#man who knew a fish could have so much lore

[secretly-larry-daley]

Thinking about Spider-Fish and his distain for humanity.

Humans are the reason why he exists. Why he feels all his pain and trauma. Why his Peter is dead…

But it isn’t only that. No no no, he doesn’t like humans for the way they treat each other. They act as uncivilized monsters while he’s called the animal? How is that fair? Don’t even mention how they’ve treated other animals.

He had to listen to the tired rants of Peter and his life as spider-man. How he was forced to be in authority role at only a teenager. Peter never wanted that, but the world forced him to anyway.

What I believe he hates the most about human is how they drag each other down. They fall apart and expect everyone else to pick up the pieces. To be saved. And if not, they hurt those around them with their problems.

He’s experienced it first hand! Right in front of his very eyes, exactly when Peter died. He watched MJ (this world’s MJ anyway) go from a loving mother to a neglectful mess. And he understands her pain, he really does. That doesn’t mean he didn’t lose someone too that day. But that didn’t mean he didn’t show up. He still cared for Peter’s daughter while still grieving the fact he’s gone. And he doubts he’ll ever stop grieving him. But, that doesn’t mean Peter’s daughter didn’t deserve a parent. It’s a reason why he took up replacing Spider-Man in the first place.

He didn’t want her to be the next Peter.

[kotelok16]

I promised to start telling the lore of the pirate au, but I have a no idea how to do it carefully... Let me introduce you to the main pirate team for now! Let’s start with our main hero - Hinata Hajime!

Hinata Hajime is the second son of an aristocratic family. Unlike his older brother, he was not particularly successful in anything. When he stopped enduring the eternal bickering with his father, he went to another country to study at the university. Who knew that going to a bar with fellow students would lead him to a pirate ship?.. The drunk students did not begin to figure out who was in front of them, and came into conflict with the pirates, after which they were captured. However, the conditions are quite civil: the parents pay the ransom — the unfortunate child is landed safe and sound on land. But this option was not very suitable for Hajime…

Therefore, in the end, he is the only one left on the ship as a servant in order to buy his own life. Although later he will take the position of navigator on the ship! Hajime will have to get acquainted with the life of pirates, crew members, and at the same time be puzzled by some secrets

The captain of the pirate ship himself! The conqueror of the Six Great Seas, a one-eyed shooter and just a living legend!

Fuyuhiko has been sailing on the Star Dragon for 20 years. He lost almost his entire family, previous crew and ship in an incident involving Countess Enoshima herself. Cap dreams of putting a bullet in her forehead, while simultaneously trying to get information from Junko about whether his younger sister is still alive or not.

In fact, the Star Dragon is not just a bunch of sea bandits. They are mercenaries in the service of one of the states (in France they were called corsairs). So most often their target is warships. But others are not averse to profit.

The quartermaster of the ship is at your service🥰

Peko got on a pirate ship when she was very young, when the crew rescued her after a shipwreck. The girl belonged to a famous family of knights in the past. Kuzuryu's father left her on the ship and raised her as a warrior who would protect his children.

As a result, after the tragedy, Peko is the only survivor from Fuyuhiko's previous crew. He values her very much, and she is still ready to put her head in the defense of her captain.

Quartermaster is a significant position on the ship. At its core, he shares the duties of the captain, is responsible for the condition of the ship, is in the very center of the fighting during the attack, the distribution of loot and determines the punishment for guilty pirates. And also executes this punishment.

The gunner and just the main combat unit on the ship 🔥

Akane was one of the street children wandering around the port city, surviving by selling caught fish and stealing. And one day, hunger forced Owari to try to steal food from the sailors who had just arrived at the port. How could a little girl know that they were pirates?

But Fuyuhiko liked such arrogance and fighting spirit, so he took the girl on the ship. The promise to feed turned out to be more than enough for this. Thus, Akane spent a significant part of her life on the ship, she was actually raised by Fuyuhiko.

The gunner on the ship is responsible for the condition of the guns and gunpowder, that is, for combat capability. But Akane likes hand-to-hand combat much more. Akane dreams of a duel with the captain, but for this it is necessary to defeat Peko, which she has not yet succeeded

Boatswain, forward looking and sea rat (nickname from the captain)!

Nagito is another "foster child" on a pirate ship. He was born into an aristocratic family, but his parents tragically died. Having lost the influence of his name, Nagito became a servant to a rich man. The relationship between the servants in this house was extremely strained, so in order to survive, they had to be cunning and adapt to the situation. But in the end, everything turned out so that the man was killed one day, and Nagito was taken on board the ship as a servant. But the boy adapted extremely successfully to the new conditions, with the help of Peko he learned how to use daggers, and simply showed himself to be an extremely brainy and rather cruel pirate.

Nagito spends most of his time up there under sail, because he doesn't really like interacting with the team. He plays the role of a boatswain — monitors the condition of sails, cables, and gives signals to other ships. He can also play the role of an executioner, in case of a crew member's fault.

The ship's carpenter

Kazuichi was an ordinary country boy, lived with his grandfather and did woodwork. However, in his youth, the wind was walking in his head, so he drank a lot and was a rowdy. Which, in the end, his grandfather could not stand and died. Kazuichi took it all extremely painfully, went into an even heavier binge because of his worthlessness.

On one such day, pirates came into the bar. They were looking for new people to join the crew, including a carpenter. A drunken Kazuichi agreed to take such a job. He sobered up already on the ship, and it was… Not a very gentle awakening. He swore to himself never to drink like that again.

The ship's doctor

Mikan was the daughter of a doctor. Unfortunately, not a particularly beloved one. However, she liked to help people and study medicine, she had a dream to travel the world in search of medicinal herbs and various discoveries.

One day, on the street, she came across a wounded young man. Mikan brought him to her house and began to take care of him. It was only when he woke up that she found out that she had sheltered a pirate. However, it was more important for her to provide help, so she continued to nurse him. By the time of his correction, it turned out that Mikan was going to be married to a not particularly pleasant person. Fate smiled on her, because the young pirate whom she had saved returned for her and took her to the ship with him. The team needed a doctor anyway.

Teru

A randomly picked piggy during one of the crew's forays for supplies. He followed Peko, and she took him on board the ship. The team planned to make a dinner out of it, but it turned out that the piglet copes perfectly with the role of a cat and perfectly destroys rats. So he was given the name Teru and left as an important member of the crew guarding supplies.

[mulders-too-large-shirt]

my favorite mulder moments from s2

him having no faith in episode 1 after the x files are terminated, not even believing what he knows to be true regarding his sister’s disappearance

(and then being the moodiest motherfucker for the foreseeable future)

the fact that he got a fish in between s1 and s2. this brought me so much joy, you don’t even know

his monologue in episode 1, addressed to scully, who was not present: “before I could only trust myself, now I can only trust you, and they’ve taken you away from me… my life up until this point has been about seeing her again, but what would I do if they really come?” <- dear goddddddd. sometimes you get some lines that cut right to the heart of a character and this is one such example.

seeing his horrific workspace where he listened to audio recordings, a job he loathed- it was covered in sunflower seeds, pages with doodles, him stabbing an empty cup. truly a man with no fucks to give.

very very very fluffy hair in the early episodes

when episode 5 opens on him swimming in a big pool. there really was no narrative reason for that except we now know he swims recreationally and that is exactly the kind of thing i’m interested in knowing.

in episode 6, when he meets scully’s mom after her kidnapping, he listens to her say she dreamt of her being taken away, and hugs her

(and all throughout that episode, how he was told to go home because he was too close to the case, but instead got more and more involved. he even drove out to try and find her while falling asleep behind the wheel. dangerous behavior)

((and when he thinks scully is at the top of the mountain, he pulls his gun on the man who runs the ski lift to MAKE SURE he can get to the top as quick as possible. this one was WILD to me. pulling a gun on someone, just to get to her as fast as he can!!!!! he did not care about proper protocol! job be damned he was getting her HOME))

(and when they finally DO get duane barry, he sees scully's blood and hair on his wristband, and starts CHOKING him. you do NOT want to mess around with this man. he tells krychek that NO ONE is to interrogate the suspect but him. NO ONE. he is in what i affectionately refer to as bloodhound mode; there shall be no rest until an answer is sleuthed out)

trying to return scully’s necklace to her mother, who refuses to take it, so he can give it back to her

he has a lot of really emotional moments with scully’s mom, such as telling her she can’t give up hope even as they are picking up her gravestone in episode 8, which he cannot bear to look at

when scully is found, he bursts into the hospital, screaming at the doctor and saying he’ll do anything to figure out what they did to her, to the point where he had to be escorted from the room

(also love when he’s waiting to hear news on how she is doing, and he’s pacing his apartment, bouncing a ball, entirely unable to sit still, he’s so terrified)

after she is found, x tells him to walk away and never look back, and he immediately disregards this information to go chase down whoever knew anything about scully’s disappearance

when her family decides its time to remove her life support, he refuses to go in with them, looking the saddest and wettest a man has ever been

“you could spend the rest of your life finding every person that’s responsible, and it’s still not gonna bring her back”, says melissa. “including myself?” he asks. always taking the blame.

breaking into CIGARETTE MAN’S HOUSE. gun to his head. why her, he asks.

his confrontation scene with skinner, who refuses to accept his one-sentence resignation letter, and who tells him of his own demons. allowing for some skinner lore and deep connections to be made.

again in episode 8, he’s waiting in his apartment for the folks who took scully to arrive so he can kill them, but melissa puts him into his place- “why is it so much easier for you to run around trying to get even than just expressing to her how you feel? i expect more from you. dana expects more from you”

so he leaves his apartment and the one chance he’ll ever have to know who did this to her, and instead goes to sit by her bedside, holds her hand, and talks to her comatose body

(then, we he returns to his apartment, which has been ransacked by those involved with the crime, he falls to the ground, sobbing)

but how BIG he smiled when he heard that her eyes were open!!

in episode 9, when he finally has her back, how he helps her out of the helicopter when they fly to a distant volcano research base <3

also, in episode 10, when they’re being driven to a farm, and he lets her take shotgun so he can lounge about in the back

when he drops this banger line while sitting at a picnic table in episode 12: “i’ve often felt that dreams are the answers to questions we haven’t yet figured out how to ask” (and then does not elaborate)

at the aforementioned picnic table, the detective vaguely describes seeing some sort of symbol, and he immediately realizes it was the logo for the 1939 world’s fair, which is SO funny to me. because WHY does he know that!

when he lifts the caution tape over scully so she can bring her umbrella to the rainy crime scene in episode 13 <3

talking to a random guy in a town they’re visiting for an investigation: “you know andy” “no, I don’t” “well, andy knows you” <- another instance of him being famous in the nerd community

all the times he starts rambling about different belief systems, like the idea of obtaining a new soul in the ep 13, or the concept of wicca in episode 14

when they go to the refugee camp in episode 15, and a child tries to sell them a good luck charm, which he pays a nice $5 bill for

getting hit by a car in episode 16, and then making some dumbass quip about how he should have used the crosswalk

going back home when his "sister" is found, tucking his mom into bed with a kiss

then his dad confronting him, blaming him for losing his sister in episode 17,  leaving him crying as he tries to process the grief of getting her back just to feel guilty for her death

(don’t worry though- it wasn’t really her. but damn, he thought it was, and this scene was devastating)

finding his faith again with scully at his bedside after almost dying of alien poison

when he goes for a jog in florida (episode 20), arguably the hottest and most miserable of all continental US states, in a sweatshirt and sweatpants. and i cannot explain this behavior. he is deeply peculiar.

on the investigation of the sideshow performers, he flirts with the man fixing scully’s pipes to get him to leave. or as i call it: “weaponized bisexuality”

when he slides through a tiny trap door in a haunted house to come and find scully. great visual gag. i chuckled.

feeling sick at home, taking advil in his slutty little tanktop in episode 25. then proceeding to go wild because he was being drugged. don’t worry, he ends up okay. thanks only to scully.

[jasper-pagan-witch]

Do you have a favorite and least favorite deck that you own? Or multiple in each category. Or any decks you disliked enough you regifted them?

Ohhh boy, do I ever. Firstly, I would like it to be known that I do, in fact, have spreadsheets for this. I have so many spreadsheets overall tbh. Therefore, I have spreadsheets for this! Regifted decks do not count towards my total of 60 decks, but the shame corner decks do.

Regifted Decks

Cosmic Tarot - I didn't really vibe with it, so I gave it to my mother.

Crystals: The Stones Deck - Not actually a tarot or oracle deck, but I gave it to my grandmother.

Dark Goddess Oracle Cards - There was just. So much wrong with the "lore" in this deck. The artwork also reminded me of those low-quality game ads you get on...adult content sites. I gave this one to my mother too.

Disney Villains Tarot Deck - I just didn't vibe with it, despite the pretty artwork. It really felt like they just made it a tarot deck because tarot decks are more popular than oracle decks. I gave it to a friend.

Kawaii Tarot - It was simple and clean...and I genuinely couldn't fucking read the deck. I gave this one to my mother as well.

Tarot of Sexual Magic - Most of this deck was cishet white folks and the only black man who appeared was about to get murdered on the Tower card because he was sleeping with a white woman and her boyfriend was swinging an axe to stop it. Did not enjoy. My mother actually took this one as well.

Shame Corner

Aleister Crowley's Thoth Tarot - I got this one on purpose and I think I gave it anxiety. I actually used its cards for bookmarks for a while but almost lost a good half of the deck.

Gems Oracles Cards - I knew that there was appropriation in this deck because I actually bought it off of a friend who was complaining about it, but it's part of something akin to a personal art project.

Decks I Actually Like - Tarot

The Antique Anatomy Tarot (Claire Goodchild) - This has the same overall vibe as those old-timey doctor's illustrations and it makes me feral in a good way. I want to eat this deck.

The Crow Tarot (MJ Cullinane) and the Guardian of the Night Tarot (MJ Cullinane) - Beautiful photoshopped collage-style decks. I even named my Crow Tarot "Uldren" (shoutout to the Destiny players and lore nerds who catch that reference).

The Dragon Tarot (Nigel Suckling, Roger Garland, Linda Garland) - My first ever tarot deck, lovingly named Abbot. This deck taught me a lot of hard lessons real quick about divination. Could use more dragons, but I love it. I've used it so much that it's falling apart.

Gay Tarot (Lee Bursten, Antonella Platano) - One of the first queer decks I bought, and it makes me happy because I'm masc-leaning when I must present as a gender.

In-Between Tarot (Janine Worthington, Franco Rivolli) - A really cool deck that explores the spaces between the cards rather than focusing solely on their classic depictions and interpretations. Cernunnos called dibs on this one.

Manga Tarot (Riccardo Minetti, Anna Dorzhieva) - A very fun little deck that genderbent every card and focuses on overall color to help carry the meanings. It is not, as far as I can tell, based on any particular existing manga.

Star Spinner Tarot (Trungles/Trung Le Nguyen) - This deck comes with four different Lovers cards, so I just keep them all in the deck. The author apparently has a graphic novel called The Magic Fish that I intend to read one of these days. I actually came across the novel through a YouTube video and didn't catch the author/artist's name at first, but I saw the artwork and immediately clocked it as Trungles.

Tarot of the Divine (Yoshi Yoshitani) - Alongside its companion book Beneath the Moon, this is an adorable little tarot deck whose art style makes me squee.

Tiny Universal Waite Tarot aka Tiny Tarot (no listed artist/author) - This is not a deck I use for divination, it's just so smol and cute that I wanted it.

Decks I Actually Like - Oracle

The Arcana of Astrology (Claire Goodchild) - Another Claire Goodchild deck, and I want to eat this one too. This deck doesn't just stop at zodiac signs and planets, there are also cards for the houses and the "comets", too.

The Seed & Sickle Oracle Deck (Fez Inkwright) - THIS DECK'S CARDS MAKE A GRADIENT. This is one of the most beautifully illustrated decks that I have ever seen in my life. It comes with two guidebooks - one for internal meanings, one for external meanings.

Spirit Allies (Jill Pyle, Cidney Bachert, Jay Kay) - I don't care much for the "goddess" portion of this deck, but Cannabis is a card in here and that made me cackle. Worth an honorary mention.

Woodland Wardens (Jessica Roux) - Another beautiful deck, this one features animals paired with plants. The composition of these are absolutely top-tier and I love them very much.

Thanks for sending this ask! I love to talk about decks I own and ramble about them and brag about my spreadsheets!

~Jasper

[melodyfsoul1]

Okay Loki S2 E5 Reaction/ Review Time

SPOILERS AHEAD BEWARE

"Science / Fiction"

OH MY GOD THAT TITLE

I cant believe I was right about all of them being scattered across different time line branches, Loki having to get his friends back and them not having memories of him :O

Also the fact that the fans predicted Casey to be a dangerous / criminal because he was always so gentle in the TVA and then we see him breaking out of freaking Alcatraz?! And the fish references too XD

B15 being a Doctor was so freaking wholesome, she really just wants to help people whetevee she is :D

OB being a Scifi Author and Scientist was just perfect XDDDD

AND WE FINALLY GOT MOBIUS ON A JETSKI THIS IS A WIN FOR THE FANDOM

And again, the fact that the fans immediately predicted that Mobius was a (single) dad in his life, because they spotted a couple toys in front of the house in the mid season trailer :D

(I could literally hear the fanfiction authors melt into a puddle at the potential of Loki x single dad Mobius XD)

And the fact that he isnt just a Dad, no he is a SINGLE FATHER of TWO SONS

The freaking parallel of Mobius' two sons and young Thor & Loki?!

