapunzel's heart quickened.

"Not to mention gullible. That girl will believe anything, and I mean anything. It's fun at first, but then you realize just how naive she is and I can't help but feel sorry for her."

Rapunzel felt cold dead hands ghosting through her hair. The voice started to shift, taking on a more commanding, authoritative tone.

"...positively grubby,,,, ditzy,,,, a bit well? Vague."

Rapunzel's breath started to pick up as her hands started sweating. She held the books tight to her chest. She wanted, needed to move, but she was paralyzed with fear.

"Plus I believe,,,, getting kinda chubby..."

Rapunzel couldn't stop herself from crying. She couldn't hear anything other than Mother's voice saying "cause I wuv you." She fell to her knees sobbing, dropping the books and breaking another vase. She jumped when a familiar face with black hair and grey/green eyes looked down on her.

"I'm sorry Mother. Please don't be mad!" Rapunzel stammered. "I- I didn't mean to break the vase. Here I'll clean it up right now!"

Rapunzel didn't wait for a response and started picking up the broke pieces of porcelain. She winced in pain as a sharp edge dug its way into her skin.

"Shoot," she mumbled.

"Are you okay?" The voice asked.

"Oh I'll be fine Mother. I'll just heal it real quick and everything will be okay. Then I'll finish cleaning this up."

Rapunzel reached back to grab her long golden hair, but her hand came back empty. She tried again but nothing was there. She blinked at her empty hand, staring at the nothingness before her. She then started to wrap the nothing around her hand and start singing. The healing incantation filled the halls of the castle, and while Rapunzel's voice was beautiful and she had sung it just the way she always had, her hand was still bleeding. She stared at it, dumbfounded, unable to realize what was happening.

Rapunzel fell backwards when someone put their hands on her shoulders. She saw the black hair and immediately started to apologize. But upon closer inspection, it wasn't Mother standing in front of her.

"Cass? Wha- how did you get in the tower? Where did Mother go?" Rapunzel asked, desperately looking around to find her mother.

"Rapunzel. You're at the castle. You're "mother" is gone. You're safe here."

"No, that can't be!" Rapunzel scoffed as she stood up and looked around. "I heard her voice telling me I was sloppy, underdressed, immature, clumsy, gullible, naive, vague, and chubby! I felt her hands in my hair. In my- hair..."

Rapunzel reached up to grab her long golden hair, but her hands only found short brown locks.

"About that..." Cass started. "Look, that was me who said that just now."

Rapunzel looked up at Cass, tears welling up inside her.

"Wha- how- why would you say that? Do you- do you really think that about me?"

"I- it's hard to explain. You-"

"I wouldn't get it. Is that it?" Rapunzel retorted. "I'm too dumb and immature to get all your jokes? Well jokes on you. I've heard what you've been saying, what EVERYONE has been saying, this whole time!"

Tears threatened to fall but Rapunzel forced them back.

"You know, I guess I am naive. Of all the people, I thought I at least had you as a friend, Cassandra." A single tear stained Rapunzel's freckled cheek. "I guess I really can't trust anyone."

Rapunzel disappeared before Cassandra could stop her. Eugene quickly showed up and knocked on her door. Rapunzel finally let him in and broke down in his strong and loving arms. Her tears splashed onto the cold, broken tile and she thanked her past for bringing here, despite all the pain that went with it.

When she was done crying she stood broad shouldered next to a love that was really something and vowed to let her heart remain breakable, but never by the same hand twice.

[etlunainmorte]

🖤 I See My Future Before Me 🖤

***

She managed to acquire it for a very low and reasonable price. After all, who would use an old record now, especially with the booming technological culture that was steadily becoming popular with the younger generation?

She placed the delicate thing on her glass top table and took a good long look at it. Dante would pick her up any minute now, and she must definitely get ready for the mission ahead ( this time, a couple of magic - wielding higher Demons ).

However, for some strange reason, she couldn't shake the urge that she must play at least one song with it.

With that in mind, and her strong belief in intuition ( not to mention Cassandra's constant meddling ), she picked up the vinyl record she bought along with the old instrument and proceeded to the task. And with a little help from an almost useless and age - old manual ( its pages were yellow and crumbling at the edges ) that came with the merchandise, she finally managed to play the song. She took a few steps away from the table and allowed the sweet, old music to soothe and calm her senses.

She closed her eyes, letting the melody sink in,...

... when a vision suddenly flashed through her mind.

She opened her eyes once more, unable to believe her wicked sense of premonition ( or Cassandra's ) and allowed the vision to take over her entire mind.

And in that vision, she saw herself dancing the waltz with someone - a tall man clad completely in black. They were dancing to the same music that she was listening to, in the middle of the summer night, on a beautiful, Grecian balcony, below the starry, evening sky, the full moon shining above them.

It was,... simply perfect,...

But, who was that man?

The vision ended as soon as she opened her eyes.

However, something near the window startled her. She took a good long look at it as it slowly materialized, and right then and there, she saw him - the man she was dancing with in that vision,...

It's him! The man she's been searching for for such a long time.

The man,... with the white hair,...

And he was there, standing a few feet away from her, giving her a confused, and yet longing, look, as if he was also seeing her, himself.

She cautiously went closer to him and observed how his eyes followed her movements. She knew perfectly well that he was just a vision. Of the past or future? That she was not certain.

All she knew was that he was holding out his hands in front of her in a clear gesture that successfully conveyed his desire to dance with her,...

***

XXVIII

***

"Here." Nico mumbled sleepily as she handed V a mug of warm chocolate. He thanked the woman as he took it from her hands. He was about to take a sip when he noticed the woman giving him a suspicious look. She pointed two fingers at him and said, "Eh, so you're really Vergil, huh? Dante's twin brother?”

The man smirked as he finally took a sip of the warm chocolate, its enticing scent calming his tired and restless senses. He pursed his lips as he glanced at the calm and serene evening atmosphere from the balcony of (Y/N)'s unit.

"I was." He answered, his eyes darting from one cheerfully lit house to another. Some of the residents have already made their way back to their homes after the Dreadnought incident, and things were slowly going back to its normal and boring pace.

Nico almost choked on her chocolate when she heard V's answer. She chuckled as she took a good long, and thorough look at Vergil’s form from head to foot. "You,... were?" She chuckled.

V smirked once more as he looked at her. "It's the truth."

"I don't understand. How can you not be Vergil right now? I mean, come on, Sir Changes – A - Lot!"

The man chuckled as he helplessly shook his head. He held out a single hand as little orbs of light radiated from it. The almost translucent orbs, then, spread out from his hand to his arm, then from his torso to his other arm. The orbs reached his entire body as the curious little lights morphed him back to the V that Nico was used to seeing - black leather vest, tooth necklace, a pair of unflattering black sandals, and all.

"This,... is merely an illusion.” V explained. “I could never become whole again. It is,... completely impossible. Even with the powers of the Sisters Of Fate."

"Your hair,..." Nico mused as she pointed at V's snowy white hair. "It's not turning back to black." She, then, pointed at his skin. "And your tattoos are barely even there!"

"This is how I look like before all this,... began. This,... is the real me."

"Wow. And I thought (Y/N) was the only one who can change looks,..."

At the mere sound of her name, V's heart skipped a beat and his breath clearly hitched. The girl was sleeping in her room, unconscious since the whole battle with Pandemonium ended. He promised her sister that he would take care of him, and Galatea left her body as soon as she was done healing her.

But, then, somehow, he knew deep within his tainted heart that she would never be fully healed.

Would she,... ?

His question came out like a soft breeze that was almost missed by the Artisan. She stopped sipping her chocolate and glanced back at V, seeing the man leaning on the railing and clearly looking uncomfortable.

"Sorry?"

V looked at her eyes and repeated his question. "Would she find it in her heart to forgive me? After everything I've done to her?"

"Oh, that." Nico came closer towards the man and patted him a bit forcefully on the shoulder. "Dontcha worry a thing 'bout that! She'll forgive ya and yer pretty, lil' skinny ass. Believe me.”

V chuckled at her crude humor and sighed.

"You don't have,... any idea what I did to her back in that demonic ship,..."

"I know. You killed her. Well, almost."

V's eyes widened as he straightened up and looked at her. "How did you - ?!"

"Found out? Oh, she knew 'bout that. She told me herself."

Oh, it must be Cassandra, V thought as he leaned against the railing once more. "Of course."

"But, hey, she's still alive, right? And you're fine! At least, you didn't turn evil or somethin' and caused the world's destruction."

At those ridiculously accurate words, V bowed his head down low, trying to conceal his face until he could no longer endure the emotions. With trembling shoulders and teary eyes, he threw his head back, his low and evil - sounding laughter ripping out of his throat and scaring the hell out of Nico.

"Hahaha! YOU make me laugh,..."

The woman raised an eyebrow. "O,... kay?"

"You have no idea,... how messed up I've become. I failed her. I failed miserably. I'm only here because, apparently, Galatea still thinks I'm worthy. After,... everything I did to her."

"Hey, we all make mistakes."

V smiled at her. "I will tell you,... the story of my insanity,..."

With wide, doubtful eyes, Nico patiently listened as V recounted to her the events that took place in the Dreadnought, from the moment he stabbed (Y/N) up to the point where Fleminger stabbed him, taking the Sisters away from him and letting Pandemonium kill everyone.

"Wait, wait, wait,..." Nico blabbered as she pushed the frame of her red - rimmed glasses to her nose bridge. "So, you're sayin' that,... everyone,... died?"

"Yes."

"Hooee! Well, I'm sure glad that Galatea brought you back. I wonder how I died back there?"

As Nico went on blabbering about how she could possibly die in that far off alternate universe, V suddenly saw,...

... a spectral - looking hand reaching up at the railing of the balcony just behind her. V was definitely not one to get frightened of ghosts but, the vision did startle him. He focused his gaze into it as the creature climbed up the balcony as effortlessly as it could.

It was (Y/N), and she was, somehow, strangely barefoot. Her pants looked like they were burnt from the knee down, and her movements were as light as possible. She tiptoed her way to the window when she suddenly heard some voices inside.

So, did V.

“ ... they even mentioned some famous and obscure names in the Devil Hunting business who got the invitation. And let me mention this - Dante also received one."

Her eyes widened at whatever she saw inside and she couldn't prevent herself from letting out a yelping sound.

“Someone’s listening!”

She covered her mouth and stepped away from the window.

“Looks like we have an,… unwanted visitor.” Then, he heard it. That voice. It was him. He could remember everything: this was from that time when he first arrived at this place.

So, it was true: someone really was outside that time. And it was none other than her,...

“Best to make it at home - ” He heard himself speak once more.

“Guys, guys! Stop! What did I say about making a mess?!”

“Hey, hey! There’s an intruder right - AHH!” A very loud and obnoxious noise was heard from the inside, like someone, or something, was just thrown to the other side of the room.

“To not make any?”

“Exactly! That’s just the - ah - neighbor’s cat!”

“That,… does not sound like a feline, at least to my ears.”

“Okay, okay, guys! Trust me and put your weapons down. Thank you! Now, as I was saying, we must go to this event and find out what this, Wrath of The Gods, is!”

“We cannot go shorthanded. If we take the riddle in a very literal sense, then,… we would not have enough strength. We would be dealing with the Wrath of The Gods,… after all.”

While listening to the conversation inside, he saw (Y/N) as she tiptoed her way back closer to the window, lovingly gazing at something inside. Her eyes widened, then returned to normal once more. She raised an arm and wiped the tears that started coming out of her eyes with the sleeves of her pale pink hoodie.

She was crying, and yet she looked clearly happy at what she saw. Like she finally found something she has been searching for after so long.

Like, she was deeply longing to see whatever that was,...

And this made V's heart twitch in unbelievable pain.

He,... knew who she was looking at. He knew,...

... who she was longing to meet,...

“That’s where I come in! Nero, how’s the breaker coming along?”

“It’s fine, sure.”

“Oh, yeah? Then, I’ll be making new ones.”

“Isn’t this enough?”

“No! And, you! You seem interested in all this, yes?”

“As a matter of fact, I ‘am."

“Then, go get your own formal wear! I can’t provide you with one. I’m an Artisan, not a freaking, fancy tailor!”

“Wait, like, right now?”

“Duh?! Are you, like, gonna wait till Saturday for that? Go, go, GO!”

She cautiously took a few steps away from the window once more.

“Hey, hey, if you’re looking for some chicks, then you’re in the wrong place! Get moving!”

There were more sounds, and when they finally subsided, the window violently opened and she finally entered the threshold of her own home.

“Are you crazy?! Why would you be hiding there? This is your home, for crying out loud! Are you a thief, or something?!”

“It’s him, Nico.”

“I’m sorry, what?”

“It’s him! The man with the violin in my visions!”

“Who?!”

“The one with the markings on his skin!”

“The mysterious man? Are you sure about that?”

“It. Is. HIM!”

"¿Por qué estas descalza?" V heard a distinctively different voice of that of a little girl.

He closed his eyes at the sudden change, and when he opened them once more, he was suddenly transported to a sunny, suburban place. A little girl with dark pigtails was staring at him, her hands on her hips like a wife who was angry at her husband for coming home late and drunk.

He realized she was not directly looking at him, and this made him turn around. And to his surprise, he saw (Y/N). And just like in his vision a while ago, she was barefoot, and her pants looked burnt from the knee down.

(Y/N) opened her mouth to answer but, then, she realized she can't speak the little girl's language. This made the smaller girl smile.

"¡Ven conmigo! Te llevaré a nuestra casa." The girl excitedly said as she practically went through V like he was a ghost and grabbed (Y/N)'s hand.

V followed the two as the little girl led (Y/N) to one of the charming little two - story houses on the left. The little girl opened the door and let (Y/N) in.

"¡Madre!" The girl called. "¡Madre!"

"¿Alicia?"

A woman in her mid - fifties came out from the kitchen, wiping her hands with an orange towel.

