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snowbellewells · 4 months ago

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Self Promo Sunday: "A Story Told at Last"

This short three shot was my first offering for the second @cssns event in 2019. I had a really lovely time using a more grown up version of Henry out in the "real" world, as well as keeping Violet (who I always liked) in the picture. I got to use my love of literature a bit in this one, making it Henry's profession, and I took my first early stab at a ghost story element for the supernatural. I think the main thing to bear in mind is that, while Henry is our Henry in personality, he is not Emma's son. Emma and Killian exist in a whole other time - the one he is studying... ;)

If you missed this one originally, I hope you will enjoy this offering. And if you did read it before, I'd love to hear if you enjoy your revisit!

Thanks once again to @branlovestowrite who did the cover art at the time for the event - I still simply adore it!!!

{Also available on AO3, if that's your preference

I've put all 3 parts in this post for reader convenience}

Summary: Historical Literature Professor Henry Mills has the chance of a lifetime before him. He might finally uncover the truth of a folktale that has intrigued him for years. But, when the whole story comes to light, will he be able to accept the story that needs to be told?

~Prologue~

The young man moved quietly through dusky shadows in the long-abandoned building, brushing aside cobwebs with a grimace of distaste, his flashlight trained well in front of him, and walking with slow care, trying valiantly not to disturb anything more than necessary in his path. Henry Mills was still holding his breath more than a bit in awe that he had finally been allowed the permits and permissions, not to speak of the grant money which had brought him here and allowed him to focus solely on his research, and that he was standing within the deserted tower ruins of a long vanished kingdom’s outer borders. He had dreamed of seeing this structure’s remains since the legend had first crossed his desk, unfounded but also unforgettable until he explored it for himself. Drawing in another steadying breath and squaring his shoulders, Henry moved forward once again, anxious to see all that he could before he lost the last bit of evening sun.

He would be back tomorrow of course, with his team and full daylight, and all the equipment needed to properly identify, catalogue, and preserve anything of historical value or interest they might find. Still, he couldn’t resist the chance to get a first look at this place that had held his curiosity for so long, especially when he only had to share it with frogs, cicadas, and the droning gnats. Soon enough this site would be buzzing with other historians, researchers, and anyone else on the approved team, and Henry yearned for a moment on hallowed ground, beneath the crumbling walls and mouldering ceiling, in the dreamy half-dark when it could be his alone. He didn’t know what treasures they might find, or if they would unearth anything new at all, but the storyteller’s heart that beat beneath his grey henley and respectable historian’s facade couldn’t help sensing that the very walls around him were holding their breath as much as he was, anxiously awaiting the right explorer to at last reveal their secrets.

Regardless of the venture’s outcome, Henry still found it hard to believe he was in Italy; seeing the world, traveling on his own quest for knowledge and adventure, just as he had always known he was meant to do. He was still considered quite young for a history professor, and this would be the first field mission he had led. Granted, to most folks who weren’t history buffs or fans of Renaissance literature and its roots, the remains of the stone structure around him that they would catalogue and examine in the next week would not have been delighted enough to go without sleep just dreaming of the treasures and tales they might find, but Henry Mills had never been one to do as most others would.

The particular result he hoped to achieve was to find some sign or proof of the princess Emmaline, the protagonist of that tale which had sparked his interest nearly four years ago. History had at least partially buried her existence, or much knowledge of her beyond the ranks of myth and legend. But, if what Henry had learned was true, she had once been imprisoned by the same walls he was standing within. A younger sibling had ascended the throne in her place, and Emmaline had disappeared from all records of the kingdom which had eventually become extinct itself.

The story Henry had uncovered told of strange happenings beginning to occur around the beautiful golden daughter of King David and Queen Margaret of Misthavia once the young princess reached her sixteenth year. Injuries to those who might have slighted her, accidents and damages - coincidences all, but their frequency had reached the point that her involvement could no longer be hidden, and her people had begun to fear her. It seemed that Princess Emmaline had even been deemed a witch by some, and at last the king and queen had been forced to hide their daughter away for her own safety.

There had also been - at least as related in several varied sources - a handsome young lieutenant in the Misthavian royal navy who had long been in love with the hidden princess. This young sailor had vehemently protested the decision to lock Emmaline away, much less the eventual denial of her birthright. So the story had gone, this lieutenant had eventually left the king and queen’s service due to the rift, and as incongruous as it sounded, turned pirate in her honor, as he left with a ship to seek her in exile and rescue his love.

Still, by any account Henry had been able to locate, whatever had truly happened, if Princess Emmaline had existed at all, she had never taken the throne of her kingdom. The rather tiny Misthavia, along the Tyrrhenian Sea had been subsumed into the rest of the larger country and ceased to be a separate entity in the modern world. To his scholarly, and curious, mind however, what became of the lost princess, hidden in her tower, remained an irresistible mystery.

For the moment he was not willing to risk discovery and be banned from the site before his official work even began, so Henry did not linger. He closed his eyes, breathing in the somewhat musty air that somehow, to his mind, also brought hints of spring rain, apple blossoms, weathered wooden planks, leather and sea salt. Shaking his head at his own ridiculously detailed imagination - now bringing him scents even, as well as hoped for sights and stories - Henry turned to carefully make his way back out of the rocky rumble, avoiding an overturned settee frame with bits of ripped upholstery clinging to it and a few floorboards, whose soundness appeared debatable. Watching where he was placing his feet and the path back to the entrance in the beam of his flashlight, he failed to notice that materializing behind him, wispy white and hazy against the deepening gloom within the old walls, two shadows, almost corporeal but not quite, were silently watching him go…

~***~

~Part One~

By the time Henry had returned to the Universitá di Bologna housing,where he and his team of advanced grad students were staying for the duration of their research trip in Italy, he was more than a bit anxious to reach his temporary quarters and go back through the copious research notes he had taken and goals he’d laid out in preparation before finally standing within the crumbling skeleton of his historical site - what remained of the once-stunning tower. Having now glimpsed it with his own eyes in the still shadows and dying light of evening, Henry was almost breathless with excitement and the desire to compare what he had seen with the numerous possible finds he had deemed likely. Already, he was itching to return at dawn’s first light with his team and equipment.

The heavy feeling in the air of another presence - of not being alone in the ruins, though his logical mind knew he must have been - had been easily shaken off once he returned to the city from the more remote location. The sound and bustle of the modern world - phones, cars, the press of crowds - melted away the icy shiver that had traced down his spine and put it well out of his thoughts. For several minutes now (nearer to three hours in point of fact, though his mind, caught up in more interesting details, had lost all track of time) he had been leafing through his reference manuals, maps and notes, packed and then unpacked again meticulously upon arrival, when a soft rapping on his door roused him from the fevered state he’d slipped into.

Shaking his head, and hazily pulling himself back into the present time and place, Henry drew a steadying breath, reminding himself that he was a skilled and credentialed professor of historical literature, not the teenage fanboy he’d once been and currently felt like again; he should show a bit more composure to whomever waited to speak with him in the hall. Opening the door, however, his eyes widened momentarily, in spite of his recent resolve, to find his brightest and most accomplished research assistant facing him.

Violet Clemens had actually graduated from the university’s history program two years before, but knowing the particular interest she would have in this research opportunity, Henry had contacted the museum he knew she now worked with when there had been spots left to fill in their group. Violet, with her pale, dewy complexion and ebony hair shining as it rested on her shoulders, not to mention her effortlessly elegant and tasteful way of dressing and carrying herself in a sea of her contemporaries wearing shirts cut so low and pants and skirts so tight that they left little to the imagination, had always stood out and seemed a bit of an old soul out of her time. Despite her keen intellect and quick wit, Henry had always been glad her degree focus leaned more toward historical art and architecture rather than his historical literature. While her complimentary knowledge would serve well in this venture to supplement his own, he had at the time feared becoming completely charmed by her if he’d had her in class on a regular basis.

Trying to shake all those thoughts from his frazzled and rather unfocused mind, Henry gave her a curious but friendly smile before speaking. “Miss Clemens, what can I do for you this evening?”

Violet flushed prettily, her cheeks pinking as her gaze fell to her toes for a moment before glancing back up to meet his. “I’m sorry, Professor Mills. I know it’s late. I was just wondering...I mean…” she finally blurted the rest out in a rush “...you went out to see it already, didn’t you? What was it like?”

Henry truly couldn’t hold back his wide grin at her question. Another person who held the same enthusiasm for the princess and the ruin of her family’s legacy, was not someone he came across often, and a part of him basked in having someone to share the thrill with - someone who just might understand. “You’re not a student anymore,” he offered with a self-deprecating chuckle. “You don’t have to call me Professor. But, to answer your question, yes I’ve been out there and it was incredible. Even with the light failing, it took my breath away.”

Violet merely nodded, taking his words in with an awed smile on her lips. “Oh, I can’t wait to see it for myself,” she murmured. Then a twinkle of mischief flitted into her eyes as she added, “but if you no longer want me to call you Professor, then you’d better just call me Violet.”

“Deal,” Henry affirmed, reaching out a hand which she took to shake on their agreement. The moment their hands were clasped together, a tremor of awareness caught him off guard, running up his arm with a heat and intensity that surprised him. Though he’d heard of such reactions to another many times in the books he’d read and stories he loved, he had never experienced anything so arresting in real life.

“Well, then, Henry,” Violet added, taking her hand back, though he didn’t think he was imagining the sudden breathiness of her voice and the way she shook her head as if to refocus, causing her dark waves of hair to shimmer. “I guess I should leave you in peace for now. We want to get an early start tomorrow after all.”

“That we do,” Henry agreed, seeing her to the door and hoping he wasn’t smiling wide enough to make him look giddy. Once she was gone, he leaned back against the solid oak, shaking his head in disbelief. It would seem this adventure was going to bring about more than one incredible discovery.

~~~~~~~~~~~***~

The next morning dawned all too early for Henry’s taste; his alarm waking him from such a solid sleep that for a full minute he was too bleary to remember where he was at all. Between the jet lag and staying up another two hours pouring over notes and manuscripts to be certain he was prepared for their first day cataloguing finds onsite, he wasn’t sure he would even be able to pry his eyes open without coffee. It was almost funny to think back now on the days when he used to laugh at his mom and stepdad for their need to have a hot chocolate and black coffee respectively before they could face their days. He understood all too well as an adult.

Once he got himself moving, saw himself down to the continental breakfast provided on the first floor, and was waiting at the van to make sure all his assistants and fellow scholars were on time for the ride out, Henry did begin to feel more awake and alive. It wasn’t long before their small group had gathered, all had been accounted for, and they were loading onto the van. Rolling out of the city proper and into the Italian countryside, Henry began to lay out his game plan for the day, and the rest of his lethargy was swept back by excitement and purpose.

When they reached the ruins, gathered the tools, instructions, and research which would guide them, they all stood a bit awed, gazing up at the remnants of the tower walls before them, quite possibly full of clues to be discovered. His travel mug providing a further jolt of caffeine as he took a last sip, he then stepped forward to begin directing the tasks to various assistants. Those with him moved out with care through the ancient, crumbling bricks and mortar, leftovers from an exiled life, off in the directions he had indicated. Undeniably, her felt more than a bit of pride wash over him at the gravity and industry his little group displayed in tackling their assignments. The members of his team were clearly well-chosen.

He wasn’t, however, too selfless to have left one particular team member for last, to work with him one-on-one. Henry firmly fought down the urge to fidget with the hem of his shirt or stutter nervously as Violet edged closer to his side once they stood relatively alone. Her eyes were shining as they drank in the sight before her, more than a bit stunned and affected if her hushed voice was any way to judge. “It’s… splendid…” she nearly whispered, clearly struggling for the right words.

Henry nodded wordlessly, then turned to explain what he hoped to get her help with, just as Violet looked up to him and they bumped into each other awkwardly, both stumbling away a step and chuckling. His hand darted out to catch her elbow, not wanting to knock her to the ground, and Violet wavered closer at the touch unconsciously.

“Oh, Profess - Henry… I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to…”

He waved her off gently, “No apology needed. I bumped into you just as much… Vi...olet…” His tongue tangled on her given name as if he were still thirteen and worried about it squeaking. “I mean, there’s no harm done. As long as you’re alright?”

The young curator flushed prettily and nodded with her reassurance of “Absolutely, I’m fine. What did you intend for the two of us to work on?” She was clearly anxious to shed her embarrassment - and to explore this place they both had fallen in love with before even reaching, but for a moment Henry was stymied. He couldn’t speak or think, so struck was he by the intelligence and enthusiasm shining in her eyes and the classical beauty of her face. He wondered helplessly how visitors to her workplace could appreciate any of the art hanging on its walls with Violet standing before them.

Her light touch on his forearm finally brought him back to the moment as she asked again, “Henry? Was there someplace in particular you wanted to start?” Even as those curious words escaped her, Violet’s chocolate-y brown eyes widened noticeably, this time unmistakably also feeling the same jolt of electricity that ran along Henry’s skin where her fingers touched.

Valiantly seeking to ignore the attraction fighting for his attention, Henry redirected his focus to the curious detail he had noticed the evening before, leading his partner toward what still stood of the column that had once been part of the support to a vaulted ceiling. It seemed obvious to him, again if the details of the legend he had heard were true, that this tower had once been an incredibly lovely haven - even if to its inhabitant it had proved a gilded cage. Which was why an oddity in the surface had caught his attention upon first look. There appeared to be a spot where the join between the two sides of the arch didn’t match up - a strange and careless anomaly in a building that otherwise had the look of careful and exquisite design in the other parts that remained.

Pointing up to the spot he had seen, Henry directed Violet’s eyes to the same strange seam that he had noticed. Hearing Violet’s surprised little intake of breath and the way she immediately stepped forward, tracing careful fingers along the obvious malformation in curiosity, told Henry he had indeed been onto something. Soon Violet nodded to herself, drawing closer yet, both hands now up to help in her exploration, and seemingly forgetting Henry, the bustling site, and everyone else around in her rapt focus.

“Often times,” she murmured lowly without looking away from the movement of her fingers on the old stone, now gingerly but determinedly probing and prying, “in buildings of this age - especially ones which would have belonged to families of importance - an inconsistency like this might often indicate…” she paused for a moment, wedging her finger into the impossibly small opening she had managed to pry, the very tip of her tongue peeking from between her lips in concentration adorably (to Henry’s mind at least).

“Ah ha!” she exclaimed in a breath of triumph, the arch giving enough for what appeared a hidden panel to fall open and a still dully glistening bronze object to fall into her open palms. “As I was saying,” she continued proudly, “might indicate a hidden compartment for items of value.”

Beaming with excitement, Violet held her prize up for Henry’s inspection. In her hands lay an ornate, yet solidly constructed compass on a chain. The piece appeared to have some definite age on it, and yet its quality and beauty still shone through. It looked like an instrument which would have been used for ship navigation on sea voyages prior to the advent of modern navigational systems, and Henry’s thoughts could not keep from flying to the princess’ lieutenant of the stories and tales. Might this artifact serve as his first major proof of the legend that had captured his imagination?

His gaze lifted from the compass to meet Violet’s expectant one, ready to speak his hopes. But, even as he did so, the sound (or so he could only imagine) of a sword at someone’s hip as they moved and the creak of leather arrested Henry’s ear. He turned, startled, at such an incongruous noise for a research site, only to find that no one stood anywhere near he and Violet, as if the sound had come from nowhere beyond his own imagination.

Uncertain eyes flew to his companion, who looked back at him in concern, but Henry forced himself to swallow the strange impression he’d had, sure he would sound crazy if he brought up what he’d heard. Instead, they wrapped and catalogued their find properly for transport back with them, talking about what it could mean… and to whom they both had to wonder if it might once have belonged. Even in the elation of success and discovery, the feeling of lingering over his shoulder did not leave Henry easily, staying with him for the rest of the morning.