One being a lil mischievous prankster and the other (most likely the older) one who has to keep him out of trouble?! And the fact that he said he loves snakes?!?! That is just straight up a Thor reference?!

No wonder Mobius knows how to deal with people like Loki XD

But as much as I like the parallel of the two sons, I also feel kinda weird about what it could imply for Mobius, like does that mean he is supposed to be a mirror or opposite of Odin? A version of a dad that didnt mess up with their parenting? That this is why Loki feels drawn to Mobius? Is that what we were supposed to conclude from that?

I know we joke about Loki liking older men, and of course Loki has his daddy issues, but if Mobius is an opposite of Odin then what does that mean for Lokius?

Now to some more lore related stuff:

Can I just say that the spaghettification effect is absolutely terrifying?!?! (as stupid as it may sound) Seeing people get spaghettified fills me with just as much dread as the Dusting from the Snap, but it is so much more horrifying because it looks so brutal compared to how "gentle" the Dusting effect is....

Then Loki & Sylvie's talk about being selfish, about their own wants & needs

"Whats wrong with wanting sth?" -  she asks Loki, but in reality, has Loki ever gotten anything he truly desired? (At least L1130 hasnt, man went straight from the Events of Thor 1, to Thanos to the New York attack, he was never able to mend his relationship with Thor or find friends...)

Now... Sylvie, she still frustrates me.... I do get that she wants a life, but you cant just stab or ignore your way out of everything... plus their world is still ending as a matter fact...

It literally took her fav lil branch getting wiped out, to realize that she was wrong, that Loki was right all along, and that was AFTER she had just convinced Loki to give up his quest... because "wanting his friends back" would make him just as "selfish" as her wanting a life... But the difference is, that while Sylvie would chose her life, instead of helping fix everything, ignoring the casualties it brings, Loki would be self sacrificial enough to give up his own needs, which he literally was about to do, until Sylvie got back because she finally wanted to help avoid the impending doom that threatened to destroy them all.

I think we all kinda knew Loki's drive wasnt necessarily saving the TVA, but wanting/ needing his friends back and wanting to keep them save, but Loki actually admitting that he "wants his friends back, that he doesnt want to be alone"

THAT BROKE ME

Especially with the motive of "no one deserves to be alone" but the Lokis only ever having themselves to find comfort, and if they tried to change that, the TVA showed up to prune them, loneliness was literally what drove Classic Loki out of his hiding and into the arms of the TVA.

And Loki saying "Without them (his friends), where do I belong?"

I didnt know it was possible, but that broke me even more... he just wants a place where he is wanted and safe...

Then the time slipping, Loki being able to Control it?! IS THAT HOW THE MCU INTRODUCES LOKI BEING A WORLD WALKER?!

Loki realizing "Its not about the when, where or why. Its about the Who" (god that part was so sweet, right in the FEELS, it was so over for me, my heart cant take much more of this)

And finally Loki chosing to rewrite "The Story"... actually "Play God" thats now full confirmation of Loki God of Stories right?! RIGHT?! I wanna see my boy, God of Stories Loki is one of my Fave Lokis :DDDD

[berry-hwa]

Well well well. Look who returns

WITH A PART 2 OF THE MERMAID AU FANFIC!!! im still not sure if ill continue this. I have a lotta stuff going on. I dont think my brain needs any more plotting and thinking about a fictional idea. Thx. This is more of a lore and info dump that i wanted to elaborate on and because of that it also isnt as long as the first part butt to be fair i planned to cut that down to 2 parts sooo...anyway. Enjoy!!

"Is that enough proof for you, Ichinomiya?"

His bewildered face was very telling. But he actually quickly looked away and closed his eyes, as did the others in panic.

"Okay, okay— cover up, I didn't ask to look at your bare chest."

Her bare chest...?

"...Oh. Right." She looked down at herself. Her transformation didn't give her any more than a tail since it was her true, unadjusted form — so she was left topless. She didn't understand why her tail couldn't just grow from underneath her clothes. "My apologies."

"Gosh, these tails you guys have are so heavy...!" Baba adjusted his hold on her, hoisting her up. She knew he was pretty strong, so the weight of her really must've been something. Or, alternatively, could've been his age catching up to him.

"Actually," she raised her hand, slowly collecting all the water up from her person droplet by droplet, returning it all back into the glass as she transformed back into her human form, "siren tails are usually much lighter than normal mermaid ones, even with how long they are." She explained, looking to Baba to let go of her.

Soryu coughed as he looked back at her human form...with less to reveal this time, "Well...you wouldn't be wrong about that," Eisuke looked over at him with a questioning glare, "why is that though?"

She stared at the man, wondering how to explain this to him and the others.

"Well, sirens evolved to be deft and quick in order to efficiently capture their prey. Their tails are longer and lighter to aid in swimming and their fins have little to no drag under water, to maximize speed. Very much not like the tail of mine which you saw." She quickly answered. And she had to stare at the men's faces, who didn't utter a word in response. Eisuke however, seemed to be really taking everything in.

"...Huh. You really know a lot about this stuff, huh." Baba looked at her after taking a seat next to Eisuke.

"Well, I was born at sea, this is common knowledge to us all. Not to ordinary people, nor to ordinary people with unexplained tails, though." She crossed her arms, locking eyes with Eisuke.

"...Now that I've proved myself," She continued, returning to her task at hand, "any questions you might have?"

Eisuke blinked at her, visibly still puzzled. Did she not give him enough information? Was he going to reject her plea?

"...How am I even supposed to help you and your people?" He began, staring at her very incredulously, "you say I am a siren but I don't know what new information that knowledge gives me."

Goodness. Had he never heard of a siren and what one does? It could explain his cluelessness, though.

"Sirens preyed on sailors by luring them in with their voice and song and dragged them under the sea when they'd get close enough to attack. What do you think you have those fangs for?" She exclaimed, pointing at his mouth, "They certainly aren't meant to be for consuming fish."

Eisuke blinked. He sure was very clueless, huh?

"...I'm supposed to be preying on humans?"

"Just think of it as a food chain. Sirens need to survive too, you know." He blinked even more at that.

"Why were you looking for me throughout these years? Are there no other sirens like me out there?"

"If there were, do you think I'd be standing in front of you now?" She crossed her arms again, raising an eyebrow at him.

"No?" He answered, seemingly thinking to himself.

"Correct." She sighed, looking at the glass full of water. She missed home. "Sirens have been going extinct for decades. If there are any remaining still, they choose to seclude themselves deep under the sea, not even daring to look at the sun above — those sirens live off of the creatures that lurk deep in the oceans, until they eventually reach the end of their lives."

"...Interesting bit of information." Baba interrupted, probably aiming to lighten up the atmosphere a bit. She can't say it worked.

"I've desperately tried to find them myself...but mermaids aren't fit enough to be so close to the ocean floor. Its one of the reasons we can't relocate under the sea and why humans keep finding us." All those days she spent trying to reach as deep as she could before her body couldn't stand any more pressure, before the ocean became so dark she could barely keep on swimming, all in vain. Her last hope in the end was but a siren-turned, ordinary human man.

"So I'm your only chance as of now."

"...Yes, you are." It was actually a bit pathetic to admit that now.

She stared at him as his gaze lowered. This was a lot of information to take in but she hoped he was at least a bit sympathetic of her situation and could offer some assistance in any way. She'd understand if preying on humans wouldn't end up on Eisuke's to-do list.

"Your explanation does give some understanding as to why so many foods have become so unappetizing over the years, if it's not the required diet for...sirens..." Eisuke muttered, deep in thought she presumed. "And everything you've said and...shown here, as insane as it all may sound, seems...true."

"Aren't ya fast to believe her, mister siren." The detective chimed in, getting up from his spot near the window and making way to the group.

"I don't need your commentary over here."

"Would your dick fall off if you were a little nicer to your acquaintances?"

"...pfft-"

"Hey! Who are you to be speaking to me with such words?" Eisuke was very clearly fuming, no doubt a reflection of the power he gained with his transformation. "Watch your mouth or I won't even consider aiding you."

Ugh. How annoying.

"Fine, fine. I'll do my best." For her family.

"Actually, go back to the "who are you"," Baba interrupted suddenly, "is your name actually Misaki? I feel like I got really bamboozled today so I wanna make sure..."

Ah, right, the fake name she gave him and Ota...speaking of, the artist hadn't said a word this whole time. Actually, his whole behavior seemed a bit...off, not very much like him at all, she noted.

"I lied about that. My name is actually Mira." Obviously she picked the first name she thought of but it wasn't a coincidence that she had picked a similar sounding name to the one her family gave her.

"...You said you were from Britain, but you speak perfect Japanese...how is that possible?" Baba questioned. Quite the curiosity he had.

"Well...to clarify, I'm not from Britain, I was born in the sea surrounding the land, but I know some english because I was forced to live above land after my family was taken away."

"Taken away?"

"Killed." Admitting that hurt. "I knew I had to find you after your transformation, so I began to learn japanese in hopes of coming here one day and confronting you."

"You really held out hope that I would be generous enough to help you, huh." Eisuke locked eyes with her, his gaze fierce.

"Was I not supposed to?" She mirrored the fierce gaze of his and narrowed her eyebrows, daring to question him. He could choose to rip her apart right then and there but did she care?...not that much. She had nothing to lose.

"Just saying you might've wasted your time and my money."

Lovely.

"...So is that a flat-out no?" She muttered, already feeling dejected.

"I need to think it over some more..." She breathed a heavy sigh, preparing herself for disappointment, "but, only while you work under me."

What.

"Wha...?" She looked at him in disbelief.

"Riiight...about that!" Baba interrupted once more. "Remember how we bought you back there? Yeah...there's no way we're letting you go back out in the wild just like that. I'd argue its for our safety but with all that you've told us, it'd be best for you too!" Did he just attempt to flirt with her amidst that???

"...Okay...and if I stay here, I need to work?"

"Obviously." Double lovely.

She frowned, going over her options. Baba was right even while trying to swoon her, since she was sought after, she couldn't guarantee her safety in the ocean, nor could she stay in touch with Eisuke — and of course, they'd want to keep an eye on her after she witnessed such an auction in the hotel depths.

So really, her only hope was to stay with these strange men for the time being — in exchange for Eisuke's potential partnership.

"What do you say then?"

She sighed once more.

"I'll stay."

Such simple words could never make her think they would change her life overnight.

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

In the quiet of the night, the angelic artist locks the door behind him as he processes all he heard from the woman, who had now been placed in the room next to his own. Standing frozen against said door, he feared he had zoned out at some point in her talking, but one thing was very clear to him anyway.

He wasn't normal.

And it made him worry.

[sp4mja]

So I've decided to accept who I am and make a OP x QSMP AU. But before making any art I made a list of possible Devil Fruits each member would have plus some lore

This will be a long and extremely self-indulgent post, so everything regarding this AU is under the cut.

So, both the hispanics and the English speakers are invited to the island, they all range from ex marines to civilians to pirates. The only thing they have in common is that everyone is a devil fruit user, which quickly raises their suspicions about the island.

The logic behind having so many Devil Fruit users together is that the Federation purposefully gathered them all together. Expect for the brazilians and the french, who just happened to stumble upon the island, some of them do have devil fruits but not all.

And that's one of the reasons why the Federation dislike them, as they don't fit in the plan.

Speaking of the Brazilians and the French!

The Brazilians knew each other before the island but very briefly (except for Pac, Mike and Cellbit) since they all made it into the same ship and ended up crashing on Quesadilla island (Felps is not a good navigator and Forever was too worried to actually steer the ship.)

As for the French, they were traveling to a Sky Island on a big ship and they ended up falling from the sky, they didn't particularly know each other before but they grew closer on the ship before the ship fell.

Now, I'm still thinking about some fruits and roles (backstory from the cubitos before the island) but these are my general ideas, feel free to share your thoughts!

Some of my ideas are pretty self-explanatory but ask away if you have any doubts!

● Hispanics:

Luzu — tbh idk something about metals, maybe the smelt-smelt fruit? Maybe even a cyborg

Rubius — .... Wish-Wish fruit?? He grants wishes or something

Mariana — Whisper-Whisper Fruit (Taking into account his rp on tortillaland and integrating it into the qsmp, he should be able to talk to animals. I don't think the animals talk back tho)

Spreen — Bear-bear Fruit Model Black Bear

Missa — Bird-Bird Fruit Model Raven / Revive-Revive Fruit (Debating over this, specially because it would be funny if both Missa and Philza share similar DF, but also skeleton Missa is fun)

Roier — Spider-Spider Fruit Model Latrodectus Hesperus (black widow)

Vegetta — Scroll-Scroll Fruit (He's the wise man of the mountain, I'm sure he uses his knowledge to make powerful scrolls)

Maximus — Clank-Clank Fruit / Magnet-Magnet Fruit (Tbh I want something relating to Max's abilities with machines)

Quackity — String-String Fruit (freaky, the man who pulls the strings)

● English:

Wilbur — Tone-Tone Fruit / Song-Song Fruit (For this one I think going with Uta's power is better, Wilbur is extremely powerful but he is also a whimsical British guy who sings beautiful songs for his daughter to have a good night of sleep)

Fit — Pop-Pop Fruit

Philza — Bird-Bird Fruit Model Crow (Love-Love fruit if I'm feeling a little crazy, he turns Forever into stone sll the time)

Jaiden — Bird-Bird Fruit Model Parrot / Brush-Brush Fruit (As much as I love parrot jaiden, I think she being able to draw bobby after his death but stopping herself from bringing the art to life is extremely angsty and I love it)

Bad — Hollow-Hollow Fruit

Foolish — Shark Fish man. Swim Swim Fruit (I know, he can't swim so he now has a fruit that lets him swim everywhere? Yeah, but also a logia fruit that could help him build fits as well)

Dan — ? (Sorry)

Slime — Jello-Jello Fruit (Following the food themed devil fruits from the Big Mom Pirates, he turns into Jello... Lime flavor, he is sticky, sugary and a little sour, both Mariana and Juana are intrigued)

● Brazilians:

Cellbit — Archeologist and Archivist, former captain of a crew (as much as I would love to give Cellbit a DF, I think it would be charming if he could save Roier from falling into the sea all the time, as well as Felps)

Felps — Calm-Calm Fruit (He makes silent bubbles for Richarlyson everytime he gets overwhelmed, best dad)

Forever — Navigator (Pirate, former marine, he loves travelling and lost his right hand man on the way)

Pac and Mike— Shipwrights (Do not separate. They make the craziest ships on the world. Also criminals with bounties but not necessarily pirates)

● French:

Baguera — Mink Duck (she's a duck, she went to explore the world and oh well)

Etoiles — Woods-Woods Fruit / Arms-Arms Fruit (This one is complicated, he is a cucumber (?) So I thought a extremely powerful fruit like the Woods-Woods one its him, but he is also very dangerous and into weapons, so the other one also fits him? He is a bounty hunter)

Antoine — Stich-Stich fruit (He stiches dirt together, doesn't really use his power but he starts doing it after Pomme gets interested (he makes her clothes!!!))

Kameto — Normal ninja lmao (literally just a ninja, just a guy, he is terrifying)

Pierre — Inventor (Both Marines and Pirates buy his inventions, money is everything)

As for the eggs, I believe they follow the same logic as the seraphims. They were artificially made using human DNA and thats why they are both inteligent and fragile. They are replaceable and the Federation can make more if they find a quicker and cheaper way.

Oh and Cucurucho, I think it would be extremely fucked up if it has the Shadow-Shadow fruit. Imagine Cucurucho taking Cellbit's shadow, creepy.

[bureaumantic]

little goober i made for one of my worldbuilding projects (the one in question being Ghelter Aquatic Desalination Corporation)

look at the fella, sitting there with his roblox fish lookin face

You know what I think I'm going to start expositing lore. That wasn't my original intention but I'm gonna do it anyway.

Click the Keep reading button thingy if you'd like to read about marisians and their lives in Ghelter Aquatic.

So I'm sure you've all read the 17 page long in-universe research paper written by Kosi Neuer about marisians that I wrote a little while back...

...but on the off chance that you didn't, here's a basic summary!

Humans are not alone, we have discovered a whole buncha fish people called Homo Natans but more colloquially referred to as marisians.

Marisians are dangerous because they are largely unpredictable (at time of that paper being written) and can only reproduce through infection of humans through bites. Also they might be able to tear people apart with their fangs without infecting but we don't know for sure, it could have been that the flesh was separated from the body at such a speed that there was no time for an infecting agent to enter the body. So it's a maybe on that one for now.

