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beautifulterriblequeen · 4 years ago

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A Tiadrin theory

I woke up this morning with a sudden headcanon about Tiadrin, and as I poked at it, it filled out nicely, so I’m gonna go ahead and call it a theory at this point.

It gets angsty, as all good Moonshadow theories do. If your heart doesn’t weigh 6 tons by the time you reach the end of this post, I didn’t capture the feeling properly.

Several bits of detail flutter around this mysterious woman, and I’ve theorized various versions of her circumstances, her relationship with Runaan and Ethari, her former position before the Storm Spire, the reasons she went there, and the reasons Runaan was so hellbent on avenging her dishonor.

I don’t think any of them landed as well or tied together as neatly as this one, though. Hence “theory” instead of just “headcanon.” Here we go:

FIrstly, some meta information. This is a fun tweet, but in this post I’m looking directly at “belief systems as sources of both comfort and restraint” and at the “weight of guilt” and “cycles of trauma” lines, in regards to Moonshadow culture, and specifically Moonshadow assassin training.

And raise your hand if you’ve been looking further afield than the front-and-center Janaya-with-Soren nod from “ripped women who teach soft boys to stab,” because I have. TDP is full of parallels and imperfect mirrors.

So, in the spirit of soft yet angsty cycles and the ripped women who perpetuate them, Theory Part I: Tiadrin trained Runaan, because she was the leader of the assassins before he was.

She’s referred to as a mastermind. Assassin leaders need to be good with plans of all sizes. We’ve seen how Runaan silently adapts to chaos and doesn’t tell anyone what his new plans actually are. He’s a good leader. But he also had to learn those skills from someone. Whoever instructed him was a tactical genius, and also very Moonshadow, and Runaan was an adept student.

Also, Tiadrin is a goddamn badass. She’s several inches shorter than Lain, Runaan, Ethari, and Viren. But she is a powerhouse in battle. She knows her physics well enough to drag this 6′2″ human battle mage skidding across the floor. Monster thighs, monster intellect.

As a 5′4″ woman who trained in jujitsu for several years, let me just say: gender equality in battle is great, but physics does not care. It will crush your popsicle-stick ass if you try to chuck a 250 lb person across the room and your math is off. The most accurate fighters are the ones who know how hard physics hits back when you’re sloppy.

Tiadrin earned every inch of respect, and every inch of her thigh circumference, the old-fashioned way. She worked for it, all day every day. Runaan does the same thing. He might have half a foot of height on her, but he trains like the world will crush him if he’s not perfect. And that’s very Moonshadow assassin in its own right, because it will, and it tried. Tiadrin knew what she needed. And she knew what Runaan, soft boy that he is, needed. And she made sure she trained it into him, all day every day.

Tiadrin is one of the reasons that Runaan survived the fight in Harrow’s chamber. She made him the fighter he is, the person he is, and that was just enough to pull him through... so he could see his own mentor trapped in a coin. Yay, thanks Viren.

Theory Part II: Runaan’s squad was made up of all the elves Tiadrin has personally trained, or trained by proxy.

If Tiadrin was Runaan’s trainer and mentor, then her honor was his honor. And when she supposedly faltered and fled at the Storm Spire, that suddenly cast him, as an individual assassin and as the current assassin leader, in a terrible light. If his mentor was a coward, what did she teach him? Would he also duck and run when things got hopeless, and abandon his duty?

The doubt that must’ve swirled around him when the village learned the terrible news about Lain and Tiadrin must’ve sliced right through him. Thousand-yard stare, biggest internal Oh No ever. Runaan lives to serve his people, and to have them doubt him, after all he has done to train them and protect them from harm, would be the worst kind of pain. He had to make it right.

But not just him. Assassins seem to take solo missions even for their first kill, if Eljaal’s covered shoulders are any indication. You can Moonshadow your feels if you don’t have to watch your friend kill someone, if you don’t have anyone watching while you stab someone to death. You can pretend it’s all serene and just and smooth and valid and honorable. You can hold to your love of life and dance right past your embrace of death, if no one else sees it. But Runaan’s mission had 6 members. They were definitely going to have to watch each other murder people. Why?

Tiadrin’s honor was their honor. An extended family of brothers, sisters, cousins, fosterlings, anyone who was drawn to Tiadrin, or her to them, bonded together over their family feels and protective instincts. They were family. And then their leader fell, her honor crushed.

They had to make it right.

They all carried Tiadrin’s honor with their own, taught by her personally, regarded as honorable assassins. Until she seemed to have a fatal flaw in her character. Then everyone wondered if that flaw got passed down, too. The assassins had to prove that it hadn’t been, for the sake of their people, and for all of Xadia who trusted them to take out threats in the dark. They had to go set right Tiadrin’s “mistake” and take Harrow for Zym’s death. All of them. Every single one, no exceptions.

No exceptions. That’s why Rayla had to go, too. Tiadrin taught Runaan everything he knew about being an assassin, and when she moved to the Storm Spire, Runaan dutifully passed Rayla’s mother’s teachings to Rayla herself, feeling like part of the family, an essential connection between mother and daughter, between assassin mentor and mentee. He tried to get it just right, just perfect, so Rayla would feel like she’d been trained by her actual mom as much as possible. Not just because Tiadrin was Rayla’s mother, but because Runaan respects Tiadrin’s prowess so much. She was the best, and every bit of Runaan’s efforts to be his best reflects his respect for her.

You don’t get to be the assassin leader unless you’re the best there is. Runaan knows that from both sides. And just like Tiadrin did with him, he does his best to teach Rayla everything she needs to stay safe and alive, so she can do her duty too, and come home safe to her family every day.

And, in the end, part of that duty had to be avenging her mentor’s mentor, her own mother, by accompanying Runaan on his mission. Her lessons were from Tiadrin, one step removed. If there was a flaw in her training, no one would trust her when it was her turn to lead the assassins, and she’s not even done training yet! Rayla understood Moonshadow honor, assassin honor. She was driven to ask Runaan to take her with him, and he could see exactly where she was coming from. Their honor was tangled up with Tiadrin’s. They couldn’t back out. They had to go to Katolis, them and everyone else Tiadrin had trained.

That’s why the binding ribbons came out. They were in a do-or-die situation, in the most literal sense.

They could not go home in failure. If they all failed, it would take out a whole line of assassin training, possibly the same one that had lasted for countless generations (okay maybe we can count them and there are like 30) and crush the Moonshadows’ spirits. And they’d literally rather die than see that happen. They were all ready to give their lives to restore Tiadrin’s honor, and their own, because without her legacy, there would be such a crater in the assassin corps that it might never recover.

Yes, this is basically my angsty “Runaan’s found family went into battle together and most of them died” headcanon again, but this time with a solid theory behind it. I’m not sorry. I love this angsty idea, it’s horrible. Do you see the cycle of trauma? I’ve got one more part to add, which may make it clearer.

Theory Part III: Assassin leaders always go serve at the Storm Spire once they successfully train their own replacement.

In this theory’s version of Why Laindrin Went To The Storm Spire, Tiadrin was always going to end up at the Storm Spire, once she became the assassin leader. That’s where the veteran assassin leader goes, see, to liaison between the dragon throne and the current Moonshadow leader. They know the assassins’ skills far better than any Skywings or dragons do, and they know the leader in charge of them, so they can give guidance or direction as needed, or simply phrase the Dragon King or Queen’s request in such language that the assassin leader knows intuitively what really needs to be done.

Yeah, Tiadrin writing Runaan mission directives. I can see it.

Tiadrin’s mentor would’ve left for the Spire when Tiadrin got promoted to leader. The person she trusted most in the world, who had trained her, left her behind, only to communicate by long distance. Moonshadow deniability, amirite--we’re not stabbing people, we’re sending tactical correspondence, yep that’s it. But Tiadrin was still surrounded by Runaan and the other young assassins, and she bonded with them all, and life was bright.

Then, the shadow came once again. Runaan was an excellent student, and she knew he was ready. Maybe she delayed, and delayed, Moonshadowing her reasons. Maybe she wanted the chance to bring life into the world, to try to balance out some of the death she had dealt. Maybe she wanted a few more years of domestic life in the Silvergrove with all her favorite elves, to bolster her heart for the years to come. Maybe her mentor at the Spire was up to shenaniganry in dragon politics and she wanted to buy them more time to lay those plans in place.

Knowing Tiadrin even the slightest bit, I will assume it was all this and more. But eventually, she couldn’t put things off any longer. She had to go fulfill her duty to the dragon throne and join the Dragonguard as the representative of the Moonshadow assassins who had bound themselves to the protection of Xadia long ago. She had to walk away from her bright life, her family, her friends, her allies, and climb up into that misty stone tower, to spend who knows how long away from everything she knew and loved.

And she did. She chose to walk away, for love of Xadia. She took her beloved husband with her, but she left the Silvergrove, Xadia’s protection, and her own daughter’s upbringing in the hands of the elf she chose to replace her. The soft boy she’d taught to stab, who would teach her baby girl to stab, too.

Because this is The Way.

I know I’ve had an angsty headcanon that assassins don’t retire. But, consider this: maybe one of them can. One of Tiadrin’s many plans could have been counting on Runaan’s extreme prowess and devotion to Rayla. If Tiadrin knew that she could return to the Silvergrove in peace and retire there with Lain once Runaan trained Rayla to take his place as the assassin leader, then she could live in the Silvergrove again for the rest of her life, and also get to see Rayla grown big and strong and become the assassin leader herself, another proud elf in a long line of honor and tradition. She might feel that was a big accomplishment, considering the dangers they all face. And it would be.

Yes, this would hinge on the fact that Runaan would have to leave the Silvergrove to replace Tiadrin at the Storm Spire, to serve as Rayla’s liaison to the dragon throne. Cycles of trauma, remember? Tiadrin can’t have all of her family back in one place, ever again. She has to love and train someone enough to put them through the life that she’s having to live, and she has to be strong enough not to let that break her. And then, she has to choose between them. She chose Runaan first, so that she could hope to choose Rayla later. She trusted him with all the future happiness of her heart. And he did his best with it.

But they didn’t quite make it, in the end, because of Viren.

I know this has been a lot of angst. I know. But there is a moonlit lining to this theory, and I think we all need to consider it. If there is a cycle of taking the assassin leader out of the Silvergrove to serve the dragon throne for ancient promise reasons, then if that ancient promise is ever rescinded or redressed in an effective way, the family won’t need to keep yeeting loved ones out of its orbit. And if assassins cease to be a necessary evil as a result, then no one will have to leave, or stab, again. At least, not for the same angsty reasons. They could stay together and never need to leave again.

It won’t be easy to break such a cycle. It might be impossible. But if anyone can manage it, it’ll be Tiadrin, and her family.

extra headcanon for this theory:

Tiadrin, packing up for the Storm Spire: One last thing, Runaan.

Runaan, stoically attentive because what are feels on the day your mentor leaves you: Yes, Tiadrin?

Tiadrin: Ethari will need to pick an apprentice to replace him, too. He should start looking now.

Runaan: Why? Only the Silvergrove’s Master Craftsman gets to pick an apprentice, and Ethari isn’t--

Tiadrin: *wink” Not yet, he’s not.

Runaan: Tiadrin, please, what have you done?

Tiadrin: I want to come back here someday, Runaan. I want to see your good work with Rayla. And I can’t do that if you flat-out refuse to leave your husband when Avizandum calls for you to replace me. So he needs to be ready to leave, too.

Runaan: I, I, I would nev-- I couldn’t--

Tiadrin: *patting his shoulder briskly as she strides out* Mmhmm, sure thing, kid. The council votes him in next Thursday. Be good while I’m gone! I want to find this place exactly the way I’m leaving it. Lain, honey, get your coat!

