#more than one of these things at a time would've been impossible to contain

[reallyexists]

Another beautiful day in the dwarven fortress Bowloar, another goblin attack repelled. These guys tangle with a kobold thief and some weapon traps before limping away, less one hand between them.

Total fortress kill count is two giants, a kobold and one goblin(’s left hand). Yessir, things are looking up!

 Holy fucking shit.

I mentioned this little lady in the tags of that first giant post, and here she is again. There’s a downside to popularity, to be sure. She’s doubled in age since her last visit.

The werelizard child Usu Ramulabba infiltrated the fortress and just transformed outside our shiny refurbished temple. Our full ten-unit squad of mixed dwarves and humans is training in the barracks downstairs, directly next to the indicated stairwell. One of our glassmakers is a lot closer.

The glassmaker gets attacked and seems to be holding his own. It probably helps that the horrible night-beast attacking him is two years old.

A nearby tanner briefly joins the fray.

A dog valiantly attacks the werelizard child, and gets mauled in return.

The militia have made contact.

The dog dies on top of the temple altar, as the militia dogpiles the werelizard child and start to do some real damage.

The werelizard child is struck down by our courageous militia, its body and severed leg added to the invader corpse stockpile. Most civilians are horrified at the corpse of a human child, but the effect is somewhat ruined by the buggy sprite. I think the leg turned back correctly, though.

Now, the real fun begins. Who got bitten?

After combing the combat report, I find that two out of the three injured dwarves received bites that broke the skin. Nobody was killed in the attack, but these citizens are now incurably cursed, and will turn into werelizards at the next full moon. Presumably non-child ones. As much as it pains me, they’ll have to be exiled as soon as their wounds are treated.

The third patient, a wrestler, was being viciously grappled by the werelizard child right as it died. That must’ve been very humiliating for her, bested at her own game like that. But it’s over now, and she can get some much-deserved rest.

Son of a fucking bitch, man.

So I missed a bite in the combat report. It could happen to anyone.

The chief medical dwarf is in the tavern for this friendly fracas, and has the closest possible call. Literally the only dwarf in the fort with any medical skills.

At least our poor cursed wrestler goes down easily. Transforming in the middle of a packed tavern will do that. I comb over this combat report fucking meticulously. There’s no way I’m gonna miss another one of these fuckers. Sorry, tragically accursed fuckers. Everyone who got bitten gets the boot before they even make it to a hospital bed.

The tomb is filling up pretty quickly, although we’re reticent to bury all those dead visitors for whatever reason. The dead dwarf, Îton, is buried across from the dog that the child lizard killed. Looking in the coffin confirms that reverted werelizards just look like that.

We went ahead and made a statue of Îton, as well. Unfortunately the most notable things they did in life were moving to Bowloar last year and becoming a werelizard, and we are not commemorating that. Now hopefully we can get back to converting that outdoor pasture into a giant pit/drowning trap.

Fucking of course. In my defense, there were about 15 human poets in that room, and the combat report made zero distinction between them. Werelizard #3 doesn’t do anything but unsuccessfully attempt to shove, and is quickly beaten to death by a bunch of civilians including the high priest and a child.

What the hell is up with all our infectees having beast forms so much weaker than that human two-year-old? I guess that’s not really something to complain about.

Just a single casualty this time, who I’ve made damn sure didn’t get cursed. We’ll know how sure “damn sure” is in a few weeks.

Oh, we’re big enough for nobles now. Suddenly the werebeast problem doesn’t seem so bad.

[hogwartslegacyreactions2]

Hey, I'm pretty sure that this was asked before, but I can't find the post.

What if MC died in the repository instead of professor Fig?

(I'm sorry, but I'm in an angsty mood)

I love your posts, and thanks

A/N: I do have vague recollection of answering a similar prompt once upon a time, but nothing wrong with a reprisal!

HLC REACT TO MC DYING IN THE REPOSITORY

WARNING: angst, death, grief

Dark ancient magic flew violently through the air around MC. The whirlwind of human agony consumed them as they released silver blue light from their wand. The magic thrashed and roared as MC expelled more and more effort to contain the chaos. Cracks started to form along the length of their wand.

Time slowed for them. MC could see Fig's silhouette just beyond the veil. The hundreds of young souls above them weighed heavy on their conscience. If they can't do this, everyone will die. They had to use all of it.

MC closed their eyes and whispered their goodbye. A light even brighter than the one from their wand emerged from their chest. The ancient magic within them burst forth with the fury of dragonfire. The silver light merged with the darkness, and as quickly as it had appeared, the magic vanished.

MC was gone. Their broken wand was all that remained.

SEBASTIAN SALLOW: He has officially lost everything. After losing his uncle, Anne, Ominis, and MC all at once, he's cracking. They can't be gone. Not them. They were too powerful to just vanish. He just has to find them. Yes. That's what he needs to do. He leaves Hogwarts. He MUST find them. Then Anne will see. Then Ominis will know. What he did was worth it.

OMINIS GAUNT: He rarely speaks anymore. The silence in his life has become so oppressive it took his own voice. The good life he thought he had was nice while it lasted, but now it's all come apart. It's only a matter of time before he loses Anne too, and when that happens...he doesn't know what he's going to do with himself.

ANNE SALLOW: She doesn't know how to feel about MC's death. On the one hand, they were trying to be a good friend to her and her brother but on the other...they also enabled Sebastian in his treachery. She's so very tired of the pain. She just wants to go to sleep.

IMELDA REYES: Well, damn. Mc was the closest thing to a friend she had in years. Someone competitive but friendly and fun to have around. They could dish out as much sass as she could, and she respected them for it. She cries a little at the end of year feast.

NATSAI ONAI: She should have been there. She could've done something! Why didn't they tell her!? She would've had their back! She....she...she breaks down into sobs so intense, even her mother can't comfort her. Her best friend was dead. Her heart was shattered and it would never be whole again without MC.

GARRETH WEASLEY: What? No. Nonono. Not them. That's impossible. They couldn't be dead. They're too strong to be.... He's in denial all the way until the MC's memorial service at the end of year feast. Then he breaks down. A bit of his fire died with MC.

LEANDER PREWETT: He wasn't super close to them, but he was still quite fond of them. They were a real friend. He hopes they're at peace and raises a goblet in their honor.

AMIT THAKKAR: He feels cold and numb all at once when he hears the news that MC died in the attack. He'd grown to care about them. He cursed himself for not spending more time with them when they were around.

EVERETT CLOPTON: He and MC didn't talk much outside of flying class but he had liked them. It was a shame he didn't get to know them more. He doesn't feel like eating when the feast is presented.

POPPY SWEETING: She hadn't cried this much since she left her parents. She finally made a friend, and just like that, they were gone. She doesn't know if she could make another friend again if she wanted to. Was she just doomed to lose every human connection she made?

ELEAZAR FIG: He wholeheartedly and inconsolably blames himself. Even if this fate couldn't be avoided, why did they have to die so young? He can't stand to hear the words "ancient" and "magic" in the same sentence at the same time anymore. It sends him into a dissociative trauma spiral.

He finds MC's wand. It's snapped in the middle with bits of wood frayed outward like the very core of the wand exploded. The two pieces are held together by the slightest sliver of wood.

He retires from teaching at Hogwarts. He doesn't trust himself with the care of students anymore. He doesn't trust his own judgment. He's tortured every night by the survivor's guilt taunting him that he should have done more. He should have protected them. He shouldn't have let them go as far as they did. They weren't ready. They couldn't handle the power they were forced to control. It takes everything in him to not attempt to destroy the map room with the portraits of the Keepers. He just leaves.

But every once in a while... On quiet moonless nights.... When he sees MC's wand displayed with Miriam's, he hears a whisper. A quiet breathy whisper that he could swear on his life sounds like MC. He chalks it up to the fact that he could be going mad from grief, but it's still strikes him as strange... If he looked at the wand hard enough... He could swear he sees a blue glow...

[myosotisa]

deep end - s.h.

Steve Harrington x Reader

‖ summary: You and the gang have a pool day and some bad memories come up.

‖ tags: angst, hurt with very little comfort, post season 4, everyone lives (but that don't mean they ain't got trauma lmao), no y/n, no pronouns, reader is referred to as "honey". depictions of PTSD, anxiety/panic attacks. tw for fear of drowning. past tense? present tense? the fic is tense, that's for sure.

‖ word count: 2k

Today, May 6th, 1986, was a good day.

Up until very recently, most of the days had not been good at all. Spring break had done a number on all of you – nightmares, panic attacks, flashbacks. Some worse than others.

But today was a good day.

At least, until it wasn't.

Summer sun had invaded Hawkins and left everyone sweating and seeking shade after even a few minutes outside. AC blasted indoors and opened windows begged for a breeze to come through and bring some solace from the heat. The community pool was packed shoulder to shoulder and nearly impossible to get into – but that was fine.

Because Steve Harrington had his own pool.

Eddie, Lucas, Dustin, and Max were all already in the suburban backyard by the time you showed up with Robin. Steve had joined the other boys in the shallow end to start up a game of chicken – Dustin on Steve’s shoulders and Lucas on Eddie’s. Max sat on the pool’s edge with the water up to her shins, not able to get in further with the cast still on her right arm, and rolled her eyes as her friends tumbled over and into the water just to get back up again.

Robin went to go and sit by Max while you let yourself into the Harrington home, a container of drinks destined for the fridge just inside. By the time you had them chilling and pushed back out into the oppressive heat, Steve had pulled himself out of my pool to wait for you.

“Hi honey,” he said with a sticky sweet smile, ducking in to press a kiss to your cheek and dripping water on your cover-up.

“Hey handsome,” was your easy reply, Steve's smile lighting up further at the compliment. You called him handsome all the time and he still reacted like he'd never heard it before.

“Harrington, come on!”

His smile fell slightly as he rolled his eyes, shrugging at you before jogging back over to the pool.

You were just about to pull out your book and set up on one of the deck chairs when Nancy and Mike pushed through the fence gate.

More happy greetings, a hug from Nancy, and some chatting about the things she'd brought with her. Mike stripped off his shirt and shoes before walking over to the pool steps beside Max, submerging to his chest as he watched the others continue their game.

Robin came over and helped you and Nancy blow up the 3 inner tubes she had brought – Robin having to rescue you both with her superior musicians lungs. She quickly claimed the green dinosaur float, falling into it in the water as Dustin and Mike started to squabble over what kind of dinosaur it was supposed to be.

While you had originally grabbed the unicorn float, with it's pink hair and blue horn, you were quick to notice the longing glances from Nancy and offered a trade. She never would've ended up asking for it – she thought it was too childish to actually want the unicorn float – but you didn't miss the giddy grin on her face as she traded with you and settled into the pool a lot more gracefully than Robin.

So, with your strawberry frosted donut float and book in hand, you laid out on the sticky plastic and began to roast beneath the summer sun.

You and Nancy both had paperbacks cracked open while Robin seemed content to attempt a nap beneath her shades. Max busied herself by using a foot to gently push your floats around like a slow and lazy game of bumper cars. Mike finally succumbed to peer pressure and joined in with the boys playing with a volleyball toward the deep end and everything was good.

Everyone was smiling and laughing. Warm and lazy with the heat of a good, summer day.

Focused on a particularly intense chapter, you hardly noticed someone approaching your float until a wet chin draped itself over your arm.

Steve was looking at you with that lovesick smile again, his hair wet and pushed back as his tan skin glowed beneath the golden rays. “Enjoying your book?”

“I am, thank you very much.” But still, you placed it down on your stomach and turned your attention to your pretty boyfriend. “Are you having a good day?”

“Might have a couple bruises tomorrow, but not a big deal.” He hooks a wet arm over the side of your float, anchoring himself to you, and the skin along your thigh breaks out in goosebumps from the sudden brush of water.

“Steve, that's cold!”

He barely conceals a laugh, grin growing wider, before he tilts further toward you. “What, this?”

Was the only warning you got before he shook his head out like a dog, water flying from the ends of his hair and sprinkling all over you.

You nearly squealed, shoving him off and shouting about him getting your book wet, even though the smile on your face betrayed you.

After a few minutes of insisting it was funny as you fake pouted, and then Steve giving you some pathetic puppy dog eyes, you accepted his half hearted apology and settled again – one hand intertwined with Steve's as he held onto your float.

“Nance seems fine,” he said quietly, bringing your attention to the brunette. You had told him earlier you were worried about today, about bringing her back to the pool she spent two years barely able to look at, but she seemed perfectly at ease on her unicorn float. Just slowly turning page after page as she continued through the fantasy romance novel you’d lent her last week.

“Yeah,” you agreed, exhaling a relieved sigh, “I'm glad. She deserves it, y'know? We all do.”

Steve's hand squeezed yours, bringing your attention back to him on your other side. “You're the best, you know that, right?”

Not expecting the compliment, you got slightly flustered with the praise. “No, that's you,” you joked with a light flick to the tip of his nose.

He released your hand in mock offense, pushing your float slightly away as he put on a dramatic frown. He inhaled to reply, mouth parting, before he suddenly disappeared beneath the surface of the water.

The next few moments played out in slow motion.

In reality, Lucas and Eddie dove under the water to sneak up behind Steve – each of them grabbing an ankle and tugging him under as a practical joke.

To Steve, his heart stopped.

His chest constricted as his heart rate doubled, eyes squeezing shut as the panic gripped him tight and he waited to be pulled through the gate and thrown out on the other side.

Water filled his mouth from his half completed inhale as he was dragged under – his eyes widening and immediately beginning to burn from the chlorine.

But he wasn't in the pool anymore. It was dark; so, so dark and cold. He couldn't see anything through the murky water as he sunk lower and lower. The vice around his ankle held tight as he gave a kick, continuing to pull him back down to hell again.

To you, the world flipped on its side.

The last thing you saw before Steve went under was a flash of panic in his wide, brown eyes. Just like that night, on the boat. When he got dragged down and didn't come back up again.