When a human is transformed into a marisian, they take on a number of new qualities. The skin is recolored, along with the eyes and hair. Marisians develop new appendages like fins and fish-like tails. Their pupils also glow. Regarding mental change, most marisians develop a combination of lower intelligence, immaturity, energy, and physical strength (that is often belied by their appearance). More rarely, however, a marisian will experience a significant increase in intelligence that often surpasses their human intelligence (even if that trait is difficult to accurately quantify and measure), maturity, but lower energy and physical strength. The former are called "Swimmers" and the latter are called "Sapients." The ratio of swimmers to sapients is roughly 7 to 1. This may point to a brawns-and-brains mechanic that schools of marisians may use in nature, with sapients being discouraged from doing much physical work and doing the mental work for the group, leading the swimmers who can execute their plans. Swimmers are often docile and compliant with security and researchers while sapients are more hostile and unwilling to conform. Marisians also lose all of their memories upon transformation into a marisian, but do retain a few skills like the ability to speak any languages they knew or a few habits/rituals.

So that's a summary of the relevant part of the paper. There is still more but it isn't exactly relevant to what I want to talk about.

So what does a marisian's average day to day look like? Well, they spend most of their time in their holding tanks. Half of their holding tanks are dry ground while the other half is essentially a really deep pool. There are beds and rooms on the dry section but most choose to sleep in the pool. The entrance to a holding tank is sealed by a huge door thing. idk man i don't do doors lol.

wait i have an image

this is what those doors look like for the most part. there's a decontamination chamber/checkpoint behind that door that will allow you to enter the holding tank.

Marisians are allowed to mingle with one another and essentially can do whatever they want while not being tested on. Food is delivered and distributed 3 times a day by some poor soul in the Hospitality Department. Employees of the Hospitality Department are going to be the most frequent sight for marisians, other than the Security Department, of course.

Now when I say "poor soul" I don't mean they're like gonna die or anything like that. They're just going to have to get through a really uncomfortable and possibly dangerous environment for like a half hour or so as they try to get everyone's attention and to pass out meals without aggravating anyone. Also they do have an escort of guards so yeah.

The Hospitality Department also handles all of their janitorial work and such. Occasionally, someone in the Engineering Department may need to enter the holding tank to fix something.

Every marisian has a medical check up once a year, held on the "anniversary" of their transformation. That is conducted by the Medical Department and overseen by some grunt from the Ethics Department.

Also anytime I mention departments, assume a few fellas from the Security Department are present. That'll just go without saying.

When being tested on, there will (obviously) be a few fellas from the Research Department and there will usually be some fella from the Ethics Department but not always.

While there is the occasional riot (on average, once every 2 years, actually), most marisians are content with their lives. They don't really seek freedom, on account that most of them are swimmers and just spend all day relaxing in a holding tank with free meals, no rent, no taxes, no jobs or other obligations, free medical care... hey where can I sign up to be one of these guys?

But they do get tested on and sometimes they are extremely unethical. For example, the Psychology Division of the Research Department decided in 2014 that yes, it was very important that we find out what happens to a marisian who basically has the intellectual capacity of a child with extreme claustrophobia and stuff them in what was essentially a small box and deprived them of food and water for 48 hours. Needless to say, that was extremely problematic and the Ethics Department raised a fuss about that one.

That was just like one example of an unethical experiment, they happen startlingly frequently, I just don't feel like making up more right now. Just know that like 1 in uhhhhhhh like every 10 experiments is extremely unethical. Ideally that would be 0. 0 in every 10.

So on account of those, sapients are usually able to get a bunch of swimmers to agree with them that things need to change and they organize a riot. These riots always fail (except the August Riot of 2018. That was a bit... too successful) and usually result in a lot of corpses, blood, and heavy workload for the Recruitment Department.

uh yeah i think that's just about everything i wanted to talk about... can't really find a good way to segue into a conclusion so uh yeah bye.

[elventhief]

Some thoughts on POTC lore, especially for DMTNT

I know that the answer to a lot of my questions are 'it looked cool on camera' and the inconsistences is 'because they rewrote the script several times' but I'm in the middle of writing a fic and I decided to try and make some sense of this messy lore. It's a bit long so its under the cut.

Starting with the gods a bit:

Poseidon:

I think he's dead, from what, we don't know. It seems aside from Calypso that the gods and god-like creatures that once roamed the earth have mostly withdrawn, likely either dead or retreating to realm/realms of their own. (with the 100% confirmation of multiple Greek gods, likely Olympus/the Underworld/etc) With Poseidon dead, Calypso fills the vacuum of looking after the seas until she is bound by the first Brethern court, as she has clearly stuck around and it is said that she and Poseidon are of a similar level in power. Before he died, he created Black Rock Isle, creating the Map No Man Can Read.

Hades:

I think he just vibes in the Underworld, leaving the Locker to whoever is in charge of the Dutchman, and can't be bothered to care much what goes on in the world anymore. He created the Triangle and Curse to protect Black Rock Isle, what I like to think is the last sort of 'godly' thing Poseidon did/made before dying. This is why Hades put his tomb off the coast of the island, that and its very small and remote nature, he knew it would be difficult to find.

Davy Jones and the Dutchman:

The latest iteration of part of the natural order of the sea, bound to an eternal, ever changing vessel that it, in itself, is slightly godlike in its ability to move to and from the Locker. The Locker itself is a part of the Underworld, a special purgatory for those that are not allowed to actually pass on when they die at sea. Jones' curse did not exist before his and Calypso's relationship and breakup, so whoever was on the previous version of the Dutchman was not bound by that rule but understood that they could not ever shirk their duties, and I think Calypso would pick a decent newly dead captain to be the new captain of the Dutchman, and continue the natural order of things. I think of the Dutchman a bit like Charon and his ferry from Greek Mythology.

Note: When I say that the Dutchman changes with the times, I mean that it physically changes. During POTC it looks like a older, sort of late 1600s ship (I know next to nothing about ships, I just noticed that when looking at images) but if we think about as a force of nature, if we jump forward in time, the Dutchman would look like a steam ship at the end/beginning of the 19th/20th century respectively. Today it might look like a fishing vessel, a shipping boat, hell, maybe even a submarine or something, the crew reflecting this change in time.

On the Curse, Triangle, and Trident:

The Triangle:

Once humans started to sail the Caribbean, and started to drift ever so much closer and closer to the island and his brother's tomb, Hades created the curse and the Triangle to house it, (I'm going out on a limb here since we have NO any real 'exact' locations of things other than "the Triangle is in the west of the Windward Isles in the Lesser Antilles." And that Black Rock Isle is just in the Caribbean Sea.) as a sort of wall and gate to deter someone from accidently sailing towards Black Rock Isle. With this in mind, the Triangle is a newer addition to the world, only a few hundred years old at the most when Salazar, The Mary and the crew end up in there in the first decade of the 18th century.

The Curse:

Is likely picky about who it wants to curse, needing something and someone filled with enough murderous intent, rage, or a healthy dose of both for it to curse them. Salazar and his crew aren't the first to be cursed by the Triangle, I would say they are the second. I say second because we know that that chunk of ruby had to make it off the island someway, and my theory/idea supports just the one time the island had been visited by mere mortals before Carina leads them to Black Rock Isle.

The first was a group, likely similar to Salazar and co from, I'm going to say around the early-mid 1500s. They stood there in their hellish purgatory, doing what Salazar did, killing all but one as a warning, creating the legend of the Triangle, and keeping people far away from Black Rock Isle and the tomb. The old cursed ones were destroyed when someone did manage to find the Isle, the Triangle sinking to release them, and they go to protect the island, compelled by the curse to do so. This was not Galileo, as he was not actually able to find the island before his death, but it was by someone else, who managed to get a chunk of a ruby off without dying. (somehow this chunk ends up in Galileo's possession though.) How do they find the island? Maybe they have Jack's compass. Galileo died mid 1600s, so there's at the very least a fifty year gap between Morgan giving Jack the compass and Galileo's death. Since I'm pretty sure we don't know when Morgan got the compass, it's super plausible. (Though, I personally really like the apparent earlier iteration of DMTNT where Jack stole the compass from Salazar, as there is a set photo of an uncursed Salazar holding the compass, either in the middle of shooting a scene or between takes.) They leave, realizing that they can't take anything, (the novelization of DMTNT have a couple of Barbossa's crew on the island, they try to take some gems, and the island swallows them} probably quite a few dead on this crew's side from the cursed men, and sail off. The curse reacts to this, and Hades brings the Triangle back up, and 'resets' the trap, killing the old cursed men since they cannot be outside the Triangle while it stands. Salazar and the crew are just unlucky enough to be the first ones that has what the Triangle needs to curse them when they are tricked into sailing in.

The Trident:

Calypso helps the ancestors of three mermaids in the novel Poseidon's Peak, Morveren, Aquala, and Aquila, steal the gems that Poseidon used in the creation of his weapon. These gems gave him control over the mermaids, the colors corresponding with their tails. The blue tailed mermaids are immune since Calypso gave them a special box to hide them away with. Those same three ancestors steal the Trident away, taking it and using it to rule over all the other mermaids. (Maybe the lack of his weapon allowed him to be weak enough to be be killed?) The Trident is hidden in a place called Poseidon's Peak, where great treasure has been acquired by the blue tailed mermaids. A thousand years pass, and the blue tails realize there is unrest and resistance to their rule, and give the Trident to a human for safekeeping, Captain Torrents. They had a bargain to share control over the sea, but he ran off with it. He commanded the merfolk to leave their island, Isla Sirena, and pillage the seas for him. The blue tails then ask a young preteen Jack to help them recover it. He does, using the power of the Trident to free all the merfolk, and give the Trident to the merman Tonra for safekeeping. I believe that Hades had Tonra place the Trident in the tomb, as he already had security measures in place to protect Black Rock Isle and the tomb. So there it sat, waiting for Henry to come break it. Those present for Jack's short time with the Trident likely spreading the rumor whether on accident or on purpose, claim it is lost now. Legends grow and change through years and word of mouth, and logically, if it was lost, where would it be but in Poseidon's tomb?

Note: 99% of any info not directly in the movies come from the wiki. I haven't read any of the extended media, nor played any games but i think the kinda bad At World's End pc game when I was a child. So if anything is super wrong, that is where I got my info from.

Feel free to add anything! I've been thinking about how to compile and figure out how to connect lore that very clearly wasn't,,,,, really supposed to connect in a very cohesive, linear way. And fic writers, feel free to use any of this! I'd love to see how y'all fit this into your own stories so feel free to tag me!

[artwithoutblood]

Dorian can't be happy, Satan's orders.

Ahh, so it was Satan who did it. I wonder if he's the tall radiant man. And apparently Dorian doesn't know him (mentioned in old lore)?

I'm curious. If Dorian was somehow to achieve some measure of happiness... if he managed to be patient enough with the Fallen, if they chose to stay and were able to be content... Would Satan then have to intervene?

But I think he just let Dorian have the Fallen because he knew it wouldn't be a problem.

It seems that this hell favours efficiency, and Satan might feel even fighting with Dorian and denying him things directly is an antidote to the drabness. Doing that could even give Dorian the energy of a frustrated goal and encourage him to challenge Satan or behave in inconvenient ways.

He may just not want to or particularly care to get into it.

So Satan initially slapped the muzzle on Dorian to make life miserable without really engaging and left him to monotony, and later maybe just allowed him to pine for the mortal he couldn't have.

But when Dorian took matters into his own hands, challenging the order of things or sneaking around the rules, Satan knew he didn't have to do much.

Dorian had been left in a situation where he would become bored, isolated and peevish, feeling abandoned. Circumstances where he would become his worst self. It encouraged desperation, impatience, unrealistically built up expectations, suppressed emotions that might burst out at the wrong time and lies that could become exposed. Then he was allowed to take a victim that would arrive traumatized, confused, in denial, and possibly defiant.

This would probably result in a bad ending similar to what we saw. It's not reliable that the Fallen would comply or adjust quickly, so there probably aren't many chances for poor Dorian to get the rosy outcome he wants.

And instead of being energized by anger and injustice at Satan for denying him, and rebelling even harder, Dorian is left demoralized and remorseful. Blaming himself for the consequences of his own actions and feeling emptier than before.

Whether it was malicious or not, intentional or not, Satan won without lifting a finger. Gave Dorian enough rope to hang himself. The nascent challenge fizzled, the order of the circles was upheld.

...As formidable as he is I think Dorian is not the smartest or scariest thing in hell. There is absolutely a a bigger fish here. 😨

can't draw the reply because all of my computers are out of commission, so we're....y'know.

Satan did not put it on him, but everyone jokes that he did. There is no reason for Lucy to bind when he himself is bound. Covered in ice, beautiful blonde hair that's near white, blue eyes that turn yellow in the sunlight. While Satan and Dorian have never met, I like to think that their interactions would be very much the "kind of silly guy vs serious guy who is amused by the silly." Something somber.

I think the relationship with the Fallen would fall apart no matter what. I fear it would be doomed.

Dorian's freedom is easy to get. He has to die again. He cannot die in the monotony, when he is bound to a world that repairs his body for him (for if he is injured he may use the ash as blood). He has never been injured past a few scratches. The ash patches itself even outside. There was a time when Dorian did not do his job. It burned him.

But perhaps he does not...mind the pain now.

The bigger fish is deep within the ice, not what sits on top of it.

[moodiestmags]

Guys here’s some lore about my first Tav I love her so mubh (it’s 12:30am I gotta go to bed)

Anyway! This is how she and karlach first met <3

It was your run of the mill day in Baldur’s Gate. The sun shining through fluffy clouds on a cerulean backdrop, while gulls flew around the coast hoping to get a good meal from the dozens of fishing boats dotting the harbour.

Enver Gortash, renowned artificer, was aboard a different kind of ship docked with the rest. He’d gone on a trip to gather resources and finalize designs from friends downriver. Or, at least, that’s what the schedule rolled up in Caedra Latherin’s chest pocket said.

The young drow was newly out of the underdark and high on the fresh air afforded above ground. With so much energy and no money to put it anywhere else, it was funnelled into a rather lucrative life of crime in the city. She had her own little room in a tavern outside Wyrm’s Crossing, and kept the guards’ noses out of the less fortunate who weren’t so practiced as her.

Needless to say no Flaming Fist knew where she was staying, and she’d like to keep it that way, though this heist might be pushing her luck.

Not only was Gortash guarded by a group of well-paid corsairs, there was a young tiefling woman with him as well, towering over him, and with a great axe leaning against the post next to her. When Gortash passed she picked it up and swung it over her shoulder with little effort, following him to where he was signing papers.

It was now or never. Caedra put away her spyglass, took a breath, and jumped from her roost on the bridge. A short swim later, and she arrived at the anchor, climbing into the belly of the ship.

It was dark, which was good, though not as full of cargo as she had hoped - they’d been moving stuff already so her time was limited.

She unhooked a crowbar from her back and wedged it under the nailed down lid of the nearest box, finding only gears and cogs.

With a hiss, she turned to the next one. It had something better - ingots of steel or iron or silver. She couldn’t tell, not in this light, but tossed a couple in her bag.

Her ears pricked suddenly to movement above her head, but the footsteps faded away and she thought she could afford to get her lock picks out and go for the ornate foot locker tucked nearby.

Three picks later the chest finally clicked open, and a smile parted her face at the rich clothes and coin-purse inside. She grabbed the purse, finding it heavier than expected but that never meant anything bad, and tucked it away. Until frantic footsteps started to close in on her location, and the double doors to the hold flew open to reveal that tiefling. Wielding the greataxe this time. Caedra’s eyes went wide, and she nearly shut the lid on her fingers.

“Hey you!”

The sheer excitement in her voice scared the drow more than the weapon she held, but Caedra had snapped out of her shock fast enough to have a head start, and made a beeline for the anchor chain.

“You little- you’re not getting away!” She had dropped the axe and took off after her, picking up a nearby vase and throwing it.

The porcelain shattered just where Caedra’s head would have been in a moment, and made her yelp. Unfortunately it was also enough for the bodyguard to catch up with her, and deliver a shocking blow to the head - enough to knock her out cold on the wooden floorboards.

“Aw fuck, my head.” Caedra groaned, barely opening her eyes to the glaring brightness of the daylight around her. She tried moving her hands only to find them cuffed.

“How hard did you hit her, Karlach?” She knew that voice, she’d heard it enough in the high halls she crept through.

“Just enough to knock her out, mister Gortash. She’ll be fine.”

“Fucking Gortash.” Caedra mumbled, now able to make out silhouettes against the sky from where her face was laid on the beach sand.

“Sorry, what was that?” The man said, turning towards her.

“Nothing.”

“Get her up.” With such a simple command, that “Karlach” had grabbed her by the arm and brought her to her feet.

“You’d do well to learn some manners, girl. But I suppose you’ll have plenty of time in a prison cell, hmm? Take her, Karlach, make sure she’s as uncomfortable as possible.”

“Yes, sir!” Karlach saluted, hauling the drow off toward the city’s prison beneath the flaming fist barracks.

She was not going without some complaints, though.

“Can’t you just let me go?? I barely even got anything!” Caedra grumbled, trying without luck to pull herself free. Truth be told her head was still ringing like a bell after being struck so hard. “You hit like a damn rothé.”

“Thanks, and no.” Karlach replied happily. “You got caught stealing. ‘S not a good line of work, you know? Now you have to face the consequences.”