~~~~~~~~~~***~

That evening after dinner, once more in his quarters for the night, Henry’s thoughts were still on the compass as he plunged back into his accounts and stories, all the information on the Princess and her legend, and though he had mostly committed to memory all that was before him, he still pored over the details in hopes of a mention of the compass they had found in order to confirm his suspicions.

As the team leader, items discovered and picked for transport or further research had been logged and stored with him. And though Henry attempted to reason the need away, tried to convince himself that there were no details he had missed, nothing else to see, and that he needed to go to bed, to not spend another night with too little sleep, and instead be rested and well-prepared for the next day’s work, he was still impelled to stand and go over to take out the compass once more; the need would not be denied.

Once the instrument was cradled in his hands, the weight of it steadying to a surprising degree, Henry sunk down on the side of his bed, scrutinizing the relic with focused curiosity. What was he still missing? Several deep breaths, a few pounding heartbeats, went by as he pondered the instinct guiding him.

Then, with a disconcerting effect that shook him and sent a tremor down his spine, the air around him seemed to waver, undulating dizzily and clouding the borrowed room before his very eyes. Drawing in a shuddering breath, Henry blinked, in hopes of clearing his sight, only to find his perception unchanged as they opened again. The lightheadedness forced Henry to lie back on his pillow, a rather clouded grey beginning to close in on his awareness, vision tunneling to his fingers still clutching the compass tightly - until it was all he could see.

His eyes closed, as surely as if he had been suddenly put to sleep, and then he felt as though he were floating, moving through space even as he knew he was lying still. And then, though he couldn’t fathom how, he stood in the tower of his dreams - whole and shining new as it had not been for some hundreds of years - unseen and right next to a stunning, golden-haired woman who could only be Princess Emmaline…

“Killian, go! You must be away from here before they come with my evening meal,” her voice is quick and urgent as she tries to push him toward the window of her cell, through which he had climbed not even an hour before. “If they catch you, you’ll be arrested. You’re wanted for piracy.”

The dark haired young man, lean and strong, despite appearing more long haired and less neat than he had as a royal navy lieutenant stands firm, well-muscled enough from days spent steering a ship through wind and rain and all other obstacles besides, impossible for her to move unless he allows it. He has waited too long to see her again, and he is not anxious to relinquish the sight of her beautiful face now that it has been restored to him.

“Easy, lass, easy,” he soothes, looking for all the world as if soldiers and guards, arrest and punishment, holds little concern for him. In truth, he would face those and more as well for her sake, but he has also changed much in the months since his flight from royal service. He is a captain now, not the uncertain, eager-to-please junior officer he had been. Now he gives the orders, his crew (those loyal few who’d followed him into exile) follow his lead and go where he sees fit. “I’ve plenty of time yet… and...I wish to spend every second that I can with you.”

Only here, when addressing his true feelings for his princess, his first and only love, does he show a moment’s hesitance and a lingering sign of the shy young man he once was. Truthfully, he does not know whether or not there is a price on his head, or if he is being sought after diligently; Emmaline’s parents themselves did not agree with the steps taken to hide their daughter away. Whether they truly view him as a dangerous criminal to be apprehended, or more of a rebel with the freedom to act where they could not, Killian Jones is not sure. The King and Queen are constrained by duty to all of their people, where he is loyal first and foremost to his Princess above all others.

Unfortunately, their time is drawing to a close. He can hear the muffled tread of booted feet hurrying up the winding staircase, and knows that soon those who stand guard over Emmaline’s safety, but also make sure she remains in her prison, will reach her room. Much as he loathes leaving her behind again, he knows she is right. He dares not remain and have to fight people who are on the same side, compatriots in service of Misthavia, even if they interpret their orders much differently than he.

Turning to her once more, taking Emmaline’s hands in his, and gazing into her wide, green eyes and her tense face full of worry for him, Killian voices the question he has asked every time he steals back to her side in this long year past. “Come with me. You don’t have to stay locked away here. We could sail the world and be free.” It kills for her to be trapped and alone, paler with each visit he manages, dark purple bruises from sleepness beneath her eyes. Though he knows what her answer will be before he finishes speaking, Killian still has to ask.

His brave, bright angel shakes her head, yellow-gold hair flying around her like a halo, even as a slow tear makes its slow trek down her cheek. “You know I can’t, Killian. My place, my destiny, is here. Though my people fear me now, they need me… My parents need me… I can’t desert them.”

Much as he regrets it, Killian knows her honor will allow her no less. Sadly, he bows his head over their joined hands to kiss the back of hers, murmuring, “As you wish, my Love,” against her skin. Before he turns to climb into the window frame and grab the rope he had used to climb once more, he presss an object into her grasp - the compass he had received upon his naval promotion to lieutenant. “Hold onto this for me at least, aye? As promise of my return.”

His Emmaline nods tearfully, letting him go and stepping back, but pressing the compass to her breast. “You always return, Killian,” she replies. “I know that.”

His blue eyes brighten the smallest bit at her faith in him, allowing them both to hold onto hope. “And I always will,” he vows. Then he grasps the rope, swings from the window, and is gone.

~ Part Two ~

Henry came back to himself the next morning to the sound of anxious pounding on the door of his room. Sitting up slowly, blinking and struggling to regain his bearings, he began to hurry toward the sounds only when he also heard Violet’s worried voice through the wooden barrier, calling out with concern for him.

“Henry? Henry, are you in there?” Several more sharp raps against the hard surface followed, just before he could reach the doorknob in his befuddled state. “We got worried when you weren’t downstairs to meet the bus, Profess - “ Her words cut off abruptly as Henry finally managed to turn the knob and swing the door open to face her.

While he hadn’t really considered the rumpled mess of a picture he must present, the way Violet’s mouth fell open in surprise, and how her hand reached out as if to either feel his forehead or offer him support somehow before quickly pulling back, said quite a lot. Her prettily rosy cheeks paled as she stuttered anxiously, “H-Henry...are you alright?”

Feeling more than a bit awkward and embarrassed standing before her in the previous day’s clothing and obviously late for the group’s scheduled departure time, Henry shuffled from foot to foot before clearing his throat and attempting to smooth his sleep-disheveled hair back into lying calmly on his head. Violet, as was her way, looked impeccably neat and professional in sturdy khakis and a pale lavender sleeveless shirt that he knew must have a matching cardigan or jacket somewhere in her suitcase. She didn’t look judgemental in the least though, only concerned for him, despite his growing embarrassment.

“I’ll be fine, just a little off balance,” he offered uncertainly, already reaching behind him to begin shoving necessary items into the satchel he carried with him on their excursions. “Would you just, please, make my apologies to the others, and our driver? Ask them to give me five more minutes, and I’ll be right down.”

He was scrambling by then, to find his shoes, locate his keys, and get dressed almost all at once, so that he didn’t realize Violet had not left yet after agreeing to his request. She had instead taken a step forward into his room, one more question of if he was really alright on the tip of her tongue when he whipped off his old T-shirt, ready to pull on the clean one he’d found.

Her startled gasp arrested him in the midst of raising his arms to pull the new shirt over his head, turning wide-eyed to face her and already flushing red in his cheeks and well down his neck and chest. Slowly lowering his arms, and the material down to cover his bare torso as well, he couldn’t dismiss the hopeful idea that Violet seemed unable to stop staring at his chest, even once again clothed in one of his usual tops, and that she was swaying just the slightest bit toward him, as if drawn by a magnet.

The odd moment broke at last when Henry stepped forward, just as Violet did the same, and they nearly collided. Both jerked away again, Henry already apologizing and bringing a hand to his stinging chin, even as Violet rubbed her forehead where they had made sharp contact.

“It’s alright, Henry. Truly. It’s fine,” she assured softly, reaching out to clasp his wrist with gentle pressure and calm his rapid flow of words.

Her former professor’s deep brown eyes raised to search hers hopefully, clearly easing as she nodded in added confirmation. “Honestly,” she added with a small smile, patting his arm before releasing her hold. “I’m really just glad to see that you’re okay.”

Catching her hand before she could retract the soft, delicate fingers completely, he squeezed back with gentle gratitude. Shaking his head ruefully, Henry let out a low chuckle and confessed to her honestly. “Alright might be a bit of a stretch, really. In fact, you may think I’m downright insane when I tell you what’s happened, Vi. But, let me get ready before we make everyone else even later, and I’ll share on the way.”

She nodded, stepping back to go so he could change and be ready to leave for the site as soon as possible. Yet, before she slipped back out the door, with one last promise she added, “Whatever you say, Henry. But, just know this… whatever it is that’s going on...I doubt I’ll think you’re crazy. I believe in you.”

Henry’s breath stalled at her admission, and he turned toward her to thank her, to express a similar faith, but Violet had already fled the room. There was nothing else he could do but hurry to rejoin her; her words and his excitement at his vision too, driving him onward so as not to disappoint her galvanizing confidence.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~***~

By the time their bus had reached the crumbling remains of Emmaline’s tower once more, Henry had told Violet all he’d seen and heard in his vision. To his utter astonishment, though wide-eyed and stunned, she had taken every word as truth and believed him.

Once they were at the ruins, she still seemed a bit overcome - Henry couldn’t say that he blamed her, as he was more than a little disbelieving himself - but they piled out of the van as everyone else did, perhaps even more anxious to know what else they might learn or see after his midnight vision. Violet did, however, turn back to look at him once they were both on solid ground, a light touch to his upper arm to convey her concern as she whispered low enough that the others bustling around them couldn’t hear. “You’re sure, that you’re alright to be out here, aren’t you, Henry? I mean… you aren’t disoriented or lightheaded or anything like that?”

Even if he were, there was no way that Henry Mills was letting his last day in this scenic escape, this place of legend at which he had worked and scrimped and saved to arrive, be lost to a weird dream or a strange bout of vertigo, whatever it was that had come over him. He was careful of course not to seem impatient with Violet though; her care for him touched him greatly, warming and thrilling him inside much more than he would like to admit. Instead, he merely shook his head slightly, hoping to assuage her worries by appearing unfazed and moving forward with this last day’s exploration of their site. “Thanks, truly. I appreciate you checking,” he offered, “but I’m fine - no lingering side effects.”

As he spoke, they neared the last vestiges of the archway where they had discovered the compass the day before. Henry could tell that Violet ached to explore further, to make sure there was nothing else of note, to study the intricacies of design and execution that were more to her interests than his, but that she was equally reluctant to leave him after the strange stupor in which she had found him just a short time ago.

Good naturedly smirking at his own odd behavior, Henry urged her to see to what she wished. “Vi, really, go on and have another look. It’s not like this opportunity comes around every day. I promise, I’m not going to keel over.”

She shook her head at his lighthearted teasing, all ready with the stubborn reminder that he didn’t get the scare of wondering what had happened, worrying whether or not he was alright, but she bit her tongue in the end. Bickering wasn’t going to make him see his health as more important than their find, and it would probably only make him feel badly to know just how concerned she had been at the pale, unsteady sight he had presented when he first opened his door to her that morning. Plus, it would waste precious time, and so instead she moved off with a nod of begrudging consent and one more gentle press of his hand.

Henry, meanwhile, when he had made certain that Violet wasn’t holding back on his account, moved carefully toward the crumbling frame of the window in an outer wall still partially standing some feet away. It was slow going for the bits of stone and splintered, weathered furniture scattered in the way between, but he picked his way through the detritus without falling himself or destroying anything which might be of value. The niggling feeling that the window he stood before was the very one he had seen in his vision, the one from which the rogue lieutenant visiting his imprisoned lover swung to escape the princess’ guard, and he could hardly fight the need to touch it - see it - for himself, as if he could somehow derive the rest of the story, what had happened next, from the space he had seen in that reverie.

And though as much as he had promised his concerned protegé that all would be well, Henry still felt a bit off balance and unsettled, as if whatever presence or power in the air was still lingering from his encounter that morning. No sooner had he neared the wall, than he was reaching out to rest his hand on what would once have been the window sill, now loose and partially eroded by time.

Taking a moment to look more closely at the cracked stone and dusty grooves, Henry curled his fingers into a gap curiously, the piece of rock still in place shifting to the side and allowing his fingertips to slide deeper into the opening. For a moment, he felt nothing, just empty space and a disorienting sensation of brushing up against a wide open void, then his grasp caught against an edge of paper or leather, almost like the corner of a book. Straining to reach just a bit further, he managed to grasp the item and clutched tightly to draw it out.

Several more bits of debris and rubble fell away as Henry attempted to carefully extract his treasure. Once free of its hiding place, however, the mystery was revealed as indeed being some sort of leather bound journal or logbook. Brushing off the cover the best he could, despite the determined cling of years and years of cobwebs and mildew, Henry held his breath, hoping the pages wouldn’t crumble to dust, that they were still legible. It might contain the proof and the answers he had been seeking.

Ever so gingerly, Henry carefully opened the cover to find a flourishing if faded script scrawled across the opening page of the book in his hand. And even before he could locate the author’s purpose or name, he felt his surroundings begin to swirl and fade to grey once more, for the second time in one day, he was seeing the tower as it had been and the princess within it long ago…

“What have I done?!?” Emmaline’s tormented wail echoes in the thin air of the tower’s height, as her sword clatters to the floor from her suddenly nerveless fingers. The guard she felled is clearly not dead, as his chest rises and falls steadily even in unconsciousness. Still, though her father had trained her well in swordplay, until her technique and form was nearly as flawless as his own, she had never before actually struck someone with such determined intent. To stop them - and even end their life if necessary, rather than see her lover caught and killed.

Turning at that, her eyes still frantic at the blood that runs from the slice across his cheek beneath his eye, all too close to putting out the brilliant blue light forever. Her lip quivers, and Princess Emmaline struggles to bite back the ridiculous show of weakness and emotion, even while stumbling toward Killian at the same time.

He catches her in his arms, smoothing her wild hair back form her damp brow and whispering reassurances that she only did what she had to, that she isn’t cruel or evil, only a brave woman taking her stand in an impossible situation, and - if possible - he loves her even more, “bloody brilliant” she is in his adoring eyes.

However, the stolen moment is not meant to be theirs for long. Shouts from below remind them that the man they have felled to make their escape was not the only one, and unless they wish to be forced to do even more damage, they must go - immediately. Pausing a mere second longer, Emmaline snatches up a small brown book from a desk in the corner of the room. Pressing it to her mouth as if imprinting a kiss in its surface, she hurries to the window where her sailor stands waiting to spirit her away - from her family, her kingdom, her duty - but also to freedom and a life, something it has become clear she will never regain locked away in some gilded cage.

Working loose a part of the masonry, she slips her private diary into the aperture created, hoping against hope that it will be found. That her parents and her brother will be able to read it and know that she has discovered a way forward, even if it isn’t what they had always planned. She hopes she will see them again someday, but if not…

Looking up to meet her rogue lieutenant’s pained but knowing gaze, she is relieved to see she needs give no explanation. He understands, just as he always has.

Then, with a final backward glance around her prison, she is swinging over the side with him, his steady presence next to her helping as they begin their descent on sturdy ropes, toward the ground below where horses wait to take them to his ship in the harbor....

