#its also true that she made a connection and lied to herself that the love she had with matty was the same/comparable to joe

[dorotheado]

listen like when you drink someone under the table they are also drinking. so when he shit talked her under the table she is both saying that she was being love bombed / told lies while also acknowledging the bullshit that she was spouting ("he's the one i want" / "i can fix him" / "i've seen this episode and still loved the show" / "it was legendary" / "you're the love of my life"). and that just sucks like it sucks so hard

[velveetacrackncheese]

I know it's been like forever, but are you still a fan of Viv and her work

Honestly when it comes to her, no. Even if there's some things I've learned to appreciate in some of her more recent stuff (Except Hazbin S1, I thought it was genuinely awful and the more I think about it the more disappointed I truly am with it.) my main gripe is that it seems that Viv still treats people like crap. My opinion of her has continuously waned over the years from someone who was obsessed and having had a parasocial relationship with her and her work, to the point where I felt obligated to defend her for the sake of the "fandom" back then. Pretty wack behavior coming from myself honestly, and like I said I was a prick! I treated naysayers and critics of ZP like garbage, and while there was venom being flung towards me and other fans as well, some of it also being cruel and uncharitable, I can't pretend I didn't contribute to the toxic culture emanating from her fanbase. It's very interesting to see that the more modern incarnation of Viv's fanbase is arguably still just as toxic, but on a bigger scale. People no matter where you go, and regardless of when in time, seems to have a strong opinion of her. Either love her to death or hate her to the point where that becomes its own obsession. Well, unless you've actually had a connection with her, it seems like you're either one of her favorites, or someone who she burnt bridges with.

There's of course the genuine non-drama stuff, like ohhhh fuck dude, she drew some weirdo shit which I could honestly care less about. There's reasons to not like her, and it isn't that. It's not even really her work period, but more so allegations regarding how she's difficult to work with, cruel to certain past associates to an almost comical degree, and is still pretty uncharitable to even her most charitable critics. The stuff with KenDraws kinda was the nail in the coffin for me, transphobia is not going to get a pass from me, sorry! I don't know how true this is in particular, but how The Hunicast was treated after the Hazbin pilot also left me with a pretty real sense of disgust. It's wild seeing a show like Hazbin Hotel flourish through A24 and Amazon, all the while trying its damn hardest to cleanse itself of its indie roots. Apparently donations to the Hunicast was used to fund the pilot, and after the pilot it kinda seemed like Viv just didn't really appreciate how much they contributed to that project. Honestly, I don't think Hazbin would be what it is today without The Hunicast.

That, and of course there being all the dollcreep stuff, the way that the fandom at the time wrongfully demonized dollcreep and took Viv for her word to the T, following what was a highly uncharitable read from fans which led to harassment despite the drama between the two being personal, and that being made into a public concern when it reallllllllllly should not have been. Transphobia also being an abundant issue in this regard. JoJo as a character was created as an extremely petty way to bash Jo and in hindsight, is incredibly revolting, and ohhhhh also transphobic. The Erin Frost situation, in which of course featured Viv devotees to also take her testimony as uncharitable and lies despite having never worked with Viv herself. Employees being paid like... what, $35.00 per second of animation which is crazy. So not only a toxic work environment, that toxicity just festering cuz Viv herself is toxic. Her tendency to seemingly just bully the people she surrounds herself with, hell even getting people blacklisted apparently? I'm sure there's a lot more I can get into in all honesty, and what's being mentioned here is barely scratching the surface! There was a point in time where I had agreements with what were, back then, blogs dedicated to critiquing Zoophobia and in hindsight, yes, there was a lot to rightfully criticize. Lot of stuff in that webcomic was genuinely not great and despite the immature attachments that I had back then, there were points I'd openly conceded to. Which led to Viv blocking me, and that led to me being pretty sad! Honestly thought I'd did something wrong or that I like... "Betrayed" her which is fucking insane. It was something I ruminated on for literal weeks. I look at my older posts on here and it's so fuckin clear that I was not mentally stable, at least to me, and that was reflected in the wild ass shit I was saying. I'm glad I've changed but dear god I was such an asshole, and it's crazy to think that I was some kind of figurehead in the fandom at that time. Nobody should've been looking up to me, cuz holy shit I was a stupid teenager.

Also, generally speaking, this doesn't have much to do with Viv as a person as much as the early fan community surrounding her work that existed from like 2015 into 2018, particularly on tumblr, but I'd developed relationships with other people in the fandom that led to some pretty traumatizing experiences for myself and for others that I knew personally. I won't get into details about that, but the culture for the fandom at the time housed some SERIOUSLY sketchy people, and there were people who were just open and active groomers. Zero accountability for any of that btw, yeah awesome fucking community, guys. "Like and Reblog if you're a true fan." jfc.

So uh, yeah. Naw I can't say I'm much of a fan, and I'm not convinced that she's actually some nice, pleasurable person, who conveniently stumbles into situations where her alleged good nature is CONSTANTLY put into question due to actions that are pretty well documented and accounted for. I've still watched Helluva Boss episodes, although at this point it feels like I'm beating myself because I've progressively grown more disenchanted with it as time has passed on. Despite that, it's still Spindlehorse's best stuff. I say Spindlehorse in particular because while I don't really respect Vivienne, I respect the crew who are the backbone of those episodes. Hazbin has some narrative themes that I'm not particularly fond of, the pacing is a mess, and the character writing is not good. Characters have entire musical numbers dedicated to them despite either serving a very minor role in the story or just being absent for the entirety of the season. I'd go on and list my gripes with ZP, but it feels weird to bash something that is nearly a decade old now. Probably doesn't represent Vivienne's current capacity for craftsmanship, visually speaking, and in regards to the writing; Were I to go back and review what those old critique blogs had to say, I'd probably add onto them instead of being as dismissive as I was.

Also, something I can attest to personally, and you'll have to take me for my word on this, but I used to be a $50 patron to her Patreon. One of the benefits was that you got to be a part of her discord server where she'd chat with fans once a month and I got to be in a few of those vc chats. I recall her being petty even then, and if my memory doesn't fail me, there was a time where she like... called someone's older brother a f*ggot because he insulted Kesha and her general preferences in music lmfao. She genuinely got upset and all teary over that confrontation and ended the call early, and the other people in the vc were tryna comfort her. Looking back that now, feels so.... weird. Shit, I mean charging people so they have the chance to just talk to you, monetizing that feels weird, and kinda gross. Wish I could have my money back for that, ngl. No Bueno.

[sepublic]

The Intruder is even better in hindsight because in Witches before Wizards, Eda tells Luz she needs to work to make her magical Chosen One fantasy happen. Luz learns to take in Eda’s advice, pursuing magical knowledge through Hexside in the next episode, only to realize Eda’s magical knowledge is also worthwhile. So Luz agrees to apply both lessons by focusing on what Eda can teach her —magic— by The Intruder, eager to put in the work to learn. Luz thinks magic is the key to making her dream come true.

But what about King, the literal and figurative little guy? Luz realizes her neglect of King caused him to act rashly, just as Luz did in her obsession with her dream, and both led to Eda’s curse emerging. So Luz owns up to her mistake by appreciating what King has to offer as well, and care about things outside of her dream. And that compels the Titan to show Luz her first spell in gratitude, for being a friend to his son.

Ironically, Luz begins her progress to become a chosen witch like Azura, not by focusing solely on that, but by acknowledging that other things and especially people matter outside of it; As far as she knows, King is a nobody irrelevant to her dream, but Luz chose to care about King and his interests even when she doesn’t need his help. Luz didn’t let her obsession with her dream make these things mutually exclusive.

And not only does Luz take her first step in being a witch, she begins to earn the Titan’s trust as well. The Titan might’ve noticed Luz taught Philip the Light glyph centuries ago, but if Philip himself in that situation means anything, Luz could’ve learned it from someone else; Her friends learn the glyphs from her! But realizing Luz’s good heart made the Titan get over any implicit skepticism and decide to be the person she learns her first spell from.

All of this kicks off a long chain of events that culminates in Luz inadvertently bringing herself to the Titan, who trusts Luz with his power. Thus, Luz becomes a chosen one after proving to the Titan why she can handle that responsibility. Luz decided there was more to life than her fantasy and it’s why she’s allowed to have her fantasy; Because she can now live her dream while remembering how it interacts with what’s outside of it.

Again, Luz’s magical journey begins by learning magic. That means earning the Titan’s trust, one spell and act of growth at a time, because magic is a gift from the Titan. It means paying attention to the world around her, because the Titan is also that world, and that world and its people is where magic lies in; Magic, Titan, the World, all one.

Learning magic was the key to becoming her fantasy, but the magic is symbolic and came from the people, literally and figuratively; One could call it the magic of friendship, which is appropriately corny the way Azura, the good witch Luz wanted to emulate, is. She befriends two Titans through the same act, making a friend means learning magic which is also making a friend.

And it works because being loved by friends was the core of that heroic fantasy for Luz, so listening to those people was what convinced them to feel the same way towards her! Magic came from the heart; Not just the Titan’s literal heart, but the compassion for others, such as what the Titan felt for King, which Luz also had. And the Titan recognizing that shared love resulted in Luz’s first spell.

Because Luz cared about more than being a hero, she became an actual hero instead of the idea of one; Getting her fantasy came less from learning magic or the aesthetics —which the Collector misunderstood in impersonating Luz, thinking it’d get them the same results— but from Luz proving she has the core sentiment behind what a hero, what a friend, even is. And the Collector learns this to understand how Luz actually got the love of two Titans, and to get the same dream, having friends.

To once again connect TOH to Bionicle (by quoting it), “It’s not what you’ve got, it’s what you do with it, that makes you a hero.” Because when Luz hears King hope that his knowledge on something would make people care about "creatures like me," it reminded Luz of the other part of Eda's Witches before Wizards lesson that she forgot; That everyone else, not just Luz, wants to believe they're special, and they also need to work to make that happen. And maybe being a witch was Luz's way of convincing others to care about someone like her. Luz got to live her dream by acknowledging someone else’s dream means a lot, too; And fittingly, she ended up helping King and so many other friends achieve their dreams as well!

[onyour-right]

First things first, I'm gonna need Gen V to never fucking do that again. How dare they release such a good episode and only have it be 34 minutes??? Is it a fucking sitcom??? They do that again and we WILL have problems.

