#save me the acolyte you're my only hope

[tremendouskoalachild]

filoni and favreau: NO tie-ins for our shows!! only we can play with our ocs! don't tell us what to do, story group 🙄 don't you know we're making it up as we go along. oh you want to make a comprehensive reference book for star wars? too bad, we haven't established even a vague timeline like 5 seasons in. you want basic information about the setting we're writing in? fuck off. yeah we can borrow other writer's characters. no you can't write books and comics with ours. adapt the show as is and sell merch of green baby

[serene-faerie]

Fall of Númenor Dashboard Simulator

🦢 fruitofnimloth Following

I don't know what kind of propaganda everyone's been drinking lately, but some of y'all are really starting to scare me.

So friendly reminder:

We're not. Meant. To be immortal.

We already have a longer lifespan than most normal humans. Stop being so entitled, y'all.

💎 immortal-warrior Follow

How is it entitled to think that it's unfair that we don't get to be immortal? If it weren't for us, Sauron would've conquered all of Middle-earth!

We deserve immortality for kicking Sauron's ass!

🦢 fruitofnimloth Following

This is exactly the kind of entitlement I was talking about.

#my posts #the gift of men

( 23,456 notes )

🔥 priestess-of-melkor Follow

You became Melkor's acolyte to gain immortality.

I became Melkor's acolyte to

✨ fuck Zigûr ✨

We are not the same.

( 560 notes )

🛡️ lordofandunie18 Follow

CALLOUT FOR AR-PHARAZÔN

This will be my very last post.

For the sake of Númenor, I have to try and appeal to the Valar, just as Eärendil did back in the First Age. If I fail to return, I want all of my followers to pack up and prepare to leave. It's only a matter of time before this island comes to ruin.

Before I leave, I must spread the truth about the king. Though it pains me to do this, I cannot stand by and let his cruelty pass anymore. Here's the truth about Ar-Pharazôn, King of Númenor.

TW: rape, incest, domestic abuse, blasphemy against the Valar, violence.

Read more

( 36 notes )

🌾 farmgirlofnumenor Following

Okay, anyone else seriously angry about this new temple that the king's building right now???

Before anyone yells at me, I'm not a Faithful, but I'm not one of the King's Men. I'm just sick of the king's overspending on stupid projects and his obsession with becoming immortal.

There are food shortages in the countryside! People are starving to death and all the king cares about is building this temple! But all these nobles care about is immortality, and I'm just so tired of it all.

Oh, and if you come at me about how I should be blaming the Valar or worshiping Melkor, I will block you.

🌿 forest-lover Follow

Well said, my friend!

All the people criticizing you in the notes must be city people feeling so called out for spending their money on cheap makeup and fake treatments. If you feel insulted by this post, then you're part of the problem.

Quit focusing on making yourselves immortal and focus on helping your people for once!

( 150 notes )

👑 jewel-daughter-miriel Following

The storms are growing worse. The ground is shaking beneath my feet, and I can see smoke coming from the Meneltarma.

This will most likely be my last post. Númenor is lost, and there's no hope of saving it.

I can only hope that the end will come quickly.

( 50 notes )

🕊️ pelargirl Mutuals

Istg the King's Men are so entitled.

They all act like they deserve immortality because they happen to have longer lifespans than most humans.

But you're all ready to sacrifice innocent people and wage war in the south, all because you kicked Sauron's ass thousands of years ago.

You're all awful people and I hope that Eru smites you all.

#i'm so glad i fled to pelargir #to all my faithful friends still in romenna #please stay safe #vent posts #do not reblog

( 9 notes )

🦂 harad-traveller Follow

Reblog if you want a giant wave to swallow Númenor

Likes to charge, reblogs to cast!

💠 long-live-westernesse Follow

Wow, this is so rude. We literally introduced so many things to you Haradrim and this is how you thank us???

And y'all wonder why we destroyed your cities.

🏜️ deserts-of-the-south Follow

Anyways, reblog to destroy Númenor!

#entitled numenoreans

( 500,738 notes )

⚔️ soldier-of-armenelos Follow

*kicks down door*

WAKE UP BABES WE'RE INVADING THE UNDYING LANDS

LET'S GOOOOOOOO!!!!

( 5,650 notes )

🐋 nostalgic-numenor Follow

The coastline of Hyarrostar, before the Shadow

#vintage photos #numenor #faithful #elendili #hyarrostar #nostalgia

( 365 notes )

🐚 faithful-and-tired Following

Is it bad that I actually kinda enjoy watching Númenor sink? I mean, it sucks that my home is gone, but after everything that Ar-Pharazôn did, I'm just glad that the trash took itself out.

I hope Sauron also got swept up in that wave.

🌊 maidenofandustar Follow

Bro people are dying wtf is wrong with you???

I say this as someone whose sister was sacrificed by the King's Men. I know we all suffered, but not all of those people were King's Men!

We should never celebrate innocent people dying, or we're no better than Ar-Pharazôn and Sauron.

🐚 faithful-and-tired Following

Girl my entire family was sacrificed in the Temple of Melkor.

I really don't care about 'being the bigger person'.

I just hope Ar-Pharazôn and all of those pathetic King's Men are drowning like rats right now.

( 115 notes )

🗡️ isildur3209 Following

We finally arrived in Middle-earth. It was a rough journey, but we're all safe, if not a little tired.

My brother, wife, and son are safe and sound. However, we got separated from our father's ship thanks to the waves. Don't know what we're gonna do, but for now, I'm gonna take some time to rest and grieve for my home.

#personal #numenor

( 45 notes )

Previous post here

[honey-minded-hivemind]

(X men Evolution) Platonic Yandere Trio Wanda, Quicksilver and Magneto and Magneto's youngest child reader from a one night stand who has Technopathy and who's mom was killed protecting her from anti mutant groups and the social worker contacted Magneto because his name is in the birth certificate and asked him if he wanted custody of them.

Ooooo! Thank you for specifying which X-Men media you wanted! (But I only do gender neutral Readers, okay?) I'll see what I can do:

It was hard, not having your mom around anymore.

She died protecting you, doing everything in her power to keep you safe, to let you have a chance at a normal childhood, and how was she repayed? The people of your old town killed her. They had meant to kill you, but she took the bullet for you. You were lucky to be alive, lucky to have been moved to a safe place...

But...

Now you were moving in with someone you'd never met before.

He was supposedly your dad. Or at least who your mom claimed was. She'd never really mentioned him before, save when she needed to give you hope for a better future, when you'd be safe to use your powers and not be attacked for it.

His name was supposedly Magnus, and it turned out he had two other kids: Wanda and Pietro, twins.

They hadn't been mean or jealous (what was there to be jealous about? you're a younger sibling with trauma), but they did act... stange? In a way. Always hovering nearby, trying to keep the other Brotherhood teens from being near you or talking with you.

You think your first bonding moment with them was when you and the group had gone to an arcade for fun. The machines hummed with life, with energy... And you had just the game you enjoyed just waiting to be played.

The claw machine.

The poor thing hadn't been able to give a reward for all the money it was given, but you were just the person to make it right. With a few quarters, and a quick snap of electricity, you had the machine buzzing with your commands. The first stuffed animal was a hummingbird, with bright blue wings and a white stomach. The second was an owl with bright red eyes. Soon to follow were more and more little animals, until the entire plushie receptacle was filled to the brim with your rewards.

You shocked the poor guy behind the ticket counter, who looked tired and flabbergasted. And it seemed you'd surprised your siblings, too...

"Take it. They look like you," you pushed as you shoved the two birds into their arms. You'd already packed the rest of the stuffies into large plastic bags, hopefully to send to the local children's hospital.

"How does this look like me?" Pietro asked, looking over the hummingbird in blurred movements. "Couldn't it have been, like, a falcon, or something?"