Henry jolts back into his own place and time more immediately with this second vision. Already anxious to read the book still clasped in his hands, his heart thrums with excitement in his chest at knowing just what it is he holds. He gulps in air like a fish floundering on the docks, but it doesn’t slow his haste or enthusiasm. This is it; the evidence he had always believed he would find. Princess Emmaline existed, she was real; her story had happened just as it had been said. And now, at last, he could show the rest of the world the truth.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~***~

Six months later ~

Hand in hand, Henry Mills and Violet Clemens stand in the sacred space once more - the site that drew both of them halfway around the world, but also to each other. Since their research venture to the Misthavian ruins, there has been widespread recognition that the tiny kingdom did exist and that its lost princess had been a real, living being of flesh and blood. Though it was asking a bit much for the reigning historical and scientific community to believe that she had been locked away due to a fear of her magic, as detailed in her diary, it had become accepted knowledge that Princess Emmaline had been held in the windswept and isolated tower they had explored, she had been denied her birthright and crown, and had - much like her homeland - vanished almost completely from history… if not for the tokens Professor Henry Mills and his team had discovered.

They are now both published and much-lauded experts in their field; both already had been experts, it was just a matter of the rest of the world realizing it. More important than glory and fame though, to both Henry and Violet, was that now they could return to this place, so close to both their hearts, and perhaps offer closure to two souls who had been awaiting it much longer than either of them.

As the couple stood at the small display which had since been constructed at the scenic overlook near the ruins, there was an absolute sense of accomplishment. It was just a small podium with a guest book for tourists and visitors to sign and a protective case allowing the compass and diary to be returned where they belonged, but still available for the curious, the lost, and the lonely to see, to read, and to learn from the Princess’ story and take heart again. It was just how Henry had wanted it and had fought against various museums and universities to have it be displayed - as he could only hope the long ago royal would have approved.

Looking lovingly to the woman at his side, Henry smiled unabashedly as the sparkle of her engagement ring caught his eye and he simply brought their joined hands to his mouth to kiss the back of hers. He could still remember that first dim evening, when he had ventured within the tower’s remaining walls with cautious reverence. He had sensed that he was not alone, the presence that - while not threatening - had still sent a shiver skittering down his spine. Violet had long since talked with him of a similar awareness as they worked within the aged structure, and it was what brought them back now, to say one final farewell before embarking on a joined life together, to bid another lingering pair of lovers rest at long last - impossible as that quest might seem.

“Do you think we’ll know if they’re here?” Violet whispered to him, her eyes wide and half-hopeful, half-worried.

“I’m not sure what to expect,” he answered seriously. “It was just a feeling I couldn’t shake when we were here before. I don’t know whether to believe it will be more or less this time around.”

They waited, breath caught between nervously bitten lips in silence, before Henry stepped closer to the preserved ancient stone walls rising around them. “If you can hear me…” he started, tentative but determined, hopeful, and in a voice gaining strength as he continued with Violet’s reassurance at his back. “Princess? Lieutenant?...The world knows now, about Misthavia and about you. That you were real, that you existed, and about your love for each other. No one believes Killian stole you away against your will anymore. And though most people of the modern age don’t believe in magic, they know now that you were wrongfully imprisoned, your Highness. They understand that though Misthavia ceased to exist as a separate nation, you never had your chance to rule to try and save her. And…” Henry paused here, swallowing a lump that took him by surprise as it formed suddenly in his throat… “and, though we can’t for sure know what became of either of you, it is known that Lieutenant Jones saved you, Princess Emmaline. That you loved him and he loved you. And I’m going to choose to believe in a happy ending for you both… that you sailed until you found a place where you could be together, come what may.”

“I do too,” Violet echoed into their still surroundings, offering him a gently affectionate smile as she gazed up into his intense and open brown eyes - the moment stretching powerfully between the two of them, cementing their faith in each other and their bond, whether or not anyone else bore witness.

Then, surprisingly, Violet’s eyes widened as she looked off to Henry’s side. “They - they’re here…” she breathed, almost too stunned to speak at all in the quiet evening around them.

Peering in the same direction Violet was, awestruck, Henry was slowly able to discern two clouded white shapes in the murky grey dusk, becoming ever more solid and opaque as Henry and Violet stood watching. Though far from corporeal, they were two human forms, one slighter with almost an outline of a medieval, bell-sleeved dress and what appeared a flower crown upon its head; the other taller and wearing what seemed to be a sword at its side, with broader shoulders.

Though the apparitions seemed to turn toward Henry and Violet, as if offering their gratitude, they came no closer, and merely hovered in place as the two historians held their breath for fear the moment might vanish. Soon enough as it was, the two cloudy shapes, once princess and pirate sailor, appeared to bow in farewell, then move toward the overlook, as though seeing the bright horizon and the waves far below that they had been separated from for so long. Just before the modern couple’s eyes, their ghosts began to fade into nothingness, gradually losing consistency, as if finally slipping the tether that had held them to the ruin. Vindicated at last, and free to move beyond, they set sail for peaceful shores.

Tagging a few who might be interested: @searchingwardrobes @kmomof4 @jennjenn615 @jrob64 @apiratewhopines @whimsicallyenchantedrose

@laschatzi @iamstartraveller776 @teamhook @revanmeetra87 @booksteaandtoomuchtv @anmylica

@stahlop @kday426 @xsajx @bluewildcatfanatic @linda8084 @lfh1226-linda

@belovedcreation @jonesfandomfanatic @motherkatereloyshipper @xarandomdreamx @bdevereaux @shady-swan-jones

@goforlaunchcee @spartanguard @therooksshiningknight @optomisticgirl @tiganasummertree @drowned-dreamer

@undercaffinatednightmare @myfearless-love @winterbaby89 @donteattheappleshook @the-darkdragonfly @elizabeethan

#self promo sunday #cssns19 #ouat three shot ff #cs fic rerun #a story told at last #modern au of sorts #professor henry mills

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honest-moth-of-silver-grove · 1 year ago

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Getting a submission for a matchup before this closes!!!

Let's start by talking a bit personality wise. I'm a very extroverted woman with very nerdy hobbies. While I love going out with my friends, having fun at parties and talking, dancing and laughing until I can't anymore (I have literally gotten sick out of how much I laughed many times because my throat gets sore, and my friends always express how contagious and genuine my laugh sounds) I'm also a very independent person that can get lost in all the good things one can do in complete solitude.

I'm a history buff and a literature freak, jumping from one hyper-fixation to another only when I know everything there is to know about a certain topic (love discovering all the deep lore haha!). I am also pretty independent, and many times I've caught myself having to force myself to check my phone because I could go days without talking to anybody if I get too lost in whatever I am doing. I tend to only rely on myself and almost never look for outside help to solve my problems, but I'm not work-motivated at all.

My most significant quality however, which both comes as a virtue and a flaw, is that I can read people and situations like books. I'm that person that knows the ending to most movies by the first five minutes of it, or the one that knows exactly the intentions of someone when talking with them. Because of that, I can be incredibly insightful, but also somewhat manipulative.

Other than that, I'm a short, blond girl with slightly tan skin and an obsession for warm colors, so much so that my family and friends tend to call me "little sun". I'm an ENFT. I'm also someone incredibly romantic --if I'm in a relationship, only that partner exist for me, so I'm also monogamous. I'm bisexuality, but I tend to be more attracted to masculine people, but I have also dated girls in the past (which means that if you only can/want do one match up, preferably masculine please!)

And that's it!!! Thank you so so much for taking requests 🌼

A/N: OOh boy, my Little Sun Anon, I have to tell you I read your first paragraph and immediately had someone in mind and the more I read the more perfect I thought they’d be for you lol. Thank you so much for your description, especially the way you spoke about your personality- it gave me a super clear picture. I feel like I know you now, lol.

As for a matchup, because you said you’re bi, but tend to date more masculine people, I’ve given you two answers below, one male and one female- so you can choose who you feel is most accurate. But if I’m being honest, the first matchup, (the male one in this case) is who I think you’re most compatible with.

For you, my Little Sun, I think you’re best paired with either Gale (Male) or Karlach (Female)!

💜 Gale is literally the PERFECT match for you! He’s more introverted, but charismatic and a huge nerd. He loves learning, and has a history of hyper fixating on something until he gets it himself. He’s not the funniest guy in Baldur’s Gate, but he does have a decent sense of humor. And he cannot, I mean, absolutely cannot stop himself from making puns and dad jokes. Like… literally all of the time.

Gale loves how outgoing and extroverted you are. He’s not super shy per say, but he can be a bit awkward socially, so he’s very grateful to you for coming to his rescue in conversation quite often. And he’s incredibly happy you have tons of friends. Friends and him haven't always been compatible, and since his breakup with Mystra even less so. So he’s pleased you have a larger than average group of companies to introduce him to. Plus it takes the pressure off of him in a way, knowing he’s not the only companion you have to go to for outings or advice. He does enjoy a good party, especially if there's good wine and good food, but he also likes to spend a good amount of time just being quiet indoors. So if you ever want to party, but he wants to read, he has no problems wishing you the best of times with your friends so long as you always come home to him in the end.

He’s also very pleased to be with someone with such a rich sense of humor, and the love of laughter. Personally, he thinks he can be hysterical, and he feels a swell of pride every time you can’t help but fall into a laughing fit over one of his jokes.

He’s even more grateful you appreciate the knowledge of a good book, or a good study session as it can be rather challenging to find extroverts who do. He’s more than willing to spend hours in study or discussion with you, happy to prattle on about all he knows on any magical subject of your choosing. He’s also relieved you don’t find it odd to spend time apart. Gods know how he can get lost in a good book, or while practicing a spell. And he’d hate for you to feel ignored or left out. He’s very soothed by your understanding.

He does ask that you confide in him more. He knows it can be difficult opening up, he suffers from the same problem himself. But, he wants you to know you can rely on him as your partner. And he hopes you’re okay with him coming to you. He believes partners work best when they’re a team, and so long as the two of you can communicate openly and freely, there’s nothing you can’t get through together.

He doesn’t find it manipulative that you’re adept at reading people. If anything, he feels safer knowing you can take care of yourself when he’s not there. He hasn't always been the best judge of character in the past, so he’s often put at ease with you by his side when meeting new people, knowing you can judge their true intentions within minutes of knowing them.

Gale thinks you’re so gorgeous, especially in all of your bright warm colors. He does think of you as his own personal ray of sunshine. You’re just so warm and comforting to be around. I mean he’s also incredibly romantic. In a relationship, he believes in 100% commitment, full monogamy, no one beyond your partner should be a blip on your romantic radar. And that’s exactly how he loves it. You essentially become the center of his universe, so your nickname is quite ironic as you basically become Gale’s ‘Little Sun’.

Gale, to me, is an ENFP, so he also has extroverted intuition and feeling. The two of you are very good at instinctively knowing each other's feelings and thoughts. You can communicate with just a look- no words necessary. And you can tell, from the look in Gale’s eyes, that he loves you more than words could ever say.

❤️️ Karlach would also be a fine fit for you, if you’d prefer a female partner. She’s a ball of energy, and she loves to have fun! She loves how hard you laugh. She tries to get you to laugh so hard, you’re sick, so long as she gets to laugh with you!

She’s not super into literature or deep lore, but she loves how excited you get about it. She’ll beam listening to you rant about all you’ve learned and you watch her train with the same proud interested expression.

Karlach is also independent in that she’s been forced to rely solely on herself for years. She’s not used to having someone to turn to when things go south, but she’s really glad you’re there to remind her she doesn’t have to face anything alone. She welcomes your advice and your partnership in everything she does. The only thing she’s hesitant to share with you is any fighting skills, as she wants to keep you safe, far, faw away from any battlefield.

She does grow occasionally weary of your ability to read people, but not because she thinks it’s manipulative, but out of fear if you do it on her, you won’t like what you find. Please reassure her, she’s wonderful. She still feels some guilt over the things she was forced to do in the past. She’s very happy you can read others though. Gods know if she could read people like that, maybe she wouldn’t have ended up working for Gortash, maybe she would've been able to see through him.

Karlach thinks you’re absolutely fucking gorgeous! She loves your blonde hair and tan skin, and the fact that she can easily pick you up and toss you over her shoulder lol. She thinks you look incredible in all your warm colors- especially the color red. If you really want to surprise her, wear an all red outfit and just wait and see her reaction. She’ll probably burn hotter than the sun in response lol.

Karlach is an ESFP, so the two of you have extroverted feelings in common. This makes the two of you go to people for having fun or letting loose. It’s so difficult having to carry the burden of saving the world on your shoulders. It can be full of fear and hopelessness. But then there’s you two: you and Karlach remind the party to laugh, and to live while you can. You play music and sing and Karlach dances to get the mood started. The party spends the night laughing and listening to music- extremely grateful you are among them.

Once the sun sets and the stars settle amongst the sky, you and Karlach might get plenty of offers to join the others for some more ‘fun’, but those honeyed propositions mean nothing to you. You spend the evening in each other's arms, relishing the warmth that radiates from Karlach’s red skin. As you relax in her embrace, you realize something a little ironic: you may be Karlach’s ‘Little Sun’, but she’s your ‘Big Heat’.

#gale x tav #gale x reader #karlach x tav #karlach x reader #bg3 x reader #bg3 imagine #bg3 x tav #bg3 matchups #baldurs gate 3 matchups #bg3 #matchups

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zwy01 · 1 year ago

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Original Noble Clan + Clan Leader OCs!!!

Yay!! Super excited to introduce my fourth original clan, the Paradiso, Clan of Miracles and Wisdom!

About a month ago, I introduced three original clans: the “Volo”, Clan of the Healers, the “Pyradros”, Clan of the Sun and Fire, and the “Ceresthalassa”, Clan of the Earthshakers. It’s time for a fourth one yayy!!!! p.s. I have the links to my other original clan introductions at the end of this post, so feel free to check them out later!

Again, these characters aren’t necessarily exclusive to a specific/fixed setting. They can be interpreted as headcanons that exist/fit in the canon storyline, characters specific to my Millennium AU, characters that exist by themselves and don’t fit anywhere,…etc. Anything really, as I do want them to have some flexibility. So feel free to interpret them as whatever makes the most sense to you. Personally, I see them as existing in both the canon storyline as my headcanons, and in my Millennium AU. In this post I’ll be (mainly) approaching and discussing them in the context of my Millennium AU, though there will also be some references to canon/pre-canon events of my interpretation.

For context, age-wise Titus the Clan Leader is somewhere between Gejutel and Lagus. So older than Gejutel, but younger than Lagus. In terms of title/position, Titus was appointed as Clan Leader either during or even before the Previous-previous Lord’s (Raskreia’s paternal grandfather, another OC of mine) reign. He’s old! Currently, he is still active as Clan Leader in Raskreia’s reign, so technically he can be grouped with the current generation of Clan Leaders (aka Raskreia’s peers). He simply loves his job too much to retire, which makes him Doris’ refuse-to-retire buddy, lmao. Titus’ twin daughters and heirs Anastasia and Anabella are actually younger than Raskreia and my other original clan kids (Azurine, Rufus, Marina), and possibly even younger than some of Raskreia’s peers. Titus just kind of had his kids super late, just like Lagus and Doris.