Now, Cate. I done told y'all she was the mole and now look. I mean do I still love her? Absolutely. Do I think she is a victim of Dean Shetty's manipulations? 100%. Do I believe she thought she was protecting her friends? Yup. But do I also think Andre was right somewhat in what he said? Yeah, kinda do. Listen, with all the good intentions in the world the fact that she repeatedly made Luke forget about his baby brother when she knew the type of turmoil it was causing in him is twisted. The same way she was going to confess to Andre before the text came is the same way she should have confessed to Luke. Granted I think the reason she was even going to confess to Andre was because of how wrong things were going. But still, she ain't right for that..

So, I see three possible avenues they might take with her: first, kill her off at the end of the season in order to redeem herself to her friends; second, she could become an antagonist to the group (tho this is less likely); or third, she may act as a double agent and spy back on shetty so they can find out what's really going on..

Jordan Li. My beloved. My baby boy/baby girl. I can understand why they thought Marie couldn't accept both sides of them and I'm so glad they explored a bit more into their character's history. But baby, Marie wants to love on you no matter what your gender so just let her!!! At least they got to a point where they realised they were being unfair to Marie over the whole situation though, so hopefully episode 6 will have them talking about it properly. Alsooooo, Jordan getting pissed when Marie's brain was tampered with again? Good fucking food. Jordan moving closer to Marie at Cate's reveal? I was eating that shit upppp. Jordan this whole episode was kinda unhinged and you know what? I wanna see more, please and thank you!!!

Alsoooo, can we talk real quick about Jordan's conversation with Andre and Cate because I cannot have been the only one who was straight dyingggg through it. "is it a black thing?" "...oh my God!!!". The way Jordan didnt even dismiss the fact that him and Marie made a good couple too. Likeeeee. C'monnnnn.

Marie, my sweet girl. Once she finds out the true extent of her powers its over for everyoneeeee; she's gonna fuck everyone up and I personally will be cheering her on at the sidelines!! Slightly worried though because 1) who is her benefactor?? and 2) what if they are able to capture her somehow??? She is yet to go unhinged and I would like to see it, especially if it's in relation to something happening to Jordan.

Emma and Sam. I mean you know its real when one half of the pairing's mind has been wiped and still there is an undeniable connection between them.The fact that Sam went out of his way to find Emma after all the shit that went down??? Ooof, I'm living for itttt. The fact that even though Emma hadn't gotten back her memories she still believed him? Don't make me cryyyyy. I loved how Emma realised how wrong her mother was about her "getting big" & how she's beginning to carve out who she wants to be for herself. Also, her and Marie's friendship is honestly just goals.

Also, lowkey everyone should have just let Sam kill that Dr Cardosa because he's gonna bring big problemssss I fear, and on that note they should have him kill Dean Shetty too because ole girl needs to skedaddle her way out (although the person who takes her place could be even worse, so idk about that yet)

Also, someone please give Andre a hug that boy needs it. Seeing him unhinged tho?? Ooofffffff 10/10.

[orkbutch]

Okay! time to add my accompanying essays with each image from this set of work about why I assigned which types of play to each set of characters, and how Baldur's Gate III supports these in the text of the game. Because I thought about all of this way too much im not joking

First, Context:

All of these are drawings of consensual play happening between these characters after they have put aside any active conflicts between each other. Nonetheless, they utilise the dynamics and emotional conflicts of these characters. Each of these characters are in some way violent people, deeply stressed out by their circumstances, and craving pleasure and connection. Sometimes you need a little pinch and squeal before the end of the world just to get through the night, you know?

Knife play; Shadowheart (D) / Lae'zel (S)

This is definitely the best supported concept in the text of the game because we literally see this happen, though in a significantly different context. I'd say most of us thought it was hot, whether we realised it or not, and I think Shadowheart and Lae'zel probably agreed once they weren't worried about dying! I think its the perfect encapsulation of the tension between SH and LZ both early on and as it resolves. It also expresses both their personalities very succinctly and accurately. SH is absolutely an edgy, paranoid goth, and LZ would love the thrill.

For all the early game SH sees LZ as ruthless and dangerous to her, and resents Gith for the death of her peers. LZ is a threat she wants to neutralize or at least control. At the same time, SH is someone who prefers to avoid conflict and subtly occupy power/advantage in most situations she finds herself in. She has little concern for honour, pride or fairness.

Lae'zel absolutely does. She is a very straight forward and efficient person. For her, SH starts as an inconveniently racist coworker, but at the reveal of the artifact SH becomes more than that; not only has she insulted LZ's people, she's revealed herself to be untrustworthy, very willing to lie and play dirty. Not only does SH seem to hate her, but SH has rules and intentions that are entirely unknown to LZ, and that is obviously frightening.

AND SO I JUST THINK... that potent history would be very hot background for fear based play, which knife play is all about. The heart-racing threat of the point of a dangerous object held at your most tender areas - throats, armpits, mouths, bellies... and the depth of trust and submission to let that occur, to sit in the fear and really enjoy the rush of danger and helplessness, knowing you will be safe. It shows a profound growth in their regard for eachother, a true and total overcoming of old resentments and conflicts.

This is not only a position I think SH would relish - to reduce someone as deadly as LZ to being at her mercy, and to feel deeply trusted with someone's life and pleasure - but also a rare delight for LZ. To take the heart-thumping threat of a battlefield, which she absolutely thrives in, and to toy with and explore that mental space. To be truly stripped back and placed in anothers hands. For that to be an enemy who has become someone she feels so completely safe with.

Beneath this I think there is also a thread of empathy and shared idiosyncratic communication between them. They were both cruelly broken into roles that made it difficult for them to connect to others. Violence is a language both of them understand very well, in different ways, and even after they each turn on their cruel masters, violence retains meaning for them.

For SH, violence is to be enacted and more often endured as a sign of devotion. It's something that carries wisdom, the agony of lessons learned and knowledge that is uncomfortable but ultimately good for you. I don't think this is something she decides is wrong. I think what disillusioned her (beyond the betrayal of being lied to) was how Shar was revealed to have misused her pain. Shar's pain was not a gift, it had no loving measure or purpose. It was a spiteful, excessive control tactic.

I like to imagine SH learning a new way to use her affinity with pain, which I think is a very normal affinity for people to have. To learn how to use pain the way she had wanted it to be used and had come to admire. To make pain bespoke from Shar, her own gift to give and recieve on her own terms.

For LZ, violence is to be mastered for survival and superiority. Pain was only endured to prove you could endure it better than others. Violence is a hammer in a world where all beings are nails, except you and the few other hammers. All else was forsaken for this mastery. Even in sex violence and superiority are key. Vulnerability is terrifying, to make yourself a nail made to be driven by hammers who are certain of their purpose.

What else could be a greater liberating thrill, a more profound sign of trust for LZ? Willing submission to the violence of another. Those she comes to truly love become the source of her bruises. In submission to violence LZ embraces true vulnerability, untethered by tradition, opening herself to another person and trusting them to handle her with care.

In conclusion: These bitches love knife play, it gets them super hot and they feel rly connected after and share wine and cheese and maybe a massage if they have energy as aftercare. LZ will be cuddled but only if SH doesn't ask and just does it. LZ always makes sure to tell SH she admires her skill and had fun. Its very sweet

[noihavenosanitythanksforasking]

so I finished link click s2 yesterday and i'm losing my mind

So imma ramble

alrigh so when powers are activated, the user's eyes turn a different color. cxc's/whoever he is possessing(?) turn gold, Li Tianchen's turn red, (I assume smth happens to tianxi's eyes too, but it could just be that she needs to have her eyes closed as thats the only way we see her. Though it could be that her eyes turn milky like Qiao Ling's do after tianxi's death). Anyways so when lu guang activates his power his eyes turn blue. But allegedly, he's been going into the past over and over again to try and save cxc. This is confusing to me. If Lu Guang has been through this timeline multiple times over and over, would he not know whats going on already? Even if things do change every timeline, after going through a certain amount of times an incredible amount of time, its easily plausible that the changes that would occur wouldn't be too hard to predict. Like Lu Guang said multiple times in season 1(i forget where) time has these node things which i think of as like check points in time. The way the explanation made sense in my head was almost like some sort of binary code. The Node either happens or not. So with this reasoning if lu guang when through the time line enough times to create every possible combination of these happened or it didn't happen moments, he would be able to "predict" the future. (that would also mean that lu guang is suuuper old because there are so many of these checkpoints that could happen in 4 years) Anyways, at this point im not sure what i believe about lu guang's ability anymore. If he's gone through the timeline so many times, couldn't he just have the knowledge of whats going to happen in each photo through his connection with cxc? His eyes turn blue, and we see flashes of the photo, but how do we know that its not just his memories from a past timeline.

Speaking of memories from a past timeline. Does qiao ling have all Lu guangs memories? That wouldn't make sense at all and if she doesn't why did she see the one of cxc dying? Was it because it was particularly traumatic? Why that particular one because allegedly cxc has died multiple times.

also-

my current theory about the death thing is that the node isn't necessarily for one person, but just a death in general. For example, in this timeline, Li tianxi died and cxc lived. but if cxc died would tianxi also die? in the scene where cxc is trying to talk emma out of unaliving herself, lu guang gets all surprised that it seems to be working(also side note, talk about trauma. give the boy hope and snatch it away) but she ends up dying anyways. What if the only way to save someone from dying in the past is to kill someone else. So if emma lives, cxc would have to die. And bc cxc is a self sacrificial idiot I could see him doing that to save someone else, possibly on accent but i could see on purpose too. (Lu Guang ofc wouldn't let him do this cause he's in love with him but i digress)

Which leads me me to another idea, which is the scene where Lu Guang gets stabbed right.

He was not expecting that from what I can tell. But he accepted it. Almost like he was thinking that maybe him dying in this time line would save cxc from death. It didn't work, bc he survived but still. Lu Guang getting stabbed must have been a node he hadn't come across before, which means that he had to go in blind for the entirety of season 2. This contradicts my Lu Guang power theory but that wasn't a super strong theory anyways so idk.

One of my main questions is why the hell wouldn't lu guang just do smth about tianchen before it becomes a problem. Even if he didn't come across the node of him getting stabbed before, he would still know whats going on to some extent and be able stop it right? Unless my idea about cxc sacrificing himself was the real main issue. (which will make me cry if thats true i will not survive)

Also last side note, where did lu guang originally come from? If he just popped up in their lives because he was trying to save cxc, how did they meet originally?

simple answer: he's god.

idk if any of that made sense.

