#she's not even that close with a bunch of them but the spider army sticks together

[monty-glasses-roxy]

Imagine you're an army of 393 spiders and four of you disappear for a few hours only to return with the soppiest saddest wet beast of a kicked puppy and says she so cute can we keep her pretty pretty pleeeeaaassseee

One of Roxy's earliest memories, from the animatronic equivalent of a toddler stage of her life, is four spiders essentially promising they'll take her for walks every day if they can keep her. Didn't really understand what was happening at the time, but she gave her best puppy dog eyes when they gave her the signal and somehow it all worked out lmao

Roxy and the four Minis are so good. They're so close. They're the ones everyone least expects to be friends. Most of the others don't see the Minis enough to even learn how to understand them while Roxy understood them almost completely within a few hours and vice versa. They're friendos!! They're a team!! Besties!!

Spider army and this random ass dog they found!!! The four introduced her to the horde like "can we keep her? :( Pleeeaaassseee???" and they were like "No!! Absolutely not!! We don't like dogs!!" and then three days later they have her buried in a 393 spider cuddle pile. They love her. She's been absorbed into the army. She lives here now. No take backs. The spider army is 394 strong now.

This isn't Roxy's perspective of it, but she has since learned this is what it was like for them lmao

[lisinfleur]

T&T - Chapter 09: Eagles, snakes, and rats

Author’s Notes | I’m really proud of some of my characters. Others? Not that much… Words | 2763 ⁑ Warnings: Mentions of death, blood, and treason.

"You're telling me to send my men to death."

Brynjar couldn't say he was satisfied. He wasn't. Despite being a good counter plan, Ivar's words were still sounding as full of dishonor as Udir's. The king was feeling lost and Ivar didn't miss this feeling in his eyes.

"No," Ivar sentenced in a firm voice. "I'm telling you to clean your armies and send your enemies to death in this trap, my friend. Cause any man who fights in your lines without being loyal to your crown is not your man. Any man who fights in your lines and plans against you behind your back is not your man. These men, they're your enemies. The worst kind of enemy a king can have: the ones who eat from your hands, share your mead, and smile at your face to stab your back as soon as you trust them enough to let them come closer."

Ivar's fist clenched and Brynjar noticed there was something more than just the desire to help a friend inside that boy's eyes. Trying to feel safer, the older man decided to try and know that boy in front of him a little more.

"What is it that glows in your eyes when you speak about treason, boy? You claim yourself a fallen king... Tell me, how did you lose your crown?"

Ivar sighed.

The memory of dear Freydis and how stupid he was for falling in love with a woman that never really existed bubbling the shame and anger inside his blue orbs.

"I was bitten by a snake I cradled against my chest," he answered, looking at Brynjar's eyes, allowing the old king to see his heart being poured through his words. "I was so blindly in love with my queen that I couldn't see she wasn't really the woman she showed me to be. While I was sharing my sheets with her, trusting her enough to sleep by her side, she was confabulating against me and even held the child of another inside her belly, claiming it was my child to keep me mesmerized by the childish dream she broke into pieces along with my heart."

Brynjar listened attentively as the boy in front of him was showing himself a man. A shattered one, beaten by life, wounded deeply in his pride but pretty more in his heart.

"You see, my friend, I'm a crippled man. It is not like I could expect any woman to fall on my feet as they were used to doing for my brothers. Despite my noble lineage, I was always self-aware I wouldn't be the most blessed of the men when it comes to relationships. So, when she came to me with gentle touches and sweet words, I fell quickly into her theatre like a fly into the spider's web," Ivar said, playing with his fingers as if they were a fly, flying around; closing his hand as if it was the spider settling its fate. "Since the beginning, she was playing a game. She made me a fool. And in the end, she and her consort - the true love of her heart and the man for who she was doing all she did to me - threw me out of my lands, humiliated; to learn from my mistakes that anyone inside your court may become your enemy and that a king might have the heavy hands to expel the untruthful ones before they can rip its chest apart."

Brynjar could see the truth in Ivar's words; the real suffering inside that boy's eyes. There was a boy standing in front of him, but he could see the man he had been lapidated into and the scars of the hard hits that turned him into that man.

The old king sighed, resigned. Despite how terrible that decision was showing itself to be, Ivar was right and it was the best way to turn around that situation.

"Believe in the gods, my friend," Ivar completed. "As much as I do."

"The gods allowed you to be fooled, Ivar," Brynjar said, looking at him, frowning as Ivar smiled.

"They did, Brynjar. Because I deserved everything that happened since Freydis entered my life. I paid for my crimes with the humiliation she exposed me to and I learned from my mistakes to become a better man from what she did to me. The gods allowed me to pass through it to make me stronger, better than I was before, such as they allowed me to be born like this for these legs are the source of my strength and all that I became came from this," Ivar said, touching his leg guards. "From my will to survive, to show the world I'm pretty much more than they think I am. So, believe in these gods, king Brynjar: If they think this is not a fair action, then, these men will come back alive with the heads of your enemy earls in their hands, Udir's plan will be real and these things I saw would be only his fail in noticing the hills could be dangerous to his king," he explained, touching Brynjar's shoulder. "However, if I'm right, then let the gods strike your enemies dead, and may these men who will fall with Udir serve as a sacrifice for your long life and as an example so others won't think about planning against their king."

The old king's heart filled with his faith: those were wise words and it was always wise to deliver his fate in the hands of the gods. Maybe Ivar's arrival was a sign they were with him and Brynjar was being saved from that terrible trap he alone wouldn't have noticed being settled for him.

"You have a strong mind, my friend. I could make good use of someone like you by my side," Brynjar said, causing Ivar to smile bigger.

"We can talk about this after this situation is solved. It would be a pleasure to be by your side and I'll be idle once I'm recovered, so I see it can be a good way to keep the dust away from my brain," Ivar answered, touching his fingers on his temple with a smile in his face.

"Better not to let these good gears get all rusty, uh?" Brynjar joked, giggling with Ivar, trying to take a little of that tension away from his head.

The two of them took their time, speaking, drinking, and settling the plan. With Ivar's help, Brynjar organized his mind and at the end of that evening, everything was ready to be executed the next morning. However, the mind of the king was still unsettled. After Ivar left to his room, called by a tired Iliana who came after a whole day of work to take her husband to bed with her, Brynjar left the castle, walking through the forest towards a river nearby, raising a small bunch of stones as a praying monument near what he sat down, sighing.

"Is this the right thing?" he asked, talking to the gods, listening to the sound of the water flowing beside him. "Do as he said, I ask. Show me by the end of this situation if I took the right way. If I'm wrong, then may Udir come back with my enemies' heads, so I can honor him and speak his name through your halls. If I'm right, then may the gods be honored for bringing this man, this Ivar, into my lands, for he will have saved my life and any debit he could have with me for Brimir's murder will be paid."

A sound crossed the sky, breaking the silence and filling Brynjar's chest with the presence of his gods. Over his head, a pair of crows, cawing, flying around as if they were dancing with the wind of the night.

"Hail Lord Odin! With his Munnin and Huginn who came to hear my prayers. Hail!" Brynjar saluted, placing his cup of mead he brought with him over the little mount of stones as an offer and leaving the place certain the gods had accepted his asks.

Tomorrow would be a great day - one way or another.

A house of strong stone and shining silver. Treasure enough to live a good life, with lands and slaves under his feet.

They needed a strong and new king. He wanted to end that war and grab the fate he wanted from the gods by its tail. What were two or three earldoms for someone who could be the king of all those lands?

Brynjar was a good man, however. But stupid and old. And his greed and bonds with the past union of those lands were putting everyone into that useless conflict because he didn’t want to admit he had lost the lands of those Earls.

No. Not Earls. Kings. As he would be himself.

Udir would never be proud of the way he settled for Brynjar’s death. That blood would always be in his hands. But even Odin had to stab himself with Gungnir and hang himself to have a glimpse of the runes from Yggdrasil. “Nothing comes without a price,” the warrior thought as his heavy steps came into Brynjar's hall. The hall that was promised to himself by the self-proclaimed kings for his help with the end of that war.

Udir's hand touched the throne, sliding his fingers through the wooden carved surface. He thought he wouldn't order its change. It was a beautiful chair, carved by good carpenters as a gift to Brynjar. He always liked this chair and now, it was his.

"In my lands, it would be considered a full act of disrespect," Ivar's voice echoed through the hall as Udir was sitting the throne and the warrior prepared to answer the one he considered an intruder since the first moment he stepped into Brynjar's castle. But Udir's eyes became wide with surprise and fear.

Standing beside the cripple, with pure fury filling his eyes, was the old Brynjar, alive and well, not dirty, untouched by the battle that should have killed him.

Udir's mouth lied agape, no word escaping his lips. The gods had proved him wrong: that throne wasn't his fate as he thought it could ever be. Instead, in front of him, that foreigner man was standing beside his king in a position he abandoned in goodwill when it would have been more honored and more intelligent to stick to it as if his life depended on it.

"I know... It seems impossible," Ivar said, on top of his conquered arrogance, looking at the warrior in front of him as the beginner he was in a world Ivar knew very well, like the palm of his own hand. "But it is not that hard to figure out your plans when they were already used before... The Repton hills, uh? Quite a good plan, I admit. Built entirely over the ignorance of a Christian king about its own terrains or the heathen's way to battle." Ivar said, moving forward with his crutch, causing Udir's eyes to become even larger at the sight of those imposing blues looking at him with victory and pride shining into them. "But Brynjar is no ignorant Christian king..."

"He wasn't at that battle..." Udir mumbled, trying to justify the use of that plan.

"No... When the death of Ragnar Lothbrok, he sent a small portion of his army just to be there with his name among the ones who would avenge the legend's death beside its sons. It was too far from his lands for him to really move more than a group of men under his flag and the command of his man of trust. But I have to admit we were accepting any men sent to us. Even the dishonored ones..."

Those accusatory blues, undressing Udir from his pride, from his assurance... That man he thought was a nobody was pretty more than he was expecting to see.

"Ivar, the Boneless..." he mumbled the name that placed a smile in Ivar's face as he gently bent himself in an ironic reverence.

"It wasn't pretty smart to use my plan against my allies..."

"I did it for my people!" Udir finally lost himself, getting up from the throne to face Ivar, trying to show no fear despite Brynjar's guard men coming into the hall, surrounding him. "Brynjar's greed is putting us into an endless conflict! Lives are being lost for a piece of useless land! Just give them what they want!"

"And show them how weak their king is," Ivar answered.

His calm and cold tone causing Udir's entrails to contract in a mixture of anger and a bit of despair.

"Give them what they want once and they'll come with new demands. Give them what they want twice and they'll come for your head. Earls must know their place under a king and if they want to be kings themselves then, they shouldn't be Earls." Ivar continued, looking straight into Udir's eyes, right at his trembling soul. "Why do you think they promised you his crown? You're weak, Udir. You gave him what they wanted once so, they understood they would always have what they wanted from you... Put a crown over a fool's head and you can rule the town and see the fool being burned by your mistakes. And I think the fire came for you pretty sooner than they were expecting."

"Kill him," Brynjar ordered, watching as Udir stepped back, unsheathing his sword, threatening the warriors that closed a circle around the three men inside that hall.

"Don't come any closer!" Udir yelled.

But Ivar giggled, supporting his body carelessly against the crutch with a taunting smile in his face.

"I wish I could say I’ll see you again in Valhalla, my friend. But Odin does not settle chairs in his hall for traitors and cowards like you," Ivar completed, turning his back to the furious warrior as Brynjar's men ignored his threat, advancing against him in order to fulfill their king's order.

Udir fought as much as he could. His eyes lost over those men's shoulders, seeing as Brynjar was watching the fight with a cold glare in his eyes.

As his sword was hitting against the axes and swords of men that so many times were under his own command, Udir watched as Ivar walked towards the king with his slow pace, placing his hand over the old man's shoulder.

He didn't hear what Ivar said, but he saw the coldness in Brynjar's eyes becoming disappointment and the king turned his back on the battle, walking towards the hall's door.

That strike was enough to get Udir's strength bent over. As the first sword crossed his unprotected chest, Udir remembered the words of his father so long ago in time, when he was a boy and the old man was teaching him about what he lost that day...

"A man without honor is nothing, my son. If you cannot stand beside your king, then want his eyes on your death with despair. Want your king to mourn your departure and avenge your blood on the ground if you cannot keep yourself alive. At the doors of Valhalla are drawn the back of a king: if not even your king mourns the loss of your life, why should Odin open his hall for you to feast?"

Udir's knees hit the ground and the men stopped attacking as his voice echoed through the halls with a scream of despair.

"BRYNJAR!"

The king looked back, so as Ivar by his side. The bent warrior was looking straight to them.

"I would have sent you to the halls! I didn't deny you the chance of your good fight!" he cried. "Look at me!" Udir demanded. "Don't turn your back on my blood!"

"You wouldn't be there to see the crows eating my flesh," Brynjar said, disappointed. "You would be here, feasting in my halls, sitting on my chair, wearing my crown. Then share the fate you settled for me, old friend. I'll give myself the fate you wanted for yourself. There is still a war to be fought. I have no time to mourn my enemy's death."

More swords crossed his chest as Udir tried to get up, yelling in fury.

But as the screams were engulfed by the blood in his throat, he saw the doors of Brynjar's hall closing behind his king's back. Beautiful wooden carved doors.

Beautiful golden closed doors...

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[writinginstardust]

Movie Night

Pairing: contains Tyler x Finian, Kal x Auri, and Scarlett x Cat x Zila

Request: @blossomtheterror asked “ Aurora rising - the squad has a LoTR marathon and Kal finally learns who Legolas is. ”

Warnings: a couple of bits of suggestive conversation, I think someone might swear? big-ass spider and mentions of fictional violence

A/N: Does what it says on the tin, the squad have a movie night. god i really loved writing this one and it gave me an excuse to rewatch lotr as well. it’s more of a general thing with just like a few moments of ship related content and I really need to do more of this casual found family bonding stuff because it’s great!

Word Count: 1944

*

"So you're telling me none of you have watched Lord of the Rings?" Auri was horrified.

"Tyler and I have," Scarlett offered. "I don't remember much of it though."

"This is unacceptable. We're watching them all tonight, I can't be around people who haven't seen them for another day."

"Technically tonight we're meant to…" Auri's hard look cut off whatever Tyler was going to say. "...We can reschedule I guess."

"Good. Kal and I will go find snacks and meet you in the common room at 5."

"So early?" Kal asked.

"We've got 9 hours of movie to get through so yes."

"Alright, see you guys in a couple of hours."

*

At exactly 5 the squad converged on the common room. Scarlett arrived early and managed to nab the big screen with the comfiest couches, quite possibly through a little persuasion if the awestruck look on the faces of a group of guys across the room was anything to go by. She grinned as everyone filed in and got comfortable, Cat coming to sit on one side of her and grumpily leaning her head on Scarlett’s shoulder. 

Kal and Auri claimed the second couch, curling up together only slightly uncomfortably. It was still new to them and they weren’t sure how to navigate everything but they were cute. Everyone thought so. That left Tyler and Fin with the pile of pillows and blankets dumped on the floor in front of Scarlett’s couch. The boys pouted at Scarlett but she wouldn’t be swayed and eventually they flopped down onto the floor. Scarlett prodded her brother’s head with a foot and giggled when he swatted it away, grumbling under his breath. 

The lights dimmed and sound blared, causing them all to wince as Zila frantically turned down the volume and offered a quick apology before crossing the space to curl up on the couch, half in Scarlett’s lap. She stole a blanket on her way over to the protests of the boys on the floor. Scarlett quickly silenced them both with light kicks and a glare when they turned around, her face softening when Zila finally settled against her and Cat curled in closer to fit under the blanket as well. Tyler rolled his eyes but didn’t complain further and settled down with Finian tucked under his arm.

With everyone finally settled comfortably, Zila pressed play and Auri shushed everyone loudly as the first whispers of Cate Blanchet’s ethereal voice started. She didn’t even follow her own command though and eagerly narrated and explained everything to Kal in excited whispers. No one really had it in them to complain though. That or they worried Kal might rip out their tongues if they said a word against her. 

Kal barely even watched the film, far too entranced by Auri, the passion in her voice, the glint in her eyes. He got the gist of it from her rambling anyway. Auri pointed frantically after about an hour and a half and Kal finally forced his eyes away from her and towards the screen in time to see a tall man with long, blond hair and pointed ears appear.

“That’s Legolas!” She proclaimed gleefully and Kal had to admit after a while of watching him, he could see why Aurora had made a link between them.

“You never told us you were an actor, Kal,” Finian said in mock offence.

“I can’t believe I’ve kissed a celebrity!” Tyler pretended to swoon and Kal felt his ears redden at the reminder of that time in the server room.

“What!?” Everyone’s attention turned from the movie to the boys and Finian scowled at his boyfriend.

“You kissed Kal!?” 

“Fin-” Tyler suddenly regretted dropping that on them all in that manner.

“And you didn’t invite me!? Maker, you think you know a guy...”

“Wait,” Scarlett piped up. “When did this happen?” She shoved him with her foot. “And why didn’t you tell me!?”

“On the Worldship. A tech was about to catch us in the server room and it was the first thing I could think of to stop our cover being blown.”

“I can assure you,” Kal looked between Auri and Fin to try and reassure them, “it meant nothing.”

Tyler gasped. “But baaabe,” he said, just managing to maintain a hurt pout through the bubble of laughter that threatened to escape him.

“So if I invited you-”

“Do not finish that question,” Tyler, Kal, and Auri all practically yelled in sync.

“Alright, fiiine. I guess I’ll just stick with Tyler.” Said boy pretended to look hurt but he knew better than to take what Fin said seriously. The devilish Batraskan grin aimed his way and the quick kiss he received only confirmed it.

“Okay, can you all shut up and watch the movie now?” Cat grumbled, the sound less threatening and quieter than normal with her face pressed into the crook of Scarlett’s neck. Still, they did as asked and focused back on the movie.

‘You have my sword. And my bow. And my axe.’

“And my freaky mind powers,” Auri continued with a grin

“And my wrench.”