The Paradiso Clan is a bit of an unusual one. They are the only non-combat based noble clan in Lukedonia. You have the Mergas, who are more focused on defense, and the Volo, who specialize in support such as buffs, debuffs, healing… etc. but in the end they can still fight pretty impressively when it comes to offense. The Paradiso is a completely different case. Their clan simply has nothing to do with fighting at all. Just nothing. They aren’t interested in fighting, and can’t fight even if they tried. Well, they can do the simple stuff. Nothing fancy. Basic moves such as punches and kicks, and small aura beam blasts, sure. But that’s pretty much it. This puts them on the very, very bottom of Lukedonia’s power scale when it comes to raw power. On the surface, this may seem like a great weakness, and maybe even something abnormal, but the reason behind this is much deeper.

The Paradiso were never meant to fight in the first place. None of its clan members receive any combat training in their education and upbringing, as opposed to basically all the other clans, to whom learning how to fight is both essential and mandatory. Instead, the Paradiso are interested in something else. Rather than wasting effort on things that would never become their forte, they invest all their time and resources in improving themselves and thriving in the way that aligns with their clan’s specialty the most. Since the very beginning, starting with their first ever Clan Leader, the Paradiso’s role in Lukedonia is to preserve. Specifically, the safekeeping of all kinds of knowledge, including but not limited to: old and new noble traditions, the rise and fall of noble factions, the beginning and end of eras, the reign of each and every Lord and their respective beliefs and leadership approaches, transcribing works of literature/language/philosophy etc. And this goes beyond just knowledge passed down within their own clan. The Paradiso keeps records safe on behalf of the entirety of Lukedonia, which includes the work and traditions of all noble clans.

It doesn’t stop there. While the priority of the Paradiso’s preservation work is centered around information inside Lukedonia, they are avid collectors of all kinds of knowledge. They are enthusiastic fans of folklore, fables, poetry, drama, fantasy, legends, biographies, memoirs, journals, cookbooks, and much more. Authors of the works they collect could be anyone. Nobles, humans, occasionally werewolves, and maybe even supernatural beings and creatures. As long as it’s interesting, the Paradiso are in. They welcome to their collection great works from around the world, and are always seeking for new ones to fuel their love of knowledge. In addition, many of their own clan members are established authors and creators. While these noble creators usually don’t publish their works outside of Lukedonia for non-nobles to read, occasionally, they’d trade a book or two with a human/werewolf creator as a means of obtaining knowledge. Usually, the Paradiso would buy works from members of other races with money or things, but every now and then one of them demands “an exchange of equal value”, so they exchange book for book. After the Paradiso get their hands on a new book, they would go home to Lukedonia, gather one of their many teams of scholars, analyze the material, transcribe it a couple times, then store some of the transcribed copies and the original in safety somewhere in their vast library tower. Their collection of books is ever growing. Truly the deeds of the clan of wisdom. As for the Paradiso’s special ability, since they can’t fight, their strength manifests in a different way. They aren’t called the “walking libraries” for no reason. Aside from their innate love of knowledge, they are born with the talent of being able to very quickly and thoroughly dissect and master any material presented to them. They learn much more efficiently, and can retain and recall information at a much higher rate than others. Analyzing literature is easy and fun for them. They are very creative and innovative with words, and they even speak in a very poetic and melodic manner.

Going back to record keeping on behalf of others. Of course each and every clan does a good job of passing down traditions and knowledge to their own descendants. Sure, they can manage by themselves. You might think, why does Lukedonia even need a whole clan, whose job is keeping extra copies on everything for everyone, to work behind the scenes? Firstly, the Paradiso exists to preserve, because that’s what they’re meant to do. They cover everything they can possibly get their hands on, from beginning to end. This extends to all types of knowledge that had ever existed and ever will exist, so traditions and history of other noble clans simply get grouped in there. Secondly, this serves an extremely important purpose in the worst case scenario where a clan perishes completely and all their records somehow disappear alongside them. It could be due to an unfortunate event of a total massacre done by an outsider, or a deliberate, malicious attempt by a Clan Leader whose goal is to destroy and end both them self and their whole clan. Whatever it is, in the extremely unlikely chance where there is no one left in a specific clan to provide knowledge and other crucial information essential to restoration, complete records that still exist thanks to the Paradiso’s safekeeping can then be used to restore the clan and help them get back on their feet, and eventually return them to what they once were. In a way, this is like the Paradiso keeping the ultimate backup plan for everyone in case something terrible happens. This effectively prevents any clan from perishing completely, whether by external or internal threats, or both. Specifically internal, in case a Clan Leader goes insane and tries to sabotage their entire family.

This applies to the line of Lords as well. If for some reason one Lord fails them all, the Paradiso have complete records of all the Lords before them, which could be helpful as a reference, analyzing what were and weren’t successful, and where to make adjustments from then on. While this doesn’t guarantee whoever’s on the throne will actually listen, it’s better than nothing.

For the above reasons, the Paradiso are never expected to fight or provide aid in battle. In fact, they are urged to avoid ever getting caught up in one, and evacuate to a safe place if there is a threat. This is because if the Paradiso die out, it means that Lukedonia’s last resort has died out as well. The safekeepers of knowledge must hang on no matter what. In a way, the Paradiso symbolize hope. To guarantee their safety, somewhere along the line of Lords, one of Raskreia’s ancestors decreed that Paradiso Clan Leaders and their heirs must each be assigned a team of elite bodyguards made up of powerful nobles. Usually, the bodyguard teams consist of members from different clans, and each team has around twenty members. Their job is to protect Paradiso CLs and heirs from threats. The bodyguards keep an eye on the surrounding and put anyone in proximity under surveillance, help the Paradiso evacuate to safety in an emergency, and fight on their behalf in life-threatening situations, even if it means sacrificing themselves in the process. These bodyguards are ready to give up their lives at any moment for the Paradiso. All of them are volunteers, and while they may have different reasons for becoming a bodyguard, they are completely devoted to their job.

Regarding the Paradiso’s place in canon. During the invasion of Lukedonia, as soon as Lord Raskreia was aware of the presence of Lagus and the traitor nobles, she ordered Titus, his daughters, and their clan members to immediately evacuate to safety. That’s why they never made an appearance. They were being guided to safety by their teams of elite bodyguards. The Lord also ordered them to hide and not come back until the traitors are eliminated and all threats are cleared. Though, before the Paradiso finished evacuating, the traitors were taken care of, so they stopped evacuating and settled back to where they were before. No harm was done to them but it sure did give them a massive heart attack. Titus recalls heating up his tea and getting comfy on his couch and ready to read a new book and all that, and then suddenly everyone was panicking and his bodyguards literally picked him up and started running towards the secret passage that hadn’t been opened since eons ago. Not fun.

Now that’s the backstory on the “wisdom” part of the Paradiso, Clan of Miracles and Wisdom. What about “miracles”?

That is, aside from being the guardians of knowledge, the Paradiso are also wish-granters. Granting wishes, making the impossible possible, turning crisis into opportunity, performing miracles … those are just a few ways the humans describe what the Paradiso do. Or, what they think the Paradiso can do.

What they don’t know is that the truth is much more complicated. The thing is, there is no such thing as a miracle. Everything is always, always set in a balance, and the universe intends for it to stay that way. What the Paradiso do is simply changing up the order of things in which they are perceived to happen, and in the end, it all cancels out. The difference is while the humans don’t know about the truth behind this “wish granting”, the nobles do. The nobles understand that ultimately there is no gain, and that all they can possibly get from “wishing” upon the Paradiso is temporary relief and happiness in the present while greater misery and disappointment await in the future. For this reason, virtually no nobles ever ask for a “wish” from the Paradiso, because they know how it truly works. Ask for something that’s not meant to happen, pay the price later. It’s a fair trade. Think wisely before you ask for the impossible. The nobles merely use the word “miracle” as a way to address the Paradiso out of respect and admiration for their preservation work of Lukedonia, as well as appreciating them for being a symbol of hope.

But this is a different situation with humans, who very much believe that these weird, seemingly omnipotent red-eyed gods really could perform miracles. And these humans are always begging for more. Many previous Paradiso Clan Leaders couldn’t say no to these helpless humans, and they eventually gave in to the begging. There are a lot of examples throughout history. Human A wished to become super rich, the Paradiso granted it, human A got their desired pile gold and grand castle, only for things to “balance out” later where they lose all their gold, and their castle collapses to a precise meteorite strike while they’re gone, and they’re back to exactly where they started. Human B wished to cure a loved one’s terminal illness, the Paradiso granted it, Human B’s loved one became free of illness, but one year later, human B’s other loved one gets the same exact illness. Human C wished for their rival to get in an accident and lose a limb, the Paradiso granted it, human C’s rival’s left leg indeed got crushed in a carriage crash, but human C’s left leg gets ripped off by a predator several weeks later. The motivation behind the wishes didn’t matter. Whether it stemmed from the desire to do good or evil, whether it was out of selflessness or selfishness, etc. it all balances out in the end.

The Paradiso’s power simply changes the order of things happening, not the things themselves. It’s an odd ability, yes, but it exists. Objectively, this “miracle performing” power simply is. If you add one now, you subtract one later. It eventually goes back to zero no matter what. The nobles all understand this. However, this is where it gets tricky. The humans refuse to believe that their so-called “wishes” have consequences. They always, always believe that they are an exception, that luck will always be on their side, that their wishes are so great and meaningful they will, and must, bypass the laws of the universe. They always say they won’t regret it, and that they’d be willing to do anything it takes for a wish to come true. Apparently, that’s not true. When they eventually realize that wishes get balanced out and they have to bear with the consequences, every ounce of gratefulness they previously had will turn into hatred and vengeance. False gods, is what some humans started to call the Paradiso. Evil beings who intend to cause misery by granting the illusion of happiness and satisfaction, dumping them in hell after giving them a taste of heaven. And so on. The Paradiso never claimed to be gods, nor did they ever ask to treated as such. The humans just decided to do that on their own, until they didn’t want to anymore. Anyways, things got ugly real quick. At one point tens of thousands of humans gathered together to declare war on the “false god” nobles. Though, no real harm was done, as the nobles had mind control powers after all. They made the humans forget about all that had happened. After this situation was quickly resolved, the Paradiso Clan Leader at that time declared that from then on, their wish-granting power should never be used on humans again. They are only allowed to interact with humans to trade knowledge and books. Only books, no wishes. Fast forward to several generations later, Titus, the current Clan Leader, follows this philosophy. He would also teach this same philosophy to his daughters and warn them about the dangers of the unpredictable human mind. One century they would put up statues of you, declare themselves as your followers, pray to you every day, and even kill members of their own kind to offer as “tribute”, centering their entire lives around you. In the blink of an eye, they would destroy and burn those very same statues, and seek revenge on you. Unpredictable indeed. Luckily, thanks to mind control, the humans don’t remember the Paradiso as their loved and hated wish-granter gods anymore. Curiously, there are a few surviving records by ancient human scribes on certain pink-haired gods of miracles. In the present day, modern humans just study these works without being too serious about it. Titus thinks it’s mildly amusing.

Before I introduce their Soul Weapon, I’ll explain the mechanics of their wish-granting skill a bit more. It happens supernaturally as part of their weird noble powers. This power applies to mundane things as well. Say you got unpleasant bowel moments? Go to a Volo and ask for some herbs. It could take some time for the herbs to kick in, but you’d actually be cured, and your guts won’t upset you anymore. Go to a Paradiso and “wish” your inconvenience away? Well, the symptoms disappear within a millisecond and you’re seemingly cured, eeeeexcept a few days later those same exact bowel movements “return”, perhaps by chance at an even more inconvenient timing. Same intensity and duration and all that. And say you wanted to ace an exam but don’t have the time to study, or don’t want to study, and on average, you’d score a 70 out of 100. Go to the Paradiso and “wish” for a 100 on your next exam. You’d indeed score a 100, but for the exam after that, you’d get a 40.

And say you wanted to dry your laundry but don’t want to put it in the dryer? “Wish” for it and your basket of laundry over there would be dried magically. However, the next time you use the dryer, it would malfunction on the first cycle and you’d come back to discover that your clothes are still wet. Basically, you never save effort or time. You can’t possibly cheat around it. It’s just a matter of now, or later. For this reason, some nobles think this skill is hilarious and they often use it as a form of entertainment, in a game of truth or dare when one of them loses a bet. Just harmless, funny stuff. Titus the Clan Leader thinks it’s hilarious as well but of course as a role model he can’t openly say that in front of the others, lol. But he knows that they know, and they know that he knows that they know. In the end they aren’t humans and actually understand how wishes work so it’s just another day for them.

Soul Weapon: Liebe. A book. Emits a light pink aura. Its wielder can choose to hold it or have it levitate on its own. Its front and back covers are black, and have no text on them. Its book corners are golden, and its ribbon pink. Its pages are white and seem to be blank, though it’s actually covered in text which usually only its wielder can read. If anyone else tries to read it, they see nothing unless Liebe’s wielder gives the okays. No peeking, fellas, sorry. Somehow, the pages seem to never run out no matter how much writing goes in there. That’s because the “text” isn’t actually ink on paper, it’s a SW after all (duh) and it’s almost alive in a sense. The text can appear and disappear, and move around at its wielder’s will to display whatever its wielder wants to read. The pages can flip on their own and the bookmark moves as well. Strange, fascinating little SW it is.

Liebe’s wielder can use it to do a variety of things. Firstly, it can instantly display text from any other book at any given time, as long as that other book was transcribed/written by a fellow Paradiso clan member. From the very first book written by the very first Paradiso CL to the newest addition by a young Paradiso apprentice scholar? Yup, every single one of them. That’s what makes it so powerful, its innate connection to essentially their clan’s entire history of knowledge. This may sound a bit invasive considering how some clan members may not want their CL to read everything they write, so to be polite, the CLs always ask people before using Liebe to view their work. Most clan members are very happy and even honored to have their works read by their beloved CL. Yes, even those private gossip diaries, lmao. Liebe’s wielder can also write in it directly. And by writing I don’t mean actual ink on paper. It could be, but doesn’t have to be. CLs can speak their thoughts out loud, or even just think inside their mind with the idea of having Liebe record it, and boom it’s in the book. There are many ways to “write” in Liebe. Titus thinks it’s hilarious to watch the others look super confused when he tells them he’s writing but then they see that he isn’t “doing” anything and nothing seems to appear on the pages anyway. He just likes messing with them lol.

Secondly, Liebe can be used to grant wishes. Specifically, “greater” wishes that would be history-changing, legend-worthy miracles by humans standards (p.s. nobles don’t think of wishes as miracles because they understand how wishes work, they simply refer to them as “time transactions” in a very symbolic way. As for the less grandiose stuff, smaller wishes etc. can be granted without Liebe, by both CLs and heirs, and ordinary clan members). However, due to previously mentioned incidents with humans, the CLs no longer use this aspect of Liebe’s powers anymore. In the past, humans used to refer to Paradiso CLs as “the gods with books” for a good reason.