"¿Hija?" The mother's eyes widened as she abandoned her towel, practically throwing it to the side as she made her way to the two girls. "¡Que chica tan linda! ¿Es tu amiga?"

The little girl laughed and shook her head, making (Y/N) a bit surprised and culture - shocked. "Ella no habla Español. No te preocupes, yo me encargo." The girl turned to (Y/N) and pointed at herself, then her mother. "My name is Alicia. This is my mother, Maria. I go to English class every Saturday."

"Oh, that's nice." (Y/N) answered as she received a pair of slippers from the little girl. "Thanks."

"She said you're pretty."

A faint rosy tint crept up (Y/N)'s cheeks. She looked at the smiling older woman and nodded. "I, ah, thank you."

Maria nodded, understanding the words she just said.

"What are you doing outside with no shoes?" The little girl asked her as she pulled her towards the living room.

"Umm, you see, ah,..." (Y/N) muttered as she sat down on the maroon sofa. "I was, ahh, looking for someone. A white haired man who plays the violin. I've seen him pass here. Have you, umm, seen him?"

White haired man who plays the violin?

He had been here?!

Alicia turned to his mom. "Ella pregunta si hemos visto a un hombre de cabello blanco por aquí, dice que toca el violin."

Maria frowned and shook her head. “No, lo siento mucho. Pero podemos avisarte si lo llegamos a ver."

"She said no. But, we will tell you when we see him."

(Y/N)'s face showed a clearly disappointed expression. But, despite this, she still sincerely smiled and nodded. "Thank you so much."

Alicia nudged her on the elbow to help her relax. "No hay problema." She answered with a smile. "That means no problem."

"I can't believe how fast you've grown!"

V heard another voice from the hallway. He went there and saw, in shock, the same little girl,...

... except that she was now the same height as (Y/N). Her hair was no longer in pigtails. Instead, she was wearing it down. And her fashion sense seemed to have changed, as well.

"I'm a teenager now!" And clearly, she was better in English. "And it seems that you haven't aged a bit since I last saw you!"

It was true. For some reason, (Y/N) still looked the same.

How many years has passed since she first met Alicia?

"So, have you seen him?"

"Oh, that man? I think mom has!"

"Really?"

"Yeah!" Alicia grabbed her hand and led her to the living room like what she did the first time they met. "Madre, (Y/N) is here!"

The woman, whose dark brown hair has clearly turned gray, looked up from her stitch work and stood, meeting the girls halfway and kissing the both of them on their forehead. V noticed that she now walked with a slight limp.

"It has been a long, long time, Miss (Y/N)!" Maria told her in straight English, grabbing her hands and squeezing them.

"Mom studied English for you." Alicia said with a proud and huge smile.

"That's really cool!"

"Mom, she’s asking whether you've seen the man she was looking for."

To this, Maria's face suddenly fell, a frown now gracing her warm and gentle features. She only shook her head and went back to her stitch work. And without saying another word, she sat down and went on with her work like nothing even happened.

"Oh, don't mind her. She's just like that at times. But, she's not mad at you, don't worry!" Alicia whispered.

(Y/N), who was clearly alarmed at the sudden change in Maria's demeanor, couldn't help but nod as she tried to hide her worry.

"It's okay."

"You haven't given up?"

V heard Alicia's frantic voice on the hallway once more. He immediately went there and saw her,...

... clad completely in black from head to foot. She clearly looked a bit older, and she was not dragging (Y/N) around like how she used to when she was younger.

And (Y/N)?

"You still haven't changed?" Alicia questioned her with raised eyebrows.

"Where's Maria?"

Something in her question triggered something in Alicia. And it unnerved both (Y/N) and V.

"Get out."

"Sorry?"

"I said, GET OUT!" Alicia screamed as she pushed (Y/N) out of the house.

"Alicia, what happened?!"

"GO AWAY!" The girl screamed as she shut the door close. She then ran towards the sofa, grabbed Maria's old stitch work, and cried. The handiwork was clearly half - finished but, some words were visible from it.

"El amor es paciente, el amor es amable. No envi - "

"HEY!"

V snapped back to reality as Nico snapped her fingers in front of his face.

"You alright?"

"Indeed. Yes, I' am." He answered.

Nico breathed a sigh of relief as she clutched at her chest like she was having a heart attack. "I thought I lost you back there. You know, (Y/N)'s visions were short and sweet - "

"She's been to Spain."

"Sorry?"

V looked at her and repeated his words. "It's (Y/N). I saw her. She was in Spain."

"Oh, that! So, you've seen her?" Nico answered as she went back inside, V following close behind her. "You know, she's been to many places, more than what you could imagine. She's searching ten years for you, God!"

"Ten,… years?!"

"Yeah. She comes home often, though. She's learned to channel that power of hers to her feet and legs so she could move fast and jump to high places." Nico explained as she went to one of the drawers and pulled something out from it. "So, she's never really gone for too long. But, I'm gonna tell ya this: that channeling the power to her feet thing often burned her pants."

So, that's why,...

"I don't understand." V went on as he watched Nico flip through the pages of an old album. "She was searching for ten years, but I've only been to such places for three weeks. I was,… travelling. It's what I've been doing before coming here to Red Grave."

"Really? Well, it's a long story. Let's just say that she wanted to meet you because the entity that was possessing her wanted her to fulfill some kind of a mission. Don't ask." She handed the open album to V and pointed at one of the photos. "That's them."

V's eyes widened in awe as he saw the photograph of (Y/N) and Alicia during the Spanish girl's party for her sixteenth birthday.

"Alicia. One of the people she frequently visited and stopped seeing after ten years. Said she’s starting to notice."

"Notice what?" V looked up from the album.

Nico went closer to V and whispered like she was passing on a well - guarded secret to him. "Okay, this sounds weird but, she actually came from the past."

"I know."

"Yeah, yeah! I thought at first she's just plain nuts. But, listen to this: the first thing she did after recovering was search for her family's old farm in Fortuna. V, there hasn't been a farm there since a hundred years ago! It's all concrete now, and streets.

"So, she searched for her parents and any people she could remember from her past. Some of them either died already or have grandchildren of their own. And her parents? She found out that they separated and had families of their own."

"A girl,... out of her time,..." V mused as he flipped through the pages of (Y/N)'s old album, seeing her with unknown faces.

"Exactly! She's, like, super old when you think 'bout it!" Nico went to one of the paintings and looked up at it. "And, not only that, her looks stayed the same for those ten whole years I knew her. Like, she's stuck or somethin’.”

"Galatea's stasis." V breathed.

"Sorry?"

"Nothing."

Nico frowned and raised an eyebrow at him. She went on. "She craves for things from the past. So, she started collecting antiques like this. Other than helping her cope after being plucked from when she came from, these things she have reminded her of all the places she's been. They remind her of you."

The poet looked up from the album and saw Nico picking up her keys on the glass top table. There was an old record there, similar to Fleminger's, that he hasn't taken notice of before.

Was it there the whole time?

Nico saw the confusion in V's eyes as he looked at the antique. "Oh, this? She bought this about a year ago. Thought she's gonna want to listen to old songs when she wakes up. So, I took it out. It's gonna get moldy with disuse."

The woman walked towards the door but, before she went out, she turned back to V. "I'll leave her to ya, V. Don't mess this up again." And then, just like that, she walked out of the door, leaving him alone with (Y/N).

The silence felt deafening, the darkness depressing. V nearly collapsed on the sofa as he carefully placed the album next to the record. He was about to touch it when he heard a loud tapping against the window. He turned around just in time to see Griffon and Shadow entering the unit.

"HOO! We made it." Griffon breathed a sigh of relief as he made his way towards V while carrying something broken in his hands.

"I see you found it." V carefully took the broken violin from Griffon's long fingers. It was (Y/N)'s.

"Yeah, well. Kinda got all bloody searchin’ through Dreadnought's rubble for that."

"Thank you."

"Wait!" Griffon held up two long fingers in front of V and made way for Shadow to get close to the poet.

V smirked, controlling his mirth and amusement as he looked down at the now human Shadow. After the cleansing, she has turned into a pale human girl roughly the size of a middle - schooler. Her long black hair that reached her feet was awfully unkempt, and the clothes that Lady lent her a while ago was too big for her.

She quietly looked up at him with her big red eyes and showed him a pair of stilettos.

It was (Y/N)'s. She wore it when,...

"This girl took it badly when you threw them out during your mad state, if ya can’t remember. She looked for them all over the place and kept them with her." Griffon explained as Shadow gave the shoes back to V. She turned towards her fellow familiar and gave him a strange look. She, then, turned back to V with an angry, yet adorable, look. "Oh, and she's saying that she hates ya for hurting (Y/N). And that she will never forgive ya."

"Oh, I'm,..." V grasped the shoes and looked down at them, thinking of the girl who owned them. "... forgive me."

"Well, you've been a naughty schtick! Ya should've been punished for bad behavior!" The bald Demon made a ruffling gesture that was much akin to his movements when he was still a bird and collapsed on the sofa. "So, happy with yer new powers?" he, then, asked sarcastically.

"No." The poet answered monotonously as he slumped back to the sofa just beside the familiar, the shoes still in his hands.

Griffon rolled his eyes. "Figures,..."

There was a moment of silence between the two, and during this very awkward time, Shadow took a liking to the old record on the table. She poked the thing with her tiny finger and managed to turn it on, its weird mechanism startling her and making her hair stand. She drew back to a corner, giving it a confused and cautious look.

This made Griffon laugh a lot. "I wonder how that would sound, though."

"It,... wouldn't hurt if we try." The poet quietly said as he placed the shoes on the table and took the vinyl record just beside the instrument. Apparently, the record was simply titled as "Nat King Cole". He began with the long process of playing it and when the music finally came out of it, he turned it off immediately.

"Hey, why did ya turn it off?!" Griffon complained. He was about to rant more when he noticed the look on V's face. His eyes were wide and his mouth was hanging open. "V? You okay?"

"I' am. I just,..." The man held out a hesitant finger as he turned on the instrument once more.

"Unforgettable, that's what you are. Unforgettable, though near or far. Like a song of love that clings to me,... "

"It's this song." He confessed with a shaky voice. With cold and trembling hands, he covered his mouth, already feeling the tears as they started falling down his blurry eyes. "It's,... from that evening."

Griffon saw the changes in V's demeanor and actually felt sorry for him. He tapped V's shoulder in a sincere effort to calm him down.

"Unforgettable in every way, and forevermore, that's how you'll stay,..."

He stood up and went towards the window, all the painful memories of everything that happened within a single week coming back to him. He found the love of his life, danced with her, and lost her because of his foolishness.

All because he let himself be manipulated.

Still unable to control his emotions, and the tears that came along with them, he turned back, and saw,...

... the girl, herself, standing a few feet away from him looking confused like he was.

But, this time, unlike any other vision he had of her, she looked like she was actually seeing him for real. She went closer towards him as he observed all of her movements. He held out his arms, hoping for his desire to dance with her once more to come across.

And, as if by some form of an unknown miracle, she let his hands take hers as they began the basic steps of the waltz,...

... just like the first time they did it on the Grecian balcony that evening.

"That's why darling, it's incredible, that someone so unforgettable, thinks that I am unforgettable too."

Griffon and Shadow silently watched as V danced with something they couldn't see. The male familiar shook his head and grinned as he saw the poet actually enjoying the dance.

"No, never before has someone been more,..."

He tried to hold her closer despite the fear that she would vanish and rested his head on the crook of her neck.

"Unforgettable,… in every way,..."

He quietly and gently sang along, the lyrics tearing a new wound to his already beaten heart. How he wanted to hold her so much, how he wanted to actually feel her smooth skin against his,...

... how he longed to dance with her once more.

But, she’s hurt. Because of him.

And instead of her actually dancing with him, she’s lying on that bed inside her room with no guarantee of when she’d wake up.

"And forevermore,… that's how you'll stay,..." He felt a warm sensation on his body and realized that her vision was rubbing him on the back, her arms around him, wanting him to cease crying. He looked at her eyes and cupped her cheeks. "That's why darling,… it's incredible,… that someone,… so unforgettable,… thinks that I ‘am,… unforgettable too,..." His heart ached with each word he sang, feeling like they were directed towards him and making him feel guilty than ever before.

He wanted so much to tell her that: that she’s unforgettable,…

… that he was grateful to her for everything that she did for him for the past ten years,…

… that he was grateful that she found him and made his life a little less miserable.

But, of course, he had to make a very stupid mistake of hurting her.

And he regret everything he did and did not do to her.

As the song came to an end, his face inched closer to hers. He wanted so much to feel her lips against his,...

... when something startled her.

She reluctantly pulled away from him as she looked at the door behind her. She opened her mouth and said something he couldn't hear, and turned to face him once more. She gave him a warm, and yet weak, smile as she held up a single hand to caress his face. After that, she stepped away from him and went to the door, looking at him one last time before finally going through it.

"Please,..." V begged her, holding out a helpless and powerless hand to reach her. "Don't,... leave me,..."

***

🖤 Special thanks to @beyond-the-mirror for the Spanish dialogue and translations. Also for introducing Alicia and Maria. 🖤

🖤 @la-vita , @micaelagua , @vergils-daughter , @lessy86 , @diabeticsugarush , @ehrzeth , @ceruleanworld , @simmy-ships , @boundbysoul , @heaven-on-a-landslide , and @krazy06 . 🖤

***

She heard a knock on the door and heard Dante calling her name. She turned away from the lonely man, not really wanting to go.

"I'm coming!" She called back, then looked at her partner's anguished face once more. Despite the pain that she suddenly felt in her heart upon seeing a vision of him, she still made an effort to caress his face and smiled, reassuring him, hoping that he would understand. She left him standing there in the middle of the room.

And as she glanced back at him, the sight that greeted her hurt her even more. In fact, the pain was unbearable.

His tears were streaming down his face, his expression simply too painful to withstand.

He doesn't want her to go.

