#like. invisible ink is a thing. it's a whole. it's a whole thing. just saying.

[violentlydefending]

i fucking hate that one post that talks about how digital mediums are """**truly superior**""" to physical mediums bc it just makes it so painfully obvious that they have never meaningfully interacted or engaged with any physical medium, ever

[corrodedcoughin]

A selection of pick up lines that Steve has used on Eddie and have unfortunately worked with resounding success

Are you Smaug? Because it looks like you have treasure in your cave (Eddie decided to not think about this one before acting on it)

Are you from Mordor? Because you are melting my precious (met with a confused eyebrow raise and a sigh but still got the job done)

Your lack of nudity disturbs me (definitely Steves favourite and the one he is most proud of which made it even more deadly with his ‘ehh??? Ehh?? Good right???’ After he said it)

Steves pick up lines: 3

Eddie’s composure: 0

[derangedanomaly]

I’ve just seen that you did my request and I love it, ty!! (I was the one that requested the weird sleep scenario)

I’d like to request something again, bad sanses + star sanses with a gender neutral skeleton reader that sorta has powers like a genie. They can float, turn invisible, (still has most of the powers a usual sans has) and are very mischievous. The way they can grant wishes is giving someone a marble looking thing and when that person makes a wish, the marble will break and they’ll have to repay reader with something (can be either something shiny or some bones to chew on) they also don’t have a bottle, that’s the only genie thing they don’t have lol

Can i be 💤 anon?

Ah! Hello again anon💤! :D

Yes, that request was quite fun to write! Ok, since there are so many characters, they're probably not gonna be very long, still, I hope you'll enjoy this!

(Sorry for taking so long!)

Au Sanses x Genie reader

(Nightmare, Killer, Dust, Horror, Error, Dream, Ink, Swap)

Nightmare:

Nightmare actually found your powers quiet mesmerizing at first.

He interrogated you about the powers, and pronounced that your powers aren't very much helpful to him..I mean, yeah, you can grant wishes, but what exactly can- OH MY GOD IS THAT THE LIMITED BOOK HE WANTED BUT COULDN'T MANAGE TO GET?!

Keeps you around simply just for granting wishes 💀 (Asshole)

Doesn't really like the way your powers operate, but can't really do anything about it 🤷‍♀️

Please, don't try to scare him by turning invisible, he might just kill you.

Your relationship has a very rocky start...but you both slowly started to get along.

I swear...he has a constant headache just by your friendship with Killer.

He would do anything in order for you two to stop pulling these stupid pranks on him.

Sometimes likes to stare at you while you're floating around. He just finds that really cool. (Bitch is not gonna admit that 💀)

He hates how much he loves you 🥰

Killer:

THE BEST OF FRIENDS

Killer always felt like the odd one among the bad sanses...they all had their own perspective best friend, but he didn't have one.

Until you came along.

Killer's so clingy towards you after you became best friends...

You guys do a lot of stuff together! Many of them include pranking the others though..

Killer keeps on flirting with you in hopes of scoring a date with you. And if you don't get his flirting, then he'll just cover it up by saying that it's just a friendly banter. (It breaks his nonexistent heart though :(

The first time you scared him by turning invisible, he got very angry, until noticing it was you. Then his whole mood shifted as he just laughed it off. (Bro is a simp)

He was, and will be, so confused that you don't have a bottle. Like what do you mean that it doesn't work like in Aladdin?!

He likes to bother you with very useless wishes, "I wish for that remote on the table to appear in my hands." It was in front of him.

Bro is BROKE ASFF!!! His wallet cries after every wish he makes.. he could repay you with something else than money..but he didn't like to give his stuff away.

Dust:

Dust is a closeted nerd...so of course the first thing he does is whip out his book and write down everything about you.

It's his first time seeing a genie. Of course he's gonna ask a lot of questions!

He loves to study you, to the point where you felt like a wild animal in the Zoo.

He's silently sitting on a nearby chair as you grant Horror his wish, staring at you.. studying how your powers work.

It's gotten to the point where you're getting kinda creeped out..

You, at first, thought that he wanted to make a wish or something, but when he denied it just as you asked him.. you got confused even more.

Bro is staring so much that he eventually stops studying your powers, and is instead studying you.

He now notices even the smallest things about you.

Is getting a little obsessed, not gonna lie, but it's cute. So you'll allow it ;)

Horror:

His reaction to you being a genie is actually very wholesome.. (surprisingly). He wishes for his Au to not be in deep starvation..and for them to finally get out of the underground. Basically, kinda resetting everything that's happened after Frisk left.

You sadly can't grant this wish of his, which leaves him sad and angry. But you do give him a giant meat. (Which made his mood a little better.)

You started to feel sad for him after this moment, so you started to talk to him regularly. Which he enjoyed.

Horror's not much of a talker, so he'll just listen to you most of the time.

It's also partially because he likes to listen to your voice.. ❤️

Horror likes the sound that your powers make whenever you grant a wish, so he's always nearby whenever you're granting wishes. (It's just a little bell that sounds off)

Becomes attached to you, very quickly.

Defends you from Nightmare to the best of his abilities.

Horror's the tallest of the Sanses, (my HC) so he'll be so mesmerized when you float up higher above him. He won't lie, he likes this change. Having to look up for once instead of down.

He likes how your powers operate. It seems fair to him. 🤷‍♀️

Error:

He immediately took advantage of the fact you can grant wishes.

He wished for so many things! Such as; getting Classic's autograph, make Ink disappear, have a popcorn maker, wishing for chocolate,...

He actually doesn't like how you can float. He can't wrap his strings around you and pull you along now! >:(

You're getting on his nerves by being friends with Killer though.

After Nightmare, Error's your next target. Every.time.

Seriously sick of it. If he could, he would seperate you and Killer.IN HEARTBEAT.

He really, really.. really wants to hold your hand, but his Haphephobia doesn't allow him to 💀

Please, don't try to scare him by turning invisible. He WILL crash.

Dream:

He thinks that you must carry a big burden on your shoulders, if you're a Genie. So he gets really concerned if anything really.

He tries to pull you away from granting any wishes, every.time.

He's so cute.. dragging you away to hang out with him to forget about your work.

But he does want to see how your powers operate.

Finds it amazing that you can float, turn invisible... everything really!

After your long persuadation, he gives in and makes a wish.

His wish is really sad...he wishes to have his brother and Au back. He wants to reverse time! Which, as we know, you can't do. It's against the rules to change what was already done. So you politely decline, explaining him exactly why.

Dream's a really understanding person, so of course he doesn't mind it or isn't angry.

What was past...is past. What matters now, is that you're here in the present. Nothing else should matter. ^^ (his words)

Ink:

Immediately, Without hesitation, nor any filter, he asks; "Can you make me feel emotions?"

You don't grant his wish -> he sulks.

He's a forgetful shit, so he'll forget that you're a genie at times.

It's like he's on repeat at the start of your relationship. He finds out you're a genie -> wishes to feel emotions -> you decline -> he sulks -> forgets 💀

Be prepared for this at times.

But after knowing you for awhile, he finally remembers and stops asking you that damn question.

He doesn't have much opinions about you tbh. He's seen some shit, so he's not all that fazed from you being a genie.

The part that shocks him the most is that you don't have a lamp. (His reaction is similar to Killer. Bro confused you for Aladdin 💀)

Y'all have a rocky relationship 🤷‍♀️

Don't worry though, after you get to know each other a bit more, he'll cling to you like a Koala.

Swap:

Similar reaction to Dream. He feels concerned for your mentality.

Everyone's always going to you to grant their wish, but Swap's soul is too kind for his own good. Instead of wishing something for himself, he asks you; "What do you wish for?"

You cried that time. (He was scared that he did something wrong 💀)

You started treating him as if he was some precious gold. Which got him flustered.

He treats you as if you were his queen. Brings you food, helps you out a lot... You name it.

He just feels so much love for you, it's unbelievable.

Doesn't mind your little pranks with Killer. He just sees that as your little escape from work. Which he feels happy for. :)

He just smiles softly whenever you prank him with Killer in tow.

He's so patient and kind towards you😭

Doesn't mind you floating around or the fact that you can turn invisible, you're you, and that's something he never wants to replace.

[spotofimagines]

Dating George Weasley as a Ravenclaw would include...

A/N: This is the longest Would Include I've done, so long there's a read more! But I'm in a Weasley mood lately so here you go!

George Weasley x Ravenclaw reader

He sits and watches you study in the library every now and then.

Sometimes he just wants the company but is too tired to do anything but he doesn't want to interrupt you so he sits slumped in his chair, watching you write or holding your ink for you.

Other times, he will be scribbling doodles for a new sweet Fred wants to sell, heaps of parchment mixing with yours.

He always helps you put your books back when you're finished, traipsing behind you with heavy feet, but helping nonetheless.

You're the first person he comes to for help with pranks. He and Fred come up with the ideas, but you know whether the potion ingredients will work, how to say the spell properly and whether the creature they want to release in the Slytherin common room will destroy the whole school. They really would have been expelled by now if not for you.

You also helped them branch out their business by selling stuff in the Ravenclaw common room since they aren't allowed in there.

You become very popular amongst first-year troublemakers, and the small group of older Ravenclaws set up a space in the corner of the common room to buy the concoctions that will give them more time to finish their essays.

George makes sure none of his antics blow back on you. You work far too hard to have your post-school career knocked because you got too many detentions and failed your exams and he knows it.

Although you are on Filch's bad side for distracting him whilst the twins get their confiscated items from his office. And George's response to that? "Who isn't on his bad side?"

He absolutely rubs it in your face when Gryffindor beats Ravenclaw in a quidditch match, whether you really care or not, that's what he'll be spending an hour doing after he's won.

You have a running deal; you buy him a butterbeer for each match he wins and he buys you dinner each time he loses to Ravenclaw. So far George has had countless drinks. You are yet to have one meal.

He always gives you his things to wear; jumpers, hats, scarves, anything really.

But he will never, absolutely never, wear your Ravenclaw scarf; lord help him you'd think the thing was made of fire by the way he avoids it.

You don't know Oliver Wood very well, but he gave you one of the biggest scoldings you have ever received when George couldn't play a quidditch match because you'd been chasing him in the courtyard with your scarf and he fell over his own feet, landing weirdly on his elbow and hip.

After the stern lecture from Oliver and spending two days in the hospital wing with George and occasionally Fred, who found the whole ordeal hilarious, you didn't tease him with your Ravenclaw items again for a long time. He still avoids that scarf like the plague.

You're the only friend of the twins that Percy can tolerate.

Probably because when you visited The Burrow during Christmas breaks, you talked to him about his work and being head boy without ridiculing him. (And you smack George's arm when he makes rude jokes which Percy quite enjoys seeing).

George sits and listens to you rant when you need it.

He watches as you pace back and forth, words never stopping until you've gotten everything out. Then he just pulls you into a long tight hug before he tries to distract you from your problem.

About half of George's herbology work is written by you, and half his transfiguration work and probably half his care for magical creatures work too if he didn't manage to weasel Charlie into unknowingly writing him an essay every month in his letters.

George 100% tries making a million invisibility products and polyjuice potions to try and sneak into your common room at night, but Hogwarts is much too equipped to let him find success at it.

So you had to find a secret spot in the castle for your late-night rendezvous without teachers or prefects finding out.

At first, it was the girls' lavatories but Myrtle's snooping and laughter made it less than perfect. The ghost whispering in his ear halfway through a makeout session made George far too irritated to go there for a third time.

He leaves you little love notes all over the place, some telling you to keep smiling, some telling you a weird joke, some telling you how smoking you look (and now you definitely have to make sure no one can see these notes except you!).

When you have exams or projects due his love notes get more frequent since he knows you'll be stressed and seeing him less.

He always attempts to eat every meal with you in the great hall. This way you can catch up on what you've both been up to and how your classes have been while he makes sure you remember to take breaks from studying to eat properly.

If things get in the way (*cough* detention *cough*) he will take you out to The Three Broomsticks on the weekend, just the two of you, and maybe Fred, but he swears he told Fred not to come this time!

He told you about the marauders' map a day after finding it because he was certain there was something special about the spare roll of parchment in Filch's office they found under Fred's nose-biting teacups.

It was you nonchalantly guessing there's a spell keeping its contents secret before carrying on reading your book that gave him the best tool he could have wished for.

That's why you're the only other person who knows about the map. You've spent many hours sitting tucked into his side, munching on chocolate frogs and watching people walk around on the paper.

That's how you found out Fred and Angelina were dating but George's excitement to tease them about it more mischievously outweighed your want to learn the details from your friend.

Despite all of George's silliness and trouble, he might just be one of the smartest people you know outside of Ravenclaw.