Thirdly, Liebe can be used to speak with the deceased. Specifically, nobles who have entered eternal sleep, if their souls are still out there somewhere. This is a great and terrifying power, of course, one that cannot be used casually or even revealed at all. That’s why no one else except for the Paradiso CLs themselves know about this skill because of the dangers it may bring, if the others find out. This is the only thing that the Paradiso omit from their library of knowledge. Titus’ predecessor only told him about this before they passed down Liebe to him, and Titus himself is keeping this a secret from his twin daughters until one of them becomes CL. Liebe lets its wielder speak with the deceased through its connection with the deceased’s souls. If Titus wanted to, he could speak with the predecessors of any clan, whose souls now reside in their descendants’ SW. Usually there is no reason to and ultimately it’s no good because the risks of getting lost and emotionally caught up in the past exist. But for those who died by forced eternal sleep for whatever reason, the Paradiso CL can connect with them and offer them solace and help them feel peace for once and all, if they should have any regrets and lingering feelings. Titus was the one who comforted and guided Seira and Regis’ predecessors after they were murdered, and the traitors CLs after their deaths as well, but since it’s a secret, he can’t tell anyone. Meanwhile the other content and fulfilled souls would rather be left alone so Titus doesn’t bother them, so this aspect of Liebe’s skill is almost never used. (For clarification this only applies to noble souls. Liebe can’t talk with dead humans/werewolves. Liebe also can’t talk with devoured souls like those who fell to Dark Spear e.g. Gradeus)

Lastly, Liebe’s wielder can use it to forcefully retrieve information out of any living being. Like literally going deep into someone’s mind, sucking out everything they know from the moment of their birth to the present. It can then display the retrieved knowledge on its pages and add it to its library as well. This spell can be cast without consent and is extremely invasive, and the recipient has a 30% chance of dying after the process because forcefully dissecting and pulling out contents of a person’s soul does irreversible damage. The Paradiso are generally nonviolent and against unnecessary deaths so they never use this skill because doing so is considered evil and taboo. As much as they love to learn, they aren’t desperate enough to do that, and they have their morals too. For a non-combat based clan, this is probably the closest to an “offensive” skill there is. Other than that, Liebe being called a SW is already weird enough considering how it isn’t even remotely close to a typical weapon. Titus jokes about this too. Well, he insists that him knowing your embarrassing cringy secrets IS a weapon so.

The Paradiso cover an impressive amount of territory in Lukedonia. They have countless libraries scattered throughout the land, big and small. These libraries are always supplied with plenty of paper and ink in case one of their clan members feel a sudden spark of inspiration and just want to get straight to writing. Titus and his daughters do have a manor which serves as their main residence, but they don’t actually live there much. They spend most of their time in the Paradiso library tower, Minerva, a wonder of more than 500 floors. There they have everything they need to live comfortably, so they don’t live in their actual home. As splendid and grand as Minerva is, it’s actually quite cozy so they think of it as their “true” home. Also stairs. A ton a stairs. You just keep getting stairs. More stairs after stairs. Titus claims it’s a good workout. The other clan members, maybe not so much lol. But it’s worth it! Minerva’s top floor is open to the sky and there blooms a single supernatural cherry blossom tree. Its trunk and branches are made of iridescent crystal and its glittering petals fall like snowflakes, disappearing just before they touch the ground. The Paradiso’s supernatural owls also reside on this floor. Sometimes they’d also visit the other floors to help scholars retrieve and shelve books.

And time for the character introductions!

Titus Paradiso: the current Clan Leader. A visibly older man with prominent wrinkles on his face and hands. Quite short and his daughters tower over him. Has a very cute and friendly-looking face, and is always smiling. Basically the sweet grandpa that everyone loves. Raises his bushy eyebrows when he spots something interesting, or as a greeting when he sees someone. Eyes are extremely expressive. His beautiful, curly pink hair looks like a combination of a cotton candy cloud and a cherry blossom tree in full bloom. His hair is actually so soft, if you run your fingers through it, it’d almost feel like touching a cloud. His twin daughters made his beard ribbon bow tie for him when they were children, a treasure which he cherishes very much and has worn ever since. Affectionately calls his girls “Sia” and “Bella”, and loves to pat them on their heads even though he’s kind of too short to do that anymore since they’re too tall for his hands to reach. He’s just so proud of them, hehe.

Titus is a jolly, lively, happy-go-luck man beloved by all for his pleasantness and knowledgeability. He is often referred to as “Professor Titus” by the people of Lukedonia. Titus is a humble man and he has never claimed to be a professor nor he does he think of himself as one, but since everyone loves him that way, he reluctantly accepts the title. He’s super flattered though. He still thinks he has a long way to go and much yet to learn before he deserves to be referred to as such, but the truth is he very much is the most eligible person in the entirety of Lukedonia to have the title of Professor. It’s just a way the other nobles show their appreciation for him. Not really having anything to do with this title but rather just a coincidence, he has his own lecture hall in the Paradiso library tower Minerva and teaches all kinds of subjects there. Ever since his days of youth, he’s been doing research, writing books, transcribing ancient texts, composing poems etc etc. right there in that space of his. After he took over as CL, he started teaching there as well.

Non-Paradiso noble guests are allowed to freely enter and leave Minerva as long as they don’t venture into the “clan members only” off-limit floors, so Titus always has a lot of guests. Some are diligent students who have come to listen to his lectures and take notes from him, some are just curious, some think this is a nice location to go on a date with their partner. A few regulars even come here just to nap. Titus doesn’t really care about what you’re here for as long as you don’t talk too loudly and keep the noise level to yourself. As for Titus’ lessons, he doesn’t really have a fixed schedule or curriculum or anything. Actually, nothing is planned. He could be quietly reading a book on a couch by himself or something, then boom he feels the motivation and he’d get up and teach a full-course lesson right away. Just like that. He never schedules these lectures, and they are quite spontaneous, so his devoted students are basically tower hermits who live there full time and wait for his random but phenomenal lessons. You can see why the others all call him Professor Titus, lol. He still insists he has a long way to go, though. Man doesn’t even know how amazing he truly is. His daughters insist that he should be proud of himself and boy, he’s SO happy to hear that from his beloved girls!

Titus is a very interesting person by himself. He smiles, giggles, and laughs a lot. Even something slightly funny can make him break into laughter and gleefully clap his little hands. Being older than a lot of the population means that he sees them as kids, and he loves kids, so of course he’s going to find the things they say and do to be cute. Kiddie shenanigans. Titus also moves around a lot, so he’s either fidgeting or playing with something in his hands. Could be his beard, a pen, chocolate bar wrapper, anything really. He was super delighted when Ludis’ daughter Susanna gifted him a toy once. “Rubik’s cube… is this what you call this little thing? Ho ho, thank you, kiddie! It’s amazing!!!! I love it!!! Eeeeeeeee!!!!!”, he exclaimed. He’s been playing with it ever since and stores it in his beard, weirding people out when they find out that’s where he keeps it. His excess energy is also obvious when he walks. In fact, he’s almost always skipping around on his feet like a little kid. He’s kind of clumsy though, so sometimes he’d trip and fall. Not helpful when your tower is literally full of stairs. He gets by just fine. Titus also hums to himself a lot, whether he’s organizing books in his tower, reading something, or walking around. Could be humming to the tune of a human detergent commercial, lol. If someone asked a Paradiso clan member where their CL is, they’d point to one of their bookshelves and Titus is right there, with a book in one hand and a back scratcher in another, happily humming and skipping around from aisle to aisle checking for incorrectly shelved books. Are you here for a lecture? Well great, because I’m about to give one in ten minutes!! See you at the lecture hall!! Truly a sweet, funny grandpa. If you manage to answer all his questions correctly, maybe he’ll give you a lollipop, lol.

Titus also has a few distinct hobbies. First of all, he’s an excellent winemaker in his spare time. He has his own vineyard and he gives names to every plant. Lady Violet, Curly, Sir Bubbleton, etc. He loves them dearly. He works closely with Leona Pyradros and Doris Ceresthalassa to cultivate delicious grapes of all sorts. The wine he makes is heavenly. In my headcanon all nobles are naturally immune to several types of poison and alcohol is one of them. They can’t get drunk even if they want to, so alcohol is more like flavored water to them. Nevertheless it still tastes absolutely amazing to them so it’s a drink loved by all. Titus has like dozens of wines. Each of them has a distinct flavor and he’d host parties with them. Out of all his types of wines, his two most prized ones are named after his beloved girls, whom he loves more than anyone else in the world. His wines are so famous that even werewolf Lord Maduke is rumored to be a huge fan and imports them regularly (in my headcanon Maduke hates nobles but he loves their alcohol. He knows what the fine stuff is. He doesn’t want to admit that he has an entire cellar full of that stuff lol). In general, if Lukedonia needs human money for some reason, wine exports is a way to do that. Titus’ other hobby is ink making. Your typical black ink, blue ink, green ink, pink ink, glittery ink, metallic ink, ink that changes color with temperature, ink that is invisible until you shine a specific light on it, etc. anything really. He loves to craft ink and even his intricate little ink bottles are tailor made. He totally has “Zephyrus Volo slipped and landed on a cactus and his kids had to pluck the thorns from his bum” written in his super fancy glittery pink ink, in super fancy and elegant Lukedonian cursive, in his gossip journal. Hey, something that funny deserves to be remembered with style and pizazz, so. No one can stop him, lol.

P.s. in present day Millennium AU Titus travels to the outside world a lot. His clan no longer granting wishes for humans doesn’t mean that he has to avoid them altogether. He can’t fight so his team of 20+ elite noble bodyguards always accompany him on his trips. And carry his things for him. And help him make maps of the best donut and milkshake shops. His job is still the same, buying books from humans/werewolves and occasionally trading them. He’s very up to date with the latest, trendiest things, so he even has a whole book on modern memes. After he gets home he’ll get one of his clan members to transcribe all that so he can look at funny memes on his book SW Liebe, lol. Trendy grandpa. You’d never expect Titus to flip around his SW and show you a meme. What an honor!

Before I introduce the Paradiso twins, I want to talk about them together first. Anastasia and Anabella were born after the combined soul fragments of Titus and their other parent split into two. This is a “complete” split, and it isn’t too uncommon. That’s how identical twins are born. In a “complete” split, the resulting now-separate soul fragments are stable and whole on their own. Nothing to worry about, no need to do anything. Just congrats, you thought you were having one kid, now you’re getting twins. In this case, each parent donated only one soul fragment, aka two total, but they got two kids instead of one. Usually, two kids require four total soul fragments, three kids require six total, etc. (P.s. Garyth and Alethea are technically twins. However, their split was incomplete and unstable, and Alethea was going to die, as she was the tiny, tiny piece that broke off from Garyth. This had never happened before in all of recorded history. In this emergency Regis had to offer an another soul fragment to Alethea’s which shortened his lifespan even more, but it saved her in the process. Garyth’s birth was normal but Alethea’s birth was delayed as the stabilizing took a long while so she is technically her elder brother’s much younger twin. I’ll elaborate on this in the future. Anyways)

The Paradiso twins are eerily similar. No one except their parents and Seira could tell them apart before they changed their hair and clothes to be more distinct. They move and speak in the same way, complete each other’s sentences flawlessly, everything like that. If they speak at the same time you’d just hear echos of the same thing, so whenever they’re seen together, one of them does the talking for the two of them. These twins even have a secret language consisting of tongue clicks, finger snaps, and eyelid movements that no one else understands except for themselves. They developed this language when they were toddlers and they still communicate like this when they don’t want others to know what they’re saying. Fun stuff. Sometimes they’re even unaware that they’re speaking in this secret language, and have to consciously switch to a normal spoken language, or when someone kindly reminds them. Whoops, didn’t mean to be rude there. Excuse us.

Regarding the twins’ other parent. It’s a secret for now, hehe. All I will say is that their other parent is one of Titus’ bodyguards. Probably not a surprise either. This character I have yet to reveal, so stay tuned lol.

For now, no one knows who will become Paradiso CL after Titus. Both of Titus’ heirs are competent and eligible for the position. It just depends on which one of them is more interested. For now, they aren’t too concerned with it. They don’t really care. Whoever doesn’t become CL will definitely have the privilege of more free time, so. Either way, time will tell.

Anastasia F. Paradiso: Titus’ eldest daughter, the older twin, and one of his heirs. Anastasia is the more pragmatic of the twins. She prefers to deal with things in the most efficient and logical way. She is also her father’s assistant and is seen by his side more othen than her younger sister. She manages the communication part of the work when it comes to other clans and nobles, representing her father when he is busy with something else. For this reason, people assume that she will become Paradiso CL after him and inherit Liebe. Though, that is just speculation and Anastasia dislikes how people give her little sister Anabella less credit than she deserves. Anastasia is basically only a millisecond older than Anabella yet she treats her like a baby lol. Anastasia is very serious about taking care of Anabella and watches over her even after they’ve grown up. She’d brush her little sister’s hair, ask if she’d forgotten anything, etc. the big sister stuff. When these two hold hands, Anastasia is always the one holding Anabella’s hand. Anastasia’s hobby is making books from scratch. She sources her own leather, paper, threads, etc. and it is a tedious craft, but she enjoys the process very much. It’s like meditating to her, just like how her father enjoys making ink. Her other hobby is poetry composition. She does have a mischievous side where she’d talk in rhyme and only rhyme in a conversation with another person just to annoy them. She thinks it’s hilarious. Apparently she inherited Titus’ mischievous side, lol. Anastasia eventually settles down with Seira in the far future in my Millennium AU.

Anabella F. Paradiso: Titus’ youngest daughter, the younger twin, and one of his heirs. Anabella is the more idealistic of the twins. She isn’t a typical dreamer but she is more open to ideas that her older sister Anastasia wouldn’t consider. Anabella likes to think outside the box and sometimes, that works better. She’s also more flexible when it comes to new approaches to old ways. Because of their differences, the sisters are perfect for working with each other. While big sister Anastasia does more work centered around communication in public with their father, Anabella prefers to work behind the scenes. She manages the storage room, updates catalogues, imports books, etc. stuff that seem less significant on the surface but are equally important in making sure the clan runs smoothly. Anabella does get a bit embarrassed when big sister Anastasia treats her like she’s so much younger, but she appreciates the sentiment and it feels nice to be taken care of. Anabella’s hobby is also winemaking, just like her father, except she uses some unconventional ingredients: body parts of supernatural creatures. Dragon’s scales, griffin’s talons, pegasi feathers, anything with magical properties she can get her hands on. Of course she obtains them with consent. Hey Mr. Scissors, it’s molting season soon, right? Can I have your shell once you’re done? Etc. The alcohol she makes is… impressive but it is an acquired taste so might take some getting used to. Her other hobby is writing science fiction. She publishes her own novels in the human world under a pseudonym and every single release is a big hit. They’re about to get movie adaptations too, so she’s excited about that. Anabella eventually settles down with one of her bodyguards, just like her father.

And that’s it for now! Check out my other original clans here!