He,... doesn't want her to leave,...

***

[siderealxmelody]

Henry II's Backstory

@redeyesgreeneyes

@candy-addicted-angel

@fallcnintohell

@you-shouldnt-have-cut-my-wings

@hunterxcarlie

@tohavelost

@truesymphony

Henry never believed that his mother was killed by some demon. He remembered being forced to go on hunts with his father and seeing what he saw. But even then he didn't believe it. Maybe he was in denial, maybe none of it was real and had a simple explanation.

He tried to dissuade his siblings from believing his father but he couldn't. He especially stopped trying with Dean. Let Dean be the Good Son, it would lead him to ruin anyway.

He had plans for himself, he wanted to get out of the small little town he was born in. He wanted a normal life, a house, a good job. He wanted to make good money, enough that he didn't have to worry about bills like his parents had to when his mother had been alive.

For fuck's sake Winchester wasn't even their real last name. Their father had changed it in an effort to avoid police scrutiny and keep whatever had killed their mother away from them. Apparently he'd been looking at a world map at work the week before Mary's death and liked the name. Which to Henry tells everything you need to know about a man like John. He worked as an auto mechanic and was too broke to even go outside the country. He was the kind of guy who looked at maps and planned trips he'd never take.

At 18 Henry had had enough and left for NYU. He double majored in marketing and business and got a job at Goldman Sachs. Along the way he met Cassandra a architecture and theology. She wasn't very religious but curious about understanding the history and significance of the architecture around her. He loved hearing her speak of the different buildings as they walked around NYC.

Two years into their schooling they had a daughter named Cora. Cassandra's parents had money and they loved Henry. So they were more than thrilled to have a granddaughter to dote over.

Two years later after they graduated from college they had a son, Kevin. He stayed most days with his grandparents in their penthouse apartment. Two years later they added their baby girl Rosalind.

Henry thrived in his job and home. He loved to tag along business trips Cassandra took. He loved to see how interested the kids were as Cassandra would rattle off facts and stories about the different buildings around them.

For a time everything was okay, but Kevin started to act strange when he turned 9. Talking to people who weren't there, being rude and reactive.

It had gotten to the point he had pulled a knife on little Rosey when she took his chips.

Henry and Cassandra were beyond worried and took him to many different child psychologists but no one could give them an adequate answer.

At 10 Kevin escalated things by stabbing his grandmother in the shoulder when she refused to give him any sweets as it was past 8 at night.

She was rushed to the hospital and Henry and Cassandra had to make a decision. He needed care and attention they couldn't give him so they decided to send him to Pleastantview Mountain Hospital in the catskills. Henry and Cassandra reached out to high powered friends everywhere to make sure the hospital was as good as their reputation stated. The last thing they wanted was for their son to be hurt more.

A week after his grandmother was sent home Kevin was taken there and kept in their children's corner.

The family visited once a month and the place looked to be helping, he had activities and school work he could do. He was given a specific case worker and therapist to talk to once a week.

They were hoping he'd be able to come home by Christmas in a few months.

But by Thanksgiving Kevin was acting out and angry, doctors advised to let him stay a little longer.

This turned into three years where he would fluctuate back and forth some weeks would be good, some bad.

At 13 he started to talk to his parents about what he saw as a child. Ghosts and demons following him around, haunting his room.

Henry had read child psychology books and knew he had to place this just right. He had to make sure Kevin knew he could talk to him but indulge in these delusions.

His grandparents had a different story, they believed Kevin wholeheartedly and told them they'd been hunters of the things Kevin was talking about. They retired when Cassandra was born.

Cassandra left the conversation and didn't speak to her parents for a month. Henry was taken aback and his in laws assured him they knew his past, it was one of the main reasons they approved of the match. Apparently John had reached out, his mother in law Janet and he went back, did a case up in DC when Cassie was 16.

They'd kept in touch ever since.

Henry was furious he'd tried so hard to get away from his father, to at least have some semblance of normalcy and his father still crept into his life.

He called his father that day demanding he stay away from his family and never contact him or his family again.

Henry and Cassandra both agreed it was better Kevin stayed in the hospital than come home. They didn't want the grandparents to make him worse.

Their daughters were flourishing given the circumstances, Cora at 15 was doing equestrian events on her local school team. Rosey at 11 was making friends and getting into make up and dresses.

Fast forward a few years the family still visited Kevin every month and spent holidays with him.

At 16 Rosey came to her parents and said she was pregnant, her boyfriend Theo was more than happy to step up and assured the parents he'd do everything in his power to be a good father.

He came from a broken home with a single mother so he was hoping to be the father figure he hadn't gotten.

Henry had a soft spot for him and after speaking to Cassandra they agreed Rosey and Theo could keep the children. Provided they promised to both graduate from high school and go on to college. They agreed and on March 15th 2016 Darian Alder Goldwood and Lainie Aster Goldwood were born. They were adored, Kevin even sent some artwork to hang in the nursery for them.

Rosey was elated, she loved to be a mother, she once told Cassandra she'd love to just stay home and raise the kids.

Cassandra was supportive but said an education couldn't hurt.

Two years later after they graduated high school Rosey found out she was pregnant again. She and Theo were overjoyed.

Kevin was beyond excited, seeing his family especially the twins always made his week.

Theo proposed soon after when they were walking in central park. Theo, had had a rough year. His mother Olivia had hung herself in the beginning of senior year. It was odd she had never shown any signs of being suicidal. It all had happened so suddenly.

Henry and Cassandra had payed for the funeral and the first year's rent of an apartment across the hall from them for Rosey, Theo and the twins.

When their third child was born she screamed as she entered the world, Theo and Rosey decided to name her Xena meaning life for the all the vitality she had. Xena Olivia Goldwood brought a joy to her family that they sorely needed.

Kevin was ecstatic when he finally got to hold her. He adored his nieces and nephew and drew drawings and made up stories for them.

Still he had violent outbursts so Henry and Cassandra agreed that to keep Kevin in the system was best.

Finally a year later in the summer of 2019 Rosalind and Theo were to marry. They had finished the first year of their college journey both going to NYU. Rosalind majoring in business she wanted to open her own clothing line. Theo in Visual and performing arts he wanted to build sets for Broadway.

For her wedding Rosey had one request that Kevin be allowed to attend. Henry and Cassandra were skeptical but talking it over with his doctors and therapist they thought it would be a good trial run.

Besides the wedding wasn't going to be very big, just close family. The reception was where all of Henry and Cassandra's business and work friends could come.

On the day of August 9th everything started out great. Cora had made time to come home. She was usually traveling around the world giving talks and doing sports with her horses. She had a ranch up in Montauk.

Kevin seemed nervous when he first got there but slowly relaxed as his nieces and nephew trailed after him and demanded some stories.

The wedding was a simple affair, Rosalind looked beautiful and Cassandra walked Theo down the aisle. They kissed and everyone toasted.

The reception was to be held the next day in their penthouse. For now everyone could relax the night away. Henry and Cassandra hadn't spared any expense and had rented a big lake house for everyone to sleep in. Since the penthouse staff would be up before dawn to get everything ready before guests and the family arrived.

Around 10 there was a scream. Cassandra had come to Rosalind and Theo's room to see if they wanted anything specific for breakfast the next morning.

Theo and Rosalind lay dead in their beds. Before Cassandra could run to the phone she was dead, her throat slit.

Kevin moved around the house and killed his grandmother next. His grandfather tried to hit him with a gun he had but it didn't seem to affect him.

Kevin didn't look like himself, his face was expressionless as if he wasn't even aware of what he was doing.

Cora ran into the room to see Kevin stab him and run out of the room. Cora stood in shock and horror. She ran to her grandfather's side when she saw he was still breathing.

She begged him to hang in there while she went to call the police. Her grandfather said there was no time. She would need to use this special knife to kill Kevin.

She protested, how could she kill her own brother?

Her grandfather assured he he wasn't her brother anymore, he was a demon, he was possesed, and, he needed to be put down.

He passed before Cora could ask anything else.

She found Kevin the living room yelling at Henry that he should have belived him. That he should have stayed with his family and they'd all be safe. If Henry had listened, if he'd stayed they would have all been safe. The angels swore they would have protected them all. But no, Henry didn't listen and now they all had to die.

Cora couldn't stop him from killing their father. But she'd die before she allowed him to hurt the kids.

She asked Kevin as he shuffled toward her if he would kill the kids after killing her. Kevin shook his head, his brown eyes wide and overblown like he was on cocaine.

He would never kill them, they were innocent. They could be saved, all they needed to do was say yes and an angel would save them. He was trying to save the world didn't she see that?

Cora nodded her head tears in her eyes as she went to give him a hug. She would do this as painlessly as possible.

Kevin hugged her and as he pulled back to stab her she did it first. Watching in shock as golden light flashed a couple of times in his body and he went limp.

She backed away from the body and ran to her phone. She called the police and told them everything.

Cora waited as the police came and spoke to her again, took crime scene pictures. The kids had thankfully been asleep this whole time and Cora was asked if she wanted to take them or place them in foster care.

She knew that the life she had had was gone. She'd need to be do everything in her power to give those kids a stable homelife. Even if she barely knew them.

She of course agreed to take them. Once all the funerals were done and the wake was finished she left.

She transferred all the money from all her family's account into her name and moved up to Montauk. She expanded her ranch adding chickens and cows. She couldn't bare to sentence another living thing to death and so bred them.

Only giving her animals to ranches like hers or animal sanctuaries where they'd be cared for the remainder of their lives.

She never reached out to any of her dad's siblings if even a sliver of what Kevin had said was true she wanted no part in it. She rather pretend none of it was real than be dragged back into that hellish nightmare.

[alastaircarstairsdefenselawyer]

Ghosts of the Shadow Market Review!

My first book of the Read to Roll challenge is Ghosts of the Shadow Market by Cassandra Clare, Sarah Rees Brennan, Maureen Johnson, Kelly Link, and Robin Wasserman. 

Look at Jem! I love my son!

Here we are at the pond! Fun fact: Cassandra Clare allegedly lives in the town next to mine. I kinda really hate it. 

I actually finished reading this a while ago, but I got caught up with school and the library book is due tomorrow, so I guess we’re doing this review tonight, bitches! 

First: I LOVED this book!! I have my issues with CC and it took me literally took me like 9 months to finish reading QOAAD (which I also enjoyed, I just couldn’t get through) but I FLEW through this book! I think maybe the short story format just fits my brain a bit better. I’m gonna break this down by story:

Cast Long Shadows

Matthew!! My child!! I want to hug you so much!! 

This story stood out to me as particularly hopeless, especially compared to the rest of the stories. It ended in total despair, and I understand Matthew did something VERY VERY BAD but he is a dumb child and dumb 15 year olds do a lot of dumb things so 

I really hope he gets some sort of resolution in TLH

This bitch deserves happiness 

Also he’s defo not straight?? like no straight boi is THAT into oscar wilde

i kinda ship him with thomas

Every Exquisite Thing

SOOO PURE!!!!!

WE STAN SUPPORTIVE PARENTS!!!!!!!!!

This story was like a breath of fresh air compared to the last

It doesn’t really connect to the overarching plot at ALL (every other story does, correct me if I’m wrong) but i’m okay with it because anna lightwood is incredible and deserves all of the respect 

the only bit that kinda not really relates is the talk about tessa’s demon parent? which is lowkey implied to be like... actually satan?? ahhhh????

That last bit with Cecily was just so beautiful. again. 

I TOLD YOU THE BLUE WAISTCOAT WAS THE ONE

I’m just imagining them just in bed one night and one of them was like ‘our daughter hecka gay’ ‘what should we do’ ‘well we gotta buy her a suit that actually fits her obv. she can’t keep walking around in clothes that don’t fit, also they’re gross’ ‘i actually already went to the tailor down the block and made a list of the ones i think she would look best in’ 

I know ariadne broke annas heart but also i feel really bad for her. being a brown lesbian in 2019 is hard enough. she lost her parents and she doesn’t want to lose what she has left. i hope she also gets some sort of closure in TLH. i would be content with her and charlie having a charlotte and henry thing going minus the pining and falling in love. they’re married but it’s just business and they can pursue whomever on the side

also isabelle do you realize that necklace you’re wearing was once owned by queer QUEEN anna lightwood?????

Learn About Loss

this story was a little slow, but very necessary for introducing the lost herondale plot

emilia is so fucking badass 

the last scene with will and jem was so pure and wholesome. i’m so mad that they were robbed of so much time together. 

A Deeper Love

this story was just anxiety

like obv i knew jem wasn’t going to die but the CLIMAX 

can kit pls have some heart to heart with catarina in twp! like she deserves some closure! like she can just tell him some stories and he can understand a bit more of where he comes from

jem deserves all of the hugs 

i just want to scream YOU GET MARRIED! YOU HAVE A CHILD! IT WILL HAPPEN! 

The Wicked Ones

this story was,, uh,, something

i’d say it ties with cast long shadows as the most depressing 

so basically, celine was horribly abused her entire life by the people who should have taken care of her, her trauma was exploited by another abuser so that she too became incredibly manipulative and potentially abusive, and then she killed herself (was murdered?) and her child was ripped from her corpse to be abused throughout his entire childhood as well

it was cute seeing kit’s parents! they were so cute! what happened. 