"... Why an owl?" Wanda asks.

"You're fast and can perform any trick in the book. So can hummingbirds! Can you see a falcon flying backwards? Also, an owl because you've got the whole witch aesthetic, and it looks like you! It even has black and red feathers!"

"... Tch... Fine..."

"... It will be my familiar..."

"Yay! Now, let's go give the others their's!"

"Wait, you got them some too?!"

After that, the twins were just-

Everywhere.

And if they couldn't be there, one of the other Brotherhood teens was instead. It only became a problem when someone tried to bully you.

Safe to say...

"Mess with them again and you won't live to make the same mistake again!"

"Let's see how well you do in basketball now, loser!"

The guy who'd try to pick on you now earned the full ire of Wanda AND Pietro, who made his life h*ll. And what those two decreed, the others followed.

People left you alone after that.

Of course, when you wanted to hide from everyone or hide your tracks...

You messed with the computers and lights.

"Ah man, I can't see like this!"

"Is it a power outage?"

"Someone get the janitor!"

Being in control of technology was pretty awesome.

It wasn't so fun when your dad found out.

"Reader... perhaps you would like to join my Acolytes? We would have much need of your mutation."

You took one look at the people your... dad, had on his elite team... And decided:

"Um... I'm good, sir..."

"Very well... And you may call me 'father'."

"Erm... okay... Father..."

What you didn't see happening in the shadows was your father having his Acolytes preparing a space for you anyway, so one day you could be with them. What you didn't see was Wanda giving nightmares and accidents to your bully, sending them into a chaotic spiral. What you didn't see was Pietro following you wherever you went, spying from as far or near as he liked, and telling Wanda and Magneto everything he saw.

You may have thought you were being given some control, but in honesty... That control was only an illusion.

If you ever tried to leave or go to the X-Men, you'd just find yourself kept captive, bound in metal chains where no one would ever find you, save for your loving family... They wouldn't risk losing their little technopath, the one member of their small family who can temper their personalities... So don't try to run, or they'll cut off any small control you have for good.

[vonpharma]

w[h]ip wednesday: blocked by sicktember edition

welcome to whip wednesday! did you know the sicktember mods blocked me despite me being an avid fan of theirs for years, contributing 60 works and over 190k words, and hyping up their event in my social circles the whole time? i still do not know why this happened! i am pretty sure it's because i posted some very lukewarm critique about how the event was being run, on my personal blog where they had to go digging to find it.

i'm obviously heartbroken and pretty stressed about that but i've got a whole spreadsheet of planning done and a shit ton of fills ready to go so whatever. highly recommend not supporting the event this year or for the foreseeable future (there's talks of a new mod. if you're reading this, wanna unblock me?) because i'm starting to think the event runners might just be mean!

do, however, lavish me with praise. i will be writing sickfic until the end of the fucking universe, and when the new sickfic event makes their grand debut i will be kissing their feet.

here's some franmaya from my day 4!

With a confirmation of their reservation—curious, Franziska’s twisting expression seems to say, why would one need a reservation for a botanical garden?—the single employee standing stationary heaves the lock off the gates. They part as if heralding the arrival of something far grander than two young prodigies celebrating an anniversary—not even a proper one, something far more juvenile. Still, Maya feels nothing short of royal as she’s entering the sprawling, lush grounds—and the wonder sewn into every square of Franziska’s face tells her she’s not alone.

“Maya,” Franziska says, wandering toward the boundless stretch of camellia bushes, “what did you… the whole place is…”

“Empty?” Maya grins. “Yeah, happy anniversary, babe. Go wild.”

And Franziska looks at her like she’s hung the stars. How long Maya has waited for that look.

Because Franziska is rich. Loaded, even. There was so little you could buy for the woman who could buy herself anything, especially on Maya’s comparatively meager income. Her only saving grace was in the fact that Franziska was a workaholic to a fault who rarely thought of leisure, or pleasure, or earthly desires—so much so that the religious acolyte from the mountain commune was somehow less detached from those pleasures than she. Maya couldn’t often pay, but she could conceptualize.

This time, though. A year’s worth of saving, and planning, and praying… and finally, with all her ducks in a line, Maya was able to find a gift befitting of the wonderful creature who’d allowed her a space in their shared life. A few hours in the moonlight, wandering around the emerald sprawl of the biggest botanical garden in all of SoCal, with no one to bother them but the bugs chirping in the thicket.

A Franziskan paradise. A perfect night. Or it would be, if not for…

Another muffled sneeze escapes into the collar of her winter jacket, and it takes all of Maya’s willpower not to groan in sore irritation on the tail end of it. They’re starting to hurt, now, barreling through her with little regard for the shredded state of her throat or the date with the pretty girl she is currently trying to go on. It’s been relentless ever since last night, and Maya had hoped and prayed to Mystic Ami herself that she not be sick on her two-year anniversary that she’d spent ages arranging. As fate would have it, though, even Mystic Ami could not cure the common cold.

(Despite what the dusty tomes buried in the archives back home said….)

Luckily, even overdoting Franziska seems far too distracted right about now to notice that’s what’s happening. If this were any other situation, Maya’s sure Franziska’s searing blues would lock onto her like a vulture that’s just spotted a bloating corpse. Thankfully, the flowers are very distracting.

“It’s all…” Franziska is powerwalking from bush to bush in an erratic, excitable zigzag. “Maya Fey, is this whole garden nothing but camellias?”

“I dunno babe,” Maya sniffles once, twice, “you’re the expert. You tell me.”

Coming to a slow halt, Franziska allows herself to look out across the expanse—flowers as far as the eye can see, still in full bloom despite the bite of winter. In all colours, in all sizes, lit only by the far-off insomnia of the city, the moonlight peeking through the cloudy skies.

“I just—” Franziska turns back to Maya, glowing brightest of all, “—can’t believe the variety here, look at all this…”

Maya wanders closer to her side, feeling sunlit despite the chills that are quickly growing harder to ignore. Franziska kneels down to graze a gloved thumb across a velvety red petal, and Maya squats far less elegantly beside her, tilting her head awkwardly back in an attempt to keep her nose from running. 

“I can’t believe it,” Franziska marvels, “Maya, this is quite literally a historical specimen. You’ve brought me to the home of the oldest camellia in all of Southern California.”

“Yo, for real?” Maya stares at the flower, completely unremarkable to her own untrained eye. “Did this bitch know the dinosaurs?”

“No, nothing like that…” Franziska chuckles, continuing to cradle the flower in her hands as though it is the most precious thing in the world. “They’re Asian in origin. This one in particular is one of a kind, having traveled here from Japan in the 1800s.”

“Woah. Just like me for real.”

As she says it, Maya presses her cheek against Franziska’s own, that brand of endearing obnoxiousness that the two of them loved so much. Their hair bunches and tangles in between them, but Franziska leans into her beloved rather than away.

“I didn’t know winter flowers were a thing,” Maya lies, prompting her girlfriend to spring back to her feet, gesticulating vastly and passionately with her arms. 

“Oh, they’re some of the loveliest flowers in existence!” God, she’s so cute when she’s infodumping. “Camellias are some of my favourite of all, in fact I’d even heard of the breadth of this collection of them before coming to the states! It’s comprehensive reputation is largely the work of a single German botanist who traveled here in 1878, so naturally I was already in the know…”

Ever the savant, she carries on. Maya thinks she could listen to a phonebook being read, so long as it was drenched in Franziska’s wonderful, captivating, rounded accent.

[rien-maz]

And so, I finished watching this show and you know, dumber than this show can only be the Disney cartoon of the century, for both are storyless, holey, raw and meaningless pictures that make you want to wash your eyes out.