Lain, in the next room: Yes, Tiadrin!

Runaan, soft-eyed, to the silence in her wake: Yes, Tiadrin.

#tdp #tdp theory #tdp angst #laindrin #tiadrin #runaan #rayla #tdp headcanons #i liked her before but now i adore her

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omniishambles · 4 years ago

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VILLANELLE

MEDIA: Killing Eve. FACECLAIM: Jodie Comer. AGE: Mid 20’s. GENDER: Female. OCCUPATION: Assassin for hire. SPECIES: Human. SEXUALITY: Gay. NATIONALITY: Russian. EYE COLOUR: Hazel. HAIR: Long, straight and blonde. HEIGHT: 5”8. SCARS: Various. LANGUAGES: English, Russian, French, German, Spanish. ZODIAC: Pisces, March 12th.

NOTABLE RELATIONSHIPS

Eve Polastri, it’s complicated, as written by @hvbris.

Konstantin, handler and father figure.

IMPORTANT NOTE

I’m happy to write a more antagonistic relationship with other Eve’s, but romantic shipping is exclusively reserved for Eve as written by Chloe.

BIOGRAPHY

As a child, Oksana Astankova was always different. She was detached, didn’t connect with people in the same way that everyone else did. People were little more than games and easy to manipulate. She also had violent tendencies which, as she grew older, became worse and more prominent in her problem solving. Her Mother, seeing a ‘darkness’ in her, made the decision to give her away to an orphanage, separating her from her brother.

Oksana, entering her teenage years in the care system with a rapidly growing criminal record, had gained the attention of a Russian crime syndicate known as The Twelve. She set fire to the orphanage and ran away, letting everyone believe she was dead. As she became older these issues grew worse, culminating in her obsession with a teacher and the murder (and castration) of her husband, seeing him as an obstacle to what she wanted. Oksana spent five years in prison. Seeing her potential and her lack of family or friends, they offered her an opportunity. Fake her death once more and join them, undergoing the necessary training to become an assassin and put her raw skills to their best use. She agreed. ‘Oksana’ was dead. From that day forward, she chose a new name, her code name- every great assassin had a code name, right?

She became Villanelle.

With stern training she became a ruthless killing machine, taking on assignments for The Twelve all over the world. Villanelle took to this like a duck to water, enjoying a lavish lifestyle in between kills. She enjoys the finer things in life and if she sees something she wants, she gets it. The best apartments and hotels, the most expensive designer clothes and cosmetics, everything she wants comes with a high price tag.

Her style is very flamboyant, both in the way she dresses and her preferred method of killing. An assassination without flair is extremely boring to Villanelle and she enjoys coming up with creative and dramatic ways to take out a target. This has gotten her into trouble with her superiors and her handler, Konstantin, many times; they reprimand her for failing to be subtle, but she’s too efficient to ‘retire’.

She is a social chameleon and speaks multiple languages fluently (Spanish, Greek, French, Italian, German, still learning Mandarin). She’s also a great imitator, having not only an arsenal of accents at her disposal, but a range of human emotions too. She can switch on the waterworks in a split second, she can make herself appear to be a wilting flower, a vulnerable young girl, a ditzy tourist, whatever the job requires.

Outside of undercover roles, she speaks with a Russian accent.

Villanelle is a psychopath. Though she does have some emotions of her own, she usually mimics expected behaviour in order to deceive others or get what she wants. I follow what happens in the series and how Villanelle interacts and presents herself, but I want to approach the subject with care and attention. Villanelle is extremely mercurial in nature so approach with caution!

Headcanons here

VERSES

Main Villanelle is an assassin working for a mysterious crime group known as The Twelve, taking out targets as dictated by her handler, Konstantin. Set during series 1-2 of Killing Eve.

Loose Cannon Post series 3, Villanelle is a free woman. Her skills are on the table for anyone who can pay her enough, but she really has her sights set on espionage despite the rejection by Carolyn.

Management Villanelle is in charge of training new assassins, just like Konstantin trained her.

Royalty AU A bratty princess who murders her parents in order to become Queen.

#info #muse : villanelle

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thetriggeredhappy · 5 years ago

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I have a scout headcanon where he's not a murderer and the other team respawns so he's not a murderer but sniper is. Before the job, he was an actual assassin, payed to kill people who respawn. Maybe you could (given that you have free time) write a short fic about scout realizing that sniper is an actual killer?

this was actually a conversation i kinda wanted to try to squeeze somewhere into Taking Shots but i’m not sure if i’m gonna be able to. so here’s a way heavier version of it since i can do that since outside of the fic

ft. catholic guilt and a lot of semantics

Scout had dropped by both to hang out and to listen to the game that night, not wanting to deal with the hustle and bustle of the common area and arguing over what the radio would be set to. And apparently his team won, and then the radio was shut off, and Scout was just finishing off the beer Sniper’d handed him earlier, fingernails tapping against the glass as he looked up at the map on Sniper’s wall.

It was criss-crossed with various marks in varying colors of pen, fading after having had it for so many years, so many contracts.

“Is travelling, like, fun?” Scout asked suddenly out of the blue, looking at the map.

Sniper shrugged. “Can be. Or it can be stressful, if I schedule contracts too close together,” he replied. “What, don’t you count base transfers as travel?”

“Nah,” Scout said. “Not really.”

There was another long pause.

“So it was mostly just… when you were on contract for stuff, then? Before you worked here?” Scout asked.

“Mostly,” Sniper confirmed.

Fingers tapping on glass. “Must’a paid well.”

“Mercenary work usually does,” Sniper shrugged.

Scout took a drink, put the bottle back down again. Looked at it. “I keep forgetting that most of you guys have kinda been, like… doin’ all this shit for years and years. Like, outside of the team. One of those things of like—like when you meet someone and they mention their hair used to be way longer or shorter or whatever and you just can’t imagine it because you’ve only known them lookin’ one way.” Fingers tapping on glass. “That you’ve, like… pretty much always been used to all this.”

“You weren’t?” Sniper asked.

Scout shrugged. “I mean, I pretended. Took a few months to start getting used to it. The dyin’ thing was new for everyone, so that was fine, but… not much of the rest of it.”

Sniper’s brow furrowed. Scout continued after a moment, clearly uncomfortable with the silence.

“I mean, I guess it was kinda like how you guys all had to get used to livin’ with a whole bunch of people. Like, Heavy kinda got it since he’s got all those sisters, and Engie had a bunch of roommates in college and stuff, and you just live out here so you don’t gotta deal with that shit, but I’m the one who lived with like half a dozen other guys for most’a my life growin’ up, y’know? So everyone else had to kinda play it cool with that, and I had to play it cool about killin’ people, it balances out, right?”

Sniper looked him over. Fingers tapping on glass.

“Yeah, nah. Those aren’t the same thing,” Scout said quietly, ducking his head a little.

“You’d never…?” Sniper asked slowly. Saw Scout recoiling a little, changed directions. “Most everyone got recruited from some sort of criminal background. You saying they picked you up right out of… a desk job or some other nonsense?”

“No,” Scout said, voice a little quiet. “No, I… I did what I had to do, alright? And… I always kinda figured if it ever came down to it, I’d… keep doin’ what I had to do, to stay alive, to make it back home again. But I never got beyond fistfights, mostly. Knife fights. Shit like that. Never killin’. So… this was new.”

Sniper shifted. “I could never tell, if that makes a difference,” he mentioned, trying for a lighter tone, and Scout’s lip only quirked for a second before dropping again.

“…Snipes, let me ask you a question real quick,” Scout suddenly proposed, sitting up a little and looking up at Sniper for maybe the first time since the conversation started. “Do you think what we do in our day job counts as murder?”

Sniper considered the question. Scout elaborated.

“They come back again. So if nobody’s really dead, then it’s like nobody died, and if nobody died then nobody got killed. Then technically there’s no killer.”

“I don’t think it counts,” Sniper said decidedly. “Like you said. Nobody’s dead, nobody’s a killer.”

“I… feel like maybe it does,” Scout said carefully. “I feel like it’s about intent, y’know? Like… you’re tryin’ to beat the shit outta someone until they quit breathing, that’s killing, even if they don’t really die. Like in those murder mystery books and whatever where someone gets like, shot in the chest and then fakes dyin’, and the person thinks they killed someone. Ain’t that kinda still murder?”

Sniper sat back, looked at Scout, his fidgeting, the guilt on his face. “I think that’s a real Catholic way of looking at it,” he finally said, and Scout looked up at him, a little surprised. “You said you were raised Catholic, right?”

“Yeah,” Scout nodded.

Sniper exhaled, tilting his own bottle around idly, watching the few drops at the bottom rolling around, considering his words. “I don’t think it’s about intent,” he decided. “I think it’s about… cause and effect. The effect at the end. I don’t think you’re responsible for much of anything that goes on in your own head—you can only control that so much. All you can really control is your actions, and if your actions are automatic or out of your control, more of a… fight or flight response, then you can only control whether you take responsibility for it.”

“What if you do somethin’ and then somethin’ happens that you didn’t mean to happen?” Scout asked.

“Then you still need to take responsibility, if it could be your fault. And… that goes for good or bad, right or wrong. If you’re brilliant on accident, you’ve got to take responsibility. If you do something awful on accident, you’ve got to take responsibility. It goes both ways. Assuming that everything makes you a bad person—that causing lethal harm to someone who can’t die makes you a murderer—that’s just a very Catholic way of looking at it. Constantly finding yourself at fault, assuming you’ve done something wrong, deciding that every choice you make is…” He trailed, losing track of his words for a second.

“Is…?” Scout asked, and when Sniper looked up, Scout appeared to be clinging to his every word.

Sniper paused for another second or two. “Assuming that with everything you do, you’re responsible for the worst possible outcome of the situation regardless of whether it happens or not,” he finally decided. “Everything you do, thinking of the worst case scenario and deciding you’ve earned the guilt of that happening whether it happens or not. But you can’t live like that. You need to focus on what’s actually happening, what you’re actually capable of. Not the semantics surrounding whether you’re technically, legally, morally a murderer. Intention isn’t much of anything, really, but result is, and what you’ve done in our day jobs has never resulted in anyone being dead in a way that matters.”

He finished his little soapbox rant, and wished he could take a drink to dispel his nerves, but his bottle was empty. Scout seemed to be considering something.

“…Sometimes, Miss P sends you on jobs,” Scout said slowly, looking up at him. Sniper nodded. “You kill people on those, right? Real people, not people that come back.” Sniper nodded, more hesitantly. “Do you… count that?”

“Yeah,” Sniper said, concentrating every molecule of his body on making his voice light. “That definitely counts. I’m making independent choices, knowing the result will probably be someone dead, and then someone’s dead for real.”

Scout took a drink, set his bottle down, nodded. Like he’d already known, already come to terms with it, which he probably had. Like he’d only asked because he wanted to know what Sniper thought. Paused. “Sometimes I go on contracts. And it ain’t exactly my job to try and clear out places, I’m more of a… get in, grab somethin’, see somethin’, fuck right back off again before I get shot,” he said. “I’ve never pulled a trigger on someone who dies for real. Only ever maybe whacked someone upside the head if I gotta get past them.”

“Not a killer, then,” Sniper said simply, but Scout shot a look at him and he stopped again.