[nightmarist]

its been fucking years since i thought about godtiers but lets try.....

bg3 x homestuck classpects

Astarion — Knight of Heart he has deep intimacy issues and is greatly guarding his own heart and desires. in fact, he barely knows what he wants. he knows how to manipulate people and use it to his advantage. he needs to get over said issues and learn to trust people that care about him and get a better grip on his own wants and needs.

Gale — Prince of Void hes an intelligent man who loves to learn and reveal knowledge, thus destructing secrets and revealing truths, and especially believes in knowledge being available for mortals. he has the Netherese orb, which is quite literally an orb of Nothing that can destroy half the world. he needs to learn to let things be, put down hubris, not everything needs to be revealed and taken and touched.

Lae'zel — Maid of Doom she is strict and follows a paradigm that has been thrust upon her without question. she is also strategic in the way she approaches destruction, no matter who it is that needs to die - such as her cousins in K'liir. she needs to learn how to break free of convention and make her own rules to live by.

Shadowheart — Witch of Void an expert manipulator in secrecy and nothingness, especially by way of her willingness to remove her own memory and knowledge. she has hidden herself inside herself multiple times and needs help finding her true self or else she will be confined to a lie of her own making made to bury the truth of her kidnapping.

Karlach — Maid of Rage her anger is her conviction, her strength comes from her rage while she also empowers others through that rage, it is righteous and raw and powerful and protective. she is in dire need of emotional support and making connections beyond pain and anger.

Wyll — Heir of Blood he feels responsible for helping others, and by mizora we see he can be manipulated into doing self destructive if not awful things as long as it can help someone else, especially by way of his lack of close personal bonds as the fabled Blade of Frontiers. he needs to be guided on the right path by the people who care about him, and needs to learn to make and trust real bonds.

Halsin — Mage of Life he is an excellent caretaker and knowledgeable in health and life as a druid and a healer. however, he has an obsession with the shadow curse feeling responsible for it as though fixingit would also fix him, and simultaneously over-sacrifices himself for others. he needs to learn to balance helping themselves and others correctly.

Minthara — Thief of Blood she manipulates others in order to reach the top, no bond is too sacred to be severed, blood and bonds are merely tools to achieve her goals. she is proud to her very core, she knows what she wants and she Will get it. she needs to learn to worth doesn't require status.

Minsc — Page of Breath hes almost childishly idealistic and an excitable free spirit, more than happy to support and cheer others on. he wants to do absolute good to protect the lands from evil. tends to follow the will of others to an extreme degree. he needs to learn to think for himself a bit more.

Jaheira — Page of Heart shes jaded to the events of the world, dry but not yet out of hope. she tends to have a flippant view of the world while still acting compassionate towards others. she can put up the necessary front of being an excellent leader but tends to be emotionally distant. her leadership is necessary but superficial, especially as a parent. she needs to balance sincerity.

The Emperor — Lord of Mind the literal embodiment and manipulation of the mind. controlling others through manipulation like puppets, making the people around them believe his subliminal ideas are their own original ones inorder to get others to do his work. needs to not be a dick.

Gortash — Lord of Void the embodiment of lies, manipulation, and, well, tyranny. rules with an iron fist, manipulates others through carefully placed conspiracies and lies, uses a network in order to get what he wants. needs to learn to accept the truth of matters and his own situation.

Ketheric — Prince of Breath oppressive destruction. keeps all things regulated, in perfect alignment. seeks to usher a new order for the sake of his goals, including taking away the freedoms of his only daughter. needs to learn to let go.

Orin — Heir of Rage embodiment of anger, she is explosive and unpredictable in her rage and petulant anger. acting out to create dire and violent consequences. inspires others to join her and commit acts of violence for the sake of rage, not for the sake of Bhaal. needs to learn to channel her anger in the right direction.

Durge — Heir of Blood embodiment of unity and bonds, as well as literal blood. either as embrace or resist the Urge, durge is driven by the bonds that inherently tie them to Bhaal and Orin, as well as chasing the threads that once bound them to other people (ketheric, gortash, potential others they knew prior to their lobotomy or prior to their bhaalspawn awakening). needs to choose a side, to choose the people they consider close.

Tav — Heir of Space the embodiment of creation and creativity. they go with the flow of the world thrown at them, influenced by the people around them and the ideas of others. they can drastically change the substance of the world around them with a single decision. the world is quite literally in their hands. they need to learn responsibility for their actions.

Zevlor — Page of Hope an excellent leader and harbinger of hope. he gives people hope but never leaves any left for himself. deeply self sacrificing to the point of self destruction. needs to learn to have his own hope.

Raphael — Bard of Hope he sees others as his personal playthings to get what he wants, dangling hope in front of them to lure them and manipulate them, ultimately leading them to their doom and destruction. at times, creating a false hope is just as fun if only to watch others unravel themselves for a morsel of it. putting up a front of hope, he is internally wrathful and petty. contradictorily, he needs to learn hope is not just a useful weapon of falsehood, but a very real thing.

Haarlep — Bard of Heart they see desire and want as their personal plaything. they have desires of their own, and uses what they're good at (sex and embodiment of desire) to manipulate others into destroying themselves for their sake. desire is both their cage and key, the very thing that allowed them to be the personal incubus of a prince, and the thing that entraps them to the very same petulant prince. they need to learn desire isn't just a useful tool or weapon, but something real and good.

Isobel — Sylph of Light as a cleric of selune, she heals through light and knowledge - including the obfuscation of that knowledge. if it is better to help someone to hide information, she would do so. withholding secret knowledge she could save people and cause them less harm. she needs to be less drastic and trust more easily.

Dame Aylin — Heir of Rage the embodiment of rage. when rage exists especially through means of injustice, she cannot simply stand by, she Must act, and act out with all her heart, pouring all her hatred and frustration into everything she does. she is also just as deeply passionate. she gives in to her emotions readily and easily. she needs to not let it consume and destroy her.

Withers — Muse of Time as all things are written, fate sees what is to come. he is patience itself. he can rewrite loss if it is necessary but will allow fate to run its course. he needs to learn to take a more active role in protecting fate.

Volo — Bard of Void the embodiment of obfuscation, secrets, and lies. he is a con artist at heart and Will tell the better story no matter how improbable it is. he hides lies within nuggets of truth because it tells a better story or has better excitement. likewise, he is simultaneously terrible at keeping secrets. as a seeker of knowledge and contradictorily a faux bard in search of fame, he would use the truth and spin his own web of lies to make up whatever outcome he desires.

[blondie20000]

Pain is So Close to Pleasure - Loki x Sylvie

Warning 18 + fic.

AU where instead of the bar Sylvie decides to take Loki home and offers him a drink there also instead of saying I want my friends back he now says "I want you." I think us Sylki fans were waiting for that confession. Lol

"I want you!" Loki finally admitted with a gasp. He quickly looks away his cheeks blushing pink. "Us." He swallows. "I miss us I haven't been able to stop thinking about what happened...the fight...the kiss." He turns back to face her. His eyes shine with tears. "When I saw you moved on, made a life for yourself I...I didn't know what to do at least at the TVA I had a purpose there people who need me...You don't need me anymore and I...I don't want to be alone."

A tear slowly rolls down his cheek.

Sylvie puts her glass down and looks at her counterpart. She said nothing she didn't need to say anything she expected this from him for ages he has denied what they had but now he has finally admitted his true intentions and feelings for her.

Sylvie takes a deep breath. She missed him too, she missed them, their connection their bond. She may have started a life for herself but she never stopped thinking about him. However despite all that she couldn't let him off that easily he hurt her, betrayed her he promised her he would stay by her side and he blew it.

"If that is what you want." Sylvie raises her eyebrow. "You need to prove yourself." He frowns at that. "You did betray me." Sylvie continued. "Turned on me."

"Sylvie."

"Let me finish." She cut him off. "You hurt me that day How do you expect me to accept you back? For all I know you could betray me again."

"Never." He sworn.

She shakes her head.

"That's not enough Loki."

"What do I need to do? How do I prove myself to you?"

"Maybe you can't. You are a Loki after all. Maybe this whole conversation is a waste of time." He looked like he is ready to argue but she stops him. "Loki your friends are safe and sound and I'm okay. Its over now go and write your own story, make a life of your own."

Sylvie stands up and smooths her outfit down. Loki stared at her with shock and disbelief. Sylvie turns away not wanting to see his face. She couldn't express her vulnerability around him. Not this time.

Suddenly Sylvie heard a thud. She turns round and what she sees shocks her.

Loki is kneeling yes kneeling down on the ground. He looks up at her his eyes wide.

"Sylvie...Please don't leave please..." He shakes his head. "I can't do it again."

Sylvie huffs and folds her arms.

"I mean what I said." He continued. "I want you and I'm sorry for what happened but you have to understand killing him has put us all at risk."

"But it hasn't. We're fine now."

"At the time we didn't know that." He grits his teeth. "I was just trying to do the right thing."

"Sure."

"I screwed up too many times now and for once...for once I wanted to do something right."

"And you still can." Sylvie said. "Walk away, let us go."

"I can't let you go."

"Why is that Loki?"

"Because." His voice trailed off.

"Because." She pressed him.

"Because I love you."

Sylvie closes her eyes at those words. Warmth filled her chest. She wanted to kiss him right now but she already made it clear she couldn't let him off that easily.

He needed to be taught a lesson.

Sylvie looms over him. Her mere presence made Loki sink back on his knees. She kept a straight face on not wanting to give him any satisfaction.

"If that is true."

"Enchant me. Look in my mind and see for yourself."

Sylvie didn't need to look. Her gut told her he is telling the truth.

"Boring." She laughs. "But you could prove yourself in another way."

He nods. He looked so desperate.

"Anything."

A devilish smirk spreads across her lips. Her eyes glint with mischief. She then extends her hand out.

"Come with me."

.............

Loki lies on the bed his clothes discarded to the side. Sylvie stood at the foot of the bed fully dressed. She holds up several ropes.

"What's that for?" He asked.

He received a slap to the face.

"Silence!" She glared. "You speak when I tell you to. Got it?"

His eyes blow wide at that.

"Syl..."

"Yes or no."

Suddenly too stunned to speak Loki only responds with a nod.

"Good." She then grabs his hand and ties it to the post of the bed. "Now I know you could break these but if you do that you will be in big trouble. You don't want to make me mad do you Loki?"

His mind immediately goes to all the times she has hit him and kicked him. The thought of that made him shake his head. She nods.

"Thought so."

Once she finished tying his hands and feet Sylvie returns to the foot of the bed and starts to undress herself.