So this is a continuation or addition to the first post about analyzing this "miracle". https://www.tumblr.com/rien-maz/755293709600456704/and-so-i-avoiding-all-spoilers-finished-my

First, I still had hope that Leslie would deign to "plug" the plot holes in the last two episodes, but no, that didn't happen.

After watching, there are still a bunch of questions and here are a few of them:

How did Mei get saved? How did our Sith pretty boy find her? How were the two twins created? Why are they the same person? Why does Darth Plagas show up there? What is his significance? Why doesn't physics work in this show? Why the fuck is Yoda suddenly unable to sense with the jedi force? What role does Mei's mark on her forehead play? Why are the two sisters acolyte? And so it goes on and on ad infinitum.

A little disclaimer: this post will contain rude words and phrases, heaps of sarcasm, and a suggestion that the ratings of this show be collapsed for spitting Leslie Hadland in the face of all Star Wars fans.

Let's start with the seventh episode: Leslie apparently wanted to add action to her terrible picture and filmed a scene of Saul chasing after Mei, trying to mimic Fast and Furious. But!

Before that, I had a question, how does Mei know about the concept of hell? Because I don't remember the star wars universe talking about heaven and hell even once. If my memory serves me correctly, all dead souls "fall into the Force".

Oh yeah, in this fine series we also have the "unkillable protagonist" principle at work, who went through the atmosphere at breakneck speed and didn't even bother to use the Force to slow his fall. Yeah, yeah, screw the basic skills of Force users.

I laughed at the conversation between the Senator and our main antagonist in the form of a green-skinned woman (I didn't even try to remember her name and I won't apologize for that). Did you smell something in that scene?

Oh yes, the romanticization of violence, particularly the dark side of the Force. Leslie, ignoring all the laws of Lucas' universe, made the Sith not the rapists and murderers who are alien to the humanity and compassion that kept slaves during the Emperor's reign on Dromund Kaas, and not only in those times. Even going back to the origins of the Sith, we know that the Sith were a race that lived on Korriban (if I remember correctly), and wow, you wouldn't believe it! They had slaves as a class in society too. Leslie made the Sith the poor saps that crave freedom from Jedi oppression.

Leslie is fucked up if she wants to romanticize those who killed, who betrayed, who plotted against each other, who destroyed, who perverted and who are simply evil in the flesh (the same Nikhilus, Darth Plagas, Darth Bane, Darth Tyranus, Darth Sidious (where else), etc.). Basically, Leslie romanticized Anakin Skywalker's killing of children with such a moment. After all, oh oh oh oh he's a poor guy who chose to be free of a "delusional cult".

Well done! Way to go! Good point, because killing other people is so cool, right, Leslie Hadland? That's what you're doing in this fucking show, saying that all Jedi are fucking egomaniacs who care about their own feelings and emotions (Mace Windu, Plo Koon, Obi-Wan Kenobi and the rest of the Jedi, along with their codes and teachings, fuck you).

But back to the series and its dumb plot, which there isn't.

Where were we? Oh yeah, on how I'm trashing this whole show and Leslie.

So, let's get on with it. The actors' performance was mentioned in the first post, so I won't repeat for the hundredth time what characters are flat, emotionless and so on. But I will talk about the motivation of the characters, that is, its absence. Seriously, neither the handsome Sith, nor Mei, nor Saul, nor Osha has any motivation. Osha hasn't changed at all since the first episode, she doesn't learn anything and just moves from one point to another just because other characters drag her there.

Zimmir's motivation for taking Acolyte's child as an apprentice is incomprehensible at all, simply because Leslie forgot to tell him what he's for and what powers he has.

I also have a question about the transformation of Oshi's lightsaber from blue to red. Because I only remember about the synthetic crystals that the Sith used to create their sword. But after poking around on the internet, I removed that statement. I didn't get a chance to pick on Leslie, unfortunately.

The biggest complaint about the last two episodes is where Mundi went and why Yoda, being the most powerful Jedi, didn't feel Zimmer cut out a group of Jedi and didn't feel cheated by Rowe (oh! I even remembered her name!) Why does the Jedi High Council care so absolutely nothing about missing and dead Jedi? Oh yeah, Leslie wants to show that, say, look what scum and moral freaks the Jedi are, just selfish!

In general, I could grumble for a long time, but I think you understood the main point and also realized how stupid this series is. As Dmitry Puchkov said "wasted time is a pity. One hundred percent digested feces."

So, in the end, what do we have? Osha and Zimmir's love line; Jedi egomaniacs and the romanticization of violence.

In fact, I suggest that for this spit, no, for the fact that Leslie spit in the face of Star Wars fans, to collapse the rating of this product on all platforms, so that Leslie realized that it is not worth offending fans.

[tobiasdrake]

Another flashback, but we've reached the important part: Where I show up!

We saw them as aspirational role models, but they just wanted out. There was so much that went unsaid during those years.

We were young when they started to betray us. This was only "A few years later". We're like five in this flashback.

What a raw deal of an offer.

Teaks explained to me how this works. There isn't a "more favorable" world out there. The multiverse consists of parallel timelines spinning out of Resh'an and Aephorul's conflict here.

There are three kinds of worlds: Worlds undergoing the same conflict we're fighting now, worlds where we lost and everything was consumed by a World Eater, and worlds where we won and the Guardian Gods now bar the Fleshmancer from touching them.

This conflict is the context that governs the multiverse. There is nothing outside of it. The only "more favorable" worlds are ones where we've already won.

And to be honest? I have my doubts that these jackasses can access one of those. Kinda seems like preventing such a thing from happening is the whole point of Guardian Gods, isn't it?

I had complicated feelings about Erlina and Bugraves before, especially after they ruined my fake birthday party. But those feelings are getting simpler by the moment. These guys played them for suckers.

Hahahahahaha no

Can you imagine accepting that offer? "Sure, shady person; Not only will I take you at your word that you're going to give me a better life, but I'll also let you rewrite my memories however you see fit so that I think our deal was whatever you want me to think it was!"

*deep breath* They told them about Torment. Okay, that's unsimplifying and recomplicating my feelings.

Torment was a checkmate of a Dweller. Absolutely. 100%. Its physical location, buried where the eclipse could never touch it, meant there was no way we were ever going to stop it. Even if we killed Woe and even if Strife didn't return, Torment would feed unimpeded until it became a World Eater.

No matter what we did, our timeline was doomed. We were only able to slay Torment because we had... whatever Serai is... with us. She's not a resource that the Solstice Warriors could ever have planned for. She doesn't factor into the calculus.

...this is the first I'm hearing of that condition. When were they going to tell us about it?

I kinda do. I get where you're coming from. Now more than ever.

But. Also? We killed Torment. I know killing Torment was impossible, but we did it. We killed Torment. So. Y'know. If you hadn't ruined my fake birthday then this would be over.

I don't think this is as simple as "right" answer or "wrong" answer. There was a meteor hurtling towards the planet, guaranteed to wipe out all life. Someone came to you and said, "Hey man, I can offer you and your loved ones passage on a spaceship to a new world if you'll help me set off nuclear armaggeddon ahead of the meteor's impact."

It's a moral conundrum. Let everyone die, or save the people you care about in exchange for everyone else dying faster. You're not really selling them out because they're screwed either way, but you are becoming personally responsible for their fate.

I get it. This isn't really about right or wrong.

But it is factional. You made your choice and we made ours. Either someone's going to have to budge, or someone's going to have to break.

We're coming up on the castle now. All of the mushrooms have faces which, as a botanophobe, is a solid 10 on the OH FUCK THAT scale. Once we cross this marsh, we should be clear to enter the castle and confront the Acolytes... and Strife.

I hope they have windows in the castle. We don't have the element of surprise; They tried to stop us from reaching Pocket Eclipse so we should assume they know we have it. But we do have Pocket Eclipse, which is an advantage all on its own.