“And my awesome pilot skills.”

“And my disruptor pistol,” Zila added, quite to the surprise of everyone.

“And my leadership skills.”

“And my powers of persuasion.”

“And his...well...him,” Auri said, gesturing to Kal. Everyone was starting to really get into the film and she was ecstatic. They all broke down laughing at their own ridiculousness and missed the Fellowship head off. Half an hour later there was yelling and popcorn was thrown at the screen.

“They did not just kill off Gandalf!” Cat exclaimed, royally pissed off and enjoying the film far more than she’d planned to. Maybe she was a bit more inclined to give the film a chance than usual since Scarlett seemed to be enjoying it so much. Scratch that, she was absolutely more inclined to give the film a chance because of that. Although, she knew she’d enjoy it anyway but it’s not like she could admit that to the others. Anyway she was not happy that the old wizard was gone now. Auri had to bite her tongue to avoid ruining anything for her and the others.

The film finally ended and everyone was mildly shocked. They had no idea Boromir was going to die. Auri and Fin were the only ones seemingly unaffected.

“You know, if I was trying to protect a bunch of Hobbits, I would simply not get shot in the chest three times. RIP to Boromir but I’m different.” Auri could barely contain her giggles as the rest of the squad scowled at Fin and Tyler shoved him gently. His death was too fresh for them it would seem.

“Alright get the next one on,” Cat demanded, unwilling to move and do it herself. Zila slipped off Scarlett’s lap instead and sorted out the next film. Disgust was voiced when Grima was introduced. Cheers erupted when Gandalf finally returned. And the squad discovered both the Jones twins had a knack for impersonating Gollum. Fin most definitely did not appreciate this particular talent, especially when, without warning, Tyler whispered an eerily accurate my precious directly in his ear. He nearly jumped out of his skin, fortunately managing to hold back a scream which at least slightly lessened his embarrassment.

“You’re going to pay for that golden boy.” He glared down at Tyler who was clutching his stomach while his body shook with laughter. Something disgustingly soft formed in Finian’s chest at the sight of Tyler so carefree and relaxed though.

“Worth it,” he wheezed. He managed to calm himself enough to grab Fin’s hand and tug him back down into his arms, still giggling softly into the older boy’s hair.

“You won’t be so pleased about that later,” Fin grumbled and Scarlett couldn’t help laughing.

“Looks like someone’s not getting any tonight. Bad luck baby brother.”

“Will you all shut up? I’m trying to watch sentient trees kick ass,” Cat complained.

“They’re called Ents,” Auri corrected absentmindedly but Cat just waved her hand dismissively.

By the end of The Two Towers Zila had fallen asleep in Scarlett’s arms and the rest of them were on the way to it. Auri crawled out of her comfortable spot curled into Kal’s side and put the last movie on.

Too tired now, the squad kept the comments to a minimum this time. Auri and - surprisingly - Cat shuddered when Gollum led the hobbits into Shelob’s lair and Cat actually hid her face in Scarlett’s shoulder. A comment about that was on the tip of several tongues but they all thought better of it. Cat would certainly kill them if they dared mention it.

Despite enjoying the film, probably more than everyone except Auri, Cat fell asleep soon after Sam escaped from the Orcs with Frodo and then Scarlett’s attention was no longer on the film. Technically she’d seen it anyway so it didn’t matter. She’d much rather enjoy the rare quiet contentment from a sleeping Cat and Zila than watch a movie. About 20 minutes later, she too fell asleep.

“Wait. There’s ghosts in this?” Kal questioned when Aragorn, Gimli, and Legolas met the army of the dead. 

“Yep,” Auri said through a yawn. “It’s long and complicated but they’ll explain in a minute.”

“But ghosts���”

“Shut up Legolas,” she groaned lovingly. “Just wait. They’re very useful.” She fell asleep before their use could be revealed though and Kal cared more about gazing lovingly at her than the movie. No one made it to the end. Tyler and Kal got close but in the dark and the quiet even they couldn’t keep their eyes open any longer. 

In the morning, groggy and awoken by other Legionnaires coming in, Auri insisted they rewatch the end. Tears were shed. Even Cat and Finian were caught crying silently by the Jones twins.

“So, did you like it?” Auri asked when the screen finally faded to black. They all did.

“It was very enjoyable,” Kal admitted. “I...can understand why you call me Legolas now.”

“Do I get to keep doing it?”

“I think you would with or without my permission,” Kal smirked as Auri conceded that she probably would. “But I do not mind the nickname.”

“Good.” She kissed his cheek before taking his hand and standing up. “Now take me to breakfast, Legolas.”

“I’m going to regret this, aren’t I?”

“Almost definitely.” And then she dragged him from the room. Zila and Cat tugged Scarlett up as well and followed them out.

“You want breakfast?” Tyler asked Fin who was still laying on him.

“Depends. Are you on the menu.” He said it around a yawn and there was little of his usual teasing in it. Tyler just laughed. He leaned in closer and whispered in Fin’s ear with his best gollum impersonation again.

“Anything for you, my precious.” Fin lept up with a screech and Tyler was losing it again.

“I told you not to do that again.”

“Your face,” Tyler wheezed. “It’s still worth it.”

“You’re sleeping on your own tonight,” Finian grumbled.

“Oh come on.” Tyler stood and wrapped his arm around his boyfriend as they both left to catch up with the rest of the squad. He pulled out the smeagol voice he was also rather proud of. “It’s just a bit of fun, precious.” 

Finian jabbed an elbow into his side. “I should never have let Auri talk us into watching that. She’s created a monster.”

“Don’t be mad, precious.” 

“No. No. No. No. No.” Finian squirmed out of Tyler’s grasp and ran, Tyler’s laughter following him all the way down the hall.

*

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Aurora Cycle: @aurising

[jess-the-vampire]

Sky And The Forces Of The Multiverse, Chapter 27

Previous / Next

-

The Next few days were weird. But not the kinda weird Sky had been expecting after going on a mission to possible save the lives of the princess, her family, and literally her own army. She wasn't surprised at the higher restrictions, the curfew, the increased security, though she was thankful the butterfly and lucitor family decided not to tail the kids with guards anymore, hoping their new system would work without them. No, none of this was surprising unfortunately considering what had happened. What was is the fact Nora and Angel were still here.