“Steve?!” Your call is shrill, very quickly panicked as your adrenaline surged and your body tensed for a fight. It gets the attention of the rest of the group but you don't notice – eyes hyper focused on the spot he was before he disappeared.

In reality, you could glance down and see him in the clear water, just barely a foot below the surface. But you're not there in the Harrington’s pool. You're on a boat at Lover’s Lake and the man of your dreams just disappeared into the murky depths below.

“Steve?!” You scream again, rolling off your float and into the cool water, just like you had that night. I have to go after him, I have to get to him.

You vaguely register someone calling your name but you’re diving under, eyes burning instantly as you continue to look at Steve.

Eddie and Lucas have let him go now after sensing some sort of commotion from above, but Steve isn't moving. He isn't trying to swim up, though he is slowly ascending toward the surface. He's completely frozen there in the water, curled in on himself defensively.

You grab him and he grabs you in response, his nails digging into your bicep painfully as his eyes shoot open again. He doesn't even seem to realize its you before the two of you break the surface again.

Steve gasps for air – choking slightly on the water that was still in his mouth – and then starts to cough as he grabs tightly to you with both hands.

Your heart is pounding against your ribs like a hummingbird as your eyes rapidly scan him for the battered bruising across his throat, the blood coming from his mouth. “Steve? Can you hear me? Are you hurt?”

Robin is by your side an instant later, her head and shoulders still dry as she comes around the side to place a gentle hand on Steve’s shoulder while he coughs out chlorinated water.

Steve gives a stuttered nod as the coughing stops and he's able to take another deep breath in, his grip on you loosening to not be so painful as he closes his eyes. His inhales are coming through quickly, his eyebrows drawn together tight like he's in pain.

Your tunnel vision begins to scope out and you catch sight of Lucas and Eddie looking pained and apologetic in your periphery. They're both treading water in the deep end as you turn on them, anxiety and panic filtering out quickly into rage.

“What the fuck is your problem, huh?!” You snap, causing both of them to jump. Lucas's eyes are wide as saucers and Eddie looks like he's half tempted to book it just from the look on your face. “What the fuck kind of trick was that?! Maybe I should pull a gun on you, Lucas, just for fun. Or maybe, Eddie, I'll loop a rope around your neck for a few minutes and see how the fuck you like being reminded of almost dying!”

Both of them wince, drawing back from your outrage, which only makes you want to advance.

“H-honey,” Steve stutters beside you, half scolding and half terrified as he tries to put on a brave face. “It was just a joke.”

You turn your wild eyes back on him, body still reeling in fight or flight mode, as you realize his hands are trembling and the wetness to his eyes isn't from the pool at all. While you could easily continue to scream at them (which, when you're in a rational headspace again, you will feel guilty for), you focus in on Steve.

“Come on, let's go get you dried off, okay?” You offer much quieter, hovering close to him to try to keep you both grounded. He gives another shaky nod and lets you lead him over to the steps and out of the pool.

No one in the group says a word as you wrap him in a towel and then drape one over your own shoulders before sitting both of you down on one of the deck chairs. He continues to tremble slightly beside you as you tuck yourself tightly to his side, resting your head on his shoulder as you try to comfort him (and yourself).

We’re safe here. We’re okay. We’re going to be fine.

Everyone else watches silently as your paperback continues to collect water until it sinks down to the bottom of the deep end.

It was a good day. Until it wasn't.

-

-

-

[somorrow]

Presence - Itachi

Not my best work, but it was initially supposed to be shorter. I got a little carried away... Anyway! Happy birthday to our lovely Itachi 🖤 6.9.24 ao3 ver: x

“Where the hell is everyone…?"

Shisui couldn’t help the smirk that crept up his face. You were definitely new to the family. The Uchiha were infamous for being late — significantly late — even himself. The exceptions were always Madara's events, however... but regardless. The only reason he was on time, in fact, was because it was his younger cousin’s birthday, and for once, someone put something together for him. "They'll come."

Which was why he liked you, really. Dating 8 months wasn’t a long time, but you always made sure Itachi was taken care of. Itachi hadn’t celebrated his birthday in easily over a decade, and he was none the wiser that the family would be getting together.

You’d contacted all the family members he was close to and asked that they show up to his birthday dinner.

Shisui was relieved that he would be celebrated for once. Itachi was 7 the last time he celebrated his birthday, and since Sasuke was so young at the time, he monopolized the day. (Not that Shisui could blame a literal toddler.) Sasuke had unwrapped all his presents, blew out his candles, and played with all of his new toys first. Shisui still remembered the soft smile on Itachi’s face as he watched while he did.

Itachi was a giver. Always had been. But it’s clear you were too, which, in Shisui’s opinion, only made you more compatible.

Mikoto and Fugaku had arrived second, as Shisui had been first — well, technically you were first, but you didn’t count, since you arranged things. He’d been five minutes early, and Itachi’s parents had been two minutes late.

It was now twenty minutes past 5:30, the meeting time, and no one else had arrived yet, not even Itachi. He had an excuse, though — and technically, so did Sasuke since they were together. Technically, though, they were still late. Thank God for Shisui. If he hadn't been there, you would've had to endure 45 minutes alone with them before someone else showed. It still wasn't Itachi. "Well, this is hardly surprising," Izuna said, pulling out the seat next to Fugaku, who had taken Mikoto to the restroom. "Give it another half hour," Shisui said. He engaged his uncle in conversation, and then within the next fifteen minutes, Obito showed with a gigantic bottle of Itachi's favorite red wine in hand. Shisui suddenly felt a little bare as he'd given his present the week before, but he knew Itachi preferred presence to presents anyway. "If they don't get here before Madara..." Fugaku grumbled to his wife, a scowl on his face and his arms crossed. "Relax, dear. They wouldn't keep him waiting." You bit down on your lip. You weren't so sure. You spent the next ten minutes blowing up Sasuke's phone to no avail. The family had started to order appetizers and were slowly digging in (although Obito wasn't taking his time).

When a text from Sasuke appeared that they'd just arrived, you nearly jumped out of your seat. It was nearly impossible to contain yourself, but just as you went to rather loudly announce their arrival, Madara walked in. The table stood as he walked over, and they all exchanged their greetings. When he sat, everyone else followed and returned to eating. "Where is he?" The chime on the door rang out, and everyone craned to look at the door. You grinned, unable to help yourself this time around. You hopped up and hurried over to Itachi, his hair left free, billowing softly from the opening door. As your eyes connected, his white teeth flashed in a grin, and his eyes trailed behind you, where Shisui followed. His eyes went further, focusing in on the long booth in the corner. "You didn't..." You giggled and wrapped your arms around him. "I did." It had been 5 years since he'd seen Madara... and he'd shown up for something like this? He hugged you tighter than ever before. "I thought this was just the four of us..." "You were talking about how your family never gets together anymore, so I wanted to make it happen for you." He smirked and let out a small huff. Weren't you the observant one? "Thank you, (Name)..." Without shame, he pressed three tender kisses to your forehead and held your hand as you walked to the table. The expression on his face as he saw his entire family wasn't one you'd soon forget. You closed the restaurant down, laughing, drinking, and non-stop talking. It was absolutely incredible to see such an esteemed family get rowdy with one another, and Itachi himself had gotten rather expressive from Shisui keeping his sake glass full. You drove him home, took a relaxing bath together, and surprised him with a second, more explicit gift. Truly, though, it could've stopped at the dinner and the gift card you'd bought him despite him telling you no gifts.

You were a giver, after all.

[teachmenari]

Teach me! - y/n and company

Tighnari × GN reader

▪︎ ▪︎ ▪︎ ▪︎ ▪︎ ▪︎ ▪︎ ▪︎ ▪︎ ▪︎

y/n l/n

Third year at the Akademiya University (or just Akademiya for short), you've settled in nicely after moving to Sumeru City two years ago, fleeing a bad relationship with your parents. Unfortunately, you picked the first major you could get your hands on to get here and so ended up with one containing a lot of math and science - which you could usually manage before this dreadful year...

Lumine and Aether

Second years at the Akademiya after a year at Teyvat University, Lumine and Aether are your best friends. You met them right after moving to Sumeru City and it's like you guys grew up together. Global communications majors, everyone knows them and someone always has a favor to ask them. They find it hard to say no.

Ayaka

Second year at the Akademiya and a fashion design major, she is the sweetest soul you ever met and always has your back. The twins introduced you and she has been part of the friend group ever since. Ever the optimist, she tries to get you to see the glass half full even when it's difficult. She has made everyone in the group custom clothes at least once and would've made even more if you hadn't stopped her before she got burnt out-

Kazuha

Second year at the Akademiya, biochem major. He's your roommate and the first person to make you feel at home in the new city. He's the one who introduced you to the twins. His Twitter account is dedicated to drama, and he can be a tad too nosy for his own good, but his blackmail folder has never failed you.

Xiao

Third year at the Akademiya, a philosophy major and Kazuha's childhood friend. It's almost impossible to get him to use his main for anything, but he will complain about the smallest things in the most angsty way on his priv. It's a small celebration everytime he does tweet on his main, and Childe buys everyone drinks. He bonded with you over shitty bio parents and is now one of your most loyal friends.

Yanfei

Second year at the Akademiya, Yanfei pursues a criminology major. She is the one to go to whenever you're in trouble with the law - and hypothetically would help you get away with murder if you feed her well enough. You both met at a party away from the group, where you pet the house dog together for three hours while chatting. She often has to be the voice of reason but prefers going along with whatever bit the group has going on.

Childe

The oldest of the group. He dropped out a year ago and has been selling spicy pics on his onlyfans, making bank in the process and earning himself the title of the group's sugar daddy. He often offers to pay for everyone, despite the rest of you insisting that he paid three times in a row and you want to treat him instead. While he can be childish (👁👁) he is still a really good therapist friend and can make you laugh easily when you're upset.

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Teach me!

masterlist - sumeru gang

▪︎Synopsis ➤ You’ve been attending the Akademiya for some time now, but for some reason this year is harder than the others. You’re failing almost everything regarding math and science. Your biology teacher, Ms. Rukkhadevata, offers the help of Tighnari, her TA... Let’s just hope he’s nice.

a/n: I know the gang is not from sumeru but I wanted y/n to have a group of buddies already, so there you go lol ALSO I MESSED UP AYAKA'S ACCOUNT IS PUBLIC

[braveclementine]

Chapter 14

Warnings: None. However, future chapters will contain sexual content so readers that are under the age of 18 may have to skip those chapters (Please keep note of the warnings).

Copyright: I do not own any Wizarding World characters that J.K. Rowling wrote. I do however own Elizabeth Kane (main character) and Trang Nyguen (best friend). There should be no use of these two names without my permission. I also do not condone any copying of this.

🤎🤎🤎🤎🤎🤎

𝕬𝖕𝖕𝖆𝖗𝖎𝖙𝖎𝖔𝖓 𝖈𝖑𝖆𝖘𝖘𝖊𝖘 𝖘𝖙𝖆𝖗𝖙𝖊𝖉 on the first Saturday of February. I was quite glad to have something to do because all my homework was done and Severus was going to be busy and there had been nothing for me to do today.

I would've gone outside and drawn the purple-gray clouds floating in the sky, spots of grass appearing where the snow had melted, and the lawns slippery and muddy. But it was raining and while it was a lovely scene to draw, I preferred to stay dry and warm.

I arrived in the Great Hall where the apparation lessons would be held with Trang, Harry, and Hermione.

The Great Hall looked much like how it had been during exams last year minus the desk. The four house tables were gone from the room. Rain was sloshing against the windows and the magical ceiling that portrayed the outside weather showed dark swirling clouds. I randomly wondered if the magical barriers would protect Hogwarts from a tornado.

Professors McGonagall, Sprout, Flitwick, and Snape were standing in the very back of the room, opposite the entrance doors with a small wizard, bigger than Flitwick and smaller than Sprout. He looked a bit like a ghost in a way, though with slightly more color. His hair was wispy and he seemed as though the wind could blow him away. I wondered if his coloring had anything to do with constant apparation.

I exchanged a look with Harry and knew we were thinking the same things.

"Good morning." The Ministry wizard said. Even his breath sounded like it could be carried on the wind. "My name is Wilkie Twycross and I shall be your Ministry Apparition instructor for the next twelve weeks. I hope to be able to prepare you for your Apparition Tests in this time-"

"Malfoy, be quiet and pay attention!" Professor McGonagall barked.

Heads spun towards where Professor McGonagall was looking. Malfoy flushed dull pink as he stepped away from Crabbe, to whom he had been talking to. I glanced quickly at Severus who was looking slightly annoyed.

"-by which time, many of you may be ready to take your tests." Twycross said and I realized with embarrassment that I hadn't heard what he'd been saying because I'd been preoccupied with Malfoy. I mentally criticized myself.

"As you may know, it is usually impossible to Apparate or Disapparate within Hogwarts. The headmaster has lifted this enchantment, purely within the Great Hall, for one hour, so as to enable you to practice. May I emphasize that you will not be able to Apparate outside of the walls of this Hall, and that you would be unwise to try. I would like each of you to place yourselves now so that you have a clear five feet of space in front of you."

Everyone started to scramble around, pushing each other or ordering others out of space that they apparently thought theirs. I made my way to the left side of the Hall, giving myself the approximate five space needed. I was in the front along with many Ravenclaws. I supposed they believed that knowledge would help them in this endeavor. I could see Trang somewhere in the back and to my left.

I was quite nervous, my stomach turning over. Of course, no one would be apparate on the first try, not even Hermione so I shouldn't expect myself to exceed where others couldn't. I was slightly worried about Trang however. She certainly didn't have the practice that might be needed in this case and I was worried.

Susan was going to splinch herself, but she would be the only one. There was nothing for me to worry about.

Severus was looking at me, a frustrated look on his face, and I wondered what he was upset about. Then, with impending horror, I realized that I'd forgotten to tell him that Dumbledore had told me it was safe to take apparation.