“Here’s the thing though, is I go in there and figure out where shit is. Where they store explosives, where the exits are, who lives and sleeps where, the layout of places,” he continued. Tipped his bottle from one side to another, drained the last of it and leaned to drop it in the trash can. “Snipes, I ain’t an idiot. I know Miss P thinks I am, all the guys think I am, but I ain’t an idiot.” The bottle shattered against the bottom of the can, startling Sniper a little. Scout didn’t flinch, though. “I know Miss Pauling goes, or sends someone else, and kills basically everyone in there once I tell her how to get in.”

He got comfortable again, shifting a little. Sniper just watched him warily.

“That’s basically the same thing as me putting the bullet in their head myself, isn’t it?” Scout asked, looking back up at him, expression hard to read.

Sniper hesitated. “Maybe,” he said slowly. “But… I don’t think I’d count that, either. Not properly.”

Scout sank back, and that hard to read expression shifted into frustration. “Look, okay. Maybe I don’t personally kill people,” he said, tone short. “But I sure as hell hurt people. Sure as hell fuck up their whole shit. And I dunno if that’s worse, but it’s not that much better. Like, Jesus Christ, I mean, everyone on the team’s got nightmares these days, I can’t hear a car backfire in town without wanting to take a swing at someone. I won’t be able to make it living with regular people once this job finally runs out, and neither will most of us, and neither will most of those other assholes on the other side of the field. In all the ways that matter, that dumbass piece of shit kid Jeremy died on his first day on the job. He doesn’t exist anymore. Now,” he said, and his throat seemed to go tight suddenly, and he looked off to one side, swallowing hard. “Now I’m just Scout. Now I just hurt people. Because it’s the only thing I’ve ever been any good at.”

Sniper didn’t know what to say.

Scout swallowed again, visibly steeling himself. “I’ve got another question for you,” he said.

“Go on,” Sniper prompted gently.

“Is a killer someone who’s killed people before,” Scout asked, “or is it somebody who tries to kill people because it’s the only thing they know how to do?”

#sniperscout #speeding bullet #(implied i guess?)#tf2 #team fortress 2 #shut up me #everybody talks #my fanfiction #this feels OOC and is also very talking heads but whatever

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itsnina-bitch · 4 years ago

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Podcast part 2

Read the first part first to understand, but a refresher: Bucky and Natasha start a podcast on murder mysteries (CACW and infinity war never happened)

Note: Sorry for any grammar mistakes, English isn’t my first language

Part 1:

https://yagirl-ninaa.tumblr.com/post/623139374579712000/note-i-dont-think-the-revengers-are-a-ripoff-but

“Wanna train?”

Natasha asked

Anyone watching would think they were dancing because of their in sinc

So there they were, dogging each other’s blows

Ducking their kicks, trying to pin each other down

It was about 10 minutes in when Natasha manged to pin the soldier

“I win”

Natasha says while hovering over him, almost touching her

“Let’s see”

Round two, the red head wins again

“What happened Barnes? Forgot your morning coffee?”

After one hour of training, the two of them went their separate ways

But Bucky wasn’t going to let that pass

He will manage to pin her down

I mean how hard can it be?

VERY hard.

I mean extremely hard

But he doesn’t know that yet so shhhh

Though he did win a few times

After a long shower he went on with his daily routine, but this time he couldn’t stop thinking of Natasha Romanoff

Fast forward, he meets with her again to help with the script

“What’s the plan agent?”

Except the slightly above average amount of comments of Sam, Steve, Clint and Tony, they were good

It was around 8 pm when someone knocked on his door

“Bucky, we need to talk”

Said Clint before locking the door

Bucky has no idea what happened or what he was going to say

“It’s about Nat. I can tell you like her”

“Is it that obvious?”

“She still hasn’t figured out, but I’m pretty sure the rest of the avengers ship you guy’s”

“Ship? Like a boat?”

After a while, the both of them were talking about Nat, Clint’s early relationship with Laura and some advice

“But if you hurt her; You. Are. Dead.”

Though Clint doesn’t seem like much of a threat, when it came to Nat it his family he would kill him and everyone else in this planet in the blink of an eye

Bucky quietly nodded, knowing that if he did anything to her, he would never forgive himself

Moments later, Clint was back to give him advice on how to ask her out

“Hey buck, dinner’s ready”

Steve said from behind the door

He would be lying if he said that he wasn’t listening to their conversation

Hell, they are SUPER SPYS and can’t hide a conversations

“How long have you been there?”

“Not long...”

He said as the two avengers stare at him

“Long...”

The blond man admitted

“So you and Nat huh?”

After dinner, James told his best friend the whole story, from the red room and hydra to podcasts

Well, most of it

A few details were too intimate, and others were something he wanted to keep to himself

But he didn’t want Steve to feel guilty he couldn’t save him, so he didn’t talk about the pain, the suffering, the flashbacks that crawl at the back of his head

So he ended up just like Clint; he thought it was only an affair, a one time thing, when in reality, he couldn’t be more wrong

“I just hope you’re happy now, with her”

Later that night, the clock read 3:26 am

James couldn’t sleep, as usual

His PTSD was unbearable, and he had to get some fresh air

As he walked out of the compound and into the small garden Wanda instead they should have, feeling the fresh air, he noticed someone was following him

Stopping midway to see who

“Natalia? What are you doing here”

“Natasha, please. Same thing as you I guess”

The widow said

“You know, I’m having these flashbacks, of hydra, the red room... and you”

You could see the pain in his eyes, the fear, but also the slight happiness, of knowing that someone he loved was there with him

But again, in past tense

“You know, I like you too”

Confessed Natalia, or Natasha

“What?”

“Steve is a horrible liar”

“Punk”

Bucky muttered under his breath

He stepped closer to her, and cupped her cheeks with his flesh hand and wrapped her waist with his metal one

“You know Natalia, I missed you. I missed holding you.”

“I missed you too”

And then she kissed him

Though they haven’t kissed in years, it felt natural, but very passionate

Hungrily kissing each other, their tongues exploring each other, and they dove deep in to the kiss

Pulling apart for a moment to catch some air

“I also missed kissing you”

After a hot making out session, they decided to head back inside, and maybe watch a movie

As they sat down on the couch, Nat asked:

“What do you want to watch, James”

Making sure to say James in a casual way, but enough to turn him on

“I don’t know, Natalia. Come here, I have a blanket”

As she crawled over to cuddle, she was surprised as he grabbed her shoulders and pined her down still on the sofa, and started to kiss her

But after a while they decided to watch the movie

The 2 hour 3 minute helped them finally get some sleep

The downside was that Steve and Sam always had a early morning run at around 6 am everyday

So if they didn’t want to get caught, they had to leave early

**2 months later**

That routine continued for a while

Their secret dating went well, nobody knew

Let’s just say that they did more than just kiss now...

Anyways, their relationship was going well, until one day Bucky is seriously hurt in a mission

He had to stay away for a week, so sleeping goes back to being hard, no Bucky for her to cuddle with

She did stay with him at the hospital a lot, speaking mostly in Russian so that the others don’t understand

But one day Thor showed up

“трудно спать без тебя, надеюсь, ты скоро поправишься” (it’s hard to sleep without you , I hope you get well soon)

“Да, я тоже” (yeah, me too)

“так ты в отношениях”

Thor said, leaning in the doorway

“You understand Russian?”

“Yes I do, by are you courting each oth-“

“Yes but don’t tell anyone”

Natasha sighed

“Your secret is safe with me”

Out of nowhere, Tony apears;

“What secret?”

“I do not know, now if you’ll excuse me, I have to go back to new Asgard”

Luckily, Thor saved them, but they would rather not be teased by their friends, so it’s still a secret

The podcast is still going strong, but tomorrow when Bucky gets out of the hospital they will record an episode and film it live

Meanwhile, Steve and Sam are talking about their new routine: a morning run at 5:30 am twice a week, starting tomorrow

Fast forward to the next day 3:35 am, they decided to watch a 1 hour 58 minute movie

What could go wrong?

“Hey Steve, let’s go.”

“Have you seen my shoes?”

“Check the living room”

When he gets there, he sees Bucky and Nat cuddling, watching the sunrise, with the tv still on

“So you two are together?”

Fuck.

A/N: hey! So I’ll leave this part to your imagination, but my headcanon is that they are now officially together, first they tell the avengers then the podcast. My other headcannon is that the avengers all have sound proof rooms bc it is often for someone to wake up screaming...

This is my second fic so sorry it’s bad! But pls give me suggestions! And personally I prefer the first one but I hope you like this one too! Thanks!

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radical-rad1986 · 5 years ago

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ESS sign-ups

Mmm... maybe sideblogs don’t show up in tag searches?? Because my key chain post does?

So the Escaflowne Secret Santa (ESS) is a gift exchange that’s going into its fifth year. If you love Escaflowne you should join! We love new blood people. Please follow the @esca-ss blog for information and updates!

Thanks @drkstars-art for reminding me! Omg it is almost the end of October isn’t it? :/

Yes I’mma still use this sideblog for sign-ups bc it functions. Sign-ups end 11/16, partners will go out 11/20. Please post gifts by 1/11/2020. (Cannot type ‘2019′ for that ha.)

Sign-up form is here, send your info to icm.9302014 [@] gmail.com to sign up. FAQ is here, if you can’t find the answer holla at me.

Remember that I ignore time zones; if your time zone is right then you’re good!!

Anyone who loves Esca and wants to participate is welcome!!! Reblog and tag!!

-----

If the blog doesn’t work, here’s the FAQ/Information and the Sign-up form:

Don’t see your question here? Just contact Rad via any method (email: icm.9302014 [@] gmail.com). [Heeeey, that’s a different email…. Yeah I don’t mind that the internet can see it. Responses will come from my primary email.]

What is the ESS?

The Escaflowne Secret Santa (ESS for short) is a fan-created holiday gift exchange to promote friendship between those who enjoy Escaflowne and to create new works for the fandom.

Who runs the ESS?

radicalrad-1986, call her Rad, hosts the ESS exchange. So far we’ve got four! wonderful years under the belt!

Do you need help organizing/running the ESS or working the Tumblr site?

At this time, no. If help is needed there’s already a list going. If there arises a situation in the future where Rad needs help she’ll ask. Thank you!

Who can join/participate?

Anyone and everyone who loves Escaflowne! You don’t need to be a part of the location we hang at or our little usual group on Tumblr. If you love Esca then come have fun, meet new people, make stuff for the fandom! It does not matter how old you are* or how old a fan you are; come join! (* = Please be 18+/local age of consent to participate in the NSFW exchange.)

How does this work?

1) Sign up by filling out this form and emailing it to icm.9302014 [@] gmail.com.

2) Receive your recipient’s name. 3) Create! (Keep it a secret!) 4) Check in at the requested times. 5) Post! 6) Have fun!! – Each year there will be someone helping Rad give out a set of names - including hers! Please check in with Rad, not the secondary person. Generic questions about the ESS should be directed at Rad. If you receive Rad’s name and have a question about her gift please contact the secondary person OR if you directly ask Rad be sure you’re anonymous.

When are the sign-up dates / posting dates?

These dates will change as the years go by so they’re not set in stone. If Rad is on top of things (haha) sign-ups will begin early October and posting week is mid/late December or early January. For the posting week you have the entire week, you’re not late if you post on Wednesday or Saturday instead of Sunday! :)

What can I do as a gift for my recipient? What quality does it have to be? How much time should I spend on it?

Whatever you want! If you’re a writer, write! If you’re an artist, draw! If you like making animated images, animate away! Music videos, fan soundtracks, manips, whatever your talent is. Please make something for your recipient to enjoy; if they don’t like Dornkirk don’t draw or write something elaborate based on him. Quality and time spent are hard to quantify. No one expects you to spend years on it or break yourself over it. “Please spend more than five minutes and don’t gift a rush job,” goes without saying. Surely no one will give a rushed gift but so it’s been said. Don’t compare yourself to another gifter and feel bad; know that your gift will be loved by the recipient and the fandom for the care and time you put into it.