Loki held his breath as Sylvie slowly stripped her down. Lastly she removes her bra followed by her panties. She waves them in the air and teases him. Then she tosses them with the other pieces of clothing.

The Goddess climbs on to the bed. She sits between his thighs and looks down at him. Loki is breathing heavily. He eyes her up and down the need to touch her starting to consume him. If he attempted to touch her he knew he will most likely end up in a ditch somewhere. He realized Sylvie is now running the show she's the one in control here and he wasn't going to fight her on it. He already lost her once he didn't want to lose her again. Also she looked freaking hot towering over him with that naughty glint in her eyes. He can already imagine all the things he wanted her to do to him.

Sylvie leans forward and locks her lips with his. Loki tries to go forward but the restrains held him back. A whine escapes him as he desperately wants to be near her but fortunately Sylvie presses herself against him. Her tongue pushes all the way in and rolls along with his. Moments later Sylvie pulls away

Another whine escapes Loki's lips.

Sylvie runs her hands over his body. She then paused and brushed her fingers over his manhood. He groans at the touch. Her fingers curl around his cock and she strokes him. The long, tender strokes sent jolts of electricity through him.

"Sy..."

She immediately loosens her hold and gives him a glare. He shuts his mouth not wanting to breathe another word he didn't want her to stop.

When Sylvie knew the message came across she returns to stroking his length again. He has already become hard. The sight of his big, hard cock in her hands made her wet.

Damm.

Focus Sylvie focus.

Sylvie lets go of his cock and returns to her position between his knees.

"With pleasure there is pain." She said.

Suddenly a dagger appears in her hand.

Loki gives her a questioning look.

"I can't let you get away with what you did." She said her tone cold. "You must pay. Do you understand?"

He nods.

"Speak!"

"Yes...Sylvie I understand."

She brings the dagger down on his chest. She didn't like causing people pain but she had to do this she needed Loki to feel what she felt.

"You are a God you will heal."

Her eyes shift on to him. Loki can see a storm playing behind those eyes. Rage, anguish, pain and suffering all rolling across her face. He did this to her he made her feel like this.

I'm sorry.

He gives her an apologetic look.

But that wasn't enough for Sylvie.

With a deep breath Sylvie pierced his skin the dagger goes straight through. Loki's screams are cut off when she covers his mouth with her hand. She closes her eyes and sighs heavily. She then removes the dagger and makes another cut on his stomach. Loki's screams continued to be muffled. Tears started to roll down his face.

Sylvie kept going. She sliced and cut into his skin.

Loki never once fought back. He sworn he will prove to himself to her he will do anything for her. He will stick to that promise for her.

Eventually Sylvie removes her hand and allows herself to embrace his pain. It thrills her, pleases her.

Disgusting thoughts and emotions.

But Lokis are not perfect are they?

Everyone had a dark side.

Blood is pouring down his body. Sylvie scoops up some of the blood with her finger. She brings it up to her nose and smells it. It made her realize that he chose to bleed for her. This is all for her. With that thought in mind Sylvie licks the blood.

And she made him watch.

Loki obeyed and stared straight at her.

Sylvie holds up the dagger.

"Love is a dagger." She echoed his words back at him.

She puts the dagger down on the table and returns her attention back to him. The cuts on his body have healed now. She kisses him again and licks up his tears. She runs her fingers through his curls and sadly shakes her head.

He looked so scared.

She told him to reveal his fear.

He answered.

"You."

"Of me?"

"No." He shakes his head. "I'm afraid that you will leave me."

She holds on to the back of his head. She gently strokes his cheek. She couldn't see a God.

She saw a scared little boy who didn't want to be alone.

"Please don't leave me." The familiar plea returns to his lips. "I can't live without you."

He goes to bring his hand forward but she stops him.

"You know the rules."

He sighs.

"You are selfish." She suddenly says.

He furrowed his eyebrows at that.

"Its always about you its about what you want. What about me? What about what I want?" His lips are pressed into a thin line. She cups his chin and forces him to look at her. "Ask me. Ask me what I want?"

"What do you want?" He asked.

She leans forward her hot breath hits his face. Loki gazes at her lips and thought of how badly he wanted to kiss them again.

"You know I want." She replied. She goes towards his ear and whispers. "I want you to fuck me."

He gasped at the words.

"You want me? You love me? Now is your time to prove it." Sylvie then hitched her body forward. Loki bites his lip as his eyes go on to her entrance. Sylvie looks down at him. "What do I want Loki?"

"You want me to make love to you."

Her lips curl into an amused smirk.

"Close. It begun with an F and ended with a K." His cheeks turned a shade of pink. "Don't embarrassed I want to hear that dirty mouth of yours. Come on pretty boy what do I want?"

"You want me to fuck you." He mumbled.

"Louder."

"You want me to fuck you!"

"Louder!"

"YOU WANT ME TO FUCK YOU!"

"Do you want to fuck me!"

"Yes...Norms Yes!" He gasped.

She looks down at him again. Her eyes darken with lust.

"Then fuck me." She growled.

She sits down on his face.

He pushes his tongue in.

His tongue slides between the folds and immediately hits a sensitive area.

Sylvie gasps.

Loki smiles to himself.

Sylvie throws her head back as Loki hungrily licked her up and down. He pushes his tongue deep inside her and slides it up, down and around her vagina.

Sylvie pushes herself down on to him. She moans as he sucks on to her wet folds.

"Loki!" She groaned. "Fuck!"

He continued to fuck her with his tongue. Each jolt sent a charge of power through her. She can feel her magic thrumming beneath her fingertips. Little green sparks shoot out whenever Loki hit a weak spot.

"SO GOOD ARGH!"

He brightened at those words.

She sensed this and gave him more praise. The more he received the more determined he became. Loki wanted to please her he wanted to be the one who can make her like this. The sounds the noises that is all because of him. She is enjoying this.

That makes him happy.

Sylvie can feel the orgasm coming on.

"Loki I am going to cum." She grabs a handful of his hair and pulls him in her. "You are going to try it but don't swallow okay?"

He nods.

Sylvie then let go.

Once Sylvie let it out she quickly slides off him and her lips return to his.

"Don't swallow." She repeated.

She pushes her tongue in. They both tasted the saltiness of her cum. She closes her eyes as they shared their intimate moment. She is leaving a part of her in him. A way of giving piece by piece of herself to him.

He moaned into the kiss. Sylvie taps his throat urging him to swallow.

He did.

Sylvie continued to kiss him.

He savored every part of her. Enjoyed the way his lips connected with hers. This it felt right.

Sylvie then moves and leaves a trail of kisses down his collarbone. She latches on to his nipples and sucks hard at them. He arched up at that. He wanted to cry out but remembered he couldn't make a sound. The Goddess touches her mouth.

"Dirty mouth. I want to hear it."

He responds with a cry of her name.

Sylvie pretended that didn't have a massive impact on her. She kept a straight face as her tongue rolls down his abs. She grips his waist and digs her fingers hard into it.

"Shit!" He cursed.

"You do have a perfect waist." She said in a teasing tone.

Overall you are perfect.

She didn't say that out loud but the admiration in her eyes as she examined him said it all. Loki might be a pain in the ass but his body is a work of art.

She plants a kiss on his stomach to show that.

She positions herself in front of his cock.

"Now as you have been a good boy." She gestures to the ropes. "I will let you use your hands."

He straightened up at that. His face eager he badly wanted to touch her.

She wanted his big hands touching her all over too.

She removes the restrains but kept his feet tied up she wanted to make sure he remained in his bottom position Lokis do like to come out on top.

But not this time.

"Are you ready?" She asked.

"Yes."

"Yes what?"

"Yes Sylvie."

She nods and smiles.

"You want to make me happy Loki."

"I do."

She holds on to his length.

"You done so well so far don't screw it up."

"I won't. I will never let you down Sylvie."

She starts to bring him inside her. Her eyes remained locked on to his. Loki can already feel himself getting hard again.

Once he is fully inside her Loki then turned feral. He grabs her waist and pulls her down on him. He meets her with each thrust starting off slow then eventually they picked up the pace.

"FUCK!" She cried.

He growls in response.

He looks at her breasts and seeks her premission to touch them. She gives him permission. Without hesitation Loki grasps the nipple with his mouth and pulls hard at it. Sylvie shuddered and pushes her chest on to him demanding more. Loki happily obliged.

He then touches her breasts with his hands. He fondled them, he squeezed them hard. He allows his hands to travel all over her body wanting to soak up every part of her.

Norms she is everything.

He twirls his fingers in her hair and cups her cheek with his other hand. She lies her head into his palm. A little smile spreads across her face.

She turns and kisses his palm.

Loki smiles back.

Soon the smile vanished from her face. She abruptly pulls away. She gives him another hard thrust causing him to moan. Sylvie suddenly reaches out and wraps her hand around his throat.

Loki gasped with surprise.

Sylvie tightened her hold on him.

Another gasp comes from him followed by a series of coughs.

Sylvie pushes Loki's head further back. She closes her eyes as she hears him struggling beneath her.

I have to do this.

Pain and pleasure.

She needed him to understand. She needed him to share her pain. This is what it felt like when her life was sucked out her. Her family, friends her home all gone before her very eyes. Another thing died that day as well.

Her innocence.

She had to form a wall around herself. A shield to protect her from the forces that wanted to hurt her. For centuries she had to run , constantly looking over her shoulder, fearing for her life doing everything she can to survive.

Loki's hands go on to hers. He is pushing her off him.

Flight or fight response has kicked in.

A feeling she had to endure all her life.

Now he can experience it.

She looks at his panicked expression.

It's like looking in a mirror.

He tried to call her name.

She shakes her head.

Then after a few moments he stopped fighting. He stares at her.

Then he lowers his hands.

She frowns with confusion.

"I...I...I understand." He said between gasps. "I...know...I know you won't kill me."

He trusted her.

With his life.

That is because he understands her.

"I've been where you are." His words echoed in her mind.

He places his hand on her wrist. His eyes soften.

"Together." He croaked.

He is willing to share her burden.

She wasn't alone in this anymore.

She knew that now.

That caused tears to form in her eyes.

He gives a shaky smile.

She loosens her grip on him. She quickly brushes away the tears. The mask slips back on.

"Don't slow down now." She forced a smile.

He continued to please her.

She moaned with delight.

It was like music to Loki's ears.

She can feel herself getting close again. Judging by his screwed up face she knew he is close too.