The drow closed her eyes as she was dragged, forcing her lagging brain to catch up. She would not be spending the next week or so behind bars, that was all she knew.

As she walked slowly beside the tiefling, she managed to pull her arm up enough to loosen a hairpin slipped into the hem of her sleeve. With clever fingers and flexible wrists, she started the daunting task of lockpicking by feel alone.

“Why in the the hells are you working for someone like Gortash anyway?” Caedra said, trying to divert attention from her hands.

“Hey, he’s an honest bloke.” Karlach sounded scolding. “Pays well, and I get to do what I’m good at.”

“Hitting people over the head?”

“Hitting criminals over the head.” The tiefling corrected.

Caedra felt the mechanism seize slightly, all she had to do now was wait for the right moment to press it a little further. It would click open and then she’d have to run.

They were nearing the middle of the city now, walking down the Main Street. It was busy this time of day, and a perfect setting for a quick getaway.

“Hope you still get paid after today, then.”

“What do you mean?” Karlach asked with a raised eyebrow, and just as she was turning to look down at the drow, Caedra unlocked the cuffs and took off.

Her wet boots slipped on the cobbles and she could hear her captor gaining ground, shouting at the people around to seize her.

A group of patrolling soldiers unfortunately heard her, and now there were three people giving chase.

Caedra shoved past a group of strangers, and ducked off the street into a small alley full of crates. With nowhere else to go, she climbed up them and onto the rooftops.

Her chest heaved as she pressed herself onto the warm terracotta shingles, looking down at the commotion she’d caused.

Karlach cursed loudly, her tail swishing like an angry cat’s as she turned around looking for any trace of where the drow went. The fist patrol joined her, looking across at the crowds.

Caedra took a moment to undo the laces on her boots and take them off, letting them and her socks begin to dry.

When she looked back, it was right into the eyes of that damned tiefling. Her pupils narrow in the sunlight, and giving the illusion that her irises were flickering flame. Her eyebrows darkened her eyes and her nose flared, as she started back after her trail.

Caedra’s red eyes went wide as she realized how fast Karlach was gaining as she lied in the sun. She got to her feet quickly and ran, frightening gulls and pigeons as she did.

But she was running out of room, and her only escape seemed to be a jump between buildings.

Adrenaline told her she could make it. She could not.

The moment Caedra’s front foot left the shingles of the roof, she knew she miscalculated. In a panicked attempt to correct herself, she tried falling backwards. Which worked, but only for her chest and torso, and she was still very quickly sliding off the roof. Her nails scratched and clawed at the rough surface until she was dangling twenty feet in the air and hanging on by her hands.

Her heart hammered in her chest, blood pounding in her ears and its tang on her tongue as she frantically tried hauling herself up, to no avail.

The sun was blotted out by a figure, who put her hands on her knees and tried to catch her breath.

“You give a hell of a good chase, thief. I’ll give you that. Whew. You winded me, no easy feat.”

Caedra’s palms were sweaty, her fingers slipping. She looked up at Karlach with wide, pleading eyes as she also struggled to catch her breath. “What’re you even doing this for? Why so insistent on getting away?” The tiefling crouched down to better meet her eyes.

Was she really asking her that? “I’m not gonna tell someone who works for Gortash why I’m doing this.” She spat the name, and Karlach just pressed her lips into a thin line.

“I’m not gonna tell him, I just wanna know.” Something about her voice was sincere, made Caedra want to tell her the truth.

“I- I sell the stuff I find to give to the less fortunate around here. Keep them going a little longer. And I just escaped the underdark, I…I don’t know what else to do.”

Karlach took a deep breath, sighed, and reached down to pull the drow up by her arms. It was like she weighed nothing.

She set her down away from the edge and dusted her shoulders off, holding them as she spoke.

“Listen, just go. Get out of here and don’t let me catch you around Mister Gortash again, you hear me?”

Caedra briefly frowned, concerned for the reaction Karlach could receive in turn, but pushed that thought away. Why should she care? This was her exit.

“Y-Yes.”

“Go on, then.”

Caedra turned from the tiefling and disappeared down a ladder she found, making her way back to the tavern room she rented as fast as possible.

[weatheredpileoftomes]

a sequence of calamities

For FFXIVWrite Day 18, “a fish out of water”. Temimi, early A Realm Reborn, spoilers for Tonberry lore (and warnings for Tonberry lore), ~700 words. A little canon-divergent in places.

It’s been…some time.

The lesser moon is gone. In the night sky Menphina wanders alone, her hound lost.

Temimi travels by day, and keeps the curtains drawn at night.

*

People have a tendency of explaining things to Temimi as if she doesn’t know them; she ought to be offended, maybe, except…she doesn’t.

A ferryman tells her about the Sahagin, and about Admiral Merlwyb Bloefhiswyn, and about something called the Thalassocracy that runs Limsa Lominsa. Temimi, clutching her stolen robe tighter around her with her mittened hands, nods with interest.

There are twins on the ferry with her, bored to sleep by the ferryman’s ramblings. Temimi makes careful mental notes instead. She would be expected to know about the Admiral, most likely. She would certainly be expected to know about the Sahagin.

“Thank you,” she says, when they reach the docks of Limsa Lominsa safely, after all.

“Hey,” he says. “If you don’t mind, where are you from? I’ve never heard an accent quite like yours, and I’ve ferried an awful lot of travelers.”

Temimi swallows. Her mouth is dry, but she can’t lick her lips to moisten them before she speaks; she has none to lick. “Nowhere I’m going back to,” she says.

He nods, and asks no more questions. She would go back, if she could. But it does all right as a deflection.

*

Baderon Tenfingers, the man who runs the Adventurers’ Guild, doesn’t just tell Temimi how to find the markets; he sends her to people who will make sure she understands what a fair price is, and where to look for one. It might be a courtesy for any newcomer.

Temimi has never seen the funny little coins they call gil before. It’s a relief when she sees people trading Allagan-stamped metals for larger purchases—that much, at least, hasn’t changed.

She wonders if the Allagans really stamped that many metal pieces, that they can still be used even now, or if people have made more since then. The value of a coin is what people give it; the value of a robe, or a meal, is certain. And the Allagans were ancient even in her time.

*

She meets a cheerful and bespectacled man in a library—a little shorter than her, she thinks, though maybe not shorter than she was before. She thinks she grew.

“Oh, hello!” he says. “Are you interested in Ancient Nym too?”

I was born in Nym, Temimi doesn’t say. I am ancient.

“How old is it?” she asks.

“The Sixth Umbral Calamity happened one thousand, four hundred twenty-three years ago,” he says. It isn’t casually; he’s proud of his knowledge.

That’s…so many years. So many. Temimi wants to ask— “And how long,” she asks carefully instead, “how long was the Fifth Astral Era?”

Her fellow student’s eyes and lips work as he calculates silently. “Fifteen hundred…seventy-seven years, roughly.”

“Ah,” Temimi says, or hopes she says. People she knew who were not stricken by the Green Death died in the Sixth Umbral Calamity, then. She wants to ask what it was, and doesn’t dare.

*

“There was a Calamity five years ago,” Baderon tells her. Temimi can see a few of the other people around shaking their heads impatiently. Someone scoffs. She looks up at Baderon with polite interest, not that he can see her expression behind her veil—not that he could read her expression even if he could see it—and waits for him to continue.

He tells her about a Garlean invasion—she has no idea who the Garleans are, but gets the impression they fancy themselves a new Allag, and resolves to act accordingly—and a battle at a place called Carteneau. Dalamud was no moon, but a cage for a primal, unleashed upon the world.

She nods, storing all this away too.

There were heroes to save much of the world. She wonders if there were heroes in the Sixth Umbral Calamity as well, if aught of Nym, or Amdapor, or even Mhach survived, and doesn’t ask. A simple adventurer wouldn’t care, and that’s all she is now—an odd-jobber, a willing hand, a last resort. That Baderon keeps finding her work to do means things are worse than they should be.

Well, she’ll do what she can. What else could she do?

[girlbossvicvega]

while im in my daily scheduled psychpilled hours I have to finish a thought on something. I think it’s really sweet how shawn and gus mess with lassie in the wild west town episode actually

hear me out ok things shawn knows/could reasonably extrapolate things from about lassie’s childhood by this ep:

1. wanted a pony

2. his mom yells at him over the phone for getting divorced

3. ?????? history nerd i guess

4. was stealing shawns dad for a while. quickly figured out that’s a bad idea but like. ok? least strange coworker behavior

meanwhile by this point i think lassie has like an itemized list of shawns various childhood oddities, including but not limited to:

1. raised by henry who is an immensely respected and famously intelligent detective, but who once you get to know him you realize is an incredibly flawed man who critiques you down to the most trivial shit. and is persistent with it. p e r s i s t e n t

2. mother is a psychologist with superpowers (eidetic memory) who isn’t in his life really

3. uncle is a serial liar and conman who liked to use shawn for his schemes and who still very obviously tries to take advantage of him

4. remarkably codependent on best friend who’s basically like his (often reluctant) handler at crime scenes from sbpd pov. side note the running gag where no one has any idea what gus does besides the job of ‘shawn’ is so funny

5. various things were done by henry to train kid shawn including locking him in the trunk of his car, teaching him evasion patterns to avoid people trying to kill him out in the woods, and in the present day at several points he just straight up tells shawn right in front of everyone to use his memory and observation to solve an issue (if i recall correctly first example of this is literally right in front of lassie in 1x13. lol. lmao.)

6. henry personally arrested and charged shawn with a felony. happy fathers day everyone

7. shawn scored a 100 on the detective exam as a 15 year old

8. scared of raccoons (henry spent time with him camping). add in whatever other trivia henry told him in between shitting on his fishing technique

see above why i think lassie ‘gets’ it by this point. shawn is a reflexive menace against any and all authority—and for all intents and purposes weird as hell—but he never really had a chance not to be with all that working against him. and by now lassie’s seen shawn at his best and worst. shawn can be annoying as shit but in the end he can be trusted to do the right thing. he took down goddamn yang

so then you get to high-noonish. shawn finally gets the opportunity to unlock lassie lore and is like. giddy about it. why wouldn’t he be? not only does he get prime blackmail material while getting to act out his childhood cowboy fantasy with gus, but lassie trusts him with a personal issue. dope.

except, uh.

i think he kind of knew lassie’s childhood sucked, but he was probably thinking ‘autistic in catholic school’ sucked, not ‘for years spent every weekend away from home alone with a bunch of strange and mean adults in a fake pioneer town because dad is a deadbeat and mom had to work all day every day and couldn’t make time for him’ sucked. meanwhile lassie’s his usual badly socialized german shepherd self the entire episode. he wants to let them in and ask for help but he’s also regretting opening up. it’s making him lash out. and shawn knows that! because he’s maladjusted too.

so shawn is like. unusually nice to him despite it. ribbing him with the nickname like friends do. lassie is hissing doing his whole bark bite growl routine, above and beyond actually to the point that shawn would be well justified in telling him to piss off, but instead shawn just goes don’t worry buddy we’ve got this :) gus isn’t it fun learning about lassie :) lassie you had a funny childhood nickname gus and i still have so much to figure out about you :) im gonna go get really emotionally invested in this now to the point that even my dad thinks I’m in too deep :P

(henry man YOU are a big part of why he’s overthinking it!!)

ik it was intended primarily for funny show reasons but shassie is just a crazy dichotomy. Guy with commitment issues vs guy who commits too hard. Guy with no dad vs guy with too much dad. Guy with net negative social skills who desperately wants them vs guy with incredible insight into people who hates himself for having it. Guy who’s surly and mean to hide need to be loved vs guy who’s breezy and charming to hide need to be loved

[typewriter83]

https://www.tumblr.com/typewriter83/751205799108427776/lana-cub-here-i-think-you-said-once-that-tommy?source=share

that... Wow.

That must be one of the most accurate and interesting analysis about tommy that I have read, and everything you said makes so much sense. When I don't think I can appreciate you morez you come up with a whole fucking thing that shows me how mature you are. He is a man child (and honestly i now wonder if this developted in him since childhood. I mean, game/show never told nothing about their childhood besides having a dad (in joel's house, you can see a picture of little!joel fishing with their dad) but what if something happened to this dad and joel had to be the man of the house (I always found his sense of responsibility a little too rooted in him) and having to take more care of tommy than before? We will never know, but that would explain some things about tommy.

Also, the maria part, I think you just made me realize why I never really I sympathized with maria's character and never really liked her and tommy as a couple (even tho they dancing in the background of part2 was cute). I knew i never really liked maria: this is more about opinion, but i feel like maria's only shown personality is just being authoritive and ruling people around. And, unfortunately, their making maria's character even more annoying on the show. So, of course (and you helped me realize) that maria's favorite part about tommy could easily be this childlike part of him of always wanting someone to guide/rule his life. And like you said, because joel's death was a thump to him and fucked him up, tommy and maria went to a crisis for the first time: she just didn't know how to keep him under her control anymore, he was uncontrolled. This dynamic sounds boderline toxic if you ask me, and maybe people don't view maria as toxic only because she's not the man in the relationship here.

I wonder how will you put this into practice in your story, and how that could affect the main plot (specially when they find about that).

I also wonder if this man child part of him, even fho it was cracked, was tiggered in the farm scene. I mean, let's remember basic child behaviour: child wants, child asks for. Child receives a "no"? Child cries and gives a tantrum. That was basically all the farm scene if we really go on with the logic of tommy being a man child. Once he found out ellie wasn't so sure about hunting abby, it's like he totally forgot that he was talking to his niece and putting her in danger again, and then threw shit on the fan.

Oh my gosh, this reply is just so much - so much goodness to dig into. I think Tommy is a complex character - I actually think every character in this universe has the potential to be complex if someone is willing to dig into it. But Tommy is someone in the game who has the unique experience of having experienced many lives through his life.

Season 2/Game 2 spoilers below cut

I think you’re right that there was probably only one parent involved in the Miller household, probably mom. I believe Joel to be around 8ish years older than Tommy, and it’s possible that Dad Miller left sometime after Tommy was born, leaving a 10ish year old Joel is raise his little brother. You mention the photo of Joel and dad - Joel is pretty young in that photo, probably kindergarten age so pre-Tommy. Joel remembers dad being someone he looked up to, and either Joel was wrong about him, or something scared him off - or maybe he passed away.

If we go off game ages - I tend to stick to that universe/timeline when analyzing - Joel was about 19/20 when Sarah was born which means Tommy was about 11/12, so theoretically, Joel was raising Sarah and helping raise Tommy. Joel was a very influential part of Tommy’s entire life, so when Maria says to Ellie (in the show) that Tommy was doing what Joel did, of course he did!

And mixing game and show lore, maybe the army messed Tommy up more than it helped him grow up. And you’re right, maybe Maria liked that about him, clung to that - she was a mom at some point too, and maybe she liked the idea of Tommy needing her in a capacity that was more than a lover. (Kind of ironic when you think about it - seeing as another conversation we’ve been having revolves around the Joel/Ellie dynamic transcending father/daughter or something more/else, right?)

And I agree with you that losing Joel was a catalyst that changed Tommy’s personality - he went after Abby to protect Ellie because that was what Joel would have done/wanted him to do. By the end of the game, Tommy is broken and lost and does want revenge, which was never Joel’s way (that’s a WHOLE OTHER conversation regarding game 2, omg, what a shit show - wanna talk about that next?), but Tommy is so lost without Joel (and Maria).

🫶🏻

[multific]

Our Girl

Series Masterlist

Jake Lockley x Reader, Marc Spector x Reader, Steven Grant x Reader

Summary: After Layla left, Marc wasn't the same he felt betrayed as Steven moved on so quickly, he didn't blame you for this, he never could.

Marc was a hard egg to crack. 

While Steven warmed up to you rather quickly, he loved to talk and you loved to listen to whatever he had to say. Egyptian Gods? Lore? Myths? Tombs? Sure, you were all in.

When Marc was in charge, you often just stayed behind, avoiding him, you felt bad about making Layla leave in a way, but just as you said, you are not willing to leave Jake. Never.

While you stayed low around Marc, with Steven you felt at home.

He was warm, kind and shy. Something you loved teasing him with.

Even your slightest sexual comment would make the man blush and stutter, it was cute.

Extremely cute.

You spent more time in their flat as well. Even when it was Marc, you stayed there, reading a book, cooking or watching his fish.

"You should get a third one." you said one time, forgetting that it was Marc for a moment.

"I know, you already said that to Steven." he said with a rather calm voice, he usually talked to you in a rough way, but not this time.

That was the time you realized that while Steven was in charge, Marc was still conscious and could hear and see everything Steven did.

Not like that would change your behaviour. 

Then there was Jake, your lovely brutal murderer whom you loved so much.

Khonsu still instructed him on who to kill and what to do, and he followed, and so did you. It was actually quite a nice routine.

You helped Jake during the night, then you would get back to his place, have sex on whatever surface you felt like doing it at that particular moment and then fall asleep in each other's arms. Then you'd wake up with Steven, get over the awkward stage of him being flustered because you two are naked, make breakfast and he would go to work while you just walk around London, trying to catch anything unusual with Khonshu. You would usually go pick up Steven after work, you two either go to a restaurant or get groceries to cook something.