Can I gift something NSFW or state that I’m fine with receiving it?

Yes! There is a secondary swap for those who are alright with NSFW. If you’re not into NSFW no worries! Must I gift something NSFW if I’m in that group? No; if your inspiration does not lead down that road that’s alright. It’s a way for people who are comfortable in the area to give/receive NSFW while those who are uncomfortable don’t have to worry.

Can I do BOTH swaps if there are two swaps?

Sure! The point is to have fun, so why not double it?

How/where should I post my gift?

Wherever you want; Rad is primarily linking to things on AO3 due to Tumblr’s 12/2018 stupidity.

– NSFW entries that are SFW: Please comment in the post that they are SFW as Rad will tag them that way for the filtering/block systems.

– NSFW entries that are NSFW MUST be under a cut!

– Tagging: Please @-tag this blog, esca-ss. In the tags section please tag it “ESS(space)[year]”. For example, “ESS 2017.” For the NSFW please tag it “NSFW(space)ESS(space)[year]”. Example, “NSFW ESS 2017”. Rad uses the Tumblr Search function to make sure she doesn’t miss postings. If this blog, esca-ss, doesn’t reglog your post within 48 hours please contact either this blog or RadicalRad1986 and nudge me.

Where do I sign up?? How much information should I provide? May I ask for an extra personalized gift?

Please email your form toicm.9302014 [@] gmail.com.

You can provide as much information as you want! Don’t write a book but don’t submit a single sentence either. :) — An ‘extra personalized gift’ means you’d like something based on fic you’ve written or art you’ve drawn or if you really like someone’s headcanon and you want your gift based on that. A generic request is alright but not specific (example of specific: fic A, chapter 2, lines 12-54). You must also include at least three generic likes as well. [If its longfic you can point to a chapter or two because yeah we may not have time to read 500,000 words.] Etc; it is not limited to fic, art, or headcanon. —— Example: “So I’d really like art based on this fic (URL link) that I/someone else wrote.” Or “I’d love to see a story based on this art (URL link) that I/someone else drew.” Or “Xyz posted this headcanon and I’d love to see this explored.“ As well as “I enjoy the VH dynamic, Folken intrigues me, and what the heck was Dryden doing for his five years abroad I mean how did he build his merchant empire-ish thing?” — URLs MUST be included, not just links. Links disappear as things are copied/pasted.

Can/should I message my recipient before the posting date? Can I post a teaser of some sort?

If you want, certainly! Remember though, it’s a secret! Don’t let your recipient know who you are or exactly what you’re making! If you’re having fun that’s the goal! (Example: Message your recipient as anonymous or Submit/send Rad or the ESS a teaser and she’ll post it, that way the original creator is temporarily disconnected from the teaser.)

What if I can’t post my gift on time or I have to duck out due to real life?

This is alright and totally understandable. There is a week’s time in which you can post your gift so don’t feel rushed. No one will look down on you because life happened. You have to take care of yourself first. Being a little late is obviously undesirable but understandable. If you’re going to be late or sadly must duck out please let Rad know asap. There are back-up gifters in place for this reason.

Deadlines and time zones

I try very hard to ignore timezone s. I live in Michigan, USA, so when I say a date/deadline I’m referring to my time zone of Eastern Standard. However, I try to allow twenty-four hours to go by before no longer accepting sign-ups or calling deadlines. If it’s the stated date in your timezone, you’re on time. :)

You sure link to your personal blog a lot… Just sayin’.

While I have notifications turned on for the ESS blog, Tumblr conspires against me and I don’t get the notifications. Notifications usually DO work for my personal blog. Therefore you’re more likely to get a faster response if you contact my personal blog. (Blame Tumblr.)

The form must be emailed to icm.9302014 [@] gmail.com. This form is to indicate what you want to receive as a gift; NOT what you don’t want to gift to someone else.

1) Screenname: 2) Places on the internet with URLs**: 3) Likes: – Esca universe: – Genre/topics/etc: 4) Dislikes: – Esca universe: – Genre/topics/etc: 5) SFW, NSFW, or both? 6) Does #3 and/or #4 change in SFW vs NSFW exchange? Is something alright with you in one exchange but not alright with you in the other? 7) If needed, are you available as a back-up gifter?

**: Please copy/paste or type out the URL on the form. For example: (radicalrad-1986.tumblr.com). When Rad receives sign-ups and their information she copies and pastes them into a Word/GDrive document. Text links usually don’t/sometimes carry over and thus your locations are lost! (This is an example of a text link.)

——

EXAMPLE:

1) Screenname: Rad (variations apply) 2) Places on the internet with URLs: http://www.radical-rad1986.tumblr.com https://archiveofourown.org/users/rad http://www.deviantart.com/rad1986 http://www.deviantart.com/rad-destiny-arcs http://www.fanfiction.net/~rad

3) Likes: – Esca universe: If you know me at all you know that the Series is my only focus and Eries and the Astons and Dryden are my peeps. I’d LOVE to see more Marlene/Mahad! Love the girls x their men too. ^.^ I do love the Movie and if you want to do my gift in another universe, any universe, that’s totally fine. The usual/standard is also enjoyed but it’s nice to have a larger variety. I’d love to see more of minor characters or pairings. I can be tempted with rairpares if they’re not terribly OOC. :D I would super enjoy fanart of anything I’ve written too, iffn you feel like it. Fanart of anything I’ve written would be wonderful! (My Aston girls fic is in the reworks but the gist is the same.) – Genre/topic/etc: I don’t follow really in-depth things well (like murder/mystery or politics) but pretty much anything. While clearly there won’t be any long-haul in a Christmas gift I am all for the in-depth, long journey instead of the immediate dessert. 4) Dislikes: – Esca universe: Not a fan of Dornkirk. That’s pretty much it! – Genre/topics/etc: Whump, infidelity, gore/extreme violence, unnecessary/extreme ragging on a character/topic. 5) SFW, NSFW, or both? SFW 6) Does #4 and/or #5 change in SFW vs NSFW exchange? Is something alright with you in one exchange but not alright with you in the other? I’m not a fan of Dornkirk but in a NSFW gift his thought process could be explored and while I dislike detailed violence, test subjects could be shown with minor details. 7) If needed, are you available as a back-up gifter? Yup!

#Escaflowne #The Vision of Escaflowne #Tenkuu no Escaflowne #Tumblr I hate you

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internationalhouseofblupjeans · 6 years ago

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An Eighth Bird, Born Out of the Storm - Chapter 18

Based loosely on the Luume'irma headcanon from @interstellarvagabond

Eighth Bird AU.

Angus celebrates a birthday and makes a new connection. Kravitz searches. Lucretia regrets.

Thank you to Calcu from the writer’s chat for Beta'ing!!

Also on AO3 (link in the source)

Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6 Chapter 7 Chapter 8 Chapter 9 Chapter 10 Chapter 11 Chapter 12 Chapter 13 Chapter 14 Chapter 15 Chapter 16 Chapter 17 Chapter 18 below Chapter 19 Chapter 20 Chapter 21 Chapter 22

The placement of the runes are most important. We have determined that by adding onto the previously etched in runes, my body will not be hurt during this process. If all goes well, then when the reset occurs, our child will still reset with us and be able to develop, unharmed on a safer cycle.

We are not sure if the ritual will affect their soul, but as far as we have been able to determine, it will only affect Barry and myself.

I have made sure that Barry’s runes have extra safeguards as well. Being human, he will need more protection than I will. Human souls are not made of the same pure magic that elven ones are.

It will be interesting to be able to see it.

Ļ̵͚̱̬͔͍͉̮̲̮̖̰̾̎ͧ͊ͯͮ̑́ͤͥ̐̋͜͝ư̛̜̭̖̥͉͔͈͋͛̂̉̏̃̈́̔̽̿ͫ͆̈́̍ͅp̵̈́ͤ̆̿̽̓̄ͣ��̸͍̲͉͓̺̯̭̳̤̺̼̰͔͝ͅ,ͮ̾́͋̎̔̾ͮ͑҉̰̠̥͍͕̻̖̼̤̘̦̖ ̸̧̫̝͓̠͓̹͎̐̓̆ͬ͗̔̅ͩ̇̒ͬ̂͆͛͒̉͑͢ͅS̷̡̟̖̞͎͔͕͓͓̺͖̣̤͚̘͓̟̜͆̍ͮ͐̈ͥ͑͆͑̓͂ͤ̈́͂̍̎̎͟t̶ͤ͆̂͑͌̆̉ͪ̃̔̋̑̅͆͌ͨ҉̷̩̦͖͔̼̖͠uͫ͗̂͛͌ͮ̅̆͛ͭ̐͢͏̞̥̥̱͓̯̦͍d̝̱̲̦̠̻͈̞͈͎͈̫̪̭̆ͦͦ͗̑ͤ́͞ǐ̟̟̟̬̣͑̈̓̐̓͊̄ͯ̿͌̚͘͘͢͞e̿̈̓͌̀̐̆̀ͮͣ̎̈́̾̀̚̕͘͏͔̰͈͕̣̬s̮̩͕̫̝ͯ̅̀͆ͭ̉͋̈́̎͂ͦͥ̂͢ ̷̳̰̝̘̲̤̣̱͙̠̰̖͕̯̺̪̜͍̘̿̎ͣ͗ͮ̋͠ǫ̸̛͓̭̙͙͓̲̱̬̺̯͚͍͍͎̩ͯ̂͋ͥ͆ͥ͊̽͒ͩ̒͆ͨ̄nͯ̌ͨ̓̉ͯ̕҉͏̣̠̗̬̼̺̰͚̖͕͍̘̙ ̸̼̟͈͖̻͇͍͈͎͕̣̮̳̳̯̳̠͋ͧ͆ͭ͗ͭ͑̇͢B̷ͩ̔̓ͪ̉͑̐ͥ͒͏͖̼͎̦̖̖̖̗͞e̛̳̘͙̱̝̤̽̃̃̄̇̓ͩ͊ͫ̆͊̈ͣ̌ͫ͝ͅc̵̴̨̨͇͕͓̖͚̼͕͕̼͈̩̺͎̠̻ͬͩ̂̎͋̈́̈́ͅô̵̸̂̓̎͋̽ͦ̓ͩ̇͑̒ͮ̋ͮ̚͝͏͏̤̯̲̝͇ṃ̻̼͇͎̬̱͍̺̘̦̲͍̪̠ͦ͌̓ͯ̏̑̽͆ͭ͜͝ͅi̴̹͉̟̞̠̥̞̱̥̗͍ͤͭ̐̿ͦ̊̅̌ͩͪ̉̋ͥ̊͂̿ͦͭ͞ṅ̩̥͚͕̥̐̓̏͠g͐̍ͦ̄͑ͬ͒҉͍̦͉̠̩̜͚̮̥͍̘͔͕̝̹̱̕͘͢ ̝͓͖͈̗̞̹̖̘̻͙̰͉̣̳̞̏ͪͨ͌͑̈̉͌ͫ̚͡͞a̧̢͕̤͇̬͓͚̠̱͙͈̺̻͓̖ͣ͂͋ͧͅ ̸̨̛͕̤̻̱̤͚̭͚̠͉̤ͬ͌͐ͤ̅ͤ͘̕Ļ̶̡̫̜̠̥̙͉͍̖͙̏͑̿̽̽̆ͪ̒ͨͥ͡i̡̨̤̜̠̓ͣ͒ͨ̇ͮͨ̔̍̍̑̊̆̿ͩ͐̇̾ͅç̵̢͈̻͈̝̬̙̼͕͉͉̟̞ͪͫͭͥ̇͒̆h̵̵̥̮̰͖̓ͨ̆̏͐̓

Lucretia wasn’t sure whose idea the party was, but she stared at the invitation with a sinking feeling in her stomach.