Not that anyone else believes you when you say it, as his pranks are known to be foolish, but you've seen the way he and Fred create their products and plan their business throughout the years. No one else has the mix of academic and streets smarts to be that successful, you're sure of it.

[kenzuieee]

his preference - ft bonten men

during yet another bonten meeting where the men are smoking and drinking, the executives mind’s begin to take a turn. “we aren’t talking about anything important today huh” ran asks as he takes a long drag from his tightly rolled blunt. “When are we ever?” rindou darts, slouching into the dark leather sofa. “how about we confess some things we’ve never told anyone before, i know some of you sick fucks do weird shit all the time. ran asks, catching the attention of the other 7 men.

“Well..i’ve eaten ass before”

ASS ASS ASS

hes DEFINIETLYYYY a bottom feeder, he literally begs you to let him eat your ass during sex. “cmon princess, lemme just get one taste. promise that’ll be it” he says as he rubs firm circles on your clit, watching you writhe and squirm underneath him with doe eyes. he who stares at your ass any chance he gets without caring about who notices, oh and he’d totally grab it in public just to see you get all flustered. he who “accidentally” slips his dick in the wrong hole.

“oops, sorry princess.” he says as he bottoms out in your ass, ignoring the annoyed looks you shoot his way. he couldn’t help himself, he was too obsessed with your plump ass.

he’d literally try his hardest to hold his composure as he unlocks his phone to see pictures of your plump ass sent with invisible ink, right along with an “i miss you :(” attached to the bottom of the message. it felt like torture, he couldn’t endure the longing and lust that came hardly seconds after receiving  the picture. poor thing, tried his hardest to cover his uncomfortably hard erection, the drive home was tantalizing for him. he sped down the road as he gripped the steering wheel tightly, knuckles practically turning white. oh you’d definitely pay for getting him all ecstatic during suchh an important meeting. you didnt know what awaited you the moment his car pulled into the garage. good luck to your cute little hole >.<

takeomi, rindou, kokonoi, & mochi.

p is for pussy !!

he spend the whole day buried between your legs if he could (literally..) there’d be times where you’d have to beg him to stop due to the insane amount of overstimulation you’d been receiving from. he just simply couldn’t help himself, how could he when your pussy was so pretty ? he’d take his sweet time admiring your pussy, he’d spread your lips using two fingers and blow on your clit, watching your euphoric reactions closely.

“you’re so addicting baby..you taste so sweet” he groans out as he’s slowly sucking on your clit. at this point he’s not even talking to you, he’s talking to your pussy. totally pussy whipped. he’d groan into your pussy while trying to avoid cumming in his pants. he eats it for his own pleasure honestly, he’s just so in love with your wet little hole. you have to ask yourself if you cast a spell on him..

there’d be days where he’d purposely leave his lunch you packed for him at home so you’d have a reason to come “drop it off for him.” the first time it happend, you weren’t shocked as he tends to forget things all the time, so when you get the call from him asking to drop his lunch off to his office, you don’t hesitate. nobody can work properly on an empty stomach now can they ? you arrive to bonten headquarters and tell them that you’re just here to drop off your boyfriend’s lunch and one of the secretaries tell you that he’s in his office.

before you knew it, you were cocked up on his desk with a hand covering your mouth as you tried to stifle your moans. there he was, slurping away at your pussy like a starved man who hadn’t seen food in ages. he left his office door unlocked on purpose, what a dickhead ! he knew there was a chance that someone would walk in on the two of you, did he care ? nope ! he continued rubbing small circles into your clit as he frantically kissed you, forcing you to taste yourself on his tongue. hes totally a sick fuck !

sanzu, mikey, ran, & kakucho

[starrgaziinggg]

DON’T LET ME LOVE YOU | hwang hyunjin

royal au | prince hyunjin x princess reader

PART ONE -> the code (7k words)

directory

"I think it's a code."

You turn slowly to the younger boy sprawled out on the sofa beside you, your eye twitching.

"I established it was a code sixteen minutes ago!" You whisper shout, trying not to make it obvious that you were scheming with your best friend. Jeongin throws his hands up in defeat, a cheeky grin plastering his face.

Hyunjin's third note had been delivered to you thirty minutes ago, yet you were still trying to decipher it. You'd even grabbed Jeongin from his duties of god knows what to read this damned note, yet he was also at a loss.

The first two notes Hyunjin had Minho send since his grand departure had been relatively easy to understand. He'd said he missed you, he was training well and he'd be home before you knew it. This one, however...it was causing you some issues.

The note read, "At late, I think of you, quarter to two, by the river and the Dew."

And that was it.

After rereading it over and over again, and even going as far as to flash a blue light on it in case of any invisible ink, you were stumped. You had no idea why he'd write something like that, especially when you couldn't write him back to ask him to explain what the hell he was talking about.

"I think the whole exchanging notes thing is dumb, anyway," Jeongin says with a tilt of his head, his bright blonde hair falling to the side as he inspected the note for a final time before putting it down on the sofa. "Cringe times a million."

"Will you ever quit with the Hyunjin hate train?" You groan, flopping against the back of the sofa in your bedroom. "He's done nothing to you!"

"He exists," Jeongin seethes, squinting his eyes. "That's enough to set me off."

You pick up the note again, reading it one last time before you decide to give up. Everything about the note seemed off, from the weird capitalisation to the poem itself. You just couldn't put your finger on why.

"And that Minho guy," Jeongin continues, unaware of the fact you were hardly listening to him. "He's a real piece of work. You know he stabbed me once?"

You roll your eyes, not bothering to look up at your best friend. "You punched him first, remember?"

"He punched me but with a knife!" The younger man counters, his eyes going wide.

"You tripped into him whilst he was holding a knife, it was just unfortunate that he was holding it in a way that pierced your skin."

Jeongin gives you a blank stare. "Okay miss 'I'll remember every detail of every encounter I've ever had', lay off," he whines, kicking his feet up onto the sofa and sprawling out. You scoff at him as he makes himself comfortable, the cogs in your brain turning at one hundred miles per hour.

Quarter to two? The Dew?

"And Hyunjin really needs to learn how to capitalise," Jeongin continues on his tangent. "Dew doesn't need a capital letter, the imbecile. Did he even go to school? Or did he spend his childhood stabbing people like Minho."

His comment makes you wonder something. Hyunjin was entirely the smartest person you'd ever met, save from maybe your older brother. He wouldn't capitalise a random word without it meaning something.

"Hold on, Jeong - pass me the two notes on top of my dresser?" You ask him, rolling your eyes when he scoffs and kicks up a fuss from the instruction. He fulfils it none the less, picking up the two carefully folded notes and handing them to you.

The first thing you noticed was that this third note was crumpled up, not neatly folded like the other two. You doubted Hyunjin would be pleased with Minho for that one, but then when you opened up the two old notes it was plain to see the difference between the two.

Whilst the handwriting on both was similar, there were clear differences. The most recent note was messier, less careful, and when you looked really closely, some of the letters had been written differently.

"Hyunjin didn't write this last note," you say cautiously, turning the new note in your hand. "Look, the handwritings different."

"Maybe he was just rushing to write this one before he left," Jeongin offers an explanation, but you shake your head.

"No, look at the way Hyunjin writes his lower case 'A' - he does that fancy thing at the top. I've genuinely never seen anyone outwith the royal families write their 'A's like that," you reveal, and he squints as he analyses the paper.

"Oh yeah," he says out loud, looking between the new paper and the old ones. "I definitely don't write mine like that. Another reason why Hyunjin's a freak."

You give your friend a deadpan expression. "I write my 'A's like that."

"And that's only okay because I like you," Jeongin says happily, sporting a huge grin. You ignore his comment, continuing your analyses of the notes.

"If Hyunjin didn't write it, Minho must have," you say. "The only person who knows to send me notes is him."

"How is he even sending you these without your father finding out? He inspects the Mail daily," Jeongin asks, tilting his head.

"Minho apparently has a 'friend' in the summer court, one of the mail boys - Felix, I think his name is," you shrug, explaining what Hyunjin had told you.

"That's surprising," Jeongin says, his eyes widening. "Minho seems the type to swear off any members of the Summer Court."

You shrug again, genuinely unable to offer Jeongin an explanation.

"So, if Minho wrote this, then what the hell does this code mean?" Jeongin ponders out loud. "To me, it sounds like some sort of meeting point."

You screw your eyebrows at him, wanting him to continue his theory. He shifts, holding the new note and pointing at the words.

"Look; a time, and a place. Quarter to two, by the river," he says, looking up at with a frown.

"You might be a genius," you say quietly, not wanting to boost his ego too much. "But where along the river? It runs through the whole damn Court."

Jeongin stays quiet, thinking, until you both look at each other.

"The Dew pavilion," you both say in unison. The pavilion was one of the oldest structures on your land, and it stood proudly next to the river that ran through the whole of both Kingdoms. It was quite near the border and was where you held the May Parade every year.

"Why didn't I think of that?" You mumble, impressed you'd managed to decode the message.

"Because it's weird as fuck. Why would Minho want to meet you at the Dew pavilion at quarter to two?" Jeongin questions, running a hand through his bright blonde hair.

"Who knows, but it must be important. He's never wanted to talk to me before," you point out, unable to ignore the sick feeling at the pit of your stomach.

"I'm sure your darling prince is fine," Jeongin says, as if able to read your thoughts. After spending almost every day together, he practically could at this point. "He's the strongest soldier in that army by miles."

"I know, I know," you sigh, tapping your feet against each other. "I just feel as though something really bad is happening."

By the way Jeongin stays silent, you know he's feeling the same way. Your best friend had a sharp tongued rebuttal for everything.

"I think our best bet is to find this Felix guy and ask him about the whole thing," Jeongin says, breaking his silence to put you at ease. "See if Minho said anything when he gave him the note."

"Yeah, but I have no idea who he is," you say, groaning. "He doesn't hand me the notes personally, just puts them in a lose brick at the back of the castle, so neither of us get caught."

"I might have an idea of who he is," Jeongin thinks out loud. "There was a Felix in the year above me at school, I wouldn't be surprised if it's the same guy."

"Well, I can get the route of the mail delivery from my dads office and we can see where he is right now," you say, picking up the notes as you stand up and placing the first two in your bedside table drawer. "He shouldn't be two far away, since I just got this note a half hour ago."

"Sure," Jeongin says, hauling himself off of your sofa. "It wasn't as if I was up to much today, anyway."

You turn to him, raising an eyebrow.

"Okay, so I may or may not have been told to help set up the grand hall for the ball on Saturday with the servants, but fuck that. That's no job for a Royal Guard."

You roll your eyes at him. "Might I remind you, you're only a Royal Guard because I practically forced my father to give you the title to allow you permission to enter the palace at free will."

Jeongin scoffs, waving his hand. "I actually miss sneaking around. It's so boring now that I can come and go as I please."

You don't bother responding to him, knowing that he was more than grateful you'd managed to convince your dad to allow Jeongin to be deemed a Royal Guard. Jeongin had been trained in combat, and spent almost all his free time with you anyway, so there was no reason not to bestow the title to him.

You recount the times he'd have to scale the castle walls to tumble into your bedroom to see you when you'd been grounded back in the day, disallowed to enter palace grounds without a title - be that of a servant, maid or guard amongst others.

Your father isn't in the palace for the foreseeable, instead out gallivanting with his mistress of the minute, disguised as an 'important off-palace rendezvous.' It didn't matter much to you, as it meant you could retrieve the files you needed from his office with ease.

You'd picked the lock to his office numerous times, and as you shush Jeongin and use a hair clip until you hear the lock click, you thank yourself for learning the skill. You push your fathers office door open with ease, allowing Jeongin to enter behind you before pushing it shut again.

"Okay, let's make this quick before a guard catches us," you say quietly, silently walking over to his filing cabinet where you knew he kept all the mundane information about the going ons of his kingdom. Quickly, you turn to the 'm' section, finding the Mail route with ease.

You pull out the necessary file, flicking through the pages until you get to the page that has the time stamps and which corresponding area of the kingdom the mail is being delivered to at that time. Checking your watch, you notice it's 10:43am, so you find the time stamp.

"Valerie's Place," you read aloud the street name, dubbed that after your past Queen; your great (times however many) grandmother. "Then after that Farrow Crescent and Sloane's Avenue."

"We may as well go straight to Sloane's avenue and catch him there," Jeongin suggests, keeping his voice hushed. "By the time we get there, he'll probably already be there."

"True," you say, closing the file and replacing it before checking the coast is clear and heading back out onto the landing, re locking the door with the same hair pin and pulling Jeongin down the corridor. "Come on, we've got to hurry."

"Hurry where?" You hear as you collide into a large figure. Jeongin walks straight into the back of you, and you look up to see your older brother staring down at you.

"Nowhere of your concern, Chan," you respond, sticking your tongue out at him. He tilts his head at you, flicking you gently on the forehead.