It was a nice routine, comfortable and warm.

You loved it really.

If only Marc could get used to you as well.

Today, it was him, he woke up and headed to work. He was the one who gently pushed you away as you walked into the kitchen to greet him in the morning. 

And you had enough.

You had enough of the fact that you constantly had to walk on glass around him. 

You had a plan. 

A terrible plan, but you had one.

One morning, Marc woke up and he was expecting you to be there. But you weren't, not in the bed, not in the bathroom or the kitchen. 

"Maybe she went out?" asked Steven in the mirror.

"I don't care."

"Yes, you do! Stop lying to yourself Marc, you like her! As much as I do if not more! I saw you with her during the nights when you run your hands all over her face and kiss her. I saw it all." Steven's words hurt Marc on a new level. Like a teen getting caught kissing their pillow. 

Marc knew there was no point in lying to Steven. 

"She loves Jake, don't forget that, not us."

"Jake is us. He is a part of you just like me. If she loves him, she loves us." Steven always made it sound so much easier than it really was. Marc was supposed to be the strong one, but it was Steven really.

"Go find her." said Steven as he turned in the mirror in the bathroom. "Tell her how you feel, you know she avoids you because of Layla."

Marc knew that, he knew very well he behaved like a child whose toy was taken from them.

He didn't blame you for what happened, he blamed himself, his feelings for Layla were not strong enough.

He wondered if his feelings towards you might be stronger.

---

You stood in front of the boys’ work, waiting for anyone really, Jake, Steven or Marc. Just someone to finally show up as they were late.

You contemplated heading up and into the building but decided against it. You rather not embarrass yourself or anyone.

You looked at the sky and let out a groan.

You pulled your phone out and dialled Steven.

"Hello?"

"Steven! What's going on? I have been waiting for you to finish work for the last...30 minutes."

Silence.

"Love... today's my day off. I told you that."

He did. You just forgot. Shit.

"Oh," was all you said before you hung up and with a simple motion teleported yourself to his home.

You scared him as he flinched nearly dropping the fish food he was holding.

"What the- You can teleport?!"

"Yes. I thought you knew- Oh, Jake knew." you said as you took your coat off.

"And you have been making me run around London looking for stuff when you can just go and be there in seconds?"

"Yes, but it's hard to explain to people how can a person just disappear into thin air. So, what did you do today?"

"Nothing really, fed Gus, watched some telly. What about you?"

"Good. I was just with Khonshu, he thought he had a lead but didn't. You could have come with me! I forgot this was your day off."

"Naah, I was fine here, I also did some shopping, got you some snacks you like."

"Well, thank you kind sir." you walked into the kitchen only to see dinner was ready. "And you made pasta?! Steven, you are just... wow, okay I'll get on my knees for you, come here." you said as you smelled the incredibly delicious food. 

"Y/N." now, that wasn't Steven, you looked back to see Marc. 

"Hi Marc. I was about to give Steven a good time, if you could switch back..." 

"I wanted to talk."

Oh boy. This never meant any good did it? You went out of the kitchen and sat down on the table, pushing away a couple of books in the process.

"I'm listening."

Marc took a deep breath before he looked into the mirror. You knew Steven was saying something to him.

"One day I'll crack that and I will be able to see and hear him in the mirror." you said more to yourself but it made Marc look at you. Your powers always amazed him to no end.

You were so powerful.

"That's-You could do that?"

"I have been trying to. I figured out a couple of things, there are certain things I can do to make you switch. I noticed music is a good trigger for example. Or food. Whenever you eat something, Steven likes to be in control."

"I didn't know I could... trigger it like that."

"Oh, you could. I noticed when danger was near, Jake reacted soo fast even I am not able to. Then once the job is done, you or Steven are back."

Marc's mind was blank, what could he say to that? He looked in the mirror but Steven was stunned as well.

"Anyway, you wanted to talk about something." you said as you crossed your legs and put your hand on your knee.

"Yes. I did. I don't know how to say this, but I noticed you have been avoiding me, like now, you sat down so far away as if I was to break if you are closer, but I won't. My mind might be broken but my body is strong." that made you smirk a little, oh how you knew his body was strong. "Not like that." he said trying to get back to his point. "I noticed this and I know it is because of what happened with Layla. I said this before I don't blame you for what happened. Jake is his own person and he found you, you two fell in love, great. And now Steven too. And-and I think... I do too." he said the last part with such a silent voice you had to really listen to understand. 

And you did. And it shocked you.

"You do? You like me?" it was strange to think he did. He wasn't exactly nice or rude to you. He was just... there. Marc wasn't really talkative with you, he never asked you anything besides 'What's for dinner' or 'Where's the shampoo' but, you did like him. 

"I do like you yes, and I am over with pretending I don't. I over running away from my feelings. This-this is something that physically pains me you know. When I see you smile or laugh with Steven and you don't do that to me. And God knows what you do with Jake."

"More than laughing." you confirmed and he nodded.

"I want to do that too. I want to laugh with you, watch movies with you, go to dinner with you, cook with you and sleep with you. I want it all but only if you want it too."

"You know, for a long time now, Jake always told me to stay away from you two, that you two had someone and I wouldn't want to get mixed up in it. I don't know if he wanted to keep me to himself because he was possessive or because he wanted to protect you two from the trouble. But I was never against it. Mental issues or not Marc you are an amazing person. Steven is a great example of it, who wouldn't love a man like you? You kept Steven safe for so long. And to have you all three, it will be a challenge but... I helped kick a big purple alien's ass, I think I can handle you three. You boys will have to learn to share." you smiled and you saw the switch this time. "Only if you agree, Jake." he rushed over to you putting his arms on each side of you, locking you in as you move your arms around his neck.

"I knew you could do it. I told you they will love you." he leaned over and smirked as you turned and his nose hit your cheek. "Mi Amor, déjame besarte por favor."

"You are too handsome to resist you know that? But I was kind of in the middle of something with Marc." his eyes shined, to finally have the others love you as well, Jake felt like he won. And he did. He made them fall for you and he didn't even have to do anything, this meant you would be by his side at all times. Just like he wanted. "Solo un beso más."

You could do that, you turned your head and let him kiss your lips. He moved his hand around your hips as you dropped your leg, letting him take a step and pull you to the edge and into his body.

You moved your legs around his hips, pulling him even closer when he froze and stopped.

You pulled back out of confusion and looked at him.

"There you are." you said, smiling as you saw Marc but you didn't let go of him.

"Uhm, were you with Jake just now?"

"Yes."

"O-okay he kind of switched right before the kiss and then I just went with it but then I... panicked." 

"It's okay, happens with the best of us." you smiled and tried to pull him back but he didn't let you. 

"I really like you and I don't want to mess it up as I did with Layla, you are special to me."

"And you are special to me. All of you." he smiled and you melted, that man had a gorgeous smile.

"Steven's yelling at me to kiss you."

"Oh, then why won't you, or why won't he?" you looked into the mirror behind you two but only saw Marc.

This was going to be a journey, having three boyfriends in one body, you were prepared for jealousy, but you were also prepared for the good.

Marc leaned in to kiss you and you ran your fingers through his hair, he melted into your touch, Jake also loved it when you played with his hair.

Now this, you really liked this. A place that once wasn't too warm finally left like home. A man who wasn't always the kindest to you, melted into your kiss.

Later that evening you were watching a movie with Steven and Marc, they both kept switching according to who wanted to talk at that moment. You were watching a rather gruesome horror.

"That's not realistic. If you cut a limb off like that you'd bleed out in seconds." Marc said.

"Thanks, Mate, appreciate it, all of us wanted to know that."

"But what if you cut it off with like a really hot knife? Would it burn the flesh and stop the bleeding?"

Steven looked at you, eyes wide as you so casually popped a chip into your mouth.

"OR, what if it's freezing cold outside? Wind and all, would the blood freeze?" You looked at Steven from the TV, seeing his shocked face. "What?"

"What are you doing?" Khonshu's voice made you jump and so did Steven as he yelled in fear.

"Fucking HELL, Khonshu! STOP scaring me!" you said to the god as you threw a bag of chips at him, you watched as the bag bounced off of his chest onto the floor. Steven laughed a little.

"We have to go, I have a new target for my Moon Knight." you looked at Steven and paused the movie.

"Let's get this over with." you stood up, grabbing his hand. "Let's go, he won't leave us alone until we go,"

It was now Marc in charge. "You can take this Jake." said Marc as he switched. 

"Vamos, mi amor. Entonces podemos tener sexo." 

You laughed as Jake pulled you out of the flat through the window. 

This was definitely a new adventure and you were all up for it.

Series Masterlist

A/N: Thank you everyone for the support on Part 1.

Taglist: imreadinggoaway @fleursirvart​ @v-2bucky ehsebastiancrunch-time-sports  @pxstelrainbow​ ablogbypeteparker liamssmilersmexylemony @greenarrowhead​ feelingsareharddd @thisismysecrethappyplace @sincerelyfan @theoneanna @aestheticsandmarvel @rororo06 @castellandiangelo @avengers-r-us @destynelseclipsa   @spilledinkindumpster celebsimagine @capsiclesdoll snoopy3000 @firstangeldragonranch @puknow crazzyter  @alwayshave-faith @soleil-dor @alex12948 scream-kiwi79  @lxdyred  @imagines-by-a-typical-fangirl​ @liveforkarljacobs​  @blkroyalty1 ​​​​

~Masterlist~

ˇAO3ˇ

Additional Tags: @trash-panda99​ @daddysfavoritesexkitten​ @darklingbrekksov​​ @somedumbbitchontheinternet @brekkers-desigirl @simonsbluee @kaitioo @bookfrog242 @christineblood  @naladarkclouds @wilvia​ @beautifulsoulsublime​

Translation: (All of the translation is from Google! I don't speak Spanish, apologies for the mistakes.)

Mi Amor, déjame besarte por favor. - My Love, let me kiss you please.

Solo un beso más. - Just one more kiss.

Vamos, mi amor. Entonces podemos tener sexo. - Let's go my love. Then we can have sex.

[ficsilike-reblogged]

Synodic

Summary: The Eternals are sent to Earth on Arishem’s mission, but they are surprised to meet another immortal who already calls the planet home. As the centuries pass, they all learn there is much more happening beneath the surface. 

A/N: Well, Drukkari has me in an absolute chokehold so, here’s this. I tried to make brief mentions of historical events but it doesn’t really impact the story. There are obviously spoilers for the film and canon-divergence too! I am also playing around a little bit with pulling in the lore from the actual comics. Please let me know what you think!

Pairing: Druig/Makkari/F!Reader (and a surprise or two) 

Rating: PG-13 for brief canonical violence, thoughts of self-loathing and suicidal ideations, and like two sentences of non-explicit smut

Word Count: 12.9k (should this have been a series? probably)

Or read on Ao3 here!

Synodic: adj. relating to or involving the conjunction of stars, planets, or other celestial objects.

The fledgling civilization was calm. The people were kind and did not question your strange clothing or accent as you sat beside them to fish or carve or weave. You simply were. You existed alongside them, defended their soft borders, and helped them build, heal, progress with your ‘sunlight touch’ as they called it.

It had become your home. For now, anyway.

How long had it been since you arrived? Centuries? Millennium? You hardly kept track and it isn’t as if you could remember before—before you woke with dirt in your mouth and an aged woman carefully cleaning your mud-caked skin. Yes, they were kind—you loved them. Protecting them, repaying them for their ineffable gentleness was as easy as breathing, even against the strange creatures that came from the shadows and the deep of the ocean. It had kept you busy, travelling from village to village, tracking the creatures that would wipe the humans from the face of the planet; kept you from focusing on how everyone around you aged while you stayed the same. You knew that you were not from here, you knew that you were different, and you always wondered why the sight of a billion stars at night gave you comfort—but you never had the answers. It was like everything before was a black void in your mind. So, you had decided to make new memories, help these people move forward and progress through the ages, inherently knowing what they needed.

You’d barely noticed the large ship blotting out the horizon as you pushed the body of the strange monster off the nearest cliff edge. The scratch you’d received from the creature’s death throes stitched itself back together before the body was swallowed by the ocean. It was the sudden stillness from the village behind you that caught your attention.

You turned to see all of them, all of the people you had come to care for, deathly still with glowing, golden eyes. A group of ten stood just along the shore, their large ship looming behind them.

“Let them go.”

A woman with a pointed helm stepped forward, smiling. “We mean no harm to them-”

You tilted your head to see one of them with the same gold-glow in his eyes. Him. You reached out and shoved him off his feet, watching the glow flicker in his eyes before they were overtaken by blue. A blast of something warm was aimed at your head and you felt it heat the skin of your cheek as you leaned just out of the way. Another ran at you, too fast for the humans to see, but she met an abrupt stop when she collided with you.

“What are you?” The woman in the helmet asked.

You watched the man at your feet slowly rise before helping the woman stand too. There was a gentleness to his eyes when he looked at her that had your chest clenching. “I don’t know.”

**

This planet was small, that was true, but it seemed miniscule with how many times you were forced to come into contact with the strange band of Eternals.

Eternals—that’s what they called themselves. But, you had to admit that having ten others who were capable of killing Deviants (apparently that was what the creatures were called, too) was a small relief. You could not be everywhere. You could not save everyone. But they made it easier for you to at least attempt to do so. You simply wished they would leave you alone. The way they spoke of their leader, their god, Arishem, and the rest of the space gods known as Celestials left a strange acidic burn on your tongue and made you uncomfortable. You did believe they were on this planet to fight the Deviants, as they told you, but there was something else. Something else simmering below the surface.

Everywhere you ventured, whether through curiosity or tracking Deviants, they seemed to appear. Even this small island could not hide you from them. It had been too hopeful of a thought that ridding the planet of another hive of Deviants had granted you a reprieve. You should have known better. Or perhaps you should have closed your eyes and searched for another vibration, letting you know where another Deviant was hiding across the planet. But you were tired and you rested.

You had gained a little insight—against your will, mostly—about who this band of Eternals was throughout the centuries. Ajak was a stern yet loving parental figure. Sersi was the kindhearted one. Phastos was always inventing and tinkering while Kingo was fond of the limelight and Sprite was one of the finest storytellers and illusionists you had ever seen. Thena and Gilgamesh almost looked like they were dancing as they fought. Ikaris was aloof and powerful. Druig was also aloof and powerful. You were unsure which one you preferred.

A familiar burst of wind outside your home had you stifling a smile. You stood and dropped the yarn you’d been weaving through your loom and walked outside, seeing the smiling face of Makkari in the dying sunlight of the day. She was your favorite. Kind and funny and she mostly kept Ajak from showing up at your doorstep. Mostly. It was not as if you disliked the woman, you just didn’t particularly care to hear more about Arishem or once again tell Ajak “I don’t know” to any of her (many, many) questions. But you would gladly deal with the needless questions from Ajak if it meant you could still see Makkari smile. It was strange to realize Makkari and her gentle smiles made it easier for you to track the days and years; you no longer got lost between decades, unable to measure how much had passed. As cliché as it was, the fastest woman in on the planet (and the galaxy, if you were willing to bet), she had given you time.

What treasures did you find today? You signed.

Makkari beamed and held up her discoveries. Finely crafted stoneware, tapestries, and tablets. Most were from the mainland, but others looked older. Centuries older.

You waved her inside and poured her a drink as she regaled you with stories of her adventures in search of treasure. She was ecstatic about the possibility of trading that night with someone for a set of tablets she’d been searching for. I’ve been trying to find them for ages, she signed. They disappeared a decade or so ago and Makkari had been adamant she acquire them.

Are you cataloguing the humans’ evolution?

Makkari shrugged. I think they’re special. And they… her hands paused for a moment before continuing, they forget so easily. If they don’t remember, I want to. And those tablets are mine, she added with a smile.

You chuckled and sipped at your own drink.

You should come tonight.

Now I see. You didn’t come to see me, Ajak sent you. You arched a brow as you watched her face light up with surprise.

No! I wanted to invite you. Ajak doesn’t know I’m here.

Ajak knows where all of you are, all the time.

I came here for you. I promise.

And that was how you found yourself sitting beside Makkari, listening to Sprite’s story about a man with a bull head, locked in a labyrinth. You preferred the legend she had created about a man named ‘Icarus’ who flew too close to the sun with wax wings.

This is a sad story.

It is, you agreed as Sprite’s golden illuminations turned into a shower of sparks over the audience. Maybe you can tell her to change the ending next time she tells it.

Makkari raised her hands to respond but paused as she spotted something across the open courtyard. Ikaris is coming over. And then she zipped away, rustling the thin pleats of your robe and disappearing.

And she was right. The golden one—Ikaris—stood in front of you a moment later. “Is this seat taken?”

“I could say no and you’d sit anyway.”

And he did, not waiting for your answer. “We are leaving soon. We have cleared the area of Deviants.”

“Wonderful. Maybe this time, Ajak will keep her word and go West while I go East instead of following me.”