She was Madam Director and needed to keep the ruse going, but a part of her wanted to have this moment. To relax and enjoy an evening with her friends, even if they didn’t see her as such right now.

So, she arrived at Magnus, Merle, and Taako’s dorm with a present in hand and a weak smile on her face.

“Welcome!” Magnus grinned, opening the door. “Ango doesn’t know and just thinks he’s coming over for a magic lesson, so this will be great!”

Lucretia nodded.

This week was hard for her anyway, so it was hard to focus.

In a couple of days, it would be the anniversary of when she had lost her friends.

When she knew she had lost Lup.

When she knew Lup and Barry lost their …

“Hey! You need to get behind the couch!” Merle grumbled. “Haven’t you ever done a surprise party before?”

Lucretia smiled.

“Sorry, Merle, I suppose I’m a little out of practice.”

She ducked behind the couch and waited.

Taako was the first one to walk through the door, about fifteen minutes later.

“So, the trick with mage hand is to visualize something not so … horrifying,” Taako explained as he opened the door, Angus eagerly taking notes next to him. “Seriously, kiddo, we need to figure out why-”

Taako flicked on the light to the dorm and the gathered members of the Bureau of Balance leapt up and cheered for Angus.

“SURPRISE! Happy birthday!”

Angus froze. He didn’t know what to do. No one had ever done anything like this before and he had no frame of reference for why everyone that he had considered friends and family were surprising him like this. He adjusted his glasses, trying to keep his composure and cleared his throat.

“Um … Sirs?” He asked.

“We found out it was your birthday this week, kiddo,” Magnus explained, leaping over the couch and picking up Angus. “So, we decided to throw a party for you!”

“Oh …” Angus started, a little crestfallen. He hadn’t ever had one that started this way, but he knew that it would soon devolve into sitting around awkwardly while the adults talked. “Well, thank you. I guess we um … Are we going to eat and then you guys can all talk?”

“Nonsense!” Magnus grinned. “Johann is going to play us some music and then we can do party games and stuff if you like!”

“Party games?” Angus asked. “I don’t … I don’t understand.”

He’d heard about them, sure, from the elven boys who had become the bane of his existence. He had almost been invited to one of their parties, but then the invitation was taken away, the boys only having done so in order to mock him. He didn’t know the first thing about birthday parties like this.

“Don’t worry, Bubelah,” Taako grinned. “I didn’t do birthday parties until I was much older so this will be a first for me too.”

Angus was even more confused. He’d always thought that elves had parties for every birthday. And Taako was a Sun Elf - a High Elf! He should for sure have been rich enough to have huge parties when he was a kid.

“Wait,” Angus started. “You didn’t have …”

The sound of Johann’s violin interrupted the little half-elf and soon the festivities began. He watched as the rules for Pin the tail on the Gerblin was explained and eventually watched an argument erupt between Taako and Leon over Taako’s use of mage hand to cheat at the game. A round of musical chairs was next, and Angus tried to not feel sick at the attention and chaos that was surrounding him.

He hadn’t ever had people pay this much attention to him. All he’d really wanted to do was go down and maybe see Jeff Angel wrestle at Chaos Stadium this week. He didn’t even really want people to try and celebrate for him because his parties had always been so boring before.

This one, however, was overwhelming.

His guests were sitting around, enjoying cake when Angus felt someone sit down next to him. He looked up to see Merle looking at him with an odd softness to him.

“Kid, you’ve hardly touched your cake. What’s wrong?”

“Oh … Uh … well, This is kinda new for me,” He started. “I’ve never actually done a birthday party before. Like, I honestly didn’t even know anyone knew it was coming up and I don’t usually get so much … attention,” he panted. “I usually am sitting in a corner by now just reading a book while my grandpa …”

He trailed off. He hadn’t thought about his grandfather since leaving Neverwinter. He had just thrown himself into cases and into work for the Bureau but now he realized that he had lost the only member of his family that he truly had.

He sniffled and wiped his eyes.

“Sorry, I just … I guess I got overwhelmed,” Angus whispered. “I really appreciate this, I do … I just … I’ve never had people do this much for me before.”

Merle smiled, sadly. There was something about Angus, in this moment, that felt familiar. Perhaps it was just because of what he had helped his own daughter through. Perhaps it was something else, something he couldn’t verbalize, as much as he wanted to.

“Kiddo, believe me I … I understand what you’re going through, I really do. I guess we should have asked you first, huh?”

“No, sir, it’s ok! Really! I just … I’m not used to this.”

He didn’t realize it until just now but he actually was calm. Angus looked down at his untouched plate of cake. He guessed Merle had done something cleric-y to him. Maybe calm emotions?

For all that Taako and Magnus complained, Merle was a pretty good cleric, all things considered.

“Th-thanks, sir,” Angus smiled. “This actually helped a lot.”

Merle grinned and ruffled Angus’ hair. There was something else about this kid. Something familiar, but he couldn’t focus on the thought for too long or else his brain would dissolve into static.

“No problem, half-pint,” Merle sighed. He rose to his feet and then paused, turning back to look at him before he could join Taako as he tried to hustle Killian’s shoes away from her at a game of pool. “Oh, and we’re going to a wrestling show on your birthday so I …” Merle gritted his teeth as if it hurt him to be kind to this child. “I guess you can come with.”

Angus’ eyes lit up.

“Really, sir?”

“Yeah … There’s some sort of murder or something that happened and -”

Merle froze as he felt Angus’ arms wrap around him tightly.

“Oh thank you sir! Thank you so much! This is the best birthday present ever! A new mystery!”

“Oh shit …” Merle groaned.

Lup had listened in, trying to project herself out just enough to see what was happening.

A party. They were throwing a party for this little boy.

She was glad that he had been working with the Bureau of Balance now. She had worried about him after he had been on the train. Had worried that this child was traveling alone.

Now, however, she knew he had someone to look after him.

It was strange. She felt oddly protective around this child, and even started to feel pangs of sadness as she watched him becoming more and more anxious during the party.

It was wishful thinking. That’s what it had to be. The anxiousness reminded her so much of Barry. Reminded her so much of how he had been before the launch. In the earlier cycles.

Before Legato.

But this wasn’t their child. She had already confirmed that. Yes, his name was Angus, but it wasn’t Angus Bluejeans. No one had come to grab him. She hadn’t seen or felt Lucretia at all during her wait in Wave Echo Cave.

Her son had to have died. Somehow. Perhaps wild animals had come into the cave and taken him. Perhaps it was gerblins.

Perhaps it was her own foolishness at trying to solve her problems by herself.

It was getting too difficult to keep herself projected, so she retreated into the darkness.

She could feel her energy being sapped. Every day it was a struggle to just stay conscious. To stay herself.

As she tried to meditate, she began to realize that time was running out.

She wasn’t sure if she would make it to them eventually leaving this world.

She wasn’t sure if there would be anything left to reset.

Taako couldn't find anything in any books regarding the extreme discomfort he felt.

He found himself pacing the communal living room, trying to deal with thoughts and feelings that deeply disturbed him.

He couldn't ask Merle. He was too ashamed.

Even worse was the horrible feeling he had during this week when he would see Magnus. They barely knew each other (in Taako terms) and yet he wanted to curl up in his arms and let the warmth take him over.

He couldn't understand it. He couldn't push the thoughts from his mind.

So he meditated for the first time in ages. As he sat, he heard the door open, Magnus’ booming voice echoing in.

“Hey, Taako, do you need anything? I’m just heading down to the cafeteria for …”

Magnus stopped.

“T-Taako? Are you ok? What’s wrong?”

Taako pinched the bridge of his nose.

So much for meditating.

“Dude … just go. I kinda need to focus. I’m don’t want to have the thoughts I’m having and there’s like … nothing here that can help me so I’m just gonna hang tight in here and wait for it to blow over. I don’t know if I was hit by a spell or what but … This sucks and everything is too … Everything!”

Magnus walked in, quietly. Something was tugging on his heart as he watched Taako clench his eyes and breathe.

“What thoughts?”

“Like … dude, we know each other and are friends and all but I really don’t want to share this.”

“Come on. Taako, it’s ok. We’re a team.”

“Magnus … I’m serious. I don’t want this and it’s frustrating and aggravating and it hurts!”

“It hurts?” Magnus said, freezing in place. “Should I get Merle?”

“God no. He’ll tease me relentlessly and I can’t do that right now!” Taako gritted out. “I just need to wait this out.”

“Ok … Are you sure you can’t tell me?”

“I … So you know I like guys, right?”

“Well, yeah. I saw you flirting with death back in Lucas’ lab-”

“Well … I also don’t want … I don’t like being … touched. And right now, that’s all I want and it’s scaring me, Mags. It’s scaring me and I don’t like it! And … I keep thinking about you and that reaper and I don’t … Mags, please go. I’ll … I’ll be better soon. I promise.”

Taako didn’t know for sure, but he knew that this had to end eventually.

Right?

Magnus sighed and closed the door softly, waiting outside. He wondered if he should go over Taako’s head and talk to Merle, but Taako was right. Merle was the worst person he could talk to about this.

So he went to the Director.

He knocked softly on her office door and peeked his head in.

“Hey … Lu-Madam Director?” He started, remembering that she had been so disturbed when they had used her name.

“What is it,” she started, looking up from her journals to see Magnus’ concerned expression. “Magnus? What’s wrong?”

“It … It’s Taako. He’s not doing well and I didn’t want to talk to Merle about it because … well, Taako didn’t want me to.”

Lucretia froze.

She had redacted too much. She had realized that, in erasing so many things from their home world, she had neglected to make sure she could come up with ways to fill in things that occurred.

Things like the Luume'irma.

Which Magnus usually comforted Taako through.

Once again, she was struck by the weight of her actions. She was reminded just how much she took.

Taako had once trusted Magnus but after a decade apart, they may as well have been strangers.

And Magnus didn’t know …

“Oh … Um … Well, there are … ancient texts that existed in my studies of … A period of time where every ten years, Sun Elves would go through … these feelings,” she said, carefully choosing her words. “It only lasted a week but a lot of Sun Elves didn’t like it so they augmented their bodies … I think Taako may have been immune to it.”

“Oh …” Magnus started. “So … what should I do? I don’t like seeing my friend so upset. Should I go … help him?”

“No!” Lucretia started before remembering herself. “No … Just … Let him be. He’ll be alright in a week. I promise.”

Magnus nodded and returned to the dorm. As he sat in front of Taako’s door, he couldn’t help but feel a sense of deja vu.

But when he tried to make sense of it, his mind dissolved into static.

Angus was so excited for his magic lessons. He loved learning from Taako, having this moment to be close to his idol. He’d had to wait a week (apparently, his tutor had been sick), but he was alright with that.

Taako was someone who might be able to answer all of his questions, eventually.

He also had another reason to take lessons from Taako. He was going to ask him on this particular lesson. Sure he couldn’t do it himself, he wasn’t high enough level …

But Taako could …

“Hey, Mr. Taako, sir?” Angus asked as Taako prepared to teach him a cantrip. “You … specialize in transmutation magic, right?”

“Sure thing, my dude,” Taako started. “What’s up?”

“I … I was wondering if you could do something for … For me … If you could change something, that is ...”