"It is my concern. Since father's away, I'm in charge," he states proudly, as if it realistically means anything. Your brother and you had always been quite close, though he liked to reinforce his 'older brother' status often.

"Don't care, I'm going out," you say matter of factly, grabbing Jeongin's wrist and pulling him along behind you.

"Bye Chan!" You hear Jeongin yell from behind you, and you turn to throw him a nasty look. He'd always got on well with your brother, which drove you up the wall when he was annoying you.

The two of you weave through the flurry of servants bringing items into the large ballroom on the first floor of the palace after you rush down the grand set of stairs, trying to avoid getting scolded for running about in the palace. Jeongin follows close behind, opening the main door and holding it open for you to both exit out of.

"I hate balls," you say, unaware of how dumb it sounds until Jeongin bursts out laughing. You scowl at him, choosing to ignore his childish behaviour. "I have to attend every single one and dance with loads of icky guys."

"That's why I swoop in and save you," Jeongin beams, walking quickly down the stairs to the entrance of the palace and following you over the bridge to the main entryway. "But I won't be needing to do that anymore, now that you have your Prince Charming."

"He won't be at this ball," you remind him, an sense of sadness overwhelming you at the thought. "So you'll still have to save me."

"My rightful duty," he salutes you as you both continue walking through the palace courtyard until you reach the main village. The streets are filled since the sun is shining, and people greet you continuously as you pass them. You nod and smile politely as you walk, taking a turn at the top of the village which you knew would lead you to Sloane's Avenue.

Just as you suspected, you see the Mail boy up ahead, delivering letters to a cottage at the bottom of the avenue. You turn to give Jeongin a look.

"Is that the same guy from school?" You ask him, and he nods eagerly. You walk up to him cautiously, attempting not to startle him.

"Felix?" You question, watching him whip round at the sound of his name.

"Your highness," he says instantly, bowing due to customs. You smile politely at him in return. "What can I do for you?"

You take a deep breath before answering. "Sorry to interrupt you, I just have a couple questions about this," you say, pulling out the note and showing it to him. He reads it cautiously, screwing his face up. "I was wondering if Minho said anything when he gave the note to you?"

Felix seems to think for a minute, before nodding. "He said something about it being important, and he kind of seemed to be in a hurry to give it to me and leave again. Told me to deliver it as soon as I could."

You nod, thankful that you were on the right lines about the note and it's importance. "So Minho wrote it?"

"That's his handwriting," the blonde haired boy states, pointing towards the note in your hand.

"Sorry if this is too personal a question," Jeongin speaks up, after staying relatively quiet during the encounter. "But how do you know Minho in the first place?"

Felix looks between you and Jeongin, his shoulders slumping. "It's meant to be a secret, but we're cousins."

Your mouth almost gapes. Minho's family was known of a high status in the Winter Court, so the fact he shared family with the Summer Court is completely frowned upon.

"That's..." you start, unable to find the right words.

"Illegal, I know, but there's nothing that can be done now. His family has already renounced mine and my parents were imprisoned for years," Felix explains, a horribly sad look plaguing his face. You place a gentle hand on his shoulder.

"Im so, so sorry that happened to you," you say, and you hope he knows how sincere you are. If it was up to you, the whole situation between the two courts would have been made peaceful a long time ago. It was as if your father and Hyunjin's enjoyed carrying along the tradition of hatred between the courts.

"It's not your fault, princess," Felix says to you, and you feel Jeongin placing a hand on your arm.

"We should probably get going if we're to meet Minho at quarter to two," Jeongin says to you, leaning into your ear. You check your watch, the time displaying 12:04pm, and you realise he's right. You'd probably have to take horses to be able to meet Minho on time.

"Thankyou so much for your help," you say warmly to Felix, watching his blonde hair bounce as he nods his head. "I really appreciate what you're doing for me."

"It's no problem. Any friend of Minho's is a friend of mine," he smiles kindly, and you allow Jeongin to thank him as well before you turn on your heel to leave.

"That was informative," he says matter of factly, matching your quick pace as you follow the same route you took to get here. "Felix seems like a nice guy."

You hum, nodding. "Yeah, he does. At least we're on the right path."

Jeongin gives you a quizzical look. "Of course we're on the right path, this is the exact way we walked to come here."

You feel like pushing him over for his ridiculous comment, but you refrain. "I meant figuratively, dip shit. Anyway, the next plan is to get our horses and meet Minho at the pavilion."

Jeongin groans loudly as he walks. "I hate that damn horse. It always tries to force me off and never does what I tell it."

"Roger is not an it," you say, your tone full of disgust. "Yeah, okay he might be a bit more unwilling than the other horses, but-"

"Oh please," Jeongin cuts you off as you turn towards the palace stables, following the path through the meadow. "Your horse adores you!"

"That's because I treat Juniper with love and respect," you say pointedly, watching Jeongin roll his eyes at you. When you reach the stables, your beautiful hazelnut coloured horse greets you, pushing her nose into your hand to greet you. Jeongin has less of a nice interaction, his horse Roger not even looking in his direction as he approaches.

Jeongin sticks his arms out as if to say, 'see?', and you shrug in response, opening Juniper's gate and starting to saddle her up. It's not long until the two of you are riding easily towards the pavilion, racing each other through the woods. The trees start to dissipate and soon enough, you're in the open clearing, the large pavilion in sight. The two of you are pretty worn out from the long ride as you dismount from your horses, allowing them to graze freely in the surrounding areas knowing they won't go far.

When you check your watch, you're right on time.

Ten minutes later you check your watch again.

When there's still not a single sign of Minho after almost two hours, you give up. Jeongin had given up a long time ago, sitting cross legged on the grass and attempting to make the worlds longest daisy chain. You kick a rock in his direction, feeling defeated, as you stand up.

"Let's go," you sigh, grabbing your stuff and looking towards the direction of the Winter Court one final time. Jeongin stands up, brushing flowers and blades of grass off of himself.

"You've finally given up on Mr. Crack My Code?" Jeongin teases, stretching out his limbs. You push him gently, snickering as he stumbles backwards. "Did that make you feel better?"

You nod. Because it did, even if it was just a little bit.

"At least we got away from the palace for a day," Jeongin says as the two of you walk towards your horses in the distance. They're both grazing lazily by the river, enjoying what's left of the sunshine. "Minho's wild goose chase did grant us that much. Every cloud."

"It still seems off to me," you say, climbing back onto Juniper and beginning the slow journey back to the stables, Jeongin on your tail. Literally. "Maybe we got the code wrong?"

"I dunno," Jeongin sighs, equally as disspointed as you are, pulling his horse up so he's right beside you, falling into step with your pace. "I feel like it couldn't have meant anything else."

You don't respond, utterly defeated by the whole thing. Honestly, you'd been more than excited at the prospect of this small adventure, figuring out what was going on. Excitement dissolved your worry that the whole situation was a bad one, and now that you didn't feel that excitement anymore...

"If you want," Jeongin starts, noticing your foul mood. "I could sneak over to the Winter court tomorrow and try and talk to Minho myself."

Scoffing, you give him a side eye. "That's gonna be near enough impossible, and you know it," you remind him. Minho, as Hyunjin had told you, spent almost all his time in the winter court palace, and now that Hyunjin was away, you could expect Minho was taking over a lot of his duties. There was no way on earth Jeongin would ever be able to get his attention and hold a conversation with him without being spotted and consequently reported.

"I'd try," he responds, looking at you in a way that tugs on your heart strings, because you know he would. Despite his feelings about the winter court - feelings that had been uprooted in him due to his deep Summer court lineage, he would still do whatever he could if it meant you'd be happy. He was your best friend, after all.

"It's alright," you say, dismissing the subject. You'd never allow yourself to put him in danger like that. The two of you keep relatively quiet for the rest of your long journey back, keeping your pace gently as to not overexert the horses.

It doesn't take you long to arrive back at the stables, feeding your horses and giving them the rest they need. Jeongin follows you up to your bedroom for the second time of the day, trying to stay out of the eye of your servants who were, more than likely, furious that he'd abandoned his duties of helping them set up for the ball.

He was unsuccessful, though, getting sufficiently called out when you both went into the dining hall for dinner with your brother. He'd been expertly scolded by your head maid, though it was nothing he couldn't get out of with some sweet words and a dimpled grin.

Jeongin was more than accustomed to spending the night sleeping on your sofa, so he didn't even think about refusing the offer when you asked him. You wanted his company, after the dampener your previous events had put on the day. Even as you attempted to sleep, the white light of the moon glaring through your window a stark contrast to the pitch black night, you held that note up, attempting to find something you couldn't find earlier.

It was to no avail, though. There was nothing you hadn't already though of. You place the note to your side, sitting up against your head board. Jeongin's sleeping frame is directly opposite you, his chest gently rising up and down as he breathes. It's peaceful for a second, and you think you could perhaps fall asleep, until there's a harsh sound against your window.

Bolting upright at the noise, you rush to Jeongin's side, jolting him awake with a harsh push. He gives you a groggy shove back until he hears the noise himself, scaring him into wakening up.

Then, your window slides open, and you have to physically stop yourself from screaming.

Jeongin already has his sword in hand, reacting to the situation much faster than you. He pushes you behind him gently, walking towards the open window with his sword pointed at the perpetrator.

Minho almost gets his head chopped off. You recognise him instantly, your goosebumps fading when he climbs through your window with ease. Jeongin lowers his swords, scoffing.

"You trying to beat me up for the second time, Yang?" Minho says snidely, dusting himself down and closing the window behind him as if he'd done it a million times. You and Jeongin share a look.

"What the hell?" You question out loud, running your hands through your hair as your stress subsided.

"Nice to see you too, princess," Minho says, plastering a fake smile onto his face. "This is such a great welcome."

"Maybe if you hadn't, I don't know, snuck into my room whilst I was asleep you'd have a more cheerier response," you say snarkily, unable to help yourself. He had just scared you half to death, is all.

"You should be commending me for my superior skills in bypassing your guards and making it into your bedroom undetected," Minho counters.

Jeongin sheaths his sword now that he's decided there's no imminent danger, and takes a seat at the footboard of your bed. Minho takes his own on the sofa, moving the duvet Jeongin had been sleeping under to the side. You join Jeongin at the edge of your bed.

There's a weird period of silence where none of you speak. This is the first time the three of you have ever been in a room together alone, so you all kind of eye each other up, unaware of how to proceed.

It's Minho who breaks the silence, clearing his throat to grab your attention.

"So, you didn't understand my code, then," is all he says, as if it's no surprise to him. Jeongin scoffs at the same time you frown.

"We did, actually," you reply distastefully. "Meet you at Dew Pavilion at 2, we got the message."

Minho raises his eyebrows. "So why was I standing at your blessed pavilion at 2am by myself?"

Jeongin and you only share a look, rolling your eyes at each other. "Why the hell would we take that to mean 2am? We were there at 2 in the afternoon waiting for you!"

"Why the fuck would I be there at 2 in the afternoon?" Minho fires back, raising his voice to a hushed shout. "Do you want me to get arrested for trespassing on Summer Court land in broad daylight without due cause?"

"In hindsight, you should have probably put a more distinct time frame on your note," you point out. "Or maybe not written the note in code at all? Your cousin goes to lengths to deliver them in secret for a reason."

"How do you know Felix is my cousin?" is all Minho responds with, which Joeongin replies;

"Spoke to him today. Nice guy."

Minho gives him a look, turning to you. "Yeah, well, hindsight is a glorious thing," he responds sarcastically, ignoring Jeongin. "If I had more time, I would have tried to arrange the whole meetup better. Nice to formally meet you, by the way."

"Nice to meet you too," you say, trying your best to show how genuine you are. You were trying to make a good impression on Hyunjin's best friend, after all. "What on earth is going on?"

Minho sighs, seemingly preparing himself for what he's about to say as he runs his hands through his dark hair. "This is gonna be a lot to take in, so bare with me."

"I think we can handle it," Jeongin says with another scoff. You elbow him, trying to remind him of his manners, but Minho doesn't bat an eyelid, which you find unusual. In the brief encounters you've shared, Jeongin and Minho usually make it their lives mission to get the last dig in.

"Basically," Minho starts, looking up at you both with sincerity. "I overheard some pretty deep shit yesterday. Like, 'this could change our lives forever' shit."

You nod your head, willing him to go on. He looks between both you and Jeongin before continuing.

"I've had to take on a lot of Hyunjin's duties since he's been fulfilling his six months of training," he explains, which you figured as much. "It meant I've been in the palace even more than usual, talking to a lot of our courts higher ups."

"Are you just trying to show off, or is this actually going somewhere?" Jeongin asks, and although you should reprimand him, you're actually thinking the exact same thing.