#noblesse #manhwa #myart #oc #original character #original clan leaders #titus paradiso #anastasia f. paradiso #anabella f. paradiso

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underoospeterparker · 1 year ago

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hii can i have 🍩 with marauders, please!

my name is sofia, i study languages and literature, planning on becoming a researcher and translator. my hobbies are true-crime and writing articles about cinematography. i love pop or indie-pop and old school rock, theatre, my favourite tv show is supernatural. i like reading and having physical books, my favourite is frankenstein. i love cats, french fries, pantsuits, pearls and dark blue nails. i have classy style, blonde wavy hair, grey eyes. i am a total people’s pleaser and lip-biter.

welcome to my 300 celebration! @beanysofa

i ship you with james potter! ( you are james anon 4)

a. watching true-crime documentaries with james:

"You're sure you want to watch this?" he asked for what seemed like the tent time as he settled down next to you, wrapping an arm around your shoulders and pulling you close. "Looks a bit scary, honey," he added, reaching for the remote and pressing play. You nodded, smiling as you leaned into him. "James," you said, voice uncharacteristically soft. "You don't have to watch this if you don't want to." He shifted, slightly uncomfortable as the documentary started playing. "Yes, I'm fine," he murmured into your hair, holding on to you slightly tighter. "It's just, it's based on real stories." You bit your tongue to keep from laughing. "Yes, love, that's why it's called true crime." "I know that," he said. "I just-" You reached for the remote, snatching it out of his hand. You pressed pause, turning around to cup his cheeks in your hands. "You're sure?" you asked, crease forming in between your eyebrows. He gently took your hands away from his face, holding them in his instead. "Yes," he said, "I have to give it a chance, since you seem to love it so much." He paused, then added, "And what kind of strong, buff guy am I to be scared by a documentary?" He clung to you the rest of the night.

b. james giving you a gift; a cat

"Happy birthday, sweetheart," he said, wrapping his arms around you from behind as you ate your cereal. "Thank you, Jamie," you responded, turning around to press a kiss to his mouth, laughing when he pouted as you pulled away. You noticed a pair of shoes by the door. "Did you go out?" you asked, curious. He paused, going unnaturally still. "Yes, I went out," he said, voice tight. You heard a loud crashing noise and then James's voice, groaning as he said, "I was supposed to keep the surprise for one night!" "What surprise?" your voice was cautious, and you found out just what it was when the cutest, furriest little thing just strolled into the kitchen, completely unaware about what it was doing. "You didn't," you said, voice so happy James's heart squeezed in his chest. "You got a cat?" you squealed. He smiled, and the two of you crouched down so you could meet the newest addition to your apartment. Your hand reached out to pet her, stroking softly at her fur. "I love her," you said, already completely fond of the furry kitten. "Thank you."

#james potter fanfiction #james potter fluff #james potter fic #james potter x reader #james potter x you #james potter #the marauders #300 celebration #300 followers #follower milestone

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xeno-shatteredchaos · 4 months ago

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My name is Xeno, I’m 13.

I’m an average person.

I’m not buff, not beautiful, I’m just average.

I live alone since my parents died and because of me being a bit nerdy I have never really had friends.

I had a bad life until the day I was pushed into this world of magic and wonder, which is where my story really began.

The world before prologue

School was always hard for me, but I kept pushing myself to go, even after my parents died, so, one day I could help people who are in the same situation as me.

And this day started not differently. I went out of my bed, looked in my parent’s room again to look if everything was just a bead dream.

After that I took a shower and brushed my teeth.

I looked in the mirror and went to put on my clothes, a black t-shirt with dark blue pants.

Afterwards I went downstairs to make a bowl of milk and cereal and of course I put the cereal before the milk like a normal person.

After I finished my breakfast, I packed my bags and went to school.

I had a strange feeling of being watched, like someone was watching me for a specific reason.

It was a feeling I never felt before outside of school, but before I could think anything of it, I arrived at school, where I made my way into class and sat down.

I came in around thirty minutes before class started, because we had a test on modern literature.

After sitting down, I opened my books.

But before I could learn for the test Zach, the school bully and his two goons Blake and Rob, saw me and walked to my desk.

“Oh, it’s the parentless weird named Nerd”, Zach said, with his goons laughing about that kind of stupid joke.

Before I could say anything back, they pushed my books off my table.

Luckily at that moment the teacher came into the classroom and told Zach and his two goons:” GET OUT OF MY CLASSROOM, OR I WILL SEND YOU TO DETENTION”

After the teacher’s sudden outburst, she sat down in front of the class and started waiting.

After all of that I didn’t want to do anything related to learning and just sat there, feeling super sad.

The time went slow.

It felt like a year passed, before I even started the test.

When I finished it, I handed it to the teacher and she told me I could leave school early, even though it was 9:43 when I handed it.

So, I grabbed my bag and left school.

After walking a bit, I saw a man running towards me.

Before I could run away, he pushed a colorful, but also not colorful orb into my body and threw me into a portal, telling me to save his world before it was too late.

When I fell out of the portal, I found myself in a school.

It looked like my own, but more medieval, while also modern.

After standing up I felt dizzy due to everything that happened.

Many questions went through my head like: “Who was that man?”, What was that orb he pushed into me?”

But the most important question was: “Where am I?”

#story #magic #fiction

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faerieprincessfemme · 7 months ago

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bg3 modern au: liberal arts college edition!

ft. my bard tav abrielle! bc it’s just funnier that way.

okay so like imagine they all go to a small like 1500 person liberal arts college and they’re kinda this insufferable little friend group. something in me has called me to make all the clerics gender studies majors so take that how you will. also there are no tadpoles and everyone is happy mostly and has no problems whatsoever

companions:

- my tav abrielle is the worlds most annoying girl and she’s a theatre major. so insufferable, but unfortunately she’s talented and people like her bc of that. or at least her friends like her. she’s dating astarion and they are the worst most awful to catch in public bisexual/pansexual he/they she/they couple bc they are both so annoying about eachother (lovingly)

- astarion is the most pretentious asshole in the english department. he’s a classic lit major and he is such a stickler for what actually counts as “literature” everyone in the theatre dept knows him though bc he’s always at their rehearsals. he and abrielle recite horrible shakespeare quotes at eachother and no one can tell if it’s ironic or not.

- shadowheart is a sexuality womens and gender (SWAG) studies major! (bc gay) she’s roommates with abrielle and then also had a queer fictions class with astarion and they became sassy besties after being horrible to eachother in the seminars for that class.

- karlach is the number one star of the women’s rugby team, she’s buff she’s hot and every sapphic at the school knows her and wants her. she’s sexy yes but she’s also such a sweetheart and she also volunteers to do stage building for the theatre dept from time to time bc she’s just that sweet and wants to put her strength to good use.

- laezel is on some sports team like lacrosse that isn’t one of the colleges big ones but that woman is a D3 WARRIOR. she is COMMITTED. she and shadowheart hooked up first week of freshman year and now it’s just kind of… a situation… they kinda avoided eachother for a little bit at first after hooking up but then they became buddies but also are secretly in love with eachother homoeroticisim etc etc.

- wyll is a political science major and also participates in the plays outside of the classroom! big romeo vibes! his dad is also the school president and people like kinda know that but don’t really bring it up bc everyone knows they have a weird relationship.

- gale is a physics major who had the unfortunate outcome of being astarions randomly assigned freshman year roommate. they have been good buddies ever since even if they pretend they aren’t! he and wyll have this weird flirtationship thing going on and that influences gale to come see the theatre shows so he can support wyll and see him be handsome on stage. also gale has an extremely ambitious thesis idea that he works really hard on and never shuts up about to everyone’s dismay

extras!

- dame aylin is the captain of the rugby team that karlach is on and everyone knows her bc she’s always talking about her girlfriend and they are just the lesbian it couple of the school. isobel is a gender studies major who loves her big buff athlete girlfriend and they are happy and in love and will be gay married.

i may add more to this as i keep coming up with things but that’s it for now!!

#abrielle #bg3 #my tav #headcanons #bg3 modern au #baldur's gate 3 #astarion #astarion x tav #college au #liberal arts college #baldurs gate au #bg3 au

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dohyunahn · 8 months ago

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last but not least, it's me bear (he/him) again, here with my final muse intro. this here is ahn dohyun, an absolutely beloved muse of mine who, despite having existed for years at this point, i've never gotten to write. he's a 23 year old music teacher at an international school. he's passionate about music, good literature, his family and friends, and baked goods. here you can find links to his profile, and bio. under the cut i'll leave some tldr info about him. you know the drill, please like this post if you'd like to plot!

dohyun was born the 3rd child to an eventual family of 7. he's a twin, though he and his twin brother are pretty different. that didn't stop them from being inseperable as children though. even now he's still exceptionally close to his twin, and he's one of teh very few people in the world that dohyun will ever complain to.

he had a very normal, though slightly poor, youth. with so many kids it was pretty hard to make ends meet, but it never bothered anyone and they all made do. they were always reminded that many people had much, much less than they did

[ tw: parental death ] at the age of 10, his mother fell ill, and wanting to spend what could be her last years with her own family, they moved to seattle, usa where she got intensive treatment that inevitably didn't work. when dohyun was 14, his mother passed away, and shortly after that they moved back to seoul [ end of tw ]

dohyun took on a 'motherly' role in the family after the loss of their mother, despite having an older sister. he was naturally much more nurturing than his siblings and found that looking after them helped him deal with his grief. he also turned to music much more during this time and would play his mothers piano to feel close to her

he sought a lot of comfort in his old best friend who he reconnected with after he got back to seoul and managed to find his happiness again

his grades took a slump around the time of his mothers illness, and passing, but he managed to climb back up to near the top of his class by the time he graduated high school. he went on to college, taking a break midway through for military service. he studied music education with a minor in korean literature, and after graduating in late 2023, he landed a job teaching music at an international school that would begin at the start of the new school year in march 2024

along the way, he and his childhood best friend fell in love (or perhaps that happened even before dohyun moved away; he'd never been quite sure) but they began dating shortly before high school graduation, and though his enlistment came with some bumps in the road, they're still together and he plans to spend the rest of his life with him

dohyun is a gentle giant. while he's gotten pretty 'buff' since his enlistment (he kept up with his exercise after discharge) he'd never hurt even a fly. he's entirely too selfless sometimes, but can be a bit stubborn (almost has a bit of 'mother knows best' attitude)

loves baking and eating baked goods, and appreciates a good hot drink, whether it be tea or coffee, or something else

definitely the kind of teacher who's never seen without a flask of tea or coffee

#jongno:hello #[ dodo ; intro ]

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fancoloredglasses · 9 months ago

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Zorro (Get your swashes buckled, folks!)

[All images are owned by New World Television and Zorro Productions, Inc (really!) Please don’t sue me or ruin my clothing with Zs]

youtube

(Thanks to megafan_12)

For those who are unaware, Zorro (“The Fox” in Spanish) is a masked swordsman who fights a corrupt government in the same vein as Robin Hood or the Scarlet Pimpernel, but in the town of Los Angeles during the time California was under Spanish/Mexican rule. Much like the aforementioned literary heroes, Zorro is a member of the local aristocracy (Don Diego de la Vega, son of one of the largest landowners in the region) who acts like a dandy and a coward to hide his masked activities.

He has been in literature since 1919 and has been in several movies and television shows (usually by a white man) In fact, it wasn’t until the 70s that a Latino (or Spanish) actor was cast in the role! Talk about injustice!

Most people know the Zorro films that starred Antonio Banderas as the title character (who inherited the mantle from Anthony Hopkins, yet ANOTHER white guy!) Many have seen Guy Ritchie as Zorro in the 50s (who didn’t need to worry about being white since the series was filmed in black & white and no one could tell his skin tone) The film I was first introduced to the character was Zorro, the Gay Blade (no, it wasn’t porn!) which starred Goerge Hamilton (yep, another while guy) as Don Diego and his twin brother Ramon (AKA “Bunny Wigglesworth” who was, shall we say, a bit flamboyant) The less said about that film, the better.

But the subject for this review was a forgotten gem from the 90s that aired on the cable network known as The Family Channel (I swear I saw it in the USA Network, but I couldn’t find any record in my research to prove this)

The series, naturally, follows Don Diego (played by Duncan Regehr yet ANOTHER white guy!)

…and his masked alter ego. (NOTE: Regehr was more muscular and fit than most previous actors in the role, meaning he could be a bit more physical. The character was also written as being a bit of a science buff)

Don Diego lives with his father Don Alejandro (played by Efrem Zimbalist Jr (yep, also white), who voiced Alfred in Batman: the Animated Series, in season 1…

…and Henry Darrow (FINALLY! A Latino actor, and one who actually played Zorro a few years earlier!) for the rest of the series)

…as well as his family’s mute servant Felipe (played by Juan Diego Botto), who also pretends to be deaf and is the only one who knows Don Diego’s secret (it’s not like he can tell anyone)

Don Diego’s love interest is Victoria Escalante (played by Patrice Martinez, who also played the love interest in The Three Amigos)

Zorro fights the corrupt Alcalde (governor) of the territory around Los Angeles Luis Ramone (played by Michael Tylo...yep, another one)

…but was replaced in season 3 by Ignacio de Soto (played by J.G. Hertzler (Seriously?!))

The Alcalde’s chief aide (and leader of the garrison) is Sgt. Mendoza (played by James Victor, the ONE Latino on the bad guys' side), who is the comic relief (of course...) for the series (which explains why they can never stop Zorro)

The plots generally revolve around the Alcalde’s latest plot to stop Zorro by trapping him while performing some form of injustice against the people of Los Angeles, only to be foiled. Note that while the series is very by-the-numbers, the action sequences are well done and there are a number of well-known (or soon-to-be-well-known) actors (as well as, for some reason, a handful of World Wrestling Federation wrestlers) who have guest starred.

As always, if you would like to see an episode reviewed, please let me know!

#zorro #Fan Colored Glasses

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just-a-fella · 10 months ago

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Hi there!! Do you have any PA Headcanons you'd be willing to share?

this is a bit random but I'll do my best to answer ! Guess I'll start with olive (pa1:14 2-3 15): I feel like they text in a kind of "hewwo haiii :33" type way, they are a short squishy mutt, not too thin but not fully chubby so about average, they also like rock music and have at least two band shirts (one was a gift from mittens) they also (after pa3) hangout with mittens more, I kinda get the vibes they bond more (since it's implied near the end them and ginger make a sign with mitt for dogs and cats) them and angel are about the same age, just olive's birthday is first. they also enjoy going out shopping for clothes like large sweaters or cute long dresses, they do this with brownie, mittens, ginger and angel normally, are also pan and polyamorous. going in order, Brownie !! (totally not biased) 15 brownie is pretty chubby and is the middle of the group in terms of heights. She ofc dates coco, she surprisingly (or not depending on who you ask) can throw a pretty good date often times trying to hold back on spoiling coco. she also gets along with pretty much anyone (for the most part) the only who are fully friends with her are whiskers, luna, and felix (felix just thinks she's a bit much =w=") tho she dose her best to control herself around people if she's a little over the top. I'd also think she has adhd, brownie also is not a fan of dresses they either feel too tight for her or are just too "girly" for her, she is often wearing suits. Sparky, the tallest and oldest of the group, spraky is around 17, he's fairly buff tho you wouldn't really know since he wears long sleeve clothing, he and rover are like brothers sparky is also bisexual, he also enjoys music any type really. He often takes his siblings to the park to play ball or soccer and sometimes rover comes along. he can be a softy but can also be a bit over protective and feels ashamed of himself if he is unable to protect anyone. some point after pa3 he is the one to take patches to therapy and the bond a lot despite seemingly being the opposite of the other (patches may or may not have gotten a bit soft around sparky) Angel, 14 and the shortest (besides his sister coco) of the group, is a little pudgy and enjoys wearing large clothing and spending a lot of time in the shower conditioning his fur and hair so it's extra soft and flowy. he has a small guitar he plays when he's alone. later joins The Literature Club at Hachiko along with olive (they are reading buddies :D) Has a small plushie of a owl called "whostafur" had it since he was a small kitten, angel likes railroads and trains in general (i think that's good for now, if you want me to write more I will, sorry if my writing sucks admakadmmda)

#purrfect apawcalypse

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void-writing · 10 months ago

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My main reference image of Milo! (I’ve decided against the more snake-y design I initially introduced her with for now, soooo human-passing form it is!)

Short description:

- Eldest Sister

- Oracle

- Raised by Draxum for a bit before his and Splinter’s “divorce” and Splinter got custody of all the kids.