There was no way to tell him now. I'd have to tell him afterwards. I'm sure there was going to be a fight, something I wasn't looking forward to, and I looked glumly at the floor.

"Quiet!" The house heads shouted.

"Thank you, now then. . ." Mr. Twycross said, waving his wand. Wooden hoops appeared on the floor in front of each student. I'd had one of these when I was a little girl for hoola-hooping. Or sometimes playing stick and hoop. You used a branch to roll the hoop alongside you. Of course, the taller you were, the harder it was to get the hoop rolling and it was hard to get the hoop rolling in the first place. The kids on the playground at school had been envious that I was so good at it. But it was just because I was shorter than them. Probably.

"The important things to remember when Apparating are the three D's! Destination, Determination, Deliberation! Step one: Fix your mind upon the desired destination. In this case, the interior of your hoop. Kindly concentrate upon that destination now."

I looked down at the center of the hoop. The floor, though made of tile, was completely perfect. Most of it was white, yes, but there were flecks of brown, black, and gray. But they were so little that if I hadn't been studying it, I would never have normally noticed them.

"Step two, focus your determination to occupy the visualized space! Let your yearning to enter it flood from your mind to every particle of your body!"

I waited for some sort of magical feeling to flow from my head to my feet but nothing happened. It was really stupid, if you thought about it. When your supposed to be thinking about something, you never seem to be thinking about it.

"Step three, and only when I give the command. Turn on the spot, feeling your way into nothingness moving with deliberation! On my command, now... one-"

My stomach clenched. I wasn't ready!

"-two-"

I nearly thought about closing my eyes, the way I dealt with magic most of the time. Concentrating through the blackness of my mind.

"-THREE!"

I turned on the spot, focusing on nothingness, and the hoop. I heard a crack and then next thing I knew, I was standing in the hoop.

There were murmured whispers in the hall and I closed my eyes, horrified. I shouldn't have tried so hard.

I opened my eyes again and saw the house heads kind've just staring at me. Flitwick, Sprout, and McGonagall's had various degrees of pride written on their faces while Severus held his pride in his eyes rather than on his face.

Mr. Twycross showed more surprise than anything else. I knew he hadn't been expecting this. I stepped out of the hoop, heading back to my starting spot, wishing that people would start to move again and stop staring at me.

Mr. Twycross asked Professor Sprout something and she positively beamed while she answered.

"Adjust your hoops, please, and back to your original positions. . ." He finally said and the other students started to move their hoops back to where they had been. I could still feel students eyes on me and I felt uncomfortable.

This was very different from showing off in class by knowing word by word definitions. This was something that none of us had studied, something that we had never practiced before. I should not have been able to do so on first try.

Perhaps it was because Dad had done so much side-along apparation with me as I grew up that I had a subconscious knack for it. There had to be some sort of explanation.

I kind've just stared at the hoop for the rest of the tries, not even attempting anything. On the fourth attempt, there was a painful screeching and I closed my eyes, wrapping my arms around me.

When I opened them, I saw the house heads had converged on Susan Bones. Her leg was five feet away from the hoop, though the rest of her body had successfully transported to the inside of the hoop.

"Splinching, or the separation of random body parts occurs when the mind is insufficiently determined. You must concentrate continuously upon your destination, and move without haste, but with deliberation... thus." Twycross said slightly dispassionately and, turning on the spot, appeared at the front of the hall, near the double doors.

"Remember the three D's and try again. . . one-two-three."

An hour later, I'd managed to apparate twice more- the only attempts I made. I was also starting to feel sick though I wasn't sure if it was motion sickness, morning sickness, upset stomach, or nerves and anxiety from being stared at by the whole school combined with stress of being pregnant.

"Until next Saturday, everybody, and do not forget; Destination, Determination, Deliberation." Twycross said while fastening his cloak. The hoops were vanished and I hurried away from the Great Hall, the first student out and headed immediately up towards the hospital wing.

"Elizabeth!" A sharp voice called and my steps faltered and I turned reluctantly.

"Professor." I answered as students started to flood past us.

"I thought-"

"Dumbledore gave me permission." I muttered since we were close enough. "He said I could do it. I meant to tell you last night but I got um, distracted and it slipped my mind."

Severus grinned and then remembered that he was in a hallway of students and quickly masked his face before anyone noticed that he had an emotion that wasn't mad or disapproving.

"Where are you going?" He asked.

"Hospital wing, I feel sick." I said and he put a hand on my shoulder and hurried me along to the hospital wing.

The wing was completely empty and Severus went and fetched Madam Pomfrey from her office. She took a look at me, asking me about my symptoms. Since it was just the three of us, Severus showed mild affection and obvious concern towards me.

If Madam Pomfrey thought that our situation was strange, she didn't show it on her face. She stayed professional and kind all at once.

"Well, I don't see anything wrong with you or the baby," Madam Pomfrey said, setting her wand in her pocket. "It's possible that it was simply motion sickness. Of course, pregnancy creates all sorts of new emotions and I'm sure that you felt quite self-conscious when everyone was staring at you in the Great Hall. I suppose. . ." she finished the rest of her statement in her head, checking my eyes and then poured a clear liquid into a cup.

"Drink this." she said, handing it to me and I doused it like a shot. "That should kick in slowly rather than immediately. Won't hurt the baby either."

"Thank you." Severus said in his most sincere voice, kissing the top of my head.

"Oh yes!" Madam Pomfrey said as we stood up, getting ready to leave, "The baby should be due on June 14th but the days could be sooner or later as the exact day is always ambiguous."

I let out a sigh of relief. Severus didn't have to kill Dumbledore until the 30th which meant he would be there for the babies birth. Good.

Severus and I left, heading up to his office.

"I really am sorry I didn't tell you sooner about the apparition and Dumbledore." I apologized again as I sat down on the bed, laying down to rest.

"Don't worry about it." Severus said softly, sitting on the floor and kissed my forehead. He pulled some papers towards him and grabbed a quill to start grading. "Congratulations on apparating first thing by the way."

I laughed. "I don't know how I did it. I think maybe because dad's taken me on side-along apparation so much. I don't know."

"Or maybe you're just incredibly talented." Severus said gently, slightly proudly.

I went to laugh but groaned instead, curling up into a ball and hugging myself. Severus was over me in an instant.

"I'm fine." I said, pushing his chest lightly so that he'd sit back down. "I don't know much about pregnancy but I'm sure this is just one of those things, alright?"

"Sure." Severus whispered.

"Can I have my artpad?" I whispered.

Severus leaned over, grabbing my bag and handed up my artpad and my box that I kept my different drawing utensils in.

"Thanks." I whispered. Severus kissed me on the cheek and then threw himself into grading.

I worked into the night, not drawing a place or places, but rather people. Two people at various stages of life.

First, there is a small girl with wide brown eyes and frizzy hair about her head, sitting in a chair. In one piece of art, she is holding a door knocker tightly, brass and old. There is a bruise at her temple, a greenish hue spreading through her light brown skin. Beside her on a table is a plate of small cakes.

In another drawing, it is the same scenery, but she is now instead holding a stuffed rabbit toy. Her eyes are now on the rabbit rather than whatever she was looking at before.

In another drawing, she is in a room. She is wearing trousers and a sweater and a mask. The mask looks antique, covering most of the face till it reaches the mouth. It is a rabbit mask, it's ears making the girl look taller than she is. She has a sack on her back though the contents of the sack are unknown. She is in the middle of dropping an origami star in a corner, letters seen, but not enough to make out full words.

In the next drawing however, there is a boy. He looks older than most of the boys I know, perhaps eighteen. He has blond hair and brown eyes, curves in his nose and long eyelashes. He is wearing old fashioned clothes with lots of ruffles and large brass buttons on the outside of his coat. His trousers and long socks and strange shoes might've placed him in the mid-1700s, perhaps later.

The boy is standing in a hallway, this one is full of paintings, not café tables and black chairs. It is a hallway based on architecture, based on the articulate and detailed names on the books. The paintings inside the drawings are detailed: floating castle inside a green frame, cities carved into a cliff in a large brass frame, mansions melded together with ships and more.

That drawing is put aside and the next is with both of them. The girl is older now, her eyes are black rather than brown, perhaps diluted by spending time in the darkness. Her brown hair is piled in curls and braids. She wears the bunny ears still, hiding her face though not her lips. She wears a tank top and a short skirt with blue leggings and black boots that almost reach her knees.

The boy still wears the frills, the strange shoes, the stockings. They look so out of place with each other, as though they were from different times. The room has a table that is strewn with papers, books, ink, and quills. There are pillows on the floor and a type of couch that people call the psychiatrist couch. I think the proper term was chaise lounge. There were doors on one side of the room, five of them, each marked with a different symbol. Key, crown, bee, feather, sword. There is no heart, but perhaps that's because the heart is on the door that the boy had come through.

The last one is the two of them with no clothes on. Their lips are locked, their bodies entwined. Her bunny ears stay on.

My hand is sore and I drop the pencil into the box, snapping it closed and making a toss for my bag. It lands on top. Severus jerks, his quill scratching against the paper. Apparently he'd fallen asleep.

My hand is covered in graphite or lead, whichever was in the pencil. I grab a cloth and start to wipe my fingers. Severus stands, stretching and sets the parchment and quill back down on his desk. There aren't as many stacks of paper anymore. I suppose he'd gotten a lot done.

I wondered how long it had taken to do this art work, if Severus had said anything. I checked the clock and saw that nearly five hours had passed and that I was hungry. It was to late to go down to the Great Hall. Two hours to late.

I sighed, finishing cleaning my hands and started to gather my artwork, but Severus beat me to it, scooping up the papers and looking through them.

I wondered if he saw the two people as unsettling. They were obviously from different time periods. It was unnatural. How was it that the two of them met? Was time travel possible in the future? Was this then, a place from the past? It had to be if the boy was there and he was dressed from the past.

Severus carefully set my artwork down on the bag as my stomach growled. He gave me a smirk and with a wave of his wand, produced fruit and vegetables and meat and drink. Part of me felt disconcerted. I felt as though for a moment, I had been a part of that world and now, I had returned to this world, only for a brief moment.

"I need to let this go." I sighed, sticking a grape in my mouth. "I'm getting obsessed, I don't think it's healthy."

"Perhaps you're making nothing into something." Severus suggested kindly. "These could be book ideas, characters or places your bringing to life. I mean, it's possible isn't it?"

Could that be it? Just something I was seeing from the future, bringing it to life? Fictional though it may be, Severus' idea had some logic to it.

I shrugged, "Anything's possible when it comes to me."

"I'll take you up on that." Severus said slyly and I blushed and threw a grape at him. He chuckled, catching it and popping it into his mouth.

If the others saw him like this. . . the thought crossed my mind. How fun he could be, that definitely wasn't something that he showed anyone else.

"What?" He asked, scowling.

"Why don't you show others this side of you?" I asked curiously.

"Why would I?" He asked back. "I only show this side to the people that I love and that's only one person."

"Even Dumbledore doesn't know this side of you!" I protested.

"I don't love Dumbledore." Severus said. "That's the difference. I have great respect and loyalty to him and I would die for him and I would do what he bide me do, but that is very different from the love that I feel for you."

I stared at the carrots instead of at him, touched by his emotions.

Severus gently put a hand on one side of my face, turning me so that I faced him. "Do you understand? This is for you and you only."

"Yes." I breathed and he leaned in to kiss me.

We abandoned dinner after that.

🤎🤎🤎🤎🤎🤎

𝕺𝖛𝖊𝖗 𝖙𝖍𝖊 𝖓𝖊𝖝𝖙 couple of days, I abandoned the drawings, locking them in the dresser next to my bed in the Hufflepuff common room. I realized how un-prefect like I had been. I was almost never in the common room, and people had noticed.

"Where are you spending all of your time?" Ernie asked in the library one day during a study session. He looked exhausted. "All the first-years still have so many questions and I'm handling it all by myself."

"Library, private lessons, Hagrid's, Quidditch, I'm sorry Ernie, I'll start spending more time in the common room." I said sincerely and I did so. I started doing homework in there instead of the library, pulling my weight. Ernie was right, the first-years were quite demanding this year.

Apparition lessons continued though I didn't attend every lesson. Severus and Madam Pomfrey were quite sure that it was alright to skip lessons every other week, and when I did attend, it was only to try a few times. Every time I did try however, I ended up appearing in my hoop.

There were multiple splinching incidents but no one had fully apparated yet. Hermione was officially freezing out all of her friends now. She had frozen out Harry for the Bezoar incident, Ron because of Lavender, and now me because I had excelled in apparation where no one else could. It was very frustrating and I felt that if she thought she was so entitled to being the best then she needed to work harder.

Harry meanwhile, was stalking Draco with the Marauders' map. I suppose I could've told him that Draco was going into the room of requirement but I figured my visions were on a need to know basis.

The next Hogsmeade trip was cancelled, most likely because of Katie's incident. She hadn't returned from St. Mungo's yet, though it didn't mean anything. She wouldn't remember anything anyways.

And on top of that, more students were either leaving school, or looking extremely depressed as there were strange disappearances in the news, usually with someone's last name. I was glad that I could be sure of dad's future.

Ron's birthday came and I woke up, snuggled in the crook of Severus's arm. I knew what was going to happen and I rolled over, pressing my lips against his cold skin and then slipped from the bed.

I got dressed quickly, pulling on my robes and shoving my art pad in my bag. I'd started drawing other things, usually my classmates in order to keep my mind off the other drawings. They were quite successful and I'd taken up Tonk's advice and was making a little money on them.

I headed down to breakfast, where I was hailed by my Hufflepuff friends and I went and sat down with them.

They were all talking at top speed about how much they dreaded the Hogsmeade trip being cancelled, etc. etc.

"Elizabeth?" Susan chirped and I jerked and looked at her.

"What'd I miss?" I asked, blushing.