"I'm trying to give you both some insight as to how I got the information I'm about to tell you, so that you actually believe me," he says exasperatedly, raising his eyebrows. "What I'm about to tell you is so top secret even I wasn't supposed to know about it, and I know everything."

You choose to ignore his cockiness, nodding your head and tapping your foot in anticipation. "Is Hyunjin alright?" you can't help but ask, your mind racing to a million different horrible things.

"Your boyfriend is fine," Minho tells you, so sincerely that you don't bother correcting him on the fact that you and Hyunjin technically weren't in a relationship. "This is more about you than him."

"So?" Jeongin says impatiently. "Spit it out already."

Once again, Minho ignores Jeongin’s jeers, which unnerves you. "It's about your father. There's...there's a plot - ongoing for a while, I heard - that Hyunjins father wants to overthrow him."

You blink a couple times, speaking before thinking. "That's not so unusual, those two have been wanting to take each others crowns since the dawn of time."

Minho nods. "Yeah, but this is different. Hyunjin’s father didn't need to send him to train. It's obvious Hyunjin has the experience he needs to be a fucking war veteran without doing the simple army training course that the Winter Court insists on. Even I almost got pardoned, since I was well versed without it. But the law is that every male in the Winter court has to fulfil the training, unless physically unable or..."

"Or what?" you ask impatiently.

"Or a member of the royal family," Minho finishes, and you lean back slightly. "I didn't even know that until I started researching it properly yesterday, so I highly doubt Hyunjin knew. There's another reason Hyunjin’s father wanted to ship him off for six months."

Jeonging taps your knee with his hand a couple times to comfort you. "I overheard a meeting yesterday," Minho continues. "Hyun's father brought up a proposition to your father last month - it was kept quiet, as it wasn't properly supposed to be fulfilled for years yet. The proposition was to create an alliance between both courts."

"My dad would never agree to that," you say firmly. "Not after the atrocities your court committed against us in the last war. He swore he would never see peace with the Winter Court after you had my grandmother killed."

Minho blinks at you a couple times, trying to figure out a way to tackle the conversation without being insensitive. "I know that. But Hyunjin's father thought if he relayed the benefits of an alliance with your dad, he could make him see his point. In all honesty, The Winter court is struggling. We don't have enough land for our population and most of the land we do have is unliveable. We desperately need the use of the strip of land at the border which we're forbidden to build on."

You had no idea about any of this. Unless Hyunjin didn't actually know, which is a long shot, he must have been keeping it from you for whatever reason.

"So the plan was to, what? Form an alliance between the courts solely for the gain of your court? Our king would never agree to that," Jeongin points out.

"Exactly, which is why Hyunjin's father set an ultimatum," Minho answers Jeongin. "It was either an alliance or war."

A shiver runs down your spine. Your court was strong, but the Winter Court was notorious for being skilled in combat. Even your father knew you'd probably be destroyed if another war ever broke out.

"So what came of it?" you ask. Minho takes another deep breath.

"The alliance wasn't baseless," he says. "It wasn't just a 'let us shake hands and make up' type thing. Hyunjin's dad wanted the alliance to be binding. So, he proposed perhaps the most binding thing he could think of."

You look at Minho expectantly.

"The marriage of you and Hyunjin."

Jeongin chokes on his own tongue from beside you. You feel heat rising to your cheeks at the same time.

"Hyunjin's dad wants us to get married?" you spit out, shocked. Minho nods in response.

"For the benefit of his court, yes. Obviously he doesn't know about your thing you've got going on," he replies. Jeongin gets a grip of himself, looking at you with wide eyes.

"Did her dad agree to that?" he asks Minho, who shakes his head firmly.

"No, he didn't, and from what I heard Hyunjin's father left in an outrage with no improvement on his plan, until yesterday."

"What happened yesterday?" you ask, now fully invested in what Minho was telling you. You'd never been allowed to be this involved in your countries on goings before.

"This is the part you're not gonna like," Minho says, looking straight at you, his face grim. "Your brother paid us a visit yesterday. From what I'd witnessed, it was obvious Hyunjin's father was being serious about the whole, 'going to war' scenario. Then, all I saw was your brother leaving out the back exit of the palace and it was as though all talk of war had ceased."

You shake your head, squeezing your eyes shut. "That doesn't make any sense," you breathe out, looking towards Jeongin. "Chan? Chan wouldn't betray us in any way."

"I'm not saying he has one hundred percent done anything to go against you," Minho says, leaning his elbows on his knees as he speaks. "It just seems extremely fishy is all."

"I agree," Jeongin says reluctantly, looking to you sincerely. "You how much I idolise your big brother, but one second Hyunjin’s dad is prepared to go all hairy canary on us and the next Chan visits him and he chills out?"

You almost laugh at Jeongins dumbification of the events, but there's nothing funny about this. Minho would never have risked his life coming to tell you this if he didn't deem it important.

"Yeah, it's..." Minho trains off, not knowing exactly what to say. "It doesn't look great."

"But why would Hyunjins dad have had to ship him off to military training while all this shit is going on?" you ask, not really understanding how that came into play with all of this.

"Hyunjin has been advocating for peace between the courts since he could talk," Minho says simply, shrugging his shoulders. "Even the mere mention of war and Hyunjin would have made every effort to shut down his fathers plan. Honestly, I think Hyunjin’s father just wanted to keep him out of his way during his shady scheming."

You nod your head. From what you've heard of Hyunjin's dad, from both Hyunjin himself and everyone else, he wasn't a nice guy. This didn't phase you one bit.

"So what do you propose?" Jeongin asks after a couple minutes of silence, the three of you keeping to your own thoughts. Minho sighs, resting himself against the back of the sofa.

"I think this ball isn't going to be any ordinary one," Minho says confidently, referring to the ball taking place at the week end, which your servants had been preparing for. "If something's going to happen, it will be then. I think if we stand any chance of figuring out what the hell is actually going on and want to get together a solid plan to stop anything seriously bad from happening, we've got six days to do so."

"Six days?" Jeongin responds, his brows flying upwards. "That's fuck all time."

"With no less crude way to put it," Minho says, glaring at the younger man. "Yeah. We're kind of screwed. Especially without Hyunjin - he'd know exactly what to do right now."

As much as you had been missing the man you'd been growing feelings for over the past however many months, it was obvious Minho was feeling kind of lost without him too. You'd feel the exact same if Jeongin were to be sent away.

There's no way to tell how much time passes as you sit there silently, willing yourself to figure out a way to be able to get a proper grasp of the on goings between the courts and figure out a way to stop it from coming to a dramatic (and probably deadly) climax. It's a good while later when Jeongin speaks up, throwing his hands down in frustration.

"If we've got any chance of finding out what's going on, we need to dedicate the next six days of our lives to this," he says, shaking his head and looking between both you and Minho, his face rightfully expressing that there was no other option. "If it was up to me, I'd be hiding out in seclusion until the ball and trying to find out as much information about this shit as I possibly could."

He's got a point, and it's clear Minho's in agreement when he nods his head slowly, his eyes glassy as he thinks.

"I hate to agree," he speaks up. "But you're right. Hyunjin's the next ruler of his fucking court and he currently has no idea that there might be an impending war, or something even worse. Nothing's going to be achieved if I go back, you guys stay here and we cant fucking do anything about this. We may as well just forget about this whole thing, in that case."

"My father isn't returning until Saturday, the day of the ball," you point out, looking to Minho. "If that's for some ulterior motive - I don't know, but it does mean I have some leeway about my whereabouts."

"You're thinking what I'm thinking?" Jeongin asks, grabbing your attention. You shrug in responds, which makes Minho huff, since he obviously can't read your mind.

"Care to enlighten me?" He says. Jeongin speaks up before you do.

"We actually could dedicate the next six days of our life to this," Jeongin says simply, reiterating Minho's words. "I have a house near the border - extremely secluded - that we used to spend weekends at when we had nothing better to do. My parents lived in it during the last war, and - not to indulge you in a history lesson, passed it onto me when they passed away."

It was true. The last war between the courts, your father was seventeen. It was one of the most brutal and long lasting wars the courts had ever seen, and it saw the death of your grandmother and your father becoming the youngest king of the Summer Court for generations. Jeongin's family had always been very closely related to the royal family, so whilst Jeongin's mother hit in their secluded home by the border, his father fought on the front lines. They both passed away and Jeongin was left to the care of his extended family who lived near the palace, which is why you'd grown up so close to him.

"So your saying you could basically live there for the next six days and figure all this shit out?" Minho asks, clearing up Jeongin's words.

"And you," Jeongin says reluctantly, his voice low, as he looks up at Minho through strands of bleached hair. "We'd need your help. So if you could, you could stay with us."

You admire Jeongin for putting down his preconceptions of Minho, knowing he was doing the right thing by extending an invite to him. It was obvious that you did need him, after all. You could only do so much from your end.

Minho actually gives Jeongin a half smile. "I'll see what I can do. If I can figure something out, I'll let you know. It'll be pretty hard for me to be able to leave my duties for a week, but I'm sure I'll be able to manage."

You nod at him with a smile, deciding that that pretty much concluded the late night rendezvous. There was a lot you had to think over and consider - the seemingly impending war and your dad’s contribution to it, Hyunjin’s father and his proposition, your brother being a potential traitor...

It was a lot to take in for a Sunday night.

Jeongin stands up with Minho, giving him the address of the house, and you think Minho must be pretty credible if Jeongin trusts him, since yesterday Jeongin wouldn't have gone near him with a ten foot pole. Minho nods at him and then at you, and you make your way over to the window to let him attempt his master escape route.

"When you get down, take the back gate just to the right of the fountain," you tell him. "There's a clear path that takes you to the Winter Court five times quicker than any other route. Plus, it's the route you're least likely to get caught on."

He blinks at you a few times, a habit you've noticed he has, before nodding and opening your window, making sure to check his surroundings outside first. Before he makes his way outside, you stop him, grabbing his attention.

"Why are you helping us?" you can't help but to ask. Hyunjin had told you time again that Minho wasn't fond of you. Your court hadn't treated theirs with much respect, either. Minho, from your point of view, had no reason to not just let these plans be seen through without your knowledge.

Yet, he takes the time to stop halfway through the window, giving you a half smile. "I know how much you mean to Hyunjin. And he's my brother, so whether I like it or not, you're stuck with me by default. Plus, I kind of don't want to be a witness to the destruction of both our home courts."

You only nod, your heart filling from his answer. "Thank you."

And with that, he's gone, stealthily making his way off palace grounds without notice. Jeongin motions his head being blown up to you, his hands at either side of his skull, and you laugh at him.

"Well that was certainly eventful," he says, flopping back onto the couch as you make your way back into your bed, though you really don't think you'll be getting any sleep after that. "Maybe our week won't be boring ball preparations after all."

[galenationcore]

Welcome to GaleNation's CORE site, new recruits.

This blog is run by the site's document keepers. We will answer any questions you may have about the job, site, company, or ourselves. Please note that any information one of us may give is checked by all four, and some answers may end up censored.

Hello! Welcome to the blog. This is an ask blog featuring the four document keepers of GaleNation, which we'll highlight below. This blog is run by two people, Anguilla^2 (who will be the one most frequently doing the art) and Clelia^2, we'll mention who made the post in tags most likely alongside any characters featured in the posts. The characters in this post, and GaleNation, are part of the lore in the Windscaleverse, you don't have to be part of the Windscale community to make an ask but do keep that in mind. RULES (and other stuff)

No NSFW!

The Windscale community has quite a few minors, and we'd like to keep this blog safe for them as well! Note that silly things and such that might seem mildly "suggestive" are fine, but please make sure what you're about to say is safe for minors, we will delete any asks that do not seem so.

No Spam or Rude/Derogatory Asks

Once again, it'd be nice for this blog to be a safe space, we don't tolerate these kinds of acts.

Anon and Non-Anon are Both Allowed

Not much else to say here, we really don't mind anyone being on anon, and you're free to give yourself an anon name as long as it isn't taken already.

We Will Prioritize Actual Questions Over Something Like "Hello"

We don't fully mind replying to asks like that, but we much prefer proper questions and such.

Shipping Questions Are OK!

There's no official ships among these four, but we don't mind any of them being shipped together in asks.

You Can Ask Worldbuilding Questions

This blog can very much be used to learn about the Windscaleverse as a whole, just keep in mind Redd loves to censor things!

Every Ask Will Have a Typed Answer and a Drawing Alongside it to the Best of Our Abilities.

We cannot promise art alongside it, but we'll do our best to provide some when we answer.

Each Character Has an Emoji

These will be included in their posts, if you end up forgetting the name of one but remember the emoji, you're free to use it. (The mods also have dedicated emojis!