- Full name is technically “Venus de Milo” since that’s the artist she took inspiration from but everyone only calls her “Milo” because that’s her preferred end of the name. Not even Splinter really uses her “full” name and frequently calls her either “Milo” or “Green”

- Weapon is a bisento but the mystic weapon she picks up in Draxum’s lab in the first episode is a pair of chain scythes (power still TBD but for now leaning towards elemental lightning not unlike the kusari fundo’s elemental fire).

- The designated magic expert of the team until Draxum is domesticated. Taught Leo, Raph, and Mikey how to use their stolen mystic weapons because Milo trained with them as a kid when she lived with Draxum. Leo briefly tries to switch weapons with Milo because she's clearly so much better with the odachi and its portal power than he is (Milo doesn't let him).

- Does death mazes for fun (a regular at the Maze of Death and their best customer).

- Literature and fantasy buff as she’s not that big on JJ, much to her brothers’ and April’s collective horror. Later has major beef with JJ’s actor.

- Has clandestinely been training with the Hamato Ancestors from an early age so that she will be ready to face The Shredder, who’s return is frequently featured in her visions (she stole the Ancestor’s Scroll from Splinter’s room and he didn’t notice for literal years).

- Gram Gram Karai survives in Milo’s universe but at the cost of Milo taking her place fighting The Shredder as the rest of the family escapes (she makes it out fine in the end, but it’s a close call).

- Milo knows how to sew and likes making clothes for herself, her brothers, and April. Splinter taught her how and it’s been their main Father-Daughter activity for years.

- Milo has a vigilante persona: The Nightwatcher (yes, Raph's persona from the 2007 movie). Mostly was created to comb the city for Foot activity and leads on pieces of the Dark Armor (because a frankly ridiculous amount ended up in New York somehow). She’s been a persistent thorn in the Foot’s side since she was ten (their pride never fully recovered after getting soundly beat on fairly regular intervals by a 4'3" elementary schooler after Milo found her stride). She also occasionally confronts petty crime from street gangs like the Violet Wyrms (they were the OG Purple Dragons until the techy Purple Dragons we know from Rise blackmailed them into surrendering the name, so now they’re stuck with the bootleg version).

- Has been passing friends with Casey since they were nine (Casey threw a knife at Milo, Milo—who has been dealing with little brothers’ whose new favorite thing was throwing stuff at her to see if she catches it—proceeds to catch it, realizations are had by all. They become best friends despite not thinking to tell each other their names for literal years). Their friendship kind of fractured when the Hamato-Foot Clan Rivary reignited and they were forced to pick sides. Ends up with Casey giving the Brownie Clan a rather conflicting idea of just who Milo was to her (there is an ongoing betting pool amongst the Brownie Clan over whether Milo and Casey were ex-friends or ex-girlfriends. Nothing Casey said or did cleared up that confusion for the longest time).

- Keeps a lot of secrets. Doesn’t necessarily mean to keep a lot of secrets. It's an oracle thing. If you don't ask, Milo won't answer.

- Eats crickets and likes them. Also has an insane spice tolerance thanks to being the only Hamato to have had dinner with April’s family and partaken of their “old family recipe” of TOO MUCH HOT SAUCE.

- Does occasional singing gigs with the DIG gals, especially to vent pent up frustrations after the Kraang Invasion (See "Monkey's Paw" by Cami-Cat on YouTube if you want an idea of what Milo sang in that time).

- "Surface Pressure" Intensifies

The next steps are in the works though I need images for the contestants!

I’ll have brackets posted by Friday

Pictures and descriptions

#reblog #my oc: milo hamato #tmntbestsibscomp

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sugar-petals · 4 years ago

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BTS Tarot Reading ➝ What Kind Of Porn Do They Watch? (18+)

↳ NOTE - due to several requests, a steamy and detailed one. ☕️ we’re asking the cards about the erotica they fancy in a wider sense.

warning ⚠️ 18+ // bdsm mentions, worship, kinks left and right. we’re going graphic in all types o’ ways, lads.

♡ DISCLAIMER // tarot is speculative, there is no guarantee for accuracy. believing in the cards is a choice. all portrayals are fictive and for entertainment purposes only.

SPREAD #1:

yoongi

⌈ THE WORLD ⇁ Jesus... Someone’s obsessed with girls in the nude. That card has a stark naked woman wrapped in very little satin on it so you know what our funky little guy is up to. Luscious aesthetic fotos might be just around his corner. Big duh, he’s a photography major. These folks are all about body appreciation. He’s also on a personal vendetta against lingerie 😂 Yoongi won’t get hard looking at even the most HD panty and bra ads. Only the skin in its full splendor will do, no editing. He loves pictures of nipples peaking through shirt fabric, it’s all over his phone. Yoongi likes his gals without underwear 24/7 just like he dislikes underwear himself. If we’re talking porn, the woman on the card is holding two very long rods so may I connect the dots: Threesomes, handjobs, blowbangs, spitroasting. Friction, friction, and more friction. To Yoongi’s brain, handjobs are a great um new version of holding hands. Sex standing up also, keeping it vertical. Yoongi doesn’t care about girth, inches count. Nice and elongated with a perfect plunge, something to hold onto. Yep, he’s pretty deliberate when searching that up. Yes, he loves the look of it. However, and you’ll be surprised: Even if he likes poly porn, it’s still nothing too extreme. This card is more about pleasure than pain. If a guy likes rough and degrading sex, you get swords and wands in his spread. THE WORLD is more about perfected skills and success. So, he likes the more accomplished porn stars. With a preference for curly blondes and redheads, that’s sort of the hair color on the card. Natural B or C cup. Medium height, not too curvy. Oversized booty not needed. In terms of nationality: We have three representative animals on the card. Eagle, lion and bull, plus a light blonde man’s head. So, anything that America/Germany/Albania/Mexico/Namibia (and so on, lot of countries with eagles as their national bird my dude), England, Spain and Scandinavia have to offer. Honey sugar is going international, baby.

hoseok

⌈ QUEEN OF WANDS ⇁ Did I just mention that guys who like rough sex in porn get wand cards in their readings in Yoongi’s segment? Well, there we have our candidate, with a very obvious card since it’s a court figure. Now, the thing is, this is not the guy being rough. The QUEEN OF WANDS is as notoriously femdom as can be. The very fiery and raw and fun version. So, with a degree of lightheartedness, but still being very fit — even buff — and hands-on with the sub. If you get the QUEEN OF SWORDS, that’s the more cool and calculated domme who signs you up for torture and humiliation, and she really looks like a domme. She’s all over the internet because she has the grit. Now wands combined with a tarot queen... it’s more about the stamina and she is approachable. Hobi does not like watching cruel girls, he likes challenging ones. Upbeat porn stars who can take a lot but most importantly dole it out assertively like pros are Hobi’s schtick. He’s unapologetic about that. With him it’s like, please not the local newcomers that turned legal a month ago. The queen cards are all about mature women. Mommy kink, hint hint. The kind of mommy who’s gonna whip out the spreader bar or cane (= wands again) and give a playful type of punishment. See how desert-like that imagery is, Hobi wants to sweat big time when he gets off to this. Now since wands also make for a damn good pole to dance on, go figure. This whole card has me wondering if, well alright, he is a Cardi B hard stan 😅 If Hobi blasts Money to get in the mood, I’d not be surprised. Anyway. Back to pole stuff: If you go through his youtube search history, you will find astounding things. I think he watches the more professional and athletic performers in competition though. High production value is key. Finally, an interesting card detail: There’s a sunflower on it. This is definitely his kind of tarot imagery.

jimin

⌈ KING OF COINS ⇁ This card always looks like a scene from a medieval movie so you might have an erotic film enthusiast here. The more chaste type of genre, pentacles are very grounded and not hypersexualized. The intimacy is slow and more about security and pleasure. It’s graphic and detailed, but gives you a sense of relaxation. With a bit of romance in the plot, that might absolutely be Jimin’s thing. Castles and wine and nobility. Interesting type of erotica. Historical and classy. As expected of a prince, mind you. He might enjoy books of that genre also. And we know Jimin is an avid reader, right up there with Namjoon. Now, even with more risque and contemporary stuff that he googles up, we have similar dynamics going down on screen. With Hobi we had femdom because it’s a queen card, now with Jimin we get the classic male dom type of porn because that’s how the King usually rolls, unless it’s the KING OF CUPS who’s touchy-feely and subby. Meanwhile, the KING OF COINS is your local sugar daddy. Leaning towards being a soft dom, he’s not aggressive. And Jimin surely has a little crush on that concept. Ye know, if all the other members have female cards and Jimin gets the sugar daddy, we might be dealing with mxm action. Because if this card was a porn star, he’d be a really, really rich producer and a bear who’s done this since the frickin’ 90s. He’s treating his subs very gently and lets them sit on their lap, the imagery is sort of like that because the King is balancing a pentacle on his left thigh. Sex and comfort all in one are life for Jimin. A sexy detail I only noticed at a second glance, the King also has a shortened golden staff with him, which has a rounded tip. If that’s not a butt plug… whenever I see props like that in tarot, I interpret it as a sex toy. So, good vibes in here. And a bunch of aphrodisiacs, the KING OF COINS is a foodie. Which you know, might just be a food porn type of reference. Jimin’s taste in sexy things is quite something else.

jungkook

⌈ THE EMPRESS ⇁ If there’s one thing I like, it’s the Tarot giving me the important archetypes during readings of that kind. The Queens, the Kings, the Major arcana (see Yoongi’s and Jin’s segment). You can really draw a lot of hints out of it. Now with the EMPRESS you have a similar case to Hobi’s, just a lot more softcore. Jungkook has a refined and pretty vast taste in erotica, if not the most refined in Bangtan next to Jimin who likes that kind of dignified touch to it as well as we saw. Jungkook knows his stuff when it comes to searching things up, he is a first class netizen in that regard. In terms of genre: The EMPRESS is your highkey feminist and wholesomeness legend, so — you won’t find any super creepy things in some hidden file on his PC, and things by female producers instead. No slut-shaming or name-calling here, everyone gets their pleasure in their own right. Thanks to online sex ed, Jungkook has a map to the clit and he’s not afraid to use it. He’s the type to watch solo videos ad nauseam. He’s fascinated. Masturbation until it gets all messy with the juices flowing, and you bet he wants to see the girls buzzing themselves off lying on their back. Maybe even outdoors in a field. Cum play is a must, cunnilingus is a must, he loves unprotected sex and creampies, he loves breast massages. And yes. Anything that involves sex with pregnant and chubby women. Similar to Taehyung, it’s all about the focus on the girl, he doesn’t bother much with the guy performers. And given Yoongi’s reading on top of that, we have three members in BTS who are all about worshipping the female body right here, breasts over ass, and he likes blondes, too. The EMPRESS card is like… the entire porn industry who does the MILF and BBW genre is financed by Jeon Jungkook’s website subscriptions. Cue GOT7, with Jungkook it’s girls, girls, girls. The thirst is going strong, and he’s unashamed times ten, sex is sex.

➝ we also have members who don’t really bother with erotica or have a complicated relationship with it.

SPREAD #2

taehyung

⌈ ACE OF WANDS reversed ⇁ He’s not about beating off until the world ends. Taehyung gets bored by porn or heated literature and doesn’t feel very motivated to search it up. He would rather come up with his own ideas to write but doesn’t have the energy. Sex drive: On hold, even if he tries to look something up it doesn’t feel very fulfilling to him. Most of it fails to turn him on, it’s not his kind of taste. He gets frustrated when he masturbates and would rather rest, dream, and doze. The only thing I can see him watch somewhat frequently — hold your horses — is lesbian porn. I’ll explain. The ACE OF WANDS is pretty much your most glaring handjob symbolism card. A hand gripping a stick. Yoongi’s THE WORLD card has very similar imagery, I mean even two wands and a girl, bisexual explosion much. He would be a big fan of the upright ACE OF WANDS card lmao! But the reversal is like, um no silly guys jerking off in here, pls. Keep your cum to yourself. That means: Zero dicks in Taehyung’s zone, girl-on-girl stuff is his very last resort for quality that he is desperate for but cannot find. And not the stuff where the producers just replace the guys with heavy arsenal sex toys, double-ended dildos, fucking machines, endless strap-on action without any clit stimulation on either side and whatnot. Taehyung is like ugh, cherie, why, give me the juicy stuff, give me the basics. What he wants is just pure scissoring, fingering, oral, little gentle bites, a lot of caresses and kisses. And slow, slow sex. Probably the amateur kind. He hates how brutal and exaggerated most things online are. Tae is looking for softness, a lot of lesbian action is what delivers in that regard so he takes all he gets. And it goes further than that, Taehyung knows the finest yuri recommendations, I’m telling you.

seokjin

⌈ THE STAR reverse ⇁ The opposite of Yoongi: not keeping it very naked in here. The upright card shows a nude woman pouring water from two cups. Hence a strong connection to the card of sexuality, TWO OF CUPS. Everything is very gentle and positive in that scenery. But then, the reversed card rather shows us that Jin doesn’t feel too thrilled watching other people film or write or photograph sex. Like in Tae’s case, he becomes bored, it’s all the same to him. Nothing’s ever new to him in porn. He feels negative and guilty rather than refreshed or entertained. He also doesn’t like a lot of kinks that very literally connect to, well, the pouring water. Squirting, cum play, watersports, sex in the pool or showers, lube overuse, creampies, bukkake, fake cum — Jin is rolling his eyes at that, he thinks it’s a circus. He’s surely given it a try, but ended up feeling worse and even more pent-up or dissatisfied. At best, you will find him on unknown websites looking for the most amateur videos there are. Because: THE STAR quite unequivocally hints at porn stars. If you reverse the card, it becomes someone not very well-known. He roots for the underdog. Accordingly, Jin’s reaction to mainstream videos goes this way: ‚Pipe down, you non-artists!’ 😆 Cause maybe, he does do it better aye, without the awkward angles anyway. He doesn’t want the body cult, like, put that airbrush and silicone out of my face bro. Not because he’s against surgery, but the idea behind sexual extremes and the shady high standards. It’s too polished for him to get turned on. And robotic/staged. Likely because he’s had an IRL sexual experience (gasp!) that set a different ideal to him, so the more glossy porn feels off. Home video has all he needs instead. I think it’s especially because you get so see more body hair there. The woman on the THE STAR card is all sleek, so the reversed card is the opposite, Jin wants that unshaved goodness.

namjoon

⌈ EIGHT OF CUPS ⇁ Now you’d think — and I thought, kinda — we’d get the master of erotica right here. And he’s had one hell of a reputation for that. Think of the ever-infamous Yaman TV interview where BTS were super upfront and revealing about their taste and what they watch privately. With especially Namjoon having the lion’s share. But this card says otherwise if his current state is concerned. The EIGHT OF CUPS shows a man wandering off into the night, leaving eight cups behind him. I think what that means is, he’s moved on. Namjoon’s cravings aren’t as strong as they used to be, nor does he have the time. He knows it won’t fix his loneliness or answer the questions of life. He might be on the search for different things to fulfill him, or ignore much of his hormones in favor for his career. Not that he didn’t dabble in it, he sure did, but that chapter is slowly closing and what’s next he doesn’t really know yet. He thinks about family and being a father, so the smaller and more risque pleasures become less significant. Desire, too. Ye olde soul syndrome is kicking in. The card is also centered around introspection, a quest for self, all these higher topics that aren’t the most grounded and don’t leave much space for being horny. Joon is simply to preoccupied and on the move. He sees porn as a distraction from his real self at this point, and he’s not the type to feel satiated after masturbating to something, similar to Jin and Taehyung. Instead, I think he carries that energy elsewhere, hence the wanderer going from A to B onto a mountain. In short, Namjoon naturally grew out of it by becoming more, well: Namjoon. He’s left a lot behind, he’s choosing self-development over temporary fun, and he will ponder a lot on the topic, the hows and whys and whats more often than not. So, he’s passed the baton to Yoongi and Jungkook if you will, and keeps a low profile as of now.

tarot mlist | ko-fi

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for anon:

#bts tarot #bts #bangtan #bts smut #bts tarot reading #tarot #long post

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therobishow · 3 years ago

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I think I'm done with podcasts made by men

I love listening to podcasts while I work. Especially ones related to history, film, and literature.