Son of the Dawn

baby alec! baby izzy! baby jace! baby baby max! 

i’m not a big jace fan, but ugh i just wanted him to get the love that every child deserves! 

i can’t believe raphael santiago was alec lightwood’s sexual awakening

“brother let him see my rack-ariah” 

lily chen deserves the whole goddamn world

jem CARVED WILL’S INITIALS INTO HIS STAFF

FULL HOMO

The Land I Lost

gotta admit that i wasn’t too hype about this one bc i’m kinda tired of all of the malec narratives, but it was cute

“JEM I’D-LOVE-TO-CLIMB-’EM-CARSTAIRS” (this has to be my favorite) 

once again i love lily chen with all my heart and she deserves all of the happiness and none of the shit that the world has given her 

also??? lily breathed, “cortana.” this girl was GAY for CORDELIA CARSTAIRS

BLESS THE COME AND STARE FAMILY

i love how this small child who hates everyone just physically attached himself to alec and would not let go 

cordelia carstairs was lily’s sexual awakening and you can’t change my mind

SLEEP LILY I’LL WATCH THE DOORS alec lightwood being the PAL lily deserves

THAT BITCH! poor matthew. he was still dumb but he was played by some bitch who couldn’t separate her person grudges and an entire race of people

i love how magnus saw this child run into his home with alec nowhere in sight and was like “guess he’s my son now” 

Through Blood, Through Fire

rosemary ;_;

that’s so fucking depressing like you abandoned your family and it bought them like 3 days max 

i think it’s a little weird that tessa now has some of kit’s mother’s memories and is adopting him but also i guess it’s kinda nice? 

both jem and tessa have actually almost died searching for you, kit, and i don’t think either regret a single thing they did to lead themselves to you

jem and tessa are in LOVE and they’re having a BABY

The Lost World

JEM AND TESSA ARE IN LOVE AND THEY’RE HAVING A BABY

ty u really did fuck up didn’t u

but he’s got a pet now so that’s nice

livvy ;_; 

i really hope they find a way to release her in twp 

i don’t think ty wants it, but things will come to a head. she’s not happy as a ghost. 

kit and ty are so fucking dumb just talk to each other!!

it’s so fitting that kit gave them the heron pendant

both in a sense of continuity and in the complexities of his feelings - on one hand it belonged to his mother, someone cared very much about him but on the other, it failed to save her

Forever Fallen

i ship kit with a family that loves him

jem just talks to him and is just internally like ‘wtf has everyone in your life done wrong’ 

jem and tessa: you are WORTHY and DESERVING of LOVE, BITCH! 

i want all of the domestic herondale-carstairs family 

i think i read the scene where jem and tessa put all of their stuff in kit’s room like 10 times it had me so shook 

“WE WANT YOU TO KNOW THERE IS NOTHING IN THIS HOUSE MORE PRECIOUS TO US THAN YOU” 

WE STAN SUPPORTIVE PARENTS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Janus is as annoying as real jace 

lily be safe bby ily this is gonna end baaaaad 

the scene at the end where jem tells kit that where there is love there is no need for gratitude also has me shook bc we’ve been talking about this a lot in my spanish class, about how so many of us are trained to be complacent and to show gratitude for things that should be a given

Overall, I really enjoyed the book even though some parts bored me and I kinda skimmed through. I’m reading Girls of Paper and Fire now, so we’ll see when I finish that! 

[aion-rsa]

TorCon 2021: Stay Home, Geek Out, Again!

https://ift.tt/eA8V8J

Tor Books & Den of Geek Present:

TorCon 2021

In partnership with Tor Books, we are thrilled to announce the return of TorCon, a virtual convention launched in 2020 to bring the entertainment and excitement of live book conventions into the virtual space. From Thursday, June 10 through Sunday, June 13, Tor Books, Forge Books, Tordotcom Publishing, Tor Teen, and Nightfire are presenting ten panels featuring over 30 of your favorite authors in conversation with each other—and with you!

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Join authors including James Rollins, Charlie Jane Anders, Joe Pera, Catriona Ward, Gillian Flynn, TJ Klune, Alix E. Harrow, Seanan McGuire, Nghi Vo, and many more for four days of pure geekery, exclusive reveals, sneak peeks, giveaways, and more… all from the comfort of your own home!

Visit the TorCon Bookstore here.

Check out the full lineup below, featuring moderation from Den of Geek Editor Kayti Burt and Den of Geek Contributor Natalie Zutter, and save the date to stay home and geek out with us!

Thursday, June 10

7 PM ET/4 PM PT: Catriona Ward in conversation with Gillian Flynn Catriona Ward’s twisty and terrifying The Last House on Needless Street is one of the most anticipated books of the fall—and who better to join her to discuss all things thrilling and chilling than #1 New York Times bestselling author Gillian Flynn (Gone Girl, Dark Places, Sharp Objects)? This powerhouse panel is not to be missed. This panel is co-hosted by Den of Geek and moderated by Kayti Burt. Register Here

Friday, June 11

1 PM ET/10 AM PT: Chaotic Storytelling—Take 2! Back by chaotic demand! Last year, we tasked a brave panel of authors with telling us an epic story unlike any other. Now, we’re asking a new group of authors to spin us a brand new tale. Join us for take 2 of Chaotic Storytelling: 2 Chaotic, 2 Furious! Christopher Buehlman (The Blacktongue Thief), J.S. Dewes (The Last Watch), Andrea Hairston (Master of Poisons), Jenn Lyons (The House of Always), and Neil Sharpson (When the Sparrow Falls) will incorporate writing prompts from you, the audience, to create a brand new story—and talk about their craft and inspirations along the way. This panel is co-hosted by LitHub and moderated by Drew Broussard. Register Here

5 PM ET/2 PM PT: Nightfire Family *Blood* Feud Our new horror imprint, Nightfire, brings together some of your favorite horror and gothic authors as they go head-to-head in a horror-inspired version of the favorite game show… What tropes are fan favorites? Which movie franchise is the scariest? Join Gretchen Felker-Martin (Manhunt), Cassandra Khaw (Nothing But Blackened Teeth), Thomas Olde Heuvelt (HEX, Echo), and our host Lee Mandelo (Summer Sons) to find out during Nightfire’s Horror Feud! Register Here

7 PM ET/4 PM PT: James Rollins in conversation with Holly Black Holly Black joins James Rollins to discuss his new epic novel, The Starless Crown—plus make an exclusive announcement for Holly’s fans! Join these two #1 New York Times bestsellers as they talk bringing the thrills to fantasy, fighting the moon, stealing a god, new projects… and maybe even share a sneak peek at some of their latest work! This panel is co-hosted by Den of Geek and moderated by Natalie Zutter. Register Here

Saturday, June 12

1 PM ET/10 AM PT: All the Feels: Emotional Storytelling in SFF What’s the last book you read that made you sob? What about the last one that had a character you fell in love with, or a plot twist that made you gasp? Sure, sci fi and fantasy have all the coolest story elements, from ghosts to divine cities, robots to cannibalistic nuns…but the *real* reason we love these books is that they hit us right in the feels. Join Becky Chambers (A Psalm for the Wild-Built), Kerstin Hall (Star Eater), T.L. Huchu (The Library of the Dead), Alex Pheby (Mordew), Lucinda Roy (The Freedom Race), and moderator TJ Klune (Under the Whispering Door) as they talk about how to make stories more than just words on a page, and mastermind their next evil plot to make us all have emotions while we’re just trying to read! Register Here

5 PM ET/2 PM PT: Ethereal & Eerie: A Glimpse at Captivating Fall Reads Imagine: you long for another world—but then a door appears in front of you, out of nowhere. Step through, and end up in the remnants of a flooded kingdom, where tentacled beasts wait beneath the waves. Or maybe you’ll go to the American south, lushly gothic with ghosts lurking everywhere. Perhaps the door leads to a dangerous enchanted—and somehow romantic—hedge maze in Edwardian England, or to a world where there’s more than just one spindle, and more than just one sleeping beauty. Maybe your door just leads to a place where everything is perfect…or is it? Step through your door and catch a glimpse of fall’s most ethereal and eerie reads from authors Alix E. Harrow (A Spindle Splintered), Freya Marske (A Marvellous Light), Lee Mandelo (Summer Sons), Zin E. Rocklyn (Flowers for the Sea), and Catherynne M. Valente (Comfort Me With Apples). Moderated by Seanan McGuire (Where the Drowned Girls Go). Register Here

7 PM ET/4 PM PT: Charlie Jane Anders in conversation with TJ Klune Join internationally bestselling author Charlie Jane Anders (Victories Greater Than Death, Never Say You Can’t Survive) in conversation with New York Times and USA Today bestselling author TJ Klune (The House in the Cerulean Sea, Flash Fire) as they discuss writing SFF for adults and teens, crafting authentic queer narratives, and everlasting fictional characters that stay with readers long after they’ve finished the book. This panel is co-hosted by Den of Geek and moderated by Kayti Burt. Register Here

Sunday, June 13

1 PM ET/10 AM PT: Space is Gay! Only two things are infinite: Space and Gay. However, when it comes to SFF, the amount of spaces that can be queered is EVEN! MORE! INFINITE! Join Charlie Jane Anders (Victories Greater Than Death), Ryka Aoki (Light From Uncommon Stars), A.K. Larkwood (The Unspoken Name), Everina Maxwell (Winter’s Orbit), and moderator K.M. Szpara (First, Become Ashes) as they discuss queer science fiction spaces, extraterrestrial OTPs, and how in space, no one can hear your gay pining. Attendees can enter for a chance to win one of Tor’s limited edition Space is Gay pins. Register Here

5 PM ET/2 PM PT: Conjuring the Diaspora: Myths, Legends, and Classics Reimagined Join authors Ryka Aoki (Light From Uncommon Stars), Aliette de Bodard (Fireheart Tiger), Shelley Parker-Chan (She Who Became the Sun), and Nghi Vo (The Chosen and the Beautiful) for a discussion of how the Asian diaspora intersects with storytelling in the speculative fiction space. This panel is co-hosted with the Bronx Book Festival. Register Here

7 PM ET/4 PM PT: Jo Firestone in conversation with Joe Pera Joe Pera, from the Adult Swim show, Joe Pera Talks With You, has been lauded for his warmhearted comedic stylings. Now, join him and his co-star, friend, and fellow comedian Jo Firestone, to present a preview of his first book! A Bathroom Book for People Not Pooping or Peeing but Using the Bathroom as an Escape will combine Pera’s cozy comedy and artist Joe Bennett’s darkly playful illustrations, creating a funny and sincere guide to regaining calm and confidence when you’re hiding in the bathroom from life’s stresses. This panel is co-hosted by Den of Geek and moderated by Kayti Burt. Register Here

The post TorCon 2021: Stay Home, Geek Out, Again! appeared first on Den of Geek.

from Den of Geek https://ift.tt/34E0rb2

[latesthollywoodnews]

Kylie Jenner Drops SPOOKY Halloween Cosmetics Collection

Kylie Jenner Drops SPOOKY Halloween Cosmetics Collection

Jeremy Brown - Latest News - My Hollywood News

Kylie Jenner Drops SPOOKY Halloween Cosmetics Collection, New Hollywood Celebrity News 2017.

Good Celebrity News 2017, Pixar News, Kylie Jenner Drops SPOOKY Halloween Cosmetics Collection.

Hollywood Celebrities Watch Online Celebrities Coming Out In 2019 & Walt Hollywood Animation Studios headquartered at the Walt Hollywood Studios in Burbank, California, is an American animation studio that creates animated feature films, short films, and television specials for The Walt Hollywood Company. Founded on October 16, 1923, it is a division of The Walt Hollywood Studios. The studio has produced 56 feature films, from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937) to Moana (2016).

How was Bambi’s dad die?

 After the death of Bambi’s mother, the Great Prince finds Bambi and explains to Bambi what happened to her. He calls for Bambi to come along with him, revealing himself to be Bambi’s father. Later, when Bambi is a young adult, Man returns to the forest. After an incident with Man and his dogs, Bambi is shot.

How do you wake up Sleeping Beauty?

Fascinated by the wheel, she touches the spindle, pricking her finger. As had been foretold by the curse, Aurora is put under a sleeping spell. The good fairies place Aurora on her bed with a red rose in her hand and cause a deep sleep to fall over the entire kingdom until they can find a way to break the curse.

What is Hollywoodland Resort?

Enjoy even more Hollywood magic on select attractions in one of the parks before it opens with Extra Magic Hour—available each morning to Guests of the 3 Hotels of the Hollywoodland Resort! Valid theme park admission required.

More Celebrity News ►►

Kylie Jenner is DEBUTING a NEW Halloween collection for Kylie Cosmetics.

And everything from the packaging to the colors is just scary good.

Kylie took to her IG stories, to reveal some details about the entire collection that you legit need 3D glasses for! The packaging features fangs, ghosts, skeletons, spiders and more and don’t worry, it comes with the 3-D glasses. The entire Halloween collection includes 4 lipsticks in the shades “Spider-Bite”, “Monster”, “Haunt It” and “Creep It Real” (two of which are metallic shades), two glitter eyeshadows named “Witch & Famous” and “Hello Ghordeous”. Plus a “Bite Me” red lip kit, a glitter gloss in “Handsome Devil”, a 9-shade eyeshadow palette, and a pressed illuminating powder duo chrome highlighter in “Go Ghost”.

So naturally, Kylie fans lost it and took to twitter to share their excitement! One user TWEETED: The Colours of the packaging are life and the 3D design is everything! I respect your hard work and creativity”

While another user TWEETED: Okay I high key want @KylieJenner Halloween collection. Everything about it is spooky and gorgeous!!

While we don’t yet know the price of it, we do know the entire Kylie Cosmetics Halloween collection will go on sale October 12 so you’ll have plenty of time to play around with the colors in time for Halloween!

I, personally, am super excited for it and love the 3D packaging! But what about you guys? Are you going to purchasing the collection? Hit the comments to join the convo, and then click here to watch another video – thanks so much for hanging out with me – be sure to subscribe for more updates. I’m your girl Amy Cassandra Martinez, see you next time!

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Celebrity Latest Story, Hollywood Celebrity Rating, Hollywood Celebrity News 2019, Latest Celebrity Releases, Kylie Jenner Drops SPOOKY Halloween Cosmetics Collection.