I feel good about this. We're screwed, but we're going to go down swinging.

Someone seems to be living here. ...hey, wait a second. I just thought of something.

Didn't Teaks say that Yoyo lives in a swamp? Do you think she was talking about this swamp? This is the swampiest region of any island we've been to, save for Roro's swamp. We should keep an eye out for Yoyo.

Supposedly, she's super good at prophesizing. She might have some actually good prophecies for us.

Oh, this has to be Yoyo's home. I can't wait to meet her!

She's not exactly what I expected. But she's not not what I expected either, if that makes sense.

Don't worry, I know all about you. The mystical embodiment of centrism itself. I have absolute confidence that you'll play me straight, because good or bad, you're allergic to the entire concept of agendas.

Not an ally but potentially a valuable resource. I know the drill.

Okay, so we're not getting prophecies, then.

Well, we're on a pretty grand arc. Whole timeline could be decided by what happens in that castle. Do you have anything to share about that, at least?

Damn. Well, at least we tried. Elder Mist and Oracle of Tides both gave us prophecies that we suck too hard to achieve, and Yoyo can only see "grand arcs". I'm beginning to think that divination is overrated as a school of magic.

Or maybe we will get something? She seems pretty freaked out about TIA. Who, to be fair, is absolutely a person to be freaked out by for anyone who recognizes him.

Which is a lot. A lot of people seem to be recognizing him. Maybe this was a mistake, my guy.

[ashitakaxsan]

Utterly futile the thoughts, hopes for a romance Anya x Damian (Spy x Family)

Warnings:

a)It contains many Spoilers.

b) Never trust fully the Wiki articles about this or any fandom. Understanding the incidents, events, and motives behind any action requires seeing, and reading the series. Why? See below.

The fandom of Spy x Family is buzzing with excitement over the possibility of an Anya x Damian romance. I used to believe about a romance. It’s easy to see why: Two young kids from opposite worlds, with the weight of their families and expectations pressing down on them, working to navigate the uneasy waters of Eden College.

Is the whole setup for a classic romance realistic? Is it something Anya should even want?

How could've the WISE director assumed it so easy that any kid could become a buddy of this boy?

Damian Desmond: Arrogance Born of Privilege

From the moment Damian Desmond stepped into Eden College, he clearly feels like the center of the universe and demands the people be his humble acolytes. His father’s shadow looms large, shaping his every interaction and decision. Damian’s arrogance is not just a personal trait—it’s a survival mechanism in a world where his family’s name is everything.

Chapter 8:

His constant dismissal and disdain for many of his peers, especially Anya, highlight a deep-seated sense of superiority that stems from his upbringing. And he can

Anya is established as a weird contrast,the child of "commoners" in a big lake full of children of wealthy and prestigious .: Officially her father is a "psychiatrist at Berlint Hospital", and her mother a clerk at Berlint City Hall. She has to keep secret the true professions of both her father "Loid", aka secret agent of WISE Twilight, and of her surrogate mother Yor, aka "Thorn Princess", the best professional assassin in the whole of Ostania, employed by the Secret organization "Garden".

Spoilers follow. A need to understand how badly all started between them, on the orientation day at Eden College.

"What do your parents do? Depending on how important they are, I could let you be my friend." "Papa is a mind doctor".

"Hmpf, that's not special. I bet you're poor too."

And the situation kept going bad: Anya despite smiling around-confirmed she's higher than petty mentality- got her the intense anger of Damian and the high appreciation by Becky Blackblell. 'You're more mature than I thought. I see you in a new light".

Insult upon insult by him made her punch him. She could get expelled, but Housemaster Henderson loosened the demerit bending it to a Tonitrus. Her first ever.

Her eventual attempts to tear-filled apology to him have failed(:

Anya's attempts to befriend him, as usual, derive from the desire to boost her father’s mission, feels like a Sisyphean task *1—one she’s dutifully shouldered despite Damian’s either silent or obvious contempt.

"Shut up and give me the paper".

See below the Sisyphean task.

Chapter 37 of how he shuns the other kids, classmates

Rain of Tonitrus: A Case of Urgent Help, and Selfishness

Below Chapter 61: Her kind move of lending her handkerchief to Damian, saving him from a Tonitrus to ensure Plan B. But she didn't have a reserve, thus resulting in her second Tonitrus. Talk about self-sacrifice for a mission with a high priority: Saving the fragile peace between the West and the East. Watch how confident she is, having assumed she can make it nice and clean.

She saved him from a Tonitrus, by taking one she didn't deserve. Read him well, without the stupid notions "he has a crush on her"," he's a tsundere" etc. As we see his intense anger on Anya: What's not apparent isn't her move, but the selfish boy's discrimination about where he'll find a hand of help. His squinting, angry glare is one of his traits. "I can't tell you how it sickens me to be indebted to the likes of you", he says to her.

Anya’s everyday struggle to connect with Damian is both painful and telling. For her, working to win his friendship isn’t only about achieving her father’s goals—it’s about navigating the complex social hierarchies of a world so different from the one she had known. But let’s face it: Damian isn’t just a “tsundere” waiting to be melted by Anya’s kindness. His disdain is real, and it’s rooted in his belief that being a Desmond is an inherent privilege that sets him above others. Is it really fair to expect 5-year-old Anya to unlock the closed, stone-cold heart of an utterly Arrogant, Belligerent kid?

The Hijacked Buses Arc

I disagree with fans who call her "not smart". Due to the rough treatment, at the hands of the mysterious organization, she grew a resentment on studying. In a way that is yet to be revealed, these scientists could never even anticipate her actions, she made an effective plan and escaped from their facilities. It's an indication of her possessing a decent level of street smarts.

Even a great gift, such as mind reading, demands a degree of sharpness. The moment she read Vadim's mind about his decision to bomb the school bus when the SSS Commandos would storm it, she knew she had to buy time to save her classmates, and the commandos as well. Surprisingly ,against all odds, she managed to persuade the leader of the Red Circus to abandon their agenda and surrender to the authorities.

Thanks to her quick, profound thinking, everyone emerged from the crisis unscathed. So it seemed everything would come for her: Combined with his debt to her, her handkerchief, and the crisis solution: having achieved friendship(on good, solid foundations) with Damian and his trusted acolytes, Euen and Emil. So saving the peace.

But sadly, the good momentum lasted only a short time.

In chapter 88 "Elite Tea Cakes" observe him. He's about to puk because of a warm touch of hers.

Once he gave her the Elit Tea Cakes he reverted to his known selfishness, carnivorous mode.

The DEE trio quickly reverted to their usual arrogance, hostility, and insults, branding Anya as "stupid," a "poor kid who can’t find enough food to eat."3*

Below is Chapter 92: His open joy about her upcoming disastrous exam results:

BelowChapter 95:Where he viciously rejects her invitation to dance along , at the School's Gala:

Chapter 96.5Just study how much she's appalled by their cruel insults:

Below as translated: How cruel of Damian(:

Poor Anya, probably she was about to yell at them: "I saved your lives, during the Hijacked Buses Crisis, and now you trash call me?!"

In such moments is exposed just how deep Damian’s prejudices run. Unmovable.

"But why the Hijacked Buses Arc potentially could've helped out Anya's efforts?", you would ask me to know. Because they were in the grasp of the Red Circus. Their menacing guns reminded them that wealth, high social position, and prestige of families made them desirable assets for these gunmen. Being as much humble, without bragging, in this dire time was the one that could save them from any harm. And she put her quick, profound mentality to save them, without a scratch. Namely as the ancient narration of Damocles's Sword *2:

Below: The harsh reminder of the narration(Spy x Family chapter 72)

The Potential for Anya’s Freedom

What if the key to her freedom isn’t winning Damian’s favor, but uncovering the sinister plans of his father, Donovan Desmond?