They had seemingly....temporally moved in until further notice when it came to their parents, angel refused to leave his mother in her state, and considering he had lessons here anyway his father didn't mind as long as they were both kept under management and taken cared for, and nora's parents, despite not entirely ok with letting their daughter out of their sight under these circumstances, seemed to feel a little bit safe under star's roof then their own after their own fiasco. Yeah, they knew her broke into butterfly castle once, but at least here they had magic shields and protection charms that might help ward off any potential evil, even if that meant keeping nora out of their eyes 24/7. Nora was rather happy about this change though, getting to see the garden more often then ever, not to mention getting to spend time with her new friends. It almost made up for losing her research and spending so long by herself during the crisis. Almost. Angel was much more of a mixed bag, even if sky was starting to feel at least a little better about him sticking around and even if star herself was starting to stop treating him as a nuisance herself. He either wouldn't leave his mother's bed side, or tag alongside sky and judas as much as loki used to. Loki had done it mostly because he was bored, wanted to spy, or literally had nothing better to do with his time since he lacked a ton of friends and was terrible at makings ones but angel did it cause he literally only seemed to find the least bit of comfort around judas and sky. He only left his mother for lessons or because the people in the hospital wing asked him to and his first instinct was to find sky and it was rather.....unusual. Angel was one of those guys who tried to seem respectable most of the time, trying to at least somewhat look good talking in a princely matter, but over time his usually seemingly prince attitude wavered and his angsty teen side seemed to pop out more. He probably spent so much time pressuring himself to "Fix" everything for his people and protest about adult issues and deal with his own parental issues he'd really never gotten a chance to be a teen. So sky now was stuck with moody teen angel, going through a lot of clear emotional issues. Not that it was surprising, she'd probably be freaking out as well. He wasn't the worst company to have around, loki was far more annoying because he got more heavily into her business and made more uncomfortable remarks. But it was hard to do a lot with a spider prince following you around awkwardly so much of the time. Judas however, seemed to kinda feel delighted they were getting along better, the situation oddly enough allowing them to hang out like they had promised, even if it wasn't under the circumstances in which they pitched. No doubt to sky, angel really did care about judas, asking about his arm more often then he probably needed to. He kept trying to be cool around him, though was having a harder time maintaining it. Angel was not very social and talked formally most of the time, so he was already an oddball to be hanging around a bunch of royal teens who wore chokers and snuck out of the castle to get cornshakes at night. Though he seemed to be trying to appease judas and sky as much as possible so he wasn't on their bad side anymore, though if he was doing a good job at that with his tripping over his words and constant cluelessness he had no idea. Judas was just happy he was even allowed to see his friends at all, thank god for his parents caring about that so much, he could see nora, angel was starting to open up better, and he and landon were on...better terms. Landon himself had been trying to pull him aside for conversation but it felt like whatever he wanted to talk about, he wanted to talk about in private, and the addition of nora and angel now made that even harder. Though he had a feeling landon was also distracted with his earth friend as well. At this point in time, sky and judas were walking alongside each other, the team off handling other things and leaving them some time to speak. "I wish i could've seen galexia and sunny's performance, it sounds....incredibly if what my parents said was anything to consider....artistic?", he smiled to himself, thinking back on sunny's love of acting. "Honestly i think it suits her....it sure seems to make her happy.". His companion could only shrug, "At least it came in handy...though you think she'll do another?". "I'd watch it.". "What was it about?". "About a princess wanting to make a name for herself and a prince wishing he was in the shadows more....i think she spends too much time with us...though i heard she and lexi played all the roles so i have to watch for that alone.", to be honest the thought of sunny wearing a mustache to pretend to be a prince and then immediately removing it to be a completely different character did seem rather hilarious. The two friends playfully bumping into each other with their shoulders. "You sure it was a good idea to tell luna.....everything?". "Well...". "Well what?". "There's one thing i'm iffy on telling her, ....galexia...."., he was rubbing the back of his head, "Sunny hasn't given us updates on anything worrisome in particular of course, but i'm still worried what would happen if we told her about lexi's uh....gift? I want us to fully be able to trust each other but she makes me anxious sometimes, i don't know how she'd react to lexi knowing the future.", he had a fair point, especially since luna seemed to not be honest about herself as well. "The one cheek mark glowing thing? Creepy...", he kinda had to agree, that was a rather uncomfortable thing to know she could do, it was certainly not a thing most queens could do which gave him the feeling when luna said they shared a lot in common, she was not saying it to get him on her side, she was actually serious. Though maybe instead of being too freaked out they should be more relieved they hadn't gotten killed thanks to her help. Though he still wasn't sure about telling her. Luna herself got even more praised for being a savoir and closer to her mom of this universe a little bit more then ever, honestly this entire situation makes it harder to keep themselves in the shadows , but on the plus side there were benefits to being friends with someone so close to the leader of the knights and was seen as a hero. Luna herself however, was mixed, on the other hand she could do more things without it being suspicious, on another hand....it was harder to get others to leave her alone. So much happened in one day and it now reshaped almost everything to the point in which everyone was more anxious. "Let's just hope luna doesn't do anything....more creepy...i'm still paranoid about her wiping nora's memory while she's here, i mean i don't want to think luna would do something like that but then again I can't claim to know luna well, she's very closed off. I know i said i don't think it's smart to focus too much on the other timelines,  but-". "You want to at least try and get her to be open about herself instead of being a pushover? Yeah i get it...", she turned her head and shoved her hands inside her pockets, "She got so mad she freaked, I guess whoever that ash guy was, she's used to being mad at him...". At least that seemed to be the assumption since her rampage clearly came out of force of habit, sky had to give the guy props if he put up with luna for as long as he seemed to probably have. "Brother? Boyfriend? Her maybe crush?", judas began suggesting off the top of his head, "Well actually if they were dating, they sound a little dysfunctional...no offense..". His partner's guess was as good as his, "Well, at least we know she has someone back home waiting for her besides her moms, that's kinda interesting, she kinda made it always out like she wanted to get back just to be back and not because she had a lot of people back home she missed...she's not a people person...". "Oh? And we are?", that made him chuckle, "Maybe we're being too nosy, we kinda wanna be open and friendly and i guess luna just really isn't the type to open up like that unless she's comfortable, she's not all bad, even if she does have things to work out for herself...". Sky seemed to soften at that, the two walking in silence a little longer as sky glanced over to see judas rubbing at his arm, feeling the shock band he was wearing under his jacket anxiously. "Hey....you sure you're doing ok with your arm?", she mumbled, "Like, I know the whole situation really freaked you out...I hope you're not mad i didn't y'know....shock you? The thing kinda went on it's own rampage and-", but he interrupted her, trying to calm her down about his situation, "No no, it's ok, i'll be ok....it was kinda a stressful situation....and we were fine, we all made it out and it didn't end up hurting anyone....hopefully, so...you're good...". "What about your family-?". "You know i can't report this back to them without explaining what happened, and my dad still hasn't come up to speak to me about my arm. My Granddad especially might flip if he found out, he likes to keep finding new ways to help and this would put more stress on him, which puts more stress on my parents...and it's like a domino effect of more problems". His granddad was a sweet guy but he knew if he ever found out his arm did....that, there's a good chance judas might be forced to deal with worse then his grumpy brother and mysterious enemy. "Jude, you look stressed, like...REALLY stressed, maybe you should take a break? I mean, i can go talk to nora if you want and get updates on whatever and maybe you can talk to your brothers or angel or something...", he did have to talk to landon about whatever it was he needed to speak about, and maybe he needed to take some time to recover. It felt like he really hadn't, despite it only having happened a few days ago, there had been so much chaos it was hard to fully take a break. Maybe he just needed a day to chill, let someone else take the reigns and handle the current situation. He must've looked nervous still because he could feel sky trying to comfort him, "Dude, it'll be ok, go spend time with your bro or something, we can call you if something freaks...i mean, you're the one who deserves a proper break more then anyone...". He genuinely smiled from that, pulling sky into a hug and kissing the top of her head sweetly before ruffling her hair, "Thanks sky...". He then took a few leaps forward, looking back at her, "I'm gonna go find landon....and hey....maybe in the meanwhile....you should go speak to luna while you're at it....I know you're kinda mad at her cause of what happened, but for the record, I think what you did was pretty awesome...". He headed off, and sky sighed, it was awesome, she just wished her saving a princess wasn't added to the long list of attributes that were already taken by others. She wandered along the halls , heading to the knight training area on her own, though as she reached the hall she spotted a face she wasn't expecting, Katrina was lying against the walls. Her face brightened at the sight of sky and she was quickly pulled into a tight hug from the frog monster, "Blue bell! Tis good to see you again! How's life holding you up?". By the looks on sky's face, not very well, and katrina sighed as she playfully poked sky's hat. "You know i had to tell em about the possession thing, no way i could let that one slide....", though the princess got it, honestly if it mean less chances of her friends ending up the same way it was fine with her overall, and at least they could tell who was possessed by appearance. "It's not a big deal, i heard from mom loki's kinda being being chained to his mom kinda though? like i get not wanting him to go out again, but that's pretty cruel punishment, even for him..". "For now, just worry about yourself, lucky they hadn't forced you to do anything under their control yet...". Sky sure hoped so, but there was no denying she was paranoid about it. "What are you doing here anyway?". "Me? Oh well, i wanted to have a talk with Miss Jackie's new gifted student, name's luna? She's the girl who apparently helped rescue poor princess spiderbite and found everyone missing from some enchanted sleeping spell, I just want to know a little bit about what happened....or....you could tell me?". Right, she was a master spy after all, sky wasn't even gonna try to lie her way outta this one, crossing her arms, "Don't...tell anyone, you know-". "They'd be mad? No kidding blue girl, i lost track of seeing you three in the woods, but i know you had something to do with it...". "We just wanted to help...". Katrina was still smiling, "and you did good, but one of these days you're going to get caught by someone other then me, and it won't be pretty.". She looked around the hallway, making sure no one was listening before leaning close and whispering, "For the record though, if you're going to sneak around, you need to learn to be more like me and my dad. We are family of spies, mostly, then you might have easier time not getting caught by me.". "you literally made me a charm to wear on my HAT to find you...". "And how many other people would be smart enough to know to use it that way?" She had a point. "your uh...partner filling in for you today?". "Yep, what about your other half?", sky simply shrugged and leaned against the wall next to her, trying to make herself comfortable, "He needed a break so he's taking one, i hope, he's kinda a little overworked so....I'm gonna try and handle some other things...". There was a moment of silence still sky looked up to see the frog smiling at her, making her grumble, "You're a good friend princess butterfly, he's lucky to have friend like you watching his back...". "I dunno, i've been kinda dumb....we did have a fight and i kinda got mad at him and yeah...", katrina slapped her on the back, showing off her monster strength and laughing, "You aren't a bad friend for having a fight blue girl , fights happen, the best friends recover from them. Don't call yourself a bad friend because you both had a fight, you two clearly care about each other, you are like family to each other. You are like true best friends". Sky nodded, "Yeah, i guess so, I just hope he's ok...". "He is strong boy, he'll be ok....". "Yeah....he is." The door suddenly opened, and Jackie, Kelly, and Luna stepped out, prompting Katrina to stand up and pull Luna to the side before sky could even get a word in with her, though jackie and kelly seemed rather happy to take her place, immediately greeting sky with hugs and head pats, "Skyler, good to see you sweetheart, we haven't gotten to hang out much since i got back from my mission, though i bet you heard about the mess i got into recently?". Kelly snickered, "I can't believe you fell asleep, i was hoping when you came back you had spent so long fighting a dragon or something!". Jackie hit her armored shoulder and snorted, "Oh i wish! But hey, luna took care of it! That girl is a miracle....you found her, right sky? Gotta say, good job.....i've never had a better recruit in my entire life...she's incredibly gifted, a true strategist, she was made for this job....she'll be a perfect replacement  for me whence i eventually retire...". Wait....wait?! "Whu?', was all she could managed as jackie snorted. "Don't worry, she won't do that right away, but you know me, i eventually wanna settle down for a bit, take a rest from getting new scars. If she keeps it up at this rate she could very much take over, she's got all the skills needed and she's improving fast.". Well, maybe that wouldn't be a bad thing if luna was stuck in this timeline forever, but she clearly wasn't planning to live out the rest of her life being a knight and taking the place of her mom from another universe. "Uh well, have you uh...asked her yet? Maybe she'd prefer another position?", she needed to carefully divert this in another direction, "I mean, luna's REALLY into fighting but she's also like....into other things too and what if she wanted to give another job a shot like uh....maybe a teacher? Or a curator, she...likes the history of the queens". Jackie blinked at that, but mush to sky's surprise she seemed to be very interested in her claims, "Wow, she sounds incredibly knowledgeable and smart then! Maybe we could expand her position a bit to allow for teaching as well!". Facepalm "Anyways, i appreciate it sky, and it's wonderful to see you after so long properly, you're so grown up!". She patted her head and smiled softly, reflecting, "I remember when you and judas were so tiny i could carry you both everywhere together, and now he's taller then me, and you're too grown up for rides on my shoulders.". Oh yeah, they did used to do that back in the day didn't they? Feels like forever ago, especially since Jackie got more occupied as time went on. "Eh, he gets it from his dad's side of the family, it does become a pain with doors sometimes", they all laughed together and sky got back on track, "So yeah, uh, don't start pushing luna into anything right away...i mean, she's still young.". The adults seemed to consider that a fair point though kelly butted in, "Though honestly, it'd be a huge honor to work for the royal family, it's a missed opportunity if she does choose to say no to it, but you're right it's too soon, and we need to handle this masked thief issue first and foremost.". "Gotten anywhere close?". "We-", they looked at each other before going back to sky, their cheerful tone starting to vanish, "Aren't allowed to disclose that information with you actually, we're limited in what we're allowed to tell any of you kids for that matter, no offense to you....but your parents are worried you'll start getting yourself into situations they would rather you didn't if you were more aware of the situation at hand. They care for your safety more then anything.". Too late for that. "How are we gonna be safe if we don't know what's going on though? When judas becomes king is he not gonna be allowed to know about this stuff still? He's like my best friend, he's not gonna stand for that if you tell him he can't talk to me....", which was true, judas tended to hate seeing sky or anyone feel left out of unfairly treated, like were they gonna make him take an oath? Keep an eye on him so he would'nt spill? As king would he just not be involved in this matter entirely? They didn't seem to have a god answer for sky, patting her shoulder and trying to change the subject, "You better have a talk with your mother then....anyways, it's time for our lunch break, you both be safe alright?". The two headed off, arms around the other's shoulders and sky noticed during the session luna and katrina were gone, great, just what she needed. She had to go do something else till both of them came back then, she placed her hands in her pockets and started to move when. "SKY!" "AH GALEXIA I SWEAR!!". She pushed herself against the wall in her panic, the smiling as always older girl giggling excitably, "I'm glad i found you! I want your help on something cause sunny went all poof to do something else so I wanted to ask you for some help!". Sunny had been Galexia's go-to since she got here for any help she needed, so no one was nearly as familar with what lexi did most of the time that required her help, outside of asking judas to help her find more art supplies. For a moment sky considered saying no, but then again she had nothing to lose she supposed. "Oh fine....what's up?". "You're super creative! I want you to help me design a get well card for angel's mom! Sunny wanted to do it but i think she's busy so....", oh yeah, i guess that wouldn't be too surprising considering sunny would most likely want to do something nice for angel since she had grown an attachment to wanting him to be happy. She shrugged but nodded, she honestly had no reason to say no, galexia jumped up and down before grabbing onto her hands and running to another part of the castle. Slamming the door behind them sky saw the room around them was an art room, there were rooms for everything in this castle so i guess she shouldn't be surprised though she hadn't been here herself. There were a few mewmans hanging around but no one paid lexi much mind as she pulled out a giant piece of paper from the storage closet and placed it in front of sky, opening up her jacket and letting what almost felt like hundreds of markers fly out and onto the table as well. She sure hoped she didn't steal all of them. "Wow, you really are dedicated.....i guess while he's here with us we might as well....uh....how many people do you plan to have sign it?", galexia's eyes were practically sparking, "How many people do you know? Get EVERYONE! ", she was so joyful it was almost ridiculous as she shook sky's entire body, "We want to make her feel super duper better so the more the merrier, you know everyone around here right? You should be able to ask loads of people!". "Well-". Then she looked galeixa in the eyes and knew she couldn't say no. "I'll give it a shot...". "THANK YOU!", she was pulled into a big hug and sky kinda felt herself start to smile, galexia was a little odd but she certainly had a way of bringing a smile to everyone's face. The girl started on the cover, designing and picking out the colors she needed as sky worked with her. Sky tended to plan a little more with design, since her hat ideas didn't come outta nowhere, they usually took some pre-sketching. But galexia seemed to work on impulse, drawing whatever came to her head and not even stopping. and it looked amazing, the dark background, the forest, she captured the queen beautifully despite never seeing her so lively since she arrived. Sky's smile turned sour and her contribution of flowers and stars decreased slightly, "I wish this drawing was a prediction, not having any idea what'll happen with her is kinda scary...i mean, what if she really doesn't make it? I get mad with my mom a lot but i can't imagine having her die or something...". "Not everyone is lucky enough to have good parents, is angel loves her so much she must really be important to him..", galexia hummed, reminding sky of her condition back home, "Y'know, do you really want to go back, since your parents are kinda-? I mean, here you seem happy with hanging out with the rest of us and you get special attention because you're a guest and....well...i mean, wouldn't going back feel worse with your family situation?". "I like being here...but i also like my friends back home, and my eclipsa, and my lucitors....they all care about me and we have so many memories together, I don't want them to be sad forever without me....the older man with the giant spider legs doesn't want angel to be sad forever either, and that's why he wanted you two to be friends, angel would be more sad if he had no one left....". She made a good point and sky grumbled, "You'd go back to that dimension just to be with the people who really do care no matter what huh? That's pretty cool of you...". "You wouldn't leave here for judas would you?". She didn't have to think hard on that one, "Nah....you're right, i wouldn't. He wouldn't ditch me and i wouldn't ditch him, honestly there's no way i'd adjust to your crazy worlds anyway, i'm having a hard time just being comfortable in this one. Though, you seem really comfortable, ever since you got here you've seemed mostly fine....sunny openly talks about how much she misses home, luna is distant and never talks about how she feels, celeste throws attitude, but you.....you seem like you don't feel upset at all..". "I just like spending time with the rest of you! I'm always having fun and drawing and it's hard to be too sad when i have so many new friends here! When i get home I'm gonna talk about you LOTS!", she was so enthusiastic, and sky decided to change the subject, she didn't need to make the situation depressing when they were trying to do something fun together. She couldn't recall anytime she had hung out with galeixa since she arrived, at least not one on one. This was kind refreshing considering all the drama surrounding luna and celeste mostly. "So.....you and sunny kinda really get along...", the brunette nodded along, she seemed to almost pay attention more when she was occupied then when she wasn't. "Sunny is so nice and fun and she really likes my artwork, we really click! Luna and Celeste don't really talk to me so i like to hang out with her instead! Judas is nice too, and his younger brother....Sunny, me and him play dungeons and dragons all the time when we're bored down there.". "I didn't know you where into geeky stuff like that, that's kinda neat.". She beamed. They finally finished up the card, lexi of course sprinkling it with glitter before declaring it to be perfect, as lexi shoved it into sky's arms, "Let's go get signatures!". Sky was dragged out of the room almost as quickly as she had been dragged into it, galexia excitably approaching every staff member, citizen, and knight they walked past for them to sign. Carrying the card was a little annoying, not because it was heavy, but because sky couldn't see squat and carrying giant floppy paper everywhere risked poking a hole through it or it slipping easily. Lexi really should've gotten stronger paper but eh... Honestly she wasn't sure if the people who signed really wanted to or were either persuaded by how adorable the older girl was, or maybe her intense personality creeped them into it. Sky had no idea since she could barely see anything until eventually she decided maybe it was better to lean the paper against the wall for signatures instead of risking ruining the paper. Though they really couldn't just do a bunch of random people, they needed to find their friends as well. Well, judas was most likely in the underworld still, luna was...somewhere...maybe they were better off looking for celeste first? Or Nora. Maybe nora, celeste resided in the underworld after all. Galexia seemed to have come to the same conclusion and next thing sky knew, she was in the garden, by the rose bushes. Nora was sitting by herself, taking notes on a small school notebook and she looked the happiest they'd ever seen her despite the situation. Less painful schedules, more freedom to move around the castle thanks to the queen, and less badgering from her parents because her folks had the big problem of their terrified kingdom to worry about now. She looked up in glee at the sight of the duo and seemed bemused by sky's situation. "Sky! And....galexia I believe? Sorry, i haven't seen you much since the slumber party....", she got a good look at the card and beamed, "A card? That's very sweet of you...she's going to love it i'm sure..", she fought the need to hide in her hair and tried to look at the dark haired girls in the eyes, though she was cutting in and out rather fast. Galexia immediately handed her a marker and prompted her to sign as sky got a look at what she was writing. "I thought angel made you uncomfortable?". She signed quickly and pressed the notebook to her chest, embarrassed and red-faced, which almost looked odd with her greenish skin. "Oh? Uh....well, spending time in the hospital wing together helped me conquer my fear a little more and uh....well it's good he doesn't hate me or anything....". Sky gave her a look and raised an eyebrow, "Uh well....we've just been talking and....I wanna help...with his mom, please don't be mad i wanna help judas too I-". "What? No, i'm not mad, just surprised, I thought-". "I didn't want to help because i wasn't comfortable? Yeah....It's just....he's gonna lose his mom and even with everything with my parents, almost losing them....it really broke me...I don't think i can...handle....watching him lose her...", she went silent before sighing, "The only problem is, without my book the only way we can try and help are...well...getting my parents involved, and they are so hard to get to think out of their ways....they like monsters...but..they're worried for my safety and they know his kingdom hates ours and they know angel has a history of being a pest...". She mumbled under her breath, "I wasn't even sure about telling you since you and angel....fight...a lot.". Right, Judas had been the one who wanted to try and work things with angel, sky really hadn't until recently and nora had no reason to think they were under better terms. "Well, not anymore, we're actually...getting along? He started to stop being a pain and he kinda broke and....it's a little complicated but we're on sorta better terms. I'm about....25% less mad with him then i used to be....". This seemed to reassure the girl, "Angel doesn't speak much to me, but....he seemed happy when i said i could help...". "do you even know what to do?". "Not entirely...but..it's not magic based it seems so it might be feasible, we can't be sure we'll save her but if anyone can find a way to help, it's us....". Sky wasn't entirely sure about finding a cure for a disease that caused a monster to have a hard time noticing things around them, was mostly paralyzed, and had a hard time eating was really possible but then again she'd seen weirder so might as well be hopeful if possible. Galexia, who had been surprisingly quiet during the whole exchange was now mesmerized by nora's sketches, smiling widely and acting incredibly giddy which was half making nora happy and half making her anxious. "You're so GOOD!". "You think so?". "YESSSSS!". She beamed. "So where is angel anyway? He's not with you, judas...or me....is he with his mom still?". The slimey girl only could shrug, "I'm not sure, he might be....he doesn't seem to know what to do with himself when he's not with his mom...". That was true enough, sky just hoped he was in the bathroom of lounging around the kitchens, she really hoped he wasn't up to something. Or, i guess if she really thought about it, he could be with eclipsa, since those two had been oddly buddy buddy lately. As if on cue, galexia piped in. "We should see eclipsa! She'll sign!". Which was a pretty good idea since her tower was already in the garden, sky got ahold of the card and looked to nora with a sigh, "Good luck ok? I guess if you need help well.....you're surrounded by it now...". Nora nodded happily, "Of course, yeah! I...It's nice being here....even if it's temporary...you're lucky sky, you get to see all these beautiful flowers every day, to go wherever you want...". "Not that lucky....at least it's cool that you have a passion for medicine and it makes you stand out....my passion is mostly...i dunno, making hats?", but nora had to disagree, shaking her hair and playing with her hair, "You stand out to me, your super creative...you like to think outside of the box, judas likes to do things traditional, he's the one who handles things the most logical way, but you're the one to do the most unexpected things to help...". "I dunno...". "He wanted to simply contact me to hang out, you broke into my room to speak to me...". "That's....true.", sky had to admit, she hadn't really considered that very much, even when people told her this kinda stuff, she was the type to break into a girl's room to tell her she wanted to hang out like some sorta rebel. "You kick butt!", she squeaked before closing her mouth as if she said something awful, she blushed and held herself, "I like the hats too...". Sky nodded, keeping