Taako looked at Angus. Something about those words. There was something in his mind that dissolved into static when he tried to place the memory.

Just like in the dreams he had.

“What’s wrong, Ango?”

Angus pulled off his cap and untaped his ears.

Taako felt his heart break.

Angus trusted him enough to show him. To show him that he was not human. That he was a half elf.

And that he was ashamed of what he was.

“I … I don’t want these anymore,” Angus whispered. “I want to be one or the other so if you could just change my ears …”

“Angus …” Taako started, kneeling down to him. “My dude, I don’t know why you wouldn’t want to be a half-elf. You’re like … the best of both worlds!”

“Not according to the other elves,” Angus sighed. “You’re like, the first elf who isn’t a jerk about it.”

Taako felt like that was wrong. He never remembered elves being so cruel about half-elves. About humans.

Hell, that was why-

Static.

He shook his head to clear it and then looked back at Angus.

“Look my dude, I can teach you disguise self so you can pull pranks, but I’m not going to make you give up what makes you you. And if you need to, you can talk with Johann. He’s a half elf and look at him now! Making music for a Voidfish! Everyone loves him too! We don’t care that he’s not one or the other. He’s Johann and that’s what makes him awesome. And your our Ango McDango.”

Angus sniffled.

“Thanks sir.”

Taako smiled and leaned in to whisper into Angus’ ear.

“And if you ever tell anyone that I had this moment with you and that I care about you …”

“You’ll end me.”

“In seconds.”

Angus chuckled and hugged Taako.

Lup wanted to try and project herself out again. She could sense it.

They were running out of time.

She had to tell them somehow.

Her chance came when Taako was about to cast a spell. She didn’t realize until it was too late that it was supposed to be a transmutation spell. She pulled back as much as she could, but it was too late.

The sweet little boy’s macaroons were destroyed.

She would make it up to him eventually.

But she needed to use this moment. She needed to send a message.

L … U … P …

It took all of her energy, but she did it. She sent a message, hoping that Taako would see it. Would understand it.

She looked over at Angus, at the sweet little boy and nearly gasped.

His ears.

They were pointed.

“I have a new mystery to solve!” She heard him chirp.

Huh … She thought as darkness reclaimed her.

Johann sat, tuning his violin. He had another composition for the Voidfish. Something that he had been working on for weeks now. He played, softly at first, taken in by the music. The Voidfish floated nearby, seemingly watching is every move.

“Um ...Mr. Johann, sir?” he heard a small voice ask at the doorway.

He looked over to see Angus standing there, his cap off and in his hand. The pointed tips of the boy’s dark ears were bright red.

“What’s up, little dude?” the bard asked.

“I … I was talking with Taako a while back and he said maybe I could talk to you?” He started. “I’m a half elf, like you, and … I was ashamed of it and asked Taako to change me but … But you’re a half elf too and you’re like, such a cool bard and I was wondering … Can I learn some of what you know?”

Johann smiled, sadly.

He’d never had a student before. Most of what he did was self taught anyway. He didn’t know how to teach, but the look on the boy’s face moved him.

“Heh, sure thing, kiddo,” he laughed. “So, was there any sort of instrument you were thinking of?”

“Well … when I heard your violin, it reminded me of a song and I want to know how to play it. And since you’re a bard and good at violin …”

“Say no more my little dude! Here, can you hum it for me? I can figure out the notes.”

“Oh! Yeah! Um …”

Angus began to hum as Johann transposed, playing along.

“Ah, so it’s in E major … so .. F# … A F# E D C# D G G G A...”

As he played, he heard a wail come up from the tank. He looked over at the Voidfish who twirled and called out, echoing the notes that Johann played. It was almost like the last time the Voidfish had sang, except this time, they seemed happier, as if they knew this song.

He continued to play as Angus hummed the song and the Voidfish lit up.

He’d never had this happen before, where the Voidfish not only knew something he was playing but also didn’t wipe it from existence after he had created it.

Johann looked down at Angus who had some tears pricking his eyes. He smiled sadly and stopped playing, ruffling the child’s hair.

“We can go get you a violin and then start doing lessons, little man,” he began.

“I’d like that very much, sir.”

Johann led Angus out of the room, neither one noticing the Voidfish pressing one tendril up on the glass as they left.

Angus sat by his Stone of Farspeech. He had been relieved when Avi told him that they had safely landed and that they were on their way through the bubble. Now he could focus on his mystery du jour.

The Red Robes. There was something Lucretia wasn’t telling them about the Red Robes.

He had been plagued with nightmares again, ever since the magic lesson that started this new mystery. His vision was always blurry in the most common one he had, but he always saw the same image. Something that his brain couldn’t make sense of.

He found himself, absentmindedly drawing as he waited to hear any news at all from the reclaimers.

Lucretia came up behind him with a plate of cookies.

“Angus, we probably won’t be able to hear anything until they get out of there,” Lucretia started.

“I know, Ma’am, but … If they need me, then I need to be listening,” he explained. “I’ve learned a lot since they grabbed the Philosopher’s Stone and so I know I can actually help now!”

Lucretia ruffled Angus’ hair and looked down at his paper.

“Drawing something?”

“Yeah, I guess. I was just doodling. I’ve been having a lot of nightmares lately,” he sighed. “Leon said that drawing them out might help me so I’ve just sort of been … doing this.”

Lucretia looked down and then bit back a gasp.

“Oh … Wow …”

Angus looked down at the drawing.

“Oh … yeah … I keep having the same nightmare. It’s blurry but … Yeah …”

He looked up to realize that Lucretia was standing in the doorway, her shoulders slumped and her hand covering her mouth.

He looked back down at the drawing. He supposed it had been just him trying to make sense of the latest nightmare, but this was the most detailed it had ever been.

The Red Robe from his nightmares was in the center of his blurred vision. The one who looked down at him with blackened skin, closed eyes …

And a sad smile.

Taako watched time pass by as he was shown his own past.

Static. That static was there again, right next to him, after a long period of static that had no explanation.

It hurt too much for him to try to make sense of it, so he shut his mind off to it. Like he always did.

Then the Chalice showed him Glamour Springs.

Taako wanted to turn away. He didn’t want to see this. He didn’t need this.

But then he saw.

Sazed.

That bastard was going to poison him.

Instead, forty people died.

He watched everyone coming up for samples. Then he saw a face.

A face that didn’t make any sense being there. A face that shouldn’t have been there.

Barry?

It didn’t make sense. He couldn’t have been in Glamour Springs and also been in Phandalin. Everyone who had eaten that food had died.

Everyone.

How was this possible?

He couldn’t accept the offer. It wasn’t his fault and he had to know now.

Something was being hidden from him.

When they watched Phandalin burn again, Barry being pummeled to the ground, Taako stared intently.

There had to be something that he was missing. He wanted to tell the others but, he couldn’t. Not when he didn’t even know what was missing.

Lucretia sat in her study.

That drawing. That couldn’t have been …

She buried her head in her hands. This had gone too far. It had gone too far but she couldn’t stop now.

She looked over at Junior's tank. If she gave out his ichor, would this put an end to everything? Would they ever forgive her?

Would this world, and every world, be lost?

She wanted to grab Angus. She wanted to bring him in here and let him learn everything. Seeing that picture … that was Lup. That had to be her which meant …

She choked back a sob.

He had survived. He had survived and she had erased him from his family

And where was Lup now? She was a lich. She should have been with him. And Barry … did he know now?

Her heart was heavy with regret. She had separated Barry from his son. He would never forgive her.

And Lup. If she had just waited. If she had gone to find the cave. To find Lup … would she still be around?

She thought back to something Taako had said. About the Raven Queen’s emissary. Her blood ran cold.

What if she got reaped?

It had never happened on any of the cycles. She had no frame of reference for what could have happened to Lup.

If her soul even existed anymore.

The tears flowed freely as Lucretia buried her head in her hands.

She had fucked up.

And there was no turning back now

Barry watched them come out of the bubble and breathed a sigh of relief. He knew that they wouldn’t have taken the Chalice. There was no way.

But there was still that fear ...

He made himself known to them, confirmed that they had indeed resisted the thrall, and then locked eyes with Taako.

Something in Taako’s eyes …

“I’m really proud of you,” he began, much to the others’ confusion.

Then Magnus called him one of “the bad guys”. If he had blood, it would have run cold in his veins.

“Who told you that?” Barry asked.

But he knew. Even before they said anything, he knew.

Why had Lucretia done this? This wasn’t like her. This wasn’t like her at all.

“I need to know … Do you trust me?” He asked.

“Hell no!”

It was too much.

He had lost his friends. His family.

Taako didn’t remember him. Didn’t remember Lup. Didn’t remember any of it.

He grasped at himself, trying to think of his Best Day. Of his anchor.

“Lup … They don’t trust me … I can’t do it anymore, Lup … I’m sorry ….”

He could hear her voice. He could feel her.

He had to keep himself together.

Taako watched as the Red Robed lich tried to gain composure. He heard him mutter to himself and the one word that had been repeating in his mind escaped the lich’s lips.

“Lup …”

The lich knew what this word meant. This Red Robe somehow knew …

But Taako couldn’t make sense of it.

And it hurt.

Barry rose up from the ground, his composure regained.

He gave them a final warning and vanished. He needed to get back to his hidden lab. He had been out for too long.

The Reaper would be coming.

Angus eagerly welcomed back the Reclaimers, hoping that he could spend some time with Taako. He wanted a magic lesson, of course, but there was another motive.

He needed to study that umbrella.

Every time he was near it, there was a painful sense of familiarity.

Every night after he did, he had the nightmare about the Red Robe.

On one such night, Angus awoke with a start. The image of the Red Robe filled his mind while a woman’s voice weakly sang that lullaby to him. Angus couldn't get the song out of his mind so he climbed out of bed and grabbed his tiny practice violin.

He had memorized the notes, the music flowing naturally as he played. He closed his eyes, trying to imagine his mother.

Davenport had been wandering the dorms. He’d been trying to clear the constant static that had been filling his mind more and more as he got closer to Merle, Magnus, and Taako. He couldn't piece words or thoughts together, the ideas he tried to form becoming a jumble the more he tried to make sense of them.

He heard music coming down the hallway and it struck something inside of him. He followed the sound to Angus’ dorm and stood outside. The music felt so familiar but he couldn't place why. He sat down outside the door and listened, his ears flicking curiously as Angus played.

Angus knew he was being watched, but he couldn't stop. Not now. Not when he needed to try and make sense of the nightmare.

He opened his eyes for a moment and looked at Davenport. He wasn't sure if the music had spurred his mind or not but Angus had started noticing things about Lucretia’s ward. Things that didn't make sense.

He had seen plenty of gnomes growing up and had even been taking cases for Leon. It was why Angus chastised himself for not noticing that Davenport did not look like other gnomes.

Most gnomes had hair colors that ranged from white to grey, in the boy’s experience. Davenport had bright red hair and a neatly trimmed mustache. He was also much smaller than any other gnomes he had seen …

And no other gnomes had expressive, pointed ears.

Angus closed his eyes again and continued to play. He needed to finish the song. He needed to try and keep the static away.

When he finished, he gently set down his violin. He looked back to see Davenport rising to his feet, as if coming out of a trance. He shook his head and then stumbled over his words for a moment before making eye contact with Angus.

“D… Davenport.”

As the gnome walked away, Angus couldn't help but wonder if, for the first time, he actually understood what the gnome had said.

Thank you.

Taako stared at the umbra staff.

Kravitz had said he sensed a lich, but … The Red Robe wasn’t up here. And Taako wasn’t a lich.