Yes, in an unexpected twist that would be far more satisfying than a forced friendship, finding the crucial documents to decipher Donovan’s schemes would free her. She wouldn't be burdened anymore to navigate Damian’s disdainful world. Thus focused on her true mission: Protecting her family and maintaining the fragile peace between the East and West.

If I could say something to Damian, it would be this:

"If you think she’s stupid, just how would you have effectively talked to the leader of the Red Circus, Billy Squire, and solved the crisis?"

Anya’s actions during the hostage situation prove she has strength and wisdom far beyond what the trio DEE(an acronym for Damian, Emil, Euen) gives her credit for. Their inability to see that only underscores how blinded they are by their own privilege and arrogance.

The Self-deception of People Hyped for the Romance:

By the way, they claim:

a)"Damian is capable of self-sacrifice to the detriment of his interests. A rare exception is when he protects Anya from a ball in a dodgeball game, willingly getting himself eliminated. Though it did not help their class win the game, Anya recognized Damian's good nature". And b)"He showed bravery and selflessness when he tried to save Anya, demanding that the terrorists hang a bomb on him instead of her".

However, a cold examination of his so-called selflessness reveals something ugly:

a)In chapter 15, during the dodgeball his insights are quite clear:

" I don't have time to waste on shrimps like her. I got to get MVP in this game so I can score a star. I need to become an Imperial Scholar like my brother did. Otherwise, Dad won't pay any mind to me at all". That's the explanation of why he took the hit. The ambition to make it, on the other hand, if Anya would fail he could assert control over her or even seek validation from his peers and his father. By "saving" her in a public setting, Damian subtly reasserts his dominance over her—positioning himself as the protector and keeping Anya in a role where she is indebted to him. It’s not about kindness but about reinforcing a power dynamic.

Anya at this moment is tired, and disappointed about her failure to give a strong hit. So she needed a compassionate gesture, such how Becky came to give her. If say, he's supposedly kind why in the world does he angrily shout to her, in his carnivorous mode: "What the heck sort of crap throw was that? I sacrificed myself for nothing!" "You really are mean": Anya.

What is weird is how Becky has never questioned Anya, on why she persists in cozying to Damian despite all his constant insults.

b)"Another rare moment was in their classroom when a girl from their class was spreading a rude rumor about how Anya got her first Stella Star, Damian stood up for her, recognizing Anya's merit". Wrong. All he stood up for was the high status of the school he and his brother attend to.

c))"He showed bravery and selflessness when he tried to save Anya, demanding that the terrorists hang a bomb on him instead of her".Wrong again. His true, ulterior motives are his envy of her public stance, and living up to his family’s expectations. In his point, he was scared, So he asked for the bomb for the sake of saving face, "he's never intimidated by anyone-including a Red Circus extremist".

Conclusion: A Romance That Wasn’t Meant to Be?

As fans continue to root for an Anya x Damian romance, it’s important to consider the deeper implications of such a relationship. Damian’s arrogance, born from his father’s influence, makes him an awful match for Anya. Certainly rather than striving for his friendship, Anya’s true path lies in uncovering the documented dark secrets of the Desmond family—a tedious task with far-reaching consequences for both her family and the world.

Do you really think there's hope for Anya and Damian, or is their relationship doomed to remain adversarial? And what does Donovan’s philosophy say about the future of Ostania—and the potential for love and peace in this fractured world? Let’s discuss this in the comments!

*1: In Greek mythology, the story of Sisyphus is a well-known tale of eternal struggle. Sisyphus was condemned, for his crimes, by the gods to roll a boulder up a hill, only for it to roll back down each time he neared the summit. This endless cycle of futile effort has since given rise to the term “Sisyphean task,” Namely any pointless, fruitless, and unrewarding task that must be repeated repeatedly; an endless task. 

*2 The Tale of the Sword of Damocles. A harrowing reminder of the dangers of power and imminent destruction. Damocles’ sword refers to the Greek legend about King Dionysius I of Syracuse and his courtier, Damocles, a person we would refer to today as a brown-noser.

The King had grown weary of Damocles’ constant flattery. When Damocles referred to the king as “the happiest of men” Dionysius decided to teach him a lesson. He invited him to a banquet and ordered him to sit in the same place for the event. Over the chair was hung a sword held by a single hair. In this way, the king demonstrated to him just how precarious the position of a king, who, although he had access to many luxuries and pleasant distractions, always lived under the shadow of a horrid death. 4,5

[tenderlywicked]

thanks for the WIP game shout-out!

tell us about your TDJ/he is psychometric WIP! based off your snippets, it's a fascinating premise and i'm soooo curious about what happens!

and then tell us about another WIP of your choosing. what're you excited about? anything that's giving you trouble? what's something new you're trying in terms of writing that's working out?

I suspected you might be interested in The Devil Judge fic ;) It's still in bits and pieces, but it's growing. For those who haven't read my previous posts about it:

Kim Gaon has an uncanny ability to read a person or an object’s past through physical contact. Of course Professor Min wants Gaon to use it and pry into Judge Kang’s secrets. Except that, as it turns out, Kang Yohan is the only person Gaon can’t see through. So he has to rely on indirect evidence…which is confusing.

There will be two parts, the first one will be from Kim Gaon's point of view and the second one from Kang Yohan's. Here's a snippet from the second part :)

...In their year of separation, Yohan seems to have forgotten some things about Kim Gaon. Or maybe it’s something like elective amnesia: he has chosen to forget the most annoying parts about their interactions. Namely, Gaon’s tendency to notice the very things Yohan would rather he didn’t—and to start prying, immediately, instead of feigning polite ignorance, like most people would do.

But of course it doesn’t take Gaon long to remind Yohan about it.

Generally, Yohan wouldn’t mind being ogled when he’s mostly naked, just back from the shower with a very meager towel around his hips—he keeps himself fit, so there is something to look at. But Gaon, still in bed, propped up on his elbow, clearly stares at nothing else but a ragged scar on Yohan’s abdomen. And even points at it.

“Is it from the explosion?”

Doesn’t Gaon know it’s rude to talk of someone’s imperfections? Especially Yohan’s imperfections.

“Ah, this. No. That’s from when Sunah’s bodyguard shot me.” He tries a diversion, hoping for a change of topic: “That’s the reason I couldn’t get to the slums myself to help you. I could only make a call.”

It distracts Gaon for a moment indeed. His expression becomes stunned. “So it was you. You called Soohyun.” After a pause, he adds much more quietly, “I didn’t know you were shot.”

“It wasn’t that bad. Even the scar would have been neater, but I ripped the stitches when I was arrested.”

“Judge Kang is such a tough man. Surely, he won’t need painkillers just to renew a few stitches. But if he does, he only has to ask nicely.” Which had probably meant he should beg. He hadn’t.

Now it all seems almost funny. “It turned out to my favor, actually. They had to take me to the prison infirmary first. It would have been awkward if I bled out right after the arrest. They would prefer if <i>an accident</i> happened instead. An unknown inmate killing a judge who was maybe responsible for his sentence—it would have been a plausible explanation for my sudden and tragic death. But the visit to the infirmary saved me some time. There were only two attempts at killing me in the end. I expected more.”

He’d rather proud of how he’s handled it. He wishes Gaon could have seen both fights at Junbu Detention Center. Gaon had seemed to enjoy how he’d ripped through Jukchang’s acolytes with a baseball bat; that’s what makes Yohan want to brag. But at the same time, with distaste for himself, he recognizes this yearning for admiration…as insecurity. Look how good I am, at least at this. So don’t look at what might repel you, not now, not yet.