Hollywood has been criticized for its influence over children in that it endeavours to appeal to children at a young age and develop their views and interests according to Hollywood’s portrayal of major themes as well as prepare children to become early consumers of their brand. Hollywood Celebrities Official Latest Story, Kylie Jenner Drops SPOOKY Halloween Cosmetics Collection.

https://www.myhollywoodnews.com/kylie-jenner-drops-spooky-halloween-cosmetics-collection/

#LatestNews

[shannaraisles]

Set In Darkness

Chapter: 33 Author name: ShannaraIsles Rating: M Warnings: Canon-typical threat and violence Summary: She’s a Modern Girl in Thedas, but it isn’t what she wanted. There’s a scary dose of reality as soon as she arrives. It isn’t her story. People get hurt here; people die here, and there’s no option to reload if you make a bad decision. So what’s stopping her from plunging head first into the Void at the drop of a hat?

Developments

"It was ... awful."

Shocked didn't even begin to describe Kaaras on his return from Redcliffe. He had come back bearing the news that he had conscripted the mages, and had weathered Leliana's scolding with remarkable fortitude. He'd seemed his usual self, but there was a new edge to the way he looked at Cassandra and Varric. On paper, time magic sounded fanciful; no one could really grasp what the Herald had been through. Even having played it, written it, Rory couldn't really wrap her head around the real consequences of Alexius' spell. But Cassandra had asked her to check on Kaaras, genuinely concerned for the big Qunari, who had hidden himself away in his cabin for three days straight.

So here she was, pressing a mug of steaming tea into her friend's big hand as he stared into the fire, trying to find words to describe what he had experienced. Up close, she could see why Cassandra was so worried - Kaaras was unnervingly still, his Fade-touched eyes guarded, hiding the recent memories that were haunting him. His usually sunny temperament seemed to have deserted him, the boyish face carrying new cares that threatened to make him seem utterly inapproachable to those who did not know him.

"They died for me," he whispered in horror. "Leliana, Varric ... Cassandra. And not just them - everyone in the Inquisition, so many innocent people caught in the middle. There were demons everywhere and ... it was all my fault."

"No, it wasn't," she told him firmly. "You had no hand in what happened to that future."

"It happened because I wasn't there," Kaaras insisted vehemently. "I've seen what will happen if I fail. I-I can't fail, Rory. It's all on me. Everything will go to shit if I screw this up. It's ... awful."

She sighed softly, drawing her chair closer to wrap her arm about his broad back. "You need to talk to someone about what you saw there," she said in a gentle tone. "I know I can't possibly understand, but I'm here, if you think you can talk to me."

"No one will understand," he lamented despairingly. "Dorian was there, but he didn't feel it the way I did. I was so alone, Ror. Just like after the Conclave - everyone I knew was dead, or dying, and this time, it was my fault."

Just like after the Conclave. The simple truth of that statement hit her like a tone of bricks. She had never considered that before. Stranded in a dire, deadly future with only a stranger at his side; a future where everyone he knew, all the friends he had made, were gone ... how could anyone bear that? He was even stronger than she'd thought, to endure two such isolating events in the space of six months. But she had no idea how to help him come to terms with it. All she could really do was listen.

So that was what she did - she listened. She listened as he described the state of a future she sincerely hoped she would never see; the horror of a world filled with glowing clusters of red lyrium, mined from the bodies of those who had been forcibly infected with the Blighted crystal; the shocking despair of discovering the world dominated by the Breach, populated by demons and Venatori blood mages that answered to this unknown Elder One. Biting her lips against sharing the identity of his first great foe, she let Kaaras describe to her the overwhelming dread of seeing the price of his failure; the burning anger that had kept him going through the nightmare, determined to find a way to reverse what had been done, to make sure it never happened. She held him as he wept over the fates of Fiona, Leliana, Varric ... and Cassandra.

"She was so broken," he rasped, rubbing at the tears staining his face. "She'd lost everything that made her Cassandra. All that fire, all the softness beneath ... it was gone. She thought I was a ghost at first, and then ..." He let out a shuddering breath. "She died for me, Ror. She didn't even think about it. She knew she couldn't survive, but she went anyway. I saw her ... her body. And ... and then I was back in this time, and she's alive. She's still herself. Whatever this Elder One is, I won't let him have her. She can't break, she ... I need her, Ror."

Despite the pain in his voice, the sheer dread of what he had experienced, Rory felt herself smile at this raw confession. She knew he liked Cassandra, but not that his attachment to the Seeker had progressed so far.

"Ever since I woke up, she's been the one constant who's always right there beside me," the big Qunari said, the fervor in his voice almost painful to hear. "She's had my back since the start, even when she wanted to kill me. She's saved my life too many times to count, but ... I don't know. She's ... wonderful." He twisted to look at his friend. "Do ... do you think she might ever see me that way? Am I just deluding myself?"

Her smile softened. "Kaaras ... I think you have every chance with Cassandra," she told him warmly. "You just need to slightly alter your approach, that's all."

The brindled horns on his head caught the firelight as he shifted about to face her. "What do you mean?" he asked, distracted from his sorrow by genuine curiosity.

Rory's smile widened at his enthusiasm. "I know you see her as a warrior, a friend," she pointed out. "But have you noticed that there's a woman under all that armor?"

"Well, obviously," he snorted. "She's beautiful."

"That's not what I mean." She chuckled lightly, shaking her head. "She spends all her time being strong and practical and focused on the big picture. Maybe what she needs is someone she can be soft and frivolous with, someone who can make her feel like she's the only person in the world that matters."

All right, so she might have been cheating a little, but if ever anyone deserved to feel loved and cherished, it was Cassandra Pentaghast. The woman had given up everything for the Seekers and the Chantry, two institutions that had failed her, and the only man she had ever allowed to break through her defenses had been killed at the Conclave. Kaaras was in with more than a chance simply because she wouldn't see it coming until she was already emotionally invested. He just had to be subtle until the moment was right, and the moment was coming. It was Cassandra's concern that had Rory sitting here in the first place.

"How in the Void do I do that?" he asked, utterly bemused.

"Try learning how to be romantic," Rory suggested innocently. "Don't rush into anything, but give her your full attention when she speaks; offer to do little things for her on the road, like setting out her bedroll or oiling her armor. Don't make a big deal out of it. Trust me, you'll know when it's time to try the romance."

"I don't know how to be romantic," Kaaras objected uncertainly.

"Ask Varric," she recommended. "He's a writer, he'll have a few ideas. Just ... run them by me or Josephine before you try them, okay? If he works out it's for Cassandra, he might try to be funny."

"And she'll emasculate me with a blunt saw." He winced, following that thought to its logical conclusion with a wary shudder. "Is this why you gave me that poetry book?"

She tried to look innocent. "Possibly."

"Huh."

His gaze strayed to the cabinet by his bed. She didn't doubt that the book was in there; she was also fairly sure he hadn't so much as opened it yet. He'd been completely confused when she'd presented it to him in the first place. There was a pause, and Kaaras' green eyes turned back to her.

"Is Cullen romantic?" he asked curiously. "I mean ... could he give me any advice?"

Oh, to be a fly on the wall for that conversation. She could feel herself blushing at Kaaras' earnest expression. "Um ... he might be able to?" she managed awkwardly. "What's ... what's romantic for m- us, well, it might not be for you."

"What sort of thing does he do with you?"

Rory squirmed as her cheeks burned, that blush well and truly here to stay under the Qunari's open, teasing grin. "That is a little personal, Kaaras," she complained in embarrassment.

"I'm not asking about sex," he cajoled her hopefully. "There must be something you can tell me."

Well, I've got nothing to say about sex, anyway, she thought, attempting to will her cheeks to cool. It wasn't working. "He ... he arranged for us to have a cabin away from the tents to sleep in," she offered after a struggle. "It probably doesn't sound very romantic to you, but ... I don't know how to explain it. I was sleeping in the clinic, and there was always someone who needed me to be right there all the time, and the only real time we spent together was in-between everything else we do in a day. Just ... just having somewhere that's just us, even if all we do is sleep ... it means everything to me."

"It doesn't sound very romantic, you're right," he agreed, his curiosity touched with confusion now.

"See what I mean?" she countered a little triumphantly. "I'm not exactly conventional, but I found that romantic. Because he did something that was just for me, that made me feel important in his eyes. That's what you should be taking from this."

"But you think Cassandra would like something ... romantic?" Kaaras pressed. In spite of, or perhaps because of, the dark way they had segued into this conversation, he seemed to need a definitive answer, some hopeful purpose to cling to in the face of the nightmarish scenario he had just lived through.

"I think Cassandra is a very passionate woman who deserves to feel like the most important person in the world from time to time," Rory told him. "Seriously, read the poetry. Find out what she likes. You'll find some way to give her the romance she deserves, I promise you, but there's no need to rush this and risk chasing her away. You'll know when it's time."

The big head nodded slowly as he absorbed this, his boyish face creasing into a hopeful smile. "All right," he agreed, gulping down his now cold tea. "Thanks, Ror."

Relieved to see him a little more his old self, she smiled at him, squeezing her arm about his back once more before letting go. "That's what I'm here for," she assured him. "Anytime you need to talk, I'm here."

Kaaras grinned wanly. "Never thought I'd call a human 'friend'."

"Maybe you're hallucinating that I'm human," she teased easily. "Maybe I'm really a ten-foot tall Qunari with horns like a dragon."

He gasped with exaggerated shock. "Mommy?!"

Rory burst out laughing as he scooped her into a strong hug. "Get off, you big, bald bronto!"

"Maybe not Mommy." He laughed with her, releasing his grip so she could stand. "More like an annoying big sister. Only, you know, really little."

"I am not that small," she protested, her indignation undermined by the broad smile on her face. "I'll have you know, where I come from, I'm average height."

"The Legendary Island of Midget Humans?" Kaaras mocked her fondly, patting her on the head.

"It's not my fault you're abnormally huge," she countered, her point made by the fact that they were on eye-level with each other and he was still sitting.

"In every way," he agreed, waggling his brows above a lascivious grin.

"I did not need to know that," Rory complained, grimacing laughingly before eyeing his crotch for a moment. "Although ... lucky Cassandra. At least she won't have to go Seeking for it."

The Qunari Herald's jaw dropped, his face turning a darker shade of gray as finally she made him blush. "I ... I ..." He struggled for a moment, then gave up. "You win. Shoo, before I show it to you to prove my manliness."

"What makes you think I haven't already seen it?" she asked innocently, lurching back as he took a playful swipe at her. "All right, I'm shooing, I'm shooing! No hiding in here all day. Healer's orders."

"Yes, Mommy." He snorted with laughter as she rolled her eyes at him. "I'll come out in a little while," he promised. "I've got some reading to do, first."

"Good boy. I'll see you later."

Slipping out of his cabin, Rory was still grinning as she made her way to the Chantry. She hoped Kaaras wasn't going to follow through on that idle idea of asking Cullen for advice on romance, but she could imagine how that conversation wouldn't go. Hey, Cullen, how do you make Rory feel special? Well, I let her bully me into going to bed and then kiss her until she can't think straight. You think that'd work on Cassandra? She laughed just imagining it. Between Kaaras' often inappropriate sense of humor and Cullen's tendency to stammer when embarrassed, nothing would come out of any attempt to seek the commander's advice, she was certain.

She ducked into the Chantry as a templar came out, offering a nod to Vivienne and Mother Giselle as she passed them to let herself into Josephine and Minaeve's office. Minaeve was deep in discussion with Adan - she glanced up as the door opened, and tossed Rory the bag of demon bile flakes she'd come for as the healer moved over to the ambassador's desk.

"You need more light, Josephine," she told the Antivan woman for what must have been the hundredth time. "You're going to damage your eyesight working in this gloom."

"It is too cold to work outside," Josephine complained mildly, adding her signature to the bottom of the parchment in front of her. "I do not know how Leliana and Cullen can stand it."

Well, Cullen's a little claustrophobic and seems to be centrally heated, but I have no idea on the Nightingale. "At least tell me you're taking regular breaks," Rory appealed hopefully. "It isn't healthy to always be cooped up in here."

"I am resigned to needing spectacles in my advanced years," the ambassador sighed, accepting her fate with dignity as she laid her quill down. "What can I do for you, Mistress Rory?"

"Start calling me just plain Rory?" she suggested, tugging a small pouch from her belt to lay it on the desk. "The tea we talked about. I called in a favor from a friend in Val Royeaux - one small pinch is sufficient, and you can sweeten it with honey to taste."

"Oh, that is wonderful." Josephine picked up the pouch, holding it to her nose to inhale the fragrance of the tea within. "It smells like home. Truly, thank you."

"It's a pleasure," Rory assured her with a smile. "Anything I can do to help."

"Actually, there is something you may be able to help me with," the ambassador said, pocketing the pouch of tea. "You are familiar with the population of Haven - do you know a Mistress Allen?"

A vague flicker of alarm passed through Rory's mind. "That's me," she admitted warily. But who here knows my surname? I could have sworn they weren't used much in Ferelden. Although ... I did include it in the character work up.

"Truly?" Josephine was surprised. "I have not heard you use this name."

"There's no other Rory in the camp," she pointed out, hoping she was right. "There's no need to use my last name. And it's not the custom in Ferelden if you're not a noble or a merchant."

"Oh, of course. Well, a letter has arrived for you from Val Royeaux." One beautifully manicured hand rummaged through the papers on the desk to locate the wax-sealed missive and hand it to the healer.

Rory took it with a curious frown, breaking the seal to scan the letter. Bollocks. "It's from Granthis," she said aloud, a little shocked by the contents. "He, um ... I think you should read this." She passed the letter back to Josephine, watching as the Antivan read what was written there.

 Little girl,    The Empress is holding peace talks with Gaspard at the Wintersend Ball in Halamshiral. Figure your Inquisition will be there, so as a Master of the Orlesian Guild of Healers and Apothecaries, I'm conscripting you as my escort.  Granthis.    Postscript - Wear a pretty frock. I'll get your mask.

"Who is this person?" Josephine wondered curiously.