She gave him permission to let go.

He did.

He tightened his hold on her. He buried his face into her chest as he let it all out.

Then she followed. She clenched her teeth. She tugged hard at his hair and allowed the next wave to ride itself out.

Once it was all out Sylvie sighed.

She is content.

Peaceful.

Like a weight has been lifted off her shoulders.

Loki couldn't stop staring at her. He feared if he looked away even for a second she will be gone.

He didn't want to lose her.

Not again.

He whimpered at the thought.

Sylvie noticed his sudden distress.

She climbs off him and removes the restrains from his feet. After that she sits back down on the bed and brushes the hair away from his face.

He looks at her with worry in his eyes.

Has he done enough?

Will he ever be enough for her?

She opens her arms out.

"Come here baby."

He went into her arms. She wraps her arms around him and holds him tight.

"Don't leave." He said a sob rising inside him.

She soothes him. She plants a kiss on his head. He lies on her chest and takes in the comfort.

It's been so long since somebody comforted him.

"You mean what you said." She said moments later. "Together?"

"You go I go." He answered.

He intertwined his fingers with hers.

She squeezed his hand.

"I'm not going anywhere." She assured him. He exhaled a sigh of relief. "But for this to work we need to be on the same page."

Loki agreed with her.

He squeezed her hand back.

Then Sylvie had a thought.

"Hey you haven't done that...Whatever the Hell that was back at McDonald's."

"Oh...Yes you are right." He smiles. He thought back to O.B's words. "I'm where I need to be." His smile widens. "It's the who. You."

He kisses her on the lips. She kisses him back.

She kept him grounded.

He is her anchor.

They belonged together.

He told her he loved her again.

Sylvie wasn't that great with words. She preferred conveying her feelings through actions. So she lies him down on the bed.

"Ask me." She said her voice husky. "What do I want?"

"What do you want?" He asked with a soft smile.

She leans forward and whispers.

"I want you to make love to me. Now say it what do I want?"

He gives her a teasing smirk.

"To fuck you."

She laughed.

He happily accepted her request with more passion and hunger than before.

And this time they did together as equals.

The End

[acourtofantumbra]

Thinking about Iphraxia

Yes, I inhaled the HOFAS prologue and chapter one Sarah posted to her new site yesterday... and a couple things have been itching my brain since (and making thinking about anything other than release day impossible).

Safe to say we're hitting the ground RUNNING. Poor bb Ruhn. But some through lines and well... associations made by both proximity and repetition that have me (tentatively) very excited about a BIG hope I've had. One I'm not alone in.

🚨 HOFAS PROLOGUE + CHAPTER 1 SPOILERS 🚨

I have also not read the book in its entirety yet. This is just me spewing nonsense. Please don't reply/comment with any spoilers if you have read all of HOFAS. I've waiting two years for this! Just feeding my spinning brain until Monday night.

WHAT A FIRST CHAPTER! I have so many thoughts spinning about the info dumps we get - and awesome confirmations like Daglan = Asteri + Cormac shadows = Azriel shadows. Good work team!

But I'll be honest, I'm looking for any and all crumbs for a TOG connection... and this one just wouldn't stop irking me.

So, I'll begin with Bryce's lies. She spells out for us that, honestly, she's never had too hard a time deceiving folks by playing into what they wanted to see from her: a ditzy party girl incapable of scheming. We've spent two books, and many years, peeling back Bryce's layers, only to discover she's even more capable, more selfless, more calculating than we ever could have guessed. Even where we're guided largely by her POV. Queen. Aelin would be proud.

That gift we've seen honed over time... lasts all of two seconds in the presence of Rhys, Amren, and Azriel. But specifically, it seems, Azriel.

Now I'll fearlessly reference the cursed Azriel bonus chapter from ACOSF...

"“I..." He watched her swallow. She clutched a small gift in her hands. "I was coming to leave this on your pile of presents. I forgot to give it to you earlier."   Lie. Well, the second part was a lie. He didn't need his shadows to read her tone, the slight tightening of her face. She'd waited until everyone was asleep before venturing back down, where she'd leave her gift amongst his other, opened presents, subtle and unnoticed." A Court of Silver Flames, Azriel Bonus Chapter

So we have Azriel referencing, perhaps, his shadows' abilities to detect lies. They can also hear the Cauldron sing in ACOWAR, so why not expand their extra sensory capabilities? Rhys and Cassian have even confessed to not really understanding the full scope of Azriel's powers... so naturally we're not entirely sure all that he's capable of either.

Azriel's also the Night Court's spy master and in this scene with Elain, he defaults to those skills he's mastered over time in lieu of his shadows' guidance. So, language barrier or not, Azriel might just be able to read Bryce, as she points out herself. We love a male fluent in body language, amirite?

But humor me for a sec, we've had two years since the crossover was announced to kind of side eye the fact that Azriel's blade is call Truth Teller - which is now front and center in the overarching plot and specifically this chapter. And for the TOG readers among us... we couldn't help but notice we've had an actual truth telling blade before: Damaris.

Azriel's sort of alluded to legend about his blade's abilities - mostly that it'll strike true. But we've never really confirmed if he's able to use it like a lie detector as Dorian does with Damaris in TOG.

And the specificity of couching the language barrier issue (pre-magic bean lol) alongside references to Truth Teller pretty consistently in this very first chapter has me 👀

In the scene above, Bryce is immediately curious about how Azriel could react to what she'd said if he couldn't understand her and the laugh/Rhys' surprise when Azriel clarifies leads me to believe he didn't need to know what she was saying to be informed it was BS.

Of course, again, pre-bean, Rhys is likely mind speaking translation for Azriel in the second instance in particular. But he's still relying on Azriel wholly to confirm truth or not prior to moving on. And Rhys doesn't question Azriel's response - at least no audibly.

And I'm just saying, we know Azriel is currently holding onto Truth Teller.

Azriel, being the primed warrior that he is, is sitting and lying in wait for some shit to go down the whole time. So when Bryce has a bad reaction to the magic bean (lol sorry I will never stop teasing), before she can get her bearings she's already slammed down by Azriel's shadows, dagger drawn.

The fact that we can assume he's been holding Truth Teller, ready to strike, makes the shock at the blade's reaction to Bryce sans Starsword all the more interesting. When Amren is like, "Dude why do you even have that thing with you and close to her?" Azriel kind of bashfully winnows it away. Amren's ellipses there is suspect as hell too, but that's for another time (or the rest of this book).

Anyway, if we pretend that Truth Teller is displaying some Damaris type traits, then the other details we're getting in close proximity to the blade's discussion are worth a second glance as well (in my humble opinion). Also, want to note that I'm aware that TT is a dagger and Damaris is a sword. I don't think they're necessarily the same or from the same ore. That's for SJM to explain lol.

Anyway, as Bryce is selectively explaining her/the universe's predicament, Truth Teller comes up again. But first I wanted to pause on the "only three planets that were able to kick [the Asteri] out." While I'm fully open to this being a little different than we have been theorizing - we've come to speculate that Hel is one planet and the Starborn Fae planet is where Prythian is located. This leaves the third successful planet: Iphraxia.

A quick reminder what we know about Iphraxia:

So the Iphraxia events happen 16,323 years prior to conquering of Midgard and many have speculated this planet could house Erilea and our beloved TOG crew.

I've always side eyed the use of the word "denizens" because it can either mean "an inhabitant or occupant of a particular place," or "a foreigner allowed certain rights in the adopted country." Rigelus alludes to the Asteri encouraging planets to come and conquer others, never realizing those who opened the doors were the true masters. In that case, Asteri referring to a group like the Valg as denizens would also make quite a bit of sense to me.

Maeve fights in Erilea's first wars - granted she manipulates the hell out of them - but she confirms at one point that she just wants to have her kingdom in peace (an evil kingdom) and that she's been running from Big Bads for a long time. She is of course Valg - not native to that world - and is not on Erawan's team to start. But it becomes very clear by KOA that we're all playing checkers and Maeve - a world walker - is playing chess. Then of course we have a group of stranded, vengeful gods who want to return to their family/world... but were left behind in a hasty evacuation perhaps? Of course when Aelin shuts the gates, they're presumably lost forever, but that chapter would have come long after Maeve originally fought back against Erwan who believes that planet was his to command... motivated by that world's larger forces perhaps.

^ This is why I shouldn't have procrastinated my TOD and KOA rereads... the details are not as sharp as they should be. But that is the general essence of things.

Anyway, returning to the reference to Iphraxia and the grounding connection Truth Teller is being set up to be has my TOG IS COMING alarms blaring.

Of course this chapter ends with the horn tattoo on Bryce's back being exposed and Amren confirming it's similarity to the Book of Breathings... a book we know landed in Midgard along with TOG's Walking dead in Jesiba's library... and written in markings we can pretty confidently say are wyrdmarks. And you know what crew of folks are crackerjack at reading wyrdmarks? :)

Anyway, I think TOG officially entering the crossover is imminent and with this line of thinking re: timeline... it might not actually separate the TOG timeline as far back as we've been predicting it might be (like in the very far past).

All I know is that I've had great fun over the years reading people's analysis of first lines and first chapters of books actually providing you with everything you actually need to know/can expect from the book. Sarah is actually pretty great at doing this so in our proper chapter one (not the prologue but sure why not) we're hitting a couple of beats pretty repetitively and I can't help but feel it's priming TOG's reentry for us.

That being said, can't wait to be proven wrong in just THREE FREAKING DAYS!!! Unless Walmart stops lying to me and actually delivers my book as early as it's claiming it will.

[evita-shelby]

Of Gods and Witches

Chapter 19

A/N: so imma be going on hiatus for a while and we know the reason why. So until the situation with Tenoch Huerta is resolved, i will be putting off updating this fic as i cannot write it without feeling a bit 😬 about it all

Enjoy, anyways

--

Gif by @kukvlkan

Taglist: @thegreatdragonfruta @urgonnaneedabiggership @v3d3rl1cht

Eva has never considered herself cowardly, but then again, she has been lying about her health for the past two years to avoid the talks that come with it and those looks of pity she loathes so much.

So, after Ch’ah shows Shuri the beauty of Talokan’s main city-state and the sun that rises over it, she finally answers the young woman’s burning question.

“You are not a mutant like him.” She points out when they return to the hut and find her giving Itza to her nanny.

They usually do not employ a nursemaid for the girls, but Eva’s waning health does not allow her to keep up with her five-year-old child anymore.

Once this is over, she will make up for lost time.