It’s deplorable how much he longs to keep Gaon in his bed, like this, unselfconscious of his own nudity. It had been both a surprise and not so much—how quickly things had progressed in that direction, all because of Yohan reaching out to poke at Gaon’s hand with the tips of his fingers and asking, simply to tease him, “Feel nothing still?” As it had turned out, Gaon had felt quite a lot, just not of a memory-reading kind. If he’d ever had a sexual identity crisis, along with other crises Yohan had put him through, a year of reflections must have put an end to it.

So Yohan takes advantage of it, an opportunist as he is. He will have this for as long as he can. But he knows all too well: when humans lose what they thought they had, they lose their minds too, so it’s better not to think of it as something really long-lasting.

He’s both relieved that Gaon is still unable to read his mind—and unnerved by constant anticipation because someday he might. It’s not like Yohan hasn’t warned him of every unattractive trait he has, but there are things that make you see a person differently, no matter if they are incriminating or not. He’s been crafting his image for so long, cutting off all the unbecoming edges, that he can’t be sure how Gaon sees him. Maybe as some mythical creature, something between a hero, a villain, and a vengeful demon. You can have sex with mythical creatures if you’re daring enough, but not a relationship, not really. He’s waiting for Gaon to realize that.

P.S. As for my other WIPs, I suspect I might finish my Doctor Who story first. There will be a lot of angst, as always. And some kinky stuff too :) I keep alternating between fics, though, so they progress a bit unevenly.

[thessalian]

Faerun!Alisaie vs Scavenger Hunting

Lucretious: I don't believe someone stole Dribbles' identity!

Alisaie: Um ... someone also stole his life, lady.

Lucretious: Oh, but I can deal with that! At least, I could ... if I had all his bits...

Alisaie: Then you might want to talk to your kobold, because I'm pretty sure they have his hand.

Lucretious: You deal with that, darling; you'll be compensated!

Shadowheart: You're ... not going to...

Alisaie: What she does with clown-bits is none of my business. And I know the sanitation in the city; no one else is going to clean up corpse parts and I don't want to save these people from brain-worms only to have them die of plague.

Gale: So ... we're heading into the city, right? We need to see how they're vetting people.

Alisaie: Yes, and then you're going to send Astarion over because the Flophouse is someplace his siblings would hunt and he's more likely to get information out of them than we are.

One malfunctioning robot thing later

Wyll: They ... didn't believe me. Everyone else believed me!

Alisaie: You just dumped a whole bunch of political intrigue on my head and that's what gets you?

Wyll: Well, it is important...

Alisaie: Yeah, I know, I know; just ... one thing at a time. Astarion--

Astarion: PETRAS YOU LITTLE SHIT!

Alisaie: Yeah he's on that-- Astarion, he can't tell you anything if you barbecue him! ...I mean, he can't report your presence to Cazador if you barbecue him either, but unless you're cooking her too...

Dalyria: *meep*

Astarion: ...Fine. You owe your life to my friend, you little shit; now scurry.

Alisaie: That ... was less than informative.

Astarion: But so satisfying. And now Cazador knows to fear me.

Shadowheart; Wyll: *a-HEM*

Astarion: Fine, fine; knows to fear us.

Alisaie: Either way, let's go check out that hidden upper room, and then you can grab a drink while I take Lae'zel to meet a kith'rak in a pleasure palace and does that sound wrong to anyone else?

And, in Voss' room

Raphael: Well. Have I got a deal for you--

Alisaie: Let me guess; you'll help us free Orpheus - or give us the means to do so - if we give you the Netherese crown.

Raphael: ...Well, yes. You see, I have this hammer at home that will suit your purposes very well, and--

Alisaie: No.

Raphael: I'm not even after your soul! I just want to bring order to the hells!

Alisaie: Fuck your order and fuck the hells. I'll deal with this shit without you. *exits*

Raphael: I'll be here when you change your mind!

Alisaie: You're in a pleasure palace, so doing this next bit should be easy: GET FUCKED. *slams door*

Lae'zel: WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING?!?

Alisaie: He just told us exactly what we need, and its approximate location. We just break in and steal it and we don't owe a cambion anything.

Lae'zel: We ... had an easy way to do this. And you insisted on taking the difficult way. You are annoying and I admire it so much.

Shadowheart: You're not going to start talking about wanting to taste the blood of her enemies off her skin, I hope--

Alisaie: Um ... okay, Lae'zel, why don't you explain my admirable annoyingness to Voss while I talk to the asshole hollyphant and then take Jaheira to the Harper hideout.

And, at the Harper hideout

Jaheira: You had to go shopping, didn't you.

Alisaie: He had some good shit, and with the way things have been going lately, I'm getting that done now. The last "old friend" I talked to with you guys was Shadowheart's fellow acolyte, and he was a bitch about it.

Harper Geraldus: *is wetting his pants in fear* *OBVIOUS CODEWORD*

Harper Geldin: Hi.

Jaheira: Goodness. Does Geldin not remind you of our dear friend Marcus?

Alisaie: After I cut him in half for being an asshole Absolutist, sure.

Jaheira: ...Really? WHY?

Alisaie: You guys were seeing fit to dance around the issue of the halfling being a doppelganger. One thing a bard knows: if you don't like the steps? Change the tune.

Jaheira: *sigh* Fine. I might as well make use of these fine weapons you found anyway.

Stabnation: *ensues*

Following some stabnation

Jaheira: It looks like we're on our own. But ... you're good with rescuing people. I have a friend named Minsc...

Alisaie: FINALLY! A straightforward rescue! But ... look, I'm going to ask for one thing just for me. I haven't been to Elfsong Tavern since before this whole mess started and I really miss their beer.

Shadowheart: We'll get you a drink; come on.

And, peering down an alley on the way to Elfsong Tavern

Jaheira: ...Wait ... is ... that a ... body? With a ... pelvis in a pair of clown pants?

Alisaie: Ohforfuckssake... Look, just let me yeet the clown pelvis back to camp and I will tell you about Dribbles the Patchwork Clown over a very, very much-needed pint.

[crimsonwolfie]

“Kiss me” — Hamish Duke x Randall Carpio (x reader)

Prompt: You (the reader) walk in to see Hamish and Randall making out in front of Angus and Selena

Requests are open!!

Themes: fluff, comedy, just general happiness (huge contrast to last fanfic aye)

Masterlist

Song to listen to: “Sweet Nothing” by Gabrielle Aplin

“The rain starts falling when you're calling me

Why can't you see?

I'm diving under water just to breathe”

After finishing a 2 and a half hour long exam, all you can think about is alcohol. You’re not an alcoholic, you’re an alcoholic aficionado...but the results of this exam may as well turn you into an alcoholic. Trust you to pick a class just because you had the hots for the teacher... but he’s no Hamish. That you are positive about. Even though he doesn’t suspect you have a...highly inconvenient liking towards him...you can’t help it - that man is something else. You’re about to search in your bag for your keys until you feel your phone vibrate in your back pocket:

Randall: Yo Y/N my friend, we’re having a drink if you wanna join? Be there or be square :P

“Perfect, oh thank you god” you say out loud, smiling up in the air whilst you start replying to Randall.

Y/N: You’re my saviour. Yes yes YES i need this so bad :,)

Putting your phone away, you start the engine and drive over to where they were which is always the same place - The Blade and Chalice. You roll the window down, letting the cool air fly through your hair as you lip sync to the words of “Sweet Nothing” by Gabrielle Aplin. Right now, you don’t think you’ve ever felt more free - no more exams for the rest of the term, no sacrificial rituals, the knights have their memories back so everything seems to be normal again - and you’re closer to the knights than ever before.