"Granthis Perivale," Rory told her with a slightly weary sigh. "He's a very good alchemist and apothecary, and he's an old friend."

"And you trust him, yes?" Josephine pressed further. "This is not out of character for him?"

"No, he's always been that blunt," Rory assured her, though her stomach was twisting into knots. And his personality is entirely my fault. "I believe he has ... quite an enthusiastic customer base among the nobility."

"Perivale ... it sounds familiar." The ambassador tapped her long fingers against her cheek as she studied the letter, trying to place the name. "Ah! The ugly little man who sold those -" She cut herself off as her eyes widened, gaping at Rory. "You know him?"

The healer nodded. She really wasn't sure which way she wanted this to go - did she really want to be at the Winter Palace on the night Celene might be assassinated? The inner fangirl did, but mostly for the pretty dress and to see Cullen in that uniform.

"Well, his ... his information will be accurate," Josephine said, blushing as she moved swiftly away from the topic of just what it was Granthis sold. Evidently the equivalent of Viagra in Thedas was more than enough to embarrass the ambassador. "And his position is such that he would be invited to such an event." She frowned, considering the letter and its implications. "He is also right that the Inquisition should be represented. It is unlikely the Empress would extend us an invitation, but perhaps Duke Gaspard may be prevailed upon. I think you should accept this invitation."

"Josephine, I don't know the first thing about how to behave at a ball," Rory grumbled. "And I neither have a 'pretty frock', or the means to get one."

"Wintersend is a few months away," Josephine told her confidently. "We can arrange lessons for you, and we will make sure you are properly attired. May I keep this letter?"

"Hmm? Oh, of course." What's a letter, in the grand scheme of things? Wait, grand scheme ... oh, bollocking hell, the Great Game. This is nuts! "So I suppose I'm going to Halamshiral, then."

"I believe you should go, yes, and I also believe Leliana would agree with me." Josephine eyed her up and down with a critical gaze. "I am sure Madame Vivienne will know just the seamstress to dress you in style."

"Lucky me."

Bloody Granthis, she muttered in the back of her mind. Sticking his oar in, dropping me into the middle of something absolutely deadly. I hope he's pleased with himself. But she couldn't rail too much about it. She didn't have anyone to blame but herself. She'd written his character, after all.

 Bloody, bollocking piss-balls.

[gigiglorious]

r/fantasy bingo is this awesome reading challenge that happens over on reddit each year. 2016 was the first year I joined and it was a great way to expand my SFF reading habits. The 2017 bingo challenge is now live and will be running from April 1, 2017 – March 31, 2018 if anyone is interested in joining.

I didn’t actually think I’d finish this challenge. I was on track to do so, planning to knock out the last three books while recovering from a minor surgery. Then I got a horrific cold, had trouble getting into one of the books and started to panic about graduating. Technically I only needed to finish 25 books for the challenge but I’d made a goal of 75 and was feeling down about failing to reach it. But the last day of the challenge I finished a book I’d put down for two months, realized it counted for my unfilled square and quickly rearranged everything.

In 2016 I’d just gotten out of a three year reading slump and was trying to find books I enjoyed. r/fantasy bingo seemed like a fun challenge and so I jumped in part way through the summer. The thought process behind this overly large amount of books was that I wanted to really diversify my reading so I did a full card of books written only by women and a full card of books written only by people of colour or Indigenous people, plus an additional card of random books (which will turn into a card of small press books in 2017).

An additional rule was that a minimum of 50% of books must be written by people of colour and Indigenous authors. I met that goal with 47% (35/75) of books by people of colour and 4% (4/75) of books by Indigenous authors, for an total of 51%. Gender wise the books broke down to 28% men (21/75), 67% women (50/75), and 5% both (4/75), either in the 2+ authors square or short story anthologies.

I loved this bingo challenge. I learnt so much about my reading preferences (deep characterization all the way), discovered so many good books I might have passed up or never gotten too, had a lot of good conversations and got so many great recommendations. This was such a great experience and I’m looking to expand the 2017 bingo with a small press/indie/self-published card and a queer and trans characters/authors card.

Top Six Books (2 for each card although it was very hard to choose)

Senlin Ascends by Josiah Bancroft: Senlin Ascends is exactly the type of fantasy I love, cultural mashups filled with mythology and blending genres, and well-written characters that develop and grow over the course of the book. I could barely put it down near the end.

The Devourers by Indra Das: Every time I try to describe this book it ends up getting boiled down to werewolves in India. But it’s so much more than that, it’s a compilation of history and mythology all wrapped up in beautiful and brutal prose.

The Enchantment Emporium by Tanya Huff: I know this book isn’t going to be everyone’s favourite but it took me completely by surprise. It’s a fast-paced, paranormal romance urban fantasy full of genre tropes set in Calgary with deadpan Canadian humour. The sequels weren’t as solid as the first book but The Enchantment Emporium was one of the best and weirdest books I read last year.

The Golem and the Jinni by Helen Wecker: I couldn’t believe how much Wecker brought The Golem and the Jinni to life. Every character was compelling and I could have sworn I was walking down the streets of New York in 1899.

Ninefox Gambit by Yoon Ha Lee: It’s really hard to explain just how much I love Ninefox Gambit. I’m new to reading sci-fi and never though I would come to enjoy a military space opera but wound up crying uncontrollably half-way through the book, unable to put it down.

Ancient, Ancient by Kiini Ibura Salaam: This was just such an original, beautiful, weird, compelling collection short stories. It grabbed me from the first page and didn’t let go until the end.

Honourable Mentions

A Stranger in Olondria  by Sofia Samatar

Kalpa Imerial: The Greatest Empire That Never Was by Angélica Gorodischer

King’s Shield by Sherwood Smith

Top Three Disappointments

The Well of Ascension by Brandon Sanderson: Sanderson appears to be almost universally loved and so I had a really hard time figuring out why I didn’t enjoy Mistborn until I realized that his characters tend to be very cardboard-like. One of the benefits of reading so much SFF over a year is learning your reading tastes and unfortunately/fortunately I need deep characterization and Sanderson just doesn’t do it.

Octavia’s Brood, edited by by Adrienne Maree Brown & Walidah Imarisha: I was really excited for this anthology but found in the end it just fell flat. The concept was really cool, to have a collection written by activists from social justice movements, many of which were first time writers. But that was also its downfall in my opinion. A lot of the stories just didn’t go anywhere or left me hanging in a bad way and months after reading it I can’t remember a single story from the collection that stood out to me.

A Book of Tongues by Gemma Files: Normally when I don’t like books it’s due to the writing style, but my dislike for A Book of Tongues is purely content related. I had to finish this one because I was using it for two reading challenges and was running out of time, but would have put it down immediately otherwise due to the colonial racist genre tropes and anti-semitism. Do not recommend.

Magic Realism – Kafka on the Shore by Haruki Murakami/ What is Yours is Not Yours by Helen Oyeyemi/ Beauty is a Wound by Eka Kurniawan

GR Book of the Month – Assassin’s Apprentice by Robin Hobb/ The Golem and the Jinni by Helen Wecker/ Who Fears Death by Nnedi Okorafor

Romantic Fantasy/PNR – The Decoy Princess by Dawn Cook/ Spirit Caller 1-3 by Krista D. Ball/ Tangle of Need by Nalini Singh

Self-published/Indie – Accessing the Future: A Disability-Themed Anthology of Speculative Fiction, edited by Kathryn Allan & Djibril al-Ayad/ Kalpa Imperial: The Greatest Empire That Never Was by Angélica Gorodischer/ Octavia’s Brood: Science Fiction Stories from Social Justice Movements, edited by Adrienne Maree Brown & Walidah Imarisha

Published in 2016 – Saint’s Blood by Sebastien de Castell/ The Rose and the Dagger by Renee Ahdieh/ Ninefox Gambit by Yoon Ha Lee

AMA Author – Senlin Ascends by Josiah Bancroft/ A Blight of Mages by Karen Miller/ The House of Shattered Wings by Aliette de Bodard

Dark/Grimdark Fantasy – The Library at Mount Char by Scott Hawkins/ The Obelisk Gate by N.K. Jemisin/ The Ballad of Black Tom by Victor LaValle

<3000 GR Ratings – Son of a Trickster by Eden Robinson/ The Gaslight Dogs by Karin Lowachee/ This Strange Way of Dying by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

A Wild Ginger Appears – A Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin/ A Darker Shade of Magic by V.E. Schwab/ A Stranger in Olondria by Sofia Samatar

Female Authored Epic Fantasy – A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula K. Le Guin/ Kushiel’s Dart by Jacqueline Carey/ Into the Dark Lands by Michelle Sagara West

Science Fantasy/Sci-Fi – Sleeping Giants by Sylvain Neuvel/ The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet by Becky Chambers/ Nostalgia by M.G. Vassanji

Five Fantasy Short Stories – The Sea is Ours: Tales from Steampunk Southeast Asia, edited by Jaymee Goh & Joyce Chng/ The Bloody Chamber and Other Stories by Angela Carter/ Filter House by Nisi Shawl

Graphic Novel – Saga by Brian K. Vaughan/ Through the Woods by Emily Carroll/ SuperMutant Magic Academy by Jillian Tamaki

Published The Decade You Were Born – Hogfather by Terry Pratchett/ The Goblin Mirror by C.J. Cherryh/ Brown Girl in the Ring by Nalo Hopkinson

Written By 2+ Authors – Crux by Moira Rogers/ The Golden Key by Melanie Rawn, Jennifer Roberson & Kate Elliot/ Devil’s Wake by Steven Barnes and Tananarive Due

Published In The 2000’s – The Well of Ascension by Brandon Sanderson/ The Enchantment Emporium by Tanya Huff/ Arrival (Stories of Your Life and Others) by Ted Chiang

Weird Western – A Book of Tongues by Gemma Files/ Silver on the Road by Laura Anne Gilman/ Are We Having Fun Yet? – American Indian Fantasy Stories by William Sanders

Non-Western Myth Or Folklore – The Devourers by Indra Das/ The Ghost Bride by Yangsze Choo/ Redemption in Indigo by Karen Lord

Military Fantasy – King’s Shield by Sherwood Smith/ A Secret History by Mary Gentle/ The Grace of Kings by Ken Liu

Non-Fantasy Novel – Half a Lifelong Romance by Eileen Chang/ The Vegetarian by Han Kang/ Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi

Award Winning Novel – Doomsday Book by Connie Willis/ Uprooted by Naomi Novik/ Ancient, Ancient by Kiini Ibura Salaam

YA Fantasy Novel – Lady Midnight by Cassandra Clare/ Ink and Bone by Rachel Caine/ The Interrogation of Ashala Wolf by Ambelin Kwaymullina

Protagonist Flies – Agatha H and the Airship City by Phil Foglio/ The Invisible Library by Genevieve Cogman/ Wild Seed by Octavia E. Butler

Someone Read For 2015 Bingo – The Sorcerer of the Wildeeps by Kai Ashante Wilson/ The Philosopher Kings by Jo Walton/ Sorcerer to the Crown by Zen Cho

Sword and Sorcery – Imaro by Charles Saunders/ Green Rider by Kristin Britain/ Throne of the Crescent Moon by Saladin Ahmed

[Wrap-up] r/fantasy bingo 2016 r/fantasy bingo is this awesome reading challenge that happens over on reddit each year. 2016 was the first year I joined and it was a great way to expand my SFF reading habits.

[mykindofmadness]

Stan Movies December 2016

009-1: The End of the Beginning (2013)

8 ½ (1963)

The Adventures of Barry McKenzie (1972)

Ages of Love (2011)

American Ultra (2015)

Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy (2004)

The Angels’ Share (2012)

Annie (2014)

August: Osage County (2013)

Automata (2014)

Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans (2009)

Banksy Does New York (2014)

Barely Lethal (2015)

Beastly (2011)

Beauty (2011)

Before We Go (2014)

Begin Again (2013)

Belle de Jour (1967)

Beloved Sisters (2014)

Between a Frock and a Hard Place (2015)

Beyond Borders (2003)

Big Game (2014)

Birth (2004)

Black Souls (2014)

The Blue Room (2014)

Brand: A Second Coming (2015)

The Brand New Testament (2015)

Breathe (2014)

Brooklyn’s Finest (2009)

Can’t Stop the Music (1980)

Cassandra’s Dream (2007)

Chapter 27 (2007)

Child’s Pose (2013)

The Choice (2016)

The Chosen Ones (2015)

Concussion (2013)

Concussion (2015)

The Connection (2014)

Contempt (1963)

Cooties (2014)

Cracks (2009)

Crossing Over (2009)

Danny Collins (2015)

Dark Places (2015)

Day and Night (2010)

Deathgasm (2015)

Delicatessen (1991)

Demon (2015)

Diary of a Chambermaid (1964)

Dirty Wars (2013)

The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie (1972)

The Double (2013)

The Duke of Burgundy (2014)

Eden (2015)

Enter the Void (2009)

Every Secret Thing (2014)

Feast of Love (2007)

Fighting (2009)

Fire in Babylon (2010)

Fire with Fire (2012)

Food, Inc. (2008)

Frances Ha (2012)

Francis: Pray for Me (2015)

Frank (2014)

A Frozen Flower (2008)

Gett: The Trial of Viviane Amsalem (2014)

Ghost Ship (2002)

The Giants (2011)

The Gift (2015)

A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night (2014)

Girlhood (2014)

Glassland (2014)

Good Kill (2014)

Goodnight Mommy (2014)

The Green Prince (2014)

Growing Up and Other Lies (2014)

Haemoo (2014)

Halal Love (and Sex) (2015)

The Haunting in Connecticut 2: Ghosts of Georgia (2013)

Havoc (2005)

Hell Ride (2008)

Hemel (2012)

Hentai Kamen (2013)

Hilda (2014)

House at the End of the Street (2012)

How I Ended This Summer (2010)

How I Live Now (2013)

How Much Do You Love Me? (2005)

How to Win at Checkers (Every Time) (2015)