"We asked if you'd do a portrait of the teachers." Justin said, grinning.

"Why?" I asked curiously but pulled my art pad out all the same.

"Like a gift from our graduating class." Susan said. "I figured it would take a lot of time so you'd need time to start it."

"It sounds like a good idea." I replied honestly. "And it would take a lot of time so it would be a good idea for me to start it now."

"But?" Ernie asked.

I hesitated, "Have graduating classes ever given their teachers a gift before? And what about the Slytherins? I highly doubt they'll sign it."

"They will since Professor Snape will be in the drawing." Justin replied. "They'll probably draw hearts all around him too."

I snorted, "Alright then. Question. Should I draw on a normal sized piece of paper and then enlargen it? Or should I enlargen a piece of paper from the start and draw from there."

"Draw and then enlargen." Ernie said promptly.

"Deal." I said. "I'll start soon."

Susan was so happy she clapped her hands together gleefully.

About this time, Ron was being hung upside down by Harry after punching him in the ear.

I grinned at all of them. I flipped open a side page and started to write names:

Dumbledore McGonagall Sprout Flitwick Snape Sinistra Trelawney Filch Pomfrey Firenze Vector Hagrid Pince Slughorn Babbling Burbage Binns Hooch

Then, on the underside, I wrote:

Quirrell, Lockhart Lupin Moody Umbridge Grubby-Plank Kettleburn

I wondered how the teachers would react, seeing their past colleagues mixed in with the current ones. And in a few years, some of these teachers would be dead. Perhaps it would be better if I didn't draw this after all. I was also going to need a bigger artpad now- if I did go through with the idea.

I said good-bye to the others and headed to the Magical art classroom. I wasn't sure who was the teacher of this class, nor did I ever plan to join this club, but I found what I needed which was a larger art pad, and I took it from the student supplies closet.

Then I went to the library while Ron was choking down a bezoar and started to draw.

This was very different from the other drawings because this needed perfection without being drawn randomly from my subconscious.

I started on Dumbledore, making him the center of the page and then branching out, McGonagall on one side and Snape on the other. Hagrid was set in the back and Firenze was completely on the outside, his torso angled so that his legs were facing away from the others. Flitwick was put in the front along with Vector. Filch stood in the shadows next to Madam Pince, the librarian.

Sprout and Slughorn were placed next to each other, Sprout obviously thinner than Slughorn. Trelawney stood to the side, her glasses enlargened her eyes and her hands were clasped together.

Madam Pomfrey stood there, a potion in her hands, her wand sticking up in the front pocket of her white apron.

I continued with the rough sketch. Burbage (Professor of Muggle Studies) holding a red rotary dial telephone in her hand.

Mrs. Norris was lounging in Filch's arms, much nicer looking that she normally did.

Adding a plant in the arms of Sprout.

A potion flask hanging carelessly in Snape's hand.

Pince was holding a library book in her hand, her other hand, a finger in front of her lips.

Hagrid was holding a dead polecat in one hand, an obvious sign that he was about to go and feed Buckbeak. Fang was at his feet, the tail lifted in mid-wag.

Hooch stood to the side, leaning on a broom, a whistle about her neck, the other hand on her hip. She was looking down her hooked nose, her yellow eyes sharp, but also wearing a small smile.

People moved about me in the library, some of them peering curiously at what I was doing, but each time, I covered it casually as though it was just coincidence. I didn't want anyone but myself knowing how the progress was going.

It was just a rough sketch, nothing fancy. I'd definitely have to add more details in the final drawing, position the Professors in other ways.

I started on the Defense Against the Dark Arts teachers.

I drew Quirrell in the back, nearly standing in the shadows. He had a kind face, of course, and I drew him how he used to be, before he came back with a purple turban. Before he had become evil.

Then there was Lockhart, standing boastfully near the front, his robes sweeping and colorful. He had his charming smile and in his hand was one of his books. I supposed when I detailed it, I would title it Wandering with Werewolves. A foreshadowing to the next Professor.

I drew Professor Lupin, tired looking and accurate, but younger, his hair would've been more red than gray if I had coloured it.

"Elizabeth!" A voice said and I looked up. It was Trang.

"What's up?" I asked casually.

"Ron's been poisoned." Trang whispered, taking a seat across from me.

"Oh, yeah, I know." I said, turning back to the drawing, putting a tank with a Grindylow under Dad's arm before starting on a rough sketch of Professor Moody.

"Aren't you worried?" Trang asked in surprise.

"No." I said, adding careful detail to the carved wooden leg and fake eye. "I already knew that he'd be fine. Besides, I would've stopped it except this makes up Ron and Hermione's friendship and that'll be a nice change of pace."

"Oh." Trang said simply and took a seat across from me, "Will you be going to the hospital wing to visit him?"

"Maybe." I said slowly, putting a walking stick in Professor Moody's hands to lean on, his mouth a frown. Him and Professor Snape would be the only ones who weren't smiling. Though I supposed working on Umbridge, her smile would be more of a smirk.

"What are you working on?" Trang asked, turning her head to see it better, "I've never seen you draw so many people before."

"It's a present." I said, working carefully on Umbridge's short stumpy profile. "The Hufflepuffs came up with the idea, I'm just the one who can carry it out."

"They're the Professors!" Trang exclaimed, slightly loudly.

"Shh!" I hissed. "Your the only one outside the group that knows, keep it down. A surprise means that no one is supposed to know about it."

"Right." Trang whispered. "Sorry."

I worked carefully on the pink cardigan, trying to figure out what I wanted to have in her hands. Perhaps I should have something carved into her hands, but I wasn't sure how the Professors would react to that.

"It is really good." Trang complimented me warmly.

"Thanks." I said. By now, people were starting to converge and I wrapped the drawing up and said, "Let's go visit the others in the hospital wing."

We left quickly, disappointed students sitting back down at their desks.

"They know it's a big project." Trang said, almost smugly as though she was part of the drawing committee or something. "They want to know what it is."

I chuckled, "Well, they'll get to know what it is when it's ready to be signed."

We entered the hospital wing where Harry, Hermione, and Ginny were crowded around the bed along with Fred and George.

". . . not one of Ron's better birthdays?" Fred was asking and he looked up as we entered, "Hey, Eliza. Trang."

I smiled at him.

The hospital wing was quiet, curtains covering the windows to hide that it was already night outside. I'd spent the entire day drawing. I felt as though no time had passed between breakfast and now.

"This isn't how we imagined handing over our present." George said, laying a large present wrapped in blue and gold paper on the beside cabinet and sitting back down next to Ginny.

"Yeah, when we pictured the scene, he was conscious." Fred said and I grinned unwillingly.

"There we were in Hogsmeade, waiting to surprise him-" George started before Ginny interrupted him.

"You were in Hogsmeade?"

"We were thinking of buying Zonko's." Fred said in a gloomy voice. "A Hogsmeade branch, you know, but a fat lot of good it'll do us if you lot aren't allowed out at weekends to buy our stuff anymore. . . but never mind that now." Fred drew his chair up closer to Ron's bed. "How did it happen, Harry?"

Trang listened as Harry told the story of the cauldron chocolate spiked with love potion, going to Slughorn's for the antidote and then drinking the poisoned mead. Ron started to foam at the mouth, Harry shoved a bezoar down his throat. Slughorn ran for McGonagall and Pomfrey and now Ron was here.

"Blimey, it was lucky you thought of a bezoar." George said, his voice low. I put a hand on his shoulder.

"Lucky there was one in the room." Harry said, his face paling slightly.

Hermione gave a sniff so quiet that if I hadn't had exceptional hearing, I probably wouldn't have heard it.

"Do Mum and Dad know?" Fred asked Ginny.

"They've already seen him, they arrived an hour ago- they're in Dumbledore's office now, but they'll be back soon. . ." Ginny said softly.

"If it's any solace." I said quietly. "He's going to be absolutely, 100 percent fine."

Fred breathed out, reaching out and taking my hand. I squeezed back. "So the poison was in the drink?" Fred asked Harry.

"Yes, Slughorn poured it out-"

"Would he have been able to slip something into Ron's glass without you seeing?"

"Probably, but why would Slughorn want to poison Ron?"

"No idea, you don't think he could have mixed up the glasses by mistake? Meaning to get you?" Fred asked.

"No." I said simply.

"Why would Slughorn want to poison Harry?" Ginny asked.

"I dunno." Fred said, shrugging his shoulders and squeezing my hand a second time. "But there must be loads of people who'd like to poison Harry, mustn't there? 'The Chosen One' and all that?"

"No." I said again, "Voldemort wants him alive, to kill him himself. He wouldn't send a Death Eater after Harry to kill him."

"He could be innocent." Ginny pointed out after they were all done overreacting to hearing Voldemort's name. "The poison could have been in the bottle, in which case it was probably meant for Slughorn himself."

"Who'd want to kill Slughorn?" George asked skeptically, reaching up and putting his hand over mine which I realized was still on his shoulder.

"Dumbledore reckons Voldemort wanted Slughorn on his side." Harry answered, running a hand through his hair. "Slughorn was in hiding for a year before he came to Hogwarts. And. . . and maybe Voldemort wants him out of the way, maybe he thinks he could be valuable to Dumbledore."

He must be thinking about Slughorn's hidden memory about the horcruxes. The damage that Dumbledore could and was going to do with that information.

"But you said Slughorn had been planning to give that bottle to Dumbledore for Christmas, so the poisoner could just as easily have been after Dumbledore." Ginny said gently.

"Then the poisoner didn't know Slughorn very well." Hermione said, speaking for the first time since I'd entered the room. She sounded stuffed up and very sick. "Anyone who knew Slughorn would have known there was a good chance he'd keep something that tasty for himself."

"Er-my-nee." Ron croaked suddenly and I smiled gently, exchanging a look with Trang.

"I'm going to go to bed." Trang whispered in my ear. I turned slightly, but not enough that my hands left the hands of the twins. "Let me know how he is tomorrow."

"Sure." I whispered back and Trang left.

The dormitory doors flew open, making us all jump and my hands withdrew from Fred and George's. Hagrid came striding towards us, his hair was wet from the pouring rain outside and his coat flapped behind him as though in a breeze. He still had his crossbow in his hand and as he walked towards us, he left muddy footprints the size of small dolphins behind him.

"Bin in the forest all day! Aragog's worse, I bin readin' to him- didn' get up ter dinner till jus' now an' then Professor Sprout told me abou' Ron! How is he?"

"Not bad." Harry said quickly. "They say he'll be okay."

I quickly turned into a cat, leaving my bag by Hermione's side and jumping up into Fred's lap as Madam Pomfrey came bustling over, "No more than six visitors at a time!"

"Hagrid makes six." George said, though he sounded like he might start laughing if he didn't get it under control.

"Oh. . . yes. . ." Madam Pomfrey said, looking between the six of them, not noticing that there was a random cat that had not been there before. She turned, cleaning up the muddy footprints and then went back to her office. I leapt off Fred's lap, turning back into a human and grabbed my bag.

"Sorry Fred." I said brightly. "I didn't want to get kicked out of the hospital wing quite yet."

Hagrid hadn't seemed to have noticed. He'd turned to Harry and was saying, "I don' believe this. Jus' don' believe it. . . Look at him lyin' there. . . Who'd want ter hurt him, eh?"

Fred and George were looking at me and they stood up, converging on me. "Since when did you become an Animagus?" George asked, grinning.

"That's just what we were discussing." Harry was saying to Hagrid, "We don't know."

"Fifth year." I replied.

Fred shook his head, "bloody brilliant you are."

I turned pink.

"Someone couldn' have a grudge against the Gryffindor Quidditch team, could they?" Hagrid asked, anxiety leaking into his voice, "Firs' Katie, now Ron. . ."

"I can't see anyone trying to bump off a Quidditch team." George said, turning back to the conversation at hand.

"Wood might've done the Slytherins if he could've got away with it." Fred said in what he seemed to think was a fair voice. I giggled.

"Well, I don't think it's Quidditch, but I think there's a connection between the attacks." Hermione said quietly.

"How d'you work that out?" Fred asked curiously.

"Well, for one thing, they both ought to have been fatal and weren't, although that was pure luck. And for another, neither the poison nor the necklace seems to have reached the person who was supposed to be killed. Of course, that makes the person behind this even more dangerous in a way, because they don't seem to care how many people they finish off before they actually reach their victim."

Mr. and Mrs. Weasley burst through the doors next, Mrs. Weasley swooping down on Harry and proclaiming, "Dumbledore's told us how you saved him with the bezoar. Oh, Harry what can we say? You saved Ginny, you saved Arthur, now you've saved Ron. . ."

"Don't be. . . I didn't. . ." Harry muttered, looking extremely awkward.

I laughed quietly with Fred and George.

"Half our family does seem to owe you their lives, now I stop and think about it." Mr. Weasley said in a tight voice. "Well, all I can say is that it was a lucky day for the Weasleys when Ron decided to sit in your compartment on the Hogwarts Express, Harry."

"If I remember correctly," I muttered into Fred's ear and George leaned in to listen, "You helped him with his luggage and then pretty much pushed Ron into the compartment to make friends with him so it's really your doing."

"Cheers Elizabeth." Fred said cheerfully.

Madam Pomfrey came out, reminding us of the six person limit. Hagrid, Hermione, Harry, and I left. I made sure that my drawing was still in the bag before leaving, kissing both George and Fred on the cheek and followed the others out.

"It's terrible." Hagrid said in a low, growly voice as we walked down the halls, "All this new security, an' kids are still gettin' hurt. . . Dumbledore's worried sick. . . He don' say much, but I can tell.."

"Hasn't he got any ideas, Hagrid?" Hermione asked.

"I 'spect he's got hundreds of ideas, brain like his. But he doesn' know who sent that necklace nor put poison in that wine, or they'd've bin caught, wouldn' they? Wha' worries me," Hagrid looked over his shoulder and Harry looked up at the ceiling, "is how long Hogwarts can stay open if kids are bein' attacked. Chamber o' secrets all over again, isn' it? There'll be panic, more parents takin' their kids outta school, an' nex' thing yeh know the board o' governors. . ."