“I feel your arms around me

You say you feel the love

But oh, I feel alone”

“Okay, be cool. Don’t give anything away Y/N. You got this...just play it cool” you quietly chant under your breath as you pull up, readying yourself to step out of the car. Just as you’re about to open the door, you spot Angus and Selena swing open the door

“Oh god this can’t be good” you panic as you realise they aren’t aware that the Knights have their memories back...and that it needs to STAY that way. Quickly you slam your car door shut and follow them in, you know...just in case your friends need saving. Only, you’d wish you never did....because boi...you’ve never been more confused in your life.

“You think you understand me

But I don't even understand me at all

I feel alone

London living, nothing comes for free

Why can't you see?

Time won't heal it, just as still for me”

As soon as you enter the building, you see Angus and Selena hovering around Hamish and Randall, who are sat in front of a large dish of nachos and a couple of beers...

“Oh look, it’s the Hardy Boys!” Selena smirks, stroking Randall’s hair

“For acolytes who just met, you guys are pretty tight” Angus chuckles whilst staring down both boys

You crouch down behind the door slightly to avoid being seen, but can’t help listening to their conversation. What?! You like the gossip!

“Well, it does feel like we’ve known each other for a while” Hamish replies, staring into Randall’s eyes

“You can’t fight your feelings” Randall agrees, nodding his head slightly robotically

“Yes you can, but...what’s the point?” replies Hamish, who seems to have a look of lust in his eyes and an extremely hot smirk on...

‘Okay what’s happening here?’ You think to yourself, hesitating to approach them. Maybe you need to sit this one out...let them get theirselves out of this hot mess, for that they did... very well.

“Kiss me” Randall bursts out as he and

Hamish suddenly lean in towards each other and share a passionate kiss...and an eskimo kiss?!

“I feel your arms around me

You say you feel the love, but, oh

I feel alone

You think you understand me

But I don't even understand me at all

I feel alone”

“What the hell?!” You say out loud, earning a few glances from people on tables as well as Angus and Selena. Hamish stares into Randall’s eyes as Randall mimics the same thing...and you’re standing there with eyes wider than your hips, mouth starting to curl up in a smirk and eyebrows raised up in shock. Damn...that took a turn for the worst.

‘Of course he’s gay (or possibly bi?)...oh of course he is. He’s hot and isn’t married so there had to be something up’ your brain tells itself as you bring your hands to your face to cover your smirking

“Let’s get out of here” Randall finally says, to which Hamish hums in agreement and follows him out of the door, which you then follow Hamish.

“Is there...anything you want to tell me..guys?! Like absolutely anything?!” You quip, waving your hands all around in the air

“We can explain...” Hamish begins as he steps forward towards you

“...we had to get them to think we don’t remember anything” Randall perks up, suddenly too perky if you ask me

“By SUCKING EACH OTHER’S FACES OFF?!” You squeal, with Hamish shushing you quietly. ‘Oh this is gold’ you sing to yourself

“It was a DISTRACTION!” Hamish cries, putting his hands in the air as if he was saying ‘it was *this* big’

I look over to see Randall smirking in the corner, obviously either enjoying the show out here...or previously enjoying the show in there (but i think we all know which one it was)

“Are you sure that was ALL IT WAS?!” You say, laughing and throwing your head back

“I...” Hamish begins, looking down to the ground as if he was in some deep thought. Quickly he snaps himself out of his thoughts and whips his head up with an excruciatingly sarcastic face “...YES of course iT wAS”

“You think you understand me

But I don't even understand me at all

I feel alone”

The whole scene reminds you of a fight between a married couple who can’t help but laugh at each other’s facial expressions. Ridiculous and completely irrelevant

Randall steps between up, breaking the distance and the conversation

“guys guys...GUYS QUIT IT what tHE HELL” he gasps dramatically “all this fighting over me, my heart can’t take it!” sarcastically, he looks between you both with puppy dog eyes, to which you both laugh at and you gently slap him on the shoulder.

“Cmon lover birds, we have work to do” you say, secretly hoping for something to bloom between them because come ON they’d be hilarious and adorable at the same time.

Hamish sighs, leading the way as you and Randall follow behind. Randall puts his arm around you whilst you’re walking to your car

“Oh...but if you ever did want to tell me something...anything...i’m here” you say as a solid reminder that you won’t be letting this go any time soon...and boy don’t they know it

“Y/N STOP” they both groan in synchronisation

You all walk away as you loudly chuckle, again feeling the happiest you’ve ever felt...oh - and that you support your friends through anything ;)

Here it is! Hope you guys liked it! Let me know :) requests are open for you all!

[ghostmartyr]

/clears throat/ so, Immi, I hear you like the locked tomb, which is fantastic! from one person also escaping the snk series into TLT to another, what did you think of the characters and plot in HtN? are there any things you're most excited to see when Alecto comes out in 2022?

-pats lifeboat- This baby can fit so much trauma.

SPOILERS, naturally.

With another paragraph informing the curious that unspoiled is the way to go into HtN, since if you aren’t lost and confused, are you really reading Harrow the Ninth?

I read it all in one day, and that was a choice. It does mean my memory and understanding of what all went on is slightly dependent on someone else on the internet exploding over a particular set of paragraphs and explaining their significance to me, but I still enjoyed the hell out of it.

HtN disappointed me on one front in that I was hoping seeing more of Harrow 1.0 would help out any future fic endeavors. On everything else, like the first one, being told the story is such a good time that I’m willing to wait on a full comprehension of where it’s going.

I also really like second person.

What I loved most about HtN is how even without Gideon mentioned until very, very late in the book, you can feel her absence everywhere. In the wrong bubble flashbacks you’re commanded to examine the strangeness, but even in Harrow going about her day, the isolation and the wrongness of it decorate her every action. She’s alone, and she shouldn’t be, and the loss she’s unaware of bleeds into a constant echo of grief.

I don’t think I’ve ever appreciated absence as a narrative tool so much. Obviously griddlehark hours go hard once they start in HtN, but even before then, there is so much power to their connection that looking into a world where it never exists still manages to punch you in the heart with how much each one inhabits everything the other is.

The whole series is amping me up with a few thoughts on loneliness, honestly. Gideon and Harrow grow up alone on the Ninth, save for each other. It takes leaving for that to be any kind of good thing. The first book is tag team Among Us with everyone in their little clusters, slowly learning what other people are about as they all drop dead.

The second book has a different vibe and different plot things going on, but it’s similar in that the protagonist gets thrown into a world they don’t fit and have to put on a show. Only now there are even fewer people to familiarize with, with that number correlating directly to how they all killed the person closest to keeping them from being alone.

Lyctorhood is taking the person dearest to your heart and trapping them there forever while they’re stripped of everything that made them who they are.

...Also Ianthe is there.

Gideon, Mercy, and Augustine are the last Lyctors standing after 10,000 years. There were only seven, starting out. Sixteen acolytes who came to the First. The only pair who didn’t succeed in condensing themselves is separated from the pack and sent to live away from their peers on a tiny planet that no one has anything good to say about.

Alecto is John’s -- who even knows, past A Lot, and he puts her to sleep and locks her in a prison no one but he can get past.

God has seven friends. More if you want to count the people in the Cohort, but realistically, he has seven friends. Then they keep dying.

Harrow spends HtN in a spaceship with five people.

One is trying to kill her.

One ordered that one to try to kill her.

Two could not care less about the useless baby Lyctor.

One is Ianthe.

There is no real endgame. There is surviving life, and life has become a game of running as far away as possible so you don’t share your ruin upon your inevitable death.

It’s bleak and sad.

Harrow’s healthiest relationships are with dead people, and some of them she didn’t know at all in life.

Reiterating it, the most plot significant bit of the world is finding someone else in the world, swearing yourself to them, and smashing your souls together until you’ve lost the connection entirely.