The Umbra Staff going off on its own had nearly ruined the date, but he couldn’t blame it. He supposed his own magical weapon was picky about anyone coming near its owner.

Except that it had reacted when Kravitz had mentioned liches.

He thought back to seeing the Red Robe in Lucas’ lab.

He had noticed the staff.

Had mentioned … someone.

But his mind wouldn’t let him think any further. It hurt too much.

He went back to their dorm and set the staff down on the couch.

He needed to make a trip to Fantasy Costco. Magnus would be waiting for him.

Angus was perceptive. It was what made him such a good detective.

It was why he followed Merle to Neverwinter.

He’d never pictured Merle as a father, but suddenly, everything started to make sense about the dwarven cleric.

He listened, intently, as Merle told him everything. Told him things he was pretty sure neither Taako nor Magnus knew.

It was oddly comforting. He was privy to something no one else was.

Even if Merle hadn’t threatened him, he would never have said anything to anyone.

It was why, when the cart narrowly missed hitting Merle’s children, Angus sprang into action.

He almost missed the flash of red off to the side.

He almost missed the Red Robed Lich that held his arm outstretched, red lightning cracking off of his cloak.

He almost missed when he looked to Merle and nodded.

He did miss, however, the wave of sadness that emanated from the lich who looked after his son.

The lich who was running out of time.

Taako sat, watching as Angus practiced Disguise Self to look like him. He still looked like a tiny, child-like version of Taako, but he was getting better at it.

Looking at Angus continued to send pangs of emotion through Taako’s heart. Emotions that he couldn’t place and that were almost frightening to think about.

He cared about this child. Almost as if he was his own.

But he wasn’t of course. And whoever had been this child’s father had been human.

Had been that dead bastard, Barry Bluejeans.

Taako shook his head.

He didn’t know why thinking of Barry hurt so much, but he decided that it had to do with this child. That it was guilt at not saving this child’s father. At leaving him to grow up without him.

Except Barry had been at Glamour Springs. Had taken some of the food.

Maybe Barry had survived? Maybe he had known and had come to Phandalin so that he could covertly tell Taako?

No … That didn’t seem like Barry’s style. Neither did trying to bust Taako.

It didn’t make sense.

Taako wished, for a moment, that Barry was here, watching his son. Maybe he would have trained Angus to be a fighter? No, Angus wasn’t built for that.

And come to think of it, he had never actually seen Barry fight …

“Sir? Are you alright?”

Taako shook himself out of his thoughts and looked down at Angus who had changed his appearance back to normal.

“Sorry, boychik,” Taako smiled sadly. “I was just in thought …”

“Oh …”

They sat in silence for a moment before Angus scooted up next to him.

“Hey, Taako … Um … I know you kind of personalized those macaroons for everyone but … I was wondering … What was that flavor in mine? It was really good but it was like … familiar?”

“Heh,” Taako chuckled. “That’s odd … I actually had a hard time finding the ingredients for yours. I don’t know why, but I wanted to make them like my aunt used to make them … They were our favorite …”

“You and your Aunt’s?”

Taako paused.

Our …

“Yeah … Must’ve been my aunt’s favorite too if she made it all the time for us …”

Angus nodded and looked down in thought. Taako found his own thoughts wandering too.

It didn’t make sense. He didn’t remember his aunt particularly liking macaroons, much less the lavender flavored ones he loved but it was the only thing that made sense.

Maybe she had but she had given him so many because she knew he liked them?

He felt a little guilty now. If he had known …

“Sir … I’ve been wondering a lot … Do you know any other Sun Elves?”

Taako smiled, sadly.

“No. I haven’t seen any others really since I was a kid. I didn’t even really grow up with elves after my aunt died. It’s probably why I’ve never really gotten on with other high elves,” he laughed, bitterly. “You’re the first one I’ve actually spent a lot of time around in almost a century.”

Angus giggled.

“I’m only half-elf, sir.”

“Doesn’t matter!” Taako laughed. “Why do you ask?”

“Well … I mean, I was wondering if you might have maybe known … Well, if you had ever seen either of my parents?”

Taako’s heart nearly ripped in half.

“I … I never met them,” Angus started. “Not really … I mean, maybe I saw my dad once but … I only knew my grandfather and … I know that my mom loved me. That she died saving me but … My dad …”

Taako wanted to grab Angus close and tell him. Tell him that he had seen his father.

But then what? Barry hadn’t ever even mentioned a kid.

Would he lie to this kid? Tell him that his father’s last words had been something about the son he was going to return to? Taako lied easily (he thought), but to Angus?

No, he couldn’t lie to him.

And he couldn’t tell him.

He sighed and looked down at the Umbra Staff in his lap, feeling a warmth radiating from it.

“Sorry, kiddo … I … I didn’t meet anyone who could have been your parents in my travels but …” He bit his lip. “If they could see you now, I bet they would be awfully proud. I bet they loved you a whole lot ...”

Angus looked at Taako. He had only sometimes been privy to moments of honesty from the elf and had learned to play them off as nothing. He knew that Taako didn’t like the attention. Didn’t like it when someone pointed out when he actually cared

So he smiled quietly to himself and then snuck a glance at the Umbra Staff.

He could feel the energy now and realized it.

He needed to roll an investigation check on that staff.

~ Kravitz looked over his clues again. The Umbra Staff that Taako had carried - the staff that had almost blasted him - had rekindled the mystery that he had almost put to rest.

He had been a bit distracted lately and it wasn’t the top priority anymore.

But that staff. It had been with the Sun Elf’s corpse. It had been in the cave.

He couldn’t just take it from Taako and it hadn’t had as strong of a presence, even after it had almost blasted him like before.

And when he had returned to the scene of the crime, the body was gone. All that remained was dust.

He had another option, but it had been such a tedious idea that he had been avoiding doing it.

But the more he thought about it, the more he realized it was his only plan.

He headed into the Sea of Souls to try and find the Elf’s soul.

It wasn’t a common thing to need to do, but he had been an emissary for long enough that he knew how to sift through the souls that were being cleansed. Since she had died ten years before, he should be able to find her relatively close to the top.

He searched for Sun Elves, knowing that there weren’t as many of them in the Sea of Souls to begin with. They lived long lives and they were nowhere near as numerous as their other elven counterparts - especially after the Old Wars that had nearly decimated them.

The more he thought about the Old Wars, the more he mused about this half-elf child. Sun Elves in particular were not known to harbor fond feelings toward humans and yet here was this child that was the product of such a union. And a child who obviously had been loved enough for the mother to care to leave a note for whoever found her and the child.

He came across a few Sun Elf souls, but none felt right. None of them seemed to even know what he was talking about. He knew they hadn’t been in the sea long enough to have forgotten their past life, but this was ridiculous.

If his mother was here, then she would have been speeding to him to hear about her son. To know if he was safe.

He searched for what felt like days as he combed through the souls. He had to find her. He needed to know if she had any leads on the lich.

He was about to give up, realizing that the only other option was asking the countless human souls, when he felt something that was … wrong.

He looked down into the depths to see the lights start to blink out. He had never seen anything like this before. When a soul was ready to be reborn, it would leave as it had come in.

Instead they were just being swallowed up into darkness.

No. Not quite darkness.

There were shimmering bands of color throughout the darkness that was slowly approaching him.

He didn’t know what this was, but he knew he had only one option.

He began to frantically swim up.

Carey had taught him how to be sneaky. She hadn’t asked why, probably assuming that it was for detective work.

In a way, it was.

Angus sneaked into Taako’s room while they were training. For some reason, Taako had left the Umbra Staff in the room.

It was too easy.

Angus rifled around, looking for any other clues, when he found a headband.

He picked it up and curiously put it on.

“Taako? Taako, get back here! I swear to God if you die during training …”

“H-hello?” Angus asked. “Who said that? I’m so sorry! I didn’t mean to break in! I mean I did but -”

“Wait … Ango? The kid that my b̵̸̧͘r̶̕͘͝͡o̶̢͞͝͡t̛͘͜h̡͜͞e͘҉̵͠͞r̵'̴̸͝s̴̶̡̧̨ been training? Sweet!”

“Sorry ma’am … I … I don’t see you and you’re speaking static.”

“Aw beans,” the voice sighed. “You can’t understand it … Um … So … It’s me … In the Umbra Staff …”

Angus gasped.

“You can talk?”

“Heh, yeah … It took a lot but I can,” she chuckled. “Is Taako ok?”

“Yeah! He’s in training. Don’t know why he didn’t take you but … You know.”

“Yeah,” she chuckled. “So, my name’s L͟҉u̸̸̧̨p̨͘͢͟ and I have been in here for quite some time.”

“Sorry, you were speaking static again …”

“Oh … Ok …” she sighed. “Well … I was hoping that I could get Taako to … It’s ok. I guess we can try this again in a year … It’s not like my son is still alive … I shouldn’t have gone out alone …”

“A son?”

“Yeah … I … I had a son,” she started. “I was alone when I had him and I’m pretty sure he’s … He’s gone …”

“Wow, Miss Umbra Staff … Can I call you that?”

“Sure kid.”

“I just … didn’t know Umbra staffs could have kids!”

“Well, I wasn’t always one … But … Yeah … Gods, you look so familiar,” she pondered. “If I didn’t know better, I would have thought … sorry, I just miss my family.”

“I’m so sorry. I … I never met my mom.”

“Oh …”

“It’s ok! She died, saving me from a murderer! Once I’m done helping the Bureau of Balance, I’m going to go back to trying to solve her murder! Someone said a lich did it!”

Angus felt something in the umbrella. Something sad. The feeling quickly went away.

“Oh geez. Are you sure you’re old enough to be doing that?”

“Yeah! I solved a murder bef- Well, I guess you were there, huh?”

“Heh. Yeah.”

The umbrella felt heavy in Angus’ hands.

“Hey kiddo. No offense, but … It’s getting difficult to project myself out anymore …”

“Oh! Yeah, you must be getting tired …” Angus replied sadly. “Do ...Do you want me to sing you a lullaby? I've always known it so I think my mom sang it to me!”

“Sure kiddo.”

Angus sang softly, the elvish words to a long forgotten lullaby drifting through Lup’s mind. It was strange. She knew this lullaby by heart, but it was impossible for her to understand how he would know it. Her mother sang it to her when she was a baby and she remembered singing it while her son was still in the womb.

Her thoughts became fragmented as she started to drift out of consciousness. She could have sworn she heard her and Barry’s composition being worked into the lullaby.

But it was impossible.

Just wishful thinking.

#blupjeans #barry bluejeans #lup #angus mcdonald #angus bluejeans #taakitz #taagnus #Lucretia #taako #magnus burnsides #taz merle #davenport #johann #fisher

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mislxdged-bullets · 7 years ago

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† // ¥ // ° // æ // ♥ // zzz // ☂ // ♪ // ( =①ω①=) // ⊙﹏☉ // (≧∇≦) // (/□＼*)・゜// (;╹⌓╹) // （；へ：） // (´ q ` ” ) // (*^◇^)_旦 // ｡ﾟ(TヮT)ﾟ｡ // ( ⌒o⌒)人(⌒-⌒ )

@nakaharaxchuuya has a mission for you // headcanons listaccepting? Yes.

[ ➢ HIGUCHI ICHIYOU ➢ ]

† - How the character feels about murder

Since Higuchi came from a fairly normal background, she is still under the mindset that murder is wrong, but has no particular qualms doing it save for having a squeamish distaste of gore and blood. Her biggest thing against murder isn’t so much as the moral aspect, but more so about how uncomfortable the aftermath makes her feel. When doing a job, one may notice that Higuchi doesn’t so much as look at the corpses scattered about the area--it’s pretty easy to assume that, although she’s quite used to seeing them, their lifelessness still tends to make her feel anxious. This fear of corpses isn’t enough to make Higuchi stop--it is, after all, her job to be doing this sort of thing--but it does make her feel extremely nervous. More nervous than usual.