“Yes, and no. I am more like the woman called the Scarlett Witch, in that I am both capable of magic, but also have genetic mutations passed down to me from my ancestors.

Despite how great I look; I am actually quite old. You see I was born in the year 1896 in a period known in Mexico as the Porfierato and grew up during the Second Revolution. When I was twenty-two, I was put under house arrest for sedition and due to the immense boredom, that came with it, I decided to try my hand at summoning Quetzalcoatl.” The witch decides against a detailed story about her life, there will be time for that later and while, Shuri seems to have done research on Post classical Mayan artefacts, she likely has no knowledge of Mexico’s history.

“Instead of summoning the true Feathered Serpent God, she somehow managed to summon me.” K’uk’ulkan said with a rather nostalgic smile and a firm squeeze of Eva’s hand. “I saw her dancing on the beach outside of her home and felt a connection to her as if I had always known her.”

“Later I would discover the spell I had found was to summon one’s soulmate but by then we had met, fallen in love and been married for several years.” This was the story they told everyone.

And yet all those details that they hold deep in their hearts occasionally manage to be found in murals, novels and stage productions of how Talokan came to have its queen.

“How did you manage to live underwater, if you don’t mind me asking.” Shuri, who has no real interest in romance asks the question they needed her to ask.

Eva answers by showing her the bracelet.

“The chief sorceress of Talokan taught me the runes that allowed to appear as human in the surface without the need for a rebreather. K’uk’ulkan, as a token of his love, gave me the bracelet made with the fibers of the plant that saved the life of his people, but most importantly, his mother.

I was able to cast the runes on it due to its significance and origin and live just as he does.”

And because it is all that is left of the vibranium flowers, she will have to give it up to live like him in truth instead of dying like the Black Panther did.

When Namor gets summoned onto the surface by the queen, Eva takes her chance.

“There is something else, Shuri. Something I need you to swear you will do no matter what happens.” The seriousness in her face causes worry in the young princess.

Her eyes widen thinking she is asking her to protect her children and the Talokanil, something Eva knows she doesn’t even have to ask for.

“I give you my word, as Princess of Wakanda.” She says readily.

And yet it doesn’t stop her from gasping when Eva removes the bracelet from her wrist.

The glamour fades away and Shuri is presented with a ghost of her past.

Her brother.

“The key ingredient to the cure lies in the vibranium flowers. I cannot make it grow, the soil here does not allow it to, and I cannot risk the surface world.” Eva begins explaining. “You are my only hope.”

“What do you wish me to do?” she asks, and Eva just gives a grateful smile as she gives her the bracelet.

“Take it and recreate the flower in your laboratory. Your people need the Black Panther just as my disease needs a cure.

One flower is all I need to live.”

Eva had not expected the Wakandan warrior woman.

Nakia, mother to Prince T’Challa son of T’Challa, she could see it even as the guards hurried to protect the queen and prevent her from freeing their prisoners.

“Let them go.” She orders the guards who no longer think she is as powerful as she had been.

“My queen, what has she done to you?” the guard holding a knife to Shuri’s throat asks thinking the worse.

“We must kill them.” The senior guard overrides her command due to her sudden change in health. “They have hurt our queen!”

And when Eva lifts her arms to cast a shield on the girls, Nakia fires her weapon and doesn’t miss.

Eva sees the blood on her chest as she slumps forward, and all hell breaks loose.

They took her.

It was a trap.

All there was left was a dying soldier and blood.

So much blood.

This was an act of war.

“Our people invoke my name when they pray for protection. Their deaths will not go unpunished.

Gather the city.”

They took his wife and mother of his children and Wakanda will pay the price.

He had been blinded by the hope of finding an ally in the Wakandan Princess.

To find a way to keep Talokan safe and know there would be someone out there to aid him in that.

And they had killed his wife the moment his back was turned.

If the queen wanted war, Namor would give her what she wanted.

Eva hates the cold white of modernity.

Hates the pastel colors of hospitals and the thin papery feel of the clothes they make her wear.

Her queen’s regalia is replaced by bandages under a loose button-down shirt and pajama shorts.

These too were white.

She’d kill for something darker, like black.

Black is such a nice color.

The nurses and doctors speak in a strange language, Wakandan or Xhosa, she cannot quite place it.

She is awake, she is alive, that much she can understand.

“Easy, your grace, your injury has been giving us a challenging time. Your illness complicates the healing process I am afraid.” One of the women, a bald one with an overly sweet nature, said as they helped her sit up.

Fluffed her pillows and offered her something to drink and everything.

“Where am I?” she asks in English.

“You are in Wakanda.”

[rockislandadultreads]

Book Recommendations: For Fans of… The White Lotus

Red Island House by Andrea Lee

Shay is surprised when her husband Senna declares his intention to build her a spectacular dream house on an idyllic beach in the tropical island nation of Madagascar.

But the Red Island House casts a spell from the moment she sees it, and before she knows it Shay has become the somewhat reluctant mistress of a sprawling household, caught between her privileged American upbringing and education, and her connection to the continent of her ancestors.

At first, she’s content to be an observer of the passionate affairs and fierce ambitions and rivalries around her. But as she and her husband raise children and establish their own rituals on the island, Shay finds herself drawn ever deeper into an extraordinary place with its own laws and logic, a provocative paradise full of magic and myth whose fraught colonial legacy continues to reverberate. Soon the collision of cultures comes right to Shay’s door, forcing her to make a life-altering decision.

Sweetbitter by Stephanie Danler

Newly arrived in New York City, twenty-two-year-old Tess lands a job as a "backwaiter" at a celebrated downtown Manhattan restaurant. What follows is the story of her education: in champagne and cocaine, love and lust, dive bars and fine dining rooms, as she learns to navigate the chaotic, enchanting, punishing life she has chosen. As her appetites awaken - for food and wine, but also for knowledge, experience, and belonging - Tess finds herself helplessly drawn into a darkly alluring love triangle. In Sweetbitter, Stephanie Danler deftly conjures with heart-stopping accuracy the nonstop and high-adrenaline world of the restaurant industry and evokes the infinite possibilities, the unbearable beauty, and the fragility and brutality of being young in New York.

The Photographer by Mary Dixie Carter 

WHEN PERFECT IMAGES

As a photographer, Delta Dawn observes the seemingly perfect lives of New York City’s elite: snapping photos of their children’s birthday parties, transforming images of stiff hugs and tearstained faces into visions of pure joy, and creating moments these parents long for.

ARE MADE OF BEAUTIFUL LIES

But when Delta is hired for Natalie Straub’s eleventh birthday, she finds herself wishing she wasn’t behind the lens but a part of the scene - in the Straub family’s gorgeous home and elegant life.

THE TRUTH WILL BE EXPOSED

That’s when Delta puts her plan in place, by babysitting for Natalie; befriending her mother, Amelia; finding chances to listen to her father, Fritz. Soon she’s bathing in the master bathtub, drinking their expensive wine, and eyeing the beautifully finished garden apartment in their townhouse. It seems she can never get close enough, until she discovers that photos aren’t all she can manipulate.

The Other Guest by Helen Cooper

One year ago, Leah’s feisty 21-year-old niece, Amy, mysteriously drowned in the beautiful lake near her family-owned resort in Northern Italy. Now, Leah’s grief has caught up with her, and she decides to return to Lake Garda for the first time since Amy’s death. What she finds upon her arrival shocks her - her sister, brother-in-law, and surviving niece, Olivia, seem to have erased all memories of Amy, and fought to have her death declared an accidental drowning, despite murky circumstances. Leah knows she must look beyond the resort’s beautiful façade and uncover what truly happened to Amy, even if her digging places both her family ties and her very life in danger.

Meanwhile, in Central England, thirtysomething Joanna is recovering from a surprising break-up when she is swept off her feet by a handsome bartender. But when she learns that he is on the run from something in his past, and that their meeting may not have been a coincidence, Joanna realized that he may just a bit too good to be true.

[happiness-is-a-warm-gun]

"Be that as it may, Tereza continued on her path, and, watching her heifers rub against one another, she thought what nice animals they were. Calm, guileless, and sometimes childishly animated, they looked like fat fifty-year-olds pretending they were fourteen. There was nothing more touching than cows at play. Tereza took pleasure in their antics and could not help thinking (it is an idea that kept coming back to her during her two years in the country) that man is as much a parasite on the cow as the tapeworm is on man: We have sucked their udders like leeches. Man the cow parasite is probably how non-man defines man in his zoology books.

Now, we may treat this definition as a joke and dismiss it with a condescending laugh. But since Tereza took it seriously, she found herself in a precarious position: her ideas were dangerous and distanced her from the rest of mankind. Even though Genesis says that God gave man dominion over all animals, we can also construe it to mean that He merely entrusted them to man's care. Man was not the planet's master, merely its administrator, and therefore eventually responsible for his administration. Descartes took a decisive step forward: he made man maitre et proprietaire de la nature. And surely there is a deep connection between that step and the fact that he was also the one who point-blank denied animals a soul. Man is master and proprietor, says Descartes, whereas the beast is merely an automaton, an animated machine, a machina animata. When an animal laments, it is not a lament; it is merely the rasp of a poorly functioning mechanism. When a wagon wheel grates, the wagon is not in pain; it simply needs oiling. Thus, we have no reason to grieve for a dog being carved up alive in the laboratory.

[. . .]

True human goodness, in all its purity and freedom, can come to the fore only when its recipient has no power. Mankind's true moral test, its fundamental test (which lies deeply buried from view), consists of its attitude towards those who are at its mercy: animals. And in this respect mankind has suffered a fundamental debacle, a debacle so fundamental that all others stem from it.

One of the heifers had made friends with Tereza. The heifer would stop and stare at her with her big brown eyes. Tereza knew her. She called her Marketa. She would have been happy to give all her heifers names, but she was unable to. There were too many of them. Not so long before, forty years or so, all the cows in the village had names. (And if having a name is a sign of having a soul, I can say that they had souls despite Descartes.) But then the villages were turned into a large collective factory, and the cows began spending all their lives in the five square feet set aside for them in their cow sheds. From that time on, they have had no names and become mere machinae animate. The world has proved Descartes correct.

Tereza keeps appearing before my eyes. I see her sitting on the stump petting Karenin's head and ruminating on mankind's debacles. Another image comes to mind: Nietzsche leaving his hotel in Turin. Seeing a horse and a coachman beating it with a whip, Nietzsche went up to the horse and, before the coachman's very eyes, put his arms around the horse's neck and burst into tears.