the card safe in her arms, "I'll finish your hat real soon ok? I'll see you around nora...". She smiled and sky felt lexi drag her along to approach eclipsa's guarded tower, and after galexia used her puppy dog eyes to convince both guards to sign the girls knocked and made their way up. Angel was nowhere in sight, but Eclipsa certainly was, this time with a little globgor on her shoulder. She froze at the sight of the girls but immediately went all smiles at the card and gave them a smug smile, "If you're looking for him he's on the roof, though i'm not sure this is the prime way to make him feel much better.". Sky grumbled, "Well, i mean, it was technically galexia and sunny's idea and i kinda helped, it was to do something nice...". "I'm sure she'll love it, the art is beautiful!". Galexia stepped forward, jumping up and down and almost immediately going into the detail on it and asking her to sign, globgor jumping off eclipsa's shoulder to make his way to sky and speak to her more quietly and update her on his finds, "The figure, there are rumors of her hanging around the Arachford kingdom, it could be a rather large monster but we are worried about the possibility that it is her....problem is, it could very well be a coincidence...in terms of the silk? No idea where they got the spell back, something like that could only have been kept in-". "The archives..", she finished. It's not like there were many other known places where people kept secret information like that at. Especially not stuff as important as that, she had even heard from her moms that they kept a lot of dangerous and horrible stuff down there that wasn't allowed to be seen by anyone except the most elite of individuals. Then again her moms also said having food that tells you how you'll die was a totally ok thing and not life ruining at all, so whatever. Globgor hadn't really gotten back to her since he told her he'd investigate so at least he was now updating her on the matter after awhile. "Exactly...queen solaria could've kept some there, but that place got destroyed some time ago". "But....it was destroyed...unless...that's why Her was there in the first place....", her heart dropped, "But we can't even be sure of that without more evidence.....but....if it's true....that would mean....". Globgor sighed, You should just keep an eye on that boy...just in case...there's something shady going on behind the scenes over there though whether he's involved directly or not...". He hoped off sky's shoulder as lexi and eclipsa finished speaking. Sky wasn't paying much attention, her focus now being if angel was actually truthful in wanting to stop his antics or if he suddenly learned how to lie really good to her. She didn't notice galexia wave her hands in front of her and the thing that snapped her out of it was a slap to the shoulder. She felt embarrassed but it didn't last long, as her attention was drawn to eclipsa's outfit, something she had been too distracted to notice, she was wearing a black and purple evening gown with long gloves and heels. and of course she had a large hat to match. Her stare caught eclipsa's attention as she prompted globgor to sign the card as well, "It's date night sweetie, we're heading out, you kids are more restricted around this time but we aren't....plus we have a little business outside of the castle anyway tonight...". When she mentioned "Business" sky sure hoped she meant actual important business and not.....ugh. Nope Nope, just let it be about her or meteora or something other then that, please. "oh....well uh...have fun i guess? Uh...you aren't gonna do anything...dangerous are you?", she shifted her eyes which got a laugh out of the couple, globgor becoming slightly bigger and eclipsa taking his arm, "We'll be fine darling, we can handle ourselves just fine...in the meantime...I suggest you make yourself at home, feel free to make some tea if you'd girls like..maybe bring one to the prince on the roof while you're at it. We'll be out for a few hours.", she patted sky on the head as the two started heading out, "See you girls later!". Galexia waved rather rapidly as the door closed behind the couple, leaving just them in the room together with her card as she sat on the couch, "You wanna hand the card over to angel?", she excitably giggled as she relaxed. Sky's face was kinda iffy, angel on this subject was a little unpredictable, he was just a little sensitive to the situation and maybe the card would be a little ignorant to give to him, but on another hand he might appreciate it and the support. "I dunno...maybe we should do him later or something...we still gotta do my moms and who knows when we might get a chance with judas and his brothers...". "OOO, i know! I'll go get sunny and celeste and his bros in the underworld to sign and when i get back, then we can get him to sign!" Sky wasn't even allowed much of a world in before galexia grabbed the card and ran out in a flash. Welp, guess it was decided for her then as she looked up at the roof, groaning before making a pot of tea on the stove soon filling a couple cups and using her batty cloudy to get to the rooftop, angel just sitting there and looking over the hills. He didn't even turn around, he could smell her after all and his pointed ears twitched. "Hello princess butterfly...". He sounded distant, but also somber. "You.....ok?". Maybe that was a bad question to be asking considering his situation, he didn't answer though, still looking out to the horizon as she made her way over. "Hey uh...be careful with this teacup, if you drop it from this height no guarantee i'll be able to save it on time....and uh....i dunno how eclipsa feels about me breaking her stuff...". He carefully took the cup from her and she felt herself start to sweat next to him, unsure of where his motivations truly lied right now. Maybe a month ago she's be like "Yeah, of course he's up to something". But now? She kinda sure hoped he wasn't and there was something here she was missing. Angel wasn't paying much attention to her though, and he still looked a little rough around the edges, he clearly had a hard time sleeping these last few nights and despite the offer to be given his own room he wanted to stay in the wing, which only made it harder to sleep. So his sleep loss was a direct result of his current emotional issues with his mother. Maybe that was why he seemed to look like a mess as well, his clothes more like he had slept in them and his hair more messy then usual. He also looked like he most likely cried and blew his nose into his outfit which prompted sky to scoot a little further away from him as she sipped her tea to herself. "I uh....heard you and nora have been speaking to each other....how did you...i mean, i mean i thought it'd be harder to get you two to really talk...". Angel didn't even turn to face her, mumbling, "We're not friends, she just...offered to help and i didn't turn it down.". Welp, i guess it would be a stretch to assume they were suddenly buddy buddy because nora wanted to help save his mom's life, but it was at least a step in the right direction. Angel and Nora really never talked before now, so this was better then before by far, though this at least made sky tap her fingers and ask a new odd question. "Are we friends?". That came out weirder then it needed to be, probably considering who she was asking it to. Even angel seemed a little taken aback and not sure what to say about it, giving it some thought before trying to come up with an answer, "Well....i suppose so...I think....I'm not sure...". Way to make the situation more painfully awkward then it already was angelus, fantastic. Still, he gave an answer, he didn't stick his nose up at the world and go all "I'm too busy to have friends.". "Well...i guess that's fair, we don't hang out like normal friends, but we still kinda hang out...and talk to each other sorta...", he mumbled and turned his head further, "You and prince lucitor hang out all the time, you are almost always together when you can be and like to speak to each other....". He wasn't wrong but she still tried to ration it out, "Yeah, he's my best friend, kinda grew up together, but i have other friends...even if we don't hang out like me and judas do...mel is in another dimension and we're pen pals, nora's kinda a friend too...". "What are you saying?". "I'm saying friends aren't always like me and judas....we can be friends without all the crazy hanging out and stuff, i mean...if you want i guess...unless you still think it's weird for us to be friends still", angel paused and actually turned to her, "I'm not even sure why you'd want to be friends with me after everything....you've been mad with me for a very long time, you and lucitor both. You feel like you don't even want me around all that much.". "What? No! We're not upset with you...I mean, well, what you did got on our nerves but judas always thought you had good intentions and uh....we can kinda put it behind us if we sorta work things out and make up for them.". The boy didn't entirely seem to be buying it though, his legs hanging off the roof as he avoided eye contact once again, "You make that sound so easy...as if everything is different now or you simply like me now despite everything you felt before....". "Well, i mean...it's not easy per say, it's not like mom sorta bring monsters into the community fixed all the horrible people who now attack me or judas for being different, i think it's just one of those things you have to work towards...i'm sorry if we haven't been trying enough with you....we just have a lot on our plate as well...". He grumbled, and turned his head away completely, "I don't know if we're friends skyler....and I don't know if we should be either....". She was quiet, the only sounds that could be heard were the sounds of nature and the sipping of tea, their hair starting to blow in the mild wind. Sky found herself lost in thought, wondering what to say if she should say anything right now, she wasn't amazing with advice or anything so no telling if it'd work. But the boy looked so...upset, and it was hard for her to stay in this miserable silence like this, she shuffled in her seat and tried to spit something out. 'Well, no one's really perfect, we all do kinda dumb things.....but forgiveness and figuring things out is kinda apart of it too...", she thought back to what katrina talked to her about, "I mean, judas and i fight but we still are friends and we forgive and figure it out together...I mean, yeah you screwed up but....that doesn't mean we couldn't be friends i guess....no pressure though, i know it's not something you're used to...but you still can if you want to....you don't gotta be alone...". He was thinking, and they stopped speaking for a minute as sky looked over the beautiful view of the forest and landscape, it was rather peaceful up here, no wonder he went up here. It looked like a good place to clear your mind and she took a deep breath before turning back to the prince, "Mind if i stay here a little while? I kinda need a break as well...". He was silent but he still nodded and the two sat on the roof together and looked over the horizon, lost in thought. - "Dad....look, for one night? Please.....I know you're stressed and grandma and grandpa are sorta flipping out but Bernard's my friend and i just want him to come over for one night. Judas gets to invite sky over all the time...and I know i'm kinda asking a lot from you...but...can it really hurt?", Landon awkwardly stumbled at his father's desk, geez hours of practicing in front of a mirror and this was the best he could do for something like this? He probably looked pathetic, trying to explain his reasoning as to why this place was safe enough to bring his friend over, but he'd be dumber for not trying to give it a shot at least. His mom was on his side mostly but he needed both parents to help approve and his dad could be a bigger challenge sometimes. Landon as per usual, wasn't typically a very good social person, bad with eye contact, bad with figuring out what to say most of the time, and stumbling and his words quieting down more often....this was too important to fail and he still seemed to be struggling. Though Tom didn't seem upset with his attempts, in fact he looked amused and a little impressed, "Oh trust me, you mother talked to me about this beforehand, she knows how much this means to you...rest assured we are looking into it but it's complicated, it's hard enough worrying for you and your brothers and all the citizens who live here....not to mention the girls who now are temporarily staying here, adding another kid on top of that might only make us more anxious about him getting hurt then we already were...". "Yeah but i mean-". "We get it, but it's hard thinking about pleasantries when so much else is going down...we're worried...". "I'll watch him myself....he'll be my responsibility..."., he argued, "I can totally keep an eye on him, he's my friend anyway, he'll stick with me.  He's not the type to go wandering around the castle or anything...I promise, I'd just like to have him over for dinner one night...". Tom placed his feet up on the table and thought for a moment, leaving landon more frustrated then he already was. "Me and your mother still are going to have to talk about it i'm afraid....it's something we'll have to plan...and make sure we don't have any further problem...maybe we can convince heka to turn off portaling in out area somehow?". "Can you at least try to do it sooner? "Looking into it" doesn't feel like a total..."yes"", he rambled on, sounding more and more frustrated, "Look, I just don't feel like i can wait on this, bernard's moved like...7 times...SEVEN, what if he moves again and we....he stops wanting to hang out with me...? Because he has more present friends he likes better...?", his voice got sadder and his shoulders sagged at the thought, "I just want a chance..". Tom was about to say more when another knock was heard on the door, judas stepping in shorty after and only making landon more uncomfortable with this situation. Tom looked happy to see his older son, standing up and ushering him over, "Judas! Oh good....I've been wanting to see you...". He stopped, and ushered to his brother, "Well dad, I actually was looking for landon, I heard he was here so....am i interrupting something important? Cause i can wait if you both-". "No no, it's fine, we're about finished anyway....landon, we'll work on it, I promise....we'll let you know as soon as possible....". Landon huffed and stood up, "Fine, i guess i'll be on my way then, i'll see you later judas since you need to talk to dad nor or something..". Judas was about to say something but he left in a huff, tom's hand resting on the boy's shoulder, "It's ok, give him some space....you can talk to him later tonight when he's a little better...". 'What-". "He wanted to invite bernard over...". "Ohh.....lemme guess, it was complicated because of-?" "yeah..". There was silence for a moment before tom turned his attention back to the thing he'd been waiting all day to do. Judas could tell he was antsy, for a moment worried the news was something incredibly horrible until tom's face became softer and a little sadder as a result. The panic judas had reduced as the demon worked himself up to say what he wanted to saw, coughing and calming himself down to keep himself from panicking or backing out. "Judas...I finally am ready....to talk about what happened the night I created you...". The boy froze, his body tensing and a chill running down his spine, though as he looked at his father he softened, Tom looking as though he might cry here and there. "I'm sorry I kept you waiting for so long but I think we gotta talk about it, with everything going on right now and no telling what could happen it's best i probably fess up...shouldn't i?" Judas on instinct rubbed his arm and sighed, maybe he shouldn't have pushed his dad into this, did he even want to know? Of course he did, but would he regret it? "Dad...I-". "No.....I'm going to tell you...I thought about what you said and i'm going to do it.....I've been stalling it for too long at this point and I know you've been wanting answers or at least...me to tell you the whole story about your creation. Jude, I'm sorry i held off talking about it for so long, it's just....it's not an easy thing for me to really talk about...". Jude silenced himself, understanding, guess landon would have to wait till after they got this off their chests. He stepped forward. Then with a snap of his fingers, his bookshelves in the corner parted, an entrance behind them that judas hadn't seen before as his father ushered him to follow. Of course his father had a secret room from his office, why wouldn't he?  It was a pretty dark tunnel though, Tom holding a flame in his hand as the bookshelf closed behind them, The underworld was well know to be rather creepy and dark but this was a whole level of unsettling as tom lead him down the corridor and some stairs. "Back when your mom wanted a baby, we....well we were originally going to adopt...we made plans and everything.....only to find out....the underworld wanted us to have a blood-related child to take over the throne....they wanted us...me specifically...to produce a biological heir first...", he sighed as they walked together, judas listening closely, he was well aware of at least knowing his parents were going to adopt first, but not much of the reasons why they didn't. "For people who wanted a biological heir their feelings sure seem mixed how i came out...". "Eh, the demons don't mind as much, i think they're anxious about you doing something so awful it ruins the whole kingdom, but they worried i would do the same thing so it's typical of them....the mewmans and everyone above us are much more anxious, i guess the underworld is more numb to it then they are.".. He patted judas on the back to comfort him, "I'm half mewman, the underworld was just as anxious about me on the throne between my anger issues and if me being part mewman would make me too soft....and i guess they were right in that mindset...i was softer then most other kings...". "Grandpa always said him being king was a pain but you and grandma made it all worth it...", tom smiled, "Yeah, he had it a little rough too, honestly he fought his way to make sure i was born in the first place...between the demons being anxious about it and the fact they didn't know if i'd exist at all....it wasn't easy for him...and your mom, they fought for the adopting thing but unfortunately that was one battle we couldn't win in, not even with your grandparents backing our choice up....". Then he gulped, closing his eyes and stopping in his tracks, "I....I know it's common for the royals to well....find someone else to have a child with if their partner becomes infertile, or are overall just unable to have children with, and yeah...sky managed to be born from butterfly magic but that spell was still a new revelation, tricky to process, and was entirely suited for her species....demons don't entirely work the same way...you make a mewman, you use mewman magic...you make a demon...you need to use demon magic...". "And this is where great grandma Judith came in right? You always said i was named after the woman who created the spell i ended up made from...", Tom had to commend him for remembering so much about his creation throughout the years, even if it were bits and pieces of it. "She was a bit of an eccentric, but she was also at a point of war with a bunch of invaders and as a result she would come up with new ways to help the kingdom improve for the sake of protection. She.....ended up helping..". "Well....yeah....I refused to be with anyone but your mother...some royals were comfortable with it, i just wasn't one of them...so i did some looking of my own...relicor helped though honestly he was a little grumpy i choose not to mate with someone else but....whatever. So i did a little digging and it turns out our great grandmother Judith had a buried spell down there....though....there was good reason they buried it down there apparently....since...it was used...for armies...", he kept walking with judas following close behind and the boy could tell his father was getting sadder. "She had created the spell to create soldiers, to help fight our battles and protect our land without risking the lives of our actual citizens....the spell however, was imperfect as all the demon soldiers knew was war and were too dangerous to keep around when they went rouge...though in retrospect, taking jobs away from our people and possibly leading to overpopulation with creatures who seemed to have no humanity was most likely a really bad idea...", he paused as he came to a door, "But...it was the only spell i had to work with in your creation...". "You couldn't create your own?". "I tried, but i'm not very good at creating my own spells as much as learning them...so i decided, maybe there was a chance i could take this mess of a spell and change it, modify it into maybe making well...a baby, into you.". Tom leaned his head against the door now, his hand running down it softly, "I planned it so well, i got help from the queen of mewni, from family members, from any magic professional i could and overall it was so much better then i could've expected...i could make a real child, create life from magic...". He was crying, turning to look at judas, "I wanted to surprise marco with you...you were so perfect when you came out, just the most beautiful thing i had ever seen in my life...". The man was smiling through his tears and he tried to wiped them away, smearing his usual fancy eyeliner as he tried to compose himself and get through the hardest part, "But i...I still managed to screw up a few details, it...it didn't matter much at first of course, i mean, different type of horn? That's fine, i have older family members with those, perhaps your looks and colors leaning too much one way or another? Who cares...you were amazing regardless of that to me...but....then I found out when i did the spell...something came along with it...". "The monster arm...". "Yeah...". There was silence. "I could've stopped it if i had tried harder, if i had worked out the kinks, or just gave it and had a child with someone else like they all wanted me too...I just....i really wanted to make marco happy and wanted to do this and...I ended up hurting you...And i can't take it back either...". He shook his head, "It was a nightmare worrying about you, you were one of the most important things i ever had and i was the one that had also ruined your future and make people afraid of you..". Judas was silent, still trying to process everything currently being explained and trying not to ball up into tears despite his eyes and emotions fighting him on that front. "I was so worried if i told you...you'd hate me...you'd....you'd never forgive me for the pain your went through....they lacked up your arm, they wanted to cut it off, my own parents keep trying to help only reminding me i failed...and...It just is something i haven't been able to shake off for years....", he sniffled, holding onto the door handle, "With your brothers i made sure there was no chance of it happening again but for awhile i was afraid to even do it again, your mother was the one who helped me through it....but...there was nothing we could do for you...". "Dad.." "Your brothers and you are so used to you looking up to us, for advice, for encouragement....you always know how much we kick butt and protect you and what were you going to say when you found out your father, the person who is determined to protect you....also gave you something that has terrified you your entire life...". He opened the door to show his private study, it looked much like a dungeon and was full of forbidden books scattered around. The place was practically like a witch's home, with cauldrons, and potion materials scattered around, his father was an everyday mad magical scientist apparently. "Wow...". "You were born...er....made here....". "You haven't been down here since mason was made...have you?". "No....I haven't....and hopefully that trip was the last time anyone was down here as well..."., The torches of the dark room suddenly all lit up, giving judas a better view of the place as he took a look around, the place was dusty alright, hadn't been touched in forever. Considering mason was 13, this place had enough time to collect more then enough dust and judas sneezed a couple times wandering around it, his father walking behind him slowly. Judas stopped in front of a particularly old cauldron and placed his hand on it, "You made me here....right? It feels familiar....". Tom nodded and leaned against a pillar nearby, watching the flames around him flicker and his ears twitching at small noises of rats scurrying around the mostly silent room. "Yeah....it was used....pretty old pot honestly....but i guess i'm a little soft for it since it helped me bring you boys into this world despite it's age...". Judas ran his hand across it, dust coating his hand as he looked over it, "Y'know, despite knowing that I was made...it can still be hard to process it....seeing this though...it does help....". The king understood, crossing his arms and trying to compose himself better as he dried his tears, "Y-you're taking this better then i thought you would....I....I was expecting the worst...". The boy turned around and looked at his father, brows furrowed, "What did you think would happen....?". "That you wouldn't forgive me for your curse...I know i haven't, even your mom who blamed themselves because they had no idea that maybe the curse was still lingering inside of them but i couldn't blame them for that, even star tried to take blame for giving that curse to marco in the first place and her being the reason it even existed but it's no one's fault but mine...that arm thing happened so long ago and i should've been the one to prevent it happening to you...", he had stopped crying though the sadness still lingered as he stepped away to look at his dusty old papers scrawled on some of his work desks, all the stuff he did in planning the spell. "I spent so long trying to get it to work, i created rats as prototypes and they worked out fine but i should've tested more...i got too eager to have kids and surprise marco and it's been haunting me for too long....look i just....i knew the arm situation hurt you so much and it lead to so many problems so i just....I got worried telling you it was my fault would.....make you and your brothers hate me...", he leaned against the dusty desk now, looking over his old scrawl and failed notes as judas came up next to him. "I...I'm not good with....hurting people, especially not people I care about...I-I knew i had to tell you someday....but....I wasn't sure when...". "I don't hate you...", judas started, only to be quickly interrupted. "But you are mad with me....you don't have to lie to protect my feelings, i know you are...i would be too in your shoes....you're a nice boy judas but i know you're not truly forgiving of my mistake, it's hard to forgive someone who gave you something like that....", he sighed and leaned on the desk next to his dad, "Grandpa thinks you and mom have given up trying to help me....I guess another reason you didn't want to do much else was-". "We didn't want to hurt you any further? Yeah...". "Do you think i can be cured?", it was probably a wasted question, and he wasn't sure his father would have a real answer for him, but it was better then nothing right now. "I don't know....we tried a lot of different ideas but to no avail...", his eyes closed as he listed off whatever he could, "We tried the spell, we've tried healing potions, we've even been crazy enough to take you to the magic dimension, hoping it'd cure you like it does for most corrupt magic...but i guess it being fused into your dna makes it a whole different case, it's not a separate entity to this stuff so it doesn't see it as something to cure like other cases...". Silence once again, though at this point it became expected during a serious conversation like this, trying to talk about it was hard enough as is, especially since it took them so long to go into it before now. The demons looked between each other, nothing but silence in a dusty old room as the pair were lost in thought. Tom seemed to be hate being here, the lingering emotions still fresh on him as he pressed his head against the desk in shame. But then he felt a hand on his shoulder, judas was starting to smile, it wasn't an entirely happy smile, but it was a smile nonetheless. "Thanks for taking me here and telling me...I really do appreciate you letting me know...". He took another look around the room and stood up fully, "Y'know....maybe we should clean this place up...get all your notes together, dust it, put it back in working condition....you've put it the dust for so long and I get why but...maybe the place just needs a change for the better, it's where me, landon and mason were made after all....and...I think we should well...stop trying to hide it and bury it forever? It's not all bad if it gave you us is it?". Tom snorted, "No....nothing can be that bad if it gave us you.....". Tom reached over and kissed his son's forehead, and pulled him into a hug, "I'm sorry beyond belief, and i don't think i'll truly get over it.....but...maybe you're right...it's like the times i kept repressing my anger and even marco hated when i did that, said it wasn't healthy for me....or my anger management...". He happily tussled's judas hair, making him laugh naturally and tom smile, "I'm glad we talked about this though....It's....almost like a relief...". He straightened himself and took a deep breath, "I'll send someone to...actually i'll take the research papers myself and lock them away somewhere safe....but i will get some people to help clean tomorrow and perhaps we can turn this space into well....maybe a place for me to actually work on spells again.....if I can get myself back into it...". Judas seemed to like that idea, "We can help if you'd like, maybe it could get our family to do something together for a bit...". Speaking of which. "I suppose we better head up...landon's been wanting to speak with me and-". Tom sighed, "Oh yeah, we better take care of that....", he sounded a little dismal to have to stop talking to his son but he couldn't keep him here forever, they'd have to talk about this more in detail, some other time it seemed. The two started heading back up, tom shutting the door behind him and following his son back up, "I'm just glad now we don't have anymore secrets between us, maybe we'll be able to move past this and maybe truly help find a cure..". "Yeah...", judas mumbled, shoulders sagging, his smile fading away as he felt guilt now well up inside of him. He knew why they couldn't tell their parents, but not his father had poured his heart out to him and he had to go back to doing stuff behind his back, not to mention the research he'd need for nora. He could feel his father patting his back on the way up, feeling a lot better and admiring his son as the relief of judas not being extremely mad at him softened, the boy hiding his fast behind his hood and closing his eyes. "No more secrets...".