Characters in this Blog

Redd 🐈‍⬛ The boss himself (also the creator of the company as a whole) Widely feared by employees but adored by the public as a genius Always seems to have that gasmask on Some people say he's a windscale, some say he's a human, sometimes even a hybrid of other dragons. Known as the main one censoring the documents, he often writes snappy remarks in invisible ink on them too! He doesn't seem too concerned with the health of his workers, but hey, at least they have free healthcare!

MOCK 🎭

What the fuck Help him No help me actually Insanely eccentric Living the Bible life God so help us Meat grinder Don't even know what he is anymore

Royal 🌌

Redd's Right Hand man, but he doesn't seem all to happy about that. No one thinks he gets sleep, it's no wonder he always has a coffee. He was once a normal scavenger as far as we know, GaleNation changed that! Usually just transports the documents, he frequently has to travel between sites. Seems pretty calm, considered fairly trustworthy despite his position. Left his son with his strange cousin, maybe not the best choice but at least he has a caretaker! Not sure he really has hobbies; all he does is work and drink coffee.

Sci 🧬

Sweetheart old guy Says he’s never stressed , insanely jittery Speaks like an entertainer / influencer or vocal personality Used to be an author for children’s books “Trusted” Dark scientific views contrasting light personality, morality < Knowledge Company “grandpa” Likes too cook and sew

About GaleNation

GaleNation (pronounced Gal - En - Aytion) is a science company spread out in multiple sites across the continents. They frequently do research relating to diseases, wildlife, the ancient times, and the elements, though they have other subjects as well. The company is viewed as a face of the science community, and it's considered an honor to work in their mixed species environment, however, most employees rarely get to leave their sites and are often not seen by friends and family for long periods of time. The CORE site is the central site for GaleNation, all types of research are done within the site, which also holds higher danger entities and experiments, is the final storage place for documents not being publicly released and has all the top scientists of the company within it. It takes a lot of work to get into the site, but many still strive to reach that goal. MOCK is able to shift our perceptions of each member into a consistent species for ease of communication.

About the Mods Anguilla^2 🩻 it/its I like birds and robots I do most of the art I am bad at spelling forguve me

Clelia^2 🦒 they/he I actually created GaleNation I like puppets and all animals Local Windscaleverse lore databank

TAGS

Every tag we'll use is in this post, there's one tag for each character and mod, an ooc tag, and an ask tag.

[wackpedion]

atcually im sending more characters i wanna see u talk abt them tell me abt stan or fiddleford or bill for the ask game

OKOK I JUST ANSWERED FOR FIDDLEFORD OKOKOKOKOKOKOK im so excited i love them. okok ok OK OK ok so from this ask game:

STAN

favorite thing about them

How he loves the kids soso much ouhho vh oh o my ghod Not What He Seems tear my heart out rn. like theyre his world its so... ouhgkhjhbjh........ makes me ill. the way he loves his family as a whole is SO important to me like like like like he values his family so much theyre his world the way he spent 30 years getting ford back GOD dont remind me of of the portal incident i cant hhhrrrr

least favorite thing about them

I suppose how stubborn he is with Ford but like, idk i get it man. hes been thro alot and the two are on rocky ground up until the end so ofc hes gonna act like that and hes not gonna be all that emotionally mature about it.

favorite line

goddd he has so many good lines hes so funny. "Soos, would it be wrong to punch a child?"

brOTP

fiddleford mcgucket i need them to be friends u dont understand. i need this so badly

OTP

ermmm No One ? ive seen some stanbill which i find funny but im not all that invested in it

nOTP

pinecest 👍

random headcanon

As kids he and Ford would often do the twin switcharoo as a fun kid prank, they thought it was the funniest coolest thing but they were actually very easy to tell apart past a first glance because they weren't all that good at lying and pretending (yet)

unpopular opinion

ig its only loosely stan related but roadside attraction should NOT have been aa episode with focus on stan WHERE IS FORD. THE EPISODE BEFORE THE BIG ONE THAT KICKS OFF WEIRDMAGEDDON AND THERES NO FORD!?!?!? kmsing kmsing but you already know how ifeel about it i told you all about it I Miss Ford. I miss my wife tails.

song i associate with them

LUSH BY MINDLESS SELF INDULGENCE "everything i touch falls apart and i am left with nothingg everything i touch it turns to total garbage and i cant with and i dont know whyyyy!!!!" like like his insecurity about being the total screwup of the family, his many many failed businesses, the fact he broke fords project and also ended up pushing him into the portal, juistghfhbvhjhbb

favorite picture of them

i like him with his sailing outfit esp the the beanie its cute :3 and EEEE THE BROTHERSSSS <333333

BILL

favorite thing about them

whatever the fuck he has going on ford jesus christ what the fuck who let them get away twith this hello. hello. i cant elaborate cuz id just end up talking about billford forever but fjesuffucking christ

least favorite thing about them

Honestly sock opera didn't make much sense, like he wanted to destroy the laptop and journal cuz dipper was getting "too close", but the journal was needed to operate the portal which was what he Needed and Wanted. my best guess as to why he did that is cuz he didn't want them to find and go off the warnings Ford wrote esp in invisible ink but i dunno. perhaps its that the journals (esp journal 3) wrote of a way to destroy him, im guessing, since ford tosses them to dipper in weirdmageddon saying theres a way to destroy bill, but still. odd. Still my favourite episode tho!!!!

favorite line

"Fordsy, nobody else really gets you, do they? Without me, you'll always feel unseen, surrounded by dolts who don't recognize your full potential. You've always felt alone in a crowd, haven't you? Who else will give you this feeling again? Even if you got rid of me, you'd miss me. Admit it, you'd miss me."

"Reality is an illusion the universe is a hologram buy gold BYEEEEE"

"BY THE WAY IM SENDING SOMEONE TO STEAL YOUR EYES. THATS NOT A JOKE. I HAVE A FRIEND WHO WILL STEAL YOUR EYES."

"I have some children I need to TURN INTO CORPSES"

also. just his "Yello!" gag in the dreamscaperers. its so sutpid i love it

honestly UGHH hes so quotable i love like every one of his lines everytime hes on screen its a joy. any episode is a good episode with bill. hes such a good villain

brOTP

None reaally? I guess I would've loved more antics with the henchmaniacs, like that one deleted scene, I found them pretty funny

OTP

BILLFORD DO UE VEN HAVE TO ASK HHHHHGHH

nOTP

None I think, i guess fiddleford and bill but i said that already and tbh im mostly indifferent to it

random headcanon

iii havent fully cvuaght up on all the code and lore cracking of TBOB but from what ive picked up he had to take medicine as a kid which affected his eyesight? so my hc is that he has some lasting damage with his vision from that

unpopular opinion

yes the book of bill gave us bill euclydia dimension lore but no that doesnt ruin his character sure his backstory is sad but like. its not his focal point. it gives him depth and an explanation its GOOD. hes still the villain whos evil because! who does whatever he wants! for fun! a sad backstory and a charming villain whos motivation is Fun can coexist its not the end of the world

also this is directed at like One thing i saw on twt but He Would Fucking Not listen to msi oh my god he canonically hates synthesized music i hate you

song i associate with them

GOD i have a few ermm.... theyre like billford related tho so. hope thats cool. the one ive been obsessed with is New Invention by I DONT KNOW HOW BUT THEY FOUND ME its SO GFUCKING THEM DUDE ITS SO THEM LISTEN TO IT. NOW!!!!!!!!!!!! pls

favorite picture of them

every picture but ig if i had to choose him playing faggot piano for ford is up there

[sirenjose]

Kurt's Diary - Thoughts and Theories

(Including crack theory Naib didn't kill Murro)

1) Emily's (first aid kit?)

2) Wu Chang's umbrella is still here, and NE is making sure we know this. That means either Jose did leave but didn't bring the umbrella with him, or he didn't leave

If he did win, was he put into another game like Emma and Murro (Emma's letter did mention her being with others her 2nd time around)?

Orpheus did say he "treasured" the opportunity to include Jose in his experiments, which could mean he'd want to use him as long as he could?

* Michiko's mask is still here too.

3) The "guy" Murro would rather "freeze to death" than encounter can't be the Hullabaloo group (Murro the only survivor). Likely Naib, who's chasing Murro based on Naib's 1st letter (only other possible option is the manor owner)

4) HA! I WAS RIGHT! THERE WAS SOMETHING SECRET ABOUT THE FROG AND ITS GOLD BALL! (I'm sorry, I've been focused on that stupid thing since I first joined IDV and saw the diaries.) Question now is what it does... (secret exit?)

We know the gold ball was in Murro's room based on William's diary before he returned it to the statue. Maybe Murro knew its secret. But for what purpose? Did Murro hide something there, like how he used apple juice to write secret pages in his diary? Or something else?

5) Pretty sure the "explorer" isn't literally Kurt here. The one who "refused to trust his allies" and was "brutally slain by a wild beast" should be Murro, based on Murro's diary page Kurt finds, and Kurt may assume Bane killed Murro for now and thus Bane is the "beast"

Though considering the other letters, Naib is another option, but Kurt should have no reason to know that (if Naib did indeed kill Murro), so at least in this context Kurt says "wild best" to refer to Bane.

I've always had 2nd thoughts/doubts about the idea Naib wants to kill Murro. We know Naib works for Arthur Russel, who we know is a detective. Arthur is currently the one investigating both the Hullabaloo tragedy and Lakeside Village.

We know Arthur cares about his investigators as he pulls them out of the investigation when he believes a "crime syndicate" is involved with Lakeside. We haven't seen anything yet that implies Arthur also has his men do assassinations though...

Not saying that can't be the truth but I want more info before jumping to any conclusions, despite whatever the manor owner says, especially as we know even the manor owner isn't all-knowing (like with the people who only leave puddles behind, or Naib managing to disappear).

It's hard for me to say, but it is possible there were multiple sets of footprints belonging to more than 1 person, aka maybe Naib's was 1 of them (if not Bane's, if Bane only stays in his cabin in the forest).

Seem to be maybe 4 sets of footprints

1 set

2nd set

3rd set

4th set

But if Naib can disappear from the manor owner's sight, maybe he can also help other people to disappear too? If Arthur wanted to find the culprit of the Hullabaloo deaths and they discovered someone else from the circus had survived, they may have wanted to find him to help solve the mystery of the circus murders, which could be why Naib went after Murro as we saw in his 1st letter.

As an investigator, a new witness could be the key to solving the whole mystery (maybe that's just me as someone who reads/watches/plays too much detective stuff)

Naib obviously knows how to be stealthy/sneaky considering he has to do the same for himself to hide from the authorities, since Naib is a deserter, and desertion is a serious offense.

Murro's smart too considering the sort of invisible ink he uses.

So I think it's possible...

Maybe a good question to ask is “Why”? Why would Naib want to kill Murro? Mike is friendly with Murro, who Mike helped fake his death for, so he’s not the reason. And Naib isn’t just a brainless killer, since he deserted after refusing to kill his comrades, so he’d need a reason.

I guess you could say he might if he was paid to do so, but who’d ask to kill Murro? I doubt there are too many people that know too much about him enough to either hate him or have a reason to kill the person Bernard labeled as a “wild child” for his circus.

Different note, but the hole is gone in Servais' diary, but the boars are now in that same area that 1 set of footprints led to. It's also where Naib leaves the dead boar, which has a section of it torn open.

Still no idea what might've been inside.

Too many questions...

6) Info about Kurt's 2nd letter

"tree cave" = Murro's room

William and Kurt were awake in the evening due to the "awful weather". Nothing about sounds of "wild beasts"

Kurt thought they should do more than sit in their rooms, which is why he had Will help gather Naib and Murro. This was when Kurt went to look for Murro, found Murro not in his room + door locked, then went outside, where he saw footsteps, a (freshly dug?) hole, and Bane. He didn't see a "corpse", any heads being "bit off", or it being dragged off

Last thing Kurt says is to ask Naib to look at his new "work" based on his "experiences". This may be, at least in part, related to the work "Kurt Frank's Travels" from Kurt's 4th letter that he writes to Blackett Publications to get published. But nothing, at least from this yet, about telling Naib about seeing "a wild beast dragging his corpse into the shrubs. It bit off his head". Doesn't mean he didn't tell Naib this, but based on how much of the previous stuff was true, it's at least doubtful this is the full truth

[myfairkatiecat]

Can you please tell me what inheritance games is about and what the deal is with these brothers I am intrigued. (Feel free to delete if this is an inconvenience)

EEE I THOUGHT YOU’D NEVER ASK LET’S GO

So the basic premise of the inheritance games is that a girl named Avery finds out that a random super powerful billionaire, Tobias Hawthorne, has disinherited his family and given her the money instead. She doesn’t even KNOW this guy, and suddenly now she’s living in a mansion with one of the richest families in the world (though now the money is hers) and the billionaire’s four grandsons around her age.