Ikaris chuckled and you hated how you noticed how his eyes crinkled at the sides, blue eyes sparkling in the low light. He was annoyingly handsome. And he probably knew that, too. “Is it such a terrible thing? To know you share this planet with us?”

**

You shoved the Deviant carcass off of Phastos and helped him to his feet. “You okay?”

He nodded and sighed. “Didn’t see that one.”

You patted him on the shoulder with a smile. “You were focused on the other three. Don’t worry about it. Go, let Ajak fix you up.” He was sporting a pretty nasty scratch across his stomach and you knew his legs would probably give out in a few moments, after the adrenaline wore off. As he walked away, you turned to see Druig, covered in a fine layer of dirt and streaks of Deviant blood as he slowly let the humans trickle back into valley. His eyes were his usual golden glow and you sat next to him in the uneven dirt and clumps of grass. The shadow he cast kept the sun from your skin and you tried not to smile when you noticed him shifting to make sure you were completely shaded.

The humans continued on, past you both and the others, even after Druig’s eyes reclaimed their blue hue, and chattered on about their lives, unaware of the danger they had narrowly avoided.

“Ajak thinks she’s converted you.”

“Ajak thinks what she wants to think.” You sighed and looked across the valley to see Makkari standing at Thena’s side. Her beautiful eyes were full of questions as she spotted you but you waved her on. We’re fine, you signed. Don’t worry.

“And what do you think?” Druig asked as he moved to sit beside you.

“I think you all have followed me across this little planet long enough that we are…friends.”

Druig’s shoulder bumped against yours. “It took you nearly a millennia to call us friends?”

“You’re right. Only a few of you are my friends,” you said with a smile. “Mostly you and Makkari. Sometimes Ikaris if he doesn’t try to proselytize too much.”

“You have terrible friends.” But you heard the warmth in his tone and smiled when the edge of his fingers brushed against yours in the dirt.

“Wouldn’t trade them for anything.” You chanced a look at him from the corner of your eye and saw him smile. It was small, true, but a smile just the same. He had once told you that he found your company enjoyable because he couldn’t read you. ‘There’s one less voice for me to hear around you. Blissfully quiet, you are.’ It had made you laugh at the time but the more you thought of it, the more it made you sad. Your Druig, who cared the weight of the world on his shoulders—your Druig who knew he could stop all the bloodshed and fighting—even you wondered if the wars were truly helping them progress—but was constantly told not to interfere. When had he become your Druig?

**

The city the humans called Rome was flourishing. Of course, you knew it would—every civilization that your little band of Eternals embraced always did. You stood at the window of your room and watched Sersi speak with a woman selling her wares at the market. She must have sensed your gaze because she looked up and smiled, waving. You waved back before she looked back at the potter. Sersi was kind and gentle and loved the humans as you did, treasuring every new civilization as much as the last. You would not be surprised if the passing of time hurt her as much as it hurt you.

The Deviants were still lurking but humanity was thriving. And you had been embraced by your fellow immortals—well, you had embraced them. Makkari had chided you for taking so long. But they had burrowed their way into your heart nonetheless, and you wouldn’t tell a soul about how you had cried until you exhausted yourself after Druig had bestowed you with a nickname. Raindrop. A nonsensical name, to be sure. But you treasured it. It had come after Druig found you looking like a drowned rat after disposing of a Deviant outside the city walls during a storm. ‘You look like a little Raindrop.’ You had promptly wrung your tunic out on his head. But it stuck and you liked the way Makkari’s hands moved when she took up the name, too. Their Raindrop.

And while your entire face lit up whenever you heard Druig’s low brogue murmur the nickname, or when Makkari signed it with a smile when the others weren’t looking, you felt…like you were intruding on something whenever you caught Druig and Makkari sneaking glances at each other. Well, Makkari snuck glances. Druig was much more overt with lathing his attention on Makkari. Soft smiles he only gave her turned into trading little treasures they both found for the other. Conversations were kept to dark corners, away from prying eyes. It was love. You had seen it plenty of times across the centuries. But you knew that this was special—that they were special, to each other and to you. You just hoped you were special to them, too.

You just hoped you meant something.

The fabric covering the doorway to your rooms was pushed aside and you heard the soft footsteps of someone approaching. You turned and felt the corners of your lips turn up in a small smile as Ikaris stepped closer. The Roman clothing suited him—he looked like the god the masses mistook him for. “You missed Kingo’s celebration.”

You shook your head and turned back to the window, still smiling. “I’m sure King Numa Pompilius will have other celebrations.”

Ikaris was warm as he stepped to your back. You felt him hesitate before his hands softly curled around your upper arms. “And if I missed you at the celebrations?”

Your heart stuttered and you were sure he felt it when you heard his light chuckle. “Oh.”

The warm night air was wrapping around you and you slowly turned to face him, trying to discern what he truly meant, when his lips were on yours.

You had been kissed before, shared your bed with humans who did not mind that you would not call them back to your embrace a second time, but this felt different. This was strong and warm and so much more balanced than the kisses you had been given before.

And it caught you completely off-guard. As your next breath stuttered in your lungs, you felt something snap and burn across your palm. The crack and boom of stone had you opening your eyes and through the dust you saw the hole you had made in your home—and in the center of it was Ikaris. Strong, powerful Ikaris—covered in his own blood and unconscious. You only knew he still lived as you hurried to his side and saw his chest still moving with his breaths.

“I-I’m sorry,” you said, hands moving over the broken skin as tears stung your eyes. The snap of bones slotting back into place had you sobbing—what had you done to him?

The sound of footsteps had you looking up from Ikaris’ body as you healed him. In the settled ruin of your hallway, stood Ajak. “What did you do?”

**

The Deviants were fewer in number. Your centuries away from the Eternals had given you the time to track lone Deviants across the continents more freely. That is what you told yourself, anyway. It ached. You missed watching the civilizations evolve and progress. You only caught glimpses, of new types of writing, new songs, new legends, new everything, between your blood-soaked isolation. And it ached even more when you thought of the friends you had run from.

All because you didn’t want them to see you any differently. They had thought you were an Eternal. And know there was proof you were not—you were something else. Something different and dangerous. And you couldn’t control it. You never wanted to hurt anyone, especially them. You wanted their soft smiles and (almost) easy companionship. Selfishly.

But you had hurt Ikaris and you had run.

And that was how you found yourself sitting in the shadows of Babylon’s hanging gardens, watching Sersi and Thena speak with one another as Gilgamesh helped a young boy hold his wooden sword correctly as the rest of the city buzzed around them. Phastos was bartering with a shop keep with one of his inventions tucked beneath his arm. Kingo’s laughter echoed from some unseen corner and a shower of Sprite’s golden sparks soon followed. You missed them.

“You did not say goodbye, Raindrop.”

You didn’t pull your eyes from crowd in front of you but you could not stop the smile pushing at your lips. “I didn’t realize I was leaving until I left.”

Druig was quiet but you felt his warm hand settle beside yours, his fingers just barely brushing against the knuckles of your pinky. “Ajak-”

“I don’t want to talk about Ajak.”

Druig was quiet again but you didn’t mind, it was easy to simply be around him. Comfortable. But for just a moment, you wished he could read you—to at least know that you hated being away from them, that you ached for them with each passing day, without trying to put it into words. But, for now, it was okay to simply feel his familiar warmth. “Makkari searched for you. I searched for you. No one knew where you’d hidden yourself away.”

You huffed, trying to ignore the barely concealed hurt you had heard in his tone. “I wasn’t hiding.”

“Don’t lie to me.”

“I was running. Not hiding. There is a difference.” You wanted to ask him if he knew what had happened in Rome, wanted to ask him if he was afraid of you. But you didn’t, biting your tongue and finally turned to look at him. The uneven shadows of the gardens were sending small bolts of light across his face, making him look like some sort of fractured deity of sunlight and darkness. His blue eyes were still the perfect shade. His lips still turned up the slightest bit when you let your hand settle over his, curling your fingers around his. “I never meant to hurt you—any of you.”

Druig lifted your joined hands to press a kiss to your knuckles and you felt your ancient heart leap. It wasn’t fair. “You are forgiven.”

A blast of warm air had you turning to see Makkari standing in front of you both, hands on her hips. “Hello.”

Where have you been? But she didn’t give you a chance to answer before she was pulling you from your seat and pressing her forehead against yours, warm hands curling around your arms.

“I missed you, too.”

As they carted you around the city they now called home, Makkari excitedly explaining how they buried the Domo beneath the city, the battles you missed, and the achievements the humans attained while Druig dryly added his commentary intermittently, you didn’t have the heart to ask if Ikaris had told them. You simply focused on their smiles and how their hands felt in yours.

And you were gone by the time the sun came up the next day.

**

You were leaving. Truly, you were. You had left the kindly woman who had been sheltering you with a smile and let her press her aged hands to your face and wish you safe travels over the mountains with tears in her eyes. She had been kind, kinder still after you saved her granddaughter from the jaws of a particularly vicious Deviant that had been approaching the village. And you were leaving.

You set out along the dirt road, smiling at the children who rushed by you. The sun was setting and you angled your face just enough to let it warm your skin as you continued on. But the sudden feeling of someone’s eyes on you had you pausing.

Turning slowly, you did not know what you were expecting. It did not feel like a Deviant, nor a curious human. And it wasn’t.

Framed by the dying sun’s orange glow, stood Ikaris.

You weren’t sure how long you stayed frozen in that stance, unable to look away from him. But he eventually took a few slow steps toward you. He stopped a few feet away and he lifted his hand toward you, palm up and unassuming. “Stay. Stay with us.”

But you took a step back. “You know I can’t.”

His hand still held out in front of him, Ikaris asked, “Why? Tell me why you do not want to stay. Have we not made you happy? Have we not done as you have; helping the humans and destroying the Deviants?”

“I hurt you. I hurt you more than anyone thought possible and I couldn’t control it. I hurt you.”

“It was an accident. I forgave you the moment it happened-”

“It shouldn’t have happened at all. I shouldn’t be able to hurt you like that. You are powerful, Ikaris. You know that, I know that, everyone knows that—and I nearly killed you. I can’t trust myself.”

“But I trust you.”

You hated how the tears stung your eyes at that. “I can’t. I can’t, I’m sorry.”

**

You stood in the dark shadows of an abandoned temple as the smoke stung your eyes. The fire was raging, raging, raging. The screams from below sounded so far away and so close at the same time.

All that knowledge…gone. The stories. The discoveries. They were ash now.

It was not the first time humanity had all but wiped such precious information from the face of the planet and you doubted it would be the last. But it still bit at your bones. You were tired. Lonely. And you had done it to yourself.

You had been practicing honing the strange power that had you leveling mountains and carving canyons. It had grown more and more frequent since your first brush with it in Rome. It felt like your skin was too tight, this body too small to contain it, until you let it out, leveling anything in its path. But you also saw how water would stream through the canyons and the new valleys would bloom with life overnight. Destroy and create. Destroy and create. But it still was too much for you to control. You were afraid to touch anyone, afraid to give anyone your back in case they snuck up on you and you killed someone because you couldn’t stop it.

And you were so wrapped up in your own self-pity that you didn’t react to the shadow growing smaller as footsteps echoing in the dark temple until the scent of berries and metal washed over you. “Hello, Ajak.” You dipped your head in greeting as she stood in front of you. “Where are the others?”

“Not far behind.”

You nodded, not taking your eyes from the fire. “How are they?”

“They continue their mission for Arishem. But they miss you.”

You were quiet and you heard Caesar’s soldiers cheer over the roar of the burning city. You missed them too.

“Arishem would like to speak with you.”

“I don’t have the ability to speak to your strange space god. And I’m not sure I’d even want to do so.”

“It is for-”

“Ajak, please,” you said, hating how the syllables cracked in your throat. “Not now.”

She was quiet again before nodding. “At least let the others know you are still alive.”

And you were beyond arguing so you did not move from your spot beside the temple’s pillar and watched the rest of the Eternals make their way up the stairs of the temple, their armor shining with the glow of the fire and the bright moonlight.

Sersi was the first to greet you, soft hands reaching for you and wrapping you in a hug that had tears stinging the back of your eyes. “I have missed you, my friend.”

Kingo, Sprite, and Phastos soon followed, murmuring their own hellos and welcomes before Ikaris took his turn. He stepped forward with a small smile on his lips. “It is good to see you again.”

And you had to smile at him too, hearing the warmth in his tone. When he wrapped you in his arms in a tight hug, the tears finally started to slide down your cheeks. Even through your tears, you saw Thena and Gilgamesh waiting their turn so you gently pushed him back to greet them, too—Thena wrapped her knuckles against your forehead with a small smile while Gilgamesh gave you a fond smile and told you that you looked well. And it was good and it was kind, to be welcomed like that.

But it felt like your entire chest clenched when you saw Makkari next. She had tears in her beautiful eyes and in two steps was holding you tight. I’m so sorry, you signed the moment she stepped back. I’m sorry.

She shook her head. You are here now. That is all that matters. Makkari pressed her hand against your cheek and a tear slipped from her eye.

“You still didn’t say goodbye, Raindrop.”

You huffed a watery laugh at the nickname as Makkari stepped to the side to reveal Druig. Were you still their Raindrop?

Druig nudged his shoulder into yours with a ghost of a smile, mostly hidden in shadow, and you pretended not to see the scroll tucked safely away in his robes. That could be your secret.

**

You hadn’t made a promise last time. Hadn’t told Makkari when you’d see her again. Hadn’t slipped your hand into Druig’s and whispered a place to find each other. Hadn’t given anything more to Ikaris other than sliding your hand down his back as you passed him.

Thena had been the one to meet you at the gates of Pompeii just before the sun rose. “How long will it be this time? Decades? Centuries?”

You shrugged. “I don’t know. But you are just as capable without me.”

Thena’s lips set in a thin line but she did not blink as the mountain at the edges of the city gave another rumble. They were coming closer and closer now—but, for once, it was not your fault. “I do not know what you are running from, but we could have helped you fight it.”

That had been so long ago. But it still stung and bit at your bruised soul when you saw them across the valley and on the other side of the silly little wall a man who called himself Emperor Hadrian had demanded be built. The Romans paid them no mind as they continued their building and exercises. You could not tell if their eyes were glowing gold but you hardly gave effort to truly see. No, what you saw was Druig and Makkari standing beside each other as the fog rolled in, their eyes on you, and then they were gone. And so were you.

**

You loved the snow. Loved the quietness it brought to humanity and how it seemed to allow everything to start again—it had snowed the day you had reunited with your Eternals, a new beginning. (You could have run again when you spotted them on the horizon but you were lonely, terribly, terribly lonely. So you stayed.) And it was cold—you’d always preferred the cold anyway. The light from the bustling city was a warm glow but it could not compete with the bright stars. This little cluster of islands was beautiful and the people were kind, and the political machinations were interesting to watch unfold.

But you had to abandon your copy of The Pillow Book when a soft knock came at your door.

“Phastos?” You said, trying hard to not sound too surprised at his appearance.

“I have an idea,” he returned, a smile pushing at his mouth. “I’ve been thinking of the last fight we had-”

“We never fight, Phastos.”

“The last Deviant we fought,” he corrected, rolling right along. “They were attacking you—no one else. Just you.” As he continued on, explaining all the movements he witnessed when not one but three Deviants had attacked your small group in the mountains only a few weeks ago, you felt your mouth twisting to the side. You had realized that the razor sharp teeth of the Deviants were always dangerously close to your neck before one of the others managed to kill it. And it had been happening more and more as the decades passed, almost as if the last few Deviants were more desperate to kill you than to stay alive.

“I’m, um, I’m sorry, but what do you think this means?”

Phastos’ smile widened. “I don’t know! But I managed to build something that might give us an answer.”

You pushed out a breath and pressed a smile to your face. “What do you need from me? I’m happy to help.” And that was how you found yourself in the soft light of Phastos’ home and letting him prick your finger. He pressed down on the pad of your finger and let the blood run into a small glass tube. “Are you thinking that it’s something in my blood that’s attracting them?”

“It could be. It has been sometime since I’ve had the opportunity to study anything other than the humans’ progress so I could be wrong but,” he drifted off with a shrug as he tipped your blood into some swirling golden contraption he’d built from the scraps he’d saved from the Domo and his own beautiful power. You didn’t understand the lights and soft clicks the little machine made but you watched Phastos’ brows scrunch together as the little vial of your blood started to glow.

“What…what does that mean?”

“It means that you are a Celestial,” Ajak said, stepping out of the shadows.

“Ajak?” Phastos’s voice was filled with confusion.

But you could only stare at the little golden vial, your heart clawing its way into your throat.

“I suspected for centuries,” Ajak said, stepping to your side to press a small, warm hand to your shoulder. “But I was not sure until you nearly killed Ikaris-”

“No. N-no, I’m…” You shook your head, pressing your palms over your eyes as a stabbing pain quickly took root in your skull. “Did you know?” You asked, pulling your hands away to look at Phastos.

“No,” he answered, his voice soft. “I promise you that. I only wanted to know why the Deviants were targeting you.”

And you believed him. You believed him because Phastos was kind and intelligent and always ready to share a discovery with the group—your true biology would have been discussed over dinner if he had known. That was right. That was what you knew.