[lucywsly]

❧ you’re absolutely fucking GOLDEN and i cannot wait to see who you BECOME ❧

❝ I met a girl like sunshine and lightning. Now suddenly, I’m an optimist. ❞ SOFIA CARSON? No, that’s actually LUCY WEASLEY. A SEVENTH YEAR student, this HUFFLEPUFF student is sided with MCGONAGALL’S ARMY. SHE identifies as a CIS-WOMAN and is a HALF-BLOOD who is known to be UNAMBITIOUS, BLASÉ, and IMPRACTICAL but also COMPASSIONATE, CONFIDENT, and LOYAL. { JANE, 22, NZT, SHE/HER }

make way for the chaotic horny!

resident unambitious, impractical sunshine girl, but compassionate, loyal, and always up for shenanigans!

her pinterest can be found here !!

there are so many exclamation marks so far but honestly that’s on brand for lucy’s energy

she’s adopted! same age as molly (she’s a sag, so she’s already eighteen, merlin almighty) and same dorm too —- even though they’re not actually, just bc of the adopted thing, lucy absolutely considers them twins in spirit and she loves molly more than anything in the world

they’re the same age but like.... honestly lucy always thought of molly as who she’d want to be when she grew up lmao? it’s just, well, they both want to help people, but frankly, molly is much better at it. she’s just..... much more practical and skilled asdfghjkl

that said, lucy’s pretty confident in who she is. sure, she absolutely admires the hell out of her friends and relatives — thinks all their skills are ah-maz-ing and wishes she had some of their practicality and competence — but she knows who she is and she’s happy in that. she’ll always love & think the world of her family and friends but she really is secure in who she is too. it makes sense to her that people like lily and james are better at this new world than her. it’s not thinking less of herself, it’s just —- practically, she’s utterly useless for practicality, and that’s. not ideal in war but overall, it’s okay, like, she’s Okay, that’s just how it is, she’ll just blithely stomp on someone in heels, you know? i think it’s good, though, like even though she’s useless at so many things, she’s so sure in who she is —- i think it’s something her friends and family can anchor to and rely on, even if she doesn’t realise it. like, whatever else, lucy is absolutely ridiculous but she’s unwavering in that and herself and her love for all of them

lucy absolutely loves a good wind up & takes great pleasure in teasing her father and uncles. she loves her dad though until the absolute end —- looooooves him. her dad can be pompous, and he’s a stickler for rules and he can be boring and uppity and sometimes he’s too snooty and she wants to whack him up the head, and she teases him for being silly all the time, but he’s good, underneath it all. she’s absolutely nothing like him and she puts very little stock in bravery ( like, it’s cool, but — whatever? she’s grown up with brave people all her life, and she loves them, but not bc they’re brave? ) but she thinks sometimes people forget there are lots of different kinds of bravery and ok sure her dad didn’t face voldemort like uncle harry did nor face those giant spiders when he was small like uncle ron did ( someone else in her family would probably know what they’re called and all the other unnecessary information about them but lucy’s never been especially interested in magical creatures, frankly ) but for someone ambitious, someone who needs to be right, someone who has pride in himself, one of the bravest things he can do—one of the best testaments to his character—is being able to swallow that pride and admit to being wrong. and he does that sometimes, she’s seen him do that, and she loves him fiercely for it. lucy knows her dad is considered the boring one, of the assorted uncles, but she doesn’t care—she loves him fiercely and she takes a lot of her importance of family from him.

still, even though she loves him, she’s absolutely nothing like him except for the family importance situation. like, she’s so unambitious that it quite possibly physically hurts him. she handles it by just blithely ignoring it and kissing him on the cheek and just teasing him until he gets worked up and she ends up laughing and her mother yells something about cholesterol from the living room. she loves him to death but she’s not going to change just bc… she’s not like him? she wouldn’t have the slightest idea where to start. she knows he loves her, and she loves him, and that’s enough for her. lucy is lucky to have the cheerful irreverence and blithe willpower to just sort of ignore her dad and laugh everything off when necessary.

that said, he’s so pompous and it’s so funny. lucy 100% takes more after her mother, who’s more creative (kimberly and i are still discussing what she does for a job but we know it’s going to be creative or social justice oriented and v much non ministry), but she’s always gotten along great with her uncles bc they’re so down for a wind up, just like she is

she’s… not practical. like, she’s so impractical. she loves loves loves helping people because she loves people in general but, frankly, she’s not always very effective about it bc she’s just not a practical person. she tries though, she really does. it doesn’t always go her way, but her heart is always in the right place

i mean she’s genuinely nice?? she never really tries to be good and she’s not particularly polite, but she just really likes people and it manifests in genuine compassion and infectious laughter. she’ll also talk to and flirt with anyone. wish i was joking. but yeah like re: niceness, she’s not always, like, polite and she teases and stuff, but she has a good heart and honestly probably doesn’t have a mean bone in her body

she’s going to be incredibly stoked and also startled if she passes her n.e.w.t.s and is probably 35% of the way to albus having a stroke

she takes charms, herbology and divination because she’s actually pretty decent at those and has fun, and someone talked her into sticking with dada so she had a back up so she didn’t end up with only two n.e.w.t.s if she didn’t pass, and it has worked out somewhat in that she has slightly more defensive skill than she would have if not, but she really needs to refocus in that class (or just when people are teaching skills in the m.a.) because at this point, her best plan for attack/defense/fighting is to stomp on people in her scary heels

sofia carson isn’t particularly tall but lucy’s like 5′10″

has the most mad ideas and just. goes with it. absolute blithe confidence and good humour, decides to try turn the black lake into a beach or something. a fair knack for getting people to come along with her, especially because even some of the more exasperated and reasonable people she knows often end up coming along just to try stop it from reaching the absolute heights of madness, bc they know she’s quite hard to deter

she never means to cause trouble, not really, but it’s the obvious consequence of her ideas that she doesn’t think through

loves matchmaking and loves love

not so much for herself though —- she’s absolutely not opposed, but she’s a chaotic horny and while generally likeable and she likes people, very much so, she’s never been in a long-term relationship, though she’s been on bunches of dates

would absolutely play fmk in her dorm and give only professors as options

nsfw tw // would rather fuck shrek than kylo ren // end tw

lucy’s just... honestly, all heart. she’s far from the most practical, knowledgeable or pragmatic, and she’ll drive you up the wall even as she has you laughing fondly, but she loves with all she has and she’s generous and gives freely, and she’s loyal and will always have your back, even if her skills aren’t helpful... she’ll always be there with you

death, grief, loss, war tw // war is hard. it is. no matter who you are. but with something like this, where it’s touched her loved ones, it’s inescapable. honestly, lucy feels kind of helpless. she adores her entire family, and uncle harry was always someone who never made her feel silly for who she was. not that it would have been an easy thing to do with her blasé approach to life, or that any of her relatives would intentionally try that anyway, but uncle harry has always felt like warmth, quiet love, and making space for others without them having to fight for it. and him being gone is something lucy doesn’t know how to deal with. for the most part, she’s excellent at separating things from her personal life, which is sort of how she’s approaching the fact that their school administration is taking away personal freedoms, and showing their bias, with a fairly blithe attitude for the most part, but harry and minerva and kingsley are too close to home. she can’t separate those, and honestly, she’s not sure she’d want to. it might feel like a disservice, and feeling things is the one thing she knows she can do for them, capably. it makes her blood boil, as much as her blood can, because how dare they take away such good from the world? how dare they take them away from their families, the people who love them? and she’s scared, when she stops to think about it, but truthfully, she doesn’t think about that too much. not for herself, exactly, but the people she loves. being scared is a new experience for her, but it’s not something that stops her —- she’d still step out into a fight, which is frankly just an awful idea, she’d be no help whatsoever, but she just can’t bear the idea of someone she loves stepping out alone, so she’ll always be with them. silly, scattered, flighty and blithe as she may be, impractical to a fault, but her heart’s in the right place. the biggest impact of harry’s death is that she’s just sad about it. her grief isn’t a fiery rage, as much as the injustice of it rankles her. it’s just a loss that isn’t sure how to build something back up in a world without such a huge part present. but lucy’s always been someone with more mad ideas than sense, and a heart full of love and light, and a knack for making others laugh because she herself is so often laughing, and maybe that’s all she can do now. just be herself, and hope that alleviates things for some people. // end tw

her music taste is weird

or like

not weird, just there’s no real theme or specifications to it except that it’s got a beat that makes her feel alive

the easiest way to encapsulate it is to probably say her ideal playlist is one that you can sing along to at the top of your lungs while driving down a highway with the windows down and wind streaming through your hair & dance in your seat to

THIS SONG is a example of what i mean (i think she’d be down with the message too, like, a song abt loving a city? fuck yeah, nothing’s soulless! but the real draw of it is that it’s something she’d enjoy singing along to on a road trip. something PUMPY. you know what else is on this playlist? fuckin’ all star by smashmouth. hips don’t lie by shakira. 4ever by the veronicas. money by 5sos. life is a highway by rascal flatts. the fuckin’ jo bros. we’re living large here people)

character parallels: janet van dyne / the wasp ( bubbly, chatty, loyal, friendly socialite turned fashion designer turned superhero — marvel 616. ) ; cleo sertori ( sunshine ditz extraordinaire — h2o just add water. ) ; simone ( flaky, irresponsible, bright hearted, confident, i think she’s a model & will sleep with anyone (see caption) — the wrong girl. ) ; evie grimhilde ( fashion designer who loves making people over, true love, has chemistry with everybody & stomps on someone’s foot as a legitimate tactic when swordfighting — the descendants. ) ; thor odinson ( confident, good-hearted, unambitious, sometimes thoughtless or careless, doesn’t know who kevin bacon is & would hug the hulk — mcu. ) ; chelsea parker ( flirty, ditzy, outrageous, silly, usually says whatever she’s thinking & would make out with someone/flirt as a distraction for shenanigans and escapades — st trinians. ) 

[obsidianarchives]

Game of Thrones Recap: S8E3 - "The Long Night"

What do you even say about an episode like this? Yes, it was dark and full of terrors (particularly for viewers trying to watch online), and certainly there were long-form narrative issues we will discuss with how this changes the impact of the rest of the season, but this was unquestionably one of the most exhilarating, terrifying, and cathartic episodes ever put to television.

Winterfell

The episode starts with one of director Miguel Sapochnik’s (Hardhome, Battle of the Bastards, Winds of Winter) trademark long tracking shots as the defenders of Winterfell hear their mama pulling up in the driveway and they most definitely forgot to take the chicken out of the freezer. Sam’s hands can’t stop shaking, Tyrion needs more wine, but the real soldiers are ready to go down fighting. The tension already has its hand firmly in your chest five minutes into the episode when the crew hears the approach of a single rider. Out of nowhere, it’s the Red Priestess of Asshai, Melisandre, and she gets straight to down business to defeat the Huns.

In one of the best visuals you’ll ever see, she calls out to the assembled Dothraki in the vanguard and lights all 100,000 or so of their swords ablaze. The ring of fire lights up the darkness and Jorah and Ghost lead the charge against the front line of the dead. It’s a beautiful moment, watching from the walls of Winterfell as a host of fire bears down on the cold dark and for a moment there’s hope of the impossible. The dream is snuffed out in an instant, as the lights of their swords darken almost immediately when they realize all too late that the other side bought giants. Yeah buddy, it’s a wrap! It’s almost disappointing we didn’t get to see Ice Spiders as well, but the unfeeling swarm of death was terrifying enough on its own.

Seeing the greatest number of her army (and all those Brown people) reduced to shreds in seconds, Daenerys NOW decides to get on Drogon and use their air force to even the numbers a bit. Why was this not the plan from jump? They also could have used the Dothraki to mow down the wights from the flank, but that’s what happens when they keep letting Jon draw up battle plans when he hasn’t won a game of Connect Four since he’s been back from the dead. Where is Robb when you need him?

It matters little, as the Night King has bodies to spare, and as the dead reach the second level they wash over everyone. Once the dragons enter the field of battle, the literal winds of winter kick up a storm brought by Lord Coldemort, cutting off Dany and Jon’s dragons from the main battle. On the ground, the losses begin as Dolorous Edd dies saving Sam, who had no business being on the field in the first place, Jaime has to save Brienne from an inglorious death, and the bulk of the living face a hasty retreat back inside the castle with their flight being covered by the Unsullied. What are the Northmen even here for at this point? Melisandre casually strolls her behind down to the moat as people are dying, to ignite it and protect the castle just in time to give them some cover. Knees to chest girl!

In the crypts, Tyrion is still all the way in his feelings about being left out of the battle and has to be straightened out by Sansa. The two share a moment of understanding and compassion, but Missandei is also there and is not here for the two showing anything less than proper deference for her girl Dany. In the Godswood, Bran connects to the wi-fi and wargs into his flock of ravens, presumably to draw out the Night King, who we’ve felt but not seen up to this point in the episode. He reacts in kind by telepathically commanding his forces to choke out the fire guarding the castle by piling their own lemming bodies onto it and forming a bridge of corpses before finally descending from the skies on Viserion to find Bran.

The dead breach the castle and everybody is in trouble now. The Hound, who hates fire even more than the wights, found himself a nice little corner to cry in until Beric tells him that his baby girl Arya is still fighting and he runs off to save her. Big Bear Lyanna Mormont is in the courtyard handling her business but has the misfortune to run across an undead Giant who keeps that block hand strong and Mutombo-swats her away. Undeterred, Lyanna runs up on him axe in hand but is gripped up, and as the giant is crushing the life out of her she goes out like a true G and stabs him in the eye with a dragonglass dagger, taking the Hulk with her.

Inside the castle, Arya lurks her way around trying to hide and catch her breath for a moment, but runs smack dab into a Wights-Only library. Quiet as a shadow, she flits around the room evading her doom, but in the most zombie-ish scene yet, the dead still come pouring out and the terror takes her as she has to run, chased by a horde and already down her weapon. Arya is finally found by the Hound and Beric, the latter of whom is stabbed repeatedly as he covers their escape. As the trio find a safe room, Dondarrion dies for a final time where the waiting Melisandre opines it was his purpose to deliver Arya here. Reciting the prediction made the last time they saw each other in season three, when the Red Woman took Gendry, she mentions the eyes Arya will shut forever, "brown eyes, green eyes...and blue eyes." Arya (and the rest of us) hit the Wee-Bey gif as the full meaning of the prophecy becomes clear, and she wasn’t even mad Melisandre’s name was still in Gendry’s phone.

We finally get a dragon battle as Rhaegal and Drogon take on their brother, with Dany even knocking the Night King off of Viserion. She goes for the win and Drogon hits him point blank with about 30 seconds of dragon fire…to which the white walker steps out of smiling. Welp! My man is completely unbothered like she gave him a free trip to the sauna, and keeps walking towards Bran. Jon gives chase with Longclaw, trying to end it by killing him, but before he can get there the Night King turns around and raises the dead again. Petty!

Jon finally gets his sword off and gets busy this season, but just when it looks like he might get got by the unending reanimated army, Daenerys comes to his aid with Drogon, burning a path for him to follow. Unfortunately, the Queen kept her dragon on the ground instead of in the air for some reason, and my baby boy Drogon was quickly swarmed by wights. He had to take to the sky, trying to shake them off to survive, but left Dany alone with the dead. But she's not alone! You already know ol’ sucka for love Jorah rolled up to defend her. He finally dies protecting her as we all have seen coming for years, but is mercifully spared the sentiment the show apparently thinks we feel for him.

In the most obvious development yet, when the Night King raised the dead, he raised ALL of the dead, and suddenly being locked in the crypts with a bunch of corpses turns out not to be the best idea. Thankfully there was no one we know returning as zombies, but Sansa and Tyrion had to have a moment where they accepted their fates and charged out of hiding to meet death like an old friend. Playing it a to a hilt, we were treated to a slow-motion montage of everyone about to die as the Night King finally made his way to Bran with a host of White Walkers on his flank.

Jon tried to give chase yet again but was cut off by Viserion with half a face, guarding the courtyard. It was left to Theon, the last Ironborn alive guarding Bran with a bow in echoes of season one, when the Three-Eyed Jaden finally returns to assess the situation on the ground. Everyone knows what's about to happen, and Bran tells Theon he’s a good man just before he dies futilely charging the Night King.  

His last defender gone, Bran simply stares at the Night King, seemingly awaiting his fate. Jon, making a last-ditch effort to save his brother, stands and faces Viserion and…screams at the dragon, fully prepared to die trying. This is your king??? As the Night King pulls out his sword to end the series, Arya jumps out of nowhere, leaps over the White Walker guard and drives her Valyrian steel dagger at him. She's caught in mid-air, but she does the same knife drop-and-switch she used when sparring with Brienne and stabs him with the right! He crumbles and takes the rest of his army with him. Arya Stark, first of her name, Princess that was promised!!

The battle finally over, Melisandre walks out into the night with Davos hot on her heels, takes off her glowing red necklace and, as the funk of 40,000 years fades away and her task is complete, simply withers away into nothingness.

For all the hype and fear of another massive culling, the episode left a surprising number of the main cast still alive. We knew — or assumed — many of the main characters who still have ties to King’s Landing would survive simply because there is more payoff to come with their stories (Cleganebowl, the Lannisters, etc.), but this isn’t a series that has shied away from doing the unthinkable. While it always seemed clear to me the series would deal with the dead before settling who sits on the Iron Throne, there's an inevitable question of let down; what can a stick fight over a chair mean after this? There are no elephants. What is the Golden Company after Giants and Ice Dragons? We've still got three episodes of intrigue to wrap the series up but it now seems an even trickier path than before to stick the landing.