The Hundred Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out of the Window and Disappeared (2013)

Hunger (2008)

I Am Sam (2001)

The Imitation Game (2014)

The Immature: The Trip (2011)

In Search of The Ultra-Sex (2015)

The Inbetweeners 2 (2014)

Inch'Allah (2012)

The Incite Mill (2010)

Inn of the Damned (1975)

Jenny’s Wedding (2015)

Jimi: All Is by My Side (2013)

Jinxed (2013)

Joe (2013)

Just Before I Go (2014)

Killers (2014)

Knock Knock (2015)

Kumiko, the Treasure Hunter (2014)

Kung Fu Panda 2 (2011)

La Dolce Vita (1960)

Ladygrey (2015)

Last Night (2010)

The Lavender Hill Mob (1951)

The Legend of Hercules (2014)

Legends of Oz: Dorothy’s Return (2013)

The Lego Movie (2014)

Life as a House (2001)

Life Off Grid (2016)

Lockout (2012)

Lolo (2015)

Long Weekend (1978)

The Longest Week (2014)

Love Is in the Air (2012)

A Love Song for Bobby Long (2004)

The Loved Ones (2009)

Lovemilla (2015)

Lupin the 3rd (2014)

Mad Max: Fury Road (2015)

The Mafia Kills Only in Summer (2013)

The Man from Hong Kong (1975)

Management (2008)

Marriage Italian Style (1964)

Masculin Féminin (1966)

Melancholia (2011)

Metalhead (2013)

Mexico’s Most Wanted (2013)

The Milky Way (1969)

A Million (2009)

Mood Indigo (2013)

Murder on the Orient Express (1974)

My Blueberry Nights

Nasty Baby (2015)

National Lampoon’s Movie Madness (1982)

Nelly & Monsieur Arnaud (1995)

Next Time I’ll Aim for the Heart (2014)

Nights of Cabiria (1957)

Odd Thomas (2013)

Office (2015)

Palo Alto (2013)

Party Girl (2014)

Phoenix (2014)

Pierrot le Fou (1965)

A Pigeon Sat on a Branch Reflecting on Existence (2014)

The Prince (2014)

Pseudonym (2014)

Rabbit Hole (2010)

The Raid 2 (2014)

Ran (1985)

Razorback (1984)

The Rewrite (2014)

Rush Hour 3 (2007)

Saint (2010)

San Andreas (2015)

A Second Chance (2014)

Self/less (2015)

Sex, Party and Lies (2009)

Sharknado 3: Oh Hell No! (2015)

Short Term 12 (2013)

Showtime (2002)

Sicario (2015)

Six Acts (2012)

Sleeping with Other People (2015)

Snowpiercer (2013)

So Undercover (2012)

Solitary Man (2009)

The Son of No One (2011)

Southpaw (2015)

SPL 2: A Time for Consequences (2015)

St. Vincent (2014)

Stalingrad (1993)

The Story of O 2 (1984)

The Story of O: Untold Pleasures (2002)

The Student (2016)

Suite Française (2015)

The Summit (2012)

Sunrise (2014)

Super (2010)

Surfer, Dude (2008)

Survivor (2015)

Tangerine (2015)

Tangerines (2013)

Texas Rangers (2001)

That Obscure Object of Desire (1977)

Thérèse Desqueyroux (2012)

These Final Hours (2013)

Top Gun (1986)

Trespass (2011)

Triad (2012)

The Tribe (2014)

Tristana (1970)

Trust (2010)

The Two Faces of January (2014)

Two or Three Things I Know About Her (1967)

Umrika (2015)

An Unfinished Life (2005)

Venus in Fur (2013)

Viva l'Italia (2012)

The Voices (2014)

Winter Passing (2005)

Winter’s Tale (2014)

Wolf Creek 2 (2013)

Woman in Gold (2015)

The Yellow Handkerchief (2008)

Yes Man (2008)

Youth (2013)

Z for Zachariah (2015)

Zero Motivation (2014)

Zipper (2015)

[etlunainmorte]

🖤 I See My Future Before Me 🖤

***

She managed to acquire it for a very low and reasonable price. After all, who would use an old record now, especially with the booming technological culture that was steadily becoming popular with the younger generation?

She placed the delicate thing on her glass top table and took a good long look at it. Dante would pick her up any minute now, and she must definitely get ready for the mission ahead ( this time, a couple of magic - wielding higher Demons ).

However, for some strange reason, she couldn't shake the urge that she must play at least one song with it.

With that in mind, and her strong belief in intuition ( not to mention Cassandra's constant meddling ), she picked up the vinyl record she bought along with the old instrument and proceeded to the task. And with a little help from an almost useless and age - old manual ( its pages were yellow and crumbling at the edges ) that came with the merchandise, she finally managed to play the song. She took a few steps away from the table and allowed the sweet, old music to soothe and calm her senses.

She closed her eyes, letting the melody sink in,...

... when a vision suddenly flashed through her mind.

She opened her eyes once more, unable to believe her wicked sense of premonition ( or Cassandra's ) and allowed the vision to take over her entire mind.

And in that vision, she saw herself dancing the waltz with someone - a tall man clad completely in black. They were dancing to the same music that she was listening to, in the middle of the summer night, on a beautiful, Grecian balcony, below the starry, evening sky, the full moon shining above them.

It was,... simply perfect,...

But, who was that man?

The vision ended as soon as she opened her eyes.

However, something near the window startled her. She took a good long look at it as it slowly materialized, and right then and there, she saw him - the man she was dancing with in that vision,...

It's him! The man she's been searching for for such a long time.

The man,... with the white hair,...

And he was there, standing a few feet away from her, giving her a confused, and yet longing, look, as if he was also seeing her, himself.

She cautiously went closer to him and observed how his eyes followed her movements. She knew perfectly well that he was just a vision. Of the past or future? That she was not certain.

All she knew was that he was holding out his hands in front of her in a clear gesture that successfully conveyed his desire to dance with her,...

***

XXVIII

***

"Here." Nico mumbled sleepily as she handed V a mug of warm chocolate. He thanked the woman as he took it from her hands. He was about to take a sip when he noticed the woman giving him a suspicious look. She pointed two fingers at him and said, "Eh, so you're really Vergil, huh? Dante's twin brother?”

The man smirked as he finally took a sip of the warm chocolate, its enticing scent calming his tired and restless senses. He pursed his lips as he glanced at the calm and serene evening atmosphere from the balcony of (Y/N)'s unit.

"I was." He answered, his eyes darting from one cheerfully lit house to another. Some of the residents have already made their way back to their homes after the Dreadnought incident, and things were slowly going back to its normal and boring pace.

Nico almost choked on her chocolate when she heard V's answer. She chuckled as she took a good long, and thorough look at Vergil’s form from head to foot. "You,... were?" She chuckled.

V smirked once more as he looked at her. "It's the truth."

"I don't understand. How can you not be Vergil right now? I mean, come on, Sir Changes – A - Lot!"

The man chuckled as he helplessly shook his head. He held out a single hand as little orbs of light radiated from it. The almost translucent orbs, then, spread out from his hand to his arm, then from his torso to his other arm. The orbs reached his entire body as the curious little lights morphed him back to the V that Nico was used to seeing - black leather vest, tooth necklace, a pair of unflattering black sandals, and all.

"This,... is merely an illusion.” V explained. “I could never become whole again. It is,... completely impossible. Even with the powers of the Sisters Of Fate."

"Your hair,..." Nico mused as she pointed at V's snowy white hair. "It's not turning back to black." She, then, pointed at his skin. "And your tattoos are barely even there!"

"This is how I look like before all this,... began. This,... is the real me."

"Wow. And I thought (Y/N) was the only one who can change looks,..."

At the mere sound of her name, V's heart skipped a beat and his breath clearly hitched. The girl was sleeping in her room, unconscious since the whole battle with Pandemonium ended. He promised her sister that he would take care of him, and Galatea left her body as soon as she was done healing her.

But, then, somehow, he knew deep within his tainted heart that she would never be fully healed.

Would she,... ?

His question came out like a soft breeze that was almost missed by the Artisan. She stopped sipping her chocolate and glanced back at V, seeing the man leaning on the railing and clearly looking uncomfortable.

"Sorry?"

V looked at her eyes and repeated his question. "Would she find it in her heart to forgive me? After everything I've done to her?"

"Oh, that." Nico came closer towards the man and patted him a bit forcefully on the shoulder. "Dontcha worry a thing 'bout that! She'll forgive ya and yer pretty, lil' skinny ass. Believe me.”

V chuckled at her crude humor and sighed.

"You don't have,... any idea what I did to her back in that demonic ship,..."

"I know. You killed her. Well, almost."

V's eyes widened as he straightened up and looked at her. "How did you - ?!"

"Found out? Oh, she knew 'bout that. She told me herself."

Oh, it must be Cassandra, V thought as he leaned against the railing once more. "Of course."

"But, hey, she's still alive, right? And you're fine! At least, you didn't turn evil or somethin' and caused the world's destruction."

At those ridiculously accurate words, V bowed his head down low, trying to conceal his face until he could no longer endure the emotions. With trembling shoulders and teary eyes, he threw his head back, his low and evil - sounding laughter ripping out of his throat and scaring the hell out of Nico.

"Hahaha! YOU make me laugh,..."

The woman raised an eyebrow. "O,... kay?"

"You have no idea,... how messed up I've become. I failed her. I failed miserably. I'm only here because, apparently, Galatea still thinks I'm worthy. After,... everything I did to her."

"Hey, we all make mistakes." V smiled at her. "I will tell you,... the story of my insanity,..."

With wide, doubtful eyes, Nico patiently listened as V recounted to her the events that took place in the Dreadnought, from the moment he stabbed (Y/N) up to the point where Fleminger stabbed him, taking the Sisters away from him and letting Pandemonium kill everyone.

"Wait, wait, wait,..." Nico blabbered as she pushed the frame of her red - rimmed glasses to her nose bridge. "So, you're sayin' that,... everyone,... died?"

"Yes."

"Hooee! Well, I'm sure glad that Galatea brought you back. I wonder how I died back there?"

As Nico went on blabbering about how she could possibly die in that far off alternate universe, V suddenly saw,...

... a spectral - looking hand reaching up at the railing of the balcony just behind her. V was definitely not one to get frightened of ghosts but, the vision did startle him. He focused his gaze into it as the creature climbed up the balcony as effortlessly as it could.

It was (Y/N), and she was, somehow, strangely barefoot. Her pants looked like they were burnt from the knee down, and her movements were as light as possible. She tiptoed her way to the window when she suddenly heard some voices inside.

So, did V.

“ ... they even mentioned some famous and obscure names in the Devil Hunting business who got the invitation. And let me mention this - Dante also received one."

Her eyes widened at whatever she saw inside and she couldn't prevent herself from letting out a yelping sound.

“Someone’s listening!”

She covered her mouth and stepped away from the window.

“Looks like we have an,… unwanted visitor.” Then, he heard it. That voice. It was him. He could remember everything: this was from that time when he first arrived at this place.

So, it was true: someone really was outside that time. And it was none other than her,...

“Best to make it at home - ” He heard himself speak once more.

“Guys, guys! Stop! What did I say about making a mess?!”

“Hey, hey! There’s an intruder right - AHH!” A very loud and obnoxious noise was heard from the inside, like someone, or something, was just thrown to the other side of the room.

“To not make any?”

“Exactly! That’s just the - ah - neighbor’s cat!”

“That,… does not sound like a feline, at least to my ears.”

“Okay, okay, guys! Trust me and put your weapons down. Thank you! Now, as I was saying, we must go to this event and find out what this, Wrath of The Gods, is!”

“We cannot go shorthanded. If we take the riddle in a very literal sense, then,… we would not have enough strength. We would be dealing with the Wrath of The Gods,… after all.”

While listening to the conversation inside, he saw (Y/N) as she tiptoed her way back closer to the window, lovingly gazing at something inside. Her eyes widened, then returned to normal once more. She raised an arm and wiped the tears that started coming out of her eyes with the sleeves of her pale pink hoodie.

She was crying, and yet,...

... she looked clearly happy at what she saw. Like she finally found something she has been searching for after so long.

Like, she was deeply longing to see whatever that was,...

And this made V's heart twitch in unbelievable pain.

He,... knew who she was looking at. He knew,...

... who she was longing to meet,...

“That’s where I come in! Nero, how’s the breaker coming along?”

“It’s fine, sure.”

“Oh, yeah? Then, I’ll be making new ones.”

“Isn’t this enough?”

“No! And, you! You seem interested in all this, yes?”

“As a matter of fact, I ‘am."

“Then, go get your own formal wear! I can’t provide you with one. I’m an Artisan, not a freaking, fancy tailor!”

“Wait, like, right now?”

“Duh?! Are you, like, gonna wait till Saturday for that? Go, go, GO!”

She cautiously took a few steps away from the window once more.

“Hey, hey, if you’re looking for some chicks, then you’re in the wrong place! Get moving!”

There were more sounds, and when they finally subsided, the window violently opened and she finally entered the threshold of her own home.

“Are you crazy?! Why would you be hiding there? This is your home, for crying out loud! Are you a thief, or something?!”

“It’s him, Nico.”

“I’m sorry, what?”

“It’s him! The man with the violin in my visions!”

“Who?!”

“The one with the markings on his skin!”

“The mysterious man? Are you sure about that?”

“It. Is. HIM!”

"¿Por qué estas descalza?" V heard a distinctively different voice of that of a little girl.

He closed his eyes at the sudden change, and when he opened them once more, he was suddenly transported to a sunny, suburban place. A little girl with dark pigtails was staring at him, her hands on her hips like a wife who was angry at her husband for coming home late and drunk.

He realized she was not directly looking at him, and this made him turn around. And to his surprise, he saw (Y/N). And just like in his vision a while ago, she was barefoot, and her pants looked burnt from the knee down.