¥ - How the character handles money or spends it

Higuchi is one of those people who tends to fluctuate between being stingy and being careless almost at random. When she has a limited supply and is primarily holding onto cash, she tends to be a bit more picky about how she goes about spending it, but if given a credit card, all that careful reserve goes out the door. It’s a trick a lot of people fall into, and Higuchi is no exception to that rule. Because she is unable to count physical wads of cash, she doesn’t actually realize how much she’s spending when using something like credit. And, she’s typically one of those impulsive buyers--if there’s something cool on the market and she wants to buy it, if given enough credit to do so, she’ll buy it regardless if she’ll actually use it in the next few months. She’s not really the best when it comes to making wise purchases, so her sister is often doing the budgeting work.

° - The character’s temperature preferences

Higuchi isn’t really the type of person who frets a lot about temperature, but I can see her being a total weakling when it’s boiling outside. Even if she’s inside with the air conditioner on full blast, she’ll be sweating like crazy and much too exhausted to work on reports properly--missions during a particularly hot summer day is complete agony to this woman. She won’t complain about the temperature vocally, but you can see that it in her face and in her slow, sluggish steps that she just wants to duck inside the ice cream parlor from across the way. That being said, Higuchi can definitely handle cold weather like a pro and can seem to take on snow and sleet with an amazing fortitude. It’s probably safe to say that she would rather it be cool than hot.

æ - The character and languages (Known or Want to Learn)

She unfortunately doesn’t know that many. Beyond her native tongue and some common phrases of English, Higuchi isn’t very well-versed in other languages. She’s very much interested in learning; I can’t really say if there’s any specific one language she wants to know, just that she wants to have a good grasp of each, enough to at least get her by if she were to spend a good amount of time in any one foreign place. If Higuchi were to request any, it would probably be Italian, German, Russian, or Latin. She’s quite interested in the non-Romantic tongues--they seem really cool for some reason.

♥ - Character’s preference for relationships (sexuality, type of person, etc.)

Higuchi really doesn’t have much in the way of preferences. She tends to find whoever attractive, attractive for some reason. This may be due to how her personality tends to see only the good in people--or, rather, their more positive characteristics since most of the people she tends to work with are of Mafia stock--and, as such, tends to think everyone is beautiful in a way. She seems mostly attracted to more graceful and mysterious figures--those who maintain a sense of aloofness and tend to prefer a much more quiet lifestyle. Higuchi also seems like the type who finds pleasure in taking care or helping her significant others, so someone who doesn’t have too much of an independence streak will be preferable. She tends to like calmer personalities due to how nervous she tends to be.

zzz - What time the character enjoys sleep or being awake

Higuchi enjoys sleeping whenever sleeping has no consequence. For instance, sleeping at home during the night or sleeping on a long car ride to somewhere new. When she has nothing to be fretful over, sleep becomes a much-awaited friend, especially if it was after a particularly hard week of reports and missions. That being said, there are moments when sleep becomes almost a long-standing rival. If there’s stuff to be done or things to do, she would much rather be awake than be asleep--doesn’t mean this is always the case though, as she seems to have a bad habit of falling asleep when doing particularly dull reports. Higuchi would prefer to stay awake the entire day, then be asleep during the night.

☂ - Weather the character enjoys

She really likes cool autumn evenings, when the sun is starting to go down and the intensity of the afternoon heat has finally be uplifted. Higuchi likes to sit outside sometimes and watch the sunset while drinking a mug of hot chocolate, especially when the leaves have already turned into those red, golden colors. The scene is just so pretty! It’s a shame nothing can be quite as gorgeous as a cool, autumn dusk. She seems much more at ease then than doing absolutely anything else.

♪ - What music the character likes

Higuchi seems to like the more upbeat songs. Anything that seems calming, happy, or sentimental often strikes her fancy. Pop songs, love songs, silly songs, and the occasional concert piece (nothing too grandiose, though, as it tends to ruin her mood) will often do. Anything that would sound similar to Ludo, Jack Johnson, Ed Sheeren, Walk the Moon, Imagine Dragons, or PhemieC would be your best bet. She would also like something similar to Set It Off’s newer albums: Duality and Upside Down. Higuchi is kind of all over the place to be frank, but anything that has a light and bouncy tune would be your best best.

( =①ω①=) - What animals the character likes and if they have a pet/pets

She, unfortunately, does not own any pets--Higuchi never really had gotten around to getting any, though it’s something that she does really want to partake in. Out of the animals she would prefer, Higuchi seems to find dogs the most appealing. They’re loyal, cute, and absolutely love to cuddle. She would really love to get one of those big, fluffy dogs that are super friendly towards other people and strangers. The ones that always want to cuddle with you and you end up under 50 pounds of fur. She wants one of those. Unfortunately, their apartment is a little too small to house one, so something like an American Eskimo Dog will suffice. Higuchi really wants a Great Pyrenees though.

⊙﹏☉ = What flusters the character

Higuchi always seems flustered, though this is more so due to her social awkwardness than it has to do with anything else. She tends to be quite nervous around her superiors, though if a subordinate gives any indication that she’s doing something out of line, this can make her even more nervous than having Akutagawa or Mori around. Tripping, dropping, crashing into other people, crashing into walls, and anything of the like out in public will make her extremely anxious as she feels like she’s drawn attention to herself when it wasn’t even necessary. Having the spotlight suddenly thrusted onto Higuchi or making her take command of a situation will also make her incredibly flustered.

(≧∇≦) = What makes the character happy

Things that tend to make her happy are but are not limited to: sweets and candies (those French macarons are her favorites, and anything with fruity, tart flavors tend to be preferred over classics like vanilla and chocolate); books (particularly darker, occult, more romantic-oriented genres--I can also see her being a fan of the A Song of Fire and Ice book series, which is just the official series tiles for Game of Thrones); hot chocolate; music; hanging out with her sister and going shopping; and just really not having to worry over something. She also really likes to daydream and occasionally have flights of fantasy when in private. If given the opportunity though, she would love to talk to someone about all the different lives she has going on inside that head of hers--that would make her really happy.

(/□＼*)・゜ - What makes the character blush

Higuchi tends to blush whenever she has done something that would bring shame upon herself or upon the organization she is working for as a whole. Since she’s a bit of a klutz, this tends to happen much more frequently than she is willing to admit. If someone of importance is there to witness it, she berates herself to an almost endless degree. Another thing that would embarrass Higuchi to no end is displeasing someone in her attempts to be helpful, or at least to be kind. Even if it was something silly for them to get over, Higuchi has a tendency to place the blame entirely on her shoulders, so she beats herself much more than she ought to, especially if the situation was unnecessary to begin with. As such, an embarrassed Higuchi will probably end up as a depressed Higuchi.

(;╹⌓╹) - What scares the character

She tends to be quite scared of the littlest of things really. Ghost stories and haunted houses and the supernatural don’t freak her out as much as...per see...writing a terrible report. Or, tripping in public. Or, failing a mission. Or, even, making everyone hate her. One of Higuchi’s greatest fears is that people won’t find her of use anymore, or no one will need her the same one as one needs a best friend. She wants people to come to her and appreciate her, she wants to be good at something, so good that no one can do the job quite as well as she can. What scares her the most is being essentially of no use to anyone anymore, and dying alone. There’s something about it that just seems empty and that emptiness frankly scares her half to death already. It would be quite hard to get something like that out of her, though.

（；へ：） - What makes the character cry

Higuchi is a rather sensitive individual, though she tries to hide this fact from the other mafia members so she doesn’t appear so weak. It’s not necessarily violence that she’s sensitive to, it’s other people’s words and what she presumes they think of her as. If someone were to shout at her and berate her and say some pretty nasty things, it would be enough to send Higuchi flying back home in tears. However, the same woman will come back and go about her job albeit in a much more quiet or saddened manner. She doesn’t like getting into squabbles with her friends or co-workers, so any sort of situation that provides such conflict will make her quite visibly upset. Sometimes, stress may cause her to breakdown--a week of accumulating failed missions will certainly make her upset. Higuchi will also cry while watching sad movies, or witnessing a sappy moment.

(´ q ` ” ) - The character’s “guilty” pleasure

Higuchi is really into the occult sort of things. If one were to look in her room, they will find books on palm-reading, astrology, spirits, demons, and other such topics. Although she doesn’t like modern-day horror films, Higuchi does have a collection of Alfred Hitchcock movies and old classics like Frankenstein and Dracula. She really likes ghost stories too and has a tendency to buy those books with multiple horror stories in them just to get inspired. On the lighter side, Higuchi will often read her week’s horoscope while in the office, and one can often see that she’s writing all this information down in a journal of sorts. She’ll also bring tarot cards into the headquarters on the off chance someone doesn’t mind having their fortune told for the day.

(*^◇^)_旦 - What the character likes to eat and drink

I’ve mentioned Higuchi’s love for sweets before, but I can imagine that she likes to eat a lot of traditional Japanese food. That being said, I can also see her eating a lot of junk food too, like fast food, pizza, and even instant ramen if she was really in the mood for it. Higuchi isn’t really all that picky when it comes to eating food, and she’s willing to try anything at least once. Although she has spent most of her early life eating homemade cooking, she tends to enjoy less-than-quality food just as much, maybe even more so. As for drinks, Higuchi is a big fan of tea, hot chocolate, and sake. She’s not really one for coffee unless it’s sweetened; as such, she tends to enjoy Starbucks and Panera-type stuff.

｡ﾟ(TヮT)ﾟ｡ - What makes the character laugh

Higuchi is often highly amused by watching other people’s antics. Seeing as she tends to observe more than she does act, she often finds watching everyone else fluster and flounder to be quite the entertaining act. She also seems to like teasing other people, and finds enjoyment in watching them get embarrassed over something so little. Most of the time though, Higuchi tends to laugh mostly from her nerves, so a lot of the laughter from her will err towards being what one would call shaky or uncertain. She thinks it dispels anything awkward that she may have said, though it typically doesn’t. Higuchi has her own unique sense of humor, so she tends to laugh more so from things people don’t quite understand (often from an observation she may have made; people don’t realize how incredibly observant she is).

( ⌒o⌒)人(⌒-⌒ ) - Friends the character has or would like to make

It’s pretty easy to assume that Higuchi is friends with most of the Black Lizard. She wants to be friends with Akutagawa, and considers herself his friend, though I think it’s fair to say that this relationship is a little one-sided (one Akutagawa in particular thinks of her as more of an annoyance than an actual friend). I feel like the same applies for Gin, though I think Gin is a little more friendly to Higuchi--again, not quite sure. She seems to get along quite well with Chuuya, as far as I know--I think it’s safe to assume she’s friends with at least one of them. She’s also pretty close friends with Ikuro (@mayonakanoryuu); he may in fact be her closest friend by far. And, of course, Higuchi’s best friend is her little sister, Kuniko. I think that’s everyone of note.

#{{ a shot in the dark - HEADCANONS }}#{{ fire at point blank - ASK }}#{{ dodged a bullet - ANSWERED }}#++nakaharaxchuuya++#++RP++#++IC++#//thanks for the ask!#//<3 #//wHY WAS THERE SO MANY??#//wHY DID THIS TAKE SO LONG??#//I'M FINALLY DONE #nakaharaxchuuya

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