“Who else knows?” You mumbled, the flooring starting to sway beneath your feet as you looked down.

“Just us, darling,” Ajak said, her hand still on your shoulder. “I promise.”

“I-I don’t know what this means. I-”

“It means you were never supposed to be here.”

Your head snapped to the side to see Druig and Makkari in the doorway to Phastos’ home, the snow still falling down in meandering paths, uncaring that your life had been upended. You opened your mouth to say something but nothing came out. But what were you supposed to say?

Are you sure? Makkari asked Ajak, stepping inside.

“I am,” Ajak said, her hand finally slipping away from you.

Makkari’s eyes flittered over to you and then she was stepping up to you, almost too slowly. Her hands reached out and she grasped your face, making you lean just enough to press your forehead to hers, only for a moment. It doesn’t change anything. You’re still our Raindrop.

You almost died because the Deviants were after me, you signed in return, feeling tears choke you. All of you. I put you in danger. Me.

We are fighters. Dying is-

“Not an option,” you said, finding your voice even though it waivered. “I will never willfully endanger you.”

“Shouldn’t we be allowed to make that choice?” Druig asked, stepping forward.

You looked between Makkari and Druig, Druig and Makkari—your closes confidantes, your friends, your…yours. And now you had to leave them behind. Again. “Haven’t you heard, Druig? I’m a Celestial. You don’t get a choice.” You tried to say it with a smile but the last syllable cracked in your throat as the first tears fell. “I’ll kill them. I’ll kill them all and I’ll come back. I promise. I’ll come back to you.”

**

From your perch up the hill, you watched the temples burn and heard the strange contraptions known as rifles fire again and again, little bursts of light cutting through the smoke. A body of a Deviant was at your feet, its dark blood soaking through your boots. You had tracked it here, to the outskirts of this beautiful city; unsurprisingly, you had felt your little band of Eternals, too. The strange awareness you had finally let yourself feel was almost comforting. The air would nearly vibrate when you were near them and, so unlike the nauseating ground vibrations the Deviants emitted, you could track them anywhere if you wished.

Celestial.

The word still tasted bitter on your tongue. You did not want to be a Celestial. You did not want this out of control power. You did not want the longing you felt when you looked at the stars. All you wanted was your hand in Makkari’s. All you wanted was Druig’s secret smiles. All you wanted were your friends.

Celestial.

You were supposed to be all-powerful. But your power was still too much. Too dangerous. Even if you could only scarcely feel a few Deviants up north. They were all that were left of their species on this planet. And you were still too dangerous.

Avalanches, earthquakes, hurricanes. They followed where you stepped—well, that wasn’t true. You created them. You shook the Earth and it cried out in return, hurt and broken. They were accidents, yes, but they were your fault.

The sounds of the battle grew silent with your next breath.

“Druig,” you murmured the name, knowing it was his doing. Only he could do that. Only he could take the mind of a city and its invaders and quiet them and mold them to his whim. The steps grew louder and louder as they neared you—but you felt no fear as hundreds and hundreds of people walked by you, their eyes an unseeing gold as the city smoked behind them. You simply leaned against the nearest tree and waited.

Waited for him.

And like some dark god the humans thought him to be, Druig appeared, walking between the masses of the humans he controlled, his black armor sweeping the ground behind them. Without a word, he slowed to a stop in front of you. “Raindrop.”

He was alone and you could feel the scattering of all the others. It felt like someone was ripping your ribcage apart. Now was not the time to tell him you couldn’t stay—he already seemed to know that. You reached out and touched Druig’s cheek, uncaring of the cold gold in his eyes. “Stay safe.” Your lips brushed his cheek, a paltry balm for his pain, but it was all you could offer.

As you leaned back, Druig followed and his lips found yours. A warm hand anchored itself on the back of your neck while his other curled over your hip. It was all teeth and tongue and you felt your heart racing behind your ribs as he pulled you ever closer, tongue sliding against your own. Your hands swept into his dark hair and you pulled him closer, too, feeling his hard body and fire-warmed armor burn through your clothes and heat your skin. Everything was warm. Everything was Druig. Everything everything everything.

And then it was gone.

Druig pulled back, panting against your shining lips and his eyes still a golden glow.

“Stay safe,” you repeated in a broken whisper. “Stay safe for me.”

**

Boston. It was a strange name, you thought, but you knew history was in the making in this burgeoning city and had settled on the outskirts, hidden just beyond the woods. Perhaps you could find something here that would make Makkari smile and she would add it to her collection.

Locals called you a recluse or a witch as you wandered in intermittently for a few supplies for your modest lodgings. If only they knew. It was probably for the best that they all steered clear of you and the shop keeps were quick to wave you on after making your purchases. While you had managed to almost contain your power, you knew it was still dangerous. You were still dangerous.

What more could you be? A space god in the form of a human. You weren’t meant to be this small. You weren’t meant to be here; Druig had been right about that.

And it was lonely. Your little cottage provided even less entertainment so you often snuck out to the shore and ‘borrowed’ one of the small rowboats docked there under the cover of darkness. Tonight’s boat was exceptionally small but the only one with the oars inside. The city behind you was quiet as you rowed out until the lights of the city were nothing more than dots on the horizon and then you pulled the oars inside, settling on your back on the bottom of the boat.

They call that star Venus, Makkari signed, pointing at a particularly bright spot of light in the inky black sky.

“Venus,” you said, rolling the syllables around in your mouth as your hands also signed the new word. “I think we should call it Makkari.”

Makkari nudges your shoulder, ruffling the dew-wet grass beneath you both, probably leaving garish green stains on both of your tunics. But it was worth it. It was worth it because Makkari’s answering smile outshined all the stars.

When was that? Babylon? Pompeii? You pressed the heels of your palms into your eyes and rubbed until your eyes ached. You were losing time again.

You and Sersi dashed behind a corner, trying to remain unseen by Makkari or Druig.

“What has he stolen for her this time?” Sersi asked, a smile on her lips as you peeked around the corner.

“Oh, it’s the tablets!” You gasped and slipped back behind the corner when Druig turned his head. “She’s been looking for those for centuries,” you told Sersi, the smile so wide on your face it was starting to hurt.

The woman beside you sighed. “They are truly either the most oblivious of beings in the galaxy or they are playing us all for fools.”

You laughed, a bit too loudly, and pressed your hand over your mouth. You didn’t have the heart to tell her they were definitely not oblivious and at least Druig could not have cared less if anyone saw him wooing the woman he had been enamored with for more than a few thousand years. But then you saw Sersi’s smile fade just a fraction. “What is it?”

“They seem happy. Together, I mean.”

You leaned just a bit to catch another glimpse of Druig’s easy smile as Makkari quickly signed what the tablets meant. “I think they are.”

“Don’t you ever want that? It would be nice to…” Sersi’s soft words drifted off. “It would nice to be loved.”

And your heart hurt at that and you reached out to touch her hand and squeeze. “You deserve it, Sersi. You deserve all the love in the world.”

The boat rocked beneath you but you couldn’t bring yourself to care at the moment. When was that? Kyoto? Alexandria? Something felt warm behind your eyes.

The grass was warm under you, warmed by the sun, and you hadn’t care of the green stains it might leave on your clothes as you shut your eyes and listened to the bustling village just down the hill. Children were laughing. People were bartering for foodstuffs and goods in the market. A woman was calling out for her goats for their meal. Idyllic. Ajak had given the group a few weeks to rest—it had been a hard-won battle against the area’s hive of Deviants. Thena had been nearly killed after taking a hit meant for Makkari while Sprite’s illusions had managed to save Kingo’s life, providing just enough distraction to confuse them. But now? Now you all rested. A familiar presence made the air crackle and sing, pushing a smile to your lips without even opening your eyes. “What trouble have you two caused today?”

The toe of Makkari’s boat bumped against your hip, making you laugh and open your eyes before sitting up. Druig, naturally, was at her side and blotting out the sun to keep you from having to squint. The way the light was shining behind them made them look ethereal, divine. Or maybe that was just your bias.

You patted the grass beside you and your smile widened as they took their seats.

I did find something interesting today.

“I found it,” Druig huffed, fighting a smile.

Makkari pulled a soft linen bag from her back and undid the lacings before reaching inside. Her smile was just as bright as the bit of gold and silver she pulled from its depths. You barely had a chance to look at it before she set it on your head. It looks nice on you.

You had to laugh at that and plucked the diadem off your head to look at it as it glinted in the sunlight. It was beautifully made, as all of Makkari’s treasures were, and was made of gold with small silver chains hanging down the sides with precious-stone beads secured at the end. It was still in remarkable condition for how old you knew it to be. You hummed and plopped it over Druig’s head. “I think Druig looks quite handsome,” you said and signed, holding back another laugh as the small chains were almost instantly devoured by his dark hair.

But he smiled, too, the smile you only saw him give to Makkari and now it was pointed at you. And maybe you should have felt wrong, or you were intruding on something sacred, but Druig was soon smiling at Makkari, and all was right with the world.

Yes, handsome, Makkari agreed with a bright smile of her own. She reached out and brushed one of the delicate chains behind his ear.

Druig nudged her shoulder with his before plucking the diadem off his head and carefully placing it over Makkari’s hair. “That’s where it belongs.”

The gold was sparkling and the silver chains gently framed her beautiful face. It did seem to rest the easiest on her head, too. Like it had been made for her, waiting through the centuries to be claimed by its rightful owner. “It suits you, Makkari. It’s yours.”

Makkari’s smile widened and she leaned into your side to press a kiss to your cheek.

The warmth had seeped down to the tips of your fingers and burned even as you moved to curl your hands over the splintering wood of the small boat’s seat. “Stop,” you pleaded to yourself. “Please stop.”

But it didn’t. The burn consumed you and in your next stuttered breath, exploded. And the water beneath you roared.

You weren’t sure how long you sat in that little boat, feeling the water and earth rumble but you could hear the fervent prayers and scared whispers even before your little boat slipped back against the slick sand of the shore.

Everything was ruined. And it was time for you to leave.

**

How long had it been? Years? Decades? Centuries? You couldn’t tell anymore. Not that it mattered. You were alone out here in a thick forest beside a slow-moving river. The humans called this place Siberia; it was a pretty name and you avoided most humans. The only ones you saw were adventurers or hunters who kept clear from your little cabin. It had been good.

…that was a lie.

You were achingly lonely.

How long had it been since you had spoken to someone? You were sure your voice would come out weathered and dry the next time you had to form a word aloud. Nights were spent staring at the stars through the little window beside your bed and hoping to sleep. And Days were spent in your miniscule garden or walking the river’s edge or the forest with a book forgotten in your hand. You had them all—all of the six dozen you had pilfered from hunters and campers when they weren’t looking—memorized anyway. But it was better this way. You couldn’t hurt anyone here. And the tremors, both your own and the ones you inflicted on the little planet, were coming more and more often.

Today’s book was abandoned at your side as you sat near the river, your feet in the cold water. A roe deer was munching on a bit of grass on the other side, unbothered by your presence. It eventually walked way and you watched it disappear between the trees with a sigh. Alone again.

And then you had a terrible idea. A terrible idea that had been more and more persistent as time lurched on. Should you check on them? See if any of them were close? Tried to hear if they…needed you?

You grimaced at the thought. They didn’t need you. They never needed you. You needed them and you couldn’t have them. Not in the way you wanted.

But, you still pressed your hand into the silt and closed your eyes. The tenuous lid you had managed to put on the strange power you possessed lifted just the smallest bit and you felt it run out of you, skittering out in search of your Eternals. It echoed back, faintly—but they were alive. That was all you could ask for, right now. You pulled your hand back and sucked in a breath through gritted teeth as you tried to once again put the metaphorical lid back on.

You stood, boots sinking on the riverbank, and shook your hands as if that would help. It was almost there—almost!—as you turned back toward your cottage but then you felt it slip. It had been too long since you had let yourself loose. Too long since you’d let the power simmering beneath your skin slither out, barely reined in by your will. It had been too long and now you tasted the cloying tang of blood at the back of your throat as your knees gave out. Your mouth opened in a silent scream as you felt the carefully crafted hold you had on everything, shattered.

The world tilted and you were out, with blood in your mouth.

**

This was a terrible idea. A terrible, terrible, terrible idea but if anyone had answers, it would be Ajak and since you had all but drained yourself in the Siberian forest, you felt a little more secure venturing into society—but you could feel it building again with each step you took. Her homestead was as warm and comforting as the tea she offered you before sitting across from you at the little table in her kitchen. Sprite was lurking near the cabinets, arms folded over her chest. But Ajak had welcomed you inside with a kind smile and a familiar, soft hand on your cheek. “It is good to see you.” You hoped that was true. After finishing your tea with soft conversation, Ajak had Sprite step out of the room—but you were sure she was still listening around the corner—she said, “ask me your questions.”

Words tumbled out of your mouth in surely-disjointed sentences and questions, covering everything you could think of. Celestials, where you could have come from, why you were on Earth, why your powers were growing stronger and more erratic, why why why. All of it.

And Ajak tried to answer them all with all the knowledge she had at her disposal—of Arishem’s bands of Eternals being sent out to help other planet’s civilizations progress, of how the Deviants were corrupted creations from the Celestials themselves—but there were still questions she could not answer. Her soft hands were curled over yours on the table and you briefly wondered why you had been so resistant to her company before—she was so kind, so comforting. Such a guiding light to everyone around her.

It took you a moment to realize you were crying and Ajak wiped your tears away with a gentle touch. “Limiting your power is only hurting yourself. You are meant to create galaxies.”

“Almost everything I touch, I destroy, Ajak.”

Again, her hands covered yours on the table. She was quiet for a few moments and you could tell that she was picking her words carefully. “In order for a Celestial to be born, a great amount of energy is needed. Energy from a world that has developed over thousands and thousands of years, hosting billions of lives. When it is time, it is called The Emergence. It is usually marked by earthquakes, the planet shifting to try to accommodate the moving Celestial at its core. They…” Ajak paused. “The planet that hosted them is destroyed, so that the Celestial, in turn, can create new galaxies, create new life.”

You pulled your hands away and stood from your chair as bile crept up your throat. “I’m supposed to destroy this planet? Is that all this is?” You pressed your hands over your mouth as you leaned against her counter. You thought of the little girls that trailed after Makkari, trying to keep up with her strides with quiet giggles. You thought of the older woman who fed you and sheltered you the first time you broke away. You thought of the little boy Gilgamesh had taught how to hold a sword. The little ones, the elderly, everyone in between. “I can’t do that to them. I won’t.”

And then Ajak stood as well, walking to your side with a shake of your head. “Arishem has called you an anomaly. An experiment. I truly did not know what you were until your accident with Ikaris.”

“An experiment.” It tasted like rotted meat on your tongue. “A space god got so bored with his first two batches of experiments, he decided to test something out on his own kind.” Your jaw hurt with how tight you were clenching your teeth. “I could have killed everyone. I could have killed you—I almost killed Ikaris already and that was centuries ago. Your Arishem put his favorites on this tiny planet with me, knowing I could kill them.”

“But you didn’t,” she said, taking a small step closer to you.

Thoughts and memories were jumbling together in a terrible mess in your brain, spinning and spinning and spinning like a tornado, but suddenly stilled with a single question remaining. “Was any of it real?”

Ajak’s head tilted to the side. “What do you mean?”

“Our-our friendships, the jokes we made, the secrets we told each other; was any of it real for you?” The tears were choking you again and you briefly wondered how pitiful you must look to her, the crying space god in her tiny kitchen.

“Of course it was real. Of course it was.”

**

You found Sersi first, with Ajak’s words still ringing in your head. She had a beautiful home along the Seine and quickly wrapped you in a hug as soon as her footman opened the door. “It has been too long, my friend.” Tea was served as music played over a shining, new gramophone.

“It seems you have made quite a life here, Sersi. You’re happy.”

Sersi nodded and set the dainty tea cup aside. “But you are not.” She reached out and grasped your hands. “Tell me what’s bothering you.”

You sighed. “How much as Ajak told you?”

Sersi’s beautiful eyes closed for a moment. “If you are wondering if I know that you are a Celestial, the answer is yes. Phastos told us and then Ajak told us the rest of Arishem’s usual plan for planets such as these and our part in it.” Her grip tightened on your hands. “But it changes nothing. I am still your friend, aren’t I?”

“Of course you are-”

“And you’re still mine.”

The conversation continued on, speaking of the Olympic Games that just passed and the Exposition Universelle and how much she had enjoyed the festivities. “After all this time, you still love them, the humans.”

Her answering smile was soft. “Of course I do. Just as you do, that is why you have hidden yourself away. Just as Druig does, and Phastos, and Ajak. All of us love them, just in different ways.”

You nodded and glanced out her beautiful window to see the bustling city. A few glanced up at the window, probably in awe of the grand house, before walking past. There was a knock on her door and her footman quickly answered it, appearing in the tea room with a large bouquet of wildflowers wrapped in soft linen. “Shall I put them in a vase, my lady?”

“That would be lovely, Charles, thank you.”

Charles nodded and quickly did so, putting the resplendent bouquet just beside them on the mantle, filling the air with a soft sweetness, before disappearing again after Sersi thanked him again. Sersi reached out and touched one of the petals, another smile pushing at her lips.