That took place in 1889, when Nietzsche, too, had removed himself from the world of people. In other words, it was at the time when his mental illness had just erupted. But for that very reason I feel his gesture has broad implications: 

Nietzsche was trying to apologize to the horse of Descartes. His lunacy (that is, his final break with mankind) began at the very moment he burst into tears over the horse.

And that is the Nietzsche I love, just as I love Tereza with the mortally ill dog resting his head in her lap. I see them one next to the other: both stepping down from the road along which mankind, the master and proprietor of nature, marches onward."

-Milan Kundera, The Unbearable Lightness of Being

[lordsovorn]

Some thoughts about Cyberpunk: Edgerunners

Finally watched Cyberpunk: Edgerunners.

And, not mentioning how good it is and the four (4) tears it got out of me.... While re-listening to its music in an act of sheer emotional masochism, I've stumbled on a bunch of youtube comments that inspired this little text / big ass shitpost.

So, if you're a cave person like me, before you proceed any further:

///SPOILERS FOR CYBERPUNK: EDGERUNNERS///

... not to mention very little of the following will make any sense if haven't watched it already.

...

There's actually two and a half separate topics this neon-lit wonder made me want to talk about, but today I'll only give attention to the first 1,5.

There were two types of comments that grabbed my attention - the first being "he sacrificed everything for her".

While it's undoubtedly true, romantic and tragic, they seem to miss an even more tragic aspect to David's final actions - he also sacrificed everything *she* had.

Lucy's dream of visiting the Moon is clearly stated and David certainly clings to this one true thing he understands about her, but as the anime progresses it seems to become only secondary. She doesn't even *do* anything for that Moon, but guess what she *does* things for?..

David.

She sacrifices the well-being and jobs of her friends, her own fragile stability and relative safety, she kills people and risks EVERYTHING for one thing only - to preserve the one personal connection she has in this heartless world, the only person naive and altruistic enough for her to safely trust and rely on. For David.

Being so lonely and so scared of trusting, she barely even admits to herself she cares THAT much.

"My Man, My Moon"

...

When Lucy asks Falco to turn back, he says it would mean David have died in vain. Ironically, his very sacrifice has already made all *her* sacrifices, all her efforts, vain.

Yet she concedes. One person's sacrifices rendered vain is better than two, maybe?..

Accepting such a self-sacrifice from your loved one, from the one person you wanted to save and preserve above everything else, is tragic. And probably even harder than the self-sacrifice itself.

---

Another type of comment of note - "if only they held back on chrome..."

Any tragic narrative inadvertently elicits "if only..."

It is natural to search for reasons in tragedy, for a lesson that would save you from such a fate - yet sometimes, there just isn't a simple "if only"

While cyberpsychosis is one of, if not the most obvious cause of personal suffering in Edgerunners, it is but a last piece of the domino.

The corporations wouldn't have backed down if Maine or David used less implants.

David, whose absent-minded childhood was shattered along with his sole meaning in life, his mother's dream - wouldn't have become a self-conscious, mature person with a clear understanding of what HE wants in this world, just because of using less implants.

Lucy, groomed to be a sophisticated tool, without a human past or a any human connection, alone and permanently on the run from those who would take away her very personhood - wouldn't have suddenly grown past her trust issues in the cold, bright, apathetic and greedy Night City, just because of David using less implants.

...

That is to say, "if only" doesn't lie merely in the chrome. "If only" lies in understanding yourself, in finding people to trust, in not playing games you can never hope to win, in listening to those who ~know~ how this game can screw up people.

"This game" is not merely about cyber-implants - it is the vicious climb "to the top" over corpses of the weak, the idea that you *can* get what you're worth, the hope to achieve a better future above all the violence, poverty and misery if you just try hard enough, be fast enough, smart enough.

But the house always wins, and the only way for a person to win is to stop playing and run for their lives.

But if there's no meaning in your life. No hope for a better future. If you're tired, and empty, and surrounded by pain, and threatened to lose what little you have, and the clock is ticking...

Why run. Why not burn through it all now. Brightly revel in your own self-destruction, saying to yourself that you're doing it *for something*. For a future, for wealth or power, because that's how it is, because you genuinely enjoy it... Or for someone.

The End.

[consume-dirt]

The Lady From Shanghai

        The Lady from Shanghai is a movie often praised for its surrealist imagery and nuanced camera work.  While there’s a lot to explore about internal conflict of identity and desire, if there’s one message you can’t possibly mistake or re-interpret it is this: rich people are fucking crazy.  To give a quick summation of the plot, an Irish sailor gets wrapped up in a confusing and frankly, stupid murder plot.  There doesn’t seem to be much lead-up to the intense ending, and in all honesty, I didn’t know what kind of movie I was watching until the very end.  I’m still not sure what I watched.  The best way I could describe it is as follows: Mulholland Drive meets old Hollywood romance with a hint of hardboiled detective.  

        The film’s protagonist, Michael, is the aforementioned Irish tough guy, and while he’s a great protagonist, he’s fairly flat.  We know who he is and what he’s about, there’s not a whole lot in the movie that explores his character beyond basic needs for plot functionality.  Elsa is a different story.  She is portrayed in a way that very quietly subverts your expectations.  At the start of the film, I expected our narrator, Michael, to be the one we explored throughout the story.  Elsa, of course, would serve as the flat love interest and plot motivator.  This was, of course, standard in old Hollywood.  Instead, Michael serves as the plot mover, more than that even, he serves as the audience insert.  Just like O’Hara, we have no clue what’s really going on, and then later, the audience is made just as much a panicked fool as O’Hara after the murder.  

        Elsa becomes more and more of an enigma as the plot progresses.  During the first few scenes, she appears to be a snarky, sharp, and intellectual woman; this is what catalyzes the bond between Elsa and Michael and by extension, Elsa and the audience.  Then for the bulk of the movie, she just stands around and looks pretty.  She tries to get Michael to kiss her multiple times, each time in a different bathing suit.  Sometimes it is effective, other times, Michael knows better than to kiss the boss’ wife.  Elsa remains the longing trophy wife through the precarious voyage, through the stressful murder plotting, and even throughout Michael’s court proceedings.  It is only at the theater, sitting and hiding with Michael that she shows her true colors.  She is not just some old Hollywood beauty sitting on screen and making poor Michael O’Hara forlorn and conflicted.  Elsa is the criminal mastermind behind the whole plot!  

        Once the true nature of her identity is revealed to us, the cinematography begins to change as well.  Camera shots become more angled.  The frame is sometimes set to look up at Elsa, making her appear more powerful.  Other times, the frame looks fractured and confusing.  This effect is created by their environment; Michael, Elsa, and Arthur are all in a funhouse maze for the final confrontation, so the mirrors show any army of characters.  As Arthur shoots at Elsa, he hits one mirror after another, almost like he’s shattering the lies she’s constructed to protect herself.  All of her false identities are destroyed, one after another, until finally, she herself has been shot.  No more opulence, no more beauty, just a woman choking on her own blood in an empty circus house. 

        I think this would have shocked the 1940s audience quite a bit.  Not only was the ending of the film abstract and almost Lynchian (before its time of course), but it also shows an ugly and gruff side to women that people are still afraid to expose today.  Once again, this only contributes to my belief that this movie undeniably communicates the message that rich people are fucking crazy.  Rich men, like Arthur, are deluding themselves with younger women and commissioned company.  Rich women are money-hungry and hostile.  Of course, wealthy women don’t have to do the cooking and cleaning and child-rearing, all that can be left to maids and cooks and nannies.  They have no connection to the domestic, so how can they possibly be anything but blood-thirsty villains?  

        I digress. 

        Personally, I believe that this movie is worth watching.  This may be because I have a love for anything strange and liminal, and The Woman from Shanghai fits that category while also scratching that “Hollywood nostalgia” itch.  As far as theme goes, there’s a lot to explore here.  One could look at the strange gendered commentary, or dig into what separates the wealthy man from the common man.  Either way, you’ll have one hell of a time watching it. 

[treatian]

The Chronicles of the Dark One: Domestic Battles

Chapter 45: The Snow Queen's Secret

He knew Ingrid's plan now. He'd hoped that after visiting her this morning, he'd spend the day figuring out what she intended, but he'd have never guessed that he would have learned it in the way that he had. The issues with Belle were still an open wound, but considering how he'd been burned by partners in the past, it felt like no more than an irritating paper cut, something that hurt so badly he wanted to swear when it was made but now had been reduced to a dull sting. It was something that he could easily put a bandage on, something that he needed to bandage given the fact that if he chose to prioritize that papercut, there could be a much bigger gash coming his way.

The Spell of Shattered Sight. And to think the Blue Fairy thought that the Dark Curse was an abomination when something like that existed in the world. The Spell of Shattered Sight was monstrous. Capable of destroying lives, entire Kingdoms had fallen prey to it in the Dark Ones' time. Now it seemed that Storybrooke was in its sight, and simply put, that was terrifying.

He'd felt the power in that mirror. It was primed and ready to go, at any time, really. Although...he supposed he had lied to Belle about one thing. Shattering the mirror wouldn't break the spell, that was true. But it wouldn't release it either. It would take Dark Magic to meticulously undo what had been done to that particular creation. But it would also take a hell of a lot of magic to release that Dark Magic into the world properly.

Ingrid was powerful, but not that powerful. She couldn't do it, not by herself. With Emma and Elsa, maybe, but there wasn't any scenario where he saw Emma and Elsa using their power to shatter that mirror and unleash terror. At least, not willingly…

His legs pulled him out to the shop where he uncovered the ribbons he'd once collected from Ingrid and her sisters, the ribbons that were infused with a magic all their own that he knew Ingrid would come to him for. If the ribbons were tied around the wrists of all three girls, the magic would connect not only them but their magic as well. Ingrid wouldn't need willingness to use their magic, she'd be able to take it.

So why wasn't she? The mirror was ready to go; all she needed to do was make a deal for the ribbons…so why were they all still here?

He tapped his finger against the glass case as he stared down at the ribbons and replayed the conversation he'd had with Ingrid in his head, then the previous one, then the previous one, and then-

He had it. Or maybe one of the other Dark Ones had whispered it in his ear first. He didn't care. He knew. He understood. The Spell of Shattered Sight hadn't been activated yet because Ingrid was still hoping she wouldn't have to use it.