(Y/N) opened her mouth to answer but, then, she realized she can't speak the little girl's language. This made the smaller girl smile.

"¡Ven conmigo! Te llevaré a nuestra casa." The girl excitedly said as she practically went through V like he was a ghost and grabbed (Y/N)'s hand.

V followed the two as the little girl led (Y/N) to one of the charming little two - story houses on the left. The little girl opened the door and let (Y/N) in.

"¡Madre!" The girl called. "¡Madre!"

"¿Alicia?"

A woman in her mid - fifties came out from the kitchen, wiping her hands with an orange towel.

"¿Hija?" The mother's eyes widened as she abandoned her towel, practically throwing it to the side as she made her way to the two girls. "¡Que chica tan linda! ¿Es tu amiga?"

The little girl laughed and shook her head, making (Y/N) a bit surprised and culture - shocked. "Ella no habla Español. No te preocupes, yo me encargo." The girl turned to (Y/N) and pointed at herself, then her mother. "My name is Alicia. This is my mother, Maria. I go to English class every Saturday."

"Oh, that's nice." (Y/N) answered as she received a pair of slippers from the little girl. "Thanks."

"She said you're pretty."

A faint rosy tint crept up (Y/N)'s cheeks. She looked at the smiling older woman and nodded. "I, ah, thank you."

Maria nodded, understanding the words she just said.

"What are you doing outside with no shoes?" The little girl asked her as she pulled her towards the living room.

"Umm, you see, ah,..." (Y/N) muttered as she sat down on the maroon sofa. "I was, ahh, looking for someone. A white haired man who plays the violin. I've seen him pass here. Have you, umm, seen him?"

White haired man who plays the violin?

He had been here?!

Alicia turned to his mom. "Ella pregunta si hemos visto a un hombre de cabello blanco por aquí, dice que toca el violin."

Maria frowned and shook her head. “No, lo siento mucho. Pero podemos avisarte si lo llegamos a ver."

"She said no. But, we will tell you when we see him."

(Y/N)'s face showed a clearly disappointed expression. But, despite this, she still sincerely smiled and nodded. "Thank you so much."

Alicia nudged her on the elbow to help her relax. "No hay problema." She answered with a smile. "That means no problem."

"I can't believe how fast you've grown!"

V heard another voice from the hallway. He went there and saw, in shock, the same little girl,...

... except that she was now the same height as (Y/N). Her hair was no longer in pigtails. Instead, she was wearing it down. And her fashion sense seemed to have changed, as well.

"I'm a teenager now!" And clearly, she was better in English. "And it seems that you haven't aged a bit since I last saw you!"

It was true. For some reason, (Y/N) still looked the same.

How many years has passed since she first met Alicia?

"So, have you seen him?"

"Oh, that man? I think mom has!"

"Really?"

"Yeah!" Alicia grabbed her hand and led her to the living room like what she did the first time they met. "Madre, (Y/N) is here!"

The woman, whose dark brown hair has clearly turned gray, looked up from her stitch work and stood, meeting the girls halfway and kissing the both of them on their forehead. V noticed that she now walked with a slight limp.

"It has been a long, long time, Miss (Y/N)!" Maria told her in straight English, grabbing her hands and squeezing them.

"Mom studied English for you." Alicia said with a proud and huge smile.

"That's really cool!"

"Mom, she’s asking whether you've seen the man she was looking for."

To this, Maria's face suddenly fell, a frown now gracing her warm and gentle features. She only shook her head and went back to her stitch work. And without saying another word, she sat down and went on with her work like nothing even happened.

"Oh, don't mind her. She's just like that at times. But, she's not mad at you, don't worry!" Alicia whispered.

(Y/N), who was clearly alarmed at the sudden change in Maria's demeanor, couldn't help but nod as she tried to hide her worry.

"It's okay."

"You haven't given up?"

V heard Alicia's frantic voice on the hallway once more. He immediately went there and saw her,...

... clad completely in black from head to foot. She clearly looked a bit older, and she was not dragging (Y/N) around like how she used to when she was younger.

And (Y/N)?

"You still haven't changed?" Alicia questioned her with raised eyebrows.

"Where's Maria?"

Something in her question triggered something in Alicia. And it unnerved both (Y/N) and V.

"Get out."

"Sorry?"

"I said, GET OUT!" Alicia screamed as she pushed (Y/N) out of the house.

"Alicia, what happened?!"

"GO AWAY!" The girl screamed as she shut the door close. She then ran towards the sofa, grabbed Maria's old stitch work, and cried. The handiwork was clearly half - finished but, some words were visible from it.

"El amor es paciente, el amor es amable. No envi - "

"HEY!"

V snapped back to reality as Nico snapped her fingers in front of his face.

"You alright?"

"Indeed. Yes, I' am." He answered.

Nico breathed a sigh of relief as she clutched at her chest like she was having a heart attack. "I thought I lost you back there. You know, (Y/N)'s visions were short and sweet - "

"She's been to Spain."

"Sorry?"

V looked at her and repeated his words. "It's (Y/N). I saw her. She was in Spain."

"Oh, that! So, you've seen her?" Nico answered as she went back inside, V following close behind her. "You know, she's been to many places, more than what you could imagine. She's searching ten years for you, God!"

"Ten,… years?!"

"Yeah. She comes home often, though. She's learned to channel that power of hers to her feet and legs so she could move fast and jump to high places." Nico explained as she went to one of the drawers and pulled something out from it. "So, she's never really gone for too long. But, I'm gonna tell ya this: that channeling the power to her feet thing often burned her pants."

So, that's why,...

"I don't understand." V went on as he watched Nico flip through the pages of an old album. "She was searching for ten years, but I've only been to such places for three weeks. I was,… travelling. It's what I've been doing before coming here to Red Grave."

"Really? Well, it's a long story. Let's just say that she wanted to meet you because the entity that was possessing her wanted her to fulfill some kind of a mission. Don't ask." She handed the open album to V and pointed at one of the photos. "That's them."

V's eyes widened in awe as he saw the photograph of (Y/N) and Alicia during the Spanish girl's party for her sixteenth birthday.

"Alicia. One of the people she frequently visited and stopped seeing after ten years. Said she’s starting to notice."

"Notice what?" V looked up from the album.

Nico went closer to V and whispered like she was passing on a well - guarded secret to him. "Okay, this sounds weird but, she actually came from the past."

"I know."

"Yeah, yeah! I thought at first she's just plain nuts. But, listen to this: the first thing she did after recovering was search for her family's old farm in Fortuna. V, there hasn't been a farm there since a hundred years ago! It's all concrete now, and streets.

"So, she searched for her parents and any people she could remember from her past. Some of them either died already or have grandchildren of their own. And her parents? She found out that they separated and had families of their own."

"A girl,... out of her time,..." V mused as he flipped through the pages of (Y/N)'s old album, seeing her with unknown faces.

"Exactly! She's, like, super old when you think 'bout it!" Nico went to one of the paintings and looked up at it. "And, not only that, her looks stayed the same for those ten whole years I knew her. Like, she's stuck or somethin’.”

"Galatea's stasis." V breathed.

"Sorry?"

"Nothing"

Nico frowned and raised an eyebrow at him. She went on. "She craves for things from the past. So, she started collecting antiques like this. Other than helping her cope after being plucked from when she came from, these things she have reminded her of all the places she's been. They remind her of you."

The poet looked up from the album and saw Nico picking up her keys on the glass top table. There was an old record there, similar to Fleminger's, that he hasn't taken notice of before.

Was it there the whole time?

Nico saw the confusion in V's eyes as he looked at the antique. "Oh, this? She bought this about a year ago. Thought she's gonna want to listen to old songs when she wakes up. So, I took it out. It's gonna get moldy with disuse."

The woman walked towards the door but, before she went out, she turned back to V. "I'll leave her to ya, V. Don't mess this up again." And then, just like that, she walked out of the door, leaving him alone with (Y/N).

The silence felt deafening, the darkness depressing. V nearly collapsed on the sofa as he carefully placed the album next to the record. He was about to touch it when he heard a loud tapping against the window. He turned around just in time to see Griffon and Shadow entering the unit.

"HOO! We made it." Griffon breathed a sigh of relief as he made his way towards V while carrying something broken in his hands.

"I see you found it." V carefully took the broken violin from Griffon's long fingers. It was (Y/N)'s.

"Yeah, well. Kinda got all bloody searchin’ through Dreadnought's rubble for that."

"Thank you."

"Wait!" Griffon held up two long fingers in front of V and made way for Shadow to get close to the poet.

V smirked, controlling his mirth and amusement as he looked down at the now human Shadow. After the cleansing, she has turned into a pale human girl roughly the size of a middle - schooler. Her long black hair that reached her feet was awfully unkempt, and the clothes that Lady lent her a while ago was too big for her.

She quietly looked up at him with her big red eyes and showed him a pair of stilettos.

It was (Y/N)'s. She wore it when,...

"This girl took it badly when you threw them out during your mad state, if ya can’t remember. She looked for them all over the place and kept them with her." Griffon explained as Shadow gave the shoes back to V. She turned towards her fellow familiar and gave him a strange look. She, then, turned back to V with an angry, yet adorable, look. "Oh, and she's saying that she hates ya for hurting (Y/N). And that she will never forgive ya."

"Oh, I'm,..." V grasped the shoes and looked down at them, thinking of the girl who owned them. "... forgive me."

"Well, you've been a naughty schtick! Ya should've been punished for bad behavior!" The bald Demon made a ruffling gesture that was much akin to his movements when he was still a bird and collapsed on the sofa. "So, happy with yer new powers?" he, then, asked sarcastically.

"No." The poet answered monotonously as he slumped back to the sofa just beside the familiar, the shoes still in his hands.

Griffon rolled his eyes. "Figures,..."

There was a moment of silence between the two, and during this very awkward time, Shadow took a liking to the old record on the table. She poked the thing with her tiny finger and managed to turn it on, its weird mechanism startling her and making her hair stand. She drew back to a corner, giving it a confused and cautious look.

This made Griffon laugh a lot. "I wonder how that would sound, though."

"It,... wouldn't hurt if we try." The poet quietly said as he placed the shoes on the table and took the vinyl record just beside the instrument. Apparently, the record was simply titled as "Nat King Cole". He began with the long process of playing it and when the music finally came out of it, he turned it off immediately.

"Hey, why did ya turn it off?!" Griffon complained. He was about to rant more when he noticed the look on V's face. His eyes were wide and his mouth was hanging open. "V? You okay?"

"I' am. I just,..." The man held out a hesitant finger as he turned on the instrument once more.

"Unforgettable, that's what you are.

Unforgettable, though near or far.

Like a song of love that clings to me,... "

"It's this song." He confessed with a shaky voice. With cold and trembling hands, he covered his mouth, already feeling the tears as they started falling down his blurry eyes. "It's,... from that evening."

Griffon saw the changes in V's demeanor and actually felt sorry for him. He tapped V's shoulder in a sincere effort to calm him down.

"Unforgettable in every way,

And forevermore,

That's how you'll stay,..."

He stood up and went towards the window, all the painful memories of everything that happened within a single week coming back to him. He found the love of his life, danced with her, and lost her because of his foolishness.

All because he let himself be manipulated.

Still unable to control his emotions, and the tears that came along with them, he turned back, and saw,...

... the girl, herself, standing a few feet away from him looking confused like he was.

But, this time, unlike any other vision he had of her, she looked like she was actually seeing him for real. She went closer towards him as he observed all of her movements. He held out his arms, hoping for his desire to dance with her once more to come across.

And, as if by some form of an unknown miracle, she let his hands take hers as they began the basic steps of the waltz,...

... just like the first time they did it on the Grecian balcony that evening.

"That's why darling, it's incredible,

That someone so unforgettable,

Thinks that I am unforgettable too."

Griffon and Shadow silently watched as V danced with something they couldn't see. The male familiar shook his head and grinned as he saw the poet actually enjoying the dance.

"No, never before has someone been more,..."

He tried to hold her closer despite the fear that she would vanish and rested his head on the crook of her neck.

"Unforgettable,… in every way,..."

He quietly and gently sang along, the lyrics tearing a new wound to his already beaten heart. How he wanted to hold her so much, how he wanted to actually feel her smooth skin against his,...

... how he longed to dance with her once more.

But, she’s hurt. Because of him.

And instead of her actually dancing with him, she’s lying on that bed inside her room with no guarantee of when she’d wake up.

"And forevermore,… that's how you'll stay,..." He felt a warm sensation on his body and realized that her vision was rubbing him on the back, her arms around him, wanting him to cease crying. He looked at her eyes and cupped her cheeks. "That's why darling,… it's incredible,… that someone,… so unforgettable,… thinks that I ‘am,… unforgettable too,..." His heart ached with each word he sang, feeling like they were directed towards him and making him feel guilty than ever before.

He wanted so much to tell her that: that she’s unforgettable,…

… that he was grateful to her for everything that she did for him for the past ten years,…

… that he was grateful that she found him and made his life a little less miserable.

But, of course, he had to make a very stupid mistake of hurting her.

And he regret everything he did and did not do to her.

As the song came to an end, his face inched closer to hers. He wanted so much to feel her lips against his,...

... when something startled her.

She reluctantly pulled away from him as she looked at the door behind her. She opened her mouth and said something he couldn't hear, and turned to face him once more. She gave him a warm, and yet weak, smile as she held up a single hand to caress his face. After that, she stepped away from him and went to the door, looking at him one last time before finally going through it.

"Please,..." V begged her, holding out a helpless and powerless hand to reach her. "Don't,... leave me,..."

***

🖤 Special thanks to @beyond-the-mirror for the Spanish dialogue and translations. And for also introducing us to Alicia and Maria. 🖤

🖤 @la-vita , @micaelagua , @ceruleanworld , @lessy86 , @ehrzeth , @diabeticsugarush , @simmy-ships , @boundbysoul , @heaven-on-a-landslide , and @krazy06 . 🖤