“A secret admirer?” You asked, without a hint of teasing. You had seen countless people fall in love with Sersi with her kind eyes and even kinder words over the millennia, but none had been so bold to have something delivered to her home.

Sersi’s cheeks bloomed with color. “It would be a bit foolish to love someone so fleeting.”

“You have loved the humans since you arrived. Why not let them love you? Truly, as you want to be loved. You deserve to be happy, Sersi.”

**

You managed to find Kingo next and encouraged his passing thought of being an actor. Phastos was next and you marveled at all the wondrous inventions he was hoping to reveal to the humans before he revealed that Thena and Gilgamesh had retreated to a solitary stretch of land in Australia. “Mahd Wy’ry,” Phastos murmured the term like it was some sort of curse as he told you of the inseparable pair. “Be careful.”

And while you dreaded the long trip to that continent, you needed to see them.

Gilgamesh was quick to wrap you in a tight hug, followed by Thena. The vibrations you felt coming from her felt ever so slightly off. Incorrect. Without thinking, you gently pressed your hands on either side of her face and pushed out a breath between pursed lips, feeling the tips of your fingers warm and spark. A strange sense of serenity washed through you as the breath petered out. Thena stiffened beneath your touch and her eyes fluttered, flashing between white and blue, before she lost consciousness completely. It was Gilgamesh’s quick reflexes that kept her from hitting the red dirt beneath you. “What have you done?”

“I…I think I was trying to help.” Why you thought that, you couldn’t tell. Another impulse you didn’t understand but knew how to act on.

Gilgamesh carried Thena into their home and you followed a few a paces behind and the next few hours passed in a strange tension before she woke again. Thena sat up in her small bed, eyes wide and searching, before she reached out to Gilgamesh.

“How are you feeling?” He asked in a soft voice, carefully brushing her blonde hair behind her ear.

“Free.”

**

It hadn’t been your intention to track down Ikaris. The golden child of Arishem’s Eternals had been burned by you enough, hadn’t he? You could not give him what he desired. But he was a good man, a good soldier. And you had the mind to tell him that when you met him on the coast of the Black Sea as the winter air chased most humans away from the water.

“I thought I’d never see you again.”

You had to chuckle at that. “It’s a small planet, Ikaris, I’m sure we would have run into each other eventually,” you said, turning back to the sea as he stepped to your side. As always, he was warm—so, so warm. But you saw him fidget in the dark sand beside you, something so unlike him. “What is it?”

“I have been obedient to Arishem for…as long as I can remember. I have listened to his commands and those handed down from the Celestials without argument or second thought, thinking I was doing what was right for the universe.” He paused and you felt his eyes press on the side of your face. “And then I learn that I had you at my side this entire time and I…”

The waves crashed and showered you both with a fine mist and you kept your eyes focused on the horizon even though you felt your heart trying to inch its way up your throat.

“I would have done anything you asked of me.” Ikaris whispered your name before slowly grasping your hand in his and you had to shut your eyes to avoid seeing the hope in his own. “I would have betrayed Arishem if you had wanted me to. I would have worshiped you from the beginning, like you deserve. I-”

Carefully, you pulled your hand from his and folded your arms over your chest. “I don’t want to be worshipped and obeyed. I want to be loved. Real, true love.”

“Isn’t that what devotion is? Pure-”

“Ikaris, please.” It was only then that you dared look at him. “I am not the goddess you think I am. I am not the woman you’re meant to love-”

“But I do!”

“You don’t!” You retorted. “I nearly killed you! I could kill you now without thinking and what would the others think? That you left without them? That you lived up to Sprite’s legend and flew yourself into the sun? I am dangerous, Ikaris. And you are a good man; strong and kind to those you love. But I am not the woman you should give your heart to; but let yourself be open here, with the humans-”

He scoffed but you saw tears in his eyes.

“They are capable of great, all-consuming love. True love. Let yourself be happy here, for as long as you are stationed on this little blue planet. Find someone who loves you like you love them.”

“Is that a command?” Ikaris’ tone had the barest trace of warmth in it, letting you know he was teasing.

You reached out and pulled him close to press a final kiss to his cheek with a smile. “Yes, golden one, it is.”

**

The small package in your hands felt much heavier than its contents as your boots shifted in the sand with each step. You had found it (stolen it) from a pile of ‘discoveries’ left out in the sun by some group of British men who called themselves archaeologists, nearly smashed between broken bits of pottery you remembered watching being formed centuries and centuries ago. You hoped she liked it.

You found your way into the Domo’s mostly-unfamiliar halls and rooms and followed the steady trail of food containers into the main room where Makkari was lounging, sprawled out over a throne you vaguely remembered from some grand palace. A scroll was on her lap and you could tell she was zipping over all of the words with her natural super-speed before she spotted you. The scroll was quickly dropped and she was wrapping you in her arms before you could blink. She was so warm and still fit in between all your curves and edges with her own, slotting right into place.

Hello, Raindrop.

You gave a watery smile and handed over the sloppily-wrapped package, making her arch an eyebrow but she tore through the wrapping anyway. Her near-blinding smile had your heart leaping as she once again engulfed you in a tight hug, the emerald tablet she had been searching for slapping against your back as she held it tightly in her hand. As she pulled back, Makkari held it up to the light to see it sparkle, casting green light over the floor, to admire for a few moments before she set it aside and grasped your hands and led you over to the throne—it was big enough for two, anyway—and made you sit beside her.

Where did you find it?

Some dig sight outside Constantinople. They didn’t know what they had and I remembered you always wanted it so… you folded your hands in your lap with a shrug.

Makkari’s warm hand gently touched your cheek and you saw the pinch of worry between her brows. Tell me, she signed as she pulled back.

And you could deny her nothing. You told her of what had happened in Boston, in Russia, of your conversations with the others, all of it. And Makkari listened patiently through all of it, only shifting in her seat to wipe the tears away that had escaped your eyes.

Let me help you.

How? You asked in return. I’m pretty sure it is almost impossible to kill a Celestial, even for a band of Eternals as smart as you all.

Makkari’s eyes filled up with tears now and she shook her head. I would never kill you—even if you asked. I want to help you. Let me help you.

You sighed and looked at her, noting the gleam in her eyes and how she never took no for an answer when she gave you or anyone else that look.

**

The moment your feet touched the ground again, you felt your stomach settle. Makkari had carried you across the world to…here. This unfamiliar stretch of trees with thick, sticky air, and the sound of running water somewhere nearby. And while you had been elated to have her that close for that long, you were probably not suited to her speeds.

Makkari must have spotted your confused look as you tried to decipher your surroundings and nudged your shoulder. Don’t you trust me, Raindrop?

To the ends of the Earth, you know this.

She smiled and started to lead you through, down into the jungle that grew thicker with each passing step. You knew she was taking it slow for you and would have probably been at her (your?) destination by now if you hadn’t been slowing her down. But Makkari didn’t seem to mind as she regaled you with stories about her adventures for the past few decades. As you paused to get a bit of water from a tiny waterfall, you felt Makkari’s eyes on your back and turned, wiping a few droplets from your chin.

I looked for you. Every few months, I would pick another part of this world to search and I could never find you.

That was the point, you signed in return. I wanted to keep you safe.

What’s love without a little danger? She asked with a small smile.

Love.

Love.

Love.

You wanted to say something but Makkari kept on. It’s just as well. It was how I found Druig. And now I can visit him whenever I want.

You had to smile at that, despite your racing heart. Druig. You had planned to visit him after Makkari but she had other plans, telling you that Druig could help in a way that the others, herself included, could not. The logic of the argument was sound, you had to admit, but you worried that having them both together, so close, would not bode well for your heart or the ever-tenuous hold you had on your growing power. But you trusted Makkari. You trusted Druig.

Makkari cupped her hands under the fall too and drank the clear, cool water before pressing her wet lips to your cheek. You gave him back to me. And then she turned and ventured back into the jungle, having you scramble to keep up as she smiled over her shoulder with a wink.

Eventually the terrain evened out and you saw the trees start to thin. The soft noises of a saw through a tree, a child laughing, and the scrape of fabric over wood met your ears and you could count the little homes on two hands. It was a commune, of sorts. Everyone was in variations of the same soft apron, trousers, and shirt, and sturdy boots. It was peaceful, almost inhumanly so.

Makkari nudged your shoulder again with another smile as she leaned against a tree, watching the villagers, too. You had arrived, apparently. You watched the small village for a few moments and felt your heart sink with each passing second. It was perfect and peaceful and quiet. It was everything you knew Druig wanted the humans to achieve. Everything he could have given the planet if only he had been allowed to truly use his power.

This was his paradise.

And you were intruding on it, hauling metric tons of danger and noise and desperation. You turned to Makkari, trying to find your resolve. I am sorry I had you drag me here, you signed. I don’t know what I was thinking.

You turned to leave, to walk back out of the village when she caught your hands between hers and shook her head. She raised your hands to her lips and pressed a kiss to your fingers; you instantly sagged at the gentle touch. We have to try. Trust me. Trust us.

She then walked backward, never breaking eye contact with you, into the heart of the village and simply waited. The doors to the largest cabin swung open and out stepped Druig with his usual cocksure stance. There was a slight speed to his step as he spotted Makkari and quickly walked up to her, hands behind his back. “My beautiful Makkari, I thought it would be a few more years until I saw you…” he drifted off, his hands still as well, as Makkari stepped back, revealing you. “Raindrop?”

Against your better judgement, you stepped away from your tree and toward them. It was a little strange, to once again feel their familiar vibrations so in tune with each other, and so close, again. It almost felt like you were walking back into a place you truly called home.

Makkari’s hand squeezed yours as you reached them and you were nearly taken aback by Druig’s gentle touch, too, his fingers trailing along your cheek and down your neck, almost as if testing to see if you were truly there. You leaned into his palm as it cupped your cheek and you closed your eyes with a stilted breath. Yes, they felt like home. And that made it worse. You opened your eyes and curled your arms over your stomach with a grimace as you pulled away from them. “I’m so sorry I came here. I just... I’m scared, Druig.”

He quickly looked to Makkari who was just as quick to explain, saving you the shame of having to do so yourself. You felt his eyes on you as she finished and his boots shoved their way into your line of vision as you stared at the ground. “That’s why you’re here?”

You could only nod before glancing up at him, hoping that you wouldn’t see disgust in his eyes; after all, you were the cause of too much destruction. “Please, Druig,” you said, tears stinging your eyes. “I don’t want to hurt anyone. I don’t want to hurt you. Please, make me stop.” You reached a shaking hand out toward him, curling your fingers around his wrist. When he didn’t move, you chin fell to your chest as you bit back a sob.

“Is this really what you want?” He asked, his voice a low whisper. “You’re our Raindrop. I never want to make you sad.”

You watery laugh was all the answer you gave aside from a nod.

Then Druig’s warm hands gently framed your face and you expected to see the gold glow of his eyes as you looked up but all you saw was blue. His beautiful blue eyes. “We’ll keep you safe. I promise.” And then he kissed you. It was not like that kiss in the trees beyond Tenochtitlan. It did not rob your lungs of air or leave your heart racing. No. This kiss tasted like saltwater as your eyes fluttered shut and it ached with each gentle movement of Druig’s mouth against yours. This was sweet, tangible softness. This was love—and it broke your heart all over again. There was no rush, no hurry. His thumbs gently stroked along your jaw before softly turning your face so he could brush soft kisses across your cheek and down your neck before pressing against your lips again. One last time.

When you opened your eyes again, you were welcomed with a familiar golden glow.

“We’ll take care of you, Raindrop. I promise.”

He didn’t let go of you as he continued to press against the natural guards your mind created and you struggled to let them down. And you curled your hands over his as he gently held your face. You pushed and pushed and pushed, trying to force yourself to feel like it did when you let go, when your power was set free, without hurting him. But you couldn’t. You couldn’t do it. You could only stare into his otherworldly eyes and hope. Makkari pressed herself against your back, wrapping her lithe arms around your waist.

“It’s just me, Raindrop. Let me in,” he said, just as Makkari’s soft lips skimmed the side of your neck.

And that was it. The defenses dropped, simply because he asked and you knew, to the depths of your soul, that you were safe in Makkari’s arms. It felt like a soft pillow was placed over your ears, dampening everything around you and the gold in his eyes grew brighter and brighter until that was all you could see.

“It’s okay now. Go to sleep.”

**

There were voices in the dark.

Kind.

“You have fought so hard, young one.”

Calming.

“You have earned your rest.”

Patient.

“Your time will come.”

And utterly terrifying.

“How many galaxies will you create, little one?”

**

For the second time—that you remember—you woke up with dirt in your mouth.

“Hello, Raindrop. It’s time to wake up.”

Your eyes fluttered open and Druig and Makkari were standing over you, blotting out the sun, casting golden halos around their heads.

“Kingo dropped you,” Sprite’s voice came from somewhere to your left, but you could only see Makkari’s smile and Druig’s matching, soft look.

They both extended a hand toward you and helped you stand on surprisingly steady legs. And they both quickly started dusting you off from the dirt and brown-edged foliage. How are you feeling?

“I’m fine.” You paused. “Rested, actually.”

“You’ve been asleep for almost two hundred years, Raindrop,” Druig murmured, his hand brushing a bit of dirt off your cheek. “I’m not going to let you sleep for a long time.”

Makkari nudged his shoulder, a growing smile on her lips.

But the smile quickly vanished with a boom and a crack from the forest and the biggest Deviant you had ever seen charged into the little village. As Thena summoned her golden sword and shield, you stepped forward and simply reached out as the massive creature lunged, its teeth aimed at your neck. The Deviant froze in the middle of air, its obsidian eyes widening just a fraction before you twisted your wrist. A snap echoed against the trees before the Deviant’s lifeless corpse fell at your feet.

You felt Druig nudge your shoulder. “Rested, Raindrop?”

You laughed.

You learned that they woke you after a new wave of Deviants had arrived, appearing almost immediately after Thanos had been defeated. The Deviants now were more intelligent, harder to kill, and more likely to wipe half the population from the Earth than Thanos ever had been.

The question burning the tip of your tongue had been answered by Makkari before you even had the chance to ask after you set out in search of the abundant hives that were now tearing through cities across the world.

Arishem spoke with you while your body was resting. Ajak said he judged the humans through your memories and deemed them worthy.

Worthy? You signed in return. Of what?

“Of you,” Druig answered. “But, truthfully, we probably would have interfered anyway.” He nudged your shoulder with a smirk as he sat on your other side, matching your and Makkari’s seated position of feet dangling over the edge of the so-called Avengers Tower. “We couldn’t have you waking up to half the world gone.”

We love them too much, Makkari finished with a shrug of her shoulders. We protect those we love.

They had protected the humans from Thanos and you from yourself. And they spoke about it as easily as the weather—and it only made you smile. The others were speaking with the ones called Tony Stark and Steven Rogers a few floors down, accompanied by a human Sersi had married named Dane and another human named Margot who had managed to make Ikaris smile and you heard Phastos's husband, Ben, would be attending, too, but you had wanted nothing to do with it after you washed the grime and Deviant blood from your skin. You looked out over the city with its strange sky-scraping glass and metal buildings and the muted din of cars and the millions of people below. You were sure Kingo and Sprite were below, too, entertaining the masses with tales of the battle, just as they had done millennia ago—Sprite was still getting accustomed to the older form of herself and sometimes tripped over her long legs, but she never seemed to hate it, never once told you that your ‘gift’ had been too much for her to handle. She had simply smiled—smiled so much you worried you had accidentally wiped some of her memories but then she called Kingo a moron and eased your mind. A shower of golden sparks was reflected on the building across from you, lighting up the night sky. This century was strange, but you would adapt, as you always did if you had simply trusted yourself.

You briefly wondered if Makkari and Druig knew what they had given you by helping you sleep, by taking the weight of your abilities from your shoulders with their gentle touches. You had woken with your power settled in your marrow, in your control. You were no longer afraid of it—of yourself. You could reach out and touch them without fear and have them touch you in return. And that was exactly what you finally, finally, finally did.

In a dark room with a bed softer than you had ever felt, you pressed Makkari down into the silken sheets and touched and tasted and moved until she was shaking in your hold—and she tasted as beautiful as ever. But you were not done—and neither was Makkari. You both turned your heads to the side to see Druig patiently waiting in the high-backed armchair in the shadow of the room and crooked a finger at him.

The confident smirk on his lips as he shed his leather jacket quickly grew wide as Makkari reached out and grabbed the front of his jeans, hauling him closer to the bed’s edge. And he was just as warm and beautiful as Makkari and you both delighted in the way he took as good as he gave and the soft red hue that colored his cheeks when he was grasping at your hips or sliding between Makkari’s thighs.

It was good. It was perfect.

It had taken you too long to see what they had been offering for centuries. But they loved you anyway.

And the Deviants might have come again, and the battles had just begun, but you would be at their side and they at yours. One day, you might take your place among the stars alongside Arishem, but you knew they would be there with you, too. Eternity was a long time, but you gladly looked forward to it.

A/N: please let me know what you think! Thank you for reading!