Hagrid stopped talking as a ghost floated past us and didn't started up until she was gone, "the board o' governors'll be talkin' about shuttin' us up fer good."

"Surely not?" I asked without thinking.

"Gotta see it from their point o' view." Hagrid said and I knew he had a point, "I mean, it's always bin a bit of a risk sendin' a kid ter Hogwarts, hasn' it? Yer expect accidents, don' yeh, with hundreds of underage wizards all locked up tergether, but attmpted murder, tha's diff'rent. S'no wonder Dumbledore's angry with Sn-"

Hagrid cut off, looking guilty and I sighed, closing my eyes. I should've intervened, should've said something before now but it was too late.

"What? Dumbledore's angry with Snape?" Harry asked, sounding victorious.

"I never said that', look at the time, it's gettin' on fer midnight, I need ter-" Hagrid said quickly.

"Hagrid, why is Dumbledore angry with Snape?" Harry asked loudly, as though he was trying to get someone else to hear him.

"Shhhhhhhhh!" Hagrid hissed. "Don' shout stuff like that, Harry, d'yeh wan' me ter lose me job? Mind, I don' suppose yeh'd care, would yeh, not now yeh've given up Care of Mag-"

"Don't try and make me feel guilty, it won't work!" Harry said fiercely. Hermione and I watched the conversation batter back and forth. "What's Snape done?"

"I dunno, Harry, I shouldn'ta heard it at all! I- well, I was comin' outta the forest the other evenin' an' I overheard 'em talking- well, arguin'. Didn't like ter draw attention to meself, so I sorta skulked an' tried not ter listen, but it was a- well, a heated discussion an' it wasn' easy ter block it out." Hagrid said uncomfortably, obviously wishing he hadn't said anything.

"Well?" Harry urged him. Hagrid shuffled his dolphin feet.

"Well- I jus' heard Snape sayin' Dumbledore took too much fer granted an' maybe he- Snape- didn' wan' ter do it anymore-"

"Do what?" Harry asked. Like Hagrid had all the answers.

"I dunno, Harry, it sounded like Snape was feelin' a bit overworked, tha's all- anyway, Dumbledore told him flat out he'd agreed ter do it an' that was all there was to it an'- an' something about Elizabeth I didn't understand. Pretty firm with him. An' then he said summat abou' Snape makin' investigations in his House, in Slytherin. Well, there's nothin' strange about that!" Hagrid said while Harry and Hermione exchanged a glance. I continued to stare up at the ceiling. "All the Heads o' Houses were asked ter look inter that necklace business-"

"Yeah, but Dumbledore's not having rows with the rest of them, is he?" Harry asked.

"Yeah, but the other Heads know the necklace didn't come from their students." I said softly.

"Look." Hagrid said quickly as he twisted his crossbow. He'd apparently twisted to far because there was a cracking sound and the crossbow snapped in two. He gritted his teeth in obvious frustration but said kindly, "I know what yeh're like abou' Snape, Harry, an' I don' want yeh ter go readin' more inter this than there is."

"Filch." I whispered quietly as Hermione said, "Look out."

I slipped off into the shadows, hearing Filch cry out, "Oho! Out of bed so late. . ."

I hurried down to the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom, stepping inside without knocking and hurried up to the actual office.

Severus had put his papers away, a candle lit low. He was wearing a gray nightgown, and already fast asleep. I quickly pulled out the drawing that I'd worked on all day, doing a rough sketch of Grubby-Plank and Kettleburn before putting it away for the day and got out of my robes.

I dug in the dresser and found one of Severus' gray shirts. I put that on and it fell past my knees. I climbed into bed, snuggling into his chest though he remained sleeping. I let random thoughts help me drift off to sleep.

Hermione was right. Game of Thrones was a horrible book.

⬅️➡️

[hide-in-imagination]

What do u think abt simbar ( ik that u LOVE simbar but i wanna know ur opinion)

Hm. This is a very interesting question. I take it from your clarification that you're expecting a more in-depth opinion than me just loving them.

Alright, everyone, go grab a glass of your favorite beverage and some biscuits— This is gonna get long.

What do I think about Simbar? I think many things, some from an 'inside the show world' perspective and some from 'outside the show' perspective.

From an 'outside the show' perspective, I feel like the way the writers first approached it was very... basic. Like, they weren't very imaginative in how to bring them together. If you check their scenes in season 2, most of them are almost copy-paste.

Ámbar: *Feels bad* | Simón: *comforts her* | Ámbar: I feel so alone. | Simón: You're not alone.

Like...seriously, couldn't the writers come up with different dialogues? It's a little cringe to watch. I wonder if the actors didn't question why their lines were always the same in every script.

Now, there are three instances in which I think they did it right. The first one was when Ámbar first approaches him and asks him to help her rehearse her song. This works because 1- We, the audience, know she's actually just plotting to eventually use him against Luna. 2- Music is Simón's domain, an intrinsic part of him that Ámbar has witnessed but never really seen up close, she's never really talked to him about it or wondered how he sees music, how he feels it. This scene works because we get to see Ámbar coming in with one clear objective (scheme and manipulate) and walk out with a different view of Simón (someone who cares about putting their heart into every performance, feeling the lyrics and conveying real emotion). All meanwhile Simón 1- has no idea he was ever part of some plan, and 2- doesn't see he has done anything out of the ordinary: he's just being himself.

Which brings us to the second scene which I think works: when he convinced her to sing with that strong eye-shadow make-up Jazmín put on her. This scene works because they're both being themselves: Ámbar worried about her image/how she's perceived, Simón being like "?? First of all, that doesn't matter, what matters is the music you make, and second of all, you look great ?? It's literally impossible for you to look bad in anything ??"

Which, coming from anyone else would be obvious flirting, but Simón is just being Simón. He's sincere and optimistic and has different priorities than caring about image all the time, the main one of those being music, and he's a good person, a genuinely good person of the sort Ámbar has, unfortunately, not met many before. If it had been any other guy just flirting, Ámbar would've just shrugged it off because she's used to that, she's used to compliments that expect something from her, but Simón is just being honest and supporting her going after her dreams for her sake, not because he's interested in getting anything from her, and I think that rattles Ámbar, in a good, unexpected way.

The third moment that worked was when Simón went looking for her during the Vidia competition and then they sang together. Now, the reasons for this are pretty much the same stipulated above, it's kinda self-explanatory, but I will add that I think this was the moment Simón fell in love with Ámbar, when he sang with her. I think I've mentioned this before, and I know I've written it in chapters you guys haven't gotten to see yet. In fact, I think I'll just copy and paste what I've written and put it here. Consider this a snippet from the future.

****She had taken all of her feelings and turned them into song, poured them through her voice, through her eyes that shined with contained tears. She had smiled at him as she sang them, and he had thought— How can someone look so fragile and so strong at the same time? How could someone express so much with just her voice? How could someone smile like that?

How can she be so beautiful?*****

Basically, he just absolutely admires her strength. Her vulnerability, her bravery, her ability to smile through adversity and sound more beautiful than ever. Of course he would lose his heart through music. Of course the moment Ámbar followed his advice and sang from her heart he would fall irrevocably in love with her.

(THE ADVICE HE GAVE HER IN THE FIRST SCENE I MENTIONED. SEE? IT ALL COMES TOGETHER)

*cough* Okay, setting that fangirling aside, let's continue.

From an 'inside the show' perspective, or maybe a mix of inside and outside, I think if you really start analyzing the dynamic, it can be a little... problematic.

I'll get to the main issue later, but first, it all starts with the question... Why did they fall for each other?

And here's why the shameless copy-paste the writers did in season 2 is so annoying, because they drilled us so much with the whole 'I'm alone/you're not alone' that the answer to why they fell for each other seems to be "Simón was nice to Ámbar, and Simón liked her because... he felt special???"

Like, it truly seems like Ámbar just started liking him because he consoled her when she was sad, and Simón started liking her because... he's got a hero complex?? He gets off on feeling like the savior?? And this is problematic because, then, would anyone else that had comforted Ámbar have worked just the same?? If Nico had approached her every time she felt sad and comforted her, would Ámbar have fallen for him instead?? And Simón's sudden infatuation with her after seeing her cry just seems like a weird mix of pity/sympathy and 'he just likes her because she's pretty.' Is Simón just attracted to damsels in distress he can help and feel useful? If Jazmín had been depressed and he had consoled her over and over, would he have fallen for her as well or was Ámbar's beauty just a very decisive factor?

And, of course, we are directed to believe that it was deeper than that (and I, as a Simbar shipper, of course think so). The writers want us to believe that they fell for who they truly are, that they saw each other in a deep way and were captivated by the view, that they connected and got to see things differently.

But again, because of how the writers wrote them, it's all just so very tilted to one side. Ámbar's love makes sense because she's never been treated this kindly and she's never been taught to see the world in the optimistic, supportive, not-competitive-perfection-seeking way that Simón does, so she's got a lot to gain from having him in her life, but what does Simón get out of this?

I once read in a 'writing tips' post about how to write good romance that it's not about what they like about each other but 'how them being together makes each other better?'

And this is where the real problematic aspect of Simbar comes in. When you think about it, their dynamic and the entirety of Season 3 falls into the trope 'Good Girl falls for Bad Boy and saves him' just reversed. "Simón likes Ámbar but Ámbar's bad but she's not really bad, she actually has a heart of gold, but she's going to be very mean about it for most of the story until eventually the good boy's influence brings her to the light and they live happily ever after."

It's disgusting to see it this way, but let's be honest here.

I'm not going to delve further into why the trope is problematic (it's not the good girl's responsibility to save him, she's not her therapist, blah blah blah, we've all seen these deconstructions before), I'm just gonna go straight to the question: what does Simón get from being with Ámbar? How is this whole love affair in any way beneficial for him? (Other than the obvious 'get the object of his affections' bit).

Well, my friends, as the simbar shipper that I am, and as the person that I think has written more words for this ship than anyone else, the conclusion that I've reached is that Ámbar makes Simón more selfish in a good way. And this is even explicitly stated in one of their conversations. Simón thinks too much about others for his own good; Ámbar encourages him to focus more on himself. But that transcends to many things. In general, I think Ámbar, with her world-view and upbringing and her qualities, complements Simón in a way that pushes him to be better. She's ambitious, she's cunning, smart, she knows how mean people can be, she's seen how cruel the world can be. Those are very good things to have considering Simón is kinda head-on-the-clouds, dream big, believes in the goodness of humankind or whatever. Not to say that Simón is not smart in his own way or that he's not ambitious, but he doesn't see goals like Ámbar sees goals, he doesn't see the importance of putting himself first like Ámbar has done all her life, and at the same time, he regulates those sides of Ámbar so that she's a bit more selfless, a bit more optimistic, a bit more relaxed about things. Ámbar brings reality checks to the table and puts him first more than he does himself, while Simón brings the love and support she should've but never had and helps her enjoy and appreciate the little things in life, the ones you can't buy and that have nothing to do with image.

But the writers' execution is atrocious. Simón sounds so preachy most of the time, and Ámbar looks for all the world like she just changes her ways to get the D and not because she truly saw the error of her ways. The first part I think it's fine because Simón needs flaws anyway and I've kinda gotten used to calling him a self-righteous bitch (affectionately), but Ámbar's redemption arc could've been handled better and I think we all agree on that.

Overall, in spite of all that I said, their dynamic is not terrible— If it were, I wouldn't ship them. They did lean into a toxic trope a lot though. But fortunately both have too much personality to completely fall into it: Simón is not just 'the good, virginal girl'; he stands up for himself and stands up for injustices, he saw right through Ámbar at the beginning of season 3 and told her to her face he wouldn't go along with her games, he's got too much of an idea of right and wrong to let the 'bad boy' trample all over him, and he's got aspirations of his own that don't revolve around the romantic interest (regardless of the Roller Band not getting the recognition THEY DESERVED). Ámbar, on her part, is not just 'uwu my parents traumatized me so I'll justify being a little shit to everyone around me, sniff sniff'. Do I even have to explain the complexity of her character? I think there are too many posts already about that. I'll save myself the essay.

So. What's my opinion on Simbar, anon? I think it's a very great ship, but more because of the characters themselves than the delivery (aka, the writers' flawed work). Which is precisely why it is so much fun to write fanfiction about them, because you can do better, and it's sooo satisfying.

Now, I'll finish this with a little defense of the writers because I feel like I've been shitting on them for fifteen pages front and back. They were writing a soap opera. For kids. Literally for small children from ages 7 to above. Did they have to make things complicated? No. In fact, the simpler probably the better. And they also had to write a fuck ton of scripts in record time, many of them on the run while the show was being filmed (at least that's my experience from the inside of a telenovela's writers room). So, I think it's understandable if they did copy-paste. And I think it's also understandable if their plots were not fault-proof because they were not meant to be in-depth analyzed by grown-ass adults.

That was my Ted Talk for today. It's currently 2:03 am here and I can't believe I've been writing this answer for three hours. Actually? Scratch that, I can totally believe that, it sounds like me.

Thanks (I guess?) for the question, anon. I hope my answer satisfied you.

[mybookhaven]

The Serpent Gates Duology - A.K. Larkwood

Fantasy - Sci-Fi - Queer rep

⭐⭐⭐⭐ (4/5)

I think i just figured out my favorite kind of romantic trope, and it says A LOT about me.

A.K. Larkwood's world building was so beautifully done in this Duology that I think I'm gonna be a little bit in love with it for the rest of my life. The combination of cultures, creatures, and worlds is probably my favorite thing about this story, and I consider myself to be a very harsh critic of world building. I loved the plot(s) I loved the characters, and I loved the language, so let's get into it.