Now this billionaire was a really big fan of puzzles and riddles, you see? And he always used to make these boys compete in games on Saturdays—as a result, they are all amazing at deciphering codes, picking locks, noticing invisible ink or patterns, etc. But also as a result, they’re all a little messed up, bc well, everything is a game.

Xander, seventeen—genius with technology and engineering. Loves scones. Is amazing. (ADHD coded like crazy.)

Jameson, eighteen—thrill-seeker, adrenaline junkie, goes out of his way to put his life in danger. Hmmm I wonder if that’s an unhealthy coping mechanism. Read to find out. (Also ADHD coded like crazy.)

Grayson, nineteen—under the most pressure. Barely lets himself live. Was put under the impression his entire life that he was going to inherit everything, so the whole thing with Avery really shakes him up.

Nash, twenty-five—distances himself from the Hawthorne name and pretends he isn’t a part of the family.

Tobias Hawthorne didnt just leave Avery a fortune, but left her and his grandsons a series of complicated puzzles that lead to his last message to his grandsons and possibly the reason he chose Avery. (If you like TMBS, you would absolutely love this book. The clues come together IMMACULATELY.)

I can’t say much else without spoiling things, but you should definitely read this series! It’s by Jennifer Lynn Barnes and is AMAZING!!!

[agentpheoness]

Lore dump + Doodles

In missions the two alternate when going on missions but sometimes both agents join a mission at the same time!

Operation: Friendly Skies

Agent Pheonix is in charge of the first mission while Pheoness is on standby. Pheoness prays that the poor guy doesn’t die on his first mission, and if he does, make it quick. Phoenix’s reckless behavior results in some close calls but doesn’t die a horrible death yet. When Handler tells them that they could get a vacation from this mission, Pheonix gets happy like a caffeinated puppy and Pheoness, while skeptical, is also pleased. Unfortunately, Handler admits they don’t get that vacation, which disappoints Pheonix but makes Pheoness even more annoyed at their Handler, even threatening him at times.

Operation: Squeaky clean

There’s really no lore in this mission. Pheoness goes on the mission and creates the antivirus safety, although, there are a few funny moments like when Handler says he doesn’t know how to make an antivirus, Pheoness starts yelling at him in Spanish and plot twist, Handler speaks Spanish too. The two are just arguing in Spanish while Pheonix has no idea what they’re saying and is just like😐

Operation: Deep dive

Pheoness decides to take this mission again because she thinks it’s too dangerous for Pheonix. Since commutations can’t reach underwater, Handler nor Pheonix know if she survived or not. But while she’s there, she tends to miss her two work associates. She’s able to survive and make it to the surface. Once communications have been restored, it seems both Handler and Pheonix were extremely worried, which confused her since she’s not used to people caring.

Between Deep Dive and Winter Break:

After 3 missions, an agent’s Handler has a meeting with the higher ups to decide if they want to stay with their current agent(s) or move to another agent. As you can tell, a lot of Pheoness’s handlers have not been with her past this stage so she goes a long rant about how their current Handler is probably gonna keep Pheonix but not her while pacing the floor of her office. When Director Morales shows the results, to her surprise, Handler wanted to keep working with both of them! When she confronts Handler and asks him why, he says that he thinks she has a lot of hidden potential. Though she’s annoying at times, he thinks she’s an amazing agent on missions. This leaves her speechless and the events of my comic with Pheoness and Pheonix occur

Link to comic:

https://www.tumblr.com/agentpheoness/760266561225392128/umpheoness-are-you-okay?source=share

If you don’t understand, I’ll explain. Pheoness is in her office. She is going through a whole inner conflict questioning her thoughts toward her business associates, especially Handler and has a panic attack. Agent Pheonix sees this and goes to comfort her. When asking what’s wrong, she shows him something she’s never showed anyone. Writing in invisible ink on her office wall. The writing suggests she keeps track of her Handlers. It is revealed that this Handler wasn’t her first one, in fact, he’s her 8th! The rest of her Handlers quit or moved on. Phoenix finally understands why she’s so uptight and hugs her, telling her that he thinks that Handler really cares about her. Pheoness, not being used to physical touch, takes a while before she sincerely returns the affection. (The last panel was a joke and not actually canon) Operation: Winter Break

This is the first mission where both Pheonix and Pheoness both do the mission. They immediately had to fight for Zor’s chair and playfully annoyed eachother before getting back on Handler for the whole “vacation” thing, they make him extremely concerned by burning down most things in the lodge. They find Zoe’s weapon and destroy it with the crystals. Another successful mission

FIRST CLASS VACATION:

Both Pheonix and Pheoness didn’t believe him when Handler told them he got them a vacation on a train in India, but they were overjoyed when they found out it was real. Just the two of them, chilling on a train…but..why are Zor’s guards stopping the train? They hear about the Ex-Zor employee and help her get the pardon she needs. While taking sips of tea at the worst times, they defeat the Zoraxis employees. To be honest, both of them were happy that the Ex-Zor employee was able to survive the whole ideal. When they found out they had to pay for their “all expense vacation” Pheoness was going to yell at Handler in Spanish again, but keeps her cool to everyones surprise.

Between FIRST CLASS VACATION and Seat of Power

Between these 2 missions are another comic I made. If you don’t understand it, I’ll explain. Pheoness notices Handler has been having patterns of staying up all night to do work. Concerned, she points to him. They have a little discussion and she realizes Handlers job is not the luxury she thinks it is. Feeling guilty, she apologized for her yelling and mocking him in previous missions. Handler forgives her and he finally gets some rest. While this is happening, Pheonix peeps his head through the door to see what they’re doing and is happy when they see the two getting along.

Seat Of Power:

Only Pheonix is doing this mission. After a whole minute of pretending to be Zor on his throne, he’s able to get the plans for the death ray. From the elevator, Pheonix and Handler and Pheoness (who are listening in) hear Hivemind and his bees. Phoenix, being the innocent child he is, wants to see the cute little bees. Unfortunately, Hivemind’s bees are very mean and almost kill Pheonix. This makes Pheoness hate Hivemind even more. But even with that setback, they get the info on Zor’s death ray.

(I’ll leave the last mission for another post)

Also, here’s some doodles that basically sum up this post.

[culticloset]

Staff-Only Site Details

This is different from stuff I usually post because it's mostly art and stuff but I wanted to point out something that I noticed on the staff-only site.

Me and @robotic-bakery are also working on a compilation of all the transcripts.

So we've all seen this picture, and my first impression of it is that there was black paint all over the place. But then I noticed something in one of the emails.

It says "Please take care of it while it is in your possession, but under no circumstances should it be touched with your bare hands. Please wear gloves. If a substance begins to grow on anything delivered, please place it back in the box it was shipped in and return it to us at your leisure. If you or anyone in your team experience nausea, dizziness, or fatigue, please dont be alarmed."

So this mystery substance has been growing on all the stuff that has been sent, which brings me to the next question- what is it? From the symptoms the email said, it seems to act like black mold.

You can see the substance on the glove from where they touched it. That's that's on the walls, on the ceiling. Not paint. Its the substance from the things on display.

Someone- probably the person we hear from on the site- has been touching and spreading it all over. And from what we can tell, it clearly isn't good for you and it will make you sick. And not only that, but there is a whole lot of it.

So just what is this? And why is it growing on the displays that were sent to them?

Edit: I forgot to put this in but in one of the emails, there's a line written in invisible ink that says something alone the lines of "everything is digusting to touch". The email that I mentioned earlier said not to touch the substance with their bare hands. Is it possible that they took the glove off and touched it with their bare hand?

Another thing worth nothing and it's kinda hard to read is that who ever wrote this is actually the only person who remembers the show, not the whole group. So why is that? And who is the sender? Because they clearly know the show as well. Is it someone who used to work on it? And who is the question answerer?

I suspect this might be the first letter that the person was talking about on the site. I don't really have much evidence for this other than suspicion. After brighting it up from my friend, @robotic-bakery, we learned some details. The letter is anonymous, and it's informing the reader of a welcome home book they found. They exit with a simple "xoxo" which feels almost teasing. What if this was the first letter? The mystery that started it all? The reader recieves this anonymous letter about this children's book. It's called "Welcome Home". It features a character called Wally. The show doesnt seem to be known about at this point. They suggest that there's something more there. They're going to send more letters. And they do. It ends mysteriously, with an xoxo. And maybe hearing about the book unlocked the reader's memory.

I'm really interested to hear other people's thoughts on this.

[thecarnivorousmuffinmeta]

Having just read your Tom Riddle in twilight fanfic, I love it but it's obvious Tom's character had to be adjusted to make sense in twilight. So... What if Tom Riddle's Horcrux diary falls through a hole in time and space and winds up in Twilight, what happens? Fuck it, let's go even harder and say that 16 year old (iirc?) Diary Tom winds up in Edward Cullen's hands.

A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to London by me and @therealvinelle

Also, why Tom is the way he is in the fic.

Caveat

I mean, keep in mind anon, that while he is adjusted, it's more that @therealvinelle and I spout the same sort of heresy for Harry Potter that we do for Twilight.

This is what we think Tom would be in a world where magic still exists but there's no Wizarding World and he happens to run across a crystal demon as a young man.

It's an adjustment but... if you're looking for sociopath Tom Riddle, you're not going to like the rest of this meta at all.

A Bit on the Diary (and Other Horcruxes)

I mean, the Diary is eternally sixteen. He's a bit like a vampire himself in a way in that he shoved himself in this container for fifty years, still seems to be in a very sixteen-year-old headspace and makes some remarkable choices when he was set loose.

Diary is always Peak Diary.

(Just as I will always believe the Locket tormented Ron with the equivalent of sock puppets of Harry and Hermione make out, complete with falsetto voices, "I love you so much, Harry! You're so handsome. OM NOM NOM, LET ME KISS YOU!" not so much to corrupt Ron because he found it fucking hilarious.

So much so, that his last moments are tormenting Ron, with fucking sock puppets.)

I will forever be upset we didn't see more of the horcruxes.

They're always such a hot, hilarious, beautiful mess.

Edward Finds the Diary and is a Fucking Nerd

Why am I picturing the pilot of Death Note where Light happens to notice a black little notebook falling out the window at his school?

Regardless, we'll say this is the start of Twilight and... why fucking not, that's exactly what happens.

Before Bella arrives (so as to keep this less complicated/Edward invested), Edward is in Forks, staring dully out the window in this purgatory he calls high school (that he absolutely doesn't have to go to, Edward, remember you made this choice, Edward).

Notebooks don't just fall from the sky.

Curious, Edward goes to retrieve it after school.

He finds it's a perfectly ordinary, if old, notebook. It has a worn cover, appears to belong to a T. M. Riddle (who Edward has never heard of and doesn't live in Forks, curious) but is otherwise empty.

What's interesting is that it smells unused.

There's no recent human scents on it, no grease from fingers, it smells sterile or at least as if it's been left alone for many years. So how did it get here?

Edward, who has been bored out of his fucking mind, has a mystery on his hands.

He eagerly enlists Alice.

"Edward, I can't see the future of fucking inanimate objects" Alice tells him dumbly, he can be a nerd about this one by himself, Alice isn't interested.

Rosalie suggests Edward try to at least find this T. M. Riddle and return it to him. Edward goes on a whole rant of how there is no Riddle in Forks. Rosalie's not that impressed, Edward's right, but he's overlooking that this book is old, and it could be a maiden name. It's probably someone's heirloom.

"How can it be an heirloom if it's empty, see?" Edward says, flipping through to Rosalie's dull eyed wonder.

Rosalie stops arguing and goes to the garage to work on her cars.

Edward can't wait to tell Carlisle but realizes just showing Carlisle an empty notebook that fell from the sky, with nothing more than that is... kind of lame.

He has to investigate.

Edward carefully searches the pages for invisible ink, or else traces of writing that was erased. He brings out the UV lights, everything, but there's not a hint of anything there.

It looks, for all intents and purposes, like an empty notebook.

But it can't be, of course, because then why would it fall from the sky.

("Maybe someone in a hazmat suit chucked it off the roof" Emmett suggests.)

Eventually, Edward's curiosity overcomes him, and he starts putting liquid on the page (he's been trying not to damage anything at this point). To his astonishment, it disappears!

Tom Rolls Out of Hibernation

Ye gads, Tom in the Diary says, waking out of... whatever the fuck goes on in the Diary (there be monsters in there, I'm sure). Someone's writing, this is his chance, perhaps his only chance.

He's taking advantage of it.

Tom responds to the line of graphite, or whatever it is, and starts writing back.

Edward... doesn't seem to think he's a person or sentient, Tom quickly realizes (Edward thinks Tom's a very clever machine of some kind with a chat bot kind of like ELIZA inside, he's not sure how it works, or what this paper is if it's not paper, but he's very amused by Tom's claims to have been a person in the 1940's).