And damn near every time I try listening to ones that are made by men, I end up hitting a point where I have to stop listening and switch to something else. There's always a point where they say something that is so ignorant, blatantly sexist, etc., that I just can't take it.

Often times it's the host buying into a very male-centered lens of interpreting whatever it is they're discussing. And, you know, that's kind of expected. They're men. They're viewing things as men. I get that and I'm usually willing to just roll my eyes and move on. But then it keeps happening, or gets much worse than what can be excused by simple ignorance. And then I can't just roll my eyes anymore. I just want to start yelling. And that's not a good energy to have while I'm trying to do my job. So I switch over to something else.

A good example of this happened today. I was listening to a podcast called History by Hollywood. I found it because I'm a huge fan of History Buffs on Youtube. Comparing historical fiction to the actual history is fascinating to me. I love learning about the real event and how it's translated into fiction. But...it got bad. Real fucking bad.

Now, I can't place all the blame on the creators of HbH. They had guests who do a podcast that I think is called Green Screen, which discusses films through an environmental lens. And I definitely will not be listening to that podcast after hearing them today.

The episode was about Gorillas in the Mist, which is biopic about Dr. Dian Fossey. If you don't know who Dian Fossey is, look her up. She was one of the group known as the Trimates, sometimes called Leakey's Angels. The group consisted of three women who were expert primatologists: Birute Galdikas, who studied orangutans; Jane Goodall, possibly the most well known of the three, who studied chimpanzees; and Fossey herself, who studied gorillas. I would love to write hundreds of pages about how awesome and unbelievably badass these women are/were. Seriously, learn about these women if you haven't already. They are amazing.

Anyway, the episode was about Dr. Fossey. My first issue is that, despite her PhD, they never once referred to her with her proper title. This is upsettingly common with women who have earned doctorates. Men never want to call them Doctor. It frustrates me to no end. But that's not nearly the worst of it. They went on to discuss how she became pregnant twice during her time in Rwanda. She chose to abort both pregnancies because she did not want pregnancy or motherhood to interfere with her work with the gorillas. One of the GS guys commented on this saying "I suppose her reasons could be considered valid." Um, excuse me? First of all, why do you think that you get to decide whether or not she had valid reasons? You don't. Second, of course her reasons are valid. Whatever a woman's reasons are for having an abortion are valid. She's the only one who gets to make that decision. So fuck right off with that. Sorry for getting a bit heated here, but that really pissed me off. There was no need for a comment like that. Especially since it makes it sound like he doesn't actually think her reasons are valid, but is scared of catching heat so tried to sugarcoat it.

Moving on, TW: rape, they also got into the fact that Dr. Fossey stated that she was repeatedly raped by soldiers in 1966 over the course of two weeks. People freaking love to claim that this is "disputed" or "exaggerated" and some go as far as to claim that it was an outright lie. Why? Because she originally claimed that she was treated well and then escorted to the border. Later on, she admitted that she was actually beaten and raped. I'm not going to delve too far into this because a) this post is already way longer than I intended, and b) I will get SO MAD. For the sake of brevity, I'm just going to say that I believe that she was raped, and that she initially lied because she was not ready for this information to become public. The hosts however...well, they'd like to claim that they didn't come down on either side of this "debate" and simply presented facts. But they totally don't think she was raped. They went on and on about all the reasons that she would have lied about being raped, such as political clout, publicity, propaganda, and other dumb reasons. But just couldn't seem to think of any reason that she would have lied about not being raped. Gotta love how men are always able to come up with fifty million reasons why women would make false accusations. It's absolutely not in any way revealing how they think of women.

They also got into the admittedly shitty things that Dr. Fossey did during her time in Rwanda. She wasn't perfect, and she did do some rather bad things. Her approach to conservation work was very much steeped in a colonialist mindset. I'm not about to deny that. And they did do a good job of explaining some of the more overlooked facts of poaching--most African poachers aren't cartoon villains who want to destroy nature. Many are farmers who are killing animals that threaten their crops and/or livestock. And then they get offered lots of money to do it. It's not a simple issue, and doesn't have a simple solution. I don't have a problem with them addressing this, and I'm glad that they did. However, and this is a pretty big HOWEVER, they also didn't discuss any of the great things she did. She saved a huge number of gorillas. She helped improve the Rwandan economy. She fought against multiple colonialist organizations trying to exploit Rwanda and it's wildlife. She helped to revolutionize the field of primatology. There's so much that we know now that we only know because of her. They also decided that the fact that she's a heavily revered and respected figure in Rwanda was worth a few sentences and that was it.

They referred to her as cold and unfeeling multiple times, largely due to her relationship with Bob Campbell, who was married when they met. Apparently the fact that she didn't stick with him for her whole life means that she's cold and uncaring. Ugh. I just fucking can't with this.

And the cherry on top, they made jokes about her murder. Yep. Dr. Fossey was horribly and brutally murdered with a machete in December of 1985. And they apparently think that's funny. Now, I know that some of the people who were close to Dr. Fossey have also made jokes regarding her death. However, there are several Grand Canyon-sized differences between someone using humor to cope with the death of someone they loved, and some assholes with a podcast making jokes about the brutal murder of a woman they never met. They also said that it doesn't matter who killed her or if they're ever caught. Which...no? It very much matters who snuck into this woman's home in the middle of the night and used a machete to brutally murder her. It very much matters if this person is caught. I can't even imagine trying to say that it doesn't matter if an actual murderer is ever caught.

All of this goes into a huge problem when it comes to studying history, especially the history of science. Women are always scrutinized more heavily, always criticized with more vitriol, and always have their enormous accomplishments either left out entirely or pushed to side. I almost never see male scientists given this treatment. Edison comes close, but he always gets quite a bit of "Yeah, he was awful, but let's not forget all the awesome things he did!" Women however get "Yeah, she did a few cool things for science, but let's not forget that she had an abortion!"

I just can't handle this shit anymore. If you managed to get all the way to the end of this wall of text (yay) please recommend me some good history/literature podcasts created by women. I will love you so much.

#oc #history #science #Dian Fossey #primatology #History by Hollywood #podcasts #podcast #feminisim #tw: rape #tw: murder #Trimates #Leakey's Angels #jane goodall #birute galdikas #tw: abortion

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mythgirlimagines · 4 years ago

Photo

For today’s Tuesday, prepare to get heatstroke from the sheer hotness of Myth, the Former Ultimate Firefighter!

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BACKSTORY AND TALENT

Due to being bedridden with scoliosis in her younger years, Myth didn’t really do much apart from reading. Until one day, a brave firefighter saved Myth’s life from a dangerous house fire that still left burns on Myth’s left eye and arm. From that day forward, after her scoliosis surgery, she has dedicated her life to training hard to become like the firefighter that saved her life that fateful day. By her teen years, she managed to rise through the rankings and become a professional firefighter for her town. Her rapid rising through the ranks despite her age, gender and height gave her a free spot to Hope’s Peak as the Ultimate Firefighter. In her adult years, she is currently chaperoning this year’s Ultimates and Jr. Ultimates on a trip to Kibo-Con Ultimate!

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RELATIONSHIPS

Wyre Anon, Former Ultimate Film Critic

Wyre has been best friends ever since she moved in next door to Myth and entertained her with some high-ranking movies. However, due to the time-consuming training Myth went through from her time as a firefighter trainee, they’ve been seeing each other less and less. And now, Wyre can’t help but swoon over the utter hunk that her childhood friend had become now.

Anon Scar, Ultimate Sailor

Scar, or as she calls herself, ”The Spirit of the Seven Seas”, gets along surprisingly well with ”The Spirit of the Quenched Flames”, as Scar puts it. This is probably due to their shared experience with tense situations, whether surrounded with raging water or raging flames. If either of them had a nightmare about certain traumatic incidents from the past, they’ll talk about the nightmare and reassure each other.

Fusion Anon, Ultimate Fantasy Novelist

Fusion became famous for writing “The Saga of Spritefolk”, a literary series famous for its lovable menagerie of characters and extensive lore and worldbuilding. Myth happens to be a huge fan of said series, and Myth was on cloud nine when she got an autograph from the novelist. The two also bond over their shared interest in mythology.

Fusion Anon II, Ultimate Cheerleader

Fusion II is well-known for leading a 50-person oendan group, complete with taiko drums and complex acrobatics. The oendan is known for praising the hometeam, and throwing shade towards the competition. Fusion II herself is actually more laid-back then what her talent suggests, although she is just as snarky as her cheers would suggest. Fusion II would never admit this, for she has a reputation to keep up, but she thinks Myth would be a fine addition to her group.

Just Anon, Ultimate Pediatric Nurse

Janon is worshipped throughout the medical world as a prodigy in the medical field. Due to Janon’s natural intellect letting him breeze through tests without any actual effort, Janon has a terrible work ethic and a lazy and apathetic attitude. Janon also happens to be Myth’s favorite teasing target, for his not-so-secret soft spot for children, his failed attempts at being edgy despite his innocuous talent and adorable appearance, and his massive crush on a certain dense barista. This has lead Janon to utterly despise Myth.

Sparkle Anon, Former Ultimate Ballroom Dancer

Being raised in a high-class family well-known for their bombastic and over-the-top dance parties, Sparkle is known to be able to charm anyone on the dance floor, whether male or female. And yet even she can’t help but get yearn to get swept off her feet by this strong yet dorky firefighter. Sparkle is currently trying to teach the firefighter the ways of her bloodline, but The Spectacular Sparkle gets way too flustered over Myth’s strong arms, and winds up botching the dance, much to Myth‘s confusion.

Egg Anon, Former Ultimate Lucky Student and Wet Sock Anon, Former Ultimate Librarian

Very little is known about this cursed duo, for they hardly do anything apart from spouting unnerving comments and remaining evasive about their past. At least Myth kind of got along with Wet Sock, due to their shared interest in reading, but Wet Sock is even more hostile towards Myth due to their growing feelings for the firefighter, usually threatening her with knives. Egg seems to be the only Former Ultimate to not have feelings for Myth, but due to the regular cursed comments and cursed actions made by the Former Lucky Student, people are too afraid to ask.

Curious Anon, Jr. Ultimate Barista

Myth regularly visits Curious for her daily cup of joe at their cafe, “Simply Splendid”. Myth can get along easily with Curious due to their tranquil, empathetic attitude and excellent service and ambience of the coffee shop that they work at. Myth couldn’t help but poke fun at Curious for their sheer density when it comes to Janon’s feelings towards them. Talk about calling the kettle black!

Anon Nerd, Former Ultimate Matchmaker

Despite Nerd’s knowledge on romantic relationships, to the point that he made the most reliable matchmaking website in the modern world by himself, it is very clear that Nerd’s never been in a relationship himself. But even the blind and deaf can see that Nerd is crushing bad on the dense firefighter, despite Nerd’s angry protests to the contrary. Too bad Myth has a density only matched by Curious. But the other Anons are deadset on getting both the tsundere matchmaker and the oblivious firefighter to realize their feelings for each other.

Eldritch Anon, Ultimate Occultist

Because of Eldritch’s paranoid attitude and his evasiveness of the public eye, very little is known about Eldritch or how he got into the occult. Myth can’t help but find it odd that such a jittery scaredy-cat has one of the more horrific talents. Much to Myth’s confusion, Eldritch seems to be convinced that Myth is an evil spirit and regularly tries to remedy that by tossing salt at Myth.

Dream Anon, Ultimate Viral Sensation

Dream, or as her fans call her “Sunny D”, is the creator of the “Vowolleyball“ web series, which centers around the antics Dream and her volleyball team. Her hyperactive and positive attitude has earned her a special spot in the heart of her fanbase. Dream gave Myth a shout-out in one of her videos centering around her time at the Kibo-Con, which gave way to a flood of thumbs-up and fangirling comments from the firefighter’s own fanbase.

Iris Anon, Jr. Ultimate Babysitter

Iris’s optimistic, hyperactive, and childish personality has made her a big hit with the little kids of her neighborhood. Her babysitting business earned a lot of money as a result of her popularity with children. But sometimes, even the babysitter needs a babysitter of their own. And that exactly what Myth’s relationship with Iris is like. Myth and Iris have a bit of a mother-daughter relationship and Iris regularly winds up going to Myth in case she needs advice, her boo-boos patched up, or if she just needs a hug from a pair of strong arms.

Purple Anon, Ultimate Samurai

Myth can’t help but be surprised that samurai not only still exist, but one is attending Hope’s Peak right now. Myth can’t help but want to protect the crowned heiress of the Murasaki bloodline, upon noticing how timid said heiress is when outside of a combat scenario. Purple’s elaborate and old-fashioned vocabulary as a result of her upbringing, just confuses Myth, so she often requires Fusion to translate Purple’s speech into modern slang.

So basically, this AU is a harem series about an adorable and buff, if dense firefighter, and her four/five waifus/husbandos/whatever the NB term for a waifu is.

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APPEARANCE

Firefighter!Myth has shoulder-length undyed hair and burn scars on her left eye and arm. She wears an orange and black firefighter’s uniform that is undone at the waist, hanging at the back of her legs. Under her uniform, she wears a black tank top and a scarf that resembles a film reel (that she got as a token of friendship from Wyre). She also wears black boots with a white stripe running though the center and white soles. The arm bands on her muscular arms match the color scheme of her uniform, being orange with black stripes.

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PERSONALITY

Because of Firefighter!Myth’s line of work, Firefighter!Myth is courageous and bold, always jumping into danger in order to save lives. That, along with her androgynous appearance, has earned her comparisons to a dashing prince. This has given her a passionate fan base amongst her neighborhood. Despite the confident and cool-headed personality of Firefighter!Myth, she isn’t as socially-skilled as one would expect. Because of her isolated and bed-ridden background, Firefighter!Myth is more socially-awkward and naive compared to Romantic!Myth, particularly when it comes to people with romantic intentions. When it comes to dating or noticing when people are attracted to her, she is completely and utterly clueless, much to the ire of Librarian!Wet Sock and Matchmaker!Nerd. She isn’t stupid though, for she still retains a love for literature and film from her younger years. Although hopefully, her time at the Kibo-Con would help her wise up to romantic intentions, but only time will tell.

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I’ve took some inspiration from Fusion II’s talentswap, and added some backstory to the relationships section. I’ve partially based this Myth off of a Nozoeli fanfiction called “Best Star She’d Ever Had”, link to the fic here: (https://archiveofourown.org/works/5095454)

What do you think of this buff, yet dense Myth? Let me know what you think of this Talentswap!

-Fusion Anon

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I think I speak for everyone who knows me when I say buff me is inherently cursed, that said I love this

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