Original Cover Art (respectively): Billelis / Katt Phatt

This duology follows 5 (6ish) main characters through land reclamation, seeking magic objects, fighting gods, becoming gods and much more. A LOT of things happen in the span of two books that keeps you hooked and on the edge of your seat wanting to know more.

Csorwe, an almost 14-year-old girl on the brink of sacrificing herself to her god, meets a mysterious wizard who convinces her to abandon everything she knows and follow him away from the people who want to gift her corpse to their god. From there everything falls into chaos. She meets Talasseres Charossa, her future chaotic sword gay brother (nonbiological), and they both start working for the mysterious wizard in hopes of gaining a drop of his favor (A LOT of father issues in that regard).

Sethennai, the wizard, is after an object that is rumored to contain the secrets of great magic, and in all honesty, I've never hated a character that much. he was brilliantly written to make you doubt your emotions towards him until finally you come to realize at the same time as Csorwe and Tal that he is the shittiest person to have ever existed (in any book you've ever read). I LOVED how A.K. Larkwood was capable of doing that, and then she went and did the exact opposite with Oranna, a librarian from the House of Silence, the cult that sacrifices children to The Unspoken Name (their god). My feelings on her progressed from complete hatred to what I call "me falling in love with every morally gray character that shows a bit of affection after committing unspeakable war crimes".

Finally, I just have one comment on the plot process. I think the series in general would've been even better if it was divided into more than two books. A LOT of things happened that were essentially skimmed over to a certain extent. A.K. Larkwood could have published at least 4 books with the events of these two if she went more into detail of some "in-between" events.

Regardless, I LOVED this duology, and I can't wait to read more of A.K. Larkwood's worlds.

P.S. I wanted there to be more exploration of the romance between Csorwe and Shuthmili. I loved every moment between them I just wished we saw a bit more.

P.P.S. My favorite trope is overpowering "bad-guy" royal Goddess impossibly in love with a troublemaker idiot that is the noblest person in existence.

[missizzy]

A Game Novice's Baldur's Gate Log, 134 1/2 Hours In: She's trying to secure her future with Gale here, will people please stop hitting on her?

Masterpost

(Note: this will definitely contain spoilers for all I've played through, and probably quite of a bit of the later stuff I've also seen.)

Once again I must start my entry with a shout-out, as this week I managed to reach the point where what you say to Gale can determine whether or not he goes for godhood at the end. His doing so would devastate Sara so much I wanted to take no chances, and so relied on airydandelion's Gale endings guide on reddit to dictate my dialog choices. I went on what the guide calls the mild "Forgiveness" route, although Sara would be more likely to call it the "Making sure he doesn't become like her and noone can think he owes her a damn thing" route.

I had, after last week, become convinced the vault was hidden in Lorroakan's tower, and thus I felt the need to get rid of him before we went in for the Annals of Karsus. I decided right before that I wanted Astarion and his sussar dagger for that battle. I have also now reached the point that I want all the buffs I can get, so I had Sara invite him into the party and then invited him to feed on her that night. (I now think the time it didn't work happened because he wasn't in it). I also decided to rotate Halsin in overnight, so he could remove the debuff in the morning.

Which seems to be what triggered, only one night after the Emperor's pass at Sara, the moment I'd started to seriously hope I wouldn't get, post-Patch 7. The patch does seem to have tweaked his words a bit; now, instead of assuming you return his feelings just because you were nice, he speaks more generally of feeling a connection. But while I'd seen his confession of love already, I was struck afresh by the tenderness in his voice, the vulnerability in his expression. It hurt so much to see and hear him bare his heart, knowing I had to break it.

Especially since I am dead certain that if it wasn't for Gale, Sara would've gone for it. She even pretty much told him so. But not only did I know that Gale would have a bad reaction to the suggestion that they share, but Sara was still worried about him blowing himself up, and was absolutely not going to do anything that might make him feel expendable. So she still had to refuse Halsin's offer there.

Since then, I've seen his gentle words as he restored her the next morning, and now I've also had the conversation where he talks about the city and making things better. There was one moment during it where I actually found myself thinking, "This would be the moment she would've fallen in love had her heart been free."

Hells, I don't think it's impossible that the two of them might find their way to each other in a century or so. If all goes well, she'll stay with Gale for the rest of his life, and mourn him for years after, but she'll have way too long left to live to not fall in love again. And while I certainly wouldn't want him to sit around and pine that long, even if he did have someone when she came to him, I think she actually would be open to sharing.

And then, after all that fuss and bother, I told Dame Aylin about Larroakan and brought her to him for the fight. Which resulted in more disapproval from Astarion than I really want right now, and the fight going badly enough, that when I reloaded back to camp before exiting, and resumed a couple days later, I decided to bring Shadowheart instead of him.

That went a little better, but it still took me two more hours of struggle. Rolan on my first attempt had presented a good idea to me when he thunderwaved one of the wizards' constructs off the mezzanine, but my attempts to do the same didn't go as well. In fact, my next two reloads happened when someone accidentally hit their allies with one instead. Even on my fourth successful attempt, Jaheira ended up nearly killing Shadowheart with one wave, because I'd forgotten where I'd put her, but on that one we were far enough along I decided to see if we could survive that blunder. Which we did, if barely.

Dame Aylin herself went down very near the end of it. After the first attempt I confirmed she'd come back, got a little worried when she didn't on her next turn, but then she did after we won, to break Lorroakan's spine and then not be sure how she felt about it afterwards. Sara wasn't much help to her initially, just thinking they should merely get to kill him again, especially since Rolan had just revealed he'd been abusing him. Though by the time she ended up talking with Astarion a little bit about it, she was wondering if maybe that could be a problem with revenge. He insisted to her killing Cazador is going to be the best moment of his life, and so long as he doesn't ascend Sara very much wants that for him, but, well...

The battle had in fact, left my casters so drained the only reason I didn't long rest immediately was because I stubbornly wanted to make use of that buff on Astarion. So I got Gale to recover two of his entirely expended slots above level one, swapped both the others out and Wyll in along with the vampire. Having tried in vain to get to the tower's lower floors and then confirmed the vault was actually under Tolna's office, and killing the shop owner didn't help get me to it. I'd been left right back where I started.

I also decided to deal with the exclamation point over Mizora's head while I was doing the swaps. So far she hasn't really allowed Sara to follow her plan of not speaking to her. But when she too, made a pass at her, complete with offers of the kind of beyond-mortal ecstasy she didn't even really want from Gale, I was very sorry her options did not include demanding of some romance-related god why in the Hells everyone's suddenly making them at her when she's in a relationship. Or that the options for refusing the devil didn't include some more insulting ones or threats of violence. Or that Mizora's scornful "ta ta" at the end of the dialog was not followed by her actually leaving. Sara is now really sick of her.

It turned out that contrary to what I've read, casting a fog cloud turns the whole store hostile, too. I'd seen greater invisibility also suggested, but had no immediate way to cast it. But I'd also seen a suggestion of just trying to stealth it, so I decided what the hell and had Astarion stealth up to the door to lockpick it. He did actually manage to do so undisturbed. Then he got accosted by the animated armor when he tried to walk into the office, but he managed to make the high deception check to make them leave us alone.

I'm not sure if the buff actually made any difference, in the end, but we certainly needed him for the vault. We wandered around it, found our first ever Supreme Healing potion (we're gonna need those!), nearly got killed when the gargoyle heads started shooting fireballs before Astarion could disarm them all, I ended up losing my patience and looking up which doors to choose, and then, at long last, we got to the Karsus room, and in it, the book.

The first set of responses the guide gave to me, when I gave Gale the book and we started talking, were the ones I probably would've chosen anyway. The moment Gale talked about the possibility to ascend, I could practically feel Sara freaking the fuck out, all her old insecurities about being too mundane for him rising to the surface. Her general thoughts about any entity which gets too much power also made her want something like the crown of Karsus to just not exist, so of course she was going to speak against Gale making any use of it.

After meeting with Elminster outside the store, I'm not sure I would've necessarily have told Gale to take the meeting with Mystra. I think all things being equal, Sara would have rather he didn't. But she had to recognize they ought to at least try for her aid, or, if nothing else, avoid her ire. So I had her say they'd go meet with her soon, then headed back to camp to finally enjoy the boat scene I'd heard so much about.

The scene was, indeed, very romantic. And you can't deny Gale's point about the gods, and how they use their power. Seems a lot of D&D-adjacent media is addressing that matter these days. (At least Gale isn't wrecking havoc on the lands in his quest to destroy them, at least not in his good ending.) But Sara has no use for the debates about doing something about it. Her response to recognizing wrongs done by gods such as Mystra is to want all the more for people she cares about to not become like them. It outright dismayed her to hear Gale still talking like he should being something more impressive for her. She'll tell him as many times as she needs to that she wants what he is already.

Though she was very far from sorry to finally go with him into Astral Plane, to be able to show and tell him the next morning she did have some appreciation for that. But even better were his words of love to her in that boat. (Having finally heard him say "With you, I forget my goddess," I could listen to him saying that on loop.) When at the end, he assured her she was everything to him, she no doubt thought about spending the rest of his life doing everything she could to convince him that he, too, is everything to her.

All this, of course, had the added effect of leaving her, at long last, feeling completely secure of his preference of her to his powerful ex. So I felt much better about her taking him to the temple the next day and telling him to ask her forgiveness, if only as a thing that had to be done to get rid of his orb problem. I was more sorry the instructions were against her asking to go to meet her with him, but at least she feared nothing from not doing so.

I did have her kiss him in front of the statue before we left the temple, though. She's still not above marking her territory in the simpler ways. I actually assumed when she did Jaheira, who was with us, was rolling her eyes offscreen, but she was actually shown smiling behind Sara as they parted. Karlach, who'd I'd brought largely because she'd offered the previous night to come to protect Gale, probably didn't mind too much either.

With all that done, I resumed the quest for Minsc, and I've since taken the quartet in question through much of the sewers, taking them in through the manhole by the temple and wandering away. It was good decompression after the rest of this week's gameplay. At least until I wandered into an ancient lair and discovered the problem with fighting a huge amount of undead in a chamber filled with the spell rot effect. Gale probably came the closest to dying that he has yet; I had to go into turn-based mode the instant the battle ended to make sure I could throw one of our remaining healing potions on him in time. On the other hand, while Karlach might not have been needed for protecting Gale against Mystra, it was a really good thing I had her for that battle!

That bout, combing with an earlier shorter encounter against some Bhaal cultists, actually got Sara and Gale both to level 11, and left Jaheira and Karlach 19 XP away from it. And everyone probably needing to long rest before actually dealing with Minsc, but I decided to have them wander a little further, in the hope of hitting some new-location based XP. Instead, we hit an extremely dangerous encounter with a guy who could cast a delayed Power Word Kill! I exited without saving on that one, and when next I resume at the autosave right before it, I shall almost certainly have the party turn and go the other way.

[casspurrjoybell-27]

Our Hearts Collide - Chapter 1 - Part 2

*Warning Adult Content*

Vince

It had been over a week since our last run, something that had been therapeutic for both of us since getting off those pills.

I let my wolf traverse the woods for a bit, traveling through both sparse and dense areas.

Even the woods were unfamiliar to him, knowing only the nearest outskirts of the pack and most frequently used hunting trail.

Despite all the places I could go, I always wound up atop the mountain cliff, the one that overlooked the lake near the cave Simon had once called home.

The place Michael had fallen to his death and where I was sure had catapulted this whole situation into this whole mess in the first place.

Here, I could think and voice the things I couldn't share with Chase.

The truth I refused to say aloud, the things I knew but didn't want to accept.

A place where I could think about everything that I had done and simply reflect, without the cautious onlookers or friends that felt the need to reassure me and say niceties out of a place of pity.

Here, I could openly feel.

Something I struggled to do while he was here.

Some days, I'd scream, cry or sit in silence.

Other days I'd curl up in the cave and wonder how Simon could have possibly lived like that for twelve years.

An answer I was certain I'd never know or fully understand.

With what the bond had shown me, he should've hated me. 

'I wanted to hate you. I really did. I'd shout obscenities at the top of the mountain until I was a sobbing mess because I knew it was untrue,' he had told me.

I wanted to be angry too, angry that things had gone this way, even if it had been mostly... if not all... my fault.

He had told me that I needed more time then and again in the letter. and maybe he was right but I couldn't do this for years, couldn't let this go on for 'another' twelve years for us to get past this.

He had twelve years of suffering, trying to get past this feeling of heartache, to get past the things I had put him through... that I continue to put him through.

Chase had told me not to compare my feelings to his but how could I not?

I had seen it, seen the things he endured... all of it.

I shouldn't be acting like this when I knew the things he had to face.

He had every right to leave, every right to not have even given me that first chance when Michael had made that deal.

There wasn't a single day that I hadn't wondered why he didn't just join Michael's hellbent plan to kill me, that would've been what any sane person would've done and just as insane as that was, I still wanted him here... with me.

I couldn't deny that I missed him, maybe more than I should but I missed him.

Maybe I was the crazier brother after all, selfish for something impossible, wishing for something I couldn't have... like a container of cookies a parent would keep on the top of a fridge.

No, he's happy, I reminded myself.

He's happy, he's happy, he's happy.

I repeated it like a mantra.

One day I will be too, however long this would take.

Yet, like my last run with my wolf, the pit in my stomach was growing, weighing heavily just as the thoughts and emotions seemed to drown out all tangible reasoning.

Even if this was where I could freely let all these thoughts out, how was it that I felt so weightless and heavy here, atop the mountain cliff?

The looming storm clouds weren't helping the mood either.

Maybe it was better to just hole myself up in my room instead, at least it would be warm and I wouldn't have to worry about getting lost on the way back during a storm.

I gazed at the forest below us, the lake off to the side.

Would I be able to make it back without getting lost again?

As I scanned the valley, wondering which way I came, a strange scent wafted in the air.

It was light, possible from the foot of the mountains. 