Edward has great fun grilling Tom on his life in the depression in England and pointing out all Tom's historical inaccuracies.

Tom immediately loathes Edward for this alone, but Edward continues to prove himself what Tom has always despised.

Tom views Edward as hopelessly arrogant and complacent. Edward has all the opportunities in the world, all the money in the world, and he sits here whining about how school is so boring and his life is so pointless. Edward is content to wallow in his own romanticized misery, brought on by absolutely nothing in Tom's eyes, because Edward simply enjoys the idea of being romantically miserable so very much.

Edward also believes himself to be highly intelligent, is clearly a naturally gifted legilimens, but is arrogant in this assumption and always believes himself to be the smartest in the room (there's a lot of pitying of Tom the poor chat bot).

Tom is very eager to destroy this little man and is certain he has all the tools to do it: Edward has real demons he has to deal with and he lets his guard down around Tom, he's started treating the diary as a kind of chat-bot therapist diary who won't run off with the secrets he does not wish to tell the family but needs to get off his chest.

Tom will get him, sooner or later, he'll get this motherfucker.

Bella Arrives in Forks

Edward has his crisis but guess who's there this time?

Edward vents his private terrors to Tom, his doubt, his obsession, everything.

Tom has his window and now owns enough of Edward's soul to possess him.

Edward starts losing time, he blames Bella for this, as he truly believes she's some kind of demon sent to torment him. Tom feeds these suspicions by pretending to have stored away historical information of previous cases. Demons who take the form of women and slowly unravel their victim's psyche.

(In case you were wondering, Tom as Edward just goes to school and acts perfectly pleasant to Bella and everyone else. Making Edward, of course, seem unhinged whenever he comes back and he's lost a fucking day.)

Edward is terrified of telling anyone, let alone Carlisle, as he thinks he could be genuinely dying. However, if he murders Bella, then he's murdering someone who, at least from the outside, genuinely seems to be a high school girl.

Either Edward snaps and does it or Tom does it for him, Edward waking up to being covered in Bella's blood, eyes red, standing in her corpse.

Edward runs, now having lost himself entirely, and Tom drains the life force from him and walks off having had a grand time.

First on his agenda? Turning into a vampire, that looks like fun.

[romeoandjulietyouwish]

The Volstrucker and I

Chapter 2: Getting to Know You

(read on ao3)

Caleb didn’t know what to expect from the princess. 

In the Empire, royalty were aloof. They were seen as stiff and cold. His first impression of the princess and queen could not be more different. It was clear just from the few minutes of interaction that the queen cared for her daughter deeply, something that Caleb pretended didn’t affect him. In a few months, they would be dead.

Princess Jester was perhaps the oddest person he had ever met. It was his first day as her guard and she was just so different than he was expecting. She came out of her chambers in a bright yellow dress that fell just above her knee, her clavicle exposed. Caleb quickly averted his eyes, it was strange for royalty to show so much skin.

Her hair was frizzy and loose around her shoulders. Her feet were bare except for a thick pair of socks with bees embroidered on them. There was ink and chalk on her hands and arms. If Caleb had seen her elsewhere, he would never guess she was the princess of the Menagerie Coast. 

She greeted him with a toothy smile, “Good morning, Caleb!” 

He bowed, “To you as well, your highness. I must thank you and your mother again for your hospitality and your gracious welcome to this country.”

Jester wrinkled her nose at his words, something Caleb made note of immediately. She didn’t like formality. He would need to do better to get her guard down. He continued, “I have been informed of my duties and I will be nothing but your shadow. Please continue your routine as usual.” He bowed again.

He could tell that he made another error. Jester’s frown only grew as he stood to the side to allow her to pass. When she frowned, her whole face drew together and her eyes seemed even bigger. Caleb did not want to see that look ever again. 

But she shook her shoulders and the smile returned to her face, “Come on, Caleb, we’re going to have so much fun today!” She let out a giggle that made him more afraid than excited before skipping off down the hall.

He hurried to catch up.

 The day was a near constant flurry of activity. It seemed as though Jester was rushing from one thing to another. She went to the gardens and picked a bouquet of flowers, then delivered them to the barracks, replacing a wilted bouquet. In the barracks, she talked to nearly every guard and squire. To Caleb’s surprise, none of them seemed afraid of her. They almost seemed to enjoy her company. 

Caleb stood against one of the walls, still as a statue. Jester was in the stables, humming and talking to herself as she braided the mane of a pure white horse.

“Caleb?” She crooned. He stepped to attention. From where she was standing on a step stool, she smiled at him, “Do you know how to braid? Do you want to help me?” The two questions ran together into one long one and Caleb was so surprised at the request that he found himself nodding.

He was rewarded by a blinding grin. He stood beside her and reached up to the horse’s coarse mane.

“This is Sprinkle,” Jester explained as she kept braiding. “He’s my horse, I’m not very good at riding, but I like just spending time with him. Fjord, he takes care of the horses, he says that Sprinkle only likes me and he gets agitated around him.” She glanced over at Caleb. On the stool, she was a bit taller than him. “I guess he likes you too.”

He met her eyes and then looked down. He likes you too. Her guard was down. He was alone with her. He could-

The hay shifted ever so slightly behind him. There was someone invisible with him and Jester. They had probably been with him and the princess since this morning, protecting her from him. Caleb had to hand it to the queen, she may seem passive, but she must have seen through the ruse. She was smarter than Trent thought, which meant that this would not be as simple a mission as expected.

While he was thinking and trying to work out what to do, Jester asked, “Have you ever seen the ocean before?”

Caleb shook his head, “No, your highness. I spent most of my life in Rexxentrum.”

She tipped her head to the side, “Why?” Sprinkle huffed softly and Jester soothed him with a kiss to his head.

“It is where my training took place.” He didn’t like her questions, they had an edge to them that he didn’t know how to interpret. He could tell she was digging for information. But how would this information help her in the slightest?

Her brow pinched together. “You’ve been training your whole life?” 

He nodded, “Since I was a boy. My father served in the army and I followed in his footsteps to become a Volstrucker.” He could almost hear Ikithon’s voice in his head, “Tell her something personal about yourself. It will lower her guard and get her to trust you.”

“I don’t know my dad,” Jester told him with a slightly sad note to her voice. “My mama says that he was the greatest and coolest. I make up stories about him sometimes, trying to imagine who he might be and why he never came back.” She looked at him conspiratorially, “I think he was kidnapped by pirates and then killed them all to become the pirate king.

He had to press his lips together to hide a smile. “I’m sure he is, your highness.”

She looked at him with her nose scrunched, “Why are you calling me that?”

He blinked, “It is your proper form of address, is it not, your highness?” For a moment panic struck him, he had researched this place extensively. He was certain that the forms of address were the same as the Empire.

The disgusted look didn’t leave her face. “I mean, yeah. But no one calls me that unless it’s like a formal occasion or some shit.” His eyes widened in surprise at her curse. “Just call me Jester.”

“I couldn’t possibly-”

Jester cut him off with a smug look, “Well you’re my guard and you have to listen to me and I command you to call me Jester.”

She certainly was something and gods, he didn’t understand her. He bowed to her, “As you wish, Jester.”

She grinned, tail flicking behind her. 

After Caleb departed for the night, Jester popped into the hallway. Bluud looked down at her with a fond smile, “Jester.” He held out his arm and she darted in to give him a quick squeeze.

“Hi, Bluud! I’m going to go see mama.” Bluud gave her a nod and fell in step beside her as they walked down the hallway. He asked questions about her day, all of which she answered extremely thoroughly. Before too long, they came to her mother’s bedroom. Four guards stood outside, two of them being Beau and Yasha. 

Though they were working, they both returned Jester’s greeting as she knocked enthusiastically at the door. In an instant it was opened by Marion in her red dressing gown. “Sapphire,” she cooed warmly as she welcomed her daughter in. 

Jester stepped into her mother’s arms, inhaling her rose water perfume. Marion pressed a kiss to her head as she wrapped her into a hug. “How was your day with Caleb?” Marion asked, gently guiding Jester over to the settee. While her mother sat down delicately, Jester plopped down heavily with the air that she had much to tell her mother.

“He’s so weird,” Jester told her, leaning into Marion’s side. “But I got him to tell me some stuff about himself.” She buzzed her lips, “But he’s so formal about everything.”

Marion laughed, running her fingers across Jester’s hair, “Most people are, dear, especially around royalty. Do you think you got through to him at all?”

Jester sighed, “I don’t think so. He’s like a robot, mama. He told me stuff but it was like…he calculated the perfect thing to say.”

“That’s how they train them,” Marion explained. She ran her fingers along Jester’s arm in a soothing motion. “The Volstruckers are stripped of their identities. That’s why you need to remind him of who he is, find what he likes.” Marion kissed her temple, “If anyone can do that, it’s you.”

Jester hummed and leaned deeper into her mother’s side, “I know.” 

“Did he try to get any information out of you? Did he do anything odd?”

Jester just shrugged, “I don’t think so. He didn’t really ask me about anything.”

“Well, I’m having Veth keep an eye on him for now and make sure that he doesn’t try to sneak around tonight.” 

The pair stayed like that for a long time, talking softly about their days and gossip. There was nowhere that Jester liked being more than with her mother. Marion was so busy these days that being alone together was rare. But after a while, the peaceful mood was interrupted by the clock chiming. 

Jester groaned, causing her mother to laugh and kiss her head. “It’s time for bed, sapphire,” Marion told her with a smile. The two of them exchanged their goodnights and a long hug. Bluud escorted her back to her bedroom, wishing her an affectionate goodnight before taking his post outside her door.

Many things baffled Caleb about Nicodranas but something he didn’t think he’d ever understand was the relationships the guards seemed to have with the princess and the queen. Of course he noticed the minotaur, Bluud, who glared at him whenever Caleb was with Jester. It was admirable, how much he cared for the princess, but Caleb couldn’t help but see it as weakness. 

A guard who loved his charge that much was a risk.

Then there was Beauregard and Yasha, two of the other royal guards. He first met them on his fifth day in the Menagerie Coast. Jester was in the library though it didn’t look like she was reading. From his position by the door, it looked more like she was drawing in the books. 

The door to the library opened. Caleb turned immediately, his hands igniting with flames. 

“Fucking shit!” Exclaimed one of them women at the sight of him standing there. In a flash there was a sword pointed at his neck. Caleb was ready to let the flames go, but before he could, Jester ran over.

“It’s okay!” She told them urgently. “Caleb, this is Beau and Yasha, they’re my guards too.” She looked at the two women as the taller one resheathed her sword. “Guys, this is Caleb, the Empire guy.” 

Caleb quickly extinguished his hands and gave Jester a sheepish bow, “My apologies, Jester.” He gave the same bow to Beau and Yasha before taking his place beside the door again. He didn’t miss the look that Beauregard gave him as she stepped deeper into the room. 

Beauregard and Yasha were both wearing armor with the crest of the royal family. Yasha, a tall aasimar woman, had white hair that was tied back in a thick braid. Beau was more slender and lithe, her hair was shaved on the sides and the rest was pulled into a loose top knot. While Yasha carried a sword, Beau had a bo staff that she carried as though it were an extra limb.

He did his best to fade into the wall, but Beau kept glancing at him every now and then. In his training, he spent hours learning how to stand so still he disappeared to others. He’d been doing it so far in Nicodranas. He silently thanked himself for having the foresight to cast Comprehend Languages as the three women began to talk in a language he did not understand.

“How’s he been so far?” Yasha asked, leaning her sword against the table as she sat down, keeping Caleb in her eye line. 

Jester chewed on the end of her pencil, “Fine, he doesn’t really say much, but he hasn’t tried to hurt me.”

“Yet,” Beau added almost imperceptibly. “I’ve seen Volstruckers before, they are chameleons. They will be whatever they need to be to get what they want from you.” Her sharp eyes darted to Caleb and then back to Jester. “We just don’t know what he wants yet.”

Caleb’s face was a mask of indifference, pretending as though he couldn’t understand. Inside his mind was whirling. Beauregard knew the Volstruckers better than anyone he’d met in the Menagerie Coast so far. That was dangerous.

“I don’t like it,” Yasha added. “Is Marion really sure this will work?”

Jester shrugged, “I guess. But, I don’t know, I like him. He’s weird.” Caleb really didn’t know what to make of that. Weird was never good, weird stuck out, weird was suspicious. But Jester was smiling.

The three women kept talking, but Caleb’s mind was whirling. He didn’t even notice Beau stand up, not until she was standing right in front of him. 

“Beauregard, was there something I could help you with?”

She crossed her arms, “No. Just…” She glanced back at Jester who gave her an encouraging nod and then continued, “I’m from the Empire too and I know that Nicodranas can be overwhelming at first. So if you want to train or talk or whatever…” She shrugged and then turned around and walked back to the table.