Speaking of hype, the constant comparisons to the battle of Helm's Deep did this episode no favors. While there were truly magnificent and breathtaking shots, much of the episode was (by design) obscured in darkness and Sapochnik indulged too many of his worst habits, pulling-in a bit too close and sacrificing spatial awareness for evocative immersion. This worked in Hardhome and to a lesser extent in the Battle of the Bastards because we had already spent time establishing the fields of battle. This was a chaotic war on all fronts, in a territory we’d never fully fleshed out in terms of geography. While it was clearly an intentional choice to send the viewers the fog and chaos of war, it lacked the kinetic heft of his earlier episodes or the narrative clarity in Neil Marshall’s Battle of Blackwater and Watchers on the Wall.

Perhaps it’s instructive to look closer at the Lord of the Rings comparisons, however. Destroying the ring and defeating Sauron and the forces of Mordor wasn’t the final battle in the text. Instead, we pared down the scope and pace of the story to deal with the irreparable harm done to the small band of survivors that we started the story with. They had grown, and despite all their victories, still had to return home to a final insult of their victory tainted, and their once idyllic and peaceful vision of the Shire scourged and forever changed. This ending was dropped in the film version so it appears we'll get to see for ourselves how well that type of storytelling holds up to a direct, visual medium as opposed to text.

[invictus-rp]

Team B Infiltration

Setting the Scene: Team A has already begun the front assault on the large stronghold, drawing a number of the Apokolips army's forces out to the main fight. As the halls empty, Black Canary's previous knowledge of the labyrinthine area will tell you that you need to get down to the subterranean levels. While many of the Apokolips army is distracted, this will not be an easy journey down. If you must fight, the goal is to dispatch quickly and quietly so as not to sound up an alarm and distract from the front assault. Dinah Lance

She breathed through her nose as she approached the lift. The others were doing their part and the distraction was all they needed to get inside. She probably thought there was people better for this job. Hell, she was surprised she was given leadership but she supposed she had to make it count for something.

“I know some of us haven’t worked together before.” She murmured. “But I need you all to keep this tight.” She pressed the button for the lift, hearing the battle start outside. “Our priority are the captives kept on the lower levels. Myself, Gambit and Spider-Boy will form a tight circle around Scarlet Witch when we have everyone.” Her eyes shot to Wanda. “You are the master key out of this place. We’ll cover your back.”

“And if that fails, well, someone will owe me a new jacket.” She mused as the lift arrived. “Come on in.” 

𝐑𝐄𝐌𝐘 𝐋𝐄𝐁𝐄𝐀𝐔 With all Remy's years of experience at getting in and out of secure places, there was no way he would not have volunteered to help out this time. Not that he was not equally good at blowing things up and distracting, but he thought this was where he would be needed more.

"Ah, no worries on dat account, chere," he said to Dinah, "I'm good at adjustin' on de fly." That he was. Even if Remy had not worked with all of them before, he was mighty good at improvising. He only hoped the rest of them were as good on that count. But Dinah was right that getting everyone out of there depended on Wanda. "Uh, yeah, I don' t'ink any o' us wanna be stuck down dere, so I hope your hocus pocus is up t' snuff."

The elevator arrived and Remy stepped inside, adjusting his own coat a bit as he smirked at Dinah's remark. "Hope you got more faith in us dan dat, but I'll be sure t' steal--er--buy you a nice one if it comes t' dat." Wanda Maximoff Wanda nodded, listening to the instructions before letting her eyes slip closed for a moment so she could take stock. "I can do it," she promised. At least, she was decently sure she could do it. "But I have to stick mostly to my hex bolts otherwise. Any other overly taxing magic and my stores might get depleted. Without a means of channeling anything, I'd have to recover naturally." And she very much doubted they would have the time. Still, she gave a wry grin. "Good thing I'm learning to punch." Dinah, Peter, and Remy were all better martial fighters than she was, though. In this case, that was a good thing. Spider-Man Sneaking was what spiders did best, so Peter pounced at the opportunity to work a little more closely with the team - he loved street work, he really did, it was where he thrived, but he also needed to stretch his legs a little and do something that needed a little more finesse. He was glad to see Wanda in their group. The other two he hadn't the pleasure of working alongside until then, though knowing where their strengths were held Peter was hopeful that they'd make it out intact. Hopefully.

He stepped into the lift beside Remy and sucked on his teeth, the sound muffled just slightly by the mask covering his face. After Darkseid's initial touchdown to Earth, Peter's select few who know his true identity grew - strictly, really, to the Avengers and Fantastic Four. The latter were family, the former - coworkers, but people he trusted. The rest had to earn it.

"Don't worry, I think we've got you covered. We're your personal punching posse, after all," Peter returned to Wanda, a little proud of himself at that one. "Also, I know that some of the newspapers get it wrong, but it's actually Spider-Man. You know, like a boy, but grown up.. I haven't been Spider-Boy in like, ten years. It's, uh.. Sorry." His voice waned towards the end as he suddenly felt too anxious to hold the humored steadiness in his voice. Peter was smart enough to be at least a little scared of a lady who could definitely kick his ass. Dinah Lance She pressed the button and rolled her shoulders before she looked over to the Cajun mutant. “Don’t let my boyfriend here that.” She humoured when he mentioned buying her a new jacket. She wasn’t actually too concerned. Inside, it was more the fact she didn’t know these people well like her own. Even then, it took her time to trust Barbara and Helena. To trust the League. She liked the idea of a team but she had fought on the gritty streets. She knew what is was like from ground level that some didn’t get to see.

As Wanda mentioned about her training lessons, Dinah nodded. “Don’t forget to rotate your hips. It’s where the power comes from.” She reminded her as she pressed her back to the wall of the elevator and gestured to the others to do the same. “Most of the forces will be out there but that doesn’t mean this is unprotected.” She told them. The last thing they needed was to be fired at soon as the doors opened.

As Spider-Man began talking, Dinah let him finished and paused before she spoke. “You talk a lot.” She said as the elevator pinged. “Keep it together. Keep it tight.” She reminded them as the doors drew open. 

Setting the scenet: As the elevator descends, Wanda senses the twinge of a number of threads. "We won't be alone once the door opens," she tells them. There are a few waiting Apokolips forces. Tread lightly, heroes.

𝐑𝐄𝐌𝐘 𝐋𝐄𝐁𝐄𝐀𝐔 As Spidey moved beside him, Remy chuckled at his insistence he was Spider-Man. "You sure 'bout dat? Don' you need t' be at least...dis tall t' be Spider-Man?" He held his hand up purposely a good ways above the web-slinger's head as he spoke. He had no idea how old the guy really was, but he could not resist the tease. "Hey, if you're legal t' drink or not don' matter. It only matters how good you gon' throw dose punches when de time comes."

Dinah's comeback made him grin. "Wouldn't be de first time I'd been told dat," he said, which was certainly true. But hopefully they would make it out with both themselves and Dinah's jacket intact, and thus render that problem moot. At her instigating, Remy pressed against the wall. He would not be surprised if there was a welcoming party waiting for them, which was why he reached into his pocket and pulled out his bo staff, promptly extending it.

Wanda's punching ability might not have been tested yet, but her ability to sense danger certainly was. "You got it, chere. Bring on de bad guys, hein?" And when the doors slid open, they certainly did--a bunch of them, heading for the elevator. Remy heard their footsteps, and waited with the others until they drew near enough. Then he finally leapt out, whirling his staff to knock out the nearest one. "Bonjour, mes amis! Hope you don' mind us droppin' in wit'out an invitation!" Wanda Maximoff Wanda was happy to help where she could, as it wasn't exactly her forte to throw herself into the fray. She tended to provide magic support from the back. However, it wasn't the same now that she didn't have unlimited access to her magic. But, like she had said, she had her hex bolts. Quickly, her eyes darted around the area before she stepped back to give Remy room to work. His words almost would have made her laugh if the situation weren't serious. Red power thrummed in her palms before she called out: "I count eight!" Setting the Scene: Blasts begin to fly from the eight guards in the area. The Apokolips army is extremely fast, their speed difficult to track. Hiding behind the martial fighters, Wanda's hex bolts provide support, taking down a few of the attackers from the back.

Dinah Lance Seeing the oncoming forces, Wanda and Remy helped thin out the approaching members. As they got close, that is when Dinah stepped in. She landed an uppercut that Ted would be proud of before performing a  Krav Maga elbow strike to the face. The enemy stunned, she gripped the large arm, drawed herself close and manipulated his weight into a Judo throw to the ground, flowing into a high drop axe kick.

Like water, she flowed into combat easy as her clenched fist smashed into her next target before her leg launched into a low kick, causing it to hunch over. Rolling across their back, her arms linked theirs, manipulating their weight over herself to then collide with the floor, finishing it off with a direct blow of her forearm.

Standing up, Dinah braced herself. “Cover your ears!” She called out before, her face contorted. Her jaw clenched. Then she released that signature sound. The sonic waves made the walls vibrate as if a train was running right by then, the lights flickering and bursting as bodies went flying back. 

𝐑𝐄𝐌𝐘 𝐋𝐄𝐁𝐄𝐀𝐔 As soon as Remy had jumped out of the elevator, he had been knocking back as many of the oncoming attackers as he could. Wanda's magical attacks helped immensely, as did Dinah's fighting skills. He definitely would not have wanted to end up on either of their bad sides. "Remind me not t' get either o' you mad anytime soon," he remarked, never able to refrain from quipping as he fought.

That became even more apparent as Dinah gave them a warning before unleashing her real weapon. Thankfully Wanda had put up some sort of magical barrier to protect them from the vocal equivalent of a grenade. "Eh? What was dat?" Remy said afterward, smirking at Dinah as he pretended to clean out his ear, "Not sure I caught what you said dere, but wow, dat's some voice you got, chere." It sure was, because it had taken out most of the attackers, and left the others seriously disoriented. Flipping his staff, he knocked out one of the few left standing. "Wish I could jus' scream at someone an' make 'em fall down!" Setting the Scene: The attackers have fallen. Down the hall is a thick door that will require either picking or a hacking job to open. Likely, this is where the prisoners are being stored.

Wanda Maximoff Grinning a little at Remy as he finished the last of their attackers off, she nodded about Dinah. "She's incredible, isn't she?" the witch praised. "But you're pretty good yourself." She let the field fall that she had put up to protect their ears, taking a slow breath as she felt her magic dwindle. She'd have enough. She had to. But Wanda hated these restrictions. It really took her out of the game.

"Can we get that door open?" Dinah Lance Despite her usual cockiness, she was never sure how to take compliments like this sometimes. These were people she deemed much more powerful than her, praising her. She was a fighter with a sonic bird call. These guys were on a whole other level. “A bird call.” She mused as Remy asked what the hell she just let out. “Yeah? Well, even Mariah Carey has days off.” Approaching the door, Dinah knocked it gently. “I can’t scream at this range. It could kill them. “ She looked at the others. “Don’t know if you have a hacking spell or something under your sleeve. Computes aren’t really my strong point.” 𝐑𝐄𝐌𝐘 𝐋𝐄𝐁𝐄𝐀𝐔 "Ah, I jus' seem t' end up in de wrong place at de righ' time," Remy said with a grin in response to Wanda's compliment. But he had a little difficulty wrapping his mind around Dinah's vocalization being a bird call. "Dat's some kinda bird you callin' den. Don' t'ink I wanna see it."

Now that the attackers were out of the way, he took a look at the door. It was a pretty tough one, and while Remy might not have been a hacker, he had bypassed plenty of security systems in his time. "Pardon cheres, but I t'ink I might be able t' handle dis." Smirking, he reached into his coat and withdrew a lockpick. "I might not be officially thievin' dese days, but I still never leave home wit'out one o' dese."

Kneeling down, he took a moment to study the lock before starting to work. It definitely was not easy; obviously these aliens were better at keeping their valuables secure than humans were. But there was not a lock made yet that could keep Remy LeBeau out, and in a little while, this one joined that list. Hearing a click, he smiled and said, "An' dere we go! See, a gentleman always opens de door for ladies...an' Spider-Boys," he added with a chuckle at Peter. Wanda Maximoff Watching Remy work, Wanda let her eyes closed, her mind reaching out to display the threads of reality around her. If she could find the threads connected to the people they were seeking, it'd be easier. They'd have a clearer trajectory. Her eyes glowed red as she focused. "Down. They're further down. But we're nearly there. There's... hm..." Her brow furrowed before she focused on the room again.

Remy had the door open and Wanda nodded to the long hallway. "We're lucky," she murmured. "We have a gentleman, a freedom fighter, and a witch. I only hope there won't be any more parademons waiting to see what we're made of." Spider-Man "There's.. What?" Peter trained the large white lens of his mask on Wanda, worried both for her and for their situation, though the click of the door unlocking stole his attention. He focused beyond it for a breath of a second before offering the group a shrug. "I don't sense anything on the other side, so we should be good to go," Peter remarked, ignoring Remy's comment but he found himself smirking at it despite himself. Dinah Lance She glanced between the all of them before shrugging to Remy. “Yeah, well, when it comes to the queen of Amazons and an alien god then, yeah, it’s a sonic bird call.” She mused. She didn’t compare herself to the likes of Clark or Diana because she would severely outmatched, even with her vocal power.

As the door opened, Dinah glanced to Wanda who seemed to be locating the group. “Then we head down.” She stated before frowning slightly. “Why did you hesitate?” She asked, the others having not mentioned it.

“Don’t forget. Keep it tight. One of us goes down the rest will fall.” Though Dinah had already planned that if it meant the mission would be complete then she would stay behind in the thick of things. 𝐑𝐄𝐌𝐘 𝐋𝐄𝐁𝐄𝐀𝐔 Proud of his opening the door, Remy smirked as they started to walk past it. But he agreed with Dinah; he had not liked the way Wanda had paused. He was not in tune to magical stuff, so if something was bothering her, it was probably not good. "You know somet'ing we don', chere? Should we be 'spectin' more o' a welcome wagon? Or somet'ing else?" He still had his staff in his hands, and plenty of cards in his pockets, though he was trying to avoid using them in such close quarters, especially once they found the people they were looking for. Wanda Maximoff She wasn't as accustomed to reading minds as a telepath, but she could do it if she focused. Trouble was, more focus meant more power used, and she was conserving. Still, she looked between the three others. "There are more Parademons, I believe. But something... else, too. Altered. Like their reality has been changed." It was cryptic. She gave an apologetic smile. "I can't investigate too much. I want to be able to do the teleport."

Setting the Scene: As they reach the bottom of the elevator shaft, the door opens to a large handful of parademons with their weapons. The presence that Wanda sensed is a pair of parademons in strange helmets. Wanda can't get a read on them, but she throws up a forcefield to guard her allies. Inside the room is a large caged off area full of prisoners. This is your objective, ladies and gentlemen. You've done it. Now you just have to make it out. The forcefield will hold, but the longer Wanda holds it, the more magic she saps. Act fast!

Spider-Man "Sounds like a party," Peter returned - altered Parademons? That really was the last thing they needed, but he felt confident in their group that they'd pull through. Still, Wanda was an integral part of them getting out in one piece, so he was pretty okay with relying on a bit of mystery. He had to rely on his 'feelings' one way or another; so instead of pushing, he waved away Wanda's worry with a slight wave. "Hey, no worries. We want you to be able to teleport, too," he finished with a sheepish laugh.

Though the sound was cut short when the elevator door revealed, indeed, a party of Parademons ready to turn them into swiss cheese. The two with those funky headsets were Peter's top priority, if only they'd caused quite the concern earlier. The instant that Wanda's shield went up, Peter already had his web spinners aimed at the pair - webbing was quick to shoot out and landed its mark. He kept the line tethered and pulled hard as he leapt forward into the fray. The goal was to drop the first two and bounce around the room to avoid random fire. Dinah Lance Her lips formed thin lines as Wanda described what she had sensed. Wanda was a finite resource at the moment which meant she could only be used sparingly. “We are all wearing costumes and doing something stupid. I think we can all handle this.” She mused though she was concerned in the back of her head.

As the gunfire began, she watched the bullets bounce off Wanda’s force field.  “We’ve got to handle this fast. If Wanda runs out.” She didn’t need to add anything other than that. Stepping forward, she released her Canary Cry again, knocking several parademons back and keeping the pressure on them. “Remy, you’ve got nimble fingers.” She called out, her leg firing into a push kick as she was charged into a frontal assault. “Think you can get these cages open?” She asked as she threw an elbow back into another enemy.

𝐑𝐄𝐌𝐘 𝐋𝐄𝐁𝐄𝐀𝐔 Any magic stuff was out of Remy's realm, so he was not going to press Wanda for more. "You already doin' plenty, chere. I don' need t' know more more dan 'it's somet'ing weird'." A bunch of Parademons was plenty weird, so how much weirder could it get? Coming out of the elevator, they found more of them, though the ones in the helmets were certainly weirder. Clearly Remy should not have wondered about things getting weirder.

Wanda had put up a forcefield, which was good, and Spidey was shooting webbing at the helmeted Parademons, and Dinah was giving her "bird call" again. Remy was still reluctant to use his cards in such close quarters, so he was ready to start knocking Parademons with his staff until Dinah spoke. "Oh, I been told dat quite a lot, in more dan one situation," he said with a wink, "So yeah, I t'ink i can do dat."

Thus instead of readying his staff to hit the Parademons, he used it to vault over them, landing close to the cages. One of the nearest enemies figured out what he was trying to do, but a quick knock from Remy's staff took him out of the equation, and thankfully the others were occupied with trying to attack his comrades, so he turned his attention to the cages. "Jus' a moment, mes amis, an' we'll have you outta dere," he said to the people closest to the doors as he took out his lockpick again and went to work. After a moment, the lock clicked, so Remy opened the door and moved on to the next one, then the next one in quick succession. Now that the people were free, they just had to get them--and themselves--out of there. Setting the Scene: As Remy gets close to the people in the cages, they seem terrified. One of them whispers: "The helmets. The ones in the helmets can do things."