My brain’s not in the best place so I can’t do more than gesture loudly at it, but a few people have mentioned that the series’ thesis is a counter to Ianthe’s statement that love is acquisitive.

Harrow tightens her hold around Gideon until Gideon would rather she just strangle her and get it over with, all things considered. It fucks them both up, and when they start working to get past it, circumstance wraps a chain around both their throats.

The necromancers who become imperfect Lyctors have all acquired their cavaliers, and besides the cav, it kills that bond.

Harrow’s rejection of that is why Gideon’s soul is still in the world of the living (and John blood).

She has spent her entire life eating pieces of Gideon to keep herself a horrid imitation of whole, and when she is finally offered that, she refuses.

Grief and how Harrow just can’t are active elements of the book, and Magnus gives her more therapy in five minutes talking about it than she has ever had in her life, but the reason why that isn’t the end of Gideon is because, unlike all the other Lyctors, Harrow turns the offer down.

With the exception of Babs and Ianthe, the relationship between cavaliers and necros about to do the Lyctor thing is cavaliers promising to burn for an eternity while their necromancer lives off the fumes.

Fuck that is Harrow’s response.

Cytherea says, in the aftermath, that they had the choice to stop.

Harrow stops.

A lifetime of doing exactly what Gideon is telling her to do with her death, and Harrow chooses to stop.

Harrow remembers Ortus’ poetry. She regularly sees her congregation off to their deaths. She keeps Gideon’s glasses. She views Palamedes, head exploded and all, as an infinitely better person than she is because of the quality of his exemplary character. She pulls Gideon the First from the incinerator on the night she plans to kill him.

Kiddo has so many fucking issues, but somewhere, she has learned to respect people for being people. That’s why she and Gideon are the heroes of the story, ultimately, and Ortus saying that they’re heroes worthy of the Ninth doesn’t fall flat. They’re actually trying.

Where that puts us for Alecto, I don’t pretend to know.

Since the first book is the temptation of an end to isolation, only to have it snatched away, the second book is the continuation of isolation with a few promising sparks of human connection that pave the way for hope...

That leaves the third book to shed the isolation and allow the connections to thrive.

With Gideon and Harrow MIA.

I know that the books kick things up into high gear in the final acts each time, but if they’re both gone for the majority of the book, no matter how much fun it is, I’m going to miss them. They’re the core leads, and I don’t want to be without them in the final part.

The 2022 release date has aged my soul. I deliberately planned my GtN read to land a month before HtN came out, then suffered when that was delayed. When really that was nothing at all. I hate waiting.

(Insert note that I’m very glad they aren’t forcing Muir to rush anything out. It’s been a rough time, but also, just in general authors should have the opportunity to create the best versions of their art they can, so the extra time hurts, but it’s obviously for the best.)

What I’m most excited for is probably the cover art. The first two have been awesome, and the artist said he’d likely do print sales for all three when the third’s revealed. My wallet cries but my heart does not.

What I dare not be excited for is the potential for Gideon and Harrow meeting again and perhaps hugging. In their own bodies.

I’d take other bodies, but ideally, y’know.

Also I would love for Harrow to finally meet her popsicle girlfriend.

I doubt it would be a wholly positive experience, but by golly I want it. Maybe they could hug too. It would probably kill Harrow again, but who doesn’t expect several people to die again in the third book?

However it plays out, I’m expecting to enjoy AtN. The writing’s the sort that I’ll happily follow wherever it goes. For everything else, there’s fanfic. The only real worry I have is the whole book will be narrated by Ianthe, and while I mentally groan at that, I actually find Ianthe’s commentary delightful, so even in the worst case scenario I’m having a good time.

Thank you so much for the ask.

[lara-crofts-axe]

My office doors burst open, and a young boy with a sword at his hip storms in, closely followed by my secretary. The boy looks slightly panicked and disheveled, and while I don't usually welcome unscheduled guests, I feel bad for him. He's probably worried about his small fishing village or something.

"I'm sorry sir, I tried to stop him, but he had some sort of distraction spell-"

"No, it's fine. I'll take care of it. You can go to lunch Jessica."

"Are you sure? Security is on their way up."

"Tell them it's fine on your way out, I'm sure this won't take that long."

As Jessica exits the room, closing the glass office doors behind her, the boy says in a faint accent, "Are you really the Chosen One?"

"That's what it says on my business card, at least," I say.

After my first dozen times saving the world, I started to mix up which legendary weapon went with which prophecy and which villain, and there's only so much a day planner from Michael's can do for you. Can you believe one time I tried to stop the Serpent Queen of the Amazon using the Bow of Pythian Apollo? I mean, I guess he used it on a snake that one time, but they're from totally separate continents, of course it wouldn't work! Let me tell you, it was such a pain to slay her and round up all her Snake-Acolytes (Snackolytes?) after I failed to stop her initial rise to power. I do have a reputation to maintain, after all. So I started this business, Chosen One Inc. It helps me stay on top of these things - prophecies tend to be time sensitive, and a lot of the time just restrengthening the seals and wards on various villains so they last for another few millennia is just as good as killing them outright. At least, that'll leave something for the next Chosen One a few centuries down the line to do. And killing some of these guys is a lot harder than it looks - why waste a good arcane prison?

"We need to go right now! You need to help my-"

"Whoa, slow down there bud! What's the nature of your cataclysm?"

"What?"

I pull up a 'new prophecy' tab on my quest software program and turn the computer screen to show him. "We have Mythical Beasts, Malevolent Spirits (Human or Primal), Imminent Civil War, Natural Disaster, Mutant Creature (Radiation, Toxic Sludge, or Other), Mirror Realms and Dimensional Phonemona, Witchcraft, Intentional or Accidental Summoning, Vengeance-Driven Warlords (Including Immortal or Cursed), Mysterious Disappearances - that ones more of a placeholder until we can determine the root cause - Angered or Cursed Land, Eldritch Horror-"

"Sorry, I don't know what any of that is, but the miners in my village say that they've been seeing strange omens in the rocks as they push deeper into the mountains-"

"In a mine you say? Hmmm, sounds like Old Gods Awakening to me, but if you're still in the Portending Omens stage, it sounds like you have some time before you reach the Chamber of Slumber in your mountain."

"Is that good?"

The boy's eyes brightened a bit at this. He was a cute kid, and it sounded like his case shouldn't be too much of a problem, especially if I got there early enough. It looks like he traveled quite a way to meet me too - most people just email now, and let us do the research ourselves.

I scanned my 'Active Quest' list. "Alright kid, I'll tell you what. I do have two active Dark Lords in Albania and Tennessee of all places, and they've both issued me challenges of a Duel to the Death, so I really gotta take care of those right away. I've also got some reports of some funky time manipulation stuff going down at some temple in India, and it's been a while since I've had a good paradox. Those are always fun, but they get nasty if left untended. I think I'll be able to pop up to your village and see what we can do about this Old God sometime the week after next ok?"

The boy looked down at his feet. "I was really hoping that you could come and help my people..."

My heart broke a little. "Hey, I'm going to help them! I've just got a couple other things to take care of too. So many prophecies so little time, right? And some of them are a little more time-sensitive, no pun intended haha!"

The boy didn't look up.

"Would you like to stick around for a while with me? I could use a second at my Duels. I can tell you're a good fighter, and we could use some more of those around here for Fellowship missions. And maybe if an Unlikely Hero prophecy crops up, I could let you handle it all on your own?"

He perks up. "Really?!"

"Sure thing! Come on, we should leave. We gotta lotta ground to cover if we want to get to Tennessee by tomorrow morning. We can't fight a Dark Lord during the night, you know, their power is strongest then...."

There are thousands of prophecies that tell of a Chosen One that will save the world. Unfortunately, there is only one Chosen One, and saving the world thousands of times is very stressful.