Caleb definitely didn’t know what to make of that. Yet, it made something stir inside of him. The Empire was home, it was all he had ever known and he found himself missing it more than he expected. Beauregard’s offer was appealing. He told himself it was just to try to get a sense of how the other guards viewed the royals.

In his room that night, Caleb sat on the bed with the sending stone in hand. He knew what Trent would say when he told him about Beauregard, he knew what would need to be done. Why was he dreading it? He had only spoken to her once, she shouldn’t matter to him.

He squeezed the stone gently, “Volstrucker Ermundrud reporting.” In succinct words, he told Ikithon about the information he gathered about the royal family and the guard rotations and finally about Beau.

The response was short and expected. “Neutralize the threat, we cannot risk this mission.”

“Yes, sir,” Caleb replied. And as the sending stone went dark, he forced himself to take a deep breath. He had never had an issue with killing, he had found it rather easy. Why was he struggling now? 

A week in this strange country with these strange people and it’s like he was a cadet all over again. He was that same boy who went catatonic when he spilled his first blood. Astrid had to slap him to get him back. She wasn’t here now. He had to do this on his own.

That was why he was here. You’re the most powerful of all of them, Bren. You’re the most loyal. Astrid and Easwulf work as a team, you’ve always worked better alone. 

He gripped his forearms tightly. What he saw in Jester and Marion was unlike anything he’d seen before. Their people were devoted to them, their guards too. It wasn’t entirely duty, they were cared for, loved even. Caleb didn’t know that was possible. He had never seen a ruler lead by anything other than fear. 

In the Empire, the king was feared, the Volstruckers were feared, the Crown’s Guard were feared. It was fear that caused the war between the Empire and the Dynasty to begin with. He had perceived it as fear or cowardice for the Menagerie Coast to refrain from joining in. Perhaps it was love.

Queen Marion loved her country. Maybe she saw her soldiers as more than pawns, she saw them as people. She loved them and so she wanted them to be safe, away from the war that had already claimed thousands of lives. 

His nails dug so deep into his arms that he felt the quick sting of skin breaking. Caleb knew he was intelligent, but for the first time in his life, he didn’t think that was enough.

[ashlynniis-bracketeers]

...Yes, I'm still brainrotting about assigning Sembla to (Kwaiz-ified) Warframes. Send help.

Putting it under a cut.

Excalibur - [???] ("Blades of Light" don't really fall under any of the Sembla. Light can make beams, but I don't recall solid swords of light falling under it lmao. Unless Kwaiz-calibur uses non-psionic magic alongside it...)

Trinity - [???] (She's a generalized healer. Could fall under Flesh or Sugar, and Kraizen can only have one Sembla...)

Ember - Fire (No shit lmao)

Loki - Ink (He's the invisibility and trickery guy, along with throwing out decoys. Switch teleport doesn't fall under any Sembla, though lmao)

Volt - Electric (No shit lmao)

Rhino - Gravity (None of his skills really fall under any Sembla except for Stomp, which "stomps with force sufficient to disrupt time, tumbling enemies around him in stasis".)

Ash - Plume (He has a smoke vent on his left arm and his invisibility manifests as a disorienting puff of smoke.)

Mag - Force (She's supposed to be magnets, but she can yoink basically anything and everything lmao)

Frost - Cold (No shit lmao)

Nyx - Ink? Spirit? (Neither of them have any real mind-control powers compared to, say, Fungus, but the animation for Chaos has a model of Nyx appearing on enemies affected by the ability, which could be an illusion to make the enemies mistake their allies for Nyx and start attacking each other. That doesn't really explain Mind Control, Absorb, or Psychic Bolts though lmao)

Banshee - Alarm (Pretty self-explanatory. Alarm isn't always just making sounds louder... I think...)

Saryn - Corrosion? Fungus? (Leaning a bit more towards Fungus. A lot of the wording for her abilities is "spores" and she has a wide umbrella of damage types that would fall under more than just the Corrosion Sembla, being toxin, viral, and corrosion.)

Vauban - Silicon[?] (He's a bit all over the place. I'm not sure whether he'd fit better under Plastic or Silicon, but I'm just putting Silicon because of his Overdriver mine lmao.)

Nova - Salt??? (Not the slightest goddamn clue. Her thing is antimatter, which isn't really tackled by any of the Sembla. I'm only putting Salt because her most popular ability is Molecular Prime, which makes enemies explode lmao.)

Nekros - Either Spirit or Dream (*Insert "IS THAT THE GRIM REAPER?" meme here* for Spirit, but also a toss-up between it and Dream due to Terrify being able to manipulate emotions directly.)

Valkyr - [???] (no damn clue. Her abilities are a bit of a mess, theme-cohesion-wise. She could be Alarm, or Thread, or Force, or...)

Oberon - Either Plant or Radiation (Similarly to Valkyr, he's also a theme-coherency mess. He's a paladin, king of the fairies, and he has radioactive pulses, slams, and grass, and also has a heal and a passive focusing on pets...)

Zephyr - Wind (No shit lmao)

Hydroid - Either Water or Corrosion (If this was pre-Rework Hydroid, I'd have listed only Water, but now he has a whole thing with the Corrosive status and stealing enemy armor and blablabla. He's still a pirate and water can also erode things...)

Mirage - Light, Spirit, or Ink (Not quite sure which single Sembla to give her. Her thing is confusing and blinding the enemy [See: the Disco Ball of Doom that is Prism], but that doesn't explain shit like Hall of Mirrors making more projectiles, Slight of Hand being explosive, or Eclipse unless she's also using non-psionic magic alongside it.)

Limbo - Either Void or Shadow? (Oh, Limbo, of course you keep being a pain in the ass to categorize. Limbo's thing is controlling "The Rift", a personal demi-plane as it were. While Void fits with using a "personal dimension", Shadow's ability to "sink into" shadows and move around in them untouchably outside of a few scenarios fits with how Limbo actually uses the Rift. Hm...)

Mesa - [???] (Not a single goddamn clue lmao. Literally the only ability that even vaguely falls under one of the Sembla is Shooting Gallery, which feels like it falls under Hex, but that's only one ability out of four and the other four are not really Sembla-ey.)

Chroma - [???] (No damn clue lmao. His thing is wielding four elements, which isn't really a thing for Kwaiz because there's a different Sembla for each of those four elements. No damn clue.)

Equinox - [???] (No damn clue lmao. She's two different frames in a trench coat, how am I supposed to pick one Sembla for this? And her abilities don't really feel Sembla-ey, either.)

Atlas - Rock (No shit lmao. Rocc.)

Wukong - [???] (No clue lmao. He's all over the place.)

Ivara - Either Ink or Force? (Got the Invisibility that feels like it'd fall under Ink, but she's also a pick-pocketing little shit and can guide non-hitscan projectile's movements, which feels like it'd fall under Force.)

Nezha - Fire (No shit lmao)

Inaros - Dust (POCKET SAND. Also his control over bugs and sand-theming also reminds me of Shilalaan, another Dust user who controls sand and bugs.)

Titania - Either Light or Wonder? (Fairy Fuckery is what she is. She likes turning enemies into lures and pulling random buffs out of her ass, she's all over the place. No clue lmao.)

Nidus - Flesh or Disease (Nidus is supposed to be a barely-tamed hunk of Infested material in the vague shape of a human person, but I'm not sure if controlling the Infestation would fall under the Disease Sembla...)

Octavia - Music (No shit lmao)

Harrow - Thread, Hex, or Silicon (Weirdo Void Crit Priest is also a pain in the ass to categorize. Thread would fit for chains, Hex would fit for critical hit manipulation, and Silicon would fit for team buffing and turning enemy damage absorbed by Covenant into critical hit chance.)

Gara - Glass (No shit lmao. Both in the sense of literal glass and the manipulation of perception.)

Khora - Thread (No shit lmao.)

Excalibur Umbra - [???] (See regular Excalibur above. Light? Alarm? idk.)

Revenant - [???] (No damn clue lmao. Another theme-cohesion mess.)

Garuda - Flesh (BLOOD FOR THE BLOOD GOD BLOOD FOR THE BLOOD GOD BLOOD FOR THE BLOOD GOOOOOD SGAKHSGJAGSAHSK)

Baruuk - Force? (I'm not sure. He's pretty simple fisticuffs, and stuff like the projectile avoidance from Elude, weapon destruction from Desolate Hands, and attack shock waves from Serene Storm could fit with Force, but something about it feels... off. It also wouldn't explain Lull.)

Hildryn - [???] (Not sure what to give her. Her thing is shields, and stripping enemy defenses to bolster those of her allies. Plastic? Silicon? idk)

Wisp - Either Spirit or Plasma? (Not sure what to give her. Spirit fits with her being themed after Will-O'-Wisps and using the Will-O-Wisp ability to distract enemies, but that doesn't explain Breach Surge or Sol Gate, which both fall more under Plasma. And neither of them explain her teleportation...)

Gauss - [???] (No clue. He's themed around kinetic energy and has traits that'd fit with Fire, Cold, Force, and Salt...)

Grendel - Either Sugar or Toxin (Not sure which one to pick. Sugar fits with his whole "eating people" thing, but both Sugar and Toxin fit with his team-buffing abilities regarding Nourish.)

Protea - Either Plastic or Silicon? (She's kinda like Vauban. A bit all over the place, not sure which to pick...)

Xaku - [???] (Oh, I have no fucking clue what to do with them and all of their Void Fuckery lmao.)

Lavos - Flesh? (Oh, my precious weirdo. His broad, element-mixing alchemical abilities don't really fall under any single Sembla, but his Leverian lore states that he was given power over Flesh to execute Javi, so I decided to give him Flesh. Maybe he's honed his Flesh skills so much that he's able to make organs that mix and throw out various elemental combinations on the fly... idk.)

Sevagoth - [???] (I have no clue lmao. He's also a non-Sembla-acting weirdo. Maybe the Shadow is an Amplifier or something idk.)

Yareli - Water (No shit lmao.)

Caliban - [???] (Nope, no damn clue lmao. Force? Plasma? Idk.)

Gyre - Electricity (No shit lmao)

Styanax - [???] (Not sure. Force??? Something about that feels off. Idk.)

Voruna - [???] (No clue lmao. Ink??? Spirit??? Wonder??? Idk.)

Citrine - Crystal (No shit lmao)

Kullervo - [???] (Oh goddamnit, more Void Fuckery. No clue what to do with him. Wonder??? idk.)

Dagath - [???] (No clue, more Void Fuckery. Hex?? Wonder?? Idk.)

Qorvex - Radioactive (No shit lmao)

Dante - [???] (MORE VOID FUCKERY. No clue what Sembla he'd have, but he'd definitely also be using non-psionic magic, I mean, just LOOK at what he does.)

Jade - [???] (She isn't even out yet, but since she's based on Angels and choral music, I'm leaning towards Music for now. We can just wait and see.)

[rxttenfish]

Do you have any snippets of Caecilian you can share to get people excited for the upcoming chapter? If you can't share any because you're notoriously good st keeping secret lore hidden, do you have a favorite line from the first chapter you'd really want to highlight?

actually i think im gonna highlight this but from the first chapter again, just because im not at my computer so i cant copy paste from the second chapter, i have a favorite snippet in mind and i want to see if anyone catches onto it, and because this bit still kinda chuffs me and im so delighted at how it came out

-

Miri perked up her fins and asked, “Did you like it?”, which was an utterly insane thing to say.

All the hairs on Aaravi’s neck stood up, which were soon promptly accompanied by the rest of the hair on her head attempting to follow suit, billowing up around her as though she was an angry bird, about to take flight. Her lips parted, teeth baring, because Aaravi had hunted monsters more than she ever spoke to anyone and picked up certain habits in her lonesome nature.

“What do you mean if I fucking liked it?” Aaravi’s words came harsh, pinpricking, and maybe she would have felt guilty about saying it to Miri’s confused tilt of her head if only she was paying attention. “No, no I didn’t like it, what the hell? You’re saying you’re going off to god-knows-where to do god-knows-what and talking like you’re afraid someone is going to find something written in invisible ink, and I’m supposed to like it?”

Those fins folded again, irritation sparking across Miranda’s face. Her pink lips went tight again, suggesting this wasn’t the response Miranda was expecting. Yeah, no, of course she wasn’t. Knowing Miranda, she wanted Aaravi to compliment her penmanship, to award her for the effort involved in writing it. Knowing Aaravi, Miranda shouldn’t have hoped for that, not now.

“No, I did not mean if you liked that I was going away, I mean-”

“Yes, I know what you mean.”

“But it was so nice! I used my favorite pen for it, the one with the mother of pearl and the filigree upon the side with the cutest little flowers? It took three whole tries to get the entire thing down as I intended it, and only partially because I kept slipping upon my cursive when I truly should have been better-”

“Miranda.”