As if on cue, one of the helmeted enemies engaged with Dinah throws her back before raising their hand and beginning to murmur something. Around them, strange symbols begin to form, almost as if they are on fire. Single versions of the inscrutable glyphs fly toward Dinah. When they hit her, they seem to affect her mentally.

Wanda Maximoff

As the doors clicked open, Wanda let magic flow through her to appear in the midst of the frightened civilians. "You're safe now," she promised, trying to let her magic calm them. As the scarlet energy glowed in her eyes, however, several were afraid as they staggered toward Remy. "Is she like them?" they ask him.

Wanda was about to ask what they meant when her hazel eyes shot to Dinah as a new sort of power... not quite magic but not exactly mundane filled the room. "Peter!" she shouted. "Stop them!" There was something Wrong about it. Something thick and dominating. Dinah Lance Her fist collided with another monstrous jaw before she kicked them back, her leg firing like a loading gun. “We can’t keep this up.” It was like a small tickle in her brain to start with. Then it grew and grew and it was like she was drowning. Dinah froze as her breathing was hard, looking around her. “I…I can’t do this.” She whispered. “I’m not strong enough to save them. I can’t-“ A sob caught in her throat as she fell to her knees, being overwhelmed by the outside force. 

𝐑𝐄𝐌𝐘 𝐋𝐄𝐁𝐄𝐀𝐔 He had expected the people in the cages to  be nervous, worried, scared. Remy could only imagine what they had seen. Obviously they had seen something from the helmeted Parademons. "Quoi? What can dey do?" Weird magic shit, apparently, as one of them suddenly sent a bunch of blazing symbols to attack Dinah. "Merde. Why dese t'ings always have t' get weird?"

At least Wanda was nearby with her own, and reassuring, brand of weird. Some of the people were concerned about her, though, and Remy was quick to tell them she was good. "Non. Whatever dey are, she ain't dem. She got magic, yeah, but she's here t' help you. I promise."

Dinah definitely needed some help, but now with the people right there, Remy definitely did not want to throw any cards. And he did not fancy his chances fighting hand-to-hand with someone who could do magic. "Wanda! Can you do your t'ing an' get us all out? Or at least do somet'ing t' combat whatever dat shit is? 'Cause I can't exactly blow up somet'ing dat ain't really dere!" Spider-Man Things certainly took quite the sharp left turn in the wrong direction, something they all really should have anticipated a little better - okay, maybe there was really no way of knowing that the bad guy's had some crazy mind altering Parademons under their sleeve, but they'd all dealt with worse - right?  With Black Canary faltering quickly and everyone else tied up, Peter steeled himself and set his aim on the helmet twins. Using the Parademon he'd just knocked out as a sort of diving board, he leapt through the air and careened himself into the first one. The idea was to at least break the mental connection it had on Black Canary; the taste of success only lasted for so long before his attention was on the second demon. He made short work of it with a wad of webbing to the face, incapacitating it momentarily - or for however long the webbing held.

Wanda Maximoff

Wanda used the moment that Spider-Man incapacitated Dinah’s attacker, her eyes glowing bright red as she let power flow around the people in the cage, around Remy, around Dinah and Peter. It was a lot of power, draining her resources down to the quick as they all moved. When the scarlet power cleared away, she went to her knees, exhaustion going through her. But they were done. They had made it. And the other teams were going to need communication soon.

[rael-rider]

@masteryofsoul said: weren’t the cartoon novas supposed to fight adam magus?

Yes they were, but by the looks of things they won’t touch Adam until the Season Finale or close to it (From an episode synopsis it looks like the Guardians, Sam and the Nova corps are going to team up and fight Magus and try to save Adam).

So the Nova Helmet that Titus had goes to Sam’s house and Sam (who has reddish brown hair, green eyes, and light skin, and looks more like Rich than Sam) finds it and puts it on and takes it for a spin test. The Guardians then try to look for the helmet because the Nova corps is offering money for it and they want the money. So this pretty much leads to Rocket and Groot antagonizing Sam for the helmet (and Rocket pretty much all throughout the first 2 episodes is just trying to get the helmet) and it ends up with Sam fighting the Guardians until Star-Lord calms everyone down (only useful thing he does). Peter learns that Sam is trying to look for his dad who disappeared (it’s like the only storyline they give to Sam) but instead of helping him out he tries to discourage/scare Sam from his quest by taking him to Starlin’s at Knowhere to see all the bad and questionable people the universe has to offer (Sam just thinks it’s cool). Basically, the Guardians just want Sam to take the helmet off so they can cash it in.

At some point Sam gets a signal and he flies off to Spartax where he finds Mantis (who is with a kid friendly version of the Universal Church of truth) who tells him he can seek out the Patriarch who will help him find his dad. Guardians follow him to Spartax and tell him that Mantis is lying and that she’s a nut. Mantis holds the Guardians with her belief powers (basically when J’Son captured her and other Church people he feed on the psychic belief power, stored them in a battery, and Mantis used said batteries to get telekinetic powers) while Sam goes to find the Patriarch. Rocket and the other Guardians (minus Star-Lord because he’s incompetent) then start believing and get the same powers that Mantis does and fight her off (by just repeating the “I believe”mantra which doesn’t make sense but whatever). Sam then ends up finding an imprisoned J’Son who tells him he knew Sam’s dad and starts telling him how he can help him find his dad. Mantis then arrives with the other Guardians and stuff happens and then Sam leaves with Mantis and J’Son because he wants to find his dad.

They end up going to an old Nova Base Guardians follow and shit goes down and Sam realizes after all this time that J’Son is evil. Then they find a bunch of Nova helmets but only a few are working ones and are safe. Mantis finds one for J’Son and says that it works so J’Son puts it on her and she turns into stone and disintegrates (and that’s how she dies). J’Son threatens to put the faulty helmet on Peter if Sam doesn’t find the good helmets. Then Sam finds a good helmet and gives it J’Son who puts it on, gets Nova powers finds other good helmets and then flies off and talks about making an army of evil Novas.

Peter then chides Sam because he could’ve given J’Son a faulty helmet and Sam just goes “oops” we also learn in this episode that Sam’s dad went down fighting Thanos who took Adam Warlock’s cocoon.

Next episode is about Sam hanging out with the Guardians for a week in space doing shores and cleaning the ship, and“pulling his weight”according to Peter. Also at some point Drax starts training him (again this reminded of Rich because Drax trained him during the Annihilation war and was partially responsible for making Rich into a badass). Then the MCU powerless Nova corps calls the Guardians because they want the helmet they all get into a fight and Sam ditches everyone to go back home to Earth.

Turns out he was missing for a week (his mom started even putting up flyers, it’s fucked up if you think about it but the cartoon is pretty whatever about it) and he has an Algebra test, but he doesn’t get to it because J’Son attacks him in his school.

I’m skipping a lot of stuff because it’s mostly jokes and a waste of time but J’Son goes Supernova and Sam pulls him out of Earth and into space where J’Son explodes. Sam then falls back into the Earth and Star-Lord tells Groot to throw him into Sam so he can catch him. But Peter Quill in this cartoon is incompetent so he just crashes into an unconscious Sam who gets safely beamed down by the Milano, Peter just falls down on the floor.

Sam wakes up and they all have a talk and wonder what happened to J’Son and the helmets that he had. Rhomann Dey pops in and wants Sam’s helmet but he’s convinced by Peter to train him on Earth (because Sam has school).

And all of this happens in three episodes.

The next episode after these three is just Rocket fawning over a KSD OC that she introduced in her Captain Marvel space arc but I didn’t even stick around that much.

I guess I’ll come back for the Adam/Magus stuff but this cartoon has just been bad and bland.

I wonder if it has to do with the fact that Wacker wants to focus on modern characters and adapt modern stories. Like he said he was going to focus on recent stories and events for the cartoons and not older stuff like the Kree-Skrull War (and he used that event as an example). He also cited Slott's Spider-Man run as an inspiration for the Spider-Man cartoon and the reviews that came out for it from people who saw it said the cartoon was bad (not surprised since most of modern Marvel is bad).

[itisneverahappyending]

A Raven Among Crows: Pt 5

You’re a woman disguised as a man at The Wall, but no one knows.

Part Three  Part Four  Part Six 

(Y/N)= Your Name

Warning: The truth is about to be revealed. 

You never thought you would be walking back towards the Wall with a bunch of Wildlings by your side. But you did find comfort in talking with Tormund, he was always by your side and Jon Snow right behind you. 

“You cleaned up well, you looked like an ugly little boy when I first saw you,” Tormund says.

“And I thought you were savage ginger,” you joked. 

“Aye, watch it now girl. I like ya but don’t make me rip out your tongue,” he says, laughing.

You chuckle, your hair is now in a long loose braid and your face has healed up more. More of the Wildling men were noticing you and you didn’t like it. Tormund many moons ago had to fight two men so they wouldn’t touch you.

Later on, where the wind wasn’t howling as much and all you see is snow and peaks of black rocks poking through the fresh snow. You are with Ygritte and Tormund looking up at the sky, watching Orell control a bird.

You hear footsteps and turn to see Mance and Jon.

“Shouldn’t be long now,” Tormund says.

You looked at a wildling man named Orell whose eyes are rolled back and all you saw is white and the bird he is controlling is screeching and circling around. He was skinny but has a lot of hair and always looked like he was dirty.

“What’s wrong with him?” Jon asks.

“He’s a Warg,” Mance says. Jon and everyone else looks at Mance, “He can enter the minds of animals, see though their eyes. He’s scouting for us.”

Tormund has told you of the many different people in the camp, you got to know them unlike Jon Snow who stays by Mance’s side all the time.

“What, you’ve never met a warg?” Ygritte asks.

Jon looks at her, then at you. He is still mad and then focuses on the bird flying above.

“Orell,” Mance calls out.

Orell shivers and comes back to you all. He leans forward, shaking and trying to gather himself.

“Where were you this time?” you ask.

He looks around, shivering still, “The Fist of the First Men.”

“What did you see?” Mance asks.

He looks at Jon Snow and chuckles, “Dead crows,” he says.

Your heart sank thinking of Sam, Edd, Grenn and Pyp, wondering if they’re dead as well.

“Come on, we need to keep moving,” Mance says, leaving everyone behind.

Jon Snow pushes past you, bumping into your shoulder. You sneer at him, Tormund and Ygritte look at you.

“Still mad at you, I see,” Ygritte says, gathering her things.

“Yes, the fool,” you say.

“Aye, don’t think too much. He’ll forgive ya one day.”

You two walked together, “I had to hide at Castle Black, Ygritte. I had no one, no friends . . . I wanted to go there, hide away from the horrors.”

“Horrors? Girl crow, you’ve seen things, death and more . . . and you’re scared of the men that grow old and fat with a small cock?”

You pause, looking down, “Men, are the most freighting things out there, death is not something I fear.”

She grabs your arm and makes you look at here, “Why did you run away from Castle Black, you better tell me,” she demands. You try to keep walking but she grabs you harder. “Listen, (Y/N). I had no friends, no female friends . . . you’re one of us now. We have to protect one another, you tell me and I will cut off the man’s cock that tried to rape you.”

You shiver, batting your eyes trying not to tear up but it was too late. “I was meant to spy on the men at Castle Black, go beyond the Wall and report back to a man they call The Spider. The Spider saved me from the Bolton’s which are a great house in the North, I owe that man my life. I rather die out here than to go back to the darkness where I was beaten. Surrounded by your own piss, blood and shit.”

She smiles a bit, “You’re a messenger? Like how the crows send ravens to deliver their letters?” she asked.

You chuckle, wiping the tear away, “Yes, yes I guess you can say so.”

She rubs your shoulder, “A raven among crows,” she says, walking away.

You held your head up high, and started to walk with her. The wind picked up and the quiet noise disappeared.

* * *

It was days until everyone arrived at The Fist of the First Men. When you looked, horses are cut up and blood started to spew from their bellies or heads. You take a deep breath and look at Tormund who looks just as surprised.

You look around to see Mance kneel, “Always the artists,” he says. He stands up and looks at you and Jon, “It’s only horses.”

“No men,” Jon says, looking at Mance.

“You said there was dead crows,” Ygritte says.

Everyone looks at Orell, “There was,” he says.

“How many men were here?” Mance asked you.

“About 300,” you respond.

“And do you know where those men are at now?” You and Jon look at him, nodding your heads yes. “We’re all the same to them—meat for their army.”

“You think anyone got away?” Jon asks. 

“It’s not possible. You don’t go far betting against Mormont. But dead or alive, he took a big gamble coming North and he lost. His best fighting men are dead and whether he’s Lord Commander of the Night’s Watch or a blue-eyed corpse, he’s a long way from home.” Mance looks at you with sadden eyes before turning around. “Tormund, climb the Wall. Take Orell and 20 good men and take these two,” he points at Jon Snow. “They know Castle Black’s defenses better than any of us. And if Jon’s useful, good. If not . . . throw him off the Wall while (Y/N) watches. See if crows can fly.”

“We’re finally going to war, old friend?” Tormund asks.

“Hide near Castle Black. When I give the signal, hit them in the night. They’ve got a big old wall to hide behind, but it only guards one side,” Mance says, chuckling.

Tormund and Mance hug, “We’ll meet again,” Tormund says.

“Aye, if you do your job,” he says, walking away.

“How will we see your signal?” Orell asks.

“Send your eagle above the Wall every night. When it’s time, I’m going to light the biggest fire the North has ever seen!”

Everyone looks at one another, Tormund approaching you, he gripped you by the collar of your shirt. “Listen to me girl, you belong to us for now. I want you by my side, you hear that? You’re going to climb with us, you stay close to me, you understand that?”

You look down at the ground. “Yes, yes I understand,” you say, looking up at him. He lets you go and turns back. “Let’s hope you don’t die before me.”

He turns back to you and chuckles, getting closer to your face. “Watch it girl, keep talking like that and I might not be able to control myself,” he says, smiling.

“I’ll keep that in mind,” you say, pushing past him.

Walking forward you see Jon Snow, his eyes are sad and he is frowning.

“(Y/N),” he called out.

You tried to ignore him but he grabs you by the arm, you turn and remove his arm. “Why do you people think it’s okay to just grab someone like that, Jon Snow I will kill you before you even reach the top of the Wall if you do that again,” you say.

“I’m sorry, for being an idiot, I am sorry,” he says.

You look into his eyes, “You, protect me Jon Snow and I’ll do the same for you,” you say.

He smiles, “I will, you are a sister and a friend, no one will hurt you.”

“Good, you don’t die when we climb the Wall, Jon Snow. Most of all,” you look at Ygritte then back at Jon, “you don’t let her kill you.”

You patted his shoulder and walked away.

* * *

Everyone set up camp, you wanted to be alone so you sat down by the frozen river.

“Aye, (Y/N). Come here and get warm,” Tormund yelled for you.

You rise up and sat yourself next to him, Orell never really looked at you. He made it seem like you weren’t there at times. You didn’t understand but you manage to ignore him and the way he would look at you.

You started to play with a stick in your hands, you carved all of the bark off it, until your finger slipped and cut yourself. “Ouch,” you said softly, waving your hand back and forth.

“Let me see your hand, girl,” Tormund says, grabbing your hand as some blood trickled down your finger. He looked at you and stuck your finger in his mouth and sucked the blood. You started to turn red but quickly looked away. He let you go, “Ah, see. All better now?” he asked.

“Y-Yes, thank you,” you respond.

You hear footsteps approaching, you look up to see Jon and Ygritte carrying wood but is stopped by Orell.

“Orell says there are crows patrolling on the Wall,” Tormund says. “Tell me what you know.”

“There are four to patrol—two builders to check for structural damage, two rangers to watch out for enemies,” Jon Snow says.

“How often do these patrols go out?” Orell asks.

“It varies. If I knew where on the Wall we were heading, I could tell you,” Jon responds

“You’d like to know that,” Orell says, everyone pauses. “There are 19 castles guarding the Wall. How many are manned?”

“Three,” Jon says.

Ygritte looks at you and you meet eyes with her, but Tormund is focusing on Orell and Jon Snow.

“You sure of that?” Orell asks. Jon nods his head yes, “Which three?”

“Castle Black.”

“Aye, Castle Black. Everyone knows Castle Black. Which others?”

Jon pauses, doesn’t say anything nor takes his eyes off Orell, “Eastwatch-by-the-sea and the Shadow Tower.”

“How many men remain as Castle Black?” Tormund asks.

“1,000,” Jon responds.

“Liar,” Orell states.

Jon looks at you then throws down the wood getting closer to Orell’s face, “What happens to your eagle after I kill you? Does he drift away like a kite with his strings cut or does he just flop dead to the ground?”

“He’s no crow,” Ygritte says, defending Jon.

“Just ‘cause you want him inside you don’t make him one of us,” Orell says.

Ygritte takes out a Jon Snow’s sword, “I’m not afraid of you.”

Tormund runs up and grabs Orell and throws him down and gets closer to Jon Snow. You stand up and take a hold of your dagger.

“I like you, boy,” Tormund says, getting closer to Jon. “But if you lie to me, I’ll pull your guts out through your throat as (Y/N) watches.”

Ygritte looks at you, then back at Jon. Jon sneers at Tormund, “1,000 men,” he states.

Orell stands up, looks at you for a moment then back at Tormund and Jon. “We’ll find out soon enough,” Tormund says, pushing Jon Snow away.

Jon looked at you and ran off, Ygritte following behind him. You looked to see Orell walking away as well. You put away your dagger and grabbed the rest of the wood they left behind and threw some into the fire.

“You think we’ll make it? You know, up the Wall?” you ask.

Tormund looks at you, “I will make it, and I will make sure you’ll make it up there too.” You look down, you hear him coming forward, he lifted your head with his finger under your chin. Your eyes meet each other’s. “That boy can’t protect you, but I can. Don’t you forget that,” he says, leaving you to be alone.

You sat down by the fire, put your hands up to get warm. You felt conflicted on what to do next, you are lost. You wanted to cry and go crawl in a cave and stay there to die. The fire grew brighter all you could do is stare into the flames.