Emma and Elsa, the potential of having two sisters just like her; that was her motivation. She was desperate but not evil, not in the same way Zelena was. Ingrid was hoping that Elsa and Emma would gravitate to her naturally. That's what she'd been hoping with all of this, that the girls would come to her on their own, and their relationship would flourish. But if it didn't…that was what the Spell was for.

If Emma and Elsa didn't come to her on their own, it would be because of the ties they already felt to their true family: Elsa to Anna, Emma to her parents, and Henry, even Hook. To sever the girl's ties to their loved ones would take a cataclysmic event, one that left them both feeling alone and isolated, wanting the company of someone like Ingrid, who was also alone and isolated because of her magic. It would take an event like the Spell of Shattered Sight being set free.

He'd seen the result of it on Belle hours ago, the way it had taken and distorted every impure thought, true or false, and brought it out in her. It had easily made one of the most passive individuals he knew violent in seconds!

He couldn't speak to what it would be like with Elsa and Anna, although the fact that Elsa had ended up in the urn after Ingrid's last attempt at this certainly spoke volumes. However, he knew that the Charmings loved Emma. He also knew that no matter how much parents loved their children, that love was always going to be imperfect. There would be judgment. Hell, he wouldn't have wanted to be in the same room as Bae or Belle if this spell was cast and he wasn't immune to it. He'd hurt both Bae and Belle all on his own with his words, he didn't want to know what he could do under the influence of a spell that would leave him completely uninhibited.

That was Ingrid's plan, at least as far as he could figure. If the girls didn't come to her naturally, she'd force it. She'd use the ribbons, she'd borrow their power, and make them see how the people who said they loved them really saw them. Likely, because Emma, at least, was a caring person, she would urge Ingrid and Elsa to use their power to stop the spell, but by then, the damage would be done. Ingrid would have her sisters or…

The town would be destroyed.

That was an interesting thought. Of course, now that he knew the plan and it hadn't been enacted yet, total human destruction could be avoided. That magic would only be good within the bounds of Storybrooke. He could melt the ice that Ingrid had set around town with a thought, test the boundary, and see if the memories part of the curse still held. The town could evacuate before the curse happened. He could save them all.

Or he could get what he wanted.

Abandoning the town wouldn't mean that the magic died; it would still be here. And his curse was already bound to him, he'd done that years ago in the castle after Belle, to protect from True Love's Kiss. His dagger would be useless beyond the town line, but that didn't mean he couldn't get sucked back into a magical place where it would be active again. But if the Spell of Shattered Sight was coming and he was immune to it…that would certainly make for a nice way for the fairies to simply disappear. If he could rend himself from the dagger and then get Belle and Henry out of the town in the chaos, the three of them could make a lovely life together.

His magic in use beyond the borders would take some practice, but it was plausible; he'd seen Emma do it in the airport, and his talisman had worked beyond the borders of the town line. Between his fortune and his magic, neither Henry nor Belle would want for anything outside of Storybrooke. The curse would be the reason they fled. He wouldn't even need a memory charm once he had them out of his bounds. Belle knew his devotion to his family; she'd never think twice if he said that all he had time for was her and Henry and that they couldn't return. She wouldn't be happy about it, but she wouldn't doubt it either.

True, Henry wasn't exactly the kind of child that Belle would have expected they'd raise, but…she had a big heart. And Henry was old enough that they'd just need to look after him for a while, it wouldn't be like parenting, he'd merely be saving Bae's son, as he promised. With Henry's desire to be a hero the hardest part of it would be keeping Henry away from Storybrooke after the collapse.

He liked this plan. He liked it very much. It wasn't fully formed just yet, but with every second he thought about it, every second he fantasized over it, the more he could see the end result of it so easily in his head. Freedom from the dagger, magic at his fingertips, with a little practice, of course, Belle by his side, and Henry safe from harm. It wasn't a bad portrait he was painting for himself.

He had a lot to think about. And lot to plan if his thinking concluded the way that he thought it would. But if he wanted to continue to think and plan he needed to address the ticking time bomb sitting in Ingrid's lair. He was immune to it and so if she set it off today, he could make it work for his own plans, but that didn't mean that he necessarily wanted to do that.

Ingrid thought she had leverage on him, but little did she know she didn't. She was, however, very familiar with the Sorcerer's Hat. He hadn't wanted to share with her the knowledge that it was in his possession just yet, but now things had changed. Now, he could most certainly see the benefit of knowing exactly what each of them knew and where they stood. And a warning to leave his family out of her schemes…that would be a welcome threat.

He took himself back to the Snow Queen's lair with only a thought. The sun was down by now. He didn't know how the rest of the day had gone for the others seeking her out, but he didn't care. All that mattered to him was that she was there, lounging on that chaise he'd caught a glimpse of earlier, looking relatively unbothered by the hunting party that had tried to come for her earlier in the day.

"I'm afraid we have a problem, Dearie," he commented menacingly. She didn't even flinch. "I caught a glimpse of your mirror today."

"It's rather impressive, isn't it?" she questioned, rising to her feet. "I had no idea your bride would be so easy to turn."

"Watch it!" he snapped uncharacteristically. She'd caught him off guard. He didn't know how she knew that Belle had been here or been affected by the mirror, but he didn't like it, and he couldn't show it. Love was weakness. He couldn't let his weakness show when he needed to be strong.

"Now I don't know when exactly you intend to use this mirror," he stated, walking over to it and catching a glimpse of that devilish version of himself he refused to give into because he would certainly never be one to "turn" as she'd put it. With that in mind, he focused his eyes not on what he saw in himself but on the beast behind him, the Snow Queen, who was keeping her gaze carefully on him. "But know this…I won't allow you to hurt those I care about."

"And I won't allow you to derail my plans because you've suddenly gotten sentimental."

"You only get one warning."

"Which is more than you get…I can't make any promises over who may or may not survive."

Right…of course she couldn't, at least in her mind. Because he would venture to know that he knew far more about the Curse she was planning to use than she did. He smirked and turned back to face her. "You know, you were wrong before."

"That you needed leverage to get what you want?"

"No, that I didn't have it." That dropped the coy little smile off her face awfully fast. "I do!"

With a summoning charm, he brought the hat to him and held it by the brim in front of her so that she could see the stars, which were so close to aligning to the sky that he could taste his victory. And she…she looked it over timidly, startled for a second, then gathered up her skirts behind her and recoiled, trying to make it seem like it was nothing. As if he couldn't hear her heart.

"Where did you get that?"

"Oh, that's irrelevant." As if she should be so shocked after she'd practically handed the thing to him on a silver platter. Even if it had been where she thought it was, she really hadn't thought he'd succeed? "But now that I know what you are up to, we can have a real talk. You might want to reconsider your position because I doubt you'd enjoy becoming just another embroidery on this hat."

There was that heart skip again. The one he lived for.

"Looks like you've just lost your leverage, dearie. So, here's how it's going to go…" he smiled, circling her with a cunning smile playing at his lips. "You want to make a deal with me, very well, but remember that all magic comes with a price, and the price for your deal will be no different than anyone else's. And until you are ready…you will leave my wife and my grandson out of whatever plan you have for this town. Emma, Elsa, the Charmings…take the rest. But Belle and Henry…" He came to a stop just in front of her and looked up into her eyes. "Not a hair on their head will you harm. Is that clear?"

His growl echoed through the icy cavern. And though Ingrid didn't so much as flinch, her heartbeat betrayed her nerves as she responded simply. "As ice…"

[holethoa2010]

Renovating and Catching Rabbits to Raise - The Joy of a Rural Girl

In the heart of a quaint countryside, nestled among rolling hills and sun-kissed fields, a young girl finds herself immersed in the dual joys of renovating her family's old farmhouse and raising rabbits. This picturesque setting becomes the backdrop to a journey filled with discovery, hard work, and the simple pleasures of rural life.

Chapter 1: A New Beginning

The story begins with Sarah, a spirited girl of twelve, moving with her family to their ancestral farmhouse. The once-grand structure now stands weathered and worn, its charm buried beneath layers of neglect. Undeterred by the daunting task ahead, Sarah's eyes sparkle with determination as she envisions the possibilities hidden within its walls.

Armed with paintbrushes and a toolbox inherited from her grandfather, Sarah dives headfirst into the renovation project. From stripping old wallpaper to polishing worn wooden floors, each task brings the farmhouse closer to its former glory. With every stroke of paint, Sarah feels a deep connection to her family's history, honoring their legacy with each loving restoration.

Chapter 2: Bunny Tales

Meanwhile, nestled in a cozy corner of the farmhouse, Sarah's fascination with rabbits takes center stage. What began as a few furry companions quickly evolves into a small rabbitry, where fluffy ears and twitching noses become a daily delight. Sarah learns the art of rabbit care with patience and tenderness, nurturing each bunny with a blend of knowledge passed down from her grandmother and newfound skills acquired through books and online resources.

As the rabbitry grows, so does Sarah's understanding of responsibility and compassion. She learns to anticipate their needs, from crafting comfortable hutches to providing a balanced diet of fresh greens and pellets. The bond between girl and rabbits deepens, their playful antics and gentle nuzzles becoming a source of comfort and joy amidst the challenges of farm life.

Chapter 3: Lessons of the Land

Through the trials and triumphs of renovating and raising rabbits, Sarah discovers invaluable lessons that shape her character and perspective. She learns the importance of patience as she waits for the farmhouse's transformation, embracing setbacks as opportunities for growth. Her connection to the land deepens with each sunrise and sunset, fostering a reverence for nature's rhythms and the seasons' gentle dance.

In the quiet moments between chores and projects, Sarah finds solace in the simplicity of rural life. Whether savoring homemade meals gathered around a weathered kitchen table or stargazing beneath a blanket of night sky, she cherishes the bond forged with her family and the beauty found in everyday moments.

Chapter 4: Embracing the Journey

As the last brushstroke completes the farmhouse's renovation and the rabbitry thrives with new life, Sarah reflects on her journey with a heart brimming with gratitude. She has not only restored a home but also cultivated a sanctuary where love and laughter echo through every corner. In embracing the joys of renovating and catching rabbits to raise, Sarah discovers that true happiness lies not only in achieving goals but also in the journey itself—a journey filled with love, laughter, and the timeless beauty of rural life.

Epilogue: A Forever Home

With the farmhouse now gleaming with newfound splendor and the rabbitry bustling with life, Sarah looks toward the future with optimism and hope. The lessons learned and memories made will forever be etched in her heart, guiding her on a path illuminated by the enduring joy of a rural girl who found beauty in renovating and catching rabbits to raise.