Ignoring it, I scanned the are again until I heard the faintest sound of rocks shifting behind me.

A foreign voice called out from my left...

'If you're going to jump, wait till I'm gone. Or better yet, don't.'

Whirling around, there stood a black-coated wolf, older, given the salt-and-pepper hair surrounding his muzzle and chest.

He was taller, foreboding, almost as intimidating as an Alpha.

How I had not heard or smelled his scent earlier was beyond me.

Even from here, it felt awfully muted for someone as intimidating as that. 

He stepped forward, his tail sashaying back and forth like a cat would in amusement.

Unsure of his intentions, I stepped back and again until he growled.

With a whine, I stepped back, unaware that there wasn't much of the cliff left behind me.

He raised his jowls just as my hind leg slipped, panic setting in as the earth under me slipped, my other legs scrambling to stay on the ledge.

My wolf whined as our hind legs dangled, failing to find some footing.

Only the narrowed hazel eyes stared back at me, flashing gold for a second as I could feel myself start to fall.

The same damn cliff that had killed Michael, would this be the end for me too?

I thought about mind-linking Simon in that moment, possibly Xavier,but what would that do but ruin a party.

It would only make it worse.

So instead, I shut my eyes, hoping the Moon Goddess would spare them any hurt, that they'd move on with that happy life they were living, all while I fell to my shitty death but it never came.

Instead, a set of teeth clamped the back of our neck, tugging us back from the ledge onto more solid ground.

The unfamiliar wolf snarled the entire way, even as he released his hold on my neck.

My body wracked with tremors at just how close that had been.

So, he wasn't someone who was a part of my long list of people who hated me or he'd want me dead by some other method.

It was possible he hated me as badly as Michael where he'd want to torture me for years like he did.

Still, I was grateful that he had saved me, even if he'd end up murdering me later.

My legs shook as I got back on my feet, turning to face him as he remained aloof, a slightly amused grin as he gave me space to gather my grounding.

'Who are you? '

'Clumsy as ever, it appears.'

The corners of his lips raised in a smirk, one that had given me a strange sense of Deja Vu but I didn't recognize this wolf at all.

'I see that hasn't changed at all about you, Vince..'

[yizukikhons]

I'm all for angst, and this whole prompt reminds me of Ghost of a Chance, a Teen Titans x DP fic that has the Justice League show up.

Danny being distrustful of the JL is awesome. When Danny rewrote reality he rewrote EVERYTHING though. The JL wouldn't remember a thing unless someone was able to reverse the reality gauntlet. Not saying it's IMPOSSIBLE, but I'd imagine it'd take more than any one magic user to fully undo it.

SO

Constantine figures out someone rewrote reality and reset time. They're missing at least three months worth of memories. That someone managed to do that is terrifying enough. That's god level power all on it's own. And once Batman and the rest of the League are aware that something happened, they won't rest until they know what.

Cue Constantine trying to undo a GOD LEVEL SPELL. Zatanna is helping, but they're both only mortal. Doctor Fate would be much better for undoing this, but the asshole refuses to help, as what was undone helped the forces of Order by destroying a Major Artifact of Chaos (tell me the Reality Gauntlet WOULDN'T be considered such since giving anyone the power to rewrite reality on a whim is a recipe for disaster/chaos). So he and Zatanna are on their own.

They eventually craft a workable spell. It can't undo whatever was done, but it should restore their memories, or as much as their magic can manage. Anything that gets left behind should be mitigated by restoring multiple memories so they can fill each other in. They would've been better off restoring everyone's memories one at a time so that each person could remember as much as possible, but that would take far longer and be far more draining. Plus, John is known for being impatient, so mass spell it is.

The League get their memories back.

They remember the identity reveal. They remember being approached by the GIW. They remember Phantom 'kidnapping' Sam and Tucker. They remember fighting the Ghost Boy, and how he was able to Overshadow Superman and turn him against their team.

They don't remember being suspicious of the GIW claiming ghosts are non-sentient, when Danny can talk and strategize against them.

So now the JL is back to thinking that Phantom is a threat, with only Martian Manhunter being suspicious that something more is going on. They obviously need to investigate this, contain Phantom before he decides to become a nation/worldwide threat, but who could they send? Phantom most likely remembers everything, and will probably be on guard if they show up in Amity. One of them will have to go as a civilian to get a scope of the situation, while the rest of the League gets back in contact with the GIW.

put Danny Phantom in the DC Universe during the events of Reality Trip

Reality trip was a two-part episode where Danny, Sam, and Tucker had to run around the US to find the three stones of the reality gauntlet. Danny's identity has been revealed to the world and Freakshow is holding their families hostage, all while the GIW are hunting after him.

Running from the bumbling ghost hunters was bad enough, but competent superheroes that are faster, stronger and smarter than him? A disaster.

Now, the Justice League is hunting him under the presumption that he is dangerous, perhaps even that he kidnapped Tucker and Sam and is behind their families' disappearance.

Danny hasn't met an adult that doesn't hate his ghost half, so after the Justice League has never helped with the ghost attacks, and are now hunting him, he doesn't even try to plea his case to the adults, not when they have GIW brand guns strapped to their backs.

Danny, being desperate to get his family back, might resort to methods he wouldn't usually use.

He might overshadow Superman and use his strength against his teammates or

to beat them soundly enough they're unable to come after him anymore. Stuff he isn't proud of and doesn't talk about with Sam and Tucker.

Maybe they successfully even capture Danny for a small time and he gets the full betrayal of his heroes not hesitating to hand him right over to the GIW

In the end, when Danny finally has the reality gauntlet, Danny's only option is to reverse time and wipe the mind of the last summer from the entire world. This fixes all their problems but also erases any of the alliances they might have formed along the way. They can pretend they don't know what it's like to have the Justice League hunting them, to experience Batman's extensive planning, or see Superman angry

Of course, that doesn't mean Danny has forgotten when years later the Justice League comes knocking, asking for his help, inviting him to their team.

Danny hasn't forgotten what Batman's extensive planning looks like, or what Superman looks like angry. He still knows most of their identities and the names of their loved ones. He knows how to get to the watchtower and crash all its technology. He knows the methods they will go to capture a person who's done nothing wrong and what the inside of their jail cells looks like.

Just saying, the angst potential is limitless.

[fictionkinfessions]

(Warning: this post contains themes of existential horror, body horror, biological instability, and mercy-killing. I'm so sorry in advance.)

*sigh*... Look, I have nothing against fanmade Monster species for my source. It's actually really fun to see people's interpretations of elemental combinations that would otherwise be impossible or even just combinations that don't appear in canon (like, say, a Faerie and Plant elemental)! There's just one little nitpick I have.

There's a good reason there's no Ethereal-class monsters with more than two elements. Just... trust me. The most you can have is two. I promise. Break any other biological rule you want with the elements, just not that one, please.

Before I go on, tangent time! For those who are unaware, each Celestial represents a different Natural element (Plant, Cold, Air, Water, Earth, and Fire) or Ethereal element (Plasma, Shadow, Mech, Crystal, and Poison), except for me, since I represent the Supernatural/Superethereal element of Electricity. Basically, in the very beginning, we all created the different species of Monster using our elemental power. We found out pretty quickly that combining Natural elements with Ethereal elements didn't create anything, so we all just stuck to making stuff within our own classes. Blasoom, Glaishur, Attmoz, Hornacle, Torrt, and Furnoss made the Natural Monsters, while Plixie, Loodvigg, Vhamp, Syncopite, and Scaratar made the Ethereal Monsters, and I basically oversaw everything. It all went pretty smoothly, but then something terrible happened.

After the Ethereal Celestials got finished creating the mono-elemental and dual-elemental Ethereal Monsters, they released those into the Monster world and naturally went on to try making tri-elementals, quad-elementals, and a quint-elemental, just like the Natural Celestials had done. Of course, I saw no issue with this, but once they combined their elements and I gave their creations the Spark of Life... oh boy.

When I brought these Monsters to life, it was the most horrific thing I had ever seen. You know how the Monster Handlers say that any Ethereal Monster with more than two elements is "unstable"? They weren't kidding. I'll spare the specifics, but it was painfully obvious how much these poor Monsters were suffering, just by being brought into existence. It was heartbreaking to watch, but it was dowright agonizing to hear the sounds they were making. They did not make music; they couldn't. Instead of singing and instruments, these Monsters screeched and cried and gurgled in unimaginable pain, and they thrashed and twitched all over the place, trying desperately to escape their own lives.

I don't even feel comfortable saying how terrifying it was to witness this, because I can't even begin to imagine how my friends felt, and especially not how these Monsters felt.

That was the first and only time I ever had to revoke the Spark of Life from any Monster. I needed to, not just for our sake, but for theirs. They were literally unable to exist. It was hard, but I had no other choice.

If there's any of those Monsters out there, I'm so sorry you had to suffer like that. If I would've known beforehand, I never would've allowed this to happen. You didn't deserve this...

Obviously, I can't tell people what they can and cannot make for their fanmade Monsters, but I just can't help but remember those Ethereals... I wish that we could've made it work and the Monsters could've been stable and happy, but it appears that was just impossible.

-Galvana

[clairefoyanttt]

Burnout is becoming a more commonly discussed issue thanks to the pandemic, the shift from remote to in person, etc.

Ten years I would've rolled my eyes at people who were "too lazy to work for their money."

A lot has changed in ten years.

I work for a wonderful company with 5 weeks of PTO, 10 paid holidays, and a hybrid schedule that only requires us in office 2-3 days a week. I have a boss who could give TED talks on leadership and makes even the most difficult conversations positive. Sound ideal? It is. And I'm burnt out anyway.

So, I've decided to blog it since I feel like we hear about it but rarely get to follow the recovery from start to finish.

Therefore, we'll consider this:

The Prologue

I got my first tax paying job at 14 in a local retail shop. As of today, I'm 31 and an Executive Assistant with a multinational corporation. I've done everything from nursing aide to soldier but being an EA fits me best. I love everything about it.

Through no fault of anyone's, however, in the 17 years I've been working, I've never worked the same job, in the same company/department, with the same boss for more than 12 months. That wouldn't be terrible, except my job is based on my department AND my boss, and at the end of every year since I started at my current job in 2019, I've either gotten a new boss or a new department every single December.

Anyone who has been working long enough will tell you this: the first three months, you'll feel like you're drowning, at six months you'll feel fairly confident in what your role is, and at a year you feel competent at your job. Now imagine hitting competency and having to throw it all away and learn an entirely new job every year.

However I've done it every year so I was kind of used to it. So what made this time different?

First, I had a kid. He's a full blown toddler now which means, if he's sent home, he asks for things, gets into things, is nearly impossible to contain, and also requires a LOT of energy to chase after even on days when he is in daycare. Result? My spoons are lower for work than they had been pre-motherhood.

Second, the boss I'd shared my longest EA partnership with gave notice without warning me. I knew he'd been interviewing internally but was blindsided to know he'd interviewed and accepted a position outside the company. It hurt. He was hands down the best boss I've ever had, so incredibly supportive of the new working mom struggle, so for him to leave with no warning was my breaking point.

Third, medical medical. I have been dealing with a new ADHD diagnosis, physical therapy, genetic testing, and a neverending string of colds and bugs from my child. My child has had ear infections, pink eye, the flu, a sleep regression, and more all in the last 8 weeks. My husband is physically disabled due to degenerative disk disease and abruptly got worse when his vertebrae started pinching a major nerve meaning his ability to help with the kid or around the house is limited, and is zero on bad back days.

Sooooo after thinking my ADHD was medication resistant, thinking I had pre menstrual dysphoric disorder, depression, GAD, etc. I took a self test for burnout. And another. And five more after that. Every single one had me at the deepest level of burnout.

What does that feel like?

For me, I felt my body inching towards an anxiety attack whenever I thought about work. I knew I had tasks to do but could not mentally get the energy to do it until someone needed it. I have tons of coping mechanisms for executive dysfunction thanks to having ADHD, the timer method is a favorite, but even that wasn't working. Even if I got started, it's like my mind would do whatever it could to distract me from working on the task I needed to do.

At night, I would struggle to sleep because I'd be berating myself for how little I accomplished during the day.

I started gratitude journaling, meditating, eating better, moving more, socializing more, all the things I know help with depression. And I saw improvements at home during my off hours but as soon as I logged into work, I was right back to the frozen dread.

It got to the point where I was trying to find other jobs but knew that it might ruin my career if I couldn't perform and this problem (which I didn't realize was burnout at the time) carried into my next job. I started budgeting and trying to see if I could be a stay at home mom, work part-time, anything.

Once I realized it was burnout, I had a flash of memory. A manager I'd known had had a bit of a breakdown at one point and gone on short-term disability to recover. I wondered if I would be eligible for a similar leave because I know I don't want to leave this company but clearly need to take a break to recover since I'm too far down the rabbit hole to fix it while working.

I spoke to my therapist about it, she was excited to see me dig deep to find the real issue, agreed it was burnout, and said she would help with whatever I needed to get the disability leave approved.

So, off we go into this recovery process which is equal parts relief and shame. Excitement and embarrassment.

I hope it works.

[bradleyfuckingbradshaw]

Me, Myself, and I 

Pairing: Jake "Hangman" Seresin x fem!reader

Summary: You screwed over Hangman on a previous mission, which cost you your relationship. When you're both selected for the new mission, you spend a drunken night together. (contains smut).

Don't read on if you don't want any spoilers for the new Top Gun :)

It's with mixed feelings, you walk into Penny's bar. You're glad to be back, but you're also dreading the reunion with Jake. Last time you saw him, he found out you'd gone behind his back to get team leader for a mission. The decision had purely been to prove yourself to the others, because even now women struggled to be treated with the same respect as men, but all he saw was you screwing him over. And you can't even blame him, because you did in fact screw him over. Whatever the reason, you royally screwed him over, and he couldn't forgive you.

"You look like you need it," Penny says, placing a beer in front of you.

"Thanks," you smile scanning the room for the rest of the pilots. Most of them are in uniform, and you suddenly feel like an idiot for showing up in your civilian clothes.

"I hear, you got another little medal," she teases you but you feel horrible just thinking about it. If you'd known it would cost you your relationship, you would've thought of another way to climb the ladder.

"He's by the pool tables," she says before turning around to attend to another customer. Of course Penny would know you are looking for him. Almost immediately, you spot him in the middle of all the others. He's got his back to you, but you'd recognize him anywhere.

"Y/N! Get your ass over here," someone calls out and Jake spins around. You hate how little you feel, when he locks eyes with you.

"Alright, alright," you laugh as Coyote engulfs you in a hug. You'd imagined he would take Jake's side but it seems he's determined to stay on good terms with both of you. However, everyone else hold their breath as they watch you and Jake stand in front of each other.

"Hi," you breathe, hoping your face isn't as red as it feels.

"Hey." Everyone exhales when he pulls you in for a hug. It's brief but you'll take it. After complete silence for five months, a brief hug seems like heaven. From there, everything seems to go smoothly. He keeps his distance for the first part of the night, but the more the two of you drink, the more it seems impossible to stay away from each other.

"We're going to turn in, Y/N. Don't stay up too late," Coyote says and ruffles your hair.

"Don't you dare," you laugh, pulling away from him. He just laughs and takes Fanboy and Bob with him. That leaves you and Jake on your own and surprisingly, he hasn't made a run for it yet.

"Should probably get some sleep before tomorrow," you say, suddenly feeling awkward. He's nothing like his usual, sarcastic self but he's looking at you and it's making you feel things you haven't in a while.

"You're probably right." Neither of you move though. The bar is nearly empty at this point, and you have a sneaky suspicion that Penny is watching the two of you.

"Walk me to my room?" you ask feeling the courage of several beers and a few shots. He looks even better than last time you saw him, and every fiber in your body is aching to reach out and touch him. To feel his skin against yours and just for one night pretend that you didn't completely ruin what you had.

"Okay." He clears his throat before grabbing his jacket. The trip back to your hotel room is short. As of tomorrow, you'll be sleeping on the base but you wanted one last night to yourself. As much fun you and Phoenix are going to have, you needed that privacy tonight. And now, you're feeling very happy about your choice.

"Thanks for walking me back," you say as you reach the door to your room. He gives you one of his half smiles but he makes no move to leave. You're both drunk, and you've missed him terribly. Even if you wanted to tell him to go home, you're not sure you'd be able to. So, instead you open the door to your hotel room and walk in, leaving the door open behind you.

"I'm still mad at you." The door softly closes behind him. When you turn around, he's standing right there looking more beautiful than ever.

"I know."

"I don't know if I'll ever be able to forgive you for what you did." One step forward.

"I know."

"I mean it." His lips are now inches from yours, and you're not sure if you're intoxicated from the beers or him being so close.

"I kno—" He's kissing you before you have a chance to finish your sentence. It's pure instinct when you reach up to unbutton his shirt. You've done it before, but this time there's an element of urgency as well. You've gone without this for so long, you don't want to waste time. Gently, he pushes your jacket off your shoulders, but you don't want gentle. You want him to show you how much he wants you.

"Tell me you want me," you breathe, placing kisses from his jaw and down his throat. When you reach that spot that usually drives him crazy, it seems to wake him up. He pushes you against the wall and with one hand, he holds your arms above your head. The other hand closes around your throat. Just enough pressure to start a fire in your body. He kisses you again, and when you bite his lower lip, you're awarded with a moan.

"I want you." It sounds like something between an order and a prayer, and your body reacts instantly. He lets go of your hands only to grab your ass. You jump up and wrap your legs around his waist. Too slowly, he carries you over to the bed where he sets you down. You pull him on top of you and kiss him again. You know he might look at things differently tomorrow, but right now you're so lost in the feeling of his lips against your skin that you can't find it in you to care about anything else. You've missed him. And you've missed the feeling of his body against yours.

"Are you still on the pill?" he asks before pushing up your shirt and placing kisses just above the waist band of your jeans. Making sure not to miss a single inch of your body, he makes his way up your stomach.

"Yes," you say, thankful that you bothered to wear your nice underwear today. He is moving so unbearably slow and it takes you a while to realize that he's teasing you. He knows how much you want it, and he's making you wait. Two can play at that game.

You turn so that you're on top and go to remove his pants. Your hand traces his shape through his underwear, and he inhales sharply.

"You think you're the only one who knows how to tease?" you ask as you trail kisses down his stomach and towards waistband of his underwear. Very slowly, you pull down his underwear as well and you take a second to just admire the view. He looks breathtaking all hot and bothered beneath you. With one hand, you unhook your bra and let the straps slide down your arms. He squirms beneath you, and you can hardly keep yourself from grinding against him.

"You close your eyes, I stop." He keeps quiet but he watches you intensely as you let your hand move up and down a couple of times. You don't break eye contact as you lean down and let your tongue lick the full length of him. He's breathing heavily but he keeps his eyes focused on you. You've hardly begun when he grabs you and spins your around, so he's on top again.

"No more teasing," he says and you both remove the final pieces of clothing. He hovers for just the briefest second before filling you.

"Fuck," you gasp. He gives you a minute to adjust, but you urge him to start moving. You're seeing the stars and the sun and everything. How you ever went without this is a mystery to you.

"Talk to me," he breathes and you almost just come right then and there. It could've been 2 minutes or 40 minutes. You have no idea how long you've been going, but you feel the fire building.

"I'm close," you moan. Completely in sync, you finish at the same time, and he collapses on top of you. You cling onto him as you both ride off your high. You rush through the necessary clean up before you climb into bed with him again and snuggle up next to him. Reality is starting to hit both of you, but you ignore it for the time being.

"I've missed you." When he doesn't respond, you feel your heart sink. You doze off and when your alarm wakes you, you're alone in bed. There's a note on the pillow.

I'm sorry. I had to go.

You feel something pull at your heartstrings, but it doesn't hurt as much as you would've thought it would. Instead, you feel something entirely else as you get ready for your first day. You feel hopeful.

Maybe you'll be able to salvage your relationship.

[dolasach]

She followed him to the rock and took a seat where he'd urged her to, still somewhat observing Rafayel as he placed the rocks to keep the scroll open. Now that they were back on solid land, she finally let go of his hand and placed hers in fists on her lap as she tried to get a better look at the scroll in its entirety.

The Lemurian script was impossible for her to understand, but she could read Eolchaire's small additions to whatever Caspian wrote. They were... Curious comments, seemingly small notes of support and agreement with whatever he'd written. Dolasach couldn't help but furrow her brows at them--Eolchaire, intentionally or not, kept her annotations vague enough that Dolasach couldn't figure out what the message was about.

Though now that she thought about it, the fact that they could both annotate each others' writing meant that they must've somehow taken the time to teach each other their respective tongues. She couldn't recall if Eolchaire had mentioned anything about it, or if it was a detail Dolasach had forgotten about because she never thought it to be particularly important to her.

She turned her attention to the main body of what Eolchaire had written. Without the fear of possibly falling into the water distracting her, she could read through the message with ease--though it didn't escape her notice that it was a long one.

To my cute little successor--I hope the name the forest gives you is as lovely as the sunrise. I know that the day that you're able to finally really this message, the successor to the Sea God would have finally found you, and you would've finally given him a moment of your time. Perhaps he asked about us? I deeply hope that Caspian's efforts to lead him to you through talking about us were not in vain. Do you hate him? Whatever your answer, I hope that they fact that the two of you were able to unseal this scroll means that the feelings between you aren't entirely negative. However... Despite that, I understand that you may have your own reservations about him. It would be impossible for you not to--I can't go back to change all the records I've kept of my thoughts and feelings to prevent that, nor do I truly want to. Your opinion of him needs to truly be your own, made with the most informed mind that I could bestow upon you even long after my passing. But as your predecessor, I must ask of you to give him a chance. Even if you may hate him, or think you do, please give the God of the Tides a chance. If he fails you, then you may turn him away and banish him from your domain--but don't make any rash decisions. Despite how things weren't easy with Caspian, I've been the happiest I've ever been with him. And that happiness... I want you to experience it too. It won't be easy. I'm sure you'll know that much from all the writing I've left behind. There is a cycle of tragedy that befalls each pair of gods, always beginning with the sea meeting the forest, and ending with one or both having conceded to catastrophe. I know you'll want to avoid it--I know you want to live. But trust me, and trust the remnants of us that Caspian and I will leave behind. We want the two of you to live, too.

Dolasach stared at the message for a long time with her mouth agape and brows deeply knit together, only snapping out of her daze when Rafayel cleared his throat. She turned to him and saw, to her surprise, that his ears had turned the brightest red and a pink tinge colored his cheeks.

What in the world did Caspian's message contain? Because there certainly wasn't anything in Eolchaire's message that got that kind of reaction from her. She looked between him and the text he was pointing at.

"Are you alright?" she asked, more concerned (and confused) about him than curious about the text. Without any hesitation or hint of shyness, she reached over and pressed the cool back of her hand to his cheek.

"Why do you look like you're about to come down with a fever?"

₊❏❜ ⋮ i'll chase you to the ends of the earth. ⚬𓂂

@dolasach

He is used to it; however, that didn't mean he accepted it.

Rafayel sighed as he let his head rest against his palm, the same thing being drilled into his mind by the endless sea of words spewing the history of Lemuria and the world on the surface repeated like a broken record from the elders. He seemed to be falling asleep and was immediately scolded for not paying attention.

Evidently, something came up that had the elders leave the vicinity for the time being and this served as an opportunity for Rafayel to escape. He had attempted in doing so a few times, but he was sure that this time he would be able to be successful. 

A blue fish swam around him and held his hand out, allowing the fish to swim over his palm. 

"Shall we head to the surface? It's a little boring right now and I'm tired of hearing the elders saying the same thing over and over again." 

The fish continued swimming over his palm before seemingly directing him toward an opening to which he was able to squeeze through. It was then he realized that he was out of the city walls of Whalefall City and was able to swim to the surface.

He thanked the fish before it disappeared back through the city walls and Rafayel didn't have to think twice as he turned away from Whalefall City to swim up to the surface; however, before he allowed himself to fully come out, he swam slowly as the damn words from the elders rang in his head. 

"The world on the surface is dangerous, even if those people worship our Sea God, there is a chance that someone will try to capture him."

"As the previous Lemurians have..." 

"Rafayel, you must never venture out to the surface world. Your people are here, that is all that should concern you." 

And the annoying part of all. "The Sea God will one day meet the Goddess of the Forest, and when that day comes, should he fall in love with her, it will be the beginning of the downfall of Lemuria."

Rafayel always thought it to be those stories to be something a parent would tell to their child to make them listen. And besides, Rafayel had always been, not only a rebellious soul, but one of sheer curiosity. 

Once he peeked out from the water, he spotted a woman by the shore. And he had seen a few other humans before, but something about her was different and he couldn't help but to swim towards the shore, closer to her. Who could she be? For some reason... he needed to know and while he doesn't know why he needs to, he simply just has to try; in a way, it felt as though there were residual feelings, feelings that weren't from him and that in itself baffled him.

So without thinking, his mouth opened to speak.

"Who might you be? You don't seem... human to me, although you do appear to be." He tilted his head briefly before letting out a laugh. "Ah, apologies. This is bold of me, I will admit."

[omghispook]

FNaF 4's Fredbear Plush is not Possessed

Ever since The Silver Eyes (which was being written since FNaF 3 came out) it's been well-established that emotional bonds are what tie spirits to objects, and Fazbear Frights repeatedly shows this.

I'm convinced that agony has a greater energetic radius and power than any other emotion. I have done numerous experiments to measure, capture, contain, and study the leftover emotion embedded into objects that were near a tragedy. My work is focused on the hypothesis that you can take a saturation of energy, add any kind of intelligence--even an artificial one--and they will combine together to transmute the energy of emotion into the energy of physical action. This, I believe, is what explains what people call 'haunted' objects. -Dr. Phineas Taggart

Possession requires an emotional attachment. William was emotionally attached to the Spring Bonnie suit he got trapped in. The June 26th victims had emotional attachments to the Fazbear characters whose animatronics they were stuffed into. But a random Freddy's employee dying in a spring-lock suit doesn't result in possession because those employees don't care.

There's two main contenders for who would possess the plushie: Cassidy and Charlie. And neither of them have any emotional attachment to the plushie.

Possession is also implied to require something else: metal.

In nonscientific terms, [remnant is] like the metal is haunted. It’s more complicated than that, of course, but it’s similar to the way that water conducts electricity. Remnant is the mixing of the tangible with the intangible, of memory with the present. The people and things that are lost—it makes them almost real again. -Dr. Veinerfarten Talbert

Although the plushies are implied to have cameras in them, I wouldn't say there's a significant amount of metal to possess, and I certainly don't think it was canon as of FNaF 4's release, and therefore would be impossible to deduce.

There's really no way for Cassidy or Charlie's remnant to be transferred from their respective animatronics to the Fredbear plush, either. If this is a case of possession, this is a case of a spirit inhabiting one object deciding "Hey, I'd like to inhabit this other object for a second to talk to this child, and then I'll go back to my original object," unless there's some physical transfer of metal between the Fredbear plush and Fredbear animatronic or Puppet.

The spirit follows the flesh, it would seem, and also the pain. -William Afton

So, in conclusion, the FNaF 4 plushie isn't possessed.

What is possible is that (a) Cassidy is taking the form of a plushie, specifically one that does have a physical counterpart, as she is able to take Withered form in FNaF 2, or (b) that the Bite Victim's agony poured into the object and he was able to speak with it, which, at the time of FNaF 4's lore, would've been as simple as it being the child's imagination and trauma.

But it is not possible, given any precedent or rule of possession in FNaF history, for the Fredbear plush to be possessed.