* * *

You never thought you would see the Wall again, but sadly you did. The Icey structure seam to groan and even on the warmest days, you saw it weep. Everyone is getting climbing shoes on but you didn’t care to put any one, you wanted to stare at the Wall for a bit longer before facing your death.

“Aye, (Y/N). Come, I got you a pair,” Tormund called out.

You looked to see he has these shoes with spikes at the bottom to grip on to the Wall. He hands them to you and walks away, you look at them and chase after him. You see him approaching Jon Snow and Ygritte.

He hands Jon Snow two pickaxes to climb up the Wall, he turns and pulls you close and lets you go. “Make sure you dig it in deep and make sure it holds before taking your next step. And if you fall, don’t scream,” he chuckles at Jon. “You don’t want that to be the last thing she remembers.”

He pats Jon’s shoulder, looks at you and motions for you to follow him, he sits you down and starts to tie the strings, he hands you two pickaxes. “Tormund,” you call out. 

He looks up at you, worried. “What’s wrong?” he asks.

“What if I fall, can I scream?” you ask.

He chuckles, “I won’t let you fall. 

“Why?”

“Why what?”

“Why have you been so kind to me? I am a girl crow, a traitor to the Night’s Watch.”

“You want the truth?” You nod your head yes, putting on your gloves he gets closer to you, gripping your hips tight. “You are a spectacular woman, I . . . I don’t know what else to say other than . . .” his words trail off

“Say it.”

“It’s not important, come girl crow. We need to be on our way,” he said, lifting you up and made sure you are secure for the climb up the Wall.

Pickaxes started clanging and men and woman are grunting and groaning from the haul. You are already getting tired, you’re right behind Tormund but then you look down for a moment, you started to feel nauseous.  

Tormund climbs faster, then a chunks of ice started to fall, you dodged it. “Watch out!” you yell. Looking down, some of the ice hit Jon Snow and he fell but then caught himself.

“You alright?” Ygritte yells.

“Just seeing if you can take a hit lad!” Tormund yells and starts laughing.

The wind grew louder and it seemed get colder the more you climb up. You can see the frost forming on your eyelashes and the frost started to form on your hair as well, as much as you pulled your hood up, the frost latched itself on to you.

The men started shouting at one another, wind howling louder and louder even if you screamed, no one would hear you. Them out of nowhere, you hear it. Cracking.

You looked to your side to see the Wall is starting to crack, busting at its foundation. Tormund looks down at you and you two make eye contact for a moment before more of the ice started to break away, everyone remained still 

It cracked faster and louder soon, a huge part of the Wall broke up, causing a slide of ice to trample most of the men and woman. Their screams filled the air, your heart started racing and soon you are in a sweat.

“No!” Orell yells and starts to climb faster.

But then, the bottom part holding up Orell, Ygritte and Jon, crumbled before them. They yelled but Orell found foundation of the Wall and cling on. Jon and Ygritte dangling. You hold on tighter, grunting to try to help lift them up as Tormund did the same. 

“No! Hold on!” you yell.

You look down, holding on for dear life for you not to drop both of them. 

“We’ve got to cut them loose!” Orell yells.

“No!” Tormund yells, he yelled even louder, running out of breath.

You look down to see Orell taking out a dagger, cutting them loose.

“Orell no! Stop!” you yell.

You look at Ygritte, eyes filled with fear but you notice Jon Snow swinging back and forth. Then, the rope was cut. Ygritte screamed, her arms moving around and around until she stopped falling, grunted and you turn to see Jon Snow got her.

He clings to her, you smile as they are both safe. You look up at Tormund.

“You alright (Y/N)?” he asks. 

You nod your head yes, climbing faster and faster. Your muscles start to ach and all you want to do is rest and sit by the fire. You yell and groan trying every once within yourself to keep moving.

Next thing you know, you felt hands under your arms, lifting you up. You look up to see Tormund, he is grunting and groaning lifting you up.

You fall into his arms, looking up at him.

“I got it,” you pant heavily, trying to catch your breath. 

“Aye, no you don’t,” he says, lifting you up to your feet.

You two stare at one another, the wind seemed to stop and the sun starts to shine upon the ice and you. Tormund looked at you, creeping closer, you didn’t stop him. He grips your hips softly, leaning in closer you two share a small kiss, you cringe as first but you didn’t notice when you started to kiss back, wrapping your arms around him, you brought him closer to you, feeling his warmth.

***Hello! Yes yes! It is finally here! I am so sorry for the delay, I finally had time to work on this and I made it somewhat long so you all can enjoy yourselves! I am so happy that people are waiting for the next chapter of this series! Thank you all for the encouragement and if you’re new, welcome! Thank you all so much one again, have a beautiful blessed day and stay safe out there! (^3^)***

[salsa-cas-blog]

Activity: TOK Trip to Temburong (8-9/04/17)

This was a newly organised trip by the Theory of Knowledge teachers of our school, who wanted to take us on a local trip to another district of Brunei to experience firsthand the lifestyle of an Indigenous Knowledge tribe - the Iban. We were all extremely excited for this trip seeing as the trip itself was completely new, and we were all intrigued to observe the similarities and differences that lay between our heavily Western-influenced lives and their single tradition and culture. It was especially thrilling for us to go as we had heard about the many indigenous peoples of the world who are threatened or depleting in number either due to losses in habitat, or even integration into the urban areas. To be able to see it with our own eyes and ask questions to clarify these presumed struggles was compelling enough to make quite a number of us look forward to the trip.

The day rolled around, and we took a ferry ride to Temburong, then a short bus ride to the local area. Much of it was still quite like the traditional Malay village - houses on stilts, made from wood and corrugated iron, chickens roaming around, farms and plantations, fishing boats, and so on. The only thing that stood out was where we were staying - it clearly had been transformed for commercial purposes; newspaper articles were stuck on the walls of this earthy designed lodge, with A-shaped cabins specially booked for the teachers. There was a proper kitchen, electricity, and even a recycling bin! We were soon told that this was a popular tourist spot in Temburong, and that there was only one Iban family left in this area (who were our guides) - the rest simply chose to move into the cities, which was quite tragic to hear.

Even so, it didn’t stop us from learning lots about the culture and having a great time altogether. Our programme for the two days consisted of a multitude of activities:

a. A jungle hike, where we would be briefed about the specific types of plants they used for medicine, facial cleansing, food; resin they used to trap birds; how they fixed a trap for larger animals like boars; the type of animals they get, etc.

b. An afternoon of a rotation of activities: fishing (definitely not something I’ll pursue), rock painting with traditional art designs as templates, some dance demonstrations, backed up by the gamelan, in which we all ended up taking part in, and storytelling by the father of the family. He informed us of many stories and traditions he followed throughout his life, one sticking out more than the rest - he had been drafted in to help the British Army during WWII in the Southeast Asian theatre, and told us the weapons they had used, the tactics, signs and codes they had to use, and so on. He then went on to talk about the Iban people themselves, and their old practice of headhunting, in order to show their power status and standing within the village, as well as other traditions, and how they came to realise which species were appropriate for medicine and food (lots of trial and error!).

c. We had the gracious opportunity to meet a 112 year old lady who lived in this village, who showed us her glittering garments of her youth, her hand-woven rattan mats, and other accessories that elicited awe from our bunch. She was incredibly lively for her age, and was almost bursting with exuberance when she told us her life story.

d. A night walk - this was a highlight of the trip for me; not everyone chose to go as it was already quite late at night, and so a few of us followed two guides on a path that went around where we were staying. They seemed to know every spot in which an animal or unique plant inhabited; we saw chameleons, crickets, cockroaches, a huge spider and its equally massive web, glowing mushrooms, multiple types of stick insects, and a tiny pink tree frog! It was such an eye-opener, as I had not known that these species were even present so close-by to home.

We also had quite a feast that night - salted eggs (which I bought to take home from the local farm the next day), fried fish, rice, okra, fried chicken, sambal, cucumbers and local vegetables. We had a debrief the next day, discussing what we had learnt about the indigenous people and their life, and how we reacted to it in comparison to what we were taught. It was a completely different environment to what we were used to, and many of us actually wished to stay for one more night. Something that surprised perhaps all of us was the fact that this particular Iban family did not find the increasingly popular choice to integrate into the city as a threat to them; they did not feel offended by people who tattooed their traditional symbols onto their bodies - they simply embraced it and were happy with where things were going for them.

This trip overall really was an enlightening and educational one - many opportunities were provided for us to all learn something new; I also took the opportunity to mingle with people I did not usually speak to, and create a bond that was not present before. 

[badbackgroundscience]

You know what happens to a cobra when it’s struck by lightning?

The same thing that happens to everything else.

Yes, I have just used that infamous line from the first X-Men movie. No, Thor does not actually electrocute his baddie of the week. But I was really wishing he would do something akin to wiping the proverbial floor with a man who was merely bitten by a radioactive cobra yet claims he’s more powerful than a Norse god.

You heard that right - The Cobra got his powers from getting bit by a radioactive cobra* (And like Spider-Man, he appears to only get wall-crawling and agility out of it; he has to make his own venom darts). His real name is Klaus - an ex-con who kills his employer because the scientist might one day get all the credit for the discovery of a universal snakebite antivenom. Klaus makes one of their captive snakes bite both of them, so it appears an accident, using all the available antitoxin on himself.

Thor, by pure coincidence, is in town and finds (his former mentor) Professor Shecktor before he dies, which allows the old man to exposit:

As I’ve said in many a post, all living things are radioactive. So if you’ve ever been bitten by any living thing - a snake, a spider, Mike Tyson - you were just bitten by something radioactive (Notice that you haven’t gained superpowers...yet...).  But I’m going to ignore this and simply move on to talk a little about cobras.

Cobras are a group of snakes belonging to the taxonomic genus Naja.** However, there are also false cobras, including the world’s longest venomous snake, the King Cobra (genus Ophiophagus). As of 2009, there are 28 species of ‘true’ cobra - we’ll assume it was one of those that was used to kill Shecktor. Each is capable of delivering a fatal dose of venom to a human, but not all venom works the same. Many cobra venoms are neurotoxic (which attack the nervous system, naturally, and cause paralysis) but some are also cytotoxic (which attacks cells, leading to swelling and necrosis), hemotoxic (blood), or cardiotoxic. Some venoms have crazy coagulant properties, turning your blood into what resembles a clump of jelly.*** In general, if you’re bitten by a cobra you die from being unable to breathe - your diaphragm can become paralyzed in as little as half an hour. (As for the Professor, he’s just lying in a bed - we’re not even told through narration that he actually dies after Thor leaves to confront the baddie.)

Proteins are responsible for all this damage; venoms can have hundreds if not thousands of different proteins in them, each having slightly different effects, but not all are toxic.**** That’s why research into snake venom is not simply to develop cures for snakebites, but for hunting among these proteins for ones that have other medicinal properties. For example, peptides (basically smaller versions of proteins) in black mamba***** venom have been shown to possess analgesic properties as strong as morphine - at least in mice - but has potentially fewer side effects.

Cobras don’t just bite you - some species have special holes in their fangs that allow them to squirt, or “spit”, their venom at a target.`* That’s a purely defensive move. The toxin can’t kill you from the outside, but if it gets in your eyes (That’s where they’re gonna aim) - it can cause chemical burns and, yes, blindness.

If I had to ID the species of our cobra culprit, Stan & Co. probably picked Naja naja - the Indian Cobra. It’s the classic “That’s a cobra!” species, though apparently, there’s only a ~25% mortality rate among untreated victims,`** as opposed to the most venomous cobra, Naja oxiana, the Caspian cobra (at 70-75%). We must also ignore the fact that the snake probably wouldn’t have attacked the professor, and instead merely slithered away, or only bitten Klaus for being the man actually bothering him. Indian cobras are one the “Big Four” species responsible for snakebites in India (presumably they aren’t all snake charming accidents) - but Naja isn’t a genus actively looking for a fight. Neither are most snakes, really...

Thor issues forth a “typhoon” to travel from Shecktor’s deathbed to Cobra’s reported location (which is, quite unhelpfully, simply “America”). Typhoons are tropical cyclones that form over the North Pacific (as opposed to hurricanes, which form in the Atlantic/NE Pacific). Thor merely looks to be making a windy cloud...

...and by sheer coincidence lands in the exact same location the Cobra has. Our baddie’s trying to get some chemical plant employees to give him control of the facility, so that he can make a bunch of “cobra serum to create a vast army of others like [himself] - to do [his] bidding and serve [him] without question” so he can take over the world (I’m getting a feeling of deja vu...). He threatens them merely by sliding along the middle of the ceiling and boasting,

Another vocab lesson - “stings”, while capable of delivering venom, aren’t the same as “bites”. Or so you’d think, right? Arthropods sting; jellyfish sting; male platypuses sting. None of these involve mouths. But apparently, the Oxford English Dictionary does have an old definition that says, “Applied also to the fang or venom-tooth (and erroneously to the forked tongue) of a poisonous serpent.” I’m not comfortable calling a snakebite a “sting”; maybe you are. We’ll have to agree to disagree. Except on the part where the definition says “poisonous serpents” - that’s mistaking poison for venom and I won’t be having any of that.`***

This definition dilemma continues when the Cobra throws a bunch of capsules that vaporize his “cobra venom into a dense, fast-spreading vapor” - if you want to be accurate (And maybe you don’t, but why?) you can’t call it a venom if it’s not directly injected into a victim. It’s a poison.

During their battle, the Cobra ends up dumping the entire load of a random chemical vat onto our Norse god - however, I can’t make any sense of his technobabble (”This valve...activates the flow of a liquid chemical force-blast pipe”) - and Thor becomes doused in an “acid-base formula”.

As acids and bases neutralize each other when combined, I can only assume Thor was just hit with salty water.

The definition of ‘acid’ and ‘base’ has varied over time, but you generally walk away from a high school chemistry class learning maybe 3 that stick with you for some length of time:

Acids are proton donors, bases proton acceptors

Acids have an ‘H’ at the front, bases have an ‘OH’ at the end

Acids have a pH less than 7, bases have a pH greater than 7. Water is neutral, which is 7.

You probably forget these in the order I introduced them. (The second one isn’t entirely true, because bases don’t have to have a hydroxide on the end (see: ammonia, NH3).) Basically, when an acid/base is put into water, some fraction of its molecules break up - or, dissociate - into its constituent ions. For example, sulfuric acid - H2SO4 - first breaks up into an H+ and HSO4-, and then H+, H+, and SO42- ions. Because a large percentage of molecules do this, we call sulfuric acid a “strong acid”. Acetic acid (i.e. what they dilute to make vinegar) is a “weak acid” because far fewer of its CH3COOH molecules dissociate into H+ and CH3COO-.`**** The free-floating H+ ions, which are literally just protons, bond with nearby water molecules and make H3O+ (”hydronium”).

Water, which is equal parts H and OH, also dissociates, with some protons deciding to pop off and form a hydronium with a nearby undissociated water molecule. The “equal parts” bit is why water’s considered neutral. An acid has more hydronium than water - which we represent by giving it a pH lower than 7 - and a base has less hydronium than water, so the pH is higher than 7.

If you mix a strong acid and a strong base together, the protons from the acid will bond with the hydroxide from the base to make new water molecules. The remaining ions (e.g. the sulfate from the sulfuric acid) just hang around not doing anything. Since they’re ions that would bond with each other outside of the water (i.e. the one from the acid’s got a negative charge and the one from the base’s got a positive charge, but the water keeps them dissociated) we say that the other product of an acid-base reaction is a ‘salt’. Assuming the ratios were correct given the exact acid and base species, the solution is completely neutral in pH. If the ratios aren’t, it’s either still acidic or basic. It can’t be both.`*****

Unless, of course, they meant the compound was acid-based. 

Cobra evades Thor and shows up at Donald Blake’s rival’s practice, demanding this random doctor give him the “serums from [his] medicine cabinet”. The man quickly caves - much to the annoyance of Jane Foster (She left Blake to go work for Andrews. Long story...), who catches Thor’s attention as he flies by, by throwing a large volumetric flask through a closed window. Cobra’s not happy about that, and drops Jane out another window for Thor to catch while he makes his escape. Jane quits Andrew’s practice immediately after being rescued and goes to find Blake to beg for her old job back, and the Cobra goes Odin knows where.

And he leaves without making a single snake pun or slurring his “s”-words. (How dare he!)

* Okay, fine - it’s explained that it was the antivenom he took in response to the snake bite that gave him the powers...but what does a dying professor know?

**Cobras are in the taxonomic family elapidae, as opposed to the other main venomous family viperidae. Elapids venom is typically neurotoxic and Vipers hemotoxic, but there are exceptions.

*** Watch here (it’s Russell’s Viper venom - not cobra)

**** The first venomous reptile appears to have lived about 170 million years ago, and all extant venomous squamates (Hey - I talked about those last week!) descend from this creature.

***** Dendroaspis polylepis, an elapid (So, same family as Naja). The black mamba isn’t actually black - more of a grey to dark brown - except for the insides of their mouths.

`* Though given the definition of ‘venom’ it isn’t technically venom if it’s not injected into you. It’s just a toxin.

`** This is what Wikipedia tells me, citing a source behind a paywall, so believe at your own risk. But it’s definitely lower than 100%, which goes against Klaus’s claim in a later panel:

`*** The Japanese Grass Snake, for example, is poisonous. But, by far and away, most snakes are not.

`**** Note that acid/base strength is not the same as concentration. A single drop of sulfuric acid into a pool of water will not hurt you in the slightest, but it’s a “strong” acid. Meanwhile, the stuff used to dissolve a dead body in those first however many episodes of Breaking Bad was the “weak” Hydrofluoric acid.

`***** If you mix a weak acid and a weak base, you can’t neutralize the solution 100% because not all of the acid and base molecules dissociated. But the overall pH will still be a single value, again depending on the initial ratios of the specific acid and base. 

Journey Into Mystery #98 - Writer: Stan Lee, Art: Don Heck

Photo Credit:

Indian cobra By Saleem Hameed